Amazon Whisperer

• Revenue Drivers:

It will be difficult at first to make money because FuturePay will be a free app. Revenues will be made off of advertisements for the app which will be posted to Facebook, twitter, and instagram. The bars in midtown that use my service will have to pay a small fee which is the main revenue driver, as well as the consumers of the app. 

• What's the next thing your customers want?

The next thing my customers will want is to be able to pay for drinks through the app and open/close their bar tab. This will de-crowd the bar area and make it much easier to get drinks. 

•  Does it improve the user experience, does it increase customer switching costs, does it foster customer loyalty, etc.?

This will greatly enhance the user experience because not only to students get annoyed by the long bar lines in mid town they also get annoyed with how long it takes to get the attention of a bar tender. This process could be much more efficient if it was all done on the app.

BarEye is the most similar app to my service. It was created in 2013, this app allows you to buy drinks and "send" them to your friends. The concept is similar but it is less of a service than my app would be. However, you are able to purchase drinks at partnering bars through the app which is the next service I would provide next to the ability to pay cover. If I teamed up with BarEye this could make for a really successful idea. According to Techcrunch.com, " you can buy drinks for friends through Facebook or to anyone checked in to a BarEye bar. You can also buy yourself a drink to avoid opening a tab or waiting for service. Just select the bar and drink, pay with credit card and redeem with the bartender." Customer reviews for this app were generally very positive. People rated it high because they liked the idea. People only rated it low because of technical difficulties with connecting to the app. 

Week 11 reading reflection

You Need an Innovation Strategy

I was mostly surprised to hear that innovation efforts fail at first a majority of the time. The reason is because of a lack of alignment between innovation and business strategies. This is something I found to be very surprising and interesting. Before reading this article, I never would have though that businesses would mis-align their new innovation ideas with their typical business strategies. I learned many things in this article that are applicable to the start up of a business as an entrepreneur. There must be a specific innovation strategy in order to see success. Gary Pisano identifies the problem, a solution, and the proper steps to be taken. I like how Pisano discussed the success with Corning's innovation strategies and used a chart to show his success. I do not have any questions for the author and do not disagree with him. He provided a very indepth, clear, concise, and efficient analysis of where company's go wrong in innovation and how they can change their strategies to see more success.

My unfair advantage

FuturePay: app used to pay ahead of time to get into bars to avoid long lines

1. knowledge of how midtown works: I have a good understanding of how the bars in midtown operate.

Valuable: yes
Rare: no
Inimitable: no
Non-substitutable: yes

2. people skills: I am outgoing and good at talking to people

Valuable: yes
Rare: no
Inimitable: yes
Non-substitutable: no

3. lack of competition: similar apps do not currently exist

Valuable: yes
Rare: yes
Inimitable: yes
Non-substitutable: yes

4. college relevance: for use by college students

Valuable: yes
Rare: no
Inimitable: yes
Non-substitutable: yes

5. possibility to spread: if popular could spread to other college campuses

Valuable: yes
Rare: no
Inimitable: no
Non-substitutable: no

**6. convenience: It makes going out easier

Valuable: yes
Rare: yes
Inimitable: yes
Non-substitutable: yes

7.  large customer base: UF has a huge student body

Valuable: yes
Rare: slightly
Inimitable: no
Non-substitutable: yes

8. easy to access: most people have iPhones

Valuable: yes
Rare: slightly
Inimitable: no
Non-substitutable: yes

9. iPhone proficiency: I am easily able to navigate my phone and all the apps so I would be able to efficiently explain my app

Valuable: yes
Rare: no
Inimitable: no
Non-substitutable: yes

10. creativity: I believe this is an original idea and could create branches off of this service (such as ability to order drinks on the app)

Valuable: yes
Rare: yes
Inimitable: yes
Non-substitutable: no

My top resource is the convenience aspect. I do not believe that there are other services out there that make going out in Gainesville's midtown an easier and more efficient process.