NOV 8 - EVALUATION OF NEW CONCEPT

Our idea has undergone continuous changes over the course of the project. Evaluation and analysis of problems and ideas at the early stages had been aggravated due to the fact, that we were not yet able to pin the problem down precisely. Especially it was difficult to develop a clear understanding of market segments, potential customers and external environment, since different parts of the problems had different relevancy to potential user groups and were currently solved in various ways by these potential customers. 

With the new concept that was introduced in our last post, we believe to have made good progress. By focussing one key problem we were able to get a better understanding of potential customer segments as well as their pains and needs. 

Our proposed solution takes into accounts many of the learnings that we got through research and feedback on earlier stages of the project. However, as there are several innovative aspects to the idea, it is obvious that they also include new leaps of face and aspects that have not been evaluated. 

In the following you will therefore find an overview of the current results and a listing of necessary next steps to get a clearer understanding of viability and feasibility of our idea.

Business Model Canvas 

The Business Model Canvas focusses on three main user groups: Local providers, Travelers and Hotels/B&Bs. More parties could be added but it would increase complexity unnecessarily and make the chart difficult to read.

Main leaps of faith are the following:


Local Providers (that are not professional tourist guides) :

• are wanting and willing to offer activities for tourists
• are willing to do that for a cover charge that is being perceived as reasonable by travelers
• do not rely on a steady income, because there is uncertainty about how often an offer is requested
• enjoy meeting "unknown" internationals and sharing time with them
• are flexible enough to also provide these activities on call
• will interact with a platform to respond on bookings on time
• will regularly check if there are requests that they can fulfill

Analogs:

• There are homepages by individuals that offer the exact kind of activities that we would be offering --> they might use the platform instead of programming their own site: barcelonaslowtravel.com/, thebackpacktraveller.com 
• some people already interact on Couchsurfing --> what if they could make money by offering a similar service
• comparable offers have evolved in other big cities  and other regions of the world (New York, Asia)
• AirBnB is currently launching a local concierge service: AirBnB Local concierge
• Interaction on AirBnB is similar to the required interaction with our platform

Antilogs:

• Right now e.g. students work other jobs such as waiters
• Existing sites do not focus only on local offers but include commercial offers: trip4real.com

Travelers

• do not only want to go to local places, but enjoy them together with a local
• are looking for a more authentic travel experience
• are willing to pay money to do that
• see extra value over e.g. homepages like MeetUp since these are for free
• would use the platform to post requests if they wanted to do something in particular
• will use the internet to look for activities

Analogs:

• tourists pay a LOT for commercial tours and touristic activities
• there are different blogs that will recommend local restaurants - there is apparently interest in local experiences: Tripobox
• already use homepages like: eatwith.com

Antilogs

• many people simply go to the tourist information office

Hotels and Bed&Breakfasts

• are wanting to help their guests find alternative activities (they might want to earn commissions on recommending commercial services)

Analogs

• especially family owned bed&breakfasts like giving advice to their clients and maintaining a good relationship
• in Hostels they provide flyers for all different kinds of offers

Antilogs

• Hotels oftentimes have contracts with restaurants and earn commissions 

While these leaps of faith, analogs and antilogs are yet unclear it is possible to find more information through research and interviews. The foundation will be the StartUp Dashboard and Interview Guide.