Assignment 4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief

1: I believe that an opportunity exists to build cell towers along I75. There are parts of I75 that have very weak cell reception.

2: People have a need for cell phone reception along I75. This can be fixed by building cell towers in weak reception areas. Anyone who has ever driven down I75, listening to music, or some other activity that requires cellular reception understands the significant amount of areas with little to no cellular reception. This need is not new and yet it has still not been fixed. Since cell phones were first created, areas far away from cities have struggled with quality cellular reception. In order to meet this need for cellular reception, people must continue driving until they reach an area that receives better cellular reception.

3: The prototypical customer would be anyone with a cell phone who drives, or has ridden in a car that drives along I75.

4: This person notices that about an hour and 20 minutes into their 3 hour journey from Clearwater to Florida they notice the worst drop in cellular service. After looking at the map it appears that there are state wildlife parks on each side of the highway. This would likely hinder building efforts for cell towers. The only solution to the problem according to this person is to keep driving until better cellular reception becomes available.

3 – The prototypical customer is still someone who drives along I75, or who is a passenger in a car that uses I75.

4 – This interviewee specifically mentioned that they use AT&T as their cellular provider. This could likely be a problem with this specific network and not necessarily the cell phone community as a whole. This would then limit the scope of this opportunity to a much smaller market.

3 - After my final interview it appears that AT&T’s network is specifically weak along I75. Therefore, the prototypical customer is likely an AT&T user who would benefit the most from this. More interviews would have to be done to confirm this belief. This person also mentioned a different phone used than the previous two. It was specifically an android phone which could also be a factor in receiving good or bad cellular reception.

5: Two of the three people interviewed said they did in fact notice a lack of cellular reception along Interstate 75. Both of these people had AT&T. The third person used Verizon and said they did not have problems with cellular reception along I75. This leads me to believe that it’s possible it’s not as big of an opportunity as previously thought. It might only be certain cellular providers that have weak cellular networks along I75. The type of phone could also determine the quality of cell reception that someone receives. After these interviews I can determine that an opportunity does in fact exist here.

6 (repeated above)

7 The core belief about my original opportunity is still there however it has changed significantly. I originally believed that everyone struggled with cellular service, but I have learned that is not the case. After my interviews I have learned that the AT&T network specifically struggles along particular parts of I75. Some phones also seem to receive better reception than others. My original opportunity about the ability to improve cellular reception for everyone now focuses on improving it for AT&T customers and particular cell phone brand users.

My new opportunity is definitely more accurate and focused than before. Instead of trying to capture the entire cell phone user base, I am now able to focus on a particular group of people who I know would benefit from this opportunity.

An Entrepreneur’s primary goal is to innovate in order to identify a customer’s need and meet it. Without adapting to the customer’s feedback, the entrepreneur cannot meet their needs and thus they are not fulfilling their goal. Listening to the people who will buy your product or service is vital to the success of a business. I think that the entrepreneur should hold onto the core of his or her business and yet still be flexible and open to change.  Whatever their core idea is should carry with them but the rest of their business and ideas should be directly based on what their customers tell them. What better way is there to meet the customer’s needs than to listen to what they tell you?