Venture Concept No. 2

1) Venture Concept Description

Opportunity

My venture opportunity is a phone based application called Sports 4 U, abbreviated S4U. The app is meant to organize intramural sports games for college students, I would start it here at the University of Florida, to get together and have fun whenever they are available. The need lies in athletic or sport-loving college students who want to be active, have fun, and meet new people. The nature of this need is more casual. It is not a necessity in anyway but rather a commodity or an extra benefit of being a university student. With the increase in technology in today's age, almost every college student has a smartphone. Using this app they can connect better with other students and play more sports beyond what the UF intramural program offers. This app has a strong demographic because of both the widespread use of smartphones, and the push towards people leading healthier and more active lives. This market is geographically located in Gainesville and includes college aged students, both graduate and undergrad, so ages 18-22 roughly. Customers are currently satisfying this need by using the vast amount of intramural sports offered by the University of Florida. I would assume they are loyal to intramural sports but this app can only add to their experience, they do not have to stop doing intramurals through UF to use S4U. S4U works on a day-to-day basis so students can work their intramurals around playing pick-up games through the app. This is a pretty big opportunity. I have had plenty of students mention that this idea would be popular and fun. This window of opportunity should be open for a while I believe. Although there is a good demographic, it is somewhat niche.

Innovation

So my 'innovation' is a smart-phone app. It is an app made to organize intramural sports games using the sports facilities made available for use by students. You will link your profile on the app with your UF ID and can connect with students from there. Field availability will be listed and you can organize and join events on a daily basis. The revenue made from this application will come from advertising on the phone app. I will go to local Gainesville companies once the app gets big enough or use ads through the internet to make revenue.

Venture Concept

This app will solve the unmet need for sports at a moment's notice. Many intramural sports are offered only in one semester of the year, like outdoor soccer. With this app, however, you can play whatever sports you want almost any day. Students already use many fields for pick-up games but this app will help organize them and help make the process so much easier. The only competitor I can think of would be UF rec sports. However I would encourage users to get involved with both UF intramurals and the application. This app offers sports whenever while UF rec sports have them on a schedule. This app could eventually be adopted as part of the UF intramural program and then be sold to different universities! I believe I would have to enlist some employees for the technical creation and maintenance of the application, but I would hope I can learn how to manage most of the app myself, eventually.

The Three Minor Elements

I believe the idea in its self is my most important resource. It is a relatively unique idea and I should not be troubled with too much competition. Plus, it will be free for users.

The next step for my venture is to market it to additional universities in the state of Florida and beyond. I believe once this app catches on it will be super popular. First I want UF to adopt it, then I can look forward.

I hope this venture will be well established and spread across most of the country in 5 years. Maybe at that point I look internationally to Europe and beyond. This venture will be a good test for me as an entrepreneur, and depending on how it goes. I might continue as an entrepreneur into more ventures.

2) The feedback I received was very helpful. The biggest suggestion for my concept was to make sure it did not overlap what the UF Rec Sports program covers. So if I do construct this concept, I will make sure to have it not overlap UF Rec Sports events. This app will rather be an addition to the UF Rec Sports program, allowing students to play whatever sports they wanted more spontaneously.  I will address the suggestions provided for me in the feedback.

3) Now I know to change my venture concept to be partnered with UF Rec Sports to make sure of no overlap. Additionally I can coordinate what fields will be available. This app can also be expanded to other universities if successful.

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