Assignment 4- Forming An Opportunity Belief

Forming An Opportunity Belief

1. I believe people waste a lot of time walking around Library West trying to find an empty seat.

2. Students do not have a way to see, prior to arriving and walking around for several minutes at a time, which tables/ seats are available at library west. They need a way to see what tables are available instantaneously to avoid wasting time that could be used studying, looking for a seat. Those with this need are undergraduate students taking classes at the University of Florida’s campus that use Library West. This need has been here for as long as I have been attending UF (3 years). Because of the large volume of students that have always been attending UF, I suspect this has been a problem for several years. To meet this need now, students will text friends in the library to see if there are seats near them to avoid walking around to find seats. There are really no other options besides going to a different library or just walking around until a seat opens up. I am about 75% sure that this opportunity exists and would be useful to current students who use the library.

3. The prototypical customer:

a. A UF student who is seated studying at Library West.

b. A UF student who is walking around searching for a seat at Library West.

c. An employee who works at the Library West Circulation Desk

4. Interviews:

a. I found a pair of students sitting at a circular table on the second floor of Library West and asked them questions about the problem of looking for seats. One student, Taylor, told me she had been at the library since 8 am and when she arrived there were plenty of seats available. When the other student, Mackenzie, arrived at around 11 there were hardly any tables left so she had asked Taylor to save her a spot. They both agreed that they have spent “multiple occasions wasting time pacing around the library looking for a place to sit”. Both made a point to express that sitting at a table with one empty seat while the others are already taken by a group makes them uncomfortable so they usually look for an all-around empty table to sit in. As expressed by Taylor, this need isn’t so prevalent in the early mornings but “as the day goes on it becomes more of an issue”. They both claimed that wasting time looking for a seat at Library West has been a problem since their freshman year, and they are each seniors now. Neither one was satisfied with their current system of walking around aimlessly until a spot opens up.

b. Among the hundreds of students studying, I stopped one student, Savannah, who was in the midst of walking around to find a seat and asked her a few questions. Her issue with walking around to find a seat was the amount of time it takes, as she described herself as “a very impatient person”. The way savannah deals with the issue is: if she has been searching for a seat for over 10 minutes she leaves Library West and walks to Marston Science Library to see if there are any seats available there. She is unhappy with this solution because she claims it causes her to spend “more time walking around campus than getting any studying done”. When asked how often she experiences this need, Savannah said it is mostly on weekdays. For instance, when she goes to library on Friday night it is not as busy as compared to a Monday night. Savannah began to notice this need about a month or two into her freshman year, and will sometimes avoid the libraries all together because of it.

c. After to talking to the head of Library West, Jana Ronan, she informed me that there are actually precise numbers on how many students enter and exit the library and at what specific times this happens. She is gathering the information to email to me so that I can see exact figures as to when Library West is the busiest. She agreed that the way students search for a seat at Library West is not as efficient as it could be. She also explained that the library gets funds from the tech portion of student fees that could be used to pay for some sort of program to alleviate the issue. Jana also expressed her concerns about students “who have tried to solve this issue in the past” but weren’t able to go through with it. Because this library is so central on campus it makes it one of the busiest libraries, which is why Jana’s role as head chair was able to give me a lot of insight on this issue.

5. From conducting these interviews, I was able to gain a lot of information about this opportunity. I learned that every student in Library West, whether studying or walking around trying to find a place to study is affected by this issue of searching for seats. What was most surprising to me about my opportunity was how much the staff noticed this issue and was even interested in looking for ways to relieve it. I also learned that different people are affected different by my opportunity. For example, someone who is patient may notice the issue but may not have a problem spending time searching for a seat, whereas an impatient person, like Savannah, really struggles looking for a place to sit. I also found it interesting that all 3 students I spoke to have noticed this problem since they first arrived at UF, which leads to me to believe it has been going on for an extended period of time. I was able to gain insight as to what both the student body and faculty thought about this issue which allowed me to see different perspectives about this opportunity.

6. (Repeated steps above)

7. I believe after going through this process that my original opportunity is still there. From the information that I collected, I would say that the opportunity is more accurate than I thought to begin with. I didn’t realize how many people actually noticed this issue, including faculty. I think entrepreneurs should adapt their ideas as much as possible to the majority opinion of customers. As we learned in class your product isn’t going to work unless there is a customer need for it, and staying firm is not going to change customers opinions. So, in order to be successful, I believe there must be some compromise on the entrepreneur’s part to adapt to customer feedback.