Expert Questions

Asking competitors for advice can be incredibly helpful when trying to get your idea off the ground. In my case, I will be asking an expert from OpenTable, a competing app that lets users make reservations, order online, and see other restaurant features. 

The Questions I Plan to Ask: 

1. What is the biggest hurdle that your company has had to overcome? 
2. As a company that was created before the digital age, how did you have to adapt in order to keep up with consumer trends? 
3. What was the most important change that OpenTable implemented that really helped the company succeed? Was this change difficult to acclimate to? 
4. If you could do one thing differently, what would that be? 

From these questions, I hope to learn more about why OpenTable decided to adapt in the way that it did. Since it was created in 1998, it didn’t originally start as an app but instead as a website that showed real-time reservations. Over the years, it has adapted and added countless features to both its website and app. I would love to learn what changes helped the company succeed and how difficult it was to implement these changes. I would also want to learn more about the struggles that OpenTable has had to overcome. This would be helpful for me to know so I can be prepared to navigate any difficulties that come my way. Learning about how OpenTable responded to consumer trends can also give me insight into how quickly a company should be able to adapt.