Venture Concept No. 2

1. Venture Concept Description:

The opportunity I have identified lies in the field of athletic training. As high school and youth sports become more competitive and crucial to succeeding at higher levels of the game, parents and athletes are looking for ways to gain a competitive advantage over the competition. Especially with college scholarships such a valuable commodity, parents and athletes are looking for the next big thing in athletic training. What they’re looking for is personal attention and advice from the people who have successfully moved on to higher levels of the sport. This market is primarily located in South Jersey. Come demographic factors would be young athletes who have parents with lots of disposable incomes. Currently, these customers are going to your run-of-the-mill explosive training facility or doing one-on-one work with a small personal trainer. I’m looking to combine the positives of both of these services. This opportunity is fairly big for such a small local setting, but I currently do not have the resources or opportunity to make it a multi-million-dollar opportunity or spread this service much further geographically. Realistically, I’d like to be doing business with about 100-200 loyal customers weekly at a profit margin of $5-$10 per session. This window of opportunity will close in the next couple years, as either something better than the current options (like my idea) comes out. Right now, I am not knowingly in any races to put out this service but you never know when a competitor will emerge.

My idea is to for a sport-specific training company that specializes in several sports, including football, lacrosse and soccer. While there are many companies that specialize in training for one sport or for overall athleticism, very few offer training for multiple sports that also includes basic athletic training. While this fact alone sets my company apart, what makes it truly innovative is the trainers. I’m planning on using current college athletes as my trainers. These athletes have the access to the best coaching and conditioning in the country. They have in depth knowledge on training, technique, and the recruiting process. All of these factors, combined with a young age that will allow them to relate to their trainees, set college athletes apart as the best possible trainers. I will be using local sports fields for the training and charging customers $30 for an hour-long session. My trainers will be paid $20 per session and I will profit $10 per session. Overhead is low and I already own all the equipment needed for training. Top athletes will be attracted to working for me because there are very few work opportunities for college kids that allow them to set their own schedule and earn $20 an hour. Any upgrades to equipment will be made as we go along and will come out of my profit.

        

It won’t be hard to get customers to switch to my new service because I offer a superior product at a competitive and relatively low price. Most of my trainers will have name recognition in the local area I am targeting, which will entice kids and parents to try my training service. I may also offer a discount in the first month to develop a customer base. My competitors are larger training services like Velocity and Impact. Their vulnerability is that they only focus on athletic training without doing sport-specific work. This factor is what will allow me to take a sizeable portion of their customers, as athletes are as or more interested in developing skill-wise. These larger companies also charge a higher price, but do have more resources and name-recognition. My price points will be as low as or lower than any other competitors in the area, which will help attract customers. Also, the personal attention trainees will receive and the inside recruiting advice add a lot of value to my final product. I am planning on having about 10 trainers who play various sports to start. Their only jobs will be jointly devising training plans for athletes with myself and then getting on the field and training. I will handle marketing, scheduling, inventory and payroll. Basically, my trainers will be the commodity and I will be performing all business functions around them.

My secret sauce is simply who my trainers are. They are more knowledgeable and recognizable than any other group of trainers in the area and this will attract customers. Currently, I am looking inward to add value to my product in order to attract more customers. I am also in the process of researching the possibility of geographic expansion in order to increase my customer base. Within five years, I’d like to be graduating and in talks to sell this business or pass it down to an employee. I do not see this business as something that will consume the rest of my life. In 10 years, I would like to have created several ideas for companies and by working on developing them. This second venture (I already run a landscaping company) is just another way to get my feet wet and gain experience.                                                                              

2. From my last venture concept post, I received no constructive criticism about my idea, which was disappointing. However, through the "What's Next?" assignment, I've decided to look inwards to improve my product as well as exploring geographic expansion.

3. Since I received no constructive or "negative" feedback from my previous post, there are no changes being made as a result. The changes I'll be exploring are mentioned above.