Assignment- 7A – Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

1) Pick an opportunity you would like to pursue: The opportunity I would like to pursue is to take over an existing movie theater or start one of my own and maybe startup a few more locations based off the level of success. I'm not sure if it would belong to a chain, for example AMC theaters or Carmike cinemas, but I feel like if I privately owned the business, I could run services my own way. To there I would be responsible for my own success and failure.

2) 

·        The who: Customers or movie lovers in America.

·        The what: Improving the movie theater experience for customers by making it affordable and fun. 

·        The why: The movie theater industry is on a steady decline based on external factors, the evolution of technology, and overall dissatisfaction from customers.

3) 

• Testing the who: I believe my specific "who" has this need, but at the same time everyone in my current "who" share different needs in some sort of way. I really think it just depends on the person and their preferences, like one of my interviewee's mentioned before in assignment four. 
• Testing the what: Not everyone has the same boundaries in this sort of need. I believe there are different boundaries, advantages, and disadvantages between the "who". For example, older movie customers who aren't tech savvy, may be financially stable and not have a complication with high priced movies. It may not be the same case for a broke college student who is tech savvy and likes to stream movies illegally to save a couple of bucks.
• Testing the why: The range of why's that my "who" offers can lead to many reasons why the movie theater industry is struggling to maintain consistent progress. The list of why's can range from personal reasons such as social class/income, use of technology, comfortability issues, busy work/school/social life (finding time), etc.

4) 

•  Interviewee #1 Scott (White male, mid 20's, current military member) : Before talking to any individual, I stated the reason for the interview and what I was trying to accomplish to gather information in regard to making my opportunity realistic to achieve. The first person I interviewed was well educated on movies and did have an idea that movie theaters ware having difficulty staying in business. I asked Scott other than financial issues, what is a valid reason you choose not to go to the movies, at least once a month? Scott simply answered, "If there aren't movies that interest me, I am not going to go out of my way to spend money on a mediocre film." He goes onto mention that this may not be the theater's fault but that is the risk they're taking. 

  

•  Interviewee #2 Megan (White female, early 20's, college student): My second interviewee was very knowledgeable on the movie theater industry. We shared something in common by us both having worked at a movie theater. I asked Megan why does she think the industry is on a fall coming from an employee's point of view? Megan stated, "Over the years of working in that specific industry, I have noticed that customers can be very impatient based off their personality." She went onto say that if a customer is hungry, they're most likely going to be angry. If a customer has been waiting in line for so long, they're going to be angry. Once a customer hears a price they were not expecting, they're most likely going to be angry. I closed my interview when Megan commented, "The movie theater has to do their best to accommodate around the customers. In any way possible." 

•  Interviewee #3 Blake (African-American male, mid 30's, construction worker) : My third interviewee had no clue that the theater business was failing. He said he loves going to the movies, but rarely finds time to go. I asked Blake what is one of the things that bothers you the most about going to the theater, from the minute you enter, to the minute you walk out? Blake stated, " I am not really a complaint type of guy, or type of customer. But when it comes to the movies, I just feel like I don't get my money's worth. From the time I purchase my ticket and snacks, I feel I'm getting ripped off. Yes, the price can be outrageous, but I feel like the movie theaters I attend are so corporate run that I'm getting undervalued as a customer. My initial thought is I just wasted my money." 

•  Interviewee #4 Sebastian (Latin male, late 20's, military vet/banker) : Sebastian was an interesting person to interview. I changed my approach to the interview by asking an individual what specifically they like and dislike about going to the movies. My interviewee told me that's something he would have to think about and it took him quite a while to answer. Sebastian then went on to talk about how he likes the membership system that some theaters have, but at the same time he also said," I truly believe its a scheme to make us spend more money." I told him that I agree but that it's a devious business plan to make revenue. Sebastian also agreed and said, "I just don't feel like it's the best attempt to attract more customers."

•  Interviewee #5 Marcus (African-American male, early 20's, student-athlete) : The last person that I interviewed gave me a lot of good information about my opportunity. I asked Marcus what can a movie theater do differently that would separate themselves from other theaters, whether it's corporate owned or privately owned? Marcus easily said," They need to have a strong outreach to the community. Be involved in social media and consistently reach out and promote their business." I instantly told him that was a great point. Marcus added, " Whatever business it may be, when you're making an attempt to reach out and show that you care about your customers means more than people think." 

5) After completing each step of this assignment, I feel more comfortable in the opportunity I’m pursuing. I believe all of the information I've gathered from my interviews helps me understand that there are more needs from the "who" then I expected. More of what I learned about my opportunity that I didn't know before is that to run a business, specifically a movie theater business, you have to think more about the customer satisfaction category than the value of revenue. I also picked up the fact that a movie theater's business success is mostly in the hands of their customers, half of the time the development of customers that turn into "regulars".