Mindset Shift
It’s actually been almost a month since I posted in this topic, I keep mentioning that I need to catch up with blog work and one day I will post consistently! So just to firstly summarise the last couple of weeks of the Venture Culture module the following has happened:
1. I have thought up a completely new idea
2. I have been a very busy lad
3. Several VC sessions have taken place where I have planned out my business idea in a bit of depth
Lets go through these points and see whats been happening. First off the ChatNav idea was an OK concept but it was slightly out of my comfort zone in terms of producing a working product and marketing it to the world. Maybe sometime in the future. I started following Dawn’s advice where I literally write down EVERYTHING that bothers me, and compile it into a big list. After a week this accumulated into a big mess of things, and unfortunately I will not share this information yet! For each of the items on the list I went through and tried to devise a technical solution to the problem and found one project in particular which is adventurous, clever, useful and possible with my skillset (just!).
To explain the idea in one sentence, I would say that I am looking to devise an App for iOS which allows Students to find Events and Promotions in Plymouth. I feel as if it is a big opportunity to go for as recently I acquired an iPhone which has allowed me to explore the iOS App Store and see holes/gaps in the market. Currently there are only 31 Apps under the ‘Plymouth’ keyword, and only 1 App if you use the keywords ‘Plymouth’ and ‘Student’. Judging from this, if I were to devise a Plymouth based App, I would rank pretty high in the search results even before anybody has downloaded the App in the first place.
The idea originated from trying to investigate what is on in Plymouth which is fun for Students (me) to do, and keep things cheap. I currently have a corkboard up in my living room which replicates this idea, but this involves going out and mass collecting flyers. Involved parties would involve the local businesses and bars, I feel as if the more local establishments will be more willing to get any form of self-advertisement out there.
Developing such products always boil down to one thing: Revenue. There are a few routes I can go down, sometimes more than one if the project develops well over time. Initially I think it would be great to keep the App free to get more downloads and build up an initial user base for the product. Word of mouth would spread the idea pretty well and get more users using the application. Once the users download and use the App, there will be small iAds which is a very small banner going along the top/bottom of the product. This would generate a very small amount of cash per user (more if clicks happen) but over a large scale the pennies add up.
To advertise the App as said previously search results in the App Store should not be a problem, high ranking is easily possible. With the partnership of each establishment, I am hoping I will be able to deploy a paper-based QR Poster on their walls, which once scanned takes the user to the App Store page to swiftly download the product. If I get the UPSU as a key collaborator, it might even be possible to get University backing on the product and build the service under their corporate branding to save me time!
In terms of future development and increased cashflow, if the partnerships work well with the local businesses, I could use the App to perform micro-transactions and sell entry tickets to specific events at their venues (scannable barcodes?). Of course this idea is also scalable, so the service does not need to be locked to Plymouth, it can be expanded out to other cities/counties in the UK.
Hopefully if this idea kicks off well it should gain me a good foothold in the iOS App Store as a known developer and help in the future for any other Apps I create!