Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

My Resources:

1)      Experience as an athlete –

·       Valuable: Being a student-athlete at University of Florida, I appreciate the issue my meal delivery service aims to solve very well, based on my own experience and fellow teammates’ struggles. I know what it is like to be an athlete, and what many athletes’ values, attitudes, and lifestyles are. This allows me to understand my target market very well, and this can help immensely with marketing my service.

·       Rare: The majority of entrepreneurs are not student-athletes at a top 10 public university

·       Inimitable: You have a limited time to work hard at a sport and become good enough to play in college. This resource is impossible to imitate for anyone who is not skilled at a sport or has already graduated college.

·       Non-substitutable: It is extremely hard to find a resource that matches the caliber of a close-knit athletic community at a division 1 school. Besides a few other universities and teams, this resource is very hard to find a substitution for.

2)      Social network of student-athletes and work-out junkies –

·       Valuable: As a gator gymnast, I have countless connections with other athletes and people who would fall into my target market. This gives me firsthand access to people who would be interested in trying my service or giving feedback about my business. Moreover, it would help

·       Rare: Some people have extensive networks full of people in their target market, but most don’t

·       Inimitable: Replicating my exact, personal social network is basically impossible

·       Non-substitutable: Nope, you can’t find another group of people with the same qualities and capital as those in my social network

3)      Cooking skills

·       Valuable: If I am going to be making meals to deliver (at least during the trial stages of my business), it’s very valuable to know how to cook! Things need to taste good for me to be successful!

·       Rare: Not really, lots of people have cooking skills

·       Inimitable: It is certainly possible, and not that hard, to acquire cooking skills. It just takes time and practice.

·       Non-substitutable: Knowing how to cook cannot be replaced with any other resources! Even recipes, made by others, do not substitute the actual kitchen skills needed to make a meal

4)      My food blog

·       Valuable: I have been using my cooking skills to run a food blog (consisting of lots of healthy recipes) for over a year now. Thus, I have experience in what my audience (lots of athletes and overlap with my target market) appreciates. Not to mention, I have a valuable platform to promote my business on and get the word out – a perfect collaboration.

·       Rare: Pretty rare, although there are lots of food blogs out there

·       Inimitable: It would a LOT of effort to imitate

·       Non-substitutable: Could be substituted with popular social media platforms, but the knowledge I have gained from blogging is definitely non-substitutable.

5)      My connections in the nutrition sphere

·       Valuable: My social connections with performance dieticians (who literally help athletes fuel their bodies to maximize athletic ability for a living) can be extremely beneficial in formulating meals for my business, which has a similar goal.

·       Rare: Not many entrepreneurs have a team of nutritionists at their fingertips

·       Inimitable: It is hard to replicate a social network

·       Non-substitutable: Internet resources and nutritional guides just don’t match up with personal advice and suggestions

6)      Financial capital

·       Valuable: I have a savings account with money I could use, and this is definitely valuable for getting my business up and running without going into any debt or relying on others.

·       Rare: If the average entrepreneur has $10,000 to use, my financial capital is definitely not rare

·       Inimitable: It’s not that hard to save up the amount I have, I suppose

·       Non-substitutable: Money can be substituted with other elements of capital that are worth money

7)      Location

·       Valuable: Living (and basing my business out of) Gainesville is valuable because there is a large segment of people who may be interested in my product, especially due to University of Florida.

·       Rare: There is only one Gainesville, FL in the world

·       Inimitable: Other places may have similar attributes

·       Non-substitutable: Other cities may have similar things to offer as Gainesville, but not exactly

8)      My Future Organizational Culture

·       Valuable: Having a great culture that makes people enjoy working for you is certainly a great asset to have

·       Rare: Every business has a unique organizational culture, but there will only be one exactly like mine!

·       Inimitable: Because organizational culture is based on who runs it, business history, and core values, it is impossible to imitate!

·       Non-substitutable: Other organizational culture could not quite match up

9)      Connections in the entrepreneurship world

·       Valuable: I have made many connections with entrepreneurs through my internship with aha Pure Foods, a Gainesville-based start up who may be helpful in getting my business up and running.

·       Rare: There are a lot of experienced entrepreneurs in the world, but no two people are the same!

·       Inimitable: It is hard to replicate a social network

·       Non-substitutable: It is impossible to substitute one person’s exact capital with another’s, although many people have great knowledge, experience, and advice to offer.

10)   My Ambition

·       Valuable: Being ambitious and willing to take risks is a valuable skill for an entrepreneur

·       Rare: Eh… there’s a lot of ambitious people out there

·       Inimitable: I suppose ambition can be a learned skill, but it’s a lot easier if you are born with it

·       Non-substitutable: Other qualities don’t quite match up

My Top Resource

I would say my top resource comes from being a student-athlete at University of Florida. This ranks high on all four categories… it’s valuable, rare, inimitable, AND non-substitutable in most regards. Because of my personal experience as an athlete and the social network I have built through Gator athletics, I will be so much better off in creating this business.