"Idea Napkin No. 1"

Idea Napkin No.1

1.)  You: Here is a quick description of my skill set.  As far as business skills I have an intermediate understanding of the major general business concepts such as marketing, management, and public relations.  I also have a strong understanding of Accounting and tax concepts (due to my Accounting major).  As far as technical skills I know how to program in two languages (Swift and JavaScript).  I’ve created and released my own mobile app on the iOS App Store (shameless advertisement – it’s called “A Wizard Game” – Check it out!).  I have a good mix of business and technology skills.  On top of that I have some entrepreneurship experience in my own startup.  I’m pretty good at coming up with ideas and solving problems.  I tend to dive head first into complicated problems.  As far as soft skills I am a leader, a good communicator, and hard working.

2.)  What are you offering to customers?  The product and service that I’m proposing would be a piece of software that would gather data about a location and rate the area’s safety in several categories.  The categories would probably be broken down into three categories: crime, vehicle accidents, and weather risks.  I think this software could be used to produce a safety rating in each category and a combined safety rating for the area. 

3.)  Who are you offering it to?  I’m still deciding whether I would want this to be consumer facing or not.  I could create an app that shows the safety of areas that consumers could use.  Another, potentially more profitable option, would be opening up my software as an API.  This would allow other companies to use my ability to score the safety of an area in their own apps.  For example, gps applications could use this to route people down the safest routes from crime or the safest routes for automobile accidents. 

4.)  Why do they care? People would want to use my API because it’s cool, it could help people be safer, and could help consumers achieve peace of mind.

5.)  What are your core competencies? I mentioned my skills and competencies in the first question.  Another thing that I have that others do not is the drive and determination to actually do things.  Most people are lazy and give up.

Yes I believe these elements fit together.  The weakest part of my business concept is the extent of my idea.  I haven’t fleshed out exactly what I want yet.  I may want to add more or change things later.  I think that this is a cool idea, and I think if it worked well people would use it.  The coolest part about an API is that other people can use it to do cool things.  This API could be used in transportation apps, running apps, house buying or shopping apps, and more.  Pretty much all I have to do is create it, and people will take it and do their own cool things with it.