Idea Napkin #1

-Me: I’m very good at finding out what people want and identifying things that I also want to change and make better. I pride myself on coming up with creative solutions to problems as well as my general creative spirit. If I’m passionate about something, I will not stop until my goal is reached. My aspirations are to set the bar higher for cleanliness in restaurants and to let employees do their job better. I would network with the industrial equipment sellers to refine the need and see if I could get my product, once it’s in a physical form, into their catalogs. I’d hold demonstrations close to closing time so they can try out using it when they’re in a time crunch and spend a lot of my time pitching this to potential clients.

-The Product: I’m offering cleaner floors with a better dustpan. Since there’s always a line of dirt left over when sweeping, this would take care of that. The skeleton of the design is a standing dustpan with a long handle and a compartment, but there are modifications, like a bigger compartment for the dirt and other detritus on the floor as well as the removal of the sloping edges. The most important part is the very edge of the dustpan, where there is a line of mophead material (see picture below). This makes it a bit thicker than most dustpans, but the leftover dirt gets trapped in that, leaving the floors with less dirt. It’d be designed for multiple uses, but would need to be replaced after a few months.

-The Market: I’d be offering this to restaurant owners with an established business. Fast-food restaurants would be ideal since many have tiled floors, perfect for sweeping, but any casual restaurant would also be applicable to my market. Restaurants located in the northern places where it snows in the winter and spring have a lot of dirt tracked in from snow and rain, so it’s a year-long problem and would get more use from the dustpan.

-Why Do People Want This: One of restaurant owner’s prime concern is passing health inspection and being able to advertise a clean, enjoyable restaurant. Having a constant, thin covering of dirt hanging about invites mud, insects, and even food unfit for consumption. Mopping doesn’t necessarily solve this problem either because it’s inconvenient to mop when it’s only a smidgen of dirt and after a while, the water becomes dirty and unhelpful for making things clean.

-Core competencies: I have an untapped market. As far as basic restaurant equipment, there hasn’t been a lot of innovation and if this get into catalogs and warehouses, I’d also have a portion of my marketing done for me. What sets me apart is that I’m always looking for ways to make something a more positive experience for others and I enjoy the dynamics of a restaurant. 

My product, my market, and the value to my customers are all pretty solid, however my skills and “selling edge” are lacking since I have very little experience in selling something, much less entrepreneurship. In general, I need to network more to have connections, learn what problems are prevalent in a career section, etc. If the product doesn’t sell, that would be a lack of advertising or I chose the wrong section of the market to gear this towards, not because people wouldn’t use it, if it was engineered properly. I do know, however, that a product has to go through a rigorous series of tests to make sure it’s industry-grade and up to the tasks set before it. This means if the dustpan passed those, it’d have an instant seal of credibility that would increase the desirability.