24A-Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

There are roughly six billion cellphone users worldwide and that number is constantly growing. Phones, and smartphones in particular, have become a large aspect of everyday life. Therefore, from an entrepreneur’s perspective you can see that there is a large number of potential customers in this market. So, with such large market I felt that there has to be a need out there these customers have that is not being filled. What I discovered was an area in the cell phone accessories department that was lacking and realized a wireless charging would fill this unmet need. For this opportunity there is an unbelievable number of potential customers, possibly six billion like previously mentioned, but I would focus on the white-collar workers. The customers that recognize this opportunity the most are the ones that are in the business world, using their phones all day, multiple electronic devices, and thus are familiar with the latest technology. The need that they have isn’t a full-on crisis, they could survive without this product. However, there is a level of convenience and sustainability that this product would provide that will drive their desire for it. The wired way of charging is not sustainable for the phone or the cord and is a hassle at times. This poor design on the phone manufacturers part has created the opportunity and their customers deserve better for what they are paying for. Our product likely won’t be to the liking of the phone manufactures because they won’t have to purchase new chargers from them frequently or new phones as often, less money for them. Which leads me to be wary that the window for opportunity won’t last forever. Their answer will either be to create their own form of wireless chargers or design future phones in a way that doesn’t fit our design.  At this point we will go back to the drawing board, but those counter moves would take time, time that we will certainly capitalize on.

Innovation

There are forms of wireless chargers out there, but they are very few and present a laundry list of complaints. None of the ones I have found are manufactured by one of the bigger names in phone accessories. Most of them are designed to only charge one device at a time and the phone has to be sitting on the charging mat allowing your use to limited while charging. In addition to this, the biggest gripe is that there are very few ones that it is actually compatible for. Thus, our product was created in attempt to address all of the issue and then some. Picture this, a relatively compact mat about the size of a book. On this mat there will be a power supply on the back end of it that connects via usb like most of your phone chargers out there. This will provide power to the four wireless chargers that are docked on the charging station, but removable. The idea for this is that if you don’t need to be using your phone while it charges you can lay it down on one of the four chargers and walk away. On the other hand, if you need to use your phone and charge at the same time you can grab one of the removable chargers and it will have enough power for one full charge before it needs to be put back on the dock. No longer will you have to plug into your charging port with one of the cheap iPhone cords that frays or snaps at the tip. No longer do you have to worry about that charging port on your phone giving out. Anyone that has had to experience these negative effects to the current charging design will buy this product. We will get them on shelves in BestBuy and Target most importantly. After this we will attempt to get them in stock at the phone retailers. The reason this wouldn’t be the first priority is because usually that’s only where you go to buy a new phone or get yours fixed and this wouldn’t generally be an accessory you would considering buying at those times. This is separate from the phone manufacturers, like Bose selling wireless earbuds that they want people to buy instead of Apple’s. Currently our best estimate for price will be somewhere around $40. Considering it can serve as four separate charges, that’s a bargain and it could be higher.

Venture Concept

Not all customers will buy this product right off the bat, it could be an underwhelming amount in fact and we will be prepared for that. The reason for this is large in part due to the number of customers that for a product like this will want to watch others be the guinea pig. Also, there will be another group of customers that have yet to experience the complications with wired chargers, so they won’t understand the need yet. All of this being said, eventually word will get out and people will recognize the convenience of them, they will then become common in households across the country. All it is going to take is our product to appeal to enough of those consumers that always buy the newest technology because they are curious and those that have experienced the unmet needs that created the opportunity. From there it will become like everything else in technology where people want what everyone else has. There will be competitors come along the way, but none with more control than those that design the phones themselves. They can create their own design and with their brand they will outsell us even if they have an inferior product. This product will still be able to succeed though. It is just going to take the right connections and some strategic marketing along with releasing the product at the ideal time.