Assignment 23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Assignment 23A – Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

1.     Social Capital: Contact with Target Audience: I am part of the target audience and I know a lot of people in my target audience spanning all age groups.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because being able to have direct contact with the target audience or market means being able to get information right from the source of people I want to sell my product to.

o   Rare: I think that this is uncommon, but not necessarily rare because there are many ways to contact the audience someone is targeting for their product.

o   Inimitable: This advantage is definitely imitable since there are so many ways to contact and ask for information from a target audience.

o   Non-substitutable: The only substitute for this advantage would be running simulations and making predictions with information that is already known about the target market.

2.     Public Speaking Experience: I have given presentations all throughout high school and so far throughout college. In addition, I have been an announcer of sorts for performances given by a music club I was president for.

o   Valuable: I think this is valuable because it is important to look and sound confident about something you are passionate about, and I think it helps in making people take what you’re saying seriously.

o   Rare: I don’t think this is rare since there are many people trained in public speaking.

o   Inimitable: This is definitely imitable.

o   Non-substitutable: The person who would be giving a presentation is substitutable, but the actual skill of being able to speak comfortably and confidently in front of an audience isn’t.

3.     Fundraising Experience: I have had experience raising funds for clubs and student organizations in high school.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because I believe raising money for the startup of creating a product or a business is an essential step to take towards starting it.

o   Rare: I don’t think this is rare. There are groups and organizations all over the world that have more fundraising experience and can definitely do it better than me.

o   Inimitable: This advantage is definitely imitable.

o   Non-substitutable: Again, I think the people who are doing the fundraising are substitutable, but the actual skill isn’t.

4.     Social Capital: Knowing Someone who has Further Connections: I have a family member who knows people who are professionals in marketing.

o   Valuable: I believe this is a valuable advantage because marketing a product is difficult, and having someone who knows how to advertise and promote a product is very helpful.

o   Rare: I think knowing someone who knows how to market and advertise is rare.  

o   Inimitable: Having a family member who has really good connections is not imitable since it’s something that would happen by chance and situation.  

o   Non-substitutable: This is substitutable because an alternative would be to find my own connections, which would take up a lot more time and money.

5.     Social Capital: Knowing Someone who has Developed an App/Website Before: I have friends who have developed their own apps and websites, and they know people who have more experience in doing so.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because my product is used on digital devices and solely based on them.

o   Rare: I think having a friend who has developed their own apps and websites before is rare, but the people who know how to develop an app and website isn’t.

o   Inimitable: This isn’t imitable since I don’t think many people personally knows someone who has developed an app unless they’re a part of that business.

o   Non-substitutable: An alternative to this would be to go out and find someone who knows how to develop an app or website myself, which would take up a lot of time and money.

6.     Ability to Build Rapport: I had a job that trained me in being able to build rapport with a potential customer in order to figure out their needs and what exactly their problems were and what they want.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because it gives me interpersonal communication skills and also the ability to have a potential customer trust me more and faster than another person would if they didn’t have the skills I have.

o   Rare: I don’t think this is rare since people all over the world in companies are trained to be friendly and polite towards customers. Sales people especially, in order to be successful, have this skill because they have to quickly identify the need a customer has and persuade them to buy their product because it is the one thing that will satisfy their need.

o   Inimitable: This skill is definitely imitable.

o   Non-substitutable: I don’t think this is substitutable because nothing beats being able to effectively communicate with someone.

7.     Wide Target Audience: The opportunity I am trying to pursue is found in people of most ages and all financial levels.

o   Valuable: I think this is valuable because it gives a big target market with many smaller subgroups that I could switch focus to in future shifting trends.

o   Rare: I think this is rare because I believe in most cases, someone may see that their product reaches many age groups or markets when in reality, it doesn’t. The opportunity is also very general since finances applies to anyone who has a job.

o   Inimitable: I think this is imitable to an extent since there are other opportunities that have a reach over many markets.

o   Non-substitutable: There can be alternatives for which subgroup of the target audience I could target, so in that way, it is substitutable.

8.     Social Capital: Knowing People who Know about Finances: I have aunts who studied in finance, and they have friends and know people who are professionals in that area as well.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because in order to give helpful budgeting tips to people who use the app, I would need financial professionals as a source of those tips.

o   Rare: I think knowing people who have studied finance and are professionals in the area is common.

o   Inimitable: I think it’s hard to imitate knowing people who are professionals in finance, but people can definitely search for someone who is one.

o   Non-substitutable: Like previous advantages where I have connections, an alternative to this would be searching for people who are professionals in finance, which would cost a lot of time and money.

9.     Social Capital: Knowing Someone Who Started their Own Business Before: My dad has started his own business in the Philippines, a tree farm, and my grandmother has had her own restaurant business before.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because knowing people who have knowledge on how to start a business means having a resource that has rare experiences that will be able to give me helpful advice.

o   Rare: I think this is rare because not everybody personally knows an entrepreneur.

o   Inimitable: I think this is hard to imitate because it’s situational, and knowing someone close to you who is or was an entrepreneur happens by chance.

o   Non-substitutable: This is substitutable in the way that I can try and contact an entrepreneur I have no personal connections with, which would take up time and money.

10.  The Relatability of the Situation: The opportunity I am trying to pursue not only has a wide target audience but it also relatable throughout that target audience.

o   Valuable: This is valuable because part of building rapport and persuading people to buy your product, I believe, is building an emotional connection with them and making them think that you understand what they’re feeling as they go through this problem. It helps to build trust.

o   Rare: I don’t think this is rare.

o   Inimitable: This advantage is imitable since most products that are successful are successful because many people have the same problem that they want to solve and they find the solution within the same product.

o   Non-substitutable: I don’t think this advantage is substitutable.

After doing the VRIN analysis, I think the resource that is most valuable to me is knowing people who are really knowledgeable about finances. While my app is a basic budgeting app at its core, it also has the tips portion of it, the article portion, and the future consultant portion, all of which I believe people would want some sort of strong source of credibility behind each of them in order to believe that the tips and advice the app is giving them are truly helpful. Having that credibility behind each of these aspects helps build trust between the customer and the product itself.

I don’t think this is unique since businesses have people who work in finance, and therefore they know someone who is a professional in the field, but I do believe that the way I would be using the resource is unique, since their knowledge would be passed down to people via the app.