4A - Forming an Opportunity Belief

My beginning point : I believe that an opportunity exists in the UF scooter community. The opportunity is increasing helmet sales for UF students.

My belief: I have noticed that the vast majority of UF students who use scooters do so without wearing a helmet. I believe this is a huge safety issue. Obviously, students who ride scooters without helmets have the need. I identified this issue twice within the last week. My first instance was reading that a former UF football player cannot play for the team anymore due to a scooter accident. My second realization happened this morning, as I watched a student ram into the back of car at a stop light. The student luckily seemed unhurt, but did hit her head on the fall and may have sustained a concussion. Some students are meeting the need of a helmet by wearing one, but I believe the helmet should be redesigned to look sleeker, much like a motorcycle helmet. I am very sure that the opportunity for increased helmet sales exist, due to the thousands of students who currently do not wear one and the current design of scooter helmets.

Prototypical customer: The prototypical customer would be a college student who uses a scooter.

Interview 1- Caucasian sophomore male 
Q1: Do you believe that there is an unmet need for scooter helmets?
A: Thinking about it, I do not think there is an unmet need for helmets. I think helmets are readily available for students to purchase, they just choose not to buy them.
Q2: What group, if any, do you believe needs scooter helmets?
A: I think that students have the need, or should be, wearing scooter helmets.
Q3: How long has this been a need? More recently, or has it always existed?
A: It could be recently, but I've only been at UF since Fall of 2016. People have not worn scooter helmets regularly since I've been here.
Q4: What are current scooter riders doing to meet the need?
A: Occasionally, I see scooter riders wearing helmets. Those riders are being safe and meeting the need of a scooter helmet.
Q5: Do you believe more riders would wear helmets if they looked sleeker or more aesthetically pleasing?
A: Yes. I think people probably don't wear helmets because they don't wait a stigma of being "soft". Your idea of a helmet similar to  motorcycle helmet could work.
Reflection 1
I thought this response was a positive for the fruition of my idea. I think he was very skeptical of wearing the helmet on his scooter based on a reputation and likes the idea of a sleeker helmet.

Interview 2 - Hispanic senior male
Q1: Do you believe that there is an unmet need for scooter helmets?
A: No.
Q2: What group, if any, do you believe needs scooter helmets?
A: I don't think there is a group that needs scooter helmets. I have fallen off my scooter before and caught myself. I believe it would be very hard to hit your head unless going at a really fast speed. 
Q3: How long has this been a need? More recently, or has it always existed?
A: It hasn't been a need
Q4: What are current scooter riders doing to meet the need?
A: Wearing helmets.
Q5: Do you believe more riders would wear helmets if they looked sleeker or more aesthetically pleasing?
A:Possibly, frankly i just don't think scooter helmets are necessary because they are low powered and move so slow. 
Reflection 2
This reaction was not one i anticipated or wanted,truthfully. Knowing he had been in a small scooter accident, I assumed he would be in favor of wearing a helmet. His indifference towards head safety was surprising and not a positive for my helmet opportunity.

Interview 3- Caucasian freshman female 
Q1: Do you believe that there is an unmet need for scooter helmets?
A: Yes, I used to wear a scooter helmet but stopped because no one else wears one.
Q2: What group, if any, do you believe needs scooter helmets?
A: All students who ride scooters.
Q3: How long has this been a need? More recently, or has it always existed?
A: However long the student body has been riding scooters. 
Q4: What are current scooter riders doing to meet the need?
A: Nothing, the lack of helmets is the current reason why I sometimes don't wear one.
Q5: Do you believe more riders would wear helmets if they looked sleeker or more aesthetically pleasing?
A: No, I think no matter what students won't wear them.
Reflection 3
While I appreciated her scooter safety ideas, support was not shown for my idea of increasing helmet sales by changing the design of the helmets.

Summary
I still believe that there is an opportunity for increasing scooter sales in Gainesville. After my interview, the market may be smaller than I anticipated. This is due to a couple factors. One of the main factors is that some students just do not believe that helmets are necessary. Another is that students may feel a peer pressure not to wear helmets. I believe that if the stigma of helmets being "soft" or "childish" is broken, then sales would surely increase and my opportunity would be successful.