Building on feedback
From my first Venture Concept, I got a lot of feedback. One person told me about the limit of parking garage floors in Florida. Because the garage will not be publicly owned, there are no regulations, from what I understand with research. One thing I can also say is that it will be required to add a handicap parking area in the parking garage. It is something I didn’t originally consider, but because of comments, I’ve been able to build my idea.
Another student suggested that building upward is a good idea, which is really encouraging. I think it was helpful to see other students support my idea.
Venture Concept No. 2
It’s finals week.
It’s finals week, and every second that you spend studying
determines your future. At least, that’s what your professor said. And your
professor is a godly person, whose letter or recommendation you need. But in
order to get that letter, you need to ace that final.
Simple, right? You’ve studied. You’ve put in the time. You’ve
paid your dues.
You’re ready. You get to campus 30 minutes early. You know
UF parking; you know it’ll take you 15 minutes to walk, 5 if you get a good
parking spot. So you go, and you drive. And you spot a parking spot! Until you
realize, you don’t have the decal for it. Is it worth getting a ticket? That
$35 could be better spent getting Ben & Jerry’s… you skip the spot, because
you have some time to spare.
Until you don’t. You end up circling the parking lot,
waiting for someone to leave, but no one does. You miss your exam, you fail the
class, and you miss your chance at med school.
It’s an unlikely possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.
Opportunity.
Your Next Destination is here to help you ace that exam, and
the rest of your tests. We’re here to make it easier for you to get to class. When
we come upon a large population that congregates at a central location, we help
them meet their needs. Whether it be creating a sustainable parking lot or a
sustainable metro system, we find opportunity when the needs of transportation
for the population is unmet.
This opportunity is fueled by UF’s own parking rules. UF
restricts parking lots through color-coded decals, which are given out
depending on the status of the driver, or owner of the car. UF also sells more
decals than they have parking spaces; because of this, a lot of the times the need
is greater than the
The forces and the changes in environment that would apply
to creating a low-impact parking lot would include having a large enough space
and having the space to begin construction. UF is already under heavy
construction. The environment, in terms of the atmosphere, is most likely
suffering due to the heavy pollution from construction and the number of cars
on the road. But the parking lot will be aims at decreasing the number of cars
on the road by using a metro system to connect to campus.
The market depends heavily on the geography and demographic
of the area. The demographic, specifically, would have to be young and able to
drive. Specifically, when aiming at a population like UF, I would need driven,
busy people to fuel the market of the parking lot. The purpose of the lot is to
decrease the amount of travel time, but not sacrificing safety.
Currently, at the University of Florida, people are meeting
their parking and transportation needs by seeking alternative resources, or planning
their schedule around the timing of parking. Is this satisfying? According to
feedback from UF students across campus, not really. The price of UF decals
continues to go up, but the number of parking spaces stays the same. One has to
wonder about the ratio of decals to parking spaces that UF has. They’re in the
process of building a parking lot on campus, but it will be limited to
orange-decal parking.
This opportunity is big, according to the feedback that I’ve
received from students. There has been overwhelming positive feedback for the
idea.
The
window of opportunity will exist as long as UF continues to raise the prices of
decals, sell a high number of decals and not increase the number of parking
spaces accordingly.
Innovation.
So how
does it work? The parking lot will be built skyward versus out. Gainesville is
an expanding community, so we need to find creative ways in figuring out how to
tackle the issue. The idea? Build a sustainable parking lot that’ll have
a metro system to bring students on campus. The plan is to make it close enough
so that walking is an option, but also providing a safe place for your car
during the day, and having a way to get to and fro without having to walk in
the heat, cold or rain. Because in the heart of the Gator Nation, we know that
we’re not immune to the changing seasons of Florida. Our plan is to only sell
as many decals as we have spots, or figure out a way only sell as many as we
can provide during a busy time. I know what it’s like to circle the parking lot
for several minutes. I don’t want other students to have to go through that
again.
The way the lot will make money is through selling allotted
spaces. But the plan is to make it so that we’re not selling more than we can
provide, but selling the maximum amount of decals using an algorithm.
Venture
Concept.
I don’t think it will be too difficult to make the customers
switch. From the students I’ve talked to, they would pick another parking space
if it’s cheap and easier. But the RTS bus system is already busy, and they’re
looking to increase the number of bus stops, but if they don’t increase the
number of buses, it will only make the commute longer.
The competitors are other parking lots and UF itself. But as
explained earlier, I’ve already exposed their weakness; their prices and their
lack of space, coupled with their poor planning, will be the downfall of the
decals of UF. Other competitors are other parking lots. But the plan will be to
create something different, new and useful by implementing a metro system.
Pricing points will have to be set and discussed because
sustainability will be key to not only attracting students but providing an
environmentally-safe product. The price will have to be negotiated once I speak
to a sustainability expert, who will be able to give me price ranges of
sustainable material, like recycled cement. The price of cement falls between
$3-5. The plan would be to use dumped cement, find a way to either melt it down
and reuse it, or fit it back together.
The customer experience will have to be unique. It will have
to be more than a parking lot; more than just a metro system. More than just
transportation.
The number of employees will include security guards and a
24-hour parking lot keeper, to avoid someone who isn’t allowed to park in the
lot from getting in, and to avoid having to give people tickets. It will also
help provide an economic boost through the construction and implementation of
the lot.
Updates: after reading feedback and considering my options, I’ve
decided to adjust my plan to style the parking garage after an airport metro
station. For airports in big cities, like Madrid, Spain, metro stations are
used to transport flyers from one side of the building to the other if they
have connecting flights. Having been on the metro in Madrid, I can
wholeheartedly say that it works.
