Testing the Hypothesis, Part 2

Before I start on this next blog post, I am providing a brief recap for anyone who has not yet been exposed to my "venture" idea.

Recap: Last week, I conducted five interviews to determine if my chosen opportunity actually exists and if my hypothesis is valid. I decided to focus on my belief that Americans are not recycling at full capacity and after interviewing some people, I quickly realized that other people felt the same way. All of the people I interviewed understood the importance of recycling on conservation, indicating that there truly is an opportunity there. For my solution, I proposed the creation of a recycling app that incentivizes people to recycle more and offers general and local recycling information.

*You can reference Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 and My Solution for more information.

***

This week, I will be focusing on the outside of the scope of my opportunity. I am taking a look at the side that does not support my aforementioned hypothesis, targeting the people who do not think we need to improve our recycling efforts as a whole or who are unwilling to believe that a product could improve our current state of recycling.

Since I am at home for the summer and am currently transitioning into my internship this week and the next, I will not be conducting interviews. Also, I believe that it will be very difficult to find people with these opposing views as recycling is a widely-known concept and most people are aware of certain consequences on the environment. That being said, an entrepreneur should never give up on diligent research, so instead I will be conducting my analysis using online research, previous knowledge, and previous interviews (linked below) to draw conclusions.

Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1 Interviews:

Interview 1

Interview 2

Interview 3

Interview 4

Interview 5

***

As mentioned in the assignment instructions, it can be easy to perceive our opportunities as way larger than they actually are. Although recycling is a matter that really affects everyone, directly or indirectly, I will be careful not to extrapolate the importance and potential success of my product solution. I understand that there are many limits that can hinder the success of an idea. Some people may not share the same beliefs that recycling is important and can be improved. On the other hand, others may simply be too busy or just do not care enough to use my proposed app. I have taken these limits into consideration in determining what features to focus on to appeal to the majority.

Below, I have developed a table to help distinguish varying factors between potential users (Inside the Boundary) and nonusers (Outside the Boundary).

	Inside the Boundary	Outside the Boundary
Who is/isn't in	People who currently recycle or want to recycle better.	People who feel like recycling isn't important or that their efforts won't make a difference anyway.
What the need is/isn't	This need deals with having motivation to recycle, an easier recycling experience, and assurance that recyclables will end up where they are supposed to.	This need isn't about changing recycling as a whole and implementing a new process. It is about making the current process more efficient.
Why the need exists/doesn't	With consumption rates at their highest, we are constantly producing trash. When we don't recycle, we are polluting our environment and destroying ecosystems. The Earth is only so big and the more we throw out, the more space for landfills is required, due to the fact that the rate of decomposition is not as fast as our rate of consumption.	People may feel like this need doesn't exist because they think that they're already recycling well or just don't care about recycling.

The following are websites I used as references to draw conclusions from:
http://www.recycling-guide.org.uk/importance.html
http://recyclenation.com/2010/03/case-against-recycling
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/5-reasons-why-people-dont-recycle-and-5-reasons-they-should.html
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/i-dont-recycle.html