Testing the Hypothesis, Pt. 2

Who? Out of the five interviewed subjects, three of them said that they would consider buying this product. The other two said that they would not be interested. One of the interviewees that said that he would not use the product pointed out the potential cost of the headphones. He said that he would not spend the money on a pair of headphones like these because he is able to be aware of his surroundings without spending a chunk of his money. He brought up a very good point because these headphones would not be the cheapest on the market due to their added abilities in comparison to regular headphones. The other interviewee that was not interested in purchasing the product brought up some similar points. She said that if she was that concerned about her safety and being distracted while riding a bike, she would just not listen to music at all. I asked follow up questions to her points and she agreed that it would probably get boring to not listen to music if you are going a far distance, but at least you would be much more aware of your surroundings. Although three of my interviewees said that they would consider buying the headphones, it was apparent that everyone had concerns about whether they really needed them or not. They were optimistic that they would work well, but were questioning if they were essential to the future of bike riding. These interviews really opened up my eyes to my true potential audience and the likelihood of their purchases. 

What? I learned a lot as to the product and its limitations when conducting my new interviews. The interviewees all opened my eyes to the fact that the buyer would probably not use the product every day, unless biking is their means of transportation. It made me question the overall usefulness of the product. If a potential customer thinks that the product cannot be used frequently, they may be hesitant to purchase. One interviewee brought up a great point in regards to the prevention of accidents. The biker can be safe and aware of his or her surroundings, but if the driver of the cars next to the biker are not paying attention or are distracted, there is no pair of headphones that can fix that situation. If there is a driver of a car that is driving poorly, especially drunk driving, a pair of headphones that detect motion can not alone keep the biker from being saved from the situation. 

Why? I think the needs of the insiders are different than those of the outsiders because they have different mindsets of what is needed to ensure safety. For example, parents of children that already do not listen to music while biking do not have the concern of distracting music, but instead they may be concerned about a protective helmet. There may be things that are more concerning than the music distractions to anyone outside of the boundary.There will always be people who will not need your invention, but in this case, I found a lot of bikers who might not necessarily need my invention.

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who is in:  Concerned parents of children bike riders Bike riders who have caught themselves distracted by music Bike riders who have gotten into an accident Concerned bikers who see poor drivers on the roads	Who is not: Parents of children bike riders who do not have safety concerns Bike riders who do not listen to music while they ride Bike riders who are aware of their surroundings no matter if they are listening to music or not  Bike riders who see the road as safe and do not see extra reason to pay for precautional items
What the need is: A safety mechanism to prevent unsafe biking habits A way to eliminate the distractions of typically listening to music while biking	What the need is not: A means to throw all responsibility onto the biker in a collision accident A way to get rid of all unsafe situations between bikers and cars
Why the need exists: Possible prevention of collisions due to distracted or unaware bikers Parents are concerned with the safety of their children while biking Bikers can ride on the roads with safety as their first priority	Alternative explanations: Concerned parents are more concerned about helmets, knee pads and evaluating the ability of the child to ride a bike in general Drivers need to focus on driving better; bikers don’t need to focus on biking better