Business aspects

It is nice to see the progress in the technology aspects of the project, but another very important aspect is the business aspect. How and to whom will the product be sold and how will it be produced? I’ll try to keep it short and clear.

First of all, we made three personas to get a grip on what kind of persons will buy our product. We got a very successful businessman, a little girl and an old man. They all have different motives of buying and collecting the Cadavre Exquis Robots. I will quickly go through them. The businessman buys them for his kids, as he is away from home very often and has to travel a lot for his work. He always brought the cliché presents, like an Eiffel tower keychain when he went to Paris, but after getting to know our product he promised his kids to bring parts of this robot every time he came back. The persona of the little girl comes from a small village in Iowa and likes to collect bugs and play outside. She asks family to bring parts when they come to visit. She mostly likes the story behind them and the differences between good & evil. Last but not least is the old man. As a retired man he has a lot of time on his hands, so he likes to travel with his wife. He has been a technical engineer in his old days and still likes technical products, for example, he has the whole attic with things like miniature steam engines. He likes the technical movement of the creatures and the cultural background within each part.

Some other techniques applied are among others the Value Ladder, Technology Tree, Key Buying Factors and a suggested Partnership & Supply Chain table. The Value Ladder gives information on which function supplies which value, for example the functional property of Actuators will eventually give the Value of entertainment. The technology tree will give information on which parts have to be made, with what techniques they can be made and if there are any supporting technology. For example, the connection units are a Product Function, which will be produced by Milling or Molding, while the supporting technology of this piece is Computer Aided Design (CAD). The Key Buying Factors are different factors which are divided into three groups: Qualifiers, Winners and Differentiators. Qualifying factors are those that make sure our product can survive in the market, while Winning factors are those that make it better than all the rest. At last there are the Differentiating factors, which actually make sure that the product stays a winner over time by changing certain elements, staying ahead of competition.

We also made a Roadmap of the product to have a look into the possible future. I added a few pictures of the techniques.