What Makes You So Special?
1. Human Capital – Passion & Determination
o Value: I am very passionate about helping people with alcohol dependency which would make me want to work harder for it
o Rare: not rare, many people are passionate about helping
o Imitable: can be imitated
o Non-substitutable: can be substituted but is still really beneficial
2. Social Capital – Medical Students & Engineers
o Value: I have many close friends studying medicine or engineering and they could be really helpful when creating the product
o Rare: Not very rare
o Imitable: can be imitated
o Non-substitutable: can be substituted but their experienced and knowledgeable in the field would be helpful
3. Social Capital – Fluent in Spanish and intermediate in Portuguese
o Value: this could allow me to work with a larger range of people, can also help if I took the product abroad
o Rare: kind of rare, not too many people speak more than one language
o Inimitable: can be imitated but might be a little difficult
o Non-substitutable: there could be other ways to come in contact with people who speak another language
4. Lack of competitors
o Value: this makes it so much easier to move into the market
o Rare: it is rare, most products have a lot of competition
o Inimitable: although the concept is new, it can still be imitated
o Non-substitutable: can be substituted with another unique product
5. Social Capital – my dad is a physician and has a lot of contacts
o Valuable: extremely valuable because this could help me get in contact with people who work in a hospital or medical institutions
o Rare: it might be difficult to have a close relationship with someone in the medical fields
o Inimitable: is possible to imitate but might be difficult
o Non-substitutable: I don’t think this to easily be substituted
6. Human Capital – Sympathy/Reliability
o Value: helps me relate with people more and tailor my product for them
o Rare: I feel like many people are sympathetic and relatable
o Imitable: can definitely be imitated
o Non-substitutable: can be easily substituted but I think it’s still important to have
7. Schooling - Business major
o Value: a lot of my classes have taught me about how to exploit opportunities
o Rare: anyone can pursue this degree
o Imitable: can be imitated
o Non-substitutable: could be switched out with another major in a related field
8. Social Capital – Close relative who is an accountant
o Value: this could really help me with the financial aspect of the product
o Rare: not rare, there are many people who work in this field
o Imitable: can probably be easily imitated by anyone who is in accounting or finance
o Non-substitutable: can be substituted
9. Knowing people who are struggling with addiction
o Value: Allows me to better understand what they’re going through and how to help.
o Rare: not completely rare, many people know others going through addiction
o Imitable: No imitable, only they can explain their experience
o Non-substitutable: Cannot be easy substituted
10. Volunteering Experience
o Value: has helped me work with people who are different from me and better understand them
o Rare: not rare
o Imitable: actual volunteering can be imitated but the experience with each cannot be
o Non-substitutable: cannot be easily substituted, each experience is different
I found it kind of difficult to dot VRIN analysis on most of these because I felt none of them really completed each part. However, most of the things on the list are things that I think could be extremely helpful with. I think my top resource would be the fact that my dad is a physician because that would really help me network and have the connections I need to succeed with my product.
Alejandra,
ReplyDeleteGreat work! I enjoyed reviewing your list of resources because they are all very different. It was difficult for me to think of 10 elements that make my venture stand out. I like that you wrote down "volunteer experience" because it is not an element I had considered. I agree that it gives you experience with interacting with people from all types of backgrounds. I would consider really reflecting on your venture and what makes it stand out in order to find a resources that completes each aspect of VRIN.