Forming an Opportunity Belief

Forming an Opportunity Belief

Original Belief:
The citizens of Gainesville would benefit from public parks being accessible and well-lit at night.

Original Belief Explanation:
There are very few public parks that are available for use at night because the majority of nature parks and recreational facilities in Gainesville close at dusk. The few fields that do have lights after dark are on the University of Florida campus or are nearby to it, which appeals to students but not the majority of the Gainesville community. These fields are also only lit when classes are in session for UF students and are not always accessible to non-students. I think this is a problem because many people have to work until the evening and when they get off work, they are unable to access these areas. This can make it difficult to find areas to exercise without paying for a gym membership or risking being in a dimly lit area where you could potentially get injured or threatened. I believe that because of this, many adults are paying for expensive gym memberships that they rarely use or are simply not exercising because there is not a convenient location for them. I think that this is also a problem for high school students who are trying to find places to spend time after school without spending money or ending up in an uncomfortable or unsafe situation. Because of this, I believe that many students end up hanging out in similar locations but without proper lighting or safety measures in place. I grew up in Gainesville and know that I struggled with this problem because I lived far away from UF campus and so I would say that I'm about 70% positive that this is a problem for non-UF student citizens of Gainesville.

Protypical Customer #1: A male adult (not in college) living in Gainesville 
The first question I asked was whether or not this man spent time in the Gainesville community at night and if so, doing what. He said that he often goes running at night or meets up with this colleagues for drinks after work. This man said that he does not see a need in his own life for having public parks open at night because he does not see many people in his demographic using them because they will oftentimes go to restaurants or bars to hang out. He also said that he does not think that he would utilize a well-lit or secure recreational facility at night, but also specified that he thinks that it is because he does not feel unsafe when he goes running at night in his community. He did add that he believes that women are more likely to feel unsafe when exercising or hanging out at night, and would likely benefit more from a secure and well-lit public location to spend time. This interview did not surprise me but pushed me towards interviewing a more specific target group, women in the Gainesville community. 

Protypical Customer #2: A female adult (not attending UF) living in Gainesville 
This female said that she often spends time in Gainesville at night because she takes part-time classes at Santa Fe and works during the day, so she rarely has time to exercise or hang out with friends during the day. We then discussed whether or not she felt safe at night and how this affected the decisions of her and her friends when deciding where to hang out. She says that she often feels unsafe as a younger women who is also a member of the queer community. I then brought up the idea of the City of Gainesville keeping public parks or nature areas well lit and more secure at night. She said that she would probably use these areas several times a week, and even more often if they had bike trails because that was her preferred method of exercising. She also believes that 20-30 year old women, as well as targeted groups, specifically people of color and queer individuals, would be likely to use these areas because they often feel unsafe due to poor lighting or insecure venues when they hang out at night. This interview made me think more about how basic lighting implementation would help many people in the Gainesville community feel safer. She emphasized that she would definitely use these areas but also brought up the fact that many streets in Gainesville do not have proper lighting and that she though this was a serious problem to be addressed. We discussed how this often leads to inaccurate profiling and misidentifying which can lead to people being or feeling threatened. I decided to focus my last discussion on the importance of lighting in social areas rather than in a work-out context because of this.

Protypical Customer #3: A female high school student living in Gainesville
This student says that she often spends time with her friends and family at night in Gainesville. She said that her parents are professors at UF and often work late into the evenings so they will often get dinner late at night, usually in the downtown area. We discussed the different activities that take place in this area and how the crowding affects the distances that people have to walk at night to get to places they want to be. She said that she often feels unsafe, even with her parents, when walking from distant parking lots to the downtown area because of the poor lighting and homeless populations that live there. She said that the center part of downtown is almost always well lit and she rarely feels unsafe there, but will not walk back to her car by herself for fear of somebody approaching her in the dark. We then discussed how more lighting in these areas would affect certain communities and she said that she believed women would feel much safer walking by themselves or with other women if the walkways were well lit in this area. I then mentioned the idea of keeping public parks or recreational facilities well-lit at night. She said that she believed that this was a good idea, but would not use it as often as she believed women who are older than her would because she plays sports for her high school and rarely exercises outside of this. This helped me to narrow down my target market for my original opportunity. This interview also made me realize the importance of more lighting in public areas in general, and not just in parks and nature areas.

Summary:
I think that these interviews helped me narrow my original opportunity belief by identifying a demographic that would utilize these areas the most. Both of the women that I interviewed said that they often feel unsafe when going out at night, whereas the man said that he rarely does, which makes me think that these areas would likely have to be targeted more towards women or people in targeted minorities. I also realized throughout this process that the problem was bigger than what I started with. Through these conversations, I came to the understanding that not only do women not feel safe to exercise at night, but they often simply feel unsafe to go out with friends or go out to dinner by themselves because of insecure environments and poor lighting. Because of this, I think that my opportunity is more accurate because I figured out the demographic that would most benefit from it and similar ventures, but it is also less accurate because I realized that this is a bigger problem than just public parks. I think that it is important for entrepreneurs to adapt but I also think that if they change based on every discussion they have, they will never come up with a product because they will constantly be finding new demographics to target to and new products to make. I personally even shifted away from my original idea because I saw another problem but if I continued to do this, I would never be able to implement any change. Instead, I would simply continue to look for the next biggest problem.