7A - Testing the Hypothesis Part 1

1.     Over the last few weeks, I have recognized several problems within communities, society, and the economy, that lead me to believe there are potential market entry solutions for most, if not all, of them. The one that I strongly believe would be a highly-welcomed product/service among the targeted customer base of college students is the idea of an app/software platform that relays open seating information in campus libraries to students.   

2.     The Who: College students at the University of Florida, but can be extrapolated to include many different colleges across the country.

The What: Students at the University of Florida find it very difficult to find open seating in libraries across campus. Often, a lot of valuable time is wasted by wandering the buildings looking for decent seating because of the large number of students on campus.

The Why:  The size and layout of library buildings don’t allow students to see open seating easily and nothing exists at the current moment to allow students to know how packed certain libraries are and if/where the open seating is before they get to library.

3.     Testing the Who: The prototypical customer would be college students that prefer library atmospheres to study and get work done. There would not be much of a need beyond the targeted audience unless the software could be used for different venues, such as restaurants, shopping centers, etc. c

Testing the What: The boundaries of the need would be that some students don’t prefer to go to the library and would rather do work in classrooms on campus or at their home. It would also be less needed during summer semesters or slow weeks during the regular semesters where there are not a lot of exams.

Testing the Why: The reasoning for the issue presented can range from not enough libraries on campus, bad use of space throughout the libraries, and lack of information on where open seats are throughout the library.

4.     I interviewed 5 students at the University of Florida.

a.     Student 1: Nick Zinobile, 4^th year Criminology Major

b.     Student 2: Seba Moreno, 3^rd year Mechanical Engineering Major

c.     Student 3: Drew Burgelin, 4^th year Finance Major

d.     Student 4: Christine Joseph, 4^th year Applied Physiology and Kinesiology Major

e.     Student 5: Sarah Shapiro, 4^th year Pre-Med Major

I asked all the students the same questions. I started the interviews by asking them what their opinion on library seating at the University of Florida was and if there was anything they could change about it what would it be. All 5 students proceeded to relay to me that they find it difficult to find seating and Christine Joseph said “When I have exams, I try to get to the library early enough and have friends come hold my spot when I have to leave for an hour or two so that when I get back, I don’t have to spend 20 minutes looking for a random open seat.” I followed up with, “Of the student population at UF, what percentage of students do you believe are affected by this same issue you are having?” The answers ranged from 40% all the way up to 85% of students. The most common answer being 70% of students have a difficult time finding seats in the library. When asked what they do to avoid the issue, I received a variety of differing solutions. Drew Burgelin told me that he chooses to go to the less “main-stream” libraries and goes to Law Library usually. This seems to solve the seating issue for him unless it is finals week he said. The others told me that they either don’t bother going to the library or they just wander around until some table or cubicle pops up. I then asked them about my idea specifically and what their thoughts were on the idea. All of them except Nick Zinobile thought that it was a great idea. Nick said that “If you execute it perfectly, I could see it being a big hit. Other than that though, it may be difficult to get people to use the program”. Sarah Shapiro told me that this idea would “save her life” by allowing her to check the libraries layouts and seat openings before she was to even leave her apartment. “I would save so much wasted time if this idea became a reality,” she told me.

5.     This is the second time that I have interviewed prototypical customers regarding the idea of an app that utilizes library platforms and marks open seating for students looking for places to study. I have received positive feedback from the vast majority of students that I have talked to and it gets me more excited every time. A lot of these students seem very eager to give me advice, ideas, and feedback on how to make it operate efficiently and effectively. Before interviewing these 5 individuals, I thought that this idea would not be as well received as it was.