Think of a product or service that you use regularly and describe what it is. Consider if you were an entrepreneur just starting up your own business to develop and sell that product. How would you go about developing a team to help you? What kinds of people would you select to be on your team, and why? How would you meet these people and convince them to join your team? How would you motivate this team to continue to dedicate time or resources into your business venture?

 UberEat

Similar to DoorDash in the US. In Taiwan, UberEats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by Uber in 2014. Users can read menus, reviews, and ratings, order, and pay for food from participating restaurants using an application on the iOS or Android platforms, or through laptops. 

How To Developing Such A Team?

As a platform operator, the major objective is to connect the people who are willing to make money by delivering food or groceries with restaurants and merchants. The main service is to provide a stable and reliable platform for those people, merchants and also satisfy the demands for food, groceries, and necessities delivery. I think and form the team based on the different positions, the customer, the merchants, and the platform. My idea is to understand the needs first, and then to build a team that can satisfy these needs best. So, I started with the needs.

For The Customers(Orderers), they need an efficient app to get their food and product delivery, familiar payment methods to pay for their purchases, enough merchants for them to choose from, a loyalty program for them to regularly open the app, and a channel for them to share reviews and feedback.

For The Merchants and Restaurants, they need to reach as many customers as possible, fair profits from selling their products when they joining the membership, handle the payments, and handle the issues and complaints.

For The Future New Customers, I have to do some branding and advertisements to get more attention and a greater brand image. This is very important for the company to grow even bigger. 

Now, consider each need below has to be satisfied to build the team.

i. An efficient app

ii. Payments 

iii. Enough merchants

iv. A loyalty program

v. A channel for the reviews and feedback

vi. To reach as many customers as possible

vii. Fair profits from selling their products

viii. Payments, and 

ix. Handle the issues and complaints

What Kinds of People Would I Select To Be in The Team?

Now, recall the needs that have to be satisfied. 

i. An efficient app needs professional programmers to create it. 

ii. The payments should be handled by financial institution partners, an accountant, and an assistant.

iii. For enough merchants, I need to hire some salespeople to help and promote merchants to join and design a website for new entrants.

iv. A loyalty program needs to be set by a marketing professional or a manager. And, the manager also manages the salespeople to get the best result.

v. A channel for the reviews and feedback. Build a channel in the app need the same professionals that build the app. However, to analyze the data for the growth of the company, I need data scientists to do their best.

vi. To reach as many customers as possible, I have to pay for the ads, and also we already hired a marketing professional or a manager to do that.

vii. Fair profits from selling their products. I think the marketing professionals or the managers can make a strategy for that with the help of some data scientists.

viii. Payments, Partnering with FinTech companies such as LINE Pay, Apple Pay, VISA, MasterCard, or AmericanExpress is a crucial step for the company to get the returns for the services. 

ix. To handle the issues and complaints, I need some specialists to do customer service since greater user experience means higher satisfaction.

How To Interview Them?

I think I tend to prefer honest and frank candidates to join my team. I believe that honest candidates tend to strive hard and work with dedication and also try hard to improve their skills, talents, and capabilities while working in a new work environment. In addition, it is useless to select only base on the skills I need. I need a greater mindset to do all these jobs. All the people in my team should be honest, willing to cooperate, trust each other, help others, and also be able to get things done within their expertise. I believe without integrity, there can be no trust, and it is a timebomb for your company to fail. Therefore, in all interviews after checking their expertise, I design some questions to test their honesty and integrity. For example, "Was there any situation where you had to admit your mistakes to your good friends or coworkers?", "How do you describe yourself?", "What was the most difficult thing that you had to tackle in your professional life?", "Have you ever felt like you are not qualified for a job assigned to you?" Furthermore, I think the answer should be as detail as possible. Greater detail of an event means you are ACTUALLY went through it rather than just made it.

Now, How To Convince Them To Join?

The core concept is to make them think they belong to the excellent team and they can actually get the returns they deserve for their hard works and accomplishments. Therefore, I will share more income with them rather than just pay them the same wages. I tend to tell them that "You can make as much as you want if you deserve that." and "You guys are my coworkers and partners, not my employees." 

To Motivate The Team

Usually, if we work for a fixed paycheck, we tend to put as little effort as possible to do the job because if the paycheck is the same, the efforts saved are like a reward. However, my plan is to put them on the same boat and share the benefits and profits with them, treat them as my shareholders. And, yes, I think I will give them shares of my company for extra efforts. For example, I plan to award each one in the team appropriate shares of the company which will pay each year if they are still in the team. If I pay you $100,000 per year, you just $$100,000 effort to this team. But if I pay you $50,000 in cash plus 10,000 shares of the company, you are much more likely to turn the 10,000 shares into $1,000,000. The truth is you are a winner once you achieve it and the company, the whole team are also winners.

Reference

Reddy, C., By, Chitra Reddy12 years of Experience within the International BPO/ Operations and Recruitment Areas. Extensive experience in Complete Recruitment Life Cycle - Sourcing, Reddy, C., & 12 years of Experience within the International BPO/ Operations and Recruitment Areas. Extensive experience in Complete Recruitment Life Cycle - Sourcing. (2019, December 26). Best Integrity, Ethics and Honesty Interview Questions. WiseStep. https://content.wisestep.com/interview-questions-assess-honesty/. 

We all deserve the freedom of choosing plant-based products

 We all deserve the freedom of choosing plant-based products.

Oat milk is a kind of plant-based milk derived from whole oat grains by extracting the plant material with water. Oat milk has a creamy texture and oatmeal-like flavor. Oat milk may be consumed to replace dairy milk in vegan diets, or in cases of medical conditions where dairy is incompatible, such as lactose intolerance or an allergy to cow milk. Compared to dairy milk and other vegan milk products, oat milk has relatively low environmental impacts due to its comparatively low land and water needs for production.

However, it is just too expensive compare to dairy milk. In Taiwan, you can buy a bottle of 936ml dairy milk for NT$90. But, it costs you at least NT$189 to buy a 936ml oat milk which is almost twice as much since they are imported from western countries. This is just insane. Therefore, the mission here is to bring much cheaper and but still high-quality oat milk for the people in Taiwan to fill the need of oat milk lovers, vegans, and any other people who want to switch their diets to plant-based. A plant-based should not be a right only for the few. I believe everyone should have the freedom to choose oat milk for their favor or health rather than be limited by their living conditions or income. 

Therefore, the mission of the company is to make much more affordable and high-quality oat milk to make profits. And by sourcing its raw materials from the local suppliers and manufacture locally, I believe the product should be much cheaper than imported oat milk. 

The Needs Should Be Satisfied

We all deserve the freedom of choosing what to drink. High-quality oat milk should also have an affordable price tag. Without the budget constraint, you can choose to drink more oat milk. 

Differentiation

i. The price

Obviously, the products are much cheaper than the competitors. 

ii. The quality

Sacrifice the quality for lower prices? No, it is not what I want and also not what the customers want. By local sourcing, reducing the delivery cost, and manufacture locally, I believe it can be much cheaper than it was without sacrificing any little quality.

In the future, I believe that as I launch this much cheaper product. The competitors may have two choices, trying to reduce the prices or keep the higher prices to spend more on branding and advertisement. Either way does not seem like a long-term strategy. However, they can also build their factories in Taiwan and take advantage of their brand image to sell their products. That increases the opportunities for the local workers and with more and more competitors join this race, I believe will eventually achieve the mission, "We all deserve the freedom of choosing plant-based products."

A simple business plan for cheaper oat milk in Taiwan

 We all deserve the freedom of choosing plant-based products.

Oat milk is a kind of plant-based milk derived from whole oat grains by extracting the plant material with water. Oat milk has a creamy texture and oatmeal-like flavor. Oat milk may be consumed to replace dairy milk in vegan diets, or in cases of medical conditions where dairy is incompatible, such as lactose intolerance or an allergy to cow milk. Compared to dairy milk and other vegan milk products, oat milk has relatively low environmental impacts due to its comparatively low land and water needs for production.

However, it is just too expensive compare to dairy milk. In Taiwan, you can buy a bottle of 936ml dairy milk for NT$90. But, it costs you at least NT$189 to buy a 936ml oat milk which is almost twice as much since they are imported from western countries. This is just insane. Therefore, the mission here is to bring much cheaper and but still high-quality oat milk for the people in Taiwan to fill the need of oat milk lovers, vegans, and any other people who want to switch their diets to plant-based. A plant-based should not be a right only for the few. I believe everyone should have the freedom to choose oat milk for their favor or health rather than be limited by their living conditions or income. 

Therefore, the mission of the company is to make much more affordable and high-quality oat milk to make profits. And by sourcing its raw materials from the local suppliers and manufacture locally, I believe the product should be much cheaper than imported oat milk. 

The Needs Should Be Satisfied

We all deserve the freedom of choosing oat milk. High-quality oat milk should also have an affordable price tag. Without the budget constraint, you can choose to drink more oat milk. 

Differentiation

i. The price

Obviously, the products are much cheaper than the competitors. 

ii. The quality

Sacrifice the quality for lower prices? No, it is not what I want and also not what the customers want. By local sourcing, reducing the delivery cost, and manufacture locally, I believe it can be much cheaper than it was without sacrificing any little quality.

iii. Disintermediation, Directly sell to customers online

To save more costs and offer affordable prices, sell products directly to customers from the factories. Many foreign companies cooperate with distributors, dealers, or retailers in Taiwan to sell their products. However, this is one of the major issues why their products are always so expensive. 

In the future, I believe that as I launch this much cheaper product. The competitors may have two choices, trying to reduce the prices or keep the higher prices to spend more on branding and advertisement. Either way does not seem like a long-term strategy. However, they can also build their factories in Taiwan and take advantage of their brand image to sell their products. That increases the opportunities for the local workers and with more and more competitors join this race, I believe will eventually achieve the mission, "We all deserve the freedom of choosing plant-based products." 

The Business Plan

Who is the customer?

The major customer of the products initially will be those who make their purchasing decisions mostly depend on the prices. Then, spread to everyone who loves plant-based drinks, oat milk lovers, especially those who want to buy oat milk but give up due to the high prices. Anyone who likes the taste of oat milk. Oat milk may be consumed to replace dairy milk in vegan diets, or in cases of medical conditions where dairy is incompatible, such as lactose intolerance or an allergy to cow milk. In addition, compared to dairy milk and other vegan milk products, oat milk has relatively low environmental impacts. So, it is also a great choice for environment protectors.

How does the customer make decisions about buying this product or service?

The objective here is to bring cheaper but still high-quality oat milk for those potential customers. Similar to Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, creating the first automobile that middle-class Americans could afford, he converted the automobile from an expensive curiosity into an accessible conveyance that profoundly impacted the landscape of the 20th century. If they are already oat milk lovers, they will love it if they don't have strong branding myths. 

To what degree is the product or service a compelling purchase for the customer?

Except for specific brands lovers, are there any reasons you will buy the same products with higher prices? I believe the answer is obviously a NO. Even though some customers may already have their brand preference, they still can be potential customers in the future. Therefore, apply some marketing strategies and branding, we can do better than just sell to those who are just being attracted by cheaper prices.

How will the product or service be priced?

To achieve the mission of the company, the price will be the same as dairy milk in Taiwan. Otherwise, it would make no sense to sell this product since there are already many brands there. 

How will the product reach all the identified customer segments?

Ages & All Genders: Official website, Regular chain stores

1 - 16 years old, mostly their parents buy the products for them. So, it will be the same as how to reach the age 17 - 80 years old or older. But for those who are over 50 years old, may not be familiar with electronic gadgets, some physical stores are needed. Regular chain stores are considered to open nearby some aging areas. 

Income: Official website and Social media

In the beginning, the cheaper oat milk products are made for those who give up oat milk due to the prices. Sell online is acceptable for those people. 

Education: Official website and Social media

People with higher education may tend to drink healthier. Lower-educated people are also getting the chance to drink oat milk because of the company. Both of them can be reached by the official website. 

Geographically: Official website, Social media, and Regular chain stores

The official website and social media can reach those who do their search for oat milk on Google, frequently looking for anything new on social media, or living in rural areas. Regular chain stores can reach those who live in the urban but desire to have plant-based diets. Since there are much more people live in the urban areas, regular chain stores will gain more attention by shop signs and trademarks standing around the cities.

How much does it cost to acquire a customer?

Advertising costs

In 2021, the average cost per click (CPC) in Facebook ads across all industries is $1.72. Operating a regular chain store costs NT$50,000 to rent on average, but it can reach approximately over 100,000 people in Taipei. So, it is NT$0.5 per person.

Cost of the marketing team

The average cost of hiring a marketing team in Taiwan is around NT$350,000 per month(NT$35,000 each and multiply by 10)

Cost of the sales team

The average cost of hiring a sales team in Taiwan is around NT$330,000 per month(NT$33,000 each and multiply by 10)

Production costs

We need 100g of oat, 1,000L of water, the electricity, the machine, and the workers. It costs approximately NT$40 to produce 1000L of oat milk. With the production of 1,500L per day, the timing cost of each 1 L oat milk is 57.6 seconds.

Inventory upkeep

Oat milk is an extended shelf-life milk. It takes over 10 months to expire. The production should fill the needs within 8 months. 

How much does it cost to produce and deliver the product or service?

It costs approximately 57.6 seconds, NT$40 to produce each 1000L oat milk, and it costs NT$100 to ship each 6000L. 

How much does it cost to support a customer?

Customer support is an investment, not a cost and it also depends on how many of those customers need support. I think my support team will be both online and in the chain stores. Clerks in each store will cost NT$32,000 per month. An online specialist will cost NT$28,000 per month.

How easy is it to retain a customer?

It’s cheaper to get current customers to make a repeat purchase than it is to find new customers. I will launch a loyalty program to retain as many customers as possible. 

The subscription plans: The OatKing, OatDuke, and OatKnight

OatKing(NT$199 per month)

Free delivery(No limits), up to 40% off per month.

OatDuke(NT$129 per month)

Free delivery(No limits), up to 20% off per month.

OatKnight(NT$99 per month)

Free delivery(2 times per month), up to 10% off per month.

The “elevator pitch” in 60 seconds

Hi, I'm Bruce. CEO and founder of TZUYI HUANG'S Group. Honor to meet you here. I am seeking an opportunity to launch cheaper oat milk products to fill the needs of affordable oat milk. Almost every oat milk lover, vegans, or in cases of medical conditions such as lactose intolerance or an allergy to cow milk has one feeling in common. Oat milk is just too expensive. So, what we do is to produce a cheaper oat milk product without lowering the quality. There is a huge potential waiting for us. My company is already on the way to disrupt. So, my question is, will you join us? 

Consider the different types of team members who would be essential in developing a new business or entrepreneurial venture. What skills and talents do you feel would need to be included?

 Like A Chess, Each Moves Counts, Each Pieces Counts

A great team builder and leader should actively contribute to a group in order to complete allocated tasks, meet the goals and achieve the overall objectives. Members of the team must understand their common objective is to achieve organizational success together and share the responsibilities all along the journey. Like a chess game, different pieces on the board contribute their special functions. The player is like a leader or a team builder trying to win the game by "managing" those pieces. But, don't get me wrong. I do not mean that they are just "pieces". Instead, they are all necessary partners and members of a team. Everyone has their unique gifts and also not everyone has worked hard and learned the same techniques in the past. So, each member's movement(talents) is unique. For a knight, it may move two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. Now, consider you want to win the game, all you need is wise on each step until you actually win. 

AI, A Necessary Supporter

Understanding the different types of team members on your team can help you work together as a team much better. That's why teamwork makes the dream work. When we try to build a team for developing a new business or entrepreneurial venture, it is necessary to find your right members(your pieces on the board). I know we all want one king and 15 queens. However, that's not going to happen. If you get one king and 15 queens, no one wants to play with you when they don't get the same pieces. Back to the topic, I think if the member all get the same talents like all of them are queens, it is very hard to manage and communicate with them. And ultimately, it is very likely to fail since they all know the same things and cannot support each other while beaten by the common disadvantages. Therefore, we need an AI specialist to truly help us do things objectively and make more comprehensive decisions. Machines can make their decisions based only on data instead of emotion. 

Why?

Think about a situation, when a team needs to achieve an objective, they have to think and trying to understand it, work out a plan, execute it, and check it to get the best result. In each step, we all tend to choose things we have already familiar with. For example, in the forming stage, we may choose the people we like not need, and even though we choose what we need, how can you know you actually need them? AI(Artificial Intelligence) can support each step we move. Although it is not absolutely correct, it still gains our confidence and reduces the mistakes we possibly make.

Additional Skills and Talents Would Need To Be Included

It would be wise to have at least one data scientist in your team. Data scientists are big data wranglers, gathering and analyzing large sets of data. A data scientist’s role combines computer science, statistics, and mathematics. They analyze and process to create actionable plans for a team.

Reference

Adler, F. (2020, July 6). Understanding team member types for a high performance team. Actioned. https://www.actioned.com/team-performance-types-team-members/. 

What is a Data Scientist? Master's in Data Science. (n.d.). https://www.mastersindatascience.org/careers/data-scientist/.