24A - Venture Concept No.1

The Opportunity
1) The people who have the need would be anyone who has dirty shoes that wants them cleaned. The target segment is active, college-aged students or post-college adults.
2) The nature of the need is that shoes tend to only last for short amounts of time looking new, and then get dirty and the product is devalued. This greatly negates value from an item that was recently purchased.
The force creating this opportunity is that life is unpredictable and thus materials are bound to get dirty. The market would be all over the country but would be most popular in warm weather regions where people can get out and exercise all year. This product would apply to all ages since everyone moves around at some point during the day, but college kids and those directly out of college tend to be more active than other age groups. Customers are currently either not satisfying this need at all and are letting their shoes stay dirty, or they are using time-consuming home methods that can be costly as well. The opportunity is relatively big, as I believe a decent population would be interested in a quick and cheap shoe cleaning product. However, there is a sizable population that would not care enough to purchase this. The window of opportunity will be open for as long as people go outside and are active, or place themselves in dirty environments.

Innovation
I would define my product as only incrementally innovative, as it is nothing radical since it is a cleaning product. My product is a spray that you apply to dirty shoes. It would then be left to sit for a couple minutes, and then rubbed in with a damp paper towel. After these become dry, the shoe would look like its original version again. It would be sold in cans at various shoe stores or sporting goods stores across the country. I would aim to sell this product for approximately $10, and this product would be able to be used multiple times. For example, each can would have the capacity to clean roughly 20 pairs of shoes before becoming empty.

Venture Concept
My product will solve the unmet need because it will make dirty shoes clean once again in a quick and easy process. There are not currently any other big name products that do this service, so thus it will not require anyone to switch over to my product. The distribution of this product will be a major point of emphasis for the product. Ideally, this product would be placed either next to all the shoes, or it would be sold at the counter. People probably would not go out specifically to buy my product, but when buying new shoes would deem it acceptable to buy my product as a complementary good that would help elongate the life of their new purchase. I would organize my business as a small setup with roughly twenty people that would be able to handle the day to day dealings with the company, and who also have a similar passion.

1) The biggest resource that my company has is that the need will always be there. There will never be a world in which people will never have their shoes get dirty through outdoor activities or just walking around.
2) The next venture would be to move into the world of action sports, possibly selling a similar item to people who want to keep their snowboarding boots clean, or who use specialty shoes to hike, etc.
3) In five years, I would ideally see this company being something more as a side business that is also profitable. This way would ensure that I can enjoy the process of the business world and can be happy while operating the venture.