11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

Who: I am currently an undergraduate business student with exposure to family businesses. My talents are talking to people and getting to know about them, giving them a peace of mind and being able to relate what I am trying to say well. My skills and experiences include being a part of various organizations that promote interaction and and have a large member base to gain experiences from. As being a part of an organization that talks to prospective students and guests that come to tour UF, talking and making them feel welcome is key. As captain of a dance team, compromising and promoting teamwork is something I do at every practice. Based on these experiences, I have the ability to make others feel comfortable. My aspirations are to do something that involves business and interaction. I have a passion for business as that is something that my family has engaged in, and I would love to fuse that with talking and interacting with people. This business would be a way for me to start a business while pitching the idea to others and making people see how this product could benefit their lives.

What: I am offering a way for men to not have fallen beard hairs make a mess in the bathroom. With a rectangle cloth that connects on the back of the neck on one end, and the other two ends stick to the mirror, it creates a way for the beard hair to be caught in a large cloth rather than having it go all around the bathroom.

Who am I offering it to: I am primarily selling this product to two types of people, men with beards, as well as people who live with men who maintain beards. These two groups of people deal with the fallen beard hairs, and there needs to be a solution for this issue that has existed for a while. All my customers have experience with fallen beard hair or have beards themselves.

Why do they care: My customers will care because I am offering them a solution that they may have dealt with for a while. Fallen beard hair is a nuisance and can get into all the nooks and crannies of a bathroom. The current solution would be to just be careful when trimming the beard as well as wiping the bathroom sink often. Although effective, this solution can be a pain to deal with and does not ensure that all of the hairs will be picked up and not left on the counter or all over the sink.

What are my core competencies: My people skills set me apart from everyone else. My ability to talk to strangers and make them feel welcome is something that I have had to work on and have experience with.

These elements do fit together with the aspects of my business concept. This is a business concept that people may not realize that there is a need for, someone needs to explain it. If it is properly explained and relayed that the concept is beneficial to their lives, then this product will sell and be of importance. Aspects that are weaker include the fact that I do not have experience starting a business myself, as well as the development and engineering of the product itself. I do know what I have in mind and what I want it to look like, however, I do not have the knowledge of how to turn this idea into a physical product that I can sell. The process of developing this product is something that I may face many challenges with.