19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1) You. Who you are. What your talents are. What your skills and experiences are. Also: what are your aspirations? specifically, regarding your business concept, how do you see this business (if you were to start it) playing a role in your life?

I am currently enrolled for the online BA in Business degree at UF. I work full time as a Sr. Talent Acquisition Advisor for a $17 Billion automotive company that is recognized by Fortune as one of the best companies to work for in the US – I’ve had this job since September 2016. I spent 6.5 years as a headhunter, with the last 3.5 of those years before joining my current company helping a company in Chicago expand into the South Florida Market. I was the first hire in South Florida and built the office into a team of 12 generating $2.5 million of revenue yearly before I left. I see this opportunity as a way to eventually run my own business. With the 6.5 years as a headhunter for recruiting agencies and the 3.5 years now on the corporate side, I feel I have the experience needed to start my own business. 

2) What are you offering to customers? Describe the product or service (in other words, how you'll solve customers' unmet needs).

I am offering customers a way to grow their revenue by improving how they hire. My firm would train their employees, redesign their hiring processes, and help them select the best technologies needed to have an effective talent acquisition program.

3) Who are you offering it to? Describe, in as much detail as possible, the demographic and psychographic characteristics of your customers. Think especially of this question: what do your customers all have in common?

In general terms, I’d be offering this to any companies who want to grow their revenue by hiring better people. More specifically, companies that have current challenges hiring and retaining top performers due to limitations with their people, processes, and technologies would be my target customer.

4) Why do they care? Your solution is only valuable insofar as customers believe it is valuable to them. Here, explain why customers will actually pay you money to use your product or service.

They will care because my solution will have significant long-term ROI for them. My firm would not be coming in for a one-time fix. We’d be positioning the companies to have sustained success after our engagement is over. My firm would be providing value like the Chinese proverb "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." I feel companies will care, especially now with the COVID-19 financial impacts because they will want to save money longterm by hiring the best employees. If companies are able to pay the upfront cost for my service, they will absolutely not only save money but also generate more revenue long term. 

5) What are your core competencies? What sets you apart from everyone else? Also: what do you have that nobody else has?

I personally already have 6.5 years as a headhunter in South Florida where I acted as an external consultant to companies who were not able to recruit for specific positions. I had to negotiate contracts with leaders from Fortune 500 companies down to family-owned small businesses in which I provided a custom solution to fill their positions. I am skilled and influencing and changing business behaviors by leveraging data and getting emotional buy-in.

In addition to these five elements, please spend a paragraph evaluating whether you believe these elements fit together or whether there are aspects of your business concept that are weaker / out-of-joint with the others.

I feel my experience and career/education choices have positioned me well to tactically execute on this business opportunity. Additionally, I have worked very hard over the last 3.5 years to grow my emotional intelligence. I have been a part of a start-up environment before when I was hired to start a South Florida office for a company in Chicago. I know what it takes to enter a new market segment and how to scale processes and teams to meet business objectives. I have established relationships and an established brand in South Florida, so I feel I am positioned as well as I can be.

Feedback Memo:

So I only received one feedback comment from my peers for Idea Napkin No. 1. The two main points from that feedback are that my experience certainly aligns with my business idea and that companies who are able to pay for the service will do so due to the longterm value. I added some of this feedback to why companies would care. They will care because they will save money by hiring better. And in certain roles that are revenue generators, they will be able to grow their revenue more as well.