4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

Beginning point: 

I believe that there are many opportunities that exist for us to find solutions to. One that comes to mind is to reduce road traffic in large cities. There have been many attempts at this, but there haven’t been any revolutionary ideas implemented in these cities.

 

My belief: 

The unmet need is that we do not have better alternatives for city transportation and traffic control. The people that require a solution to this problem are mainly work-commuters. People spend too long commuting from work to home and cities such as Los Angeles and New York City have an average round-trip commute time of 85 minutes and 81 minutes respectively. This is a lot of time that people waste each day sitting in heavy traffic. I had realized that this was an issue that affected many cities when I lived in Dallas last summer. Currently, people are combating this issue, by utilizing public transportation or commuting to work before or after the rush traffic hours. Overall, I feel as though there is an 80% chance that an opportunity exists in this area as there aren’t many viable alternatives as of today.

 

Prototypical Customer 1: 

 Family member: Aleena Alex 

Q : What is the exact nature of the need? 

It reduces pollution and traffic. I also feel like it would organize the road and improves overall safety.  

Q : When did you become aware of the need? 

After driving around to places like school or the mall. Also when I started waiting in traffic for a long time, and it takes longer than usual to reach my destination. 

Q : How long have you had the need? 

Since I started driving. As well as when I moved cities and had to switch from public transportation to cars. 

Q : When did you first become aware of the need? 

Moved from a place that primarily uses public transportation to a place that required the use of cars for daily life. 

Q : How are you currently addressing this need? 

I just use my car as usual and haven’t really thought about any alternatives. 

Q : How satisfied are you with the current solution? 

Not at all. Public transit is not used much because it’s not promoted. I am quite satisfied with the addition of road lanes. 

 

Prototypical Customer 2:  

Friend : Rohil Tuli 

Q : What is the exact nature of the need? 

It is currently inefficient due to longer travel times. It is an environmental issue, as more carbon emissions are exposed to the atmosphere due to gasoline. It also has safety issues such as car accidents. 

Q : When did you become aware of the need? 

I became aware early on since I was living in an urban area. 

Q : How long have you had the need? 

Last couple of years, since I started using my car for my daily travels. 

Q: When did you first become aware of the need?

Close to when I started driving, but also a bit before. 

Q : How are you currently addressing this need? 

Making use of more sustainable forms of transportation such as biking and public transportation. I also own a hybrid car to reduce carbon emissions.

Q : How satisfied are you with the current solution?

Mixed. There is still too much traffic on certain roads and some roads require additional lanes. Adding lanes, however, creates a circular problem by introducing more traffic.

 

Prototypical Customer 3: 

Friend: Guillermo Aceves

Q: What is the exact nature of the need?

Overpopulation of cars, people, and road planning issues.

Q : When did you become aware of the need?

When I travel on roads/routes I am familiar with but it takes much longer to travel that distance. Also once I began witnessing more accidents.

Q : How long have you had the need?

Since I started driving frequently.

Q : When did you first become aware of the need?

When I was young, there were only 1 lane roads in my city and it would take a while to travel around the city. I realized that adding new roads reduces travel time.

Q : How are you currently addressing this need?

I am not proactively seeking alternate solutions, but I wish there was a better option out there.

Q : How satisfied are you with the current solution?

It’s okay as of now because its the best solution we have, but it takes a while for the problem to be solved. Better alternatives would be more mass transit such as trains. 

Reflect:

From the interviews, I had learned about a lot of interesting perspectives such as environmental impacts due to large traffic, the safety of travelers, and the wasted time that could be used for other productive tasks. The most surprising thing I noticed was that this was an issue all my customers believed needed a solution, but they found it challenging to decide what to do about it.

Summary: 

I still believe there is the same amount of opportunity to improve in the transportation and traffic industry. Yes, it is more accurate, as I got a lot of great feedback on what to focus on and how to address the issues with the most priority. I believe it is crucial for entrepreneurs to get customer feedback as they need to make sure the product their develop is one that the customer would actually purchase.