Assignment 23: Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

Generate a list of all of the resources in your venture (produce a list of at least 10 resources that you already possess). This can include your human capital, social capital, financial capital, and capabilities. You may also discuss the organizational culture you intend to create (but, obviously, it's not a resource that you have, now.) 

1. This app will have a larger, more frequently updated database than the competitors.
2. This app will include several unique features that no competitor has yet included, like listacles regarding vegan news and product promotions.
3. This team will be comprised of a small group of people that are passionate about this industry and are frustrated with the current options out there. We are all driven by the need to make a product that can help make grocery shopping a more enjoyable experience for meat-free consumers.
4. I have 12 years experience of being a meat-free consumer, 1 year of which is being vegan.
5. Many of my close friends are also vegan or vegetarian, so I'm exposed to unfiltered opinions that would help me determine what others want in this app.
6. I'm graduating with bachelor's degree in psychology and plan on pursuing a graduate degree in consumer psychology. This further knowledge can help me learn how to better cultivate an audience and attract investors.
7. My initial small team would also include my boyfriend and his brother, both are extremely knowledgeable about nutrition and diet. They would be a great help in building the database of ingredients that would flag a product as not suitable. 
8. I have a friend that works in app development and is awesome at making interface designs. Bringing him onto the team or consulting with him would help create a user-friendly app.
9. My boyfriend's brother is a search engine optimization (SEO) consultant and he would be capable of helping with marketing and entering our app into the Google Play and App Store. 
10. My 4 years experience with social media, specifically YouTube, would help create working relationships with creators to feature our app in sponsored posts.

Conduct a "VRIN" analysis for each resource. That is, describe, for each resource, how it is valuable, rare, inimitable (how hard it is to copy by others), and non-substitutable (are there other resources that can provide the same benefits?).

1. Valuable: A larger database of products and ingredients will allow for easier use and saving the user time.
   Rare: The competitors that I am aware of all lack a frequently updated database, so a lot of new products are met with error messages when scanned.
   Inimitable: This could be copied if another company sees the potential in this market. If they have a bigger budget and a larger team, they could have a larger database and do it more quickly.
   Non-substitutable: This isn't something that can be entirely substituted for another resource because it is the main focus of the app. 
2. Valuable: The added features will create a more useful and entertaining app than the competitors. It will have users using the app more frequently and for a longer duration.
   Rare: While these features alone are not unique, what makes them rare is putting it in one app together.
   Inimitable: Another company can come in and do the same thing. Since it is not an entirely unique idea, there wouldn't be a way to stop competitors from implementing the same features.
   Non-substitutable: Other resources like community discussion boards, blog articles, and videos could provide the same benefits. 
3. Valuable: This is the basis of the app and creates the need the community has for it. This is extremely valuable because everyone on the team has personal experience with grocery shopping as a vegan or vegetarian and will be able to apply their unique experiences to better the app for the user.
   Rare: Other companies probably have teams of people that are also vegan or vegetarian, so this aspect isn't rare. What is rare is the unique collection of experiences that other companies wouldn't have.
   Inimitable: Another company can do this, but their employees won't have the same experiences as our team and their life experiences can not be imitated.
   Non-substitutable: While I don't think this can be substituted, it can be supplemented with research. 
4. Valuable: I think this is the most valuable resource I possess because it is the foundation for this app. My desire to create this app was born out of frustration I've felt while using the competitions' apps.
   Rare: While other people working in this industry are commonly vegan or vegetarian, my experiences are my own. My age, gender, location, beliefs, and other factors are what makes my experience unique.
   Inimitable: Others have their own experiences and can use theirs to produce similar results, but they can never be the exact same. Lots of great ideas can be born in the little gap of difference.
   Non-substitutable: This resource can probably be partially substituted with research and other opinions, but I think of that more like it is supplementing the original resource. 
5. Valuable: This will give a unique perspective of the app and allow for honest feedback that I trust would be in the best interest of the user.
   Rare: Other companies probably have this capability too.
   Inimitable: A research group could offer similar results.
   Non-substitutable: I'm not sure what other resources could substitute this to the same effect. 
6. Valuable: Further education could help me understand the process of building this product more and might look better to potential investors.
   Rare: I don't think this is rare at all.
   Inimitable: This is definitely inimitable.
   Non-substitutable: A degree is not necessary. The information could be learned by oneself or a different team member could possess this knowledge. 
7. Valuable: Their knowledge would be fundamental to launching the app.
   Rare: While other companies would probably have employees that possess the same knowledge, they might not be able to apply it the same way.
   Inimitable: Other companies could probably imitate this with their own employees.
   Non-substitutable: The only substitute I could think of is another employee possessing the same knowledge, but they wouldn't have the same trusting relationship established.
8. Valuable: His insight would be hugely beneficial. I already like his aesthetic, so I know we'd work great together in a creative capacity.
   Rare: Other companies have app developers, but he has a unique set of skills and creativity that others do not posses.
   Inimitable: This is probably pretty easy to imitate as companies could develop their own user-friendly interfaces.
   Non-substitutable: Easy navigation and a nice design are very important for this app to be successful. The only way to substitute this resource is with another app developer that is compatible. 
9. Valuable: His intense knowledge of SEO would be crucial for our app to be discovered by users.
   Rare: While other companies have SEO agents, he has over 10 years experience and is constantly keeping up to date with changes.
   Inimitable: This is probably pretty easy to imitate as long as the company has an SEO agent that is just as knowledgeable. Although, his unique experience working on social media from the early years would be beneficial in understanding and predicting trends and audience captivation.
   Non-substitutable: This can not really be substituted, unless another SEO agent with similar experiences were to be found.
10. Valuable: My personal experience working in the social media industry would be beneficial in securing sponsorships with influential creators.
    Rare: This probably isn't that rare of a resource, but I do think I'd offer a unique take on it that others would not. As a creator, I've seen a lot of badly written proposals and I know what catches my eye, so I think I could use that to the app's benefit.
    Inimitable: Other companies could probably imitate this with their own marketing team.
    Non-substitutable: The only thing I could think of that would be a replacement for this resource is someone more knowledgeable and capable of securing working relationships with content creators.

• After conducting the VRIN analysis, determine what your top resource is. Explain why it's more important to your venture than all of the other resources.
  I think my top resource is my experience. I personally know why this product needs to exist and who it is for, because I am the prototypical consumer. Grocery shopping can be irritating when you want to try something new, but aren't sure if its ingredients are vegan. This app was born out of a personal frustration because the competitors all have huge flaws that make their products a sub-par experience. While other companies will have employees that are also vegan or vegetarian, I think my experience is still so valuable because no two people perceive the world the same. My unique experience is valuable, it is rare in a sense, it is not easy duplicated, and it'd be difficult to substitute another resource for it.