Help students with their project by answering a 1min survey

[Markas]

Hello,
We are an international business bachelor student group from Netherlands, Eindhoven, Fontys University of Applied science and we are making a project about how to create a platform for renting and renting out skiing/snowboarding equipment for/from other people.

We made two different surveys to get proof if this has a market. You would really help us if you could answer a few short questions about skiing/snowboarding equipment.

Pick one which fits you:
1. A survey for those who own skiing/snowboarding equipment click here.

2. A survey for those who do not own skiing/snowboarding equipment and rents it click here.

Disclaimer: I understand that there was an option to make a poll for questions, but we prefer 'survio' service, sorry for inconvenience.

Thank you in advance! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Stupid idea. Rental shops carry liability insurance for binding settings.

 

[raytseng]

Ah it's not so bad of an idea, it's turo or uber/lyft/airbnb for skis/snowboard which have equal if not greater insurance issues.

But there are some very obvious critical difference in skiing/snowboard equipment and why it is not equivalent to those other items/services.
Up to students project to explore and figure that out.

In general though, As a student project, I would still grade their project a grade lower, but not because of feasibility. But based on the fact that it is unoriginal and taking the same "sharing economy" idea and applying it to another service. Unless it is truly launched with real money, then it's just a thought experiment where the successful billion$ company already answered most of the questions of how to do it; and you'll never get your presentation or prototype as polished as the billion $ company that invested millions of man hours to implement the idea in real life.

The whole startup mad libs of "It's ____ but for ____"; is weak and derivative but is the easiest elevator pitch in the real world.
You can come up with a million of these, any of them are feasible because a unicorn company already has proved the business concept.

Its Uber but for food.
It's Google but for kids
It's Facebook but for Work
It's OkCupid but for Pets

 

[LiquidFeet]

Renting your own equipment out will pose a liability issue for you if you adjust the bindings improperly.
You'd need a fleet of boots (renters' feet will come in different sizes) and a fleet of boards/skis (people need different sizes and shapes of these planks) and poles in different sizes (not sticks) if you really want to make a business of this, plus liability insurance and know-how.

You'll need to keep the equipment tuned, so you'll need the tuning tools and a space to do the tuning. Got $ to pay hired people to do the tuning for you? How much capital do you have to invest in such a fleet, the space to hold it, and the people to maintain everything?

The way you've phrased your questions makes it look like you don't know much about skiing or snowboarding. I'd do more research before putting out such a survey so your survey addresses an issue that's worthy of attention. I know that sounds harsh. But you need to know that your questions are not yet thought-out well enough to get much from this crew of dedicated snow-sports enthusiasts.

Here's an idea that wouldn't require tools, hired hands, or liability insurance. How about renting out clothing to people who are just starting to ski? It costs tons of money to buy all the clothing one needs to ski in comfort outside in the cold. You could ask about renting helmets, ski gloves and ski mittens, ski socks, pant liners, ski pants, ski jackets, ski tops, goggles, neck gaiters, balaclavas, knit caps? You could offer to deliver it.

 

[raytseng]

lol:
https://zent.com
https://www.kitlender.com/ski-rentals/
https://www.mountainthreads.com/

 

[Bill Miles]

Got to the second question. It wouldn't let me select "no,why7" or type in why.

 

[LKLA]

This is an absurd idea. Maybe it would work in Uzbekistan but not in the US.

If you find someone to invest in this, let me know. I have a bridge to sell.

 

[tball]

I'll just add a link to the "Why do skiers ski over rocks?" thread:

https://www.pugski.com/threads/rock-skis-why-do-skiers-ski-over-rocks.13783/

 

[Pat AKA mustski]

Done, but I pretty much agree with everyone above. I don’t see how this would be viable.

 

[NZRob]

I think some of you are missing the point....it doesn't sound like these guys are trying to build a business, rather they are doing a project about a hypothetical platform and business....you know, like many of us did at college and university.

I liked @LiquidFeet idea about doing it for other equipment....ties in nicely with the other PugSki thread: How to get more people into skiing (or words to that effect).

Good luck with the project!

 

[Sibhusky]

Got to the second question. It wouldn't let me select "no,why7" or type in why.

I was able to type why.

 

[raytseng]

Agree with NZRRob.

However as I wrote above, my issue is that unless they are just crunching numbers for a market analysis, all the questions and problems are already answered, and implementation is just going to look like a copy of the real business they are using as a template.

What is your app going to look like? We will do it same as AirBnB
How will it function? It will work just like AirBnB
How are you going to do pair people? We will do it same as AirBnB
How are you going to account for bad actors or people who break rules? We will do it same as AirBnB
How will you do insurance? We will do it same as AirBnB
How will you handle payments? We will do it same as AirBnB

If you don't answer like that, but actually go through your business model; your instructor should already knows how AirBnB works, and will be bored out their mind on you explaining that to them as if it was something you came up with on your own

ok...that's enough college advisoring, time to go skiing! Best of luck to those students!

 

[Markas]

Thank you very much for your replies! We appreciate your feedback, if it is negative or positive, it is great feedback!

 

[ADKmel]

I did your survey, While I have let people 'borrow' my skis but I would not rent them up for a day I LOVE them too much and I want to ski them. I would be so upset if a renter brought them back as Rock skis!! I'll Suggest you go take a look at rental equipment in a busy shop see how much damage occurs ask how long skis in rental fleet survive the abuse of renters..

Good luck with your project!

 

[cantunamunch]

Stupid idea. Rental shops carry liability insurance for binding settings.

only in the US/Canada.

 

[mdf]

I answered the survey so I could say it was a dumb idea where it counted.
These school things annoy me as much because they are sloppy school work as for the dumb basic idea.

 

[LuliTheYounger]

Beyond the damage issue - rental skis and normal skis are pretty different? Most skis are just not really designed to be used by more than one person; it's not like cars where you can put any driver in pretty much any car. Rentals have adjustable track-mounted bindings, whereas almost all 'owned' skis have bindings that are drilled into the ski and only accommodate a certain length boot. My boots are customized, so I can't really rent them out and expect them to fit someone else. Finding a ski owner who's willing to rent and someone else who's almost identical in weight + height + boot size + ski preference + boot flex preference is always going to be a struggle, and I think it would be really hard to get the user density #s that you would need for people to reliably match up.

 

[Sibhusky]

Plus, since they're my boots, do I really want others putting their sweaty feet in? I don't think so!

 

[Markas]

All of this feedback is priceless for us! Most of the replies are negative, that means our idea is not good enough. That is why we changing it a bit and creating a new survey, as Mister @NZRob told, this is a project, that is why we have specific requirements that we have to follow and this feedback from people like you are really important for us.
Now we are switching to a bit different idea. After some research we decided to make a renting platform for renting/renting out winter sport clothing equipment, helmets, gloves, goggles, ect.

Here are two surveys:
#1 Survey for people that would want to rent equipment for other people.
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/MWDJXGK
#2 Survey for people that would want to rent equipment from other people.
https://nl.surveymonkey.com/r/MFTSD6W

 

[Wilhelmson]

Well, some people will do anything for a buck. Our old receptionist is now an uber driver. She was picking up a guy the other day and the police arrested him as he was getting into her car!