19A – Idea Napkin No. 2

1. You?  I’m a student, frustrated at the lengths I have to do any of the projects I want to do. I am a tech-oriented individual who loves working with my hands and making new things or fixing old ones. I just want a way to solve this seemingly solvable and widespread problem. I see a lot of things online about hacker/makerspaces and they seem really cool to me, but there is never one near me. I think this would be the perfect solution for those without access to these spaces who want to work. 
2. What are you offering to customers?  I offer two sides to the same coin, semi-passive income to space owners, and spaces for people who just need somewhere to work on a school project, hobby, or home improvement.
3. Who are you offering to?  My customers, like Uber, are a two-sided affair. The space owner who wants to make extra cash renting their tools/time/space and the students/hobbyists who want to have a place to work within their budget.
4. Why do they care?  As someone who would gladly use a service like this, when space is limited but work needs to get done this would be invaluable. When a hobby gets stunted because that next tool seems too far out of reach, or too specific to buy, the option to rent is very desirable. When a job just needs to get done and you don’t know where to turn, the local expert renting their time is a life-saver.
5. What are your core competencies?  I offer a service that meets a seemingly untapped need in college town, suburbs, and anywhere without a makerspace. This unmet need is ripe for the taking, especially to my current local students in IA who need a place to finish their catalyst projects. I watched students struggle to find, move, and use 3-d printers so they could create prototypes. With my solution their space could be just a drive away.

The point that feels weakest to me is my “What are your core competencies?”, this isn’t an issue I’ve seen outside of hackerspaces/makerspaces. I don’t know if it’s because this issue never arrived to anyone, or if it’s not a sustainable solution to my problem at hand. The desire seems to be there, at least for University of Florida students. Even then I don’t imagine my idea has to have any appeal outside those who want it, I shouldn’t aim to please the world. Gainesville might just be an echo chamber for a need that only Gainesville has unmet, or it could be more widespread I just don’t know.

I received no useful feedback from my fellow classmates as they praised my idea. My friends wouldn’t tell what’s wrong as well, so I’m at an impasse of knowing that it could be better but not knowing what to change. So as a compromise I made minor changes to the language so it’s more concise.