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.
March 23, 2018 at 2:07 pm
#1761995
and all your answers help me out an incredible amount with my project! Thanks! 
