Will it sell now?

19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1. My special skills have stayed the same since last Idea Napkin, but I will try to write them down into a short list instead of a block of text like last time. 

• 2 years of teaching experience as a Volunteer in AmeriCorps
• Public Speaking and communication
• Problem Solving
• Working in a team
• 6 months as Education Technician at the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance
• Leadership
• Designed lesson plans and trained new AmeriCorps members
• Sociology Major, Innovation Minor
• Human centered thinking
• Creative solutions starting from empathy

I plan to use these skills to create an educational board game, and hope working on the ZipStip will let me gain experience for turning an idea into a physical product. 

2. I am making the ZipStrip. This is a strip of fabric with zippers on both sides that you could zip up into a normal jacket. This will work to ad extra width to the torso and help people who don't fit into standard jacket sizes, and allow people to add an extra strip of color or design to an outfit. This picture shows my first prototype.

3. I think three groups will be interested in this for different reasons. The first is the "Tough Fit" who needs the ZipStrip to adjust the standard jacket size. This could be because of newly gained weight so middle aged adults and pregnant women will be most of these customers.

The second group is the "Customizer" who wants the ZipStrip to change up and add to outfits. These will be younger adults and teenagers who have enough money to spend on accessories.

The third group is the "Fan" who would be interested in a ZipStrip for a brand or team they like.

4. These three groups will want the ZipStrip because it is a much cheaper alternative than buying a new jacket but can still rep their team, make the torso fit after weight gain, or add new color to your wardrobe.  

5. One of the biggest strengths of my product is that no one I've interviewed has heard of something like this, and yet all could picture and understand its value immediately when shown my drawing. I have been especially surprised that during these assignments that I found two additional groups that would like a ZipStrip because it shows that there is more interest than I had thought when I planned this product.

Conclusion:

I think the ZipStrip is a strong idea and all of these element work together well. When I started I was worried that just marketing to the Tough Fits would be hard, but as I've found more potential customers it has let me really flesh out the product. Now the main thing I'm worried about is that with all the colors, zipper types, sizes, and brands as options for the ZipStrip it will be hard to start a product line with that many variations. The solution I have for this issue is to focus on making the individually for each order until the website gets popular enough to allow me to stock up and try to sell to a mass market. 

I did not receive any feedback on the last Napkin assignment, but used the feedback from my interviews and on other assignments to adjust how I define the people I am targeting as well as make sure my description of the product is clear and effective.