Forming An Opportunity Belief

My Opportunity Belief

There are many potential opportunities that I could address, but I am picking one that every on-campus student at the University of Florida has experienced at some point: people (mostly students) that drive scooters erratically and dangerously around campus. I can even pull a real-life example of this opportunity from my memory in seconds. I witnessed a scooter rear-end a car stopped at a STOP sign because the driver of the scooter was going too fast and wasn't paying attention. 

There is an unmet need around UF, not to mention every other college campus or city where scooter riding is prominent, regarding the people that drive scooters. This has nothing to do with the demands of the scooter drivers, but instead the people that aren't driving scooters and experience the crazy terrible driving skills we can all attest to. The unmet need is pedestrian safety around campus and is experienced by every type of pedestrian including but not limited to: students, faculty, staff, tourists, non-college Gainesville residents, safe scooter drivers, etc. I've only been on campus for a little over a semester, but this need has been apparent from the start of my college career. However, I'm sure the unmet need arose as soon as scooters were popularized on college campuses. Currently, I don't see anything being done at UF about the safety hazard these scooters cause; scooter drivers still don't need a specialized license to operate their vehicle, which means drivers are being tested on whether they can safely and effectively drive a scooter. They also are not required to wear a helmet, which is a major safety precaution for street vehicles.  I'm 95% sure that this opportunity exists.

Interview Questions

1. What is the exact nature of the need? 
2. When do they become aware of the need -- that is, do they experience their need all the time or only sometimes? 
3. How long have they had the need? 
4. When did they first become aware of their need? Why? 
5. How are they currently addressing their need? 
6. How satisfied are they with this solution?

Interview 1: Student #1

1. The student doesn't believe the need exists because they're confined to the roads and have designated parking spots. He rides his bicycle often and never has problems with them. 
2. He experiences the need only occasionally but through the complaints of his friends. Apparently, his friend was hit by a scooter just the other day.  
3. A semester, which is how long he' been at college.
4. The student first became aware of this need during the third week of the Fall 2019 semester while he was riding his longboard, crossing the street and encountered a reckless driver.
5. He's not addressing it because he doesn't see it as a serious issue. 
6. Although they aren't addressing anything, the student says that they would be completely satisified with the helmet solution if it were to be implemented.

Reflection: This interview really opened my eyes to what I believed would be an unpopular opinion that I probably wouldn't encounter. The student's perspective that scooter drivers aren't a safety hazard *as long as they drive normally and aren't acting stupid* is very intriguing to me.  

Interview 2: Student #2

1. The need is definitely there but the frequency of the opportunity is questionable. The scooters drive normally most of the time and reckless driving only happens occasionally. 
2. They only become aware of the need when they experience it while commuting around campus, which is only sometimes. They say they have only experienced it several times since the beginning of Fall 2019.
3. They've had the need for two years, or since they came to UF. Before that, scooters weren't a frequent vehicle in her home town.
4. They've been aware of the need since experiencing it first at UF because merely by observing people driving scooters around she gets a sense of a safety hazard.
5. Currently, she's addressing her need by being careful while crossing the streets and around busy intersections.
6. They're mostly satisfied with this solution, although they say it would be ideal if a better system was in place, such as a licensing system specifically for scooters.

Reflection: This interview aligned more with my personal viewpoint regarding scooters on and around UF's campus. However, I still don't see the drive that I expected when it comes to the initiative for scooter law reform in licensing and requiring helmets. 

Interview 3: Student #3 (This student drives a scooter)

1. He says he would regard himself as a safe driver and doesn't see license and helmet reform as a necessary step to increasing scooter safety, but he definitely encounters many students that aren't properly informed on how to drive a scooter safely and need instruction.  
2. They experience the need mostly while driving their own scooter (although it is not them causing the need, it's other scooter drivers).
3. He says that he only really began noticing the people that drive recklessly once he began driving himself because then he had to pay more attention to scooters around him.
4. They first became aware of the need when they got their scooter and drove it around campus for the first time.
5. They currently address their need by driving carefully their self and avoiding crazy drivers in general. He added that he doesn't find himself consciously doing this often.
6. They're satisfied with the solution, but agree that generally, requiring a license specifically for scooters and also mandating a helmet would improve scooter safety greatly. 

Reflection: This student had an interesting perspective because I initially didn't think to include scooter drivers among the subjects that are experiencing the need. I went back and added them to get a better idea of the market. I thought this person also aligned with my personal views although not as strongly. 

Summary

Yes, my opportunity belief has indeed changed since I have conducted these interviews. I realized that the opportunity need is not as prominent as I expected and I would definitely correct my original statistic of 95% to probably 20 - 30% if that. The reason it dropped so much is that although most students will acknowledge that reform in the form of licenses and helmets would be beneficial to safety, they are overall content using their own solutions. Of course, the downside to licenses and helmets is that it still doesn't completely correct the issue of crazy drivers (as we can see with cars) and college students are just more wild in general so I'm not sure how much of an effect there would be. When I think about how I could adapt my opportunity to make it more accurate and the need to feel more present, it's definitely essential to listen to the feedback from customers. After all, they are the ones that will be buying or approving your product or idea so their opinion is crucial to alterations. If an entrepreneur doesn't adapt to the customer needs they will be ditched, left behind and replaced by someone else more willing to hear out the needs of everyone.