Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

This week, we were challenged to find four opportunities in economic trends and regulatory changes.

Economic Trends

1.

Data as a commodity

The first opportunity that I noticed was that data is becoming monetized more and more frequently, which is a growing concern for many Americans. It would be beneficial if someone created a product, such as an app, that was able to scan through websites and alert you in real-time whether your data is being purchased or sold through those websites. It would also be beneficial for this app to work as a resource to show users how they can request that their data be removed from the website and if there is an option to opt-out.

A) I learned a lot more about this information through a documentary called "The Great Hack".

B) This information suggests that an opportunity might exist because every American has had their data bought and sold by large corporations.

C) The prototypical customer for this opportunity would be those who are having their data bought and sold but only those who are concerned about it. Although almost everyone is having their data bought and sold, not everyone would be concerned or have a problem with that.

D) This opportunity may be relatively difficult to exploit because many people do not realize the extent to which their demographic data is being used. If this information was more readily available and spoken about often in the media then maybe this opportunity would become much easier to take advantage of.

The reason why I saw this opportunity is that I have always been very wary of the fact that I am giving information up to companies when I use their websites. I have always been very attentive to the fact that things that say they are free must be making money somehow. I have noticed recently more and more websites are not allowing you to opt-out of data collection. This may be because I spend a lot of time on the internet but I believe that the average American does not know or does not care enough to look into this.

2.

Authentic content becoming profitable

The second opportunity that I realized was that many people in my generation and younger seem to be drawn less to scripts and TV shows. A lot of us are drawn more to Youtube videos, Livestreams, and real-life events. We are very much a generation of people that enjoy and are more willing to give our money to someone we feel we have a personal, even parasocial connection to.

A) I found this opportunity because I spend a lot of time watching live streams and have noticed that many of my peers do as well.

B) The reason why I believe this opportunity might exist is that I realized that all of the people I talk to no longer have cable and instead will donate monthly to the content creators they enjoy on Youtube and Twitch.

C) The most likely customer for this opportunity is people my age and younger who enjoy watching content online and have enough money to donate.

D) This opportunity is relatively easy to exploit because all it requires is free time, a decent computer, and some entertaining ideas.

The reason why I saw this opportunity is interesting because I think many people feel the same way. There are a lot of people who think they want to be the "next big thing" by using these websites to stream or create videos. It is not necessarily an "easy" job and as such a lot of people start and give up very quickly. I personally have been a huge fan of watching and providing content so I do not care much for whether or not it is more or less profitable than other opportunities.

Regulatory Changes

3.

Beach smoking ban

In my home state of New Jersey, they have just released a new law beginning January 16th. This law states that people are no longer allowed to smoke on public beaches or state parks.

A) I found this opportunity by reading an article about how people will no longer be able to smoke, and it led me to think about how many people nowadays vape and smoke. This law is going to be very inconvenient for those people!

B) This information leads to an opportunity because many people are going to want to continue smoking and a lot of them will not have a place to smoke.

C) The customer with this opportunity will be people who are visiting the New Jersey shore for vacation and plan on smoking.

D) The opportunity is relatively difficult to exploit because it requires a lot of money, but if someone were to build shops where smoking was allowed right next to the beach they would make a lot of profit from those who do not want to walk very far away to smoke.

I saw this opportunity because I go to the shore very often with my family. I know that a lot of people in the area smoke on the beach and it is extremely common. Once this law is in place, if they start issuing tickets it will be much more convenient for people to just go into a smoke shop than to get a ticket for a couple hundred dollars.

4.

Ride Sharing Tax

In New Jersey, they have just released a law that will begin taxing popular ride-sharing apps such as Uber or Lyft. This will bring the cost up a lot but the tax only applies to apps that qualify as "ride-sharing" apps.

A) I found this opportunity by reading an article and realizing that ride-sharing apps have been getting very expensive recently

B) I believe this information suggests and opportunity for entrepreneurship because as the apps become more and more expensive, people will be less willing to pay the prices associated.

C) The most likely customer for this opportunity are people who use ride-sharing apps very frequently and are looking for cheaper alternatives.

D) The opportunity is relatively difficult to exploit because I would have to find a legal workaround to provide a ride service cheaper than these apps.

I saw this opportunity because I spent a lot of time taking Uber and Lyft rides and comparing the prices between the two. I watched as the prices continually increased for the past couple of years and I am convinced that there has to be another way to make an app similar to these that avoids all of the new taxes that have been put in place. These apps are becoming more and more expensive and as a result, I am less incentivized to use them unless I really have to.