Assignment 24 - Venture Concept No. 1 - ReFresh

Opportunity. 

There is a need that many people have who have low income or not as much free time to find ways to eat healthier without committing lots of time/money. These people are mostly low-income families, students who frequently having to balance working and school, and working professionals who have long hours at work. Geographically these people can be found all over the country, but especially in areas where the cost of living is normally very high. This opportunity is unfortunately created by the low income to cost of living situations that exist. I do not think something like this currently exists, but people are always trying to find newer and easier ways to lose weight or be healthier, so this satisfies that need. I think that this opportunity will exist as long as we have a large wage gap in this country. 

Innovation.

My innovation is incrementally groundbreaking, as people think of being fit is part of the lifestyle of the "rich and famous." Many people that have a low income do not see that eating healthy is attainable. My app is setting out to change that. I will have a large database of recipes around the $20 range for 4 servings of food all of which provide nutrition information and take under 30 minutes to make. I will also provide a map feature for users to access healthy take-out or delivery food. This will be able to be organized by location, price, allergens, and calorie level. The app itself I am hoping will only cost $1.99 for users to purchase.

Venture Concept. 

I believe customers will switch to my product because nobody offers the same services for this price, and few diet/lifestyle/health apps cater to those that are looking to remain in a certain budget. It should be an easy switch because they are not committing a large amount of money. Competitors could be programs like WeightWatchers or similar, but their price point is high for consumers in my market. Customer service I'm sure will play a key roll in the app development for bugs, reviews, etc. I am hoping that the price point will help the product distribute itself quickly. The venture, however, will start as me being the only real employee with a team of tech people to help with any app issues and nutrition experts helping me with that aspect of recipes.

The Three Minor Elements.

Besides your actual innovative product, service, or process, what will you have that will make it hard for competitors to copy your success?

Nobody can replicate the experiences that I had in my lifetime. I had difficulty losing weight in high school and felt like I did not have the time and resources. This eventually sprouted a passion for nutrition and healthy, which is how the idea for this app came to be.

What’s next for the venture? 

I have considered adding some at-home or even in the office workout routines to the app for users looking to dive into exercise.

What’s next for you? Assuming you launched, where do you want to be in five years with this venture? Where do you want to be, as an entrepreneur, in the next decade, and how does this first venture help you achieve your vision?

I think that this venture helps me re-focus on my own health and prioritize myself in a way, again. As an entrepreneur I just want to be helping people reach their fitness and health goals. To me this is the stepping stone for that. I would love to eventually get a certification in nutrition and personal training in order to share my knowledge of that as well.