DEC 9 - DEMAND CREATION (Market Size)

After the session we had with Market Sizing with Natalia da Costa, we thought that it is crutial to do a serious market size analysis to get to know what is the potential of the market we are trying to sneak in. Also it will be mandatory to show for the moment of finding investors for this project that we strongly believe in.

Before starting the whole process up, we need to know about the potential value of this market.

According to the official report of Barcelona Turisme, which is the market we want to focus at the very first stage of Travel Companion, we have nearly 10,5 millions of visitors per year, in which 5,6 millions of them are in our potential target group (people with modern technology knowledge and acceptance), where almost 4 millions of them are visiting barcelona with leisure purpose.

In case of amount of money spend in Barcelona by visitors, according to La Vanguardia, and 20Minutos, the average amount spent per day is 99€.

In our case, we expect an average price per service purchased of 15€, and an average of 1,5 purschases by customer.
We will start charging a 10% to 20% commision to the service. This still needs to be confirmed, but let´s do the numbers on optimistic and pessimistic point of view.

This leads us to a market potential of. . .

Optimistic
3.971.660 (leisure purpose visitor) x 15€ x 20%(commision) x 1,5(times) =  17.872.470 €
Pessimistic
3.971.660 (leisure purpose visitor) x 15€ x 10%(commision) x 1,5(times) = 8.936.235 €

There is currently 1 player in this market, but their concept is not completely the same as ours, but still I can be alternative to our services.

The market share will be 50%, with a market potential according to the market shares of . . .

Optimistic   8.936.235 €

Pessimistic  4.468.111 €

NOV 20 - THE VALUE PROPOSITION

Our first value proposition of Travel Companion according to the Business Canvas would be the following one.

Let's go through it step by step, but it is quite self-explanatory.

We have split it in to two colors, the yellow stickers are for International Visitors, which is one side of our customers; the blue stickers are for Local People who are willing to offer their time and skills to take the tourists to enjoy an authentic experience when they are visiting the town.

For the right side of the map, we have current situation which our traget group has.
Customer Jobs: describes what the customers you are targeting.
Gains: describe negative emotions, undesired costs and situations, and risks that your customer experiences or could experience before, during, and after getting the job done.
Pains: describe the benefits your customer expects, desires or would be surprised by. This includes functional utility, social gains, positive emotions, and cost savings.

For the other side of the map, we have features about our product, and its benefits.
Product & Services: list all the products and services your value proposition is built around.
Pain Relievers: describe how your products and services alleviate customer pains.
Gain Creator: describe how your products and services create customer gains.

The point where two arrows match is the Fit, where the Product and the Customer they find a perfect match, and complements each other in a harmonious way.

NOV 18 - THE CUSTOMER

Create 1 to 3 personas for your target segments

Out target segment has to be split into the two sides of our business model. The providing target segment (locals) and the requesting target segment (travelers).

Although both sides are equally important to the model, it makes sense to begin with the travelers, since they will be the ones that in the end will be paying for the service. Where there is demand, there will be supply if the price is right. If there is no demand there is no use talking about the potential supply:

Travelers: 

• Persona 1 - the independent explorer: 
• This persona has just started working, so she earns money and is willing to spend some of it
• She only has a certain amount of vacation days and will stay for about 3 to 7 days 
• She is single and traveling on her own, so she enjoys meeting new people. 
• She is open-minded and curious and likes getting to know persons with a different cultural background
• Traveling is an experience to her that goes beyond seeing a new place - its a cultural experience

• Persona 2 - the alternative traveler :
• This persona is staying for an extended period of time from 5 days to one month
• She have 24 to 40 years
• Her travel purpose might be a language course or an extended break from work
• After touring the main attractions the first couple of days, she is looking for interesting and authentic activities that adds some adventure to her stay.
• She might be traveling alone or with a friend - also she might make friends  in a language course and motivate them to explore the city together with her
• She shares a certain passion for the city she is visiting and would like to connect with the people there

Locals:

• Persona 1 - the self employed professional 
• she might be a self employed professional who is looking for a new way to attract clients
• this could be a semi-professional photographer, a tourist guide, a dance teacher or a musician
• she is already used to working with clients but so far was either catering to locals only or had to go through an intermediary.
• now she enjoys offering her services to interested travelers 
• she enjoys her work and shares a passion for it
• the flexible arrangements and the direct contact allow her to offer low rates

• Persona 2 - the passionate extrovert
• she holds a certain passion for a particular topic (that might be music, graffiti's, art, food, language) and is wanting to share that with others
• she does not work a 40h job and is somehow flexible (e.g. unemployed, self-employed in a non-related field, student, part time)
• she is curious to meet new people and views a small financial reward as an appreciation of her offering that also helps her earn some extra money

Opportunity Matrix

The opportunity matrix is a concept that would certainly help analyze the prospects when looking into a range of customer segments. However at this point in time, we are not yet able to distinguish well between distinct groups of travelers. Depth of Pain, Budget, Ease of Reach and Ease of MVP can not yet be rated sufficiently to give the numbers an actual meaning. 

Questions

• How have your user / customer hypotheses changed?
• While we were initially only following the key-term of "authentic experience" we are now looking closer at the context of the travel experience. Every traveler will still want to see the main attractions, but there might be a difference in how they want to explore these. 
• Some might want to have a local guide that shows them the places they would otherwise have to visit on their own, while others might be looking for an experience that goes beyond what they would have been able to find themselves. 
• On the provider side, we do not believe that the rates we want to offer on our platform will allow for a stable income. The offerings will therefore generate some earnings on the side but should not be the primary motivation. 

• Did your Value Proposition change?
• We are still trying to provide authentic experiences - but also alternative offerings and adventures that a tourist might not have thought about before
• Also it can be a meeting point for people that share the same passion for something

NOV 12 - FEEDBACK BLOG EVALUATION

This post reflects on the feedback in the Midterm Blog Evaluation. The following ToDo's where identified:  Main ToDos: about the idea: what are the main categories for local experience (food, tours, music, sports, etc.)  what are people looking for and why? what can be annoying about the concept? Interviews  conduct more in-depht interviews analogs, antilogs and leaps of faith. who is offering local experience right now? Trip4Real analysis (what are they doing well, whats missing) Business Model Canvas revenue: how did we choose pricing (analogues?) cost structure: redo!  Feedback: •Superhero powers for each team member - one for the team, but ok.  •3 to 5 problems worth solving for each team member -very good.  •pictures and descriptions of the research into your ideas  - you did a really nice job on the observation exercise. What are the main categories for local experience? Not that you need to determine all the categories, but I think understanding what the different things are, and how people think about a "local" experience is important.  - Food is a big one, and as you mentioned some people are working on this. I think you're moving towards this, since you see professional tourist guides as a customer segment.  - Have you interviewed any? Air bnb is working on accommodation (stay with a local). For example, search for "authentic experience" and you'll see that a lot of people see this as experiencing things "how they used to be".  - There's pushback to things like safaris in Africa, which try and give an authentic experience, but in an artificial way. One risk is that as you grow, authentic experiences get crowded and touristy.  - Basically, analyze the issues in more detail - what are people looking for and why? I like the "touristy" issue from the presentation but I would get deeper about what's annoying with this concept.  •Analysis of analogs, antilogs and leaps of faith.  - Try and find people offering local experiences now. Are there authentic tours? Pub crawls? What else?  - If these are individuals, they also could be the early adopters of your platform. You list analogs and antilogs, but don't use the strengths and weaknesses analysis.  - What's your analysis of Trip4real? Summarize the analysis with an explanation of what people are doing well, where the gaps are, and what you'll do differently. Based on your analysis, what's your insight into what's missing and what your distinct value proposition will be?  •First Startup Dashboard with main leaps of faith and how you'll test them. - One of the biggest leaps of faith for this type of business is balancing supply and demand. If people come online looking for a local experience and there are no offers, they'll leave. If locals see that there's no demand for their services, they'll leave. This goes back to the prior point of researching what types of activities specifically people are looking for, and what people can offer.  •List of interview questions.  - Make sure you follow the Mom Test, and that you are trying to test your main leaps of faith! OK  •Get out of the building! Analysis of 5-10 problem interviews with potential customers. Include stories from the customers. I don't think I see actually interviews summarized. Have you done interviews?  •Analysis of potential solutions + idea evaluation worksheet - some good stuff here, but I only see Christian's contribution. Paul and Dong?  •First business model canvas - this is a good start, but some things can be improved. - Customer relationships is how you'll support your customers (direct, indirect throuigh web site, call center, etc.). As it is you're repeating things from the value proposition and customer segments sections.  - For revenue, how did you choose the pricing? You should analyze how similar services like Airbnb and other peer-to-peer platforms price their service.  - Cost structure needs a lot more work.