Ayaz Ali - Assignment 4A

Assignment 4 - Forming an opportunity belief

1. Beginning Point: I definitely believe opportunity exists. My opportunity belief is that there could be an opportunity to create more parking space in my apartment complex, Gainesville Place.
2. Description: The unmet need is that parking at Gainesville Place is getting more and more limited. This need affects all residents living in the apartment complex and makes it difficult for us to find parking or even park close to where our apartments are located. This was not a major issue according to prior residents, but within the past year it has became more and more of an issue. Me and my roommates sometimes are forced to park very far from our apartment and sometimes even have to park in the next apartment complex and walk over to Gainesville Place. There is a bunch of open land and grass areas that can easily be converted into parking space, and I think the apartment directors should definitely look into making a change. 
3. The prototypical customer in this case would be Gainesville Apartment residents.
4. Iteration 1: The first customer I went to and asked about this possible solution was my roommate Ronny. Ronny has been living in Gainesville Place for almost two years now and I was interested to see his take on this situation. Ronny said he agrees that within the past year parking has became an issue, but he does not think it is major. He explained how only a handful of times is the neighborhood fully packed, and he does not really mind walking a little bit to get to our apartment. I threw out the idea of possibly adding more parking and he was with the idea for sure. He was a little skeptical as if the neighborhood directors would do it, but he would gladly accept more parking. 
5. Iteration 2: The next customer I questioned was one of my friends, Samit, who has been living in Gainesville Place for about a year now. Samit said he understands my take on the parking issue, and agrees more parking could be better. At the same time, he provided me with a different outlook and proved to me the positives of the complex. He explained how we had our own gym, pool, basketball and tennis courts, soccer and football fields, and how convenient the location was. He said parking can tend to be annoying at times and adding more would be great, but he said with all the things we are provided, that is not a major issue for him. 
6. Iteration 3: The last customer I questioned was my friend Asham. Now Asham used to live in Gainesville Place and he recently moved to Oxford Manner. I asked him the same questions and he gave me an even better response from his perspective. He explains how he actually misses all the neighborhood amenities and how we would have loved to still live in Gainesville Place. He acknowledged the parking issue and he admitted that it was getting bad towards the end of his stay in Gainesville Place. He did say how not every apartment complex is perfect and how you have to live with the good and the bad. Even though parking was becoming more and more limited in Gainesville Place, it was still a beautiful complex that offered many services to its tenants. 
7. Summary: After interviewing these 3 people, my opportunity belief has changed a good amount. I do agree still that the parking situation is putrid, but with everything the neighborhood offers, would it change my mind about living here? That question really got me thinking about my opportunity belief, and how much of an issue it really was. I would like to possibly ask more and more residents of Gainesville Place about the issue, but maybe I should start focusing on how great the complex is rather than one issue. I think customer feedback is vital to entrepreneurs. How can they create a solution when the customers do not even feel affected or even the need to bring up an issue. In this case, would more parking help tenants? Yes, I believe so. However, would tenants, including myself, give up other amenities for more parking? Probably not. There could be a solution for all this, but as of now my thinking process has changed greatly, and I can say I do love living here, regardless of the parking issues.