Part I:  Develop and Explain Your New Business Concept

Q1:
Lawn Kids is a landscaping company out of Denver, Colorado that provides essential financial experience to teenagers and young adults through the completion of residential lawn care. Though high schools and colleges around the country are beginning to implement core financial concepts into their learning curriculum, we at Lawn Kids believe there is a gap in education that underserves students. Many people graduate from early education without the basic skills to manage a budget, much less pay taxes, invest, or open up businesses. Through our service, we hope to bridge that gap and deliver core finance concepts while providing superior service to homeowners in the Denver area.
There are two driving factors behind the business: education and real-life experience. On the one hand, it is important to help teenagers and young adults learn how to manage money and expenditures. The other aspect of Lawn Kids is the value of work ethic. There are few other jobs available to people 21 and younger that allow them to earn quality money while appreciating the value of what working hard can do both financially and in personal development. Hard work creates good habits and traits in people, especially in those who can learn it early on.
Understandably, there exists a delicacy in how the business is run. Because the employees can be a mix of young adults and teenagers, it is important that the business operates within its legal guidelines with respect to child labor laws. Ideally, the business would run as a franchise where someone could own a territory and run their books while getting valuable insight from corporate. This model only works with adults who can sign contracts and open up businesses legally. Despite that, there is a lot of potential and value in having transparency in the business to where the W2 employees can see and input into the accounting and day to day operations. The best way to do this is to hire a young adult or teenager in a specific neighborhood who can work the contracts around them. For example, if this person lived in the Anthem neighborhood in Broomfield, it would make the most sense to advertise and run business with that individual within a 5 mile radius of his/her neighborhood.
In the model of proximity lies an important value concept for our business: the neighborhood kid. Between a professional landscaping company and the neighborhood kid who mows lawns, it is our value hypothesis that most people would choose the latter. From personal experience, individuals would rather pay someone in the neighborhood who is supporting themselves in purchasing their first car, paying for college, saving money, etc. than they would pay for possibly superior service with a larger company. As long as our employees are educated and deliver good customer service, they will retain business and become the kid in their neighborhood that everyone knows mows lawns.
The two strongest aspects of the Lawn Kids both contribute to the societal level of entrepreneurship. The first is that it enhances and can be used to improve other academic disciplines (Lecture 2). By providing a way for kids to not only earn money, but to also be in an actual business and understand core concepts, we provide huge value in practical learning that might otherwise be missed in the classroom. The second aspect of this entrepreneurial venture is philanthropic. One of the goals is to provide sustainable income to the employees running their territories, but that comes second to serving the community. We plan to have frequent free mows and senior service discounts that will instill good company values and practices. We also have an environmental responsibility to be a sustainable business that is friendly to the environment.
Q2:
In reference to the textbook, there are Five Attributes that are essential to evaluate whether or not an idea can become an opportunity. The first attribute is whether or not our service can add significant value to a customer or end user. There are two primary people who receive the value of our services: the employee/neighborhood kid and the lawn mowing client. The employee gets the added value of business experience and learning of financial concepts, in addition to a paycheck. The lawn mowing client gets to support local business and receive great customer service. The second attribute measures the existence of a true market problem and if the venture can be some form of competitive advantage. In the landscaping space, there is an abundance of companies and competition. Yet, there is not a single company that brands itself as being purely of young adult and teenager employees. Also, as many professionals can attest, there is a problem with our education system. There is a higher value placed on Pythagorean theorem then there is on the importance of a credit score. Lawn Kids adds a unique competitive advantage in the landscaping space by only employing young neighborhood people, and in the education space by supplementing the learning of basic financial principles.
The third attribute is that the need for the product or service is pervasive, the customer has a high sense of urgency, and is willing to pay for a solution. Ultimately, the lawn mowing aspect isnt a service that is in high demand. In fact, there are a lot of companies in the space. Because of this, we have to have a clear message that our business is unique to those around it, and our hypothesis is that customers will support our business over the competition if we employ kids in their neighborhood. Another attribute is whether the market has proven growth and profitability characteristics. Luckily for us, there is a long track record of sustainability in landscaping businesses. As long as there is grass, there is cash. The thing that will keep our business profitable is focusing solely on lawn mowing first for our minimum viable product, and only expanding to other landscaping services once we have a proven model. The last attribute questions whether or not the founders have domain experience in this space. Connor, the original idea proposer, ran a sustainable lawn mowing business from age 12-20. Throughout that time, he made over $50,000 in revenue and employed multiple local students. Other members of the team also have entrepreneurial experience and insight.
Q3:

One of the benefits of being in the landscaping industry is the opportunity for sustainability and going green. Grass can be used for many different things including mulch and fertilizer. In Connors experience, many customers choose not to have their lawn clippings bagged and collected because leaving the clippings contributes to a healthy lawn. Additionally, any clippings that are collected can be composted or used in other ways. Another way to go green with the business is to use electric powered machinery, or at the very least efficient machinery. Some lawn mowers and equipment will use more gas and be less efficient than others, so it is important to purchase environmentally friendly equipment. Electric lawn mowers are also increasing in supply and availability, so there is an option to evaluate expenses and go completely gas free with the equipment. Though lawn mowers and trimmers generally have little to no impact on the environment, it is important that our business is conscious of its footprint and responsibility to become assets to the environment and not a negative contributing factor.

Part II:  Analyze Your Target Market and Consumer Segments, and Explain How You Plan to Market to Potential Customers…

Q4Identify and provide a basic analysis of your target market and prospective consumer segments. In what industry will you operate? To what respective consumer segments the unique groupings of customers that will use your product or service will you direct your efforts? Provide some basic demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics of your customers as presented in class. For example, what is their make-up on the basis of age, race, religion, education level, socio-economic standing, political orientation, values, lifestyle traits, and familiarity/affinity towards your product/service?

Q5Who are your competitors? Who can now, or eventually, take market share and sales away from your business? How will they be a threat? Be sure to identify both primary and secondary competitors, as well as any specific risks they pose.

Q6How will you differentiate yourself from your competitors? What will you do that will make customers want to choose you over other companies in your industry? What internal strengths does your firm possess and what external opportunities exist for a company like yours? Also, are there any tangible or intangible resources, or core competencies you can leverage to be more unique and competitive?