Venture Concept 2

The people who have the need for my product are smokers who either do not want to smell like smoke or do not want to harm the people around them with second hand smoke. Another person who may want my product is a young adult currently in college who wants to be able to smoke inside without the inside area smelling like cigarette or marijuana smoke. This stems anywhere from just the everyday smoker with kids to a professional business man or even a lazy college student. These people may only have one of the reasons to use the product or many. The professional business person may not want to smell like smoke for meetings or other work-related tasks but may also not want to expose their children at home to the dangers of second hand smoke. Just like the everyday person first thinks to protect their children and other loved ones from second hand smoke but may enjoy the benefits of not smelling like smoke themselves.  This is an important need to satisfy because smoking is looked at as a negative trait in many areas and it makes it hard to be taken seriously as a professional if you smell like smoke often. I know from experience that when you are being helped at a business by somebody that smells like smoke it is easy to judge them just by this. There have been campaigns that are also working to place a negative aura on smoking such as “Tobacco Free Florida” and the illegality of marijuana. This has created a stigma that leads people to not want to be connected to smoking. One of the best ways to prevent having this trait attached to you is by not smelling like smoke. This market has a possibility of being huge because it is estimated that there are one billion smokers worldwide. Even though not all may wan this product that is a massive opportunity. Many customers now satisfy this need with filters that are not up to the standard. These filters help to eliminate some of the odor but do not eliminate enough to stop the smell from smoke. I think this window of opportunity may be a short one because it has been known for years that people hate the smell of smoke and that second-hand smoke is terrible for the people around them, sometimes even fatal.

The innovation behind my air filter is the ozone and micro fan technology that will be inside of it. Ozone gas has been used for quite some time to kill odors. There is a product called “Ozium” that uses the gas to kill odors and has been successful in doing so. The only problem with this is you spray it into the air then inhale it which can be somewhat dangerous if the amount is not controlled. In my product, the ozone gas will be pure and will be created by electrocuting the oxygen that is pulled through the filter with the smoke. When the ozone comes in contact with the smoke, it will eliminate the odor causing bacteria in the smoke and release a sterile smelling clean gas that has no harmful components to it. Also, my micro fans will be more powerful than most that are used in similar products today, helping to ensure that all or most of the smoke is captured so that it leaves the user smelling fresh instead of stinky. This is revolutionary along with the fact that my product will have a small place to rest your arm and hand next to the entrance of the filter creating a comfortable way to smoke and also diminish the amount of smoke that escapes. This filter is also not too large and will fit on any normal desk space in your house but is a little too large to travel or transport. Depending on costs to build the filter I think this could be sold for around 400 dollars, which compared to the competition is somewhat reasonable. After research, I found filters with technology that is less innovative going for close to 1,000 dollars.

My Air Filter will work with this opportunity because there are many people who do not want to smell like smoke all day. As an ex-smoker one of the few regrets I had every time I smoked was how bad I would smell when I was around people. With this product that worry will be an after-thought. I have also talked to many people that smoke and they agree that one worry among smokers, especially with children is that they will inflict harm to their children and their loved one. This filter is an opportunity for those people to take away that worry. Another thing that my product will do is take away the fear from smokers that their house or other inside area they would like to smoke in will smell after. This is especially important for my small filter design. Having this filter to travel with will allow people to smoke in places that it is not allowed such as hotel rooms without worry of a fine. My price is also another reason that I believe people will buy this product. This price is very reasonable for the industry and after you have purchased this product it will cost very little to maintain. The only thing that you will have to spend more money on is the carbon filter replacements. These replacements will cost about forty dollars and will only have to be replaced every four to six months based on use. It will not be hard to get customers to switch to this product because the products on the market right now are subpar and are not geared towards smoker specifically. The competitors filter only filters the excess smoke out of the room after the smell has already penetrated the walls and the clothing of the people in the room. For this to be a success I will need to have a manufacturer to start and at some point, hope to have my own factory that manufactures these filters to help cut costs. We will also need to have a sales force because I hope to sell these independently rather than going into retail. This is important because we need to target smokers specifically not just people who want an air filter.

I think my most important resource will be the fact that my company will use a personal selling tactic. This will create a relationship that will make our prospective customers feel comfortable buying from us rather than the competitor in a retail store where the only relationship built is with loyalty to the product.

I think my next product would be another specialized filter. I think I would want to move to a small handheld filter that made it so if people wanted to carry it with them when smoking in public or at a friend’s house they could use it there discreetly.

I would hope that after five years my company is making more than a million dollars in profit each year and that I am finding new ways to innovate and create new products that help the masses. After finishing the “Exit Strategy” assignment I also realize that after this product reaches this level of success I would like to sell it so that I can focus on my new products and inventions.

I did not complete the “What’s Next” assignment so that makes this a little difficult especially because most of the feedback I received was positive from the two peer reviews I received on the first assignment. But some of the feedback I received was that I seemed very knowledgeable on my product. I also had complements on my future endeavors such as creating a new more portable fan after the success of the on described above. The one criticism I received was that I did not make it very clear what the size of the filter was.

I changed my venture concept in a few minor ways. I spoke about the size of my filter and the fact that it was not massive and could fit on a desk space but also that it was not easily transportable or something you would want to travel with. I also added another target market with college students or anyone that wanted to smoke conveniently inside without odor staying inside or smoke damaging inside areas. I also added what my exit strategy was to the last question in the original assignment since that is part of how my company will be handled in the coming years.

(Ad)venture Time