19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. 

• I am a 20-year-old junior info systems major at UF, and I am pursuing a minor in entrepreneurship. My skills and experiences include organization, customer service, persistence, and problem-solving. I've had first-hand experience of customer service from working in retail for 3 years, and I have a fair understanding of marketing and branding through a marketing internship I held.
• My aspirations for my business concept is to lead a business that promotes sustainability and the consumer. I want to find a way to incorporate information systems into the overall process. I can see myself being reflected in the business through my own footprint on the environment, and I can see the business help consumers share that same impact. 

2) What are you offering to customers?

• I am offering a replacement for single-use plastic that shares the physical characteristics of plastic, as well as the durability of single-use plastic products. There are 2 products, a single-use straw, and a single-use bag.

3) Who are you offering it to? 

• The customers I am offering this product to are the everyday consumers and small businesses who are being impacted by new laws banning plastic, or will soon be impacted. These are the iced coffee drinkers like me who hate paper straws, the moms who have had their paper grocery bags rip on them while trying to get everything inside, and the businesses who have been scrambling to find an affordable replacement for their customers that is satisfactory to them. These customers all have in common their dependency on durable products that tend to be single-use plastics and their new forming need for a replacement that they won't need to remember to bring or have fall apart in seconds.

4) Why do they care? 

• Customers will want to use this service because it fills a void that they are currently or will soon be facing. The small businesses that need a replacement to plastic products and want to keep their customers satisfied, with as little change as possible will use this concept to keep business running as usual. Some customers may just be fed up with paper products, or want to do more for the environment and will be attracted to this product. The customers who are aware of the current environmental impact single-use plastic has had will want to take part in a change that will require minimal effort from themselves as not everybody can remember to bring reusable bags or afford reusable straws that were made in a sustainable way. Customers will also hopefully encourage the businesses they shop at to make this change as well.

5) What are your core competencies?

• What sets my concept apart from others is that my product will be durable, single-use, and biodegradable. Many of the current replacements to plastic are paper products and those rip easily or get destroyed when they get wet, rendering them useless. My product will be able to withstand liquids and share the same durability single-use plastics have.

I believe that these elements fit together because they are working on protecting the environment, reducing pollution, and making the customer's life flaw-free. The weakness of the concept would be getting the products to catch on and incorporate it into daily life since paper products are already being used as replacements, and consumers/businesses may not feel the need to look for a better solution. Another weakness would be to ensure the product does meet the high-quality standards while being environmentally friendly/

I didn't receive much feedback, I only had one comment but two main points I received from it were that my concept definitely targets a need that is new and upcoming, and that the fact that I am passionate about this yet have no educational connection (major/minor) really emphasizes how I care about this product. I utilized this when considering the "who I am" section because I realized there are ways I could potentially incorporate my major. I also thought of how the sustainability portion of this product cant just be the driving factor, I need to find ways to really make it the must-have replacement.