Adam Wolf 4A-Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe an opportunity exists to expand Gainesville regional airport.  The unmet need is people want the ability to travel to more destinations and want to choose from more airline options to get a better price.  Any individuals who travel through the Gainesville regional airport have this need for expansion.  The need for expanding the airport’s destination map has always existed but has become much more of a need during the past decade.  People meet their need of traveling to many destinations by booking connecting flights between the airport’s four current destinations:  Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Dallas.  At this point, I am 95% sure this opportunity exists.  I will create a new airline that flies to towns within the United States to prevent customers from having to drive long road trips.

The typical customer who would benefit from the opportunity I see is people who fly in and out of Gainesville regional airport.  Ideally it will be individuals who are a distance away that is many hours driving.  My advertising of short flights would act as an incentive to fly over driving hundreds of miles.

Person A is a student who attends the University of Florida but lives in Key West.  He needs a quick and easy way to travel between Key West and Gainesville.  He only experiences this need when they want to visit home during holidays or summer, and person A has this need ever since he started attending UF.  Because the price of current flights is too high and there are no direct flights, he chooses to drive 8 hours whenever he wants to go home.  He would be willing to try a new airline to save time traveling.

Person B is a parent of a student who attends the University of Florida.  Person B lives in Pensacola, which is a 6-hour drive from Gainesville.  This individual didn’t strongly believe my opportunity was a need.  They began making routine trips to visit their kid in Gainesville after she started school 2 years ago.  The drive did not bother person B, yet this individual claimed they would consider taking a direct flight if it was offered and the price was reasonable.

Person C was one of my roommates and lives in Miami, FL.  He must drive 6 hours to Gainesville.  He is aware of this need after attending UF and wants a faster, more efficient mode of transportation to commute.  He is aware of the current nonstop flight between Gainesville regional airport and Miami international airport, but the price of a ticket is too expensive.  As a result, he continues to make the long drive.  The individual claimed he would consider taking a new airline that connected Miami and Gainesville is the price is low enough.

I learned my opportunity is a need in society after interviewing three individuals directly affected by this need.  What I found to be most surprising after interviewing the individuals was the importance of price.  All three people agreed to try my new airline offering nonstop flights, but only if the price of a ticket was low.  I was surprised how significant a cheap price affected their decision to solve their need.

I believe my original opportunity is 95% still there.  I believe my opportunity is more accurate in terms of the logistics.  After interviewing affected people, I developed further details of the opportunity such as low fares and other customer requests that were previously not planned.

Entrepreneurs should focus much of their attention and adapt as much as possible to customer recommendations because their feedback is crucial in determining future success of that entrepreneur.  A good entrepreneur must stay open to the demands of the intended customers.  A firm entrepreneur will experience limited success, but an open-minded entrepreneur will experience life-long success because the later type will adapt to changing wants to maintain high demand.