Assignment 24A - Venture Concept No.1

Opportunity

• Fishing is a huge recreational and commercial activity around the world. Many people with different backgrounds and cultures partake in fishing daily, using many different techniques. As simple as it seems, fishing requires patience and it can often lead to frustration for many anglers if they are not catching anything. There are many factors which affect fish behavior, and this is why fishing can be so difficult if you do not have a lot of experience. The need that is present is that people often do not know where to fish or what structures lies on the bottom of a body of water. 
• The market of customers which I am trying to reach are anglers who fish fairly often and would like to take advantage of portable sonar technology to make their fishing experiences more successful. The target audience will range from ages 16 to mid 30's, because these customers may not have enough capital to get their own upper tier boat with expensive sonar technology, yet they still fish often and would like to have some technology available to them. Sonar technology is current available to solve this need, but currently it is fairly expensive and most attach directly to upper tier fishing boats on a center console or on a mount. Most of the portable sonars that are out in the market currently are not castable, and they have a wire attached to them and must be dropped down manually.
• For the customers currently with the more expensive sonar technology, I feel that they are loyal because the technology works. With my product being castable I am trying to tap into a separate market for anglers with canoes, small boats, or anglers without boats. With a new market there are many unknowns, so I cannot say for sure how big the opportunity will be. 
• The "window" of opportunity is also unknown. A new product like this could come into the market at any time and take over. With the product still being developed, it does leave room for competition to develop a product and come into the mix and take some of the market away. 

Innovation

• This castable fish and depth finder is a portable sonar fishing device that can be cast from a fishing rod, like an artificial bait or lure. You can then cast the device in any section of the water which you believe may be a good fishing spot. This sonar technology will be able to tell the angler the depth of the body of water, what structure and/or vegetation is nearby, and if there are large pockets of fish within range and where they are located. The information is sent directly to the user's phone through Bluetooth, and the data is displayed on the corresponding app for the device. Any experienced angler knows the importance of these factors while fishing and having this sonar technology present gives the opportunity for all potential anglers to have sonar access, regardless if you have a boat or not. Currently, the only way to successfully utilize sonar is on a large enough boat, which many anglers do not have access to, nor the money to purchase the sonar technology. The device we are creating will be small, so it is portable, and it will be much less expensive than the current sonar technology which can be found for up to a few thousand dollars. I plan on selling the product online, but the focus will be selling the product in stores. I feel that by allowing anglers to get their hands on the product and seeing for themselves how it works, will be a great selling point. In my interviews I conducted, most people within the target audience mentioned they do most of their shopping in stores, so they can compare products and see their quality before they make a purchase. 

Venture Concept

• I've already described earlier how the innovation will solve the opportunity and why the customers would want to buy the product. Having a successful day of fishing can really brighten up an angler's day, and if my product can help accomplish that and help to limit unsuccessful fishing days, then I can feel good about the product. I do not believe getting customers to switch to this product is the problem. This product is unique, and it targets an audience which currently doesn't have the access this product can give. With that being said, there are some competitors, but not directly. The other sonar technology available differs from this product, but they still are competitors. The more expensive sonar technology is already established and has a loyal customer base. I am looking to target those anglers without large boats which capable of having that technology, and currently in the market there are some products which could pose some competition. The main difference between those products and mine is that those products are not castable. They usually have a wire, or something attached to them and this limits the functionality and use of the product. Selling my product in stores is important to me, as I mentioned earlier. There are anglers everywhere, but if I had to target areas specifically, I would place product in areas where fishing is more common. I would need employees to help with creating the technology, marketing the product, distributing the product, and to help deal with selling the product online. 

Three Minor Elements

• My "unfair advantage" is the uniqueness of the product. There isn't something like this product right now, and to keep the competition from copying the idea I could patent the sonar technology I create, but that isn't a guarantee that someone could make something similar. 
• The next venture would to get the product created and tested. As of now, I only have an idea. Creating the product and displaying it to potential investors would be next.
• Assuming I launched, I would love for this product to at least be sold around the U.S and being used frequently by anglers. In the next decade I would love to see the product go global, and still be a frequently used tool by anglers. Also, I would like to create many more products by this time and hopefully have an established brand with a lot of loyal customers. This first venture would help me a lot by getting my name out there and showing what I am capable of.