11A – Idea Napkin No. 1

1. My name is Jayson Prasad, and I am a Freshman at the University of Florida studying Finance. I currently have my AA in Finance and am looking to pursue opportunities that arise in this area of business. I am a pretty social person and I don't mind talking to anyone about anything. I also consider myself very helpful with peoples' problems and many times I find friends coming to me for advice and just for a person to talk to. I haven't had too much experience in the entrepreneurial field yet, but I am looking to expand this base by taking more classes in this kind of field. I am the type of person that "lives in the moment," and I aspire to just enjoy life as much as I can by putting forth my best effort in everything I do, and try to live with no regrets. If I were to really implement my business concept into my life right now, I feel like it would consume most of my time. My concept is far from finished which means I would still need to improve it a bunch and also I would have to put a great deal of time just trying to get this product into the marketplace.
2. I am offering to my potential customers a way to help alleviate nicotine withdrawal symptoms for those people in my generation that have been caught up with nicotine addiction. The unmet need for this type of product compared to past version of nicotine addiction reducers is that they still contain nicotine, but in less of a concentration and is absorbed through the skin, instead of usually ingesting it orally, mainly from smoking. My product would be similar to existing products except my product would actually contain no nicotine, because I feel the only way to actually help people get off this addictive substance is by stopping the substance from even being used by the person. With the new proprietary chemical, it would be safe for human consumption and also alleviate withdrawal symptoms from the lack of nicotine in the customers' systems.
3. I am offering this product mainly to the teens of this generation and future generations that are addicted to nicotine and want to quit. With the rise of tobacco free, nicotine devices originally used to help get people off cigarettes, young teens have been drawn to these types of products for different reasons such as social influence and potentially from their own friends and family. With this rise means an increase of young people being introduced to the addictive substance at such a young age and many of them do not understand the repercussions of getting addicted to something like this. Also, my product could have a market for older people who are having problems quitting as well.
4. Customers will care about this product because there's a large group of people that are addicted that are trying to quit because this addiction is taking control of their lives and they feel powerless in their own skin. In one of the many interviews I conducted, a big theme brought to my attention was that my product would only be effective in the people trying to quit, but my product itself won't really influence people to quit. My product has an important value for those looking for a solution to their addiction problem.
5. To my knowledge my main competitor would be an existing nicotine addiction reducer, the nicotine patch. This nicotine patch is not the most attractive thing to be wearing around and honestly people may be discouraged to wear it for this reason. On the other hand, my product would be a stylish, minimalistic bracelet that would come in many different colors and styles to match the desires for the teens who care about their appearance. The main thing that sets my product apart, is the fact that there's no nicotine in my product, but it's a safe chemical created to help alleviate withdrawal symptoms and in my opinion this is a more effective approach to getting people off their addiction.
6. I truly feel that for the most part all of these elements work together, but the only problem I am foreseeing right now is how diverse the target market for my product is just based on whether or not they personally feel the need for a product like this. As I was told in one of my interviews, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink." This quote resonates perfectly with the out of joint element of my business concept.