You’ve been there. It’s a cold and rainy evening here in Chicago as you stand outside a restaurant waiting for your valet parked vehicle to be pulled up for you. While waiting, you realize that you do not have enough cash on hand to pay for your valet ticket (let alone tip the attendant) but you do have a wallet full of credit (or debit) cards.
Why is it that in this day and age, a service operation continues to only accept paper currency as a means of payment?
That is the question I asked myself, and the valet parking attendant who eventually pulled up my vehicle. The answer I got led to an observation that maybe not all business operations want to embrace technology - unless they have to!
I spent sometime digging deeper into why a service business such as a car parking operation would not want to accept credit cards, allow customers to request vehicles ahead of time, or even print out receipts for business travelers who would like to expense a valet tab? Luckily, I was able to get in touch with a contact down in Atlanta who works with a small car parking operation such as one you will find at a Chicago restaurant. His answer was simple. It is most advantageous to the car parking company to remain low tech regardless of the customer experience because it keeps cost down thereby maximizing profits. He goes on to say that a car parking business offers a unique value proposition to its customers to the point where the service itself becomes somewhat of a necessity - especially in cities such as Chicago where parking on a weekend night at a busy restaurant can be a nightmare. It is this combination that provides little incentive to invest in technology that would improve the customer’s experience.
Whether his assertion that these car parking businesses are indeed a necessity is true or not, there is something to his point. Take a look at another business with similar characteristics - the Chicago taxi cab business. How many times have you heard your cab driver say the credit card reader is not working? It took city mandates, companies such as Uber, and visionaries like @chicagocabbie to force the hand of taxi cabs into adopting new technology that serve to improve the customer experience. That is what it is going to take to move the car parking industry as well.
Currently, there aren’t a lot of strides being made to improve the overall customer experience at a valet station - especially at the local restaurant, bar, or night club. This is probably because of the close-knit nature of the industry, or because many of us, customers, are not making enough noise about our experiences. How can we make a better customer experience if the service providers themselves are not willing to do so?
This is the beginning of a Chicago startup.
I am really lucky to be living in a time where it is possible to have a real time pulse of events around the world, easily keep tabs on with my favorite people, and share my thoughts on a public forum. I believe that social media has become one of the greatest by products of the Internet. With that said, I have noticed some things that ruin the social experience for me while on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. On this post, I will highlight my top social media (mainly twitter) usage peeves. The underlying theme you will notice is that all the highlighted peeves have to do with noise in my feed.
First, let me acknowledge that I do sometimes partake in these practices and that I am sometimes part of the problem.
Hey there! It’s been a while - almost 3 months to be exact. I recall sounding really confused and unsure on how to proceed on this journey. Do I build on my podcasting hobby “Geeks in Running Shoes” or should I follow up on some other web ideas? You know, this journey gets quite frustrating sometimes that’s for sure. It just seems to get more confusing as I go on along it. Oh well, I am really excited now! I feel like this week I was hit with 10,000 volts of electricity and I am out of the funk that I was in. It is exciting!!
So what happened? Well I got introduced to some local Chicago tech blogs - Technori and Flyover Geeks. Maybe it was the content on these blogs or just the stars aligning in a particular way but something about these blog sites got to me. Reading through them reestablished the enthusiasm that got me into entrepreneurship in the first place. I saw local entrepreneurs around my age doing the kind of things that I have been talking about over the years. I realized that Chicago is indeed a tech startup city just like San Francisco, and Austin. I remember looking out to these cities and wondering what it would be like to be part of their communities. That is, cool tech startups comprised of young people my age. I never thought to look in my own backyard. I have uncovered an excitement around tech startups in the city. An era of excitement that I am anxious to be a part off and help shape.
So what’s next? Well now that I am aware of this community and I have access to it, I am going to be a part of it! I’ve already signed up for a few meetups and yeah I am working on a project - details to come :)
So expect to see me out there Chicago!
Its been a fun and very engaging 11 weeks. I think enrolling in the New Venture Lab and being forced to think about my business everyday of the course of the quarter has been very valuable. However, I think it is time for a change in direction in regards to Sportycus (or should I say, gameFigrs).
I feel like as the quarter progressed and as we discussed the customer value concept, my passion towards Sportycus has faded. Maybe it is because I am coming to terms that the Sportycus business idea is indeed a “candy” idea or maybe it is because I have been putting most of my free time towards growing the Geeks in Running Shoes show.
Earlier this week, I had a conversation with my mentor, Corey, where I mentioned the loss of passion towards Sportycus. His response was straightforward:
If you’re not all into Sportycus, I’d stop now. Don’t waste time
So of course I followed his advice and did not really put a lot of work into Sportycus this week. I did however want to complete the milestone that I had set for the week - that is put some finishing touches on the Sportycus prototype.
Anyway, on the Geeks in Running Shoes front, this was a very productive and rewarding week. I have been talking with Steve and Kevin in regards to building the show brand and raising awareness towards the show. Some good ideas came out of these conversations and I created a milestones to have the show reviewed and/or featured on a running community blog. Well this week it paid off, I (and the show) was featured on the popular athletic social site (DailyMile) community blog. Check the out the post.
With this change in direction, I plan to use the concepts that I have learned from you all these past 11 weeks and apply them to the Geeks in Runnings shoes show and the “Geeks in” brand in general. Hopefully, you will keep reading the this blog to follow my progress.
Thank you all for a great quarter, you have certainly helped me progress on this entrepreneurial journey.
Featured on DailyMile Community Blog -
My other project, the Geeks in Running Shoes podcast, got a lift this week as I (and the show) was featured on the popular athletic social site (DailyMile) community blog.
Check out the post (http://www.dailymile.com/blog/uncategorized/featured-dailymiler-running-podcaster-raymond-king)