11A - Idea Napkin No. 1

I’m a UF student that rides a motorcycle. Being in those two categories, I want to find a way to connect those aspects of my life, as riding a bike is my passion and remaining a (successful) student is one of my goals. By taking a business that impacts both of those areas and developing it, I combine the different motivations I feel and find myself working harder than I would for any task that involves only one of those areas.

Students on scooters are often cold. This is because windchill, low temps, and poor wind protection combine with students relatively low budgets for proper riding gear to make for uncomfortable “scooting” conditions. By offering a relatively low cost windproof jacket or thermal insert that comes with a neck/face gaiter and half mitts, more students will have the option of being comfortable – which is something we value in our society.

As it is, I’d like to target UF students that ride scooters, specifically ones in Fraternities and Sororities. While others on two wheels like motorcyclists, bikers, and scooters not associated with Greek life may also use the product with great effect, I’d like to capitalize upon the trendiness that Greek life tends to build off of. In addition to that, I’d prefer to target new scooter riders, as they haven’t yet purchased any gear that’s necessary for riding a scooter in colder weather. 

In today’s world – and especially our society – we value comfort. We always have, but now people are willing to pay more to be comfortable, especially people that grew up comfortably. Since people will also go great lengths to avoid discomfort, I can see people wanting to pay for a jacket/kit that solves their issues.

I understand what it’s like to be cold on two wheels. I also understand that college isn’t easy nor cheap, so options that are both of those things are very appealing. Making sure the solution is both easy, relatively cheap, and reasonably effective is what I would do to make my product different than most other gear. Since most gear is bought individually (as most serious riders spend a lot of time getting their gear) and with the idea that other gear is going to be worn with it, my product would be targeted at the casual scooter rider who doesn’t fall in that group – something that really hasn’t been hit yet.

Overall, I believe (so that’s pretty biased already) that I’ve hit the problem and solution pretty dead on. There isn’t much variance in what I’ve heard in feedback, and what I have heard allowed me to change the product slightly, allowing it to reach a slightly broader group. Almost everyone in the target population received the idea well, and I think that this is a very specific problem, which means that the solution has to be just as targeted - which I think it is.