Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.      Market demographics for this product are wide:

a.      Valuable: Yes, able to reach many different people

b.     Rare: No, there are plenty of products that target a large market

c.      Inimitable: Yes, it is not hard to copy

d.     Non-Substitutable: Yes, your target market cannot be substituted

2.     Capabilities: First-hand experience with this need

a.      Valuable: Yes, first-hand experience is considered a primary source when researching

b.     Rare: Only someone who has experience what not having this need met would understand why POD Schooling would need to be created.

c.      Inimitable: Yes, no one’s experience is the same

d.     Non-Substitutable: First-hand experience has a benefit that cannot be substituted.

3.     Organizational Culture: Open Door Policy

a.      Valuable: Yes, when someone knows that it is not a bother to come talk to you about an issue, you are able to get it fixed quicker than if you had to wait and find out yourself.

b.     Rare: No, lots of companies have an open door policies

c.      Inimitable: Yes, it is not hard to instill this policy in a company

d.     Non-Substitutable: Yes, the only way to find out problems is if you are told about them or you find out yourself

4.     Organizational Culture: Open Creative/Learning Environment

a.      Valuable: Yes, not all schools foster an open creative/learning environment

b.     Rare: Yes, there are not many types of schools that are able to do this because of all the tests they have to make sure their students pass

c.      Inimitable: Yes, but sometimes it is hard to foster that kind of environment a

d.     Non-Substitutable: Yes, the easier you make it to be able to learn, the more a child would want to.

5.     Capabilities: The skills learnt from this class

a.      Valuable: Yes, every skill you learn is valuable in some way, whether it is helping you to find resources, identifying your target market, or just helping you to figure if your idea is a viable one.

b.     Rare: Yes and no, only a UF student can learn these exact skills but you can still earn some of these skills from other places.

c.      Inimitable: No, UF has its own curriculum

d.     Non-Substitutable:  No, you can always just hire people with those skills that are needed

6.     Social Capital: Support System

a.      Valuable: Yes, they are able to offer you a perspective you wouldn’t be able to see on your own

b.     Rare: Yes, not everyone has a support system that will support them and their  idea(s) 100%

c.      Inimitable: Yes, no one person’s support system is the same, but anyone can have a support system.

d.     Non-Substitutable: Yes, a support system is unique to each individual person  

7.     Financial Capital: Potential Investors Interested

a.      Valuable: Yes, money is an important process in starting any business.

b.     Rare: No, there are many investors out there. Just have to find the right ones willing to buy into POD Schooling.

c.      Inimitable: No, there are many investors out there

d.     Non-Substitutable: No, other funding can be found to fund my idea, POD Schooling

8.     Human Capital: Teachers who I have talked to that said they would be interested in working as a teacher in the company

a.      Valuable: Yes, you want to be able to bring teachers on board. But, not just any teacher, the good teachers who feel like they are limited to teaching towards a test or unable to focus on the progress of each individuals

b.     Rare: No, there are many other good teachers out there that feel like they cannot really teach in the environment they are in

c.      Inimitable: No, like I said before there are many good teachers out there

d.     Non-Substitutable: Yes, teachers are one of the main resources we would need in order to make POD Schooling possible.

9.     Lack of Competitors:

a.      Valuable: Yes,  it makes it easier to dominate/control a market when there are less people who could offer someone the same

b.     Rare: No, there are many industries where there are few competitors. Also as technology becomes more advanced more and more ideas similar to mine

c.      Inimitable: There is always the possibility that in the future someone could come along and make a product like mine or even better than mine.

d.     Non-Substitutable: This cannot be substituted.

10.  Capabilities: Good public speaking skills

a.      Valuable: Yes, not everyone is able to speak effectively in front of a crowd and get them to buy in or care what you are talking about

b.     Rare: No, there are most likely more people out there who are better public speakers than I am

c.      Inimitable: No, it is not hard to improve public speaking skills

d.     Non-Substitutable:  Yes, you need the person who is going to pitch your idea to be you. I would want to pitch me own idea, not hire someone else to explain it for me.

After doing the VIRN analysis of my 10 resources, there are two that because obvious to me that it is my unfair advantage. Those two resources are my support system and the open creative/learning environment I hope to create with POD Schooling.