4A Opportunity Belief

     I believe that limited internet access is an issue in modern life that could be exploited as an opportunity. The world has too much reliance on the internet for business, communication, education, etc. for how limited good internet access is.

     The unmet need is better and easier internet access, especially on the go. When hiking for example you may be curious as to what plants are safe to eat or when on a plane you have to pay a large fee for horrible wi-fi connection. Almost every fully developed society has this need and people have the need for different reasons. The need has grown with our dependence on the internet but still limited access. People have made air cards for laptops and made public wi-fi in restaurants and better LTE type phone connections. I’m roughly 75% sure this opportunity exists.

     A good customer would be a business man who needs laptop internet service everywhere he goes or an avid outdoorsman who may work in the field (biologists, environmental scientists, etc.).

1.     Potential prototypical customer 1- This customer is a more casual consumer of the internet and notices the need for the internet on road trips. Most of the time they feel that have satisfactory internet connection. He has tried to better his wireless internet needs by upgrading technology like his iphone and macbook. He suggested a portable wifi device that ran on battery and could be taken place to place.

I feel like my opportunity isn’t as needed after talking to this potential customer but that there is indeed a niche for it. Maybe a smaller target market that is more dependent on their wireless needs.

2.     Potential prototypical customer 2-  This customer notices a need for wireless connection when in public spaces like parks where doing online work would be enjoyable but is not possible because of a lack of wi-fi. This potential customer suggested that wi-fi hotspots on many smart phones offer a partial solution to this issue but that the data is expensive for that service. This need developed only since college began and online work became really important according to him. A better way to connect to the internet on a private connection through maybe a portable device that was cheaper would be handy he said.

This customer made me feel like the opportunity for a device to provide more and better internet access definitely exists. I just need to figure out if the smart phone hotspot technology that already exists would make my idea useless.

3.    Potential prototypical customer 3- This potential customer is my neighbor who was a Florida Fish and Wildlife warden for 14 years when he was younger. According to him this idea would greatly improve tracking of wildlife and the coordination of wardens in stopping poachers, thieves, etc. He says that aircards in his laptop and satellite phones were used often in the field but that event those had spotty connection. I asked what could possibly help to alleviate this and he said a device in a vehicle would do just fine for his needs and that handheld gps was already pretty good without wi-fi needs.

            My sad realization here is that the opportunity seemed omnipresent but that devices did exist that could solve the problem. Like many modern cars come with wi-fi and mobile devices like gps and satellite phones can be used instead of using a wi-fi connection.

     In summary I feel like my belief in the opportunity has faded some. It does exist but some products are already available to solve the issue. I still feel a need myself and maybe making it cheaper could work. A cheap and portable wi-fi service would porbably already exist if it were possible. I think entrepreneurs need to listen to feedback heavily. Without it their dream could simply be their dream and no one else could be interested the product or idea that they worked hard to provide.