Help with School Hunting Project

For a school project I have to create a business, so I decided to do something I was passionate about and create a business related to hunting, and if you could help me out and answer these four questions for an assignment I would extremely appreciate it. My business is kind of an Airbnb for hunting. Farmers or other landowners would list their land available to hunt on the website, and then hunters could look at the properties and pay the landowner a certain amount to hunt their land.

Here are the questions I need answered for the assignment:

1. Do you find value in being able to hunt a variety of land?

2. Would you pay money to hunt private land that is more convenient and/or offers better hunting than what you currently hunt?

3. If so, how much would you be willing to pay per day, week, or season to hunt this land?

4. Would you use this website/app? Why or why not?

Thank you for all your help, you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

ClownColor wrote:

What company are you doing market research for?

I’m actually required to get results from 20 or more potential customers for this fictional business for my project so technically it’s not for a real business but just for an assignment for my Business Management 313 class at Iowa State University. So I figured what better place to get feedback from potential customers than from fishing and hunting forums!

jkof wrote:

1. Do you find value in being able to hunt a variety of land? Yes and no. It depends on what kind of hunting. Big game like deer requires a lot of scouting and prep work to determine if you want to hunt a specific property. Bird hunting requires less of an investment, you can basically look at cover and say that it’s worth hunting or not.

2. Would you pay money to hunt private land that is more convenient and/or offers better hunting than what you currently hunt? Yes. Many of us don’t live within “day hunting” distances of our properties, so in my case, for example, it would be nice to have access to bow hunting closer to my home.

3. If so, how much would you be willing to pay per day, week, or season to hunt this land?

There isn’t any answer to that. Currently, lease rates are all over the place so one value-add for your app is that it would help ESTABLISH what the value is. Some landowners are practically giving away access, some landowners think that any 20 acres of scrub brush is worth 5000 a season becaus that’s what thier uncle Joe told them hunters will pay. Your app would use actual data on what people were really willing to pay to establish values.

4. Would you use this website/app? Why or why not?

I think you’re missing a side of the equation. I WOULD use your app once, but if I came in and found almost no landowners listing land, I wouldn’t come back.

You need to figure out not just what do the buyers want (hunters). There’s nothing to buy unless you get the SELLERS (landowners) on board.

This is where I think you have tough sledding. You don’t control the inventory so to speak. Many landowners see a LOT of problems with leasing out land. Liability for injuries. Slob hunters trashing the place. Theft and vandalisim. Hunters paying once and then tresspassing/poaching later after they’ve figured out the lay of the land.

Your double whammy with this app is you have to figure out how to sell to your sellers, the landowners, to get them to want to list land. Otherwise you’ve got a store with bare shelves.

Grouse

I agree with Grouse. And from the buyers perspective, if I’m laying out some money to hunt land, I would want exclusive access to it which seems to counter the purpose of the app. Guys pay big money (imo) to lease deer hunting land, which typically gets them exclusive access. And for bird land I’d be hesitant to pay for something that very well was worked over as much as public land, and no guarantee of birds like there would be through a game farm which you’d be competing with from a dollar perspective (ie why would I pay $100 to hunt this land, when I could buy 5-10 birds from a game farm)

BigWerm wrote:

(ie why would I pay $100 to hunt this land, when I could buy 5-10 birds from a game farm)

As I posted on the other thread of this. Its understanding who your audience is. Is this going to work for the midwest guy that lives local and is only looking to drive 30 minutes away from his house – most likely not. Will it work for someone like Justin Moore, Uncle Ted, or other celeberties that are looking for a few days to relax or vacation with his wife/kids while on tour? ABSOLUTELY

I think the buyers would be there, but the challenge I see is getting enough sellers (landowners) to list land. If there’s no land listed, there’s nothing to sell.

This kind of “casual access” is going to be very, very difficult to convince landowners to get on board with. The landowners that I know who lease off land for hunting do so only with extreme hesitation and they want to know EVERYTHING about the party leasing it. They also tend to prefer long-term leases with the same party because that minimizes chances of getting a bad apple.

IMO you would do well to do some research into the competition and find out who else is doing this, how, and their relative market positions and strengths.

I think something like this is a great idea, the challenge will be getting landowners to sign up for it.

I am going to take 2 examples in real life that I would use it for. Pheasant hunting in SD, prairie dog hunting in SD.

Pheasant Hunting in SD, nearly every land owner will allow hunters on their land for about $150 gun/day. But to make these contacts with the landowners takes time, and knowing somebody who knows somebody. An app or website like this would allow me to make the contacts easier, while also seeing how many acres, type of land, etc. they have.

Prairie Dog Hunting could also be similar, most of the prairie dog hunting I’ve come across is from talking to so and so who ran into so and so at the bar.

ClownColor wrote:

What company are you doing market research for?

LOL this was my thought exactly…

It would be much easier to get guide services and established lodges on board. Let them worry about permissions. Connect clients with people looking for clients.

FWIW, your product, the game itself, is not an endless source… how many 130″+ Class deer or Roosters do you think are on a tract of land ? This is why there are game farms and high fence operations. No thanks.

big_g wrote:

FWIW, your product, the game itself, is not an endless source… how many 130″+ Class deer or Roosters do you think are on a tract of land ? This is why there are game farms and high fence operations. No thanks.

Yeah…there’s no “school project” so it’s pointless.

ClownColor wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>big_g wrote:</div>
FWIW, your product, the game itself, is not an endless source… how many 130″+ Class deer or Roosters do you think are on a tract of land ? This is why there are game farms and high fence operations. No thanks.

Yeah…there’s no “school project” so it’s pointless.

I wasn’t going to reply to you and give you my school papers because I was trying to be the bigger person but because you have been nothing but mean and rude on this forum, I guess I’ll grant your request and post the first two of my papers on my report. I hope it makes you feel great that you make it difficult for a 21 year old college student trying to get through a class project as you hide behind your computer screen. To all the other people who have been willing to help me on my project, I can not say thank you enough, with your help I was able to receive an A on both of my papers, and to Mr. Clowncolor I hope you are more kind to everyone in the future. My mother used to tell me if I didn’t have anything nice or productive to say I didn’t need to say anything at all, I guess you must’ve not heard that before but now you know for the future.

Here are the papers

Business Idea Assignment #1
1. Business Name: AirHnF. Slogan – “Your Outdoor Connection”
2. Primary Product and service
• AirHnF will offer a service to hunters, fishermen, and other outdoorsmen similar to what Airbnb does with lodging
• Main product will be to list private land available to hunt at a certain price
• Another primary product will be to list private ponds/water accesses to fish at a certain price to fishermen
• A huge problem that I and many other outdoorsmen I know have experienced is having no place to hunt/fish and having to annoy local farmers to call and ask permission to use their land; for a small price this problem would be solved
• Also wouldn’t have to hunt/fish public land which is often over hunted/fished
• Would be able to access land/ponds that are closer to you
3. Ideal Customer
• Predominately male
• Old enough to hunt/fish on their own (probably 18 for legal issues) but young enough to know how to work a computer or app on a smart phone (probably around the age of 65)
• Have enough disposable income to pay for better and more convenient hunting/fishing rather than use free public grounds with worse hunting/fishing and less convenient
• According to a study done by Realtree the basic hunter is a middle-aged male who lives in a rural area, so this would be our primary target
• According to a study done by the Outdoor Foundation the average fisher is a middle to older aged male, which aligns well with the average hunter
• According to the Iowa State Ag Overview there are 87,000 farmers in Iowa, according to Realtree there are 222,695 hunters in Iowa, according to the American Sportfishing Association there are 473,307 fishermen in Iowa
4. Competitive landscape
• There are currently two similar websites (Outrider.us and Outdooraccess.com)
• Both companies are very small and extremely regional (Outrider is almost exclusively Texas and Outdooraccess is almost all located in North Carolina and Virginia both with a limited amount of properties in these states)
• Currently customers can ask local farmers for permission or post on Craigslist/Facebook for a place to hunt/fish which if you’ve ever done it is a hassle and awkward and everyone I’ve ever met hates it
5. Business model
• Would charge a fee every time someone pays to hunt or fish on an owner’s property
• Would take 20% from the asking price of every transaction
• Estimated startup costs: App and Website construction – $174,000; Legal Fees – $4,000 I do not plan to have a physical location and do not need any equipment or inventory so these will be my only startup costs
• Yearly estimated up and running fixed costs: Labor – $50,000; App and Website maintenance and updates – $30,000; Marketing – $24,000; Insurance – $6,000; Legal/Accounting/General expenses – $5,000; Internet and Phone- $2,500; Grand Total = $117,500 per year
• I plan the average sale to be $50 and we will take 20% so that leaves the variable cost at $40 and the profit at $10 per sale
• $117,500/$10 = 11,750 sales per year to break even
• $117,500/12 = $9,792/month; $9,792/$10 = 980 sales per month to break even
• $117,500/52 = $2,260/week; $2,260/$10 = 226 sales per week to break even
• I will then need to make an additional 17,800 transactions to repay my startup costs (could potentially need more if I get my funding from a bank and need to repay interest on a loan)
• I believe there is a large amount of market potential for my app and website, there are very few competitors in the market currently and they are extremely regional in Texas and the east coast so I would have no competitors in the Midwest and a large number of hunters and fishermen to market to
• Supply chain would be extremely simple, all it consists of is a landowner who is offering his land/water for use at a certain price and an outdoorsman who is looking to pay for the use of their land/water; they would then complete a transaction on our website to complete this arrangement
6. Keys to success
• I think the most important part to success will be to grow a large userbase, companies like eBay and Craigslist would be nothing if no one sold things on the site and no one went on the site to buy things
• The more people who list and buy on the site/app the better the experience will be for everyone
• I plan to interview a large number of potential customers and present to them a minimal viable product to see if they validate my current plans and assumptions or if I need to change and pivot
• I might call some farmers and see if they would be willing to allow people to hunt/fish their property for a price and then post the listings on Craigslist to see how people react to paying to hunt/fish private property, similar to what Airbnb did when they started and what Zappos did with shoes when they started

Assignment #2
Section 1
My four questions:
1. Do you find value in being able to hunt/fish a variety of land/water?
2. Would you pay money to hunt/fish private land/water that is more convenient and/or offers better hunting/fishing than what you currently hunt/fish?
3. If so, how much would you be willing to pay per day, week, or season to hunt/fish this land/water?
4. Would you use this website/app? Why or why not?
All my data is in spreadsheet form and stapled to the back of this report.
The main assumption I wanted to test was if potential customers found value in being able to hunt/fish different land/water, because if my target market found no value in what my business was going to provide I would know to go no further and pivot immediately. After finding this out I then was looking to find out if they would be willing to pay for this service, how much they would be willing to pay, and whether they would use this service on an app or website. I went about doing my research by posting my questions in various hunting and fishing forums across the internet because the people on these websites are my perfect target market and I wouldn’t know anyone so they would be more honest with me than if I asked people I knew.
The biggest thing I learned through asking my questions was that almost everyone found tremendous value in being able to hunt/fish a variety of different land/water, which was nice because it proved my first assumption correct. The next biggest thing I learned was how difficult it will be to price my listings. The fishermen that responded suggested prices far lower than what I had originally planned for, and the hunters only wanted to pay for the land if they were able to hunt it for a whole season or year. I will have to take both of these suggestions into account because almost everyone who responded mentioned this in their responses. I will have to lower my prices for fishing and extend the rental dates for hunting grounds if I wish to attract the majority of my target market.
Section 2
I tried to contact two companies that are very similar to my company and that would be my main competitors in the market place, but one wouldn’t respond to my emails and the other said they wouldn’t talk to me because they thought I was a competitor attempting to steal information from them. This immediately informed me that they were very scared of competitors coming into their market and creating stronger competition. Because I couldn’t contact my two main competitors I decided to interview a local hunting guide and a local fishing guide because they would both still be competitors of my business. I asked both of them if they saw opportunity in the market, what scares them most about competition, and whether they thought my business idea was feasible.
First, I interviewed a man by the name of Kevan Paul who owns a fishing guide service in Clear Lake, Iowa. Kevan said he sees many opportunities in the fishing industry because it is such a broad market with many possible ways to create a business and make money. He also said how he isn’t afraid of any competition because he has built a huge name for himself by being featured on fishing shows and being a reputable guide for so many years. Kevan thought my business was a good idea, but that maybe I should focus on getting a few ponds and making sure they have excellent fish so I could charge higher prices and not stretch myself too thin with trying to manage too many subpar ponds. Next, I interviewed Cole Winther who owns a hunting guide service in Villisca, Iowa. He said he sees endless opportunities in the market because the hunting industry has been booming as of late. He mentioned how he is constantly booked and has been seeing recreational hunting properties sell like crazy. Cole said competition doesn’t scare him because he’s built a large clientele that repeatedly rebooks with him so he constantly has a full schedule. He thought my business would be best for lower income hunters looking for a DIY hunt, but how that might not be sustainable because they wouldn’t care for land if they were just hunting it for a day or week. He suggested strictly leasing the land out on a yearly basis because then the hunters would be invested in the land. Finally, I think I will take both of their advice and try to limit my ponds to only well stocked ponds and to only rent land on a yearly basis to create the best customer experience possible.
Section 3
My analog business is Airbnb. I attempted to talk to someone at the company but could only get a hold of a customer service representative who was outsourced through another company so he couldn’t tell me anything about Airbnb or get me into contact with anyone at Airbnb. To find out what made Airbnb so successful I decided I would talk to a few of my friends who consistently use the service as well as do some research online.
Many of my friends said they use Airbnb because it’s often a cheaper alternative to a nicer hotel but much cleaner and nicer than a cheap hotel or hostel. They also mentioned how they enjoyed the adventure of using Airbnb because it’s not your typical boring hotel and you can look at so many different experiences on the website and find which one you’d enjoy the most. While doing research online the two things that came up the most were how Airbnb provides an excellent user experience and how the host and the renter both love the service and are willing to fight for that service to be allowed in their city. When you provide a service that creates such an excellent experience for the user that the hosts and renters are fighting to keep your business in certain cities you’re set up to be successful. I don’t know if I will change anything in my business model drastically, but I will definitely try to differentiate my product from competitors like guide services to make it more of an adventure and to provide both the landowners and the renters with an excellent experience so they continue to come back and tell their friends.
Section 4
My minimum viable product is a Craigslist advertisement that says I have various small farm ponds and extensive hunting grounds that I wish to rent out to people on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. I then put my phone number on the advertisement and said to call me if interested and we could work out a deal. I got the idea from our Lean Startup book when it talked about the founder of Zappos doing a similar thing with shoes. He was testing his hypothesis without making a huge financial investment.
I’ll be testing my hypothesis in a similar way that he did. If I receive a ton of phone calls and texts from outdoorsmen eagerly wanting to pay money to hunt or fish my property I will know that my business is plausible and it is time for me to take the next step. I also plan on then talking to the potential customers who call me and see what they would be willing to pay to hunt or fish my property so I would know a better price range to list properties in the future on my website and app. Overall, I think this will be huge in finding out whether I should pursue this business or not, and it won’t cost me anything other than the time it takes to create a Craigslist advertisement and talk to the potential customers.

Yeah, I doubted it was a “firm” doing research, when jkof responded to clowns remark 6 minutes later and on point, it was my first clue.

FWIW, I could see it working with fish ponds pretty well, not so much hunting. Congrats on the “A” !!!

If you proceed with implementing this idea, I’d suggest researching your competition. Your slogan would almost certainly receive a cease & desist letter from https://outdoor-connection.com