Idea Napkin No. 2

Idea Napkin

I am currently a junior undergraduate at the University of Florida. My experience includes interning at Cornerstone Community Bank where I learned how to interact with clients as well as conduct industry research. Currently, I am a Director of Campus Operations for Study Edge where I am learning how to effectively market a product to millennials, specifically college students, and how to effectively position a product and company against a competitor. If I were to start this business, it would have to come second to my education because that is the most important thing in my life right now.

The product I am offering to customers is called Amico, the Italian word for friend. It would work as a “Tinder for friends,” in which users can see other user profiles in their area to meet new people. Users can swipe up if they’d like to talk to the profile, or down if they would not like to. If both users swipe up, they will be “matched” and can message each other to see if they’d like to meet. This product will make money through advertising through targeted ads based on shared user interests. For instance, it both matched users have an interest in shopping, an ad for a local boutique could show. This would provide a talking point for the users as well as advertising for businesses. The app would be free to download for users. Eventually, the app could be designed so that users could also have the option to pay for an ad-free app experience. The app will try to ensure the safety of its customers by requiring those using the app to sign up through a Facebook account or using a .edu email address.

The main demographic for this app would be 18-35 year olds. The app would be geared towards both genders. College students and young professionals in large cities are the main target audience. Within college towns, out of state students will especially be targeted. Additionally, local sports teams could use the app to find new players, so local sports leagues will be targeted. All the customers have a desire to connect with new people in their area and form new friendships.

Although customers would not be paying to download the app, companies would pay to advertise their business. Users would find this app valuable because it allows them to meet new people outside of their social circle that they know have similar interests and are in their area. Businesses will appreciate the targeted approach of the advertising and therefore will pay to advertise on the app.

Something that sets this app apart is that there is no other well-known and popular app that allows users to meet others with similar interests in their own area without any prior connections (such as mutual friends on Facebook). Examples of interests could be sports teams, types of food, travel, adventurous activities like rock climbing or skydiving, or more relaxed options like going to the mall or seeing a movie.  

I believe these elements fit well together. This app represents a new way of meeting and making friends, which is perfect for the demographic I am targeting. I think this app will be difficult to get off of the ground initially, because it will have to be spread mainly through word of mouth, since I won’t have money to put into advertising it extensively without the help of investors. The weakest aspect of my business would be that I would not be able to devote very much time to the app until I have graduated from graduate school. Additionally, I have little knowledge of creating and maintaining apps, so I would need to employ a team to create the app as well as continuously fix any bugs or glitches that may occur.

Feedback Memo

One point that came up multiple times in the comments was the safety aspect. While it’s extremely difficult to verify every member on an app such as this without asking for sensitive and private information, I tried to cut down on fake profiles by adding that users will have to sign up through either a Facebook account or using an .edu email address. This won’t solve the problem completely, but will hopefully cut down on the amount of fake profiles and increase user safety.

Another point was whether this was targeted specifically towards women or not. While initially that was my intention, after looking at more feedback and thinking it over, I’ve decided it will be geared towards both genders, in order for it to appeal to as many customers as possible.

Another point commonly brought up was the appeal of this app for out of state students in college. I’m not sure how many advertisers would be allowed to promote their product to incoming freshman at university events, but this would definitely be a great audience to specifically target. I have included this in my target market paragraph.

One interesting point from a commenter was that the app could be used to recruit for sports teams on campus or for local teams. I hadn’t thought about this at all, but it would be very useful since it can be hard to find people who play and enjoy a specific sport. This also helped me in my choice to promote this app to both genders, since there are so many males who enjoy watching or playing sports.

Finally, I included young professionals, especially in big cities in my target market. Several commenters mentioned how an app like this would have been useful for themselves or friends moving to big cities, so I made it more of a point to mention this in my idea napkin.