What's Next?

What I think is next: 
I think the next step for this venture would be to really try and market this to the current target audience. On a college campus, word gets around very quickly, especially with all of the social media that is used. This could really help to spread awareness to most of my market. I could also consider potentially expanding the market to people who don't have commuting issues but could use my service for their other needs. For example, I could market to students who live on campus by suggesting a scooter rental for when they need to go off campus.

Existing Market Interviews:

1. My first interview was with my roommate who takes the bus to campus. After telling her about my current ideas for this venture, she suggested that a good idea would be to figure out how the rental schedule would work. She asked if students would be able to change and cancel rental days if they needed to. 
2. The second person I interviewed asked whether or not I would limit this to students and staff at UF. He thought that it could be a good opportunity to offer the service to people who don't attend UF for certain events such as football games. A lot of people park far away for game days and have to Uber to games while there is surge pricing. He thought that my rental service could be a cheaper alternative for these people. 
3. The third person I interviewed didn't give me too much feedback. They asked a few questions about the stuff I already had planned, such as offering this service to on-campus staff, but when I asked them about possible future plans, they told me that they thought this service was so specialized that it would be hard to branch out, which may or may not be true. 

Reflection:
     After interviewing these people, I think there are numerous ways that I could move forward. There are a lot of specifics and details that I haven't thought about yet, and figuring out how those will work will really help my idea progress even further. Like my first interviewee said, I need to establish the parameters of my rental service and schedule. I have to make decisions like whether or not people will be able to cancel certain days or change their schedules mid-semester.
     In order to move forward with ideas such as catering to non-UF students and staff, I would have to establish my business with my original target market which is commuting students and staff. I think that I would need to secure steady business with that group before expanding to a market outside of my original one.

New market:
     I got the idea for my new market from the second interview I did for my existing market. The person I interviewed suggested that I try to offer my business to people who aren't UF students or staff. I would still keep this market based in Gainesville, just so it can be established. Basically, I would be offering the scooter rental service to everyone in Gainesville who needs a mode of transportation on a short term, as-needed basis, not just UF students and staff

New market interviews:

1. The first person I interviewed in this new market was pretty discouraging. They use a car to get around and basically said "why would I pay to rent a scooter when I could just use my car?" I explained that scooters could be used on game days or going to other events in Gainesville where car parking may be limited.  When I brought that point up, they were a little more understanding but still said that they probably wouldn't use this service. 
2. The second person I interviewed said there was a slight possibility they would consider using this service. They did think it was a great idea for UF students and staff because it would make commuting easier for anyone who needs to go to campus. However, when it came to non-UF people, they said if anything people would only use it to go short distances as opposed to waiting for the RTS buses, or biking. They said that anyone with a car probably wouldn't use it. 

Reflection: 
     After interviewing the people in my new market, I realized that it would be difficult to successfully expand my service to people who aren't students or staff at UF. The reason I created this is because of the specific problems caused by commuting to and from campus. This problem exists predominantly for that previously existing market but not for the new one. The new market doesn't seem to have the problem that the existing market does.
     Despite this limitation, I think there is another way that I could expand my market beyond UF staff and students. I could offer my rental service to Santa Fe students and staff. I'm sure that they also experience similar commuting issues that the students and staff at UF have. They might not be to the same extent because Santa Fe has an average student population of 17,000 compared to UF's 52,000, but I'm sure there are still students who would prefer using a scooter to get to their campus rather than driving or using the RTS system.