Venture Concept No. 2

Over the course of the past few weeks, I have been working towards the implementation of societal and environmentally friendly street lamps that provide better sight during dark hours. What merely started as a thought in my mind has sprouted into a full-blown business idea ready to be shared with the community. With the seed having been planted, I have been conducting several interviews, conducting elevator pitches and receiving feedback from classmates to see what works and what I should change to make better. There are several factors that have been important in developing the venture, however, my main focus has been primarily on three things: identifying opportunity, hammering innovation, and clarifying my venture concept. In this essay, I will elaborate on each of these sections while solidifying my venture in the process.

I find opportunity best when I let my thoughts flow effortlessly, and typically when I do this, my mind begins to wander and explore different problems. This is how I came across the venture idea for creating better lighting for residential areas. Walking my dog after a long day at work, I, through the hands of the customer, experienced the problem. Living in a dark neighborhood with poor lighting, I felt afraid to take my dog for a walk before going to bed. At this moment, I immediately knew that this was not just me; there were others out there that surely experienced the same sort of nervousness when walking about during the night. I was able to identify my customer when doing this: I pictured a young lady arriving home from work after a long day, and taking her dog out for a walk. She felt unsafe while walking her dog because she could not see very well and lived in a dark residential area. The nature of satisfying this need is innate: fear is an unconditioned response to the unconditioned stimulus of the darkness; it is natural to be afraid of the dark because we do not know what lurks within. It is an essential problem that needs to be solved, or else simple tasks such as taking out the trash at night and walking a dog will seem like daunting tasks. Due to the environment and the poor implementation of lighting, an opportunity seems to have appeared out of thin air. 

Geographically, the market is centered around areas that have poor lighting and are susceptible to thieves, wild animals and other dangerous encounters, such as northern midtown Gainesville and areas of campus near the law school. Demographically, we see a variety of people experiencing this problem, from college students like myself to my neighbors, who are a married couple and have a baby girl. It is an essential and grandiose opportunity which will improve the security of urbanizations, and the opportunity will remain so until efficient, improved forms of lighting are implemented.

Innovation is the foundation for all great projects that have blossomed into services that we use today, and it is equally as important in my venture concept as well. Having a few friends in the engineering school that is constantly building new things and working with electrical circuits has been a blessing. I brought this idea to these talented engineers, we have been able to create a more efficient form of lighting that burns brighter and at a lower cost than the current forms of lighting being used in the street lamps. By using a halogenic form of lighting that burns at less wattage than the standard incandescent light bulb we were able to accomplish this. The circuits run with different insolation as well, minimizing the probability for a light bulb burning out through a storm, or rain per se. Current incandescent lighting uses about 250 to 300 watts of power daily to power, while the light we have produced only uses about 85 watts. This would cut down the costs almost 3 times, and would probably total up to about 3200$ to implement, rather than the current $7000-$8000 range of lighting and implementation. 

The idea for this venture concept is to sell the rights for users to the City of Gainesville for a certain dollar amount, where they can do the implementation themselves and directly help out the community. The city will buy this product because it is simply better than the product they currently have, and if they don’t then they will be seen as static by the rest of the community, knowing that no action is being taken with the more efficient forms of lighting available. There is currently limited competition with this area of lighting, so that is a great plus for our team. For our team, quality, distribution and ensuring that our customers are satisfied with the product are paramount in defining our business concept. Keeping it simple is most important, so, for now, we can manage with just the four of us. Assuming that cities start implementing these lights, then we may need to invest in a production team, creating light bulbs quickly and efficiently. 

The intelligence of the engineers I have access to is unparalleled to anything I’ve seen. We have creativity, fun, and hard-work which are all essential elements to a successful venture. Most companies can recruit the brains and materials needed, but not all companies work in the ways I have seen my team of engineers work with their resources. The product at this point has been created, of course only at a small level. The next endeavor for our team will be to reach out to the City of Gainesville through a detailed letter explaining the product we have created and its advantages against the current form of street lighting used. 

Within the next five years, I hope to be working on a new project and solving more problems while working alongside incredible people as I have done on this project.

Feedback: The feedback I received from my first venture concept post was sight-revealing. I was told by my peers that the structure and content of my essay were relatively easy to interpret which was relieving. However, my peers also told me that I needed to be more concise in some parts and that I did mush up some parts and go off-topic. In hindsight, I see that this was because of trying to hit the 2-page mark in limited time.

People recommended that I figure out how to make this venture more profitable; the way it is currently set up is more for the benefit of the city, rather than for personal benefit. I have been brainstorming ways to create more of a monetary benefit for myself and my team. 

Change: I didn't have to change a whole lot of my venture, but just remodeling how I am going to approach introducing the idea to the public will require more thinking. Originally I planned to sell the rights to use my light to the city of Gainesville, however, I am thinking if I can create a way to implement them myself then that would allow me to implement them in certain houses and areas and thus make it profitable.