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MGT 5985
Category Archives: MGT 5985
Expert Interview
The expert I am reaching out to is Upright, a company that creates a wearable that vibrates when you slouch to remind you to fix your posture. I want to speak with someone at Upright because I have found them to be the most noticeable solution online, have read multiple positive reviews, and believe that I could learn valuable insights as they seem to have been successful over the past seven years.
Some questions I want to ask are:
- What have you learned about consumer preferences regarding wearables and price?
- I want to challenge assumptions I made about consumers, that they do not want to wear a device and that the solution needs to be inexpensive.
- How do you measure your KPI’s?
- The website has these KPIs listed in multiple places, I want to learn how these are measured.
- How did you test the product?
- The website notes, “After an incredible amount of research, discussions with doctors, chiropractors, physiotherapists, and product testing, Upright was officially born in 2014.” I want to learn how they tested the product as I think it will lead to design, consumer, and scientific insights.
- How do you find and attract customers? I’ve noticed many videos and articles created reviewing the Upright Go 2.
- Their most recent product, Upright GO 2 seems very popular online, having multiple articles and numerous youtube review videos made by third parties discussing it. I want to learn if this was purposeful and how this has affected the business.
Posted in Reflections (5985)
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Assignment 1 – Competitor Analysis
Conducting a competitor analysis forced me to understand what current solutions are available and how they actually differed from mine. It would have been much easier to have “blinders” on and assume that people are waiting in line for me to release mine but as the competitive analysis demonstrated, this is not the case. I want to differentiate from MacBreakZ by targeting Baruch students who are less likely to have repetitive strain injuries but many still experience pain from improper computer use. Furthermore, I want to improve on personalization through a calendar integration and on activity tracking via the webcam. MacBreakZ has the competitive advantage of having a well-built product that has only required minor maintenance over many years. I have a feeling this will not be as great for students as I originally thought as I believe many students lay in their bed since the pandemic started and so it might work better for working professionals or other people, who are more prone to RSIs. That being said, maybe there is a way to better tailor the solution to students who are often in “non-traditional” workspaces such as their bed or couch. I think this is a gap in the market that is not being adequately fulfilled. MacBreakZ is also not available on Windows but Workrave is the next most similar competitor. The cons of WorkRave is that its UI is outdated and it has inferior timing personalizations and usage tracking. The questions that I now have are: is the white space large enough to justify building this product and will it be effective enough? Another interesting note is where I found much of my information from. For example, a teacher from CollegePrep posted a short video about ergonomic workspaces and mentioned it in the video. The unconventional places were important as Publicsquare.net,, the company that created MacBreakZ does not seem to be a large company and had limited information.
Posted in Reflections (5985)
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Lean Canvas 1 – Posture
Problem
I personally suffer from chronic back/neck pain from sitting at a computer for most hours of the day and my problems have increased since going remote due to the Pandemic. My posture has become poorer and it is harder to sit properly for many hours during the day. When I am on video calls with other students, for class, clubs, etc. I notice their posture is not the greatest, usually slouching, and particularly for the students without expensive chairs (I also do not use one).
Solution
The solution should be at the cause of the problem, poor posture, which takes place at your computer. That is why the solution will be accessible from any computer. I am a culprit of downloading apps with the goal of improving my health and productivity but don’t use them because of a lack of motivation and difficulty getting started. The smart tasks must be convenient and realistic otherwise they will become just another notification on our devices. The app is useless and potentially annoying unless the user wants to follow it so Posture will be designed to make it as easy as possible.
Unique Value Proposition
Dynamic smart tasks make it as easy as possible to complete. The tasks will fit around your schedule, can be completed in 15 seconds, and while sitting down. Posture will be designed with psychological principles of motivation and gamification to incentivize users to complete the tasks. The smart tasks will change based on the data collected (did a user complete the task, how many did they complete, etc.). Similarly, how your favorite social media and gaming apps send you notifications to hook you, Posture aims to do the same with productive and hyper-quick tasks
Unfair Advantage
Many solutions require a physical device such as a brace that stretches you or something you stick on your body. Both of these can be costly, cumbersome when getting started, and interfere with clothing. Posture will only require your computer and will be inexpensive or free.
Customer Segments
The target customers are Baruch students. This will increase to all students and then to professionals working from home, and eventually all sedentary workers. I believe many desk workers live overly sedentary lifestyles and as a result, suffer from chronic pain. Chronic pain is something many people can relate to and spend a significant amount of money to alleviate.
Existing alternatives
Upright, MacBreakZ, Posture Man Pat, and Apple watch reminders are some of the many existing alternatives. While these may work for some people, (more research is required), I think they can be improved through calendar integrations and utilizing psychological principles of motivation to build lasting habits in an easy way.
Key Metrics
It is important to know if users are actually using the app and for how long. This data will help us improve posture and understand if we are actually making the tasks easier for users to perform and if we are motivating them. The percentage of users who complete the tasks will further help this (users will press a button when completing a task).
High-level Concept
Chrome web-extension or app that integrates with your calendar and at appropriate times, gives you a convenient task to improve posture and alleviate pain. Data analytics are used to customize the app to improve the amount and difficulty of tasks completed.
Channels
Social media is where people are spending their time. If we can communicate how Posture allows you to become more confident, productive, attractive, and pain-free, we can tap into thoughts already spurred up by the content users are viewing through social media. Also, maybe LinkedIn is an appropriate place for ads as people may use it more at their desk during working hours.
User references are also important as if my friend says this helped improve their posture, I will be very motivated to try it. This can also be tied into gamification as the app improves.
Early Adopters
The Baruch undergraduate student population is a great customer segment to test and release as almost all classes are online and have been for the last two semesters. Even while on campus, the library is always packed with tired students hunched over in chairs without a great ergonomic design.
Using this feedback, we can look at other people who spend many hours on a daily basis on a computer such as other college students or even people who work from home.
Assumptions
One assumption that must be true for this idea to succeed is that other young people suffer from chronic pain and are looking to improve it. Maybe other students don’t care about their posture as they never turn on their camera and the pain is only an inconvenience and not a problem.
Another assumption is that Posture can actually reduce chronic pain and improve posture enough in the beginning when the tasks are easy and infrequent enough to encourage users to continue using the app. While the smart tasks may be easy enough, users will stop doing them and using the app if they don’t notice a change.
Finally, are the smart tasks able to help change a user’s habits outside of when they are completing the tasks?
I welcome all feedback!
– Leo
Posted in Product (5985)
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Posture
Since the pandemic hit the U.S. in March of 2020, it has become an extremely easy and common place for me to sit at my computer almost all day. Most of my daily activities are tied solely to a computer, including work, school, school organizations, socializing remotely, gaming. As my lifestyle has become more sedentary and I could not go to the gym, I developed poor posture causing pain and discomfort in many places including my neck, shoulders, and back. I’ve tried certain solutions such as stretching in the morning and trying to sit up straight when I notice myself slouching. While the stretching helped, throughout the day my posture would progressively get worse without a reset and I would often not even realize that I am slouching.
The solution is an app or Chrome extension called Posture. Posture sends you smart notifications with specific tasks to improve your posture that take 15 seconds. Posture syncs with your calendar to not disturb you during meetings and works around your schedule. Posture is fully customizable allowing you to change the amount, frequency, and types of tasks, for example stretches that don’t require you to stand up. In the future, there will be breathing exercises and other smart breaks included. When a task appears the user must confirm that they completed it or quit it off and posture will use this information to tailor the tasks to you. Camera-enabled features include analyzing your sitting posture to improve the tasks, monitoring the head position throughout the data, and ergonomically aligning your desk setup. Posture will allow everyday undergrad students who are doing school and much more from home to improve their health, focus, and feel better throughout the day with no more than 15 seconds and without ever leaving your chair.
From my preliminary research, Posture may be a perfect fit for students. Posture does not require a physical device and is inexpensive (free or $.99) unlike many of the solutions which can be at least $100 and only have reminders to fix your posture. Many competitors are not device agnostic and phone-only. Two roadblocks that I anticipate in the future of Posture is that I am not a developer nor am I a health professional. Despite this, I could see myself and others using this product.
Posted in Product (5985)
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A Billion Users and Growing, How Does Tiktok Do It?
A billion users and growing, how does TikTok do it?
TikTok has taken the works by storm over the last year and has shown no sign of stopping with over one billion users worldwide. From my own experience, I think TikTok is the premier place for short-form content. Audio and video are more engaging/stimulating than either by themselves or pictures and TikTok has great length limits for its content. We saw the success of short-form video content with Vine a few years ago but its discontinuation left a hole in the market. TikTok improves on the short-form content with an endless scroll, viral algorithm, content creation features, and the creator fund.
If you download TikTok you’ll notice that within a few clicks you are immediately viewing content with one simple instruction, to swipe up and see the next video. This means that the user is immediately engaged and can scroll endlessly on the “For You” page. The “For You” page is the main Home Screen of TikTok where the videos you view are decided by an algorithm that updates based on your interaction with each video. I believe TikTok has created an environment where creators are all playing a lottery, to get on the “For You” page and have their video go viral. Something about the algorithm allows creators with zero followers to create content that goes viral and creators know this. To further add incentive, TikTok has a “creators fund” which pays out money to creators based on views.
TikTok has also Improved on the short-form content by allowing variability to the length of content (up to one minute compared to Vine’s six seconds) and with tools that encourage creators to build off of each other’s content. Creators can add a side-by-side to previously posted videos where they often react or reply to the video spurring interest in the topic. More importantly, are the sounds that are the backbone of the content. TikTok makes it easy to use the same audio of a previously posted video which causes certain audios to go viral where creators use the audio with their own twist, dance, or do something that becomes associated with the audio. Also, by reusing popular sounds which are often new songs by famous artists, scrolling on TikTok is to hear the most engaging parts of songs over and over, further increasing your enjoyment of the sounds. These tools all incentivize creators to create more content, ensuring there is endless new content to view. Every time you swipe up, it’s like playing a mini slot machine, your brain loves the idea that you’ll get something amazing like a hilarious video or useful piece of information, engaging your attention and causing longer viewing time.
TikTok makes money by running ads and through in-app purchases of coins which viewers can give to creators in exchange for digitals gifts. It is presumed TikTok takes a percentage cut of these gifts.
While there is much more to dissect about TikTok’s underlying technology and reasons for success, these are many of the reasons why it has become a key social platform. TikTok is a place where you can laugh, learn, discuss, discover, and more, and users and business alike understand it is the place to be for a chance at fame, money, and success.
Posted in Reflections (5985)
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