19A- Idea Napkin 2

1. My name is Michael Lombardo and I am a second year at the University of Florida. I am originally from the lovely state of Louisiana. I felt that coming here as an out of state student would  make it hard for me to meet people with similar ideals as me, but I adjusted quite nicely and have some great friends. I believe that one of my best qualities or skills are my social skills. I feel that I am easy to talk to and friendly. My aspirations include helping people make better purchases. I also feel that I have enough experience with similar products and I would know how to advertise my product as well as ensuring my customers' health.

2. Let's be honest. Nicotine is not going anywhere anytime soon. There is no harmless nicotine product in the market as of right now and that proves to be the unmet need for customers. People will keep using these products despite the negative health issues that can come with it. My goal is to discover and sell a product similar to these that are totally harmless. Of course,  this is easier said than done but this is my goal.

3. My demographic for this particular product happens to be anyone who uses any form of nicotine and is concerned with their health. This consists of mainly young adults, ranging from the ages of 17-25 mostly, as well as an older population who  made the switch from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes seeking less risk of their health.

4. The biggest reason these people should care enough to give me their hard earned money is to protect their own bodies. Those who cannot simply quite nicotine should have their health in mind. I will strive to promote better decisions and get the approval from the FDA. Although people might have their certain favorite brand, it is in their best interest to use my product.

5. What I have that nobody else has is dedication to helping people. These sellers do not seem to care about their customers at all, which is upsetting as their are health concerns with their products. Even a kingpin in this market, JUUL, lied and sneaked past the FDA with their "harmless alternative to adult smoking". They are clearly simply in it for the money. I also have experience with this market as I have used products like this in the past and have a ton of friends who still use them today.

I believe my business plan could become very successful given the right opportunity. I do believe that these elements fit together and could solve a huge unmet need for many people. The one element that does not align with the others well is how to create this perfect formula. It is obviously no simple task to create this, but it is definitely worth all the hard work to figure it out. Despite this, I believe my other elements are all simple and effective.

One main point I took away from my previous Idea Napkin is that vape bans are becoming more prevalent and being passed by more states. This simply does not seem like a problem to me as people in these states still are able to obtain and use these products quite easily. Also, if the bans become more widespread, I still do not see the usage of vapes going down very much honestly. People get around laws regulating alcohol and weed extremely easily and I do not see much of a difference in vaping products.

Another piece of feedback I received was how and where I would try to sell these. My main objective would to get them onto gas station shelves after I get approval from the FDA. After receiving approval, it should be relatively easy to get gas stations to purchase them from me if guaranteed to be harmless. Also, a word I should stop using for this potential product is healthy as it will not be good for you per say, but it will not be bad for you.