Idea Napkin No. 2

1) Me: I am a political science and history double-major, with an innovation minor, in my third year at UF. I consider my primary talents to be my work ethic and my people skills. Within these two talents there are numerous aspects, with much of my work ethic being characterized by a level head under pressure and when subjected to guidelines, an eye for methodical research and fact-finding, and a great capacity for connecting with others and making them feel comfortable among my people skills. Most of my skills and experiences lie in the realm of political campaigns, specifically local campaigns that I participated in as a canvasser back home in Tallahassee. I also have some experience in business and innovation from my involvement in the Catalyst contest that all Innovation Academy students participate in during their freshman year. My aspirations primarily lie in the realm of diplomacy and social activism, particularly with regards to combating Islamophobia in the United States and abroad, hence my current study of Arabic. As for my business aspirations, I mainly just want to create a product and service which makes things easier and less painful for pet owners and their pets. If I were to start this business I do not see it playing a particularly significant role in my life. I would most likely hand off management of the business to somebody with more of a mind for management and entrepreneurship so that I could focus my time and funds on the issues that I am passionate about.

2) What I'm offering to customers: My business idea is both a product and a service. The product is a line of CBD-based medications aimed at household pets, primarily dogs and cats, which seek to treat all manner of illnesses and symptoms, ranging from minor aches and pains to epilepsy. The service would be an online and in-person pharmacy that would make these products available to pet-owners across the country, in both cities and rural areas.

3) Who I am offering it to: My product is aimed at pet-owners of all kinds, but specifically the owners of the most common household pets: dogs and cats. Within this demographic, my product does not tend towards any one age demographic, though it does tend towards those who may be more open-minded about the use of a cannabis byproduct to treat their animals.

4) Why do they care: Customers care about my product because they care about their pets, it's as simple as that. For most pet-owners, their pets are members of their family, and this fact is made even more apparent when one looks at how much money is in the veterinary industry. Pet-owners are willing to shell out thousands of dollars to keep their pets happy, healthy, and comfortable, so offering a product that does all of those at a fraction of the cost and with minimal side-effects compared to traditional medicines is certainly something pet owners will care about.

5) My core competencies: My core competencies lie in my people skills, specifically in connecting to people on a personal level beyond what they are used to outside of their family and friends. Everybody who knows me knows that I am compassionate and empathetic, and that these qualities make me a good source of advice for all manner of personal issues. Selling a product to somebody is little more than just giving them some strongly opinionated advice, and so I think these skills make me an exceptional salesperson.

I think overall the various facets of my skills and abilities fit together quite well in the context of my business idea. Although my core competencies and background lie mostly outside of the focus of my business idea, which is veterinary medicine, I think that these competencies make my good at connecting to customers on a personal and emotional level, which would increase my capacity to bring in new customers. If anything, I think the odd factor out in all of this is the business idea itself. Despite this, I think as a whole my business ideas and competencies function well together.

Feedback memo: I did not really receive any substantive feedback regarding my previous idea napkin, so I turned to some of my other posts to look for things to add onto my idea napkin. One of these aspects was from my secret sauce, in which the people I interviewed pointed out some aspects of my abilities and skills that I had not noticed previously, such as my eye for research, but which I thought fit in quite well to my idea napkin. The other area in which I changed things was in my examination of how the various aspects of my competencies and business idea fit together. The secret sauce post made me realize that my competencies and my business idea fit together much better than I previously thought, and I changed my idea napkin to reflect this.