24A – Venture Concept No. 1
Opportunity:
My customers are those who are members/looking to be a member of a given gym. This can potentially be anyone already working out at the gym or anyone looking to improve their lifestyle and begin working out. The unmet need I will be solving is the concept of gym intimidation. I will do this by offering a service in which members of a given gym will fill out a survey based on preferences, training times, experience levels, etc. and be matched with a partner to workout with. This service will be completely free with the membership of the gym.
I believe the issue of gym intimidation has always been present throughout all commercial clubs. Every person, at some point in their experience with a public gym, has felt some form of intimidation, fear, or insecurity. Through past personal experiences and those received from interviews, oftentimes gyms do not successfully make their members feel welcome and comfortable in their space. Thus, many members will remain inactive or permanently switch to home workouts.
My market is defined geographically as the members of the given gym/gyms within the fitness club company. Demographically, this can be anybody, regardless of age, race, background, profession, etc. It is anybody with the unmet need of a gym partner and desire to decrease intimidation in the gym and gain confidence and accountability.
Currently, customers are either finding someone to work out with, going to the gym on their own, switching to working out at home, or, most commonly, quitting the gym and returning to their previous lifestyle of inactivity. Those who begin to workout at home or go to the gym alone tend to have difficulty holding themselves accountable and would see better results if held accountable by another person.
Personally, I believe this opportunity is extremely large as it affects such a large population of those who are members of a fitness club. It does not discriminate to a specific demographic or location of members. Based on interviews and feedback, most of those who have had any prior experience in a gym have faced some form of intimidation and would benefit from my opportunity.
This "window of opportunity" will always have a place in a commercial club. People will always be entering as new members with the same unmet need of a gym partner and feeling intimidated in some form. It will never be an opportunity that disappears or corrects itself overtime.
Innovation:
The product is an outreach effort from a commercial gym or large fitness corporation in attempts to pair members together with a gym 'buddy'. This will consist of either a written or online survey in which members of the club will fill out information regarding their fitness preferences/style, experience levels, workout time preference, interests, age, etc. Pairs will be matched from the corporation to all paying members. In order to increase awareness and participation of the program, the gym could suggest a personal training session included with the paired 'buddies' if they agree to fill out the survey.
Venture Concept:
I believe one extremely beneficial way to reduce gym intimidation and improve confidence is to workout with someone else. This way, most if not all the various reasons associated with gym intimidation are resolved; including issues of insecurity, sustainability, confusion, and embarrassment. When customers fill out the gym partner application and get paired with a 'buddy', they will gain accountability, confidence, and education from having another person present with them in the gym. This is something I believe all those who experience the unmet need of gym intimidation will invest in because it clearly solves the issue without spending a large amount of money on a personal trainer. It will be quick and easy to fill out, making the switch to this service easily attainable.
Competitors for this service will be other fitness clubs. The weakness of these competitors is that they do not have a service like this already in place. It is unique to my specific company.
Defining my business concept relies mainly on customer feedback and positive experiences. If those interested in the service heard positive feedback from other members of the club, they are more inclined to fill out the survey themselves. Design/layout of the service along with distribution methods also play a role in my business concept in order to attract a large amount of members to fill out surveys and do so in an organized/quick manner.
I would organize this "business" by assigning positions related to marketing/promotion of the service (i.e. email notifications, social media promotion, banners in the physical clubs, etc.), positions associated with contacting/pairing members from survey results, and positions related to graphic design and website editing to update the survey form. Realistically, this could be completed with 4-6 employees.
Three Minor Elements
1. I believe my biggest resource is allowing the service to be no cost to members. This is extremely valuable to the market because it allows my company to stand out among all competitors. It shows loyalty and care because it is not a direct revenue generator, although indirectly it will be beneficial in that way because it will allow the company to have a larger value than others. This will attract new members and ultimately increase profit.
My customers are those who are members/looking to be a member of a given gym. This can potentially be anyone already working out at the gym or anyone looking to improve their lifestyle and begin working out. The unmet need I will be solving is the concept of gym intimidation. I will do this by offering a service in which members of a given gym will fill out a survey based on preferences, training times, experience levels, etc. and be matched with a partner to workout with. This service will be completely free with the membership of the gym.
I believe the issue of gym intimidation has always been present throughout all commercial clubs. Every person, at some point in their experience with a public gym, has felt some form of intimidation, fear, or insecurity. Through past personal experiences and those received from interviews, oftentimes gyms do not successfully make their members feel welcome and comfortable in their space. Thus, many members will remain inactive or permanently switch to home workouts.
My market is defined geographically as the members of the given gym/gyms within the fitness club company. Demographically, this can be anybody, regardless of age, race, background, profession, etc. It is anybody with the unmet need of a gym partner and desire to decrease intimidation in the gym and gain confidence and accountability.
Currently, customers are either finding someone to work out with, going to the gym on their own, switching to working out at home, or, most commonly, quitting the gym and returning to their previous lifestyle of inactivity. Those who begin to workout at home or go to the gym alone tend to have difficulty holding themselves accountable and would see better results if held accountable by another person.
Personally, I believe this opportunity is extremely large as it affects such a large population of those who are members of a fitness club. It does not discriminate to a specific demographic or location of members. Based on interviews and feedback, most of those who have had any prior experience in a gym have faced some form of intimidation and would benefit from my opportunity.
This "window of opportunity" will always have a place in a commercial club. People will always be entering as new members with the same unmet need of a gym partner and feeling intimidated in some form. It will never be an opportunity that disappears or corrects itself overtime.
Innovation:
The product is an outreach effort from a commercial gym or large fitness corporation in attempts to pair members together with a gym 'buddy'. This will consist of either a written or online survey in which members of the club will fill out information regarding their fitness preferences/style, experience levels, workout time preference, interests, age, etc. Pairs will be matched from the corporation to all paying members. In order to increase awareness and participation of the program, the gym could suggest a personal training session included with the paired 'buddies' if they agree to fill out the survey.
Venture Concept:
I believe one extremely beneficial way to reduce gym intimidation and improve confidence is to workout with someone else. This way, most if not all the various reasons associated with gym intimidation are resolved; including issues of insecurity, sustainability, confusion, and embarrassment. When customers fill out the gym partner application and get paired with a 'buddy', they will gain accountability, confidence, and education from having another person present with them in the gym. This is something I believe all those who experience the unmet need of gym intimidation will invest in because it clearly solves the issue without spending a large amount of money on a personal trainer. It will be quick and easy to fill out, making the switch to this service easily attainable.
Competitors for this service will be other fitness clubs. The weakness of these competitors is that they do not have a service like this already in place. It is unique to my specific company.
Defining my business concept relies mainly on customer feedback and positive experiences. If those interested in the service heard positive feedback from other members of the club, they are more inclined to fill out the survey themselves. Design/layout of the service along with distribution methods also play a role in my business concept in order to attract a large amount of members to fill out surveys and do so in an organized/quick manner.
I would organize this "business" by assigning positions related to marketing/promotion of the service (i.e. email notifications, social media promotion, banners in the physical clubs, etc.), positions associated with contacting/pairing members from survey results, and positions related to graphic design and website editing to update the survey form. Realistically, this could be completed with 4-6 employees.
Three Minor Elements
1. I believe my biggest resource is allowing the service to be no cost to members. This is extremely valuable to the market because it allows my company to stand out among all competitors. It shows loyalty and care because it is not a direct revenue generator, although indirectly it will be beneficial in that way because it will allow the company to have a larger value than others. This will attract new members and ultimately increase profit.
2. The next opportunity I would like to tackle with my current innovation is incorporating personal training packages to those who decide to fill out the survey and be paired with a gym partner. For example, new 'buddies' can receive a free personal training session together. This will encourage personal training packages and increase revenue in the training department of the company.
3. Assuming my idea is successful, I would like to expand the idea to multiple clubs, increasing them in number and size. I would want to focus on other areas of opportunity not yet discovered in order to create an inclusive, judgement free environment that is different from all competitors.
Hi Taylor!
ReplyDeleteYour venture concept is very thorough and you did an excellent job explaining your opportunity and innovation. I got a very clear idea of what your venture concept is and how it will service others.You have a really great idea of where you want this to go and what it could lead to. Good job!