6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Economic Trend – Baby Boomers are a Big Market

Source – http://danschawbel.com/blog/53-of-the-most-interesting-facts-about-baby-boomers/

Belief the Opportunity Exists – With a generation entering retirement and accounting for almost 50% of the economy I have a hard time thinking there’s not opportunity in this market. Then when I read that 80% are choosing the route of entrepreneurship, 86% are members of brand loyalty programs, and 70% of disposable income in the US is controlled by Baby Boomers I get more excited!

Prototypical Customer – The prototypical customer in this segment is born between 1946 through 1964. Estimated last year at approximately 74 million.

Opportunity Easy/Difficult to Exploit – I believe opportunities in this segment would be easy to exploit.

Why I saw the opportunity – I am certainly not the first to see this opportunity, but I think I grabbed on to it because we tend to think of our older generation as retirees that want to go off and play golf or fish or cribbage. This generation wants to be more active, engaged, and keep on working.

Economic Trend – Generation Z

Source – https://mashable.com/2014/08/20/generation-z-marketing/#Ru3kD.kCe8qw

Belief the Opportunity Exists – In this generation we have a makeup very close to that of Baby Boomers where 72% want to be entrepreneurs. More than a quarter of the population is made up of this generation. They are resourceful and self-serving.

Prototypical Customer – Born from the mid 1990’s to the early 2000’s making up 25% of the US population. Larger than the Baby Boomer population overall.

Opportunity Easy/Difficult to Exploit – This will be a more difficult opportunity to exploit. This generation relies on instant gratification and results immediately. Many of us older students have children in this generation and understand how hard it is to keep their attention for 5 minutes.

Why I saw the opportunity – I have kids in this generation.

Regulatory Changes – Net Neutrality

Source – https://www.komando.com/happening-now/433986/net-neutrality-explained-in-plain-english-and-what-it-means-to-you

Belief the Opportunity Exists – I am not a big believer in Government regulation of the Internet. Who decides who the traffic cop is and how do we make sure they are not bias. The internet has thrived on its own allowing startup companies to take advantage of the infrastructure and disrupt markets. Why is that a problem? I agree with the graphic shown in the article, we have provided a solution and are now looking for a problem.

Prototypical Customer – I think this hits the larger companies and entrepreneurs looking to take on companies like Facebook, Netflix, Twitter more so than smaller entrepreneurs/businesses.

Opportunity Easy/Difficult to Exploit – This would be a tough one to exploit as you have to be in a position to be in competition with the large companies mentioned above.

Why I saw the opportunity – I believe I see the opportunity because I have always seen the Internet as a free zone to be opportunistic in the same time-period Google, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix grew from ideas to big business.

Regulatory Changes – Association Health Plans

Source – https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/association-health-plans

Belief the Opportunity Exists – I really like this idea and we use it to bargain throughout the United States. Think of Costco, Sams, or Medishare more specifically.

Prototypical Customer – Any group of customer. Think of a wide range from Carpenters to Contstruction Workers, or Teachers to Education professionals banding together to create their own association and bargaining group.

Opportunity Easy/Difficult to Exploit – I believe this would be a tough one to exploit as the majority of these folks are already enrolled in employee or union based plans.

Why I saw the opportunity – I recently dropped my insurance to go with my wife’s insurance plan that wasn’t great but much cheaper than mine.