Young Enterprise Research/Ideas

[Libertine96]

Hi all!
Its that time of year when Sixth Formers set up and run their own company for 9 months whilst competing in a competition through Young Enterprise. As a Year 12 student, I am able to take part which I am doing. We have so far had a couple of meetings to decide upon roles, of which I am Finance Director. A couple of ideas have been thought up and put forward, one of which I'd like to ask about to see if it is any good. It is not my idea and I'll try not to show my opinion on it.

Right so we decided on a name which is cubed. As a result most of our group can't see past a product being cube shaped. So one of the ideas is to have a cube, possibly 6-8 inches all over, and each face being used for a different purpose. Some ideas banded about are a key hook, a place to put phone/money/stationary, a photo frame, one on each of the 5 faces which aren't used as the base. The idea of making these interchangeable has also been put forward. Nobody has considered price, material or where it would be used, though a work desk has been suggested as suitable.
So is it any good? I said I wouldn't state my opinion but I'm sure some will guess my opinion.
Any other ideas are appreciated. I'd consider some of my own ideas too much like a one man hobby to do, for example upcycling glass in different ways. Another idea was to design a puzzle using a cube but many things have already been done and I fear the costs would be too great.

 

[Young Recruit]

Hi Libertine96,

You have come up with a name which is good and then you have thought of a product and now you are trying to think of why people might buy your product.

My advice to you would be to leave the naming of your product (or service) till near the end of your planning and first try to think of problem or need that people have that you might be able to help with.

You have highlighted some potential needs such as needing to keep things tidy like keys, stationery and phones. You are also doing your market research by coming on to this forum. And you are also considering costs which is also essential.

Getting people to finance your business to manufacture something like your cube maybe difficult so why not consider inventing a service that has less overheads, for example, you say you are interested in up-cycling glass, can you think of a service that might 'add value' (usefull buzzword to look up) to the up-cycling process

 

[sambarnes90]

With instagram being so hot at the moment what about light cubes of your instagram or Facebook photos? You could also do cube key rings with the photos in?

Random inspiration for you!

Sent from my HTC Desire using UK Business Forums

 

[Libertine96]

Anybody else have any guidance? Having researched elsewhere I have some good reasons to try to prevent this glorified desk tidy but nobody will listen if I don't really have an idea with much foundation. I'm not sure on the photofram, whats the significance of instagram?

 

[PDRD]

Hi,

I would agree with you in having concerns about the idea. Who wants a 20cm cube on their desk for storing keys, money, phone etc? If I am at my desk I can keep my keys and money in the drawers and the phone is in the dock as it needs to be on charge constantly.

Further more, how are you going to manufacture? How much will it cost? What will it be made of? wood? plastic?

You may not have any alternative ideas but the best thing you can do for your new company is to stop this happening.

If you cannot sway the team then make sure it is smaller than 20cm and try and get some technology involved. It will need to be a USB item, maybe digital clock on one face, date on another and as the previous poster said, digital pictures on the others?

Good luck, and keep us posted. Maybe start a blog, this will increase your marketing potential and impress the judges.

PDRD

 

[toastking]

Hi,

I would agree with you in having concerns about the idea. Who wants a 20cm cube on their desk for storing keys, money, phone etc? If I am at my desk I can keep my keys and money in the drawers and the phone is in the dock as it needs to be on charge constantly.

Further more, how are you going to manufacture? How much will it cost? What will it be made of? wood? plastic?

You may not have any alternative ideas but the best thing you can do for your new company is to stop this happening.

If you cannot sway the team then make sure it is smaller than 20cm and try and get some technology involved. It will need to be a USB item, maybe digital clock on one face, date on another and as the previous poster said, digital pictures on the others?

Good luck, and keep us posted. Maybe start a blog, this will increase your marketing potential and impress the judges.

PDRD

This is terrible advice in my opinion in te context of the project. It is completely unrealistic to manufacture such an item, it makes it worse to try and make something even more complicated for a young enterprise group! I would ditch manufacturing anything at all if possible unless you can do it yourselves and find a service!

My team did a calendar of college students in the first year of college, nobody knew each other so it was always going to fail. I was the only one who said it would fail and so left as a result. And how I laughed at my mate who bought a lot of shares when they lost a couple of hundred having raised over a thousand in capital through things like share sales and car washing etc. they would have been better off stopping at that haha!

 

[superdooper500]

Although I don't know 100% about the rules of the young enterprise scheme (i.e do you have to produce a product?) I would agree with the poster who talked about offering a service.

Have a look at the thread entitled "what would you do with a grand" it might give you some ideas on some low cost service start ups, some of which WILL make your team money.

I think your upcycling glass idea is kind of on the right lines, as the old saying goes "where there is muck, there is brass". It all depends on how much time and effort your team are able to put into it.

 

[Blood Lust]

Hi all!
Its that time of year when Sixth Formers set up and run their own company for 9 months whilst competing in a competition through Young Enterprise. As a Year 12 student, I am able to take part which I am doing. We have so far had a couple of meetings to decide upon roles, of which I am Finance Director. A couple of ideas have been thought up and put forward, one of which I'd like to ask about to see if it is any good. It is not my idea and I'll try not to show my opinion on it.

Right so we decided on a name which is cubed. As a result most of our group can't see past a product being cube shaped. So one of the ideas is to have a cube, possibly 6-8 inches all over, and each face being used for a different purpose. Some ideas banded about are a key hook, a place to put phone/money/stationary, a photo frame, one on each of the 5 faces which aren't used as the base. The idea of making these interchangeable has also been put forward. Nobody has considered price, material or where it would be used, though a work desk has been suggested as suitable.
So is it any good? I said I wouldn't state my opinion but I'm sure some will guess my opinion.
Any other ideas are appreciated. I'd consider some of my own ideas too much like a one man hobby to do, for example upcycling glass in different ways. Another idea was to design a puzzle using a cube but many things have already been done and I fear the costs would be too great.

An organisation starts by identifying customer demands.

Then it decides -
1. Can they provide a product or service to meet that demand.
2. Can they provide it while making a worthwhile profit.

The majority of entreprenuers get that the wrong way around. They start by creating a product or service first then hoping there will be demand for it. Its why most of then go bust in their first year because they dont meet their costs.

Cubed Product
The name is catchy but your colleagues have made the mistake the majority of entreprenuers make.
1. Key Hook - How many people would buy a cube for a key hook?
2. Phone Box - How many people want a box to keep their phone in?
3. Money Box - For this one I think there will be demand.
4. Stationary Box - How many people want a box to keep their stationary in?
5. Photo - For this one I also think there will be demand.

Your colleagues have not started by establishing what demands exist. There is only demand for the money box (with an added bonus of a photo side).

How about eventing a girl-box? -
1. Money box
2. Makeup box
3. Jewerly box
4. Photo side
5. Mirror on the roof to aid in makeup.

Or invent a different cubed product altogether but based on peoples demands not your own ideas. When writing up your project explain that demands come first to get yuourself better marks. The reason is people buy to fill their demands.

 

[Blood Lust]

Hi,

I would agree with you in having concerns about the idea. Who wants a 20cm cube on their desk for storing keys, money, phone etc? If I am at my desk I can keep my keys and money in the drawers and the phone is in the dock as it needs to be on charge constantly.

Further more, how are you going to manufacture? How much will it cost? What will it be made of? wood? plastic?

You may not have any alternative ideas but the best thing you can do for your new company is to stop this happening.

If you cannot sway the team then make sure it is smaller than 20cm and try and get some technology involved. It will need to be a USB item, maybe digital clock on one face, date on another and as the previous poster said, digital pictures on the others?

Good luck, and keep us posted. Maybe start a blog, this will increase your marketing potential and impress the judges.

PDRD

Besides my advice this is the only other poster who is correct.

 

[toastking]

Besides my advice this is the only other poster who is correct.

So where are they going to get the money, the expertise etc to do this?

If you are correct in saying my previous post is wrong, you will have answers for these questions that you have neglected to discuss in your post. They wont be able to make an electronic item themselves (this is a generalisation but come on I think that's a fair guess to make), so who is going to do this for them with no start up capital?

Fact of the matter is manufacturing is going to cost and at smaller batch sizes this idea would cost a fortune. Don't get me wrong it could work and it would be great to pull it off, but doing a product, especially one that relies on electronics, sounds like asking for problems don't you think?

 

[Fred_the_frog]

You're doing it backwards.

First you should find out what people want. Remember you don't have to make a product, you could have a service or something. A good one would be something involving technology and old people. I know lots of old people who try so hard to use technology so they can communicate with their family and shop online to get things cheaper, but they get very frustrated with it. Maybe something to do with that?

Then once you have the demand, you can create the product or service. Then you pick the name.

 

[Blood Lust]

So where are they going to get the money, the expertise etc to do this?

If you are correct in saying my previous post is wrong, you will have answers for these questions that you have neglected to discuss in your post. They wont be able to make an electronic item themselves (this is a generalisation but come on I think that's a fair guess to make), so who is going to do this for them with no start up capital?

Fact of the matter is manufacturing is going to cost and at smaller batch sizes this idea would cost a fortune. Don't get me wrong it could work and it would be great to pull it off, but doing a product, especially one that relies on electronics, sounds like asking for problems don't you think?

Your first reply was a criticism of someone basically saying there is no demand for the cube product proposed by the group. Maybe as it was a reply to such a post I took you the wrong way?

Costing is a seperate issue and you are quite right that a service is usually cheaper to produce than a product. Materials and labour costs require much higher startup fees.

In the real world they would need to convince a bank manager that the business would work and provide a percentage of the startup fees. If its a good one, if they appear to know what they're doing as regards running a business there is no reason why they wont find a bank prepared to give them a loan.

 

[toastking]

Your first reply was a criticism of someone basically saying there is no demand for the cube product proposed by the group. Maybe as it was a reply to such a post I took you the wrong way?

Costing is a seperate issue and you are quite right that a service is usually cheaper to produce than a product. Materials and labour costs require much higher startup fees.

In the real world they would need to convince a bank manager that the business would work and provide a percentage of the startup fees. If its a good one, if they appear to know what they're doing as regards running a business there is no reason why they wont find a bank prepared to give them a loan.

Think that's it all crossed wires. Think your spot on but I think I am just taking it for granted that they wouldn't have the money or skill set to make it themselves and they would be very fortunate to get a loan. Good luck op by the way!

 

[PDRD]

Think that's it all crossed wires. Think your spot on but I think I am just taking it for granted that they wouldn't have the money or skill set to make it themselves and they would be very fortunate to get a loan. Good luck op by the way!

toastking, I think you may have failed to actually read my post fully. The main point was, don't do it!! But if you have to then try and do something to it that may be of interest to someone. Who says they have to manufacture it? They could design and outsource the manufacturing or they could buy the parts and put it together. Most teenagers are technology savvy so could easily piece together some simple parts bought off ebay.

 

[Libertine96]

Thanks for some suggestions guys.
I think a service might be a solution in the interim period as a method of raising funds due to our limited funds and then we could possibly move onto a product. Electronic based items will be too expensive for the moment and things that we outsource will more than likely be too expensive due to low quantities.
Ill keep researching different things, feel free to keep the suugestions coming.

 

[Libertine96]

Hello again guys. I hope this doesn't get ignored due to me 'bumping' it but we've sort of got an idea. When I say an idea, I hope its more of a fundraiser/something to do alongside our main idea.
Basically with xmas coming up and our town having a fairly large and busy christmas lights turn on and fair, we have decided to book a stall there aswell as using other local fairs. Along with a lucky dip, we had the idea of 'create your own' sets. For example being as its Christmas we can sell create your own bauble or santa sets, as I assume if we have a set idea we can do this fairly cheaply. We also considered the idea of making these sets which can be brought as a christmas present, but not too sure what can be put in them. So does anyone have any suggestions regarding anything?

 

[Janusol]

I did this Young Enterprise thing about 25 years ago!
We made clocks by buying cheap AA battery mechanisms and inserting them into 7 inch records. We paid about £3 for each mechanism and sold each clock for £10. We were fairly successful, especially at fairs/markets.

Could you use a modern version of this by creating a fashionable digital (or analogue) clock by buying the mechanisms, and then thinking of something cheap (or upcycle?) that you can use to create a distinctive clock?

 

[Young Recruit]

Hello again guys. I hope this doesn't get ignored due to me 'bumping' it but we've sort of got an idea. When I say an idea, I hope its more of a fundraiser/something to do alongside our main idea.
Basically with xmas coming up and our town having a fairly large and busy christmas lights turn on and fair, we have decided to book a stall there aswell as using other local fairs. Along with a lucky dip, we had the idea of 'create your own' sets. For example being as its Christmas we can sell create your own bauble or santa sets, as I assume if we have a set idea we can do this fairly cheaply. We also considered the idea of making these sets which can be brought as a christmas present, but not too sure what can be put in them. So does anyone have any suggestions regarding anything?

Hi,

I love the baubles idea, its fun and people would rather give their money away for baubles made with love. You could personalise by sticking peoples faces on the baubles to differentiate your product from all the others available - super impose them as Santa, Rudolph or an angel and stick their faces on them, I would by them! They would make good gifts too.

You would have to design a quick onsite manufacturing process that leaves you with a profit though.

I like Janusol's clock idea as well.

JA

 

[DomDesmond]

Hi there, thanks for the post, I love hearing about new ideas and ventures. You have to ask yourself, would you buy the product yourself. Personally the answer would certainly be no. A cube is very awkward to store (i.e in you pocket etc) and doesn't looks particularly aesthetically pleasing. If your going the storage route, maybe go for flat packed key ring holder, or maybe made from material.

 

[Fred_the_frog]

I did this Young Enterprise thing about 25 years ago!
We made clocks by buying cheap AA battery mechanisms and inserting them into 7 inch records. We paid about £3 for each mechanism and sold each clock for £10. We were fairly successful, especially at fairs/markets.

Could you use a modern version of this by creating a fashionable digital (or analogue) clock by buying the mechanisms, and then thinking of something cheap (or upcycle?) that you can use to create a distinctive clock?

Make a backwards clock Very easy to do, just whip the back off the clock mechanism and turn the electromagnet round (the small coil of copper wire), if I remember correctly.

Hi,

I love the baubles idea, its fun and people would rather give their money away for baubles made with love. You could personalise by sticking peoples faces on the baubles to differentiate your product from all the others available - super impose them as Santa, Rudolph or an angel and stick their faces on them, I would by them! They would make good gifts too.

You would have to design a quick onsite manufacturing process that leaves you with a profit though.

I like Janusol's clock idea as well.

JA

Take a look at laser engraving. You could ask a local school or manufacturer if you could borrow it (you can get small ones that would fit on a table). It could be difficult to engrave an actual bauble, but you could buy some acrylic (Schools can get it at £5 for a large sheet of translucent acrylic) and draw up a design for a 2D bauble, stick the customers design on it and cut it out on the laser. You could easily knock those out for £3-4.

If you can't hire a CNC laser cutter, a small one on ebay would be around £2k. (You only need to sell 572 at £3.50 each )

 

[Libertine96]

I do like the idea of vinyl record clocks, particularly as I had considered upcycling vinyls as they are 'fashionable' at the moment. Problem is I'm struggling to convince anybody on the upcycling of glass so I may struggle with this.

I'm not sure if the school has a laser engraver but it may well do. Are you on about having flat xmas decorations? Is it the shape of a bauble which makes it difficult or is it the material? Cos you can get plastic baubles.

 

[Fred_the_frog]

I do like the idea of vinyl record clocks, particularly as I had considered upcycling vinyls as they are 'fashionable' at the moment. Problem is I'm struggling to convince anybody on the upcycling of glass so I may struggle with this.

I'm not sure if the school has a laser engraver but it may well do. Are you on about having flat xmas decorations? Is it the shape of a bauble which makes it difficult or is it the material? Cos you can get plastic baubles.

It's the shape that makes it difficult. Because the laser can only move left/right and forward/backwards then the image on the bauble will be distorted because of the curve of the surface. It depends on how big the image is though. If it's a little one, then it would be okay, but if it's a bigger one, then it wouldn't (the more surface on the bauble that it covers, the more distorted it will be). It's kinda hard to explain why though.

 

[Libertine96]

It's the shape that makes it difficult. Because the laser can only move left/right and forward/backwards then the image on the bauble will be distorted because of the curve of the surface. It depends on how big the image is though. If it's a little one, then it would be okay, but if it's a bigger one, then it wouldn't (the more surface on the bauble that it covers, the more distorted it will be). It's kinda hard to explain why though.

Yea I understand you. Fair enough