4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

1) Your beginning point. Do you have a belief, supposition, or feeling than an opportunity exists? This belief may have come from your completion of prior exercises. Only select one belief.

I believe that many people would benefit from a microwave with silent capabilities.

2) Describe your belief. Be sure to include a few things. First, what is the unmet need? Second, who has the need? Third, where did the need come from (is it new, or has it always existed)? Four, what are people doing to meet this need now? (These four elements are important -- we'll come back to these.) At this point, how sure are you (say, in percent terms) that this opportunity exists?

Many people live in close quarters, especially college students who have roommates. And because they live together, routines can often interrupt each other when people are on different schedules. If one wakes up early for class or work, they may avoid using the microwave because they do not want to wake up their sleeping roommate.

3) Identify the prototypical customer.

People with roommates, or those who live together in close quarters, e.g. college students. 

4) Iteration No. 1: Go talk to a prototypical customer. Ask questions related to the four criteria above. Questions can (should) include: What is the exact nature of the need? When do they become aware of the need -- that is, do they experience their need all the time or only sometimes? How long have they had the need? When did they first become aware of their need? Why? How are they currently addressing their need? How satisfied are they with this solution? (This is not a 30-second interview -- these interviews should be lengthy enough to help you capture rich information.)

Brynn Price
Brynn lives with three roommates but he does not care if he wakes them up. Despite this he still has an interest in a silent microwave because he does not like loud noises in general. He hasn't really thought of this as a need but the noise as an annoyance. To him, the microwave would have to be reasonably priced especially in comparison to other microwaves, but he would definitely buy it if the microwave was the same price as other microwaves and was of good quality. 

Kristie Surdacki
Kristie lives with one roommate (me) who has a very different sleeping schedule than her. She is a morning person while her roommate is a night owl. She, unlike Brynn, does care if she wakes her roommate up (thank god). She would definitely want a silent microwave, especially if it's the same price, but she would also be willing to pay a bit more. She often wants to use the microwave when her roommate is sleeping so she feels like she could gain a lot from using this device. 

Briana Lightbourn
Briana does not have a roommate right now so she doesn't really need silent features. In fact, the beeping helps her because she might forget about her food. Currently, her microwave is fine for her.

5) Reflect. What did you learn about your opportunity? What was the most surprising thing you learned about your opportunity? (You may reflect after each iteration or you may simply include a single reflection that captures all three iterations.)

These interviews were helpful in showing me the different needs of microwaves. While some people need the beeping to remind them their food is ready, others would prefer the quiet. Furthermore, before my interviews, I did not consider the possibility of people simply not liking the beeping noise in general.

6) Repeat twice more steps 3, 4, and 5. Please be explicit with each step in your blog post.

7) Summarize. It's very likely that your opportunity belief changed between the outset and as a consequence of your customer interactions. Three questions: How much of your original opportunity is still there? Do you believe that your new opportunity is more accurate than when you started? How much do you think entrepreneurs should 'adapt' their opportunities based on customer feedback? (In other words, is there a trade-off between adapting and staying firm?)

I definitely believe entrepreneurs should adapt based on feedback and I will do that myself. My interviews showed me that there is market potential and that I am not necessarily limited to my original purpose of creating this product. My idea can be expanded further, especially when I gather more feedback.