Venture Concept No. 1

OPPORTUNITY

 The opportunity is here. The customer base is hundreds if not thousands of UF students and surrounding campus residents who are in need of more parking spaces. The customer base is however not limited to these residents and students, but can go as far as to include traveling guests and UF faculty and staff who do not live in the surrounding area. Due to the drastic increase in apartment complexes, the amount of people in one area is too large and is surpassing the available parking spaces. Geographically the market is condensed to the Northeast portion of the UF campus. Currently customers are having never ending issues, such as getting towed and receiving tickets for trying to park in areas that are not allowed. They are loyal to their current parking spots if they are lucky enough to have one. Parking is something that cannot be avoided if you have a car and even if you don't have a car, knowing that more parking will become available could motivate even more students and customers to bring their cars and essentially motivate even more business. This window will be open until another investor claims the land for the designated parking garage. 

INNOVATION

The idea of a parking garage itself is not an innovation. However in this area where parking seems to be almost obsolete it can be considered innovative. There can be potential room for innovation if the investor and builders decide to make the parking garage a smart garage and allow for different features to technologically advance the garage. Innovations such as a screen at the bottom showing the number of current available spots can help customers when they are deciding to park or not. The profit in this parking garage will come from the sale of parking permits either for a semester or even hourly depending on how the investor decides to sell. Hourly rates can go anywhere from 50 cents to 5 dollars an hour and to remain competitive, semester prices should be anywhere from $120-160 a month. 

VENTURE CONCEPT

This parking garage would substantially help the parking issue in Gainesville. Building this garage, would not have customers switching from one brand to another but rather parking in a more convenient location. Customers will choose this product because of its convenience and price point. The competition is not direct but geographical. The only weakness and possible obstacle is the Standard parking garage which is in close proximity, however these parking spots are only offered to residents of the standard. Customer support and experience is essentially not an issue because as long as a parking garage offers parking at all times it is serving its full purpose. The best part about this parking garage is that once it is built the true work is done, it will be sitting income as people pay for their spots and after this step the business portion is done. 

UNFAIR ADVANTAGE

Given both the location and customer base of this potential project, the amount of advantages building this parking garage have is truly unfair.  The location of the potential parking garage is by far the most useful resource. This lot has the perfect location and surrounding businesses to ensure a full parking garage and plenty of potential income. In addition to this tangible advantage, this product also has community support and a ready client base. Before even beginning this project, it is safe to say that the community and clients are ready to begin this project. This is extremely important when convincing investors to invest in this project. 

NEXT VENTURE

Beyond the parking garage, this project can be extended even further to open the first ever scooting parking garage. In addition to this, the roof of the parking garage can be converted to potentially have solar panels and used for energy across campus. In addition to the solar panels, these parking garages can begin to expand across empty lots in Gainesville, as every time a new garage is built a more efficient route to building can be found. 

NEXT 5 YEARS 

Assuming I go ahead and launch this project, I don’t think the life goal I had in mind would change. Since a young age I have wanted to be a plastic surgeon and having the money readily available will make it even easier to attend medical school. That being said having this hands on business and entrepreneurial experience will definitely be to my benefit in 10 years and beyond as I hope to open my own practice. I think if I were to launch this project I may even continue to dabble in investments that are essentially sitting income.