Idea Napkin NO.2

1)    Hello, my name is Conner Brannon and I am young entrepreneur who is determined to work hard in order to achieve my goals. I feel like I have great personality and get along with just about everybody I meet. My aspirations are to create a business model to find geographical areas that are in need of more parking spaces. More specifically I wish to explore the market in Gainesville, Fl near Norman hall/sorority row. I feel that this opportunity is great idea and there is a lot of potential. My hopes are to take the stress off parking so that students that live in this area can focus on more important things.

2)    The service I am offering will help parking in areas that are overfilled with cars. In the areas surrounding the University of Florida you can find multiple apartment complex’s however, there is not enough parking for the number of tenants. I am offering a parking lot that has reserved parking so that those who cannot park at their complex have a safe and consistent parking spot. Furthermore, I will provide single day parking to those who cannot find street parking and need a place to park for one night.

3)    I am offering parking spots to anyone who will need it. However most of the customers will be students that live in an apartment with more than one person and more than one car. The problem is that when you sign a lease for a four-bedroom apartment, most apartments only give one parking spot. This results in three people getting left out and now have to depend on street parking.

4)    Price is going to be tricky because everyone is different on their willingness to pay for this service. This business opportunity is highly elastic and the set price will either make it or break it. However, people are attached to their cars and they want to make sure that their vehicle is safe. Parking on the street puts your car at risk for a break in, furthermore you can never depend on street parking. Therefore, at a strategic price that multiple people will pay a monthly fee to have their cars parked in a lot will make this opportunity successful. Furthermore, I will be directly competing with street parking, and will need to make my parking lot be the better alternative.

5)    What sets this apart is that it has yet to be done. Although the market may not be very large there will still be a group of over 100 students that would be willing to pay for this service. There is nothing special about this opportunity and the risks aren’t that high either. The bulk of this project is just buying land in a location that near multiple apartment complexes. If the idea isn’t working then just sell off the land (In this area it seems that new apartment complexes are popping up each semester, so I’m sure you could find a buyer).  Because the risks are relatively low, means that the rewards won’t be as high. However, this is a good way to see a steady stream of money come in every month.

Overall I feel that all of these points come together and could have the potential to be very profitable. However, there is always a chance of things going south and not turning out the way that you planned. I see this opportunity as going into real estate and the business will have minimal costs. Overall the bulk of the costs will be directed into land, and will have minimal cost to actually make a parking lot. Furthermore, this will not require a manager nor will managing this occupy a lot of time.

            One point that was made in my feedback response was price, and I couldn’t agree more. Price is going to be tricky to set because it will directly affect the number of customers. I found that this idea is highly elastic and setting the right price will be the most important factor to success. I also believe that in order to see this opportunity through I would need to have a lot of cash. I feel that putting most of the money up front and buying a property instead of having a mortgage would be the best move. I wouldn’t want to put all my eggs in one basket for this business idea. This would be a smarter investment to someone who already has cash and looking for an easy place to put your money. The other responses that I got were all good and agreed that this is a big problem in Gainesville. Therefore, I did not make that many changes to my idea napkin just added some extra stuff in.