4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

Oakbrook Walk Apartment’s Parking

1.      Beginning Point

The parking at Oakbrook Walk Apartments (my apartment complex) is inadequately designed. Parking is already limited to residents in sections of their units. In some sections, parking spaces are tight, with little room for people to get out of their car. What if there was a way to fix this?

2.      Description

There is no designated guest parking in my apartment complex. Guests use slips of paper placed on their dashboard and can freely park anywhere. Many residents’ cars stay in the same place because residents who live here may work or study from home. Residents may also take the bus to reach their destination, so moving their car is never an outcome. This builds on the tension that parking spaces are becoming more of a hassle to find, especially for guests. I believe there should be a designated parking section for the guest as well as at least one guest parking in each of the sections for apartments. For example, apartments 1100A-1120D (20 units) should have two parking spaces out of the 25 resident parking spaces for just guest parking. The reason for this is because some parking spaces are taken up by a single scooter, sometimes two. There should also be some regulation to park scooters or bikes in their own parking sections as well, to open many other parking spots. I am 100% certain this opportunity exists.

3.      The prototypical customer: residents, guest, and scooter drivers (if applicable)

4.      Interviews

Resident

1. Q: Do you have a personal vehicle? If so, what type?

   A: Yes, a car.

 2. Q: Have you found parking difficult at times? If so, around what time?

   A: Barely, only a couple of times during the weekend.

 3. Q: Have you ever found yourself parking in another apartment section?

   A: A few times.

 4. Q: Do you host guests very often?

   A: Yes, I have guests over every Wednesday and Friday night.

 5. Q: Have you ever had an issue finding parking for them?

   A: In the middle of the week, like Wednesday, for example, it's not too bad. However, on Friday, parking is always an issue for my five guests.

 6. Q: Have you ever seen parking that was taken up by a single scooter?

   A: Yes, and it always bugs me to see that.

7. Q: Do you believe there should be designated parking for a guest?

  A: Yes, however not too many in one section, which would take away

8. Do you believe there should be designated parking for scooters?

   A: Yes, that would save so many spots.

 Resident

 1. Q: Do you have a personal vehicle? If so, what type?

   A: Yes, a scooter.

 2. Q: Have you found parking difficult at times? If so, around what time?

   A: Never have a problem because I park in the same spot where there’s usually another scooter.

 3. Q: Have you ever found yourself parking in another apartment section?

   A: Not at all.

 4. Q: Do you host guests very often?

   A: Every now and then.

5. Q: Have you ever had an issue finding parking for them?

   A: Barely, most of my friends drive scooters, so they share my parking space. Sometimes it becomes a challenge when most guests have cars.

 6. Q: Have you ever seen parking that was taken up by a single scooter?

   A: Yes, and that’s where I usually where I park.

7. Q: Do you believe there should be designated parking for a guest?

  A: No, not really. 

8. Do you believe there should designated parking for scooters?

   A: Yes, but I don’t want to park farther than what I am accustomed to now.

 Roommate’s Guest

 1. Q: Have you ever found an issue finding a parking space? If so, what day of the week?

   A: Yes, usually the parking spaces are difficult to fit into, and I need to find a parking space in another section.

 2. Q: How often do you come over? And do you ever find it frustrating when scooters take one parking space?

   A: Now that you mention it, every time that I come over, I always see at least one or two scooters parked in one spot, and it irritates me.

 3. Q: Do you ever take Uber or the bus to get here instead of the parking

   A: A couple of times, I walked here, but it is a long walk.

4. Q: What type of vehicle do you ride?

   A: A drive a car.

5. Q: If you said scooter in the last question, do you try to find parking with another scooter, or bike?

   A: Non-applicable

5.      Reflection

 Once I talked with a few residents and a guest of my community, I realized that there is still an opportunity to regulate parking for scooters and guests. There isn’t that much demand for resident parking. There seems to be parking close to resident sections. However, tight parking spaces need to be redrawn in order to utilize that parking space or be facilitated as a scooter only parking zone. This will open more spots that can fit larger size vehicles.

6.      Summary

My original opportunity, after talking to several prototypical customers, is still there. My new opportunity is more accurate in that it addresses specific issues that would aid parking for scooters, guests, and residents. Customer feedback is crucial when entrepreneurs are focused on exploiting their ideas. In some cases, entrepreneurs are fixated that their idea is soundproof. However, customers are the ones aware of what their problem and needs are. Entrepreneurs should adapt the opportunities based on interviews with the right people who are looking for a change, who needs that change. You can always be firm with your beliefs, but to make your opportunity a reality, you must accommodate.