The following
are ten resources that make my venture special:
Familiarity with the service: I would
consider myself extremely familiar with the service, serving everything in
mugs, because I have a long history of eating meals out of mugs so I know some
things that work and don’t work. Being familiar with the service that I’m
offering is extremely valuable because eating out of a mug is not something
that a lot of people are familiar with and therefore don’t know how to deal
with. I would consider this knowledge to be rare simply because eating out of
mugs is not something that I think a lot of people have experience with.
However, it is not costly to imitate because someone could easily start eating
meals of out mugs to try the idea out, assuming that they own a mug.
Familiarity with eating out of mugs can’t be substituted if the person plans to
run a café where everything is served out of mugs.
Experience with menu planning and meal
prep: In the past I’ve been involved with meal planning for various
organizations and I have a little experience in meal prep so I have an idea of
how to prepare meals in an efficient way. This is particularly valuable in a
café setting where you are judged on food quality and the time spent waiting
for the food. This experience is not rare because several people have it and if
they don’t than they could easily achieve it. This is also not costly to
imitate because it’s easy to gain experience in meal prep and menu planning. I
don’t feel that this experience can be substituted if you intend to run a café
because it encompasses a large part of daily operations.
Relatable target audience: My target
audience is 13-30 year olds with a specific focus on college students. As a
college student myself, I can understand the needs of my audience better than
if I was from a different generation. Relating to my target audience is very
valuable in my case since most of my revenue is expected to come from college
students. Being relatable to the target audience is not rare at all because
it’s very easy for people to develop an idea that will target their own age
group since they generally know what people in their age groups want more so
than people of other generations; therefore, it is also not costly to imitate.
It is however, something that can’t be substituted.
Knowledge of the market: While preparing
for my first elevator pitch, I came across a lot of data for cafes that greatly
increased my knowledge of the market; for example, the coffee shop industry
makes eleven billion dollars annually. The most important data I came across
was a breakdown of what current coffee shop chains are doing to be successful.
This knowledge has already been very valuable to me, as I have continued to
refine my idea and fill in holes on my idea napkin. Knowledge of the market is
not rare at all because there are already several other businesses in the
coffee shop industry and currently the barriers to entry into the market are
low. This knowledge is not costly to imitate because how I gained the knowledge
was through costumer interviews and the Internet, which is something anyone can
really do. The knowledge is important, no doubt, it can’t be substituted
because you need to know the market that you are entering.
Knowledge of social media: I have a decent
understanding of how to use social media as a marketing technique and think
that since my target audience focuses on college students, the largest
generation of social media users, social media could be used as an invaluable
free platform of marketing. Clearly, knowledge of social media is vital in
today’s society and can sometime make or break a company’s reputation. This
knowledge is not rare, especially in our generation where people are always on
their phone and constantly connected. I wouldn’t consider social media
knowledge to be costly to imitate because it’s something that could easily be
taught to someone. I think social media can be substituted for other forms of
marketing depending on the target audience. For my café, I think that social
media is really one of the only ways to market the business.
Close relationships with people in the
food industry: I know several people that have worked at various levels of
employment in the food industry and I know that they would be more than happy
to help me work with suppliers. This is valuable because the relationship you
have with your suppliers is important for your business to run smoothly, you
need someone you can count on to make the deliveries on time. These
relationships are not rare as many people have relationships with people in the
food industry, which is one of the largest industries in the US. Because the
food industry is so large and encompasses so many different job types, it is
not costly to imitate this relationship given the numerous opportunities to
develop these relationships. This type of relationship cannot be substituted
because when you’re working in the food industry it’s vital that you have a
strong relationship with your suppliers for reasons mentioned above.
Knowledge in managing a business: While I
haven’t personally managed my own business, I’ve been around people, like my
mom, who have successfully started and managed their own business. I also have
knowledge in accounting from previous classes that will play a major role when
it comes to sustaining my café financially. This is extremely valuable because
a majority of cafes don’t survive more than a couple years and I think
mismanagement of finances plays a large role in their failure. This knowledge
is slightly rare because I think it really matters how you define “business”.
Business knowledge is something that could be costly to imitate, it also
depends on what type of business management knowledge you are looking to gain.
Similar to other resources listed, this knowledge is non-substitutable because
the best way to know how to manage a business on your own is to have past
experience with working for/with people that are managing their own business.
Creativity: I would consider myself to be
very creative and overall an out of the box thinker. In a café that serves
everything out of mugs it’s important to bring in creativity when making the
menu and designing the mugs. Creativity is very valuable in my business because
the whole premise of the café is being a unique twist on a traditional café and
I need creativity to achieve it. Creativity is one of the most common resources
in the world, in my opinion, because it comes in so many different shapes and
sizes. I wouldn’t consider creativity something that can be imitated because I
don’t think you can really learn to be creative; I think it’s something that
you are born with. Therefore, I wouldn’t consider creativity something that
could be substituted because I view creativity as something that is unique to
each person since no two people see the world the same.
Organizational culture- strong
relationship with costumers: With Mugged I’ve mentioned that I want to create a
café with a small town feel. The small town feel will allow me to create a more
personal relationship with my customers. This is valuable because if eighty
percent of my revenue comes from twenty percent of my costumers it’s critical
there is a strong relationship between the costumers and the employees. I would
consider this organizational culture to be rare because I personally haven’t
witnessed this type of culture in any businesses that I’ve visited recently. I
consider this culture to be slightly costly to imitate because I think to
achieve this culture you have to start with the people you hire or attempt to
train the people that currently work for you. In regards to the business that I
want to create, this organizational culture in non-substitutable because it’s
one of the main aspects of my café that will set me apart from cafes that
currently exist.
Organizational culture- tight knit
employee relationships: With the small town atmosphere that I plan to create, I
also want there to be a tight knit relationship between the employees. I want
this mainly because I think that when the employees all get along that the
costumer generally has a better experience. This is valuable because if the
costumer has a good experience than they are likely to visit again or to at
least tell their friends to. I don’t consider this culture to be very rare
because based on stories that some of my friends told me about their work
place, they seem to work the same shift as several people that they get along
with well. Similar to the other organizational culture above that I want to
create, I think this may be costly depending on how the owner goes about
creating the culture. Training I would think would be the cheapest option when
compared to rehiring the entire staff. This is also something that based on the
café atmosphere that I want to create is non-substitutable. The small town feel
that the café will embody, will result in an environment were every one knows
everyone and that people are, in a way, forced to get to know each other.
I would consider my top resource to be
organizational culture, both the relationship with employees and costumers.
What I’m trying to create with my café is something completely different from
what major coffee shops are currently doing, including Starbucks. I don’t ever
what Mugged to become a café chain that looses its small town feel. I think
that because I have the idea to create this culture early on, I can really
tailor aspects of my business idea to make this culture one of my competitive
advantages.
