Western Governors Auto Parts Market Problems Faced by Customers Interview Report

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Business Finance

PART A

In weeks three through nine of our course, you will draft the chapters of your business plan based on your business model and prior work. We also ask that you conduct at least five interviews weekly to further define and enhance your business plan and its chapters.

This week’s interviews should focus on the Problem, with the interviewees being prospective or current customers. The Problem chapter of the business plan should reflect an understanding of:

  • the existing ecosystem;
  • the current competitors who have significant market share;
  • the gaps in the market that are not being addressed; and
  • the target market being considered.

Your interviews from this week should provide you with answers to the above items. Your insights gained from customer interviews should reflect the customer’s pain points, unmet needs, and/or issues where the customer is seeking gains.

The sophistication of the questions asked, and the insights distilled from the answers, will determine the grade for this week’s assignments.

Your weekly submission for the Customer Interviews should include a discussion of the:

  1. Hypothesis: This is what you and your faculty mentor thought before the interviews. (Note: Each week, the hypothesis will change as you address subsequent parts of the business plan; as a preview, see the upcoming topics and assignments for modules four through nine).
  2. Experiment: What questions will you ask the interviewee to test your hypothesis?
  3. Results: What did you learn from the interviews?
  4. Iterations: What are you going to do next? For example, stay the course with your plan, continue with more interviews to test the same hypotheses, pursue other customer segments/change the hypothesis, or pivot and move to a new product/service.
  5. Interviewees: Include a list and description of your interviewees.

This Customer Interview assignment should address questions 1-5 immediately above. The Problem assessment will address the four bullets at the opening of these instructions. For questions on this assignment, please email your faculty mentor.

PART B

To complement your past and present analysis of the Problem, this week’s interviews should focus on the Problem, with the interviewees being prospective or current customers. The Problem chapter of the business plan should reflect an understanding of:

  • the existing ecosystem;
  • the current competitors who have significant market share;
  • the gaps in the market that are not being addressed; and
  • the target market being considered.

For this Problem chapter, a two-page, single-spaced length is appropriate and should address:

  • What is the specific problem you are trying to address? Why is it a problem?
  • Do people in the target industry care about this problem?
  • Why do people care about this problem – does it cost money/time? Are they missing ways to make money?
  • What are people doing about this problem now? Are customers spending money on this problem now?
  • Has anyone else identified this as a problem? Are there competitive solutions to address this problem?

Your interviews from this week should provide you with answers to the above items. Your insights gained from customer interviews should reflect the customer’s pain points, unmet needs, and/or issues where the customer is seeking gains.

The sophistication of the questions asked, and the insights distilled from the answers, will determine the grade for this week’s assignments.