9A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Interviews:

Michael:

            After this interview, I found out many new things. During the interview, it was brought up to my attention that it is hard to start a café where there are many competitions in the area and the only way to stand out is to differentiate the business. To stand out, I need to focus on something that is a part of the drink but the not drink itself. So it was only right to change the boba in the drink. The interview was very helpful as it allowed me to see different perspectives about the same drink.

Thanh:

            During the interview, we discussed about who the client base would be and what other business would be considered competition. We both believe that any other cafe or thinking business could be considered competition as they are providing similar experiences. However, with the new boba the milktea could be something that satisfied people thirst and hunger, which is different when compared to other drinks.

Tammy:

            In the interview, we mostly talked about the difference between the need of the people inside and outside of the boundary. People inside the boundary are people who knows about milktea thus they will be more critical and can tell if the milktea is a quality product or not. People who are outside of the boundary are people who never experience the drink, thus they are just looking for something the satisfies their taste bud. These are the things that are different between people inside verse that of people outside the boundary.

Juan:

            After the interview, I found that there is a lot of differences regarding the concept that I am going after verse that of the people who already opened a milktea café. The concept that I am going for is more like the Chipotle. There would be different boba and people can pick out the one they want. I asked how he would like to enjoy the drink and this was one of the many ways that they proposed and I thought it was a really good.

Kim:

            After conducting the interview, I found that people are not willing to try new things thus before starting the business, we need to internationalize the drink milktea. By internationalizing, Kim meant to introduce the drink to people of other race because right now predominately Asian students are into the drink. Thus, by expanding the market, there will be bigger pool of customers.

Who is in: People who are knowledge about milktea and the quality of the drink.	Who is not: People who do not know about the milktea and want to try it for the first time.
What the need is: The need is to experience a new way of drinking milktea.	What the need is not: The need is not experiencing a café environment as the café will provide similar atmosphere as other café.
Why the need exists: The need exists because people are possibly tire of drinking the same milktea over and over again.	Alternative explanations: People needs to experience a different kind of drinks.

Summary:

            After interviewing all five friends, I discovered new aspects to my business, such as new way of running the business or how to internationalize the business to expand the customer pool. From the interview, I also learn about the customers who are in the boundary and who are not in the boundary and what their difference are. Overall, these interviews were very helpful in conceptualizing my business idea.