I. Domain Expert: I contacted a former manager at a restaurant that I worked at and thought there are some competitors worth researching.
II. Market Expert: A computer science student, suggested that I see what patents are out there for similar products to evaluate market competitiveness.
III. Industry Supplier: In this portion, I spoke with a front of the house coordinator for a restaurant who is familiar with their vendors to understand how partnerships are acquired. I also was able to learn about software capabilities restaurants use moderately according to current industry trends.
Overall, the feedback was helpful to determine areas that I would need to continue to research for the future of this concept. I found a few apps similar to mine for example Open Table and another company in California that provides a similar concept and ironically uses a similar name to the one I have thought of. This is an important factor to consider and further research. It also brings more thought in considering a new name to uniquely establish in a new market.
It is a good idea to research competition, not only to see what distinguishes you from them, but more importantly to observe what you can do better. Chances are that if you start a new business - particularly in the technology sector - that someone has already done what you wanted to do, it is worthwhile to take time to figure out how you can do something significantly better than they can - even if that something is something as small as introducing a more friendly UI or having a faster response time.
ReplyDeleteHi Natali, interesting post! I think that the suggestions made by these three sources are great places to start. One thing that I would suggest, is go into a little more detail about how the interviews went and what information was covered. Also, it would be helpful to tie the suggestions back to your business idea more to clarify things. You are definitely on the right track though, keep up the good work!
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