Forming an Opportunity Belief

1. As a student of business in and out of the classroom, I have become intrigued by the framework of business education, and, by extension, education itself. I produce business education infographic-style guides/workbooks for DECA, a business organization. Through my experiences, I believe that the demand for new educational tools extends beyond just DECA members. Every industry changes: technology, food, everything; and yet, education remains constant. I believe that there is a need for new teaching tools that will create a more engaging, impactful, and valuable experience for students. 
2. The unmet need is a lack of engaging, interactive, simplified educational tools that better connect to and bring value to students. While the initial conclusion may be that students have this need, there are several subcategories: high school students, college students, teachers, professors, school boards (for B2B sales). I believe this need has become more prominent as the result of the rise of technological change and of millennial culture. Millennials and Gen Z, the current population of students, are infamous as a generation that thrives on minimalism, simplified and/or efficient work and processes, and engagement. However, there has been no resultant change with the rise of this culture to more accurately meet the needs of millennial/Gen Z students. 
3. The prototypical customer, for now, is a student demanding a more direct and clear study tool. For this exercise I will focus on the opinions of college students, because they have been exposed to so many more study and educational options. 
4. I conducted interviews with five students, four of which are business students and one of which is a construction major. I felt it was important to expand my research outside of the business school in order to ensure that my results were not limited just to one major. 
5. See interviews below.
6. See interview commentaries below.
7. I definitely think that my original opportunity is still here, however I am not more focused on a market of college students. I also have a clearer understanding of what college students are looking for: interactive content and clear, simplified means to understanding concepts. I think entrepreneurs should always be adapting their products to customers' needs. The purpose of a business is to provide value to its stakeholders and to deliver solutions to customers, which will, in turn, keep them coming back. By modifying your ideas to customers' wants and needs, you are generating more relevance and more demand for your product. 

Interviews:

file:///Users/LaurenBabitz/Desktop/Group%20ENT%20Interview.m4a

file:///Users/LaurenBabitz/Desktop/Interview%20With%20Amanda.m4a

(I know it looks like four interviews, but there are five as the first link is a case study with four people.)

1. My interview of the four business students (9 mins long) was arranged like a case study, with all four of them in one room discussing my questions, in order to gather more information. It is interesting to compare the ideologies of each of these students. The first, Ryan, noted that he is against using external tools meant to ease studying (such as Study Edge) because he is price-focused, and does not want to pay for more lessons if he's already paying to take a course. Michael, however, strongly disagreed and said that external tools allowed students to gain a better understanding of the material and do better in classes. Cassidy gave very interesting feedback, explaining that textbooks were often confusing, the professors' lectures were often unfocused, and that the content wasn't always relevant or engaging. Jake also made some points about a lack of engaging and interactive content in the classroom. 
2. Amanda's interview was interesting because she explained that she doesn't really understand her textbook or how to use it, and as a result she uses outside sources in order to supplement her need for better educational resources. In addition, she said that the ability of external educational resources to break down and simplify material was the reason they are often so useful to many students.