24A Venture Concept no. 1

This opportunity is based on the under-met needs of University of Florida students. At UF there is no ideal solution for the campus parking issues. This poses a serious problem for student who need to arrive to campus for time sensitive classes, exams, or meetings. Even today, when I drove to the parking lot near Little Hall, I had to drive around for over 30 minutes to find a spot so I could go to the library. Thankfully, I was not in a situation where I was going to be late, but it would have been an issue if I was. One thing related to this need that I noticed today is that the parking issues become worse when it becomes colder outside. This is one way that changes in the environment affect this opportunity. My friend and I drove separately to the library, and instead of using our scooters like we normally would, we drove our cars because it was cold. This market consists of college age students mostly, but can include faculty and visitors to the University of Florida campus as well. The geographic location of this segment is Gainesville, Florida. There are many ways that the customers are currently satisfying this need, but none of them are as ideal. Students get around the campus parking issue by walking, bicycling, skateboarding, and taking the bus. Most of these options continue to not be ideal when considering the cold weather. I believe that the market segment would not be loyal to these methods if there was something better. For example, my brother travels via an electronic skateboard, but he still has to drive to campus and park on the outskirts. If he could drive to campus and park closer to his destination, he would not have had to invest in the electronic skateboard at all. Because the University of Florida has so many people visiting each day between students and staff, the opportunity is pretty significant. Currently, there are not major innovations being created to satisfy this problem. While students express concerns frequently and therefore you would think changes would be made, I do not think the window of opportunity is a big issue.



The innovation comes in two steps. The first is to build more and taller parking garages on campus to accommodate more people, as opposed to parking lots that take up space and do not accommodate very many people. The innovation that accompanies this is an app that updates in real time that shows people traveling to campus which garages have open spots, where the spots are, and even how many people are in route to campus / specific garages. The payment would be a subscription, such as $3 a month. Because it is a subscription, students who are not in Gainesville full time, such as leaving over the summer or leaving for a semester to study abroad, would not have to pay for it while they cannot benefit from it. It is able to be inexpensive because the segment group is so large. As it is, I park in the Reitz garage occasionally, I would say approximately once a month, and have to pay $4 just to park for 2 hours. Because people are willing to do this, I believe they would be willing to have a subscription that allows them to take the risk out of driving to campus in a time sensitive situation.



This is beneficial for the university as well, because more people will be inclined to buy a parking pass if they have a reliable parking system. I have a friend who recently brought her car back home because having it here is more of a hassle than a benefit. She is not buying a campus decal anymore because she gets parking tickets when she cannot find anywhere to park, and that makes it a bad solution for her. I do not think it would be that hard to get students to switch, because the price of the app is small compared to the price people already pay for a decal that is not that beneficial to them. Also, if they buy the app, they would not have to invest in alternate modes of transportation. I think the reliability of the product is its greatest resource. The product is reliable for campus parking because it can tell people when and where parking pots are open, and this eliminates the risk associated with not finding a parking spot when you have to be somewhere on time. This is the main selling point, because the bus is not reliable as far as time goes, and that is the most widely used alternative to campus parking. As far as what is next, this product could be used at other college campuses. A lot of universities have campus parking issues, and this app could be used anywhere without the software being modified that greatly. In five years, this venture would be fully off the ground and able to be implemented into other campuses. Five years would provide enough time to figure out what works and what does not, in order to deliver the best product possible.