7A) Testing Hypothesis 1

Housecleaning service

Must students in Gainesville have a mess at home because they don’t have enough time to clean themselves.

·        Testing the who: Not only students in Gainesville face that problem, it is very common that people don’t have a clean and organize house, it ranges from young students living their own life to old people that don’t feel capable anymore.

·        Testing the what: It is a common problem among the population, not just students. As long as people have a “home” they will need to clean it and organize it (some reasons why people don’t do it is explained in the next section). Customers would be any age older than 18 and could be targeted to both genders.

·        Testing the why: Due to the lack of time and the know-how, students tend to have a mess at home, especially when they don’t with their parents and share room with other students. I have seen cases where guys don’t want to clean and organize the house because they perceive that as a woman’s task. It is also a problem to people physically limited (It could be due to age, injury, or a permanent condition). Sometimes it is because the person doesn’t feel attached to the property and feel no responsibility of taking care of the place.

Interview 1 (male, full time students, apartment of 3):

This person sees the need for an efficient house cleaning service for students as a real opportunity. He talked to me about expensive this service tends to be, being offered at prices not affordable for students. He thinks that having a clean home would help people to deal with stress, since it is pleasant to get home and feel a nice smell or have all your dishes clean. His main concern was with safety and privacy, He came up with requirements like “I need to know before hand who is coming” or “If something gets lost who is responsible?”

Interview 2 (male, full time student, apartment of 4)

This is a guy that lives with three other roommates and he says that it would be really helpful for someone like him because he has a messy roommate. He told me that there is always a messy roommate in apartments so big and that it creates conflicts. After commenting about this initial idea, the conversation led to consider the different options that would generate a better customer satisfaction. One of the ideas that came up was to offer a more specific service, like to only one of them (people living in the apartment). He said that in the case they request the full service, he would like the option to split the bill among him and his friends.

Interview 3 (female, full time student, apartment of 3)

I explained to her what service was about and the options she would have and her first concern was the price. I explain her what the “sticker” price was and how she would be able to get discounts through referrals. She then started explaining me what her thoughts about this idea and she totally loved it. She said that she would definitely pay for it because of the amount of time it saves her. She explained me that her problem is that one of her roommates is super messy and this would be the solution to her. She also told me that the fact that she could get discounts referring people gives her the motivation to find other customers and she stated that she definitely knows people who would use this service.

Interview 4 (female, full time student, part time job, apartment of 4)

This student said that last year she moved with her best friends thinking that it would be the best experience. After the first month it became a nightmare because they didn’t care about how the house was, and she said that the apartment got disgusting really quick. Back then she would have loved to have someone to clean the apartment at least once a week, but she doesn’t know if her friends would care about having a clean place, specially if they had to pay any amount of money. As a result, she moved out after a semester and she doesn’t think that she needs it now, because uses every Saturday morning to clean and it became a routine.

Interview 5 (male, full time student, apartment of 3)

The difference in this case is that this guy lives in the dorms, he says that dorms are to small and is not worth it to pay someone to clean it. He and his roommates take a moment during the weekend to clean everything if needed and that’s it. It is not a big deal for them and that is why they wouldn’t use this service. He told me that it sounds like an interesting idea and thinks that if he would live in a bigger apartment, he would leave it to a majority rule.

Insights

After having a few interviews, I was able to have a better understanding of what my market segment was and how to better target them. I learned that I will have a better opportunity if I focus on students sharing apartment with other students, specially in apartments of four (a few cases of three) or more. The best option to keep costs low is to focus in apartment complex that would avoid me traveling expenses and save me time too. Probably one last condition is that these students come from medium and high-income families, that way they are going to be able to pay for the service (we all know that students are always broke and are financially dependent)