23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.  My dad created his own business from the ground up and it's very successful. Knowing a successful entrepreneur that is so close to me can give me great advice for growing my business.
-Valuable: It's valuable because this information could be important for success.
-Rare: This is not rare because there's many people who have done what my dad's done
-Inimitable: This can somewhat be imitated due to it being knowledge he received from somewhere else too.
-Non-substitutable: I could substitute the information with another source of information, but my dad's specific information can't be substituted.

2. There are other many outlets putting out ads against nicotine and smoking.
-Valuable: This is very valuable because then it gets awareness out that smoking and using nicotine isn't good, so people may decide they need help getting off their addiction and that's where my product will be waiting.
-Rare: This is not rare at all because ads are very frequent.
-Inimitable: Ads can be imitated, but in this case the more ads about how bad smoking and nicotine is for you then the better for my company.
-Non-substitutable: These kind of ads can be substituted, but again if there's different types of ads coming from a substituted source it's still helping us overall.

3. I understand marketing concepts and have knowledge on how to get my product out in the market.
-Valuable: This is very valuable because if you don't have the knowledge on getting your product to the consumer in an effective way then you are losing potential revenue.
-Rare: This is not rare because people can take classes in order to gain this type of basic knowledge
-Inimitable: This can be imitated because it's general knowledge to the public.
-Non-substitutable: This type of knowledge can't be substituted.

4. I have some public speaking experience from my time at UF.
-Valuable: This is very valuable because if you can't communicate your ideas then your product will not be able to sell efficiently or even at all.
-Rare: This is not rare at all because this is just something that comes with a bunch of practice and experience.
-Inimitable: This is imitable because people can become confident public speakers by practicing and performing live speeches.
-Non-substitutable: This can't be substituted because being able to speak in a public setting fluently is super important to have.

5. I have had to crowd fund for a philanthropy before, so I have the knowledge on gathering money to further the business.
-Valuable: This is a very valuable resource to have because raising money for the venture is super important in order to get operations off the ground at first.
-Rare: This resource isn't rare because many people have this type of skill too.
-Inimitable: This is imitable because there's many people who also posses this skill.
-Non-substitutable: This can not be substituted because you definitely need the knowledge to crowd fund and raise money.

6. I have connections in Greek life at UF which would potentially be a big part of my consumer base.
-Valuable: This is kind of valuable because it's always nice to know the consumer audience, but this doesn't comprise my whole audience.
-Rare: This isn't rare because many people can have a connection in Greek life at UF if they put themselves out there.
-Inimitable: This is inimitable because you can't really copy the connections a person gets through a specific community of people.
-Non-substitutable: This can be substituted would other types of connections that would fit into a section of my audience.

7. My mom is a dentist and she knows many different types of doctors that can help further progress my idea.
-Valuable: This type of connection is very important because one of the biggest goals is to get this product on the shelves of pharmacies and it would help our case if a doctor were to look at the effectiveness of my product and give it a seal of approval.
-Rare: This can be sort of rare because not everyone can just have a connection with a doctor that close to you.
-Inimitable: This can not be imitated because this is a doctoral connection and that isn't able to be copied.
-Non-substitutable: This is non-substitutable because you can't replace the knowledge and potential approval of a doctor on this type of product.

8.I feel like my product is a unique spin off an already existing product
-Valuable: This valuable for sure because the more unique the product the less competition it may have.
-Rare: This would make it rare because if a product is unique then it can be considered rare as well.
-Inimitable: You could theoretically replicate this product, but the chemical that actually helps relieve people of their nicotine withdrawal symptoms would be difficult to replicate without the formula created by my company.
-Non-substitutable: This can't be substituted because if a product isn't unique then it wouldn't do too well with a lot of competition.

9. I also know a friend that is my age and actually started a real venture with a similar structure to mine, meaning he created a product that will impact many people in the community. This friend has already talked to me about different approaches he took in order to formulate his plan.
-Valuable: This kind of first hand information is very valuable and could provide a road map for success.
-Rare: Having friends your age that can create a successful business is somewhat rare, but not crazy special.
-Inimitable: This can sort of be imitated because you can have multiple friends that are successful or your competition could have the same leg up.
-Non-substitutable: This can't be substituted because having knowledge from a first hand source can't be substituted.

10. I know many people who are victims to nicotine addiction, so it wouldn't be hard to get a potential customers perspective on specific ideas.
-Valuable: This can be valuable because it would give me an idea on what exactly consumers are looking for in the product.
-Rare: This isn't rare to find people you know that fit your audience.
-Inimitable: This can be imitated because this type of information is able to be applied to many different scenarios.
-Non-substitutable: The information received from potential customers can't be substituted because if you're not getting feedback then you won't know what's good and bad about your product.

Honestly, before the VRIN test it was pretty hard to determine a resource that is effective in all areas. After the test was conducted it was still hard to determine which resource was gonna work the best, but having the connection of my mom being a dentist and knowing doctors that could help me develop my product further turned out to be the best option. This is my top resource because the resource is very valuable to my operation and is somewhat rare to actually have, In addition, this can't be imitated because you can't replicate this type of connection with someone and this also can't be substituted for the same reason. In conclusion, I was actually surprised this turned out to be the best resource, but in the end it makes sense because a connection with a doctor is hard to find and they know so many people and give many different networking opportunities.