Idea Napkin 1

Me

      Talents:   Great with a computer/electronics, quick learner, systems tend to “make-sense”

          Experience:   I grew up with an architect for a mother and a software engineer for a father, so I’ve been immersed in technology and design for my entire life.  My parents recently had their house converted to solar and I learned a bit from that experience.

     Business Role:   If I were to start this business, for a time it would become my life.  Researching systems, calling manufacturers and suppliers, marketing and talking with customers, hiring workers - that would be my life, and it would probably be a lot of fun and very interesting.

Offering

Reliability, affordability, and investment planning are the three things my potential customer-base needs.  By way of products, the company would use only panels above a rather high minimum criteria of reliability and affordability.  In terms of services, not only would my team install the panels and infrastructure, we would also sit with the customer and find the most financially beneficial system – whether it’s full-solar, part-solar, or no-solar.

To Whom?

           

Two main segments have emerged: residents and commercial businesses.  In regards to residents, the target audience comprises of established homeowners in their 40s-50s with incomes from $70k-$100k.  The commercial side is more diversified and has yet to be thoroughly researched

Why Do They Care?

For the majority of my potential customers, money has its limits – it’s not infinite.  In addition, in the eyes of a smaller segment, the environment has limits too.  Because these resources are limited, financially conscious people want to do financially wise things with those resources.  Going with the cheapest products may provide lower upfront costs, but everyone knows if you bought it cheap it probably won’t last.  My company would provide would provide affordable, not cheap, and reliable, not risky, services and solutions.

Core Competencies

           

I have personal access to architects and engineers through my parents and access to investors through my own connections.  The only limiting factor currently are my guts.  To me, talking with professionals can be daunting and I don’t like wasting people’s time – I especially don’t enjoy asking for money.  Thus, I need to have a strong business plan/pitch before doing anything: having a detailed plan will hopefully end up being one of my core competencies.  In addition, right now what sets me apart is my youth.  I can more comfortably take more risks than older individuals as I have no dependents and very low expenses.

As I explained in the Core Competencies section, I am not the most confident when it comes to reaching out to other people.  I think this aspect is the most out-of-joint with the rest of the business.  In order for my solar panel manufacturing and installation company to be successful, I have to frequently talk with a wide variety of people.  At some point I might get good and comfortable making phone calls, but it’s those first few calls which make things difficult.  As another point, the solar panel market has growing competition as large players have stakes in the market (Tesla for example).  Somehow I will have to either partner with those large stake-holders or provide a superior product/service which can be quite difficult.  Nevertheless, I still believe the solar market holds financial gain and realizing those gains primarily lies in my hand, and phone.