Testing the Hypothesis

1) The opportunity that I would like to pursue is a website that allows people to find and rent out gaming equipment.

2) The who: Casual video-gamers in the United States
The what: They are unable to afford the equipment necessary to run new and popular games
The why: New technology comes out so frequently that people who are not in-the-loop or technologically savvy cannot keep up or cannot afford to

3) Testing the who, what, and why with my hypothesis

My hypothesis: I believe that this need mainly exists for casual gamers that are unable to afford the equipment necessary to run new and popular games because new technology comes out very frequently and as a result, casual gamers cannot or do not want to pay to purchase a new machine every couple of months.

Who: Although the main audience for this service would be casual gamers, it is likely that many casual players would not be interested in paying for this service unless it was cheap.
Are casual gamers the best market? It may be better to target people who are very much interested in high-quality equipment but can't afford to or do not have any interest in purchasing the equipment because they will need to update and replace it in a couple of years.
Should I limit this to the US, a specific state, a specific county?
Are there more people that would be interested in this?

What: Are the more difficult to obtain setups the main market?
Are there people interested in renting out equipment that only costs about $200 because they can't afford any specific games?
Would it be a good idea to expand the idea to rent out games along with the equipment?
Would people who can't afford the equipment be interested in paying to use it for only a couple of hours?
How often would people return to use this service or would they only do it once or twice?

Why: Is there any way that technological advancement will slow and eliminate the need for this kind of service?
Is there more than these reasons?
Does this problem apply to the general population or just people interested in video games?
Would people out-of-the-loop be willing to pay for this service?

4) Interview
For the interview portion, I decided to interview five people but I chose people from many different age groups, locations, and backgrounds. I thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to only interview people that play a lot of video games and would inherently be interested in this product. However, I did include a couple of people that range from playing a lot of games and being extremely savvy with technology to people who only play casually but can afford to purchase a new gaming system every couple of years. Here is a list of the questions that I asked:

1. Would you be interested in renting a piece of gaming equipment that you do not own?
2. If you did, which piece of gaming equipment would this be? (VR headset, gaming computer, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, retro gaming, Japanese gaming system)
3. What do you think a reasonable price range would be for this service?
4. Do you think you would use this service more than once? If so, how often do you think you would use this?
5. Do you think your friends or family would be interested in this product?
6. Would you be more or less likely to use this product if it was a website, a traditional store, or an app?
7. Would you be interested in using this service if it was something like AirBnB or Lyft, where you used equipment other people owned or would you only be willing to rent from a company?
8. On a scale from one to ten, with ten being a hardcore gaming nerd and one being not involved in gaming at all, where would you rate yourself?

5) Summarization of Interviews

1. Would you be interested in renting a piece of gaming equipment that you do not own?
No, Yes, No, Yes, Yes
2. If you did, which piece of gaming equipment would this be? (VR headset, gaming computer, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, retro gaming, Japanese gaming system)
N/A, Gaming Laptop (Gaming on-the-go), VR Headset + Gaming computer, Console games, VR Headset + Gaming computer
3. What do you think a reasonable price range would be for this service?
$50 per day, $20 per day, $5 per day for game rental, $150-200 per day, Flat fee (~$10,20) or variable weekly rate depending on nature of the item
4. Do you think you would use this service more than once? If so, how often do you think you would use this?
Probably, whenever I needed it (Once every two or three months), Maybe (Once a month), Yes (4x a month), No, Once or twice a month
5. Do you think your friends or family would be interested in this product?
Maybe, No, No, Yes, No
6. Would you be more or less likely to use this product if it was a website, a traditional store, or an app?
Store->Website->App, Website->App-> Store, Website->App->Store, Store-> Website->App, App/Website->Store
7. Would you be interested in using this service if it was something like AirBnB or Lyft, where you used equipment other people owned or would you only be willing to rent from a company?
Yes, Yes, No, Yes, Yes
8. On a scale from one to ten, with ten being a hardcore gaming nerd and one being not involved in gaming at all, where would you rate yourself?
10, 7 or 8, 9, 1, 7

In summary, it seems like there is a lot of variation in the response that I have received. A lot of people are very interested in renting high-end VR gaming equipment and there is some interest in using these at parties and events. The price range varies a lot and I think it would make more sense to target people who are not generally interested in gaming but would like to host events with new gaming technology every once in a while. A lot of people were hesitant to say that they were interested but after giving them the options that were available they decided that they would be. It seems that in general people my age are more interested in websites and apps, and people who are older are interested in visiting an actual store. People did not seem to care whether or not the equipment was coming from a company. The people I interviewed considered themselves very integrated with the gaming community and I may have to consider interviewing more people who do not play a lot of video games. Given my interviews, I think that I realize more people are interested in PC gaming components and renting actual games than consoles because consoles are generally cheap enough for the public to afford.