Week 9 Reading Reflection

The biggest surprise for me in the reading was the irrelevancy topic. Certain there is a high degree of irrelevancy in information gained through marketing efforts, but I believe the level of irrelevancy is higher than the author connotes.

I found this irrelevancy topic the most confusing for me as well. The rest of the chapter made sense, but I was under the impression that a marketer could expect to receive only 1% of a return on most marketing efforts. I would ask the author 1) what they think the average irrelevancy percentage is in marketing efforts, and 2) what industries face more irrelevancy in marketing efforts than other industries.

I do not feel the author was actually wrong about any aspects of the reading.

Idea Napkin No. 2

I am a low risk taker who is great at problem solving and providing solutions to complex challenges. I'm persistent and thorough, but need to be able to focus to do my best work. This product allows me to solve for the intense technical challenges it presents and I could dedicate time in my life up front to make it happen. As it succeeds I can balance my life by delegating ongoing activity to employees.

The product allows customers to manage the electrical efficiency of their pool pumps, which historically just turn on and off on a relatively inefficient schedule. Pool pumps circulate water in the pool, effectively mixing the chemicals that are placed in the pool to fight bacteria growth. Currently, these pumps run on a hard schedule, like on at 10am and off at 5pm. However, the pump doesn't always have to run on this schedule, as it truly only needs to run when the chemicals in the pool need circulation and distribution.

I'm offering the product to swimming pool owners.

Swimming pool owners care because pool pump electricity costs are significant, one of of the more expensive electrical devices in the home. If pool pump owners could only have their pump run when it's needed, I believe pool owners will be happier.

I have a long history in technology and also in pool ownership. I'm keen on emerging technologies and how the data that IoT devices drive can be used to make significant changes in the physical world.

I do believe these all fit together well, though I'm pretty weak on the part where my life improves with this venture. I have to work on that.

Feedback memo:
The feedback I received was great, and mentioned these five things: 1)I needed to be more clear on what my product does; 2) I need to better articulate why people care; 3) I need to explain more about pool pumps in general; 4) I need to clarify details on electricity usage in pool pumps; and 5) I need to talk more about how my product actually works. I feel I accommodated all of those needs in the additions I made in the second and fourth paragraphs, demonstrating how the device is beneficial and how pool pumps work today.