I believe that one of the most frustrating moments (for the
people that live off-campus) is when you are walking to the bus-stop and you see
the bus going away. It is frustrating because you have two options, either wait
for the other bus the get to the bus-stop where you are (which sometimes can be
up to 30 minutes), or walk to the closest bust stop hoping that you won’t be
late again. Even though there is a smartphone application (which sometimes is
not updated) which tells you the current location of the bus you are waiting
for, I believe that there is an opportunity for an unmet need. The solution I
propose is a smartphone application where you can configure the bus-stop you frequently
use, the bus number you frequently use, and also the time when you are often at
that bus-stop. Using this information, the application would send you either text
messages or notifications 15, 25 or 30 minutes before the bus gets to your
bus-stop. I think that if you will be notified 15 minutes before the bus gets
to your stop, you will be able to either decide to hurry up and get to your bus
stop or go for the other bus stop. I think that this solution can save you time
and can also give the opportunity for everyone who takes the bus to know the
real location of the bus.
The questions I asked during my interview was based on the
following structure:
Do you go to UF?
How do you get to
your class?
If he or she rides the bus; If
he or she has a car;
Have you ever being late to the bus stop? Have
you ever used the bus?
Can you tell me more about that experience? Have
you ever being late to the bus stop?
Can you describe me what happened?
Can
you describe me what happened?
So what did you do instead?
Did you keep waiting on the bus?
What about the bus conditions, is it clean inside?
What about at night? Is it different?
What about the bus stops, are they clean?
5 Interviews
Interviewing people was a challenge, but most of all I felt
that asking the right questions was even more challenging because some of the
people that I interviewed were able to answer with short answers. Approaching
to people and asking them if I could interview them was not a challenge because
I’ve had assignments in the past which already “prepared” me for this
assignment. However, I believe that I have to improve in the development of my
interview-questions.
After interviewing my “potential” customers, I realized that
what I saw as an unmet need was not really seen an unmet need for my customers.
Out of five interviews, 2 people answered the questions showing some sort of discomfort
with the bus service provided. In other words, 40% of the people I interviewed
would find my product beneficial for themselves. I believe that I either have
to do more research of my potential customers or I just have to think about
another unmet need. This assignment open your eyes to see that your
expectations might be wrong and you might have to do more in depth research or
rethink another opportunity, which at the end I think is an essential decision that
entrepreneurs have to face on a daily basis.
Hello Alejandro,
ReplyDeleteThe other day I was in a hurry to get to class and right as the phone was telling me that the bus was 10 mins. away, I looked outside and saw it leaving my stop. Technology is very beneficial, however, sometimes it tends to be very inaccurate. Getting to class or any big event is extremely important and we must have better bus times to help us. After playing around with the RTS app, I found that they have a "notify me" button where you can have it notify you minutes before the bus arrives. The notification didn't work very well because it made a very short noise when it was close. They should revamp the app and make it easier for students to use.
Here is a a link to my blog post:
http://flgatorblogging.blogspot.com/2016/01/customer-interviews-no-1.html
Wow! You did a great job analyzing your interviews and the outcome. I personally have never had to take the bus, but I can imagine it has to be very frustrating. Waiting on a ride puts your schedule in someone else's hands and I hate losing that control over how my time is spent. I think your app idea could be beneficial with a certain customer base, but maybe you can expand beyond just the notifications.
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