24A Venture Concept Part 1

Business name: Solar Sleep

Opportunity

The potential consumers for my product are pretty expansive. People of all ages would be able to use my product and it would be for people who are looking for a sleep aid. Many of these consumers will include individuals who need to play white noise to sleep at night, including babies who often need womb simulation sounds to sleep at night.

This opportunity is quite large due to the fact that there is no limited demographic market, the users of this product are of all ages and types of people. In America alone, 5% of the population needs some form of noise at night in order to sleep, which makes the potential market for my product rather large especially when you consider what this would look like globally. Currently these customers in need of this sleep aid are using a number of different products to satisfy this need including iPhones to play timed rain noises and a combination of iPod/speaker to play white noise throughout the night. However, many consumers would not be attached to these methods as they can be expensive to purchase, and even more expensive to keep running throughout the night, especially for those who need non-stop white noise.

There is also no end to the "window of opportunity" because babies are always being born and people are always looking for new ways to help themselves sleep at night so my product would not be a trend with an end in sight, it could feasibly last as long as people always need help sleeping.

Innovation

My product would be a solar powered fan that has hollow beads in the transparent blade of the fan. As the fan moves, not only is cold wind produced that helps with sleep, but the hollow beads will produce white noise sounds that help with sleep as well. This product would have adjustable levels of beads for the blades so that consumers are able to control the volume level of the sound the fan produces. This fan would cost $60 which would quickly pay for itself in comparison to paying for an iPod or even the electricity it takes to power noises long enough to go to sleep nightly.

The first revenue driver of my business would be a model of the fan that is made to fit on a nightstand that will be offered in many patterns and colors as will the beads inside of it.

Aside from the fans themselves being sold, my business would also be selling extra bead sets so that individuals can switch out their fan blade beads for different colors and patterns to revamp their fans whenever they desire. This will help to make the fans a statement piece that can blend into a room and keep consumers engaged even after they have made an initial purchase of the fan itself.

There will also be a customization service where, for an extra fee, consumers can design their fans online with special patterns and bead patterns as well. They will be able to upload their own images or mix and match the patterns and colors we offer ourselves.

Venture Concept

A lack of sleep often leads individuals to rack up high electricity bills when they play white noise to help them go back to sleep, so my product helps them to get this sleep by providing these sounds without the high electricity cost that often goes with it because the sounds are produced by the solar powered motion of the fan.

It will not be hard to get consumers to switch to my product because the product pays for itself very quickly by saving the electricity costs and many consumers do not have a loyalty to anything yet because some families out there have not needed a white noise machine for their babies yet and have yet to decide the product they wish to buy.

The competitors for this product would be the phones or iPods people currently may be using to play these noises, but the biggest weakness besides a high price for the product itself is the electricity bill it leads to at the end of the month after playing these sounds every night. My packaging would get consumers actively involved in the product because they can design the product themselves and switch out the bead designs to get a fresh look for it. My product price point is also below the other options and requires no additional electricity cost which is a defining point of my venture.

This business structure would differ depending on the number of orders, but would most likely be largely automated in production and require a manager and a few employees to check how products are looking on the assembly line.

Three Minor Elements

My connections with influencers and other individuals in various industries that overlap with my own would be my greatest advantage over my competitors. I have many connections that could help me in the branding of my business and in the promotion of my product.

The next step for this venture would be to design a solar powered ceiling fan version of the nightstand fan and make this just as much a statement piece and as interchangeable as the nightstand fan so that consumers can have fun with it and make it aesthetically pleasing for their rooms as well. It would also allow for the additional service of installation to give my business another revenue driver.

I would want this business to keep expanding. I would begin the business locally to test the market response and would hope that within the first five years I could begin expanding the business globally and increase production to meet the increased global demand. As an entrepreneur, in the next ten years, I hope to be able to be a proactive manager and not a reactive one and predict the needs of my business before the needs turn into problems.