Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1.     My Knowledge of the Subject (Human Capital)

V: My knowledge of the subject how to prevent stolen guns is very valuable. Having a good knowledge about the subject you are working in can bring a lot to the table.

R: It isn’t necessarily rare. The people that I got the information from also know it.

I: Others can copy this, but it would take a lot of time to have the same experiences that I have had. It is mostly inimitable.

N: There are not any resources that can replace knowledge so this one is non-substitutable.

2.     Jack – Safe Guy (Social Capital)

V: Having Jack on my team is very valuable. He brings a lot to the table.

R: There aren’t many people who know all of the stuff that Jack does. He is a very rare resource since he has been in the business for such a long time

I: It would be very difficult to copy the knowledge that Jack has. He is inimitable.

N: Jack is non-substitutable. He can’t be substituted by any other resources.

3.     My Personality

V: My personality is very valuable. If I were to start this business, I would definitely create a good organizational culture.

R: My personality is very rare. I am one of a kind.

I: My personality is inimitable. You can’t copy me.

N: There are no resources that can provide the same benefits. Therefore, I am non-substitutable.

4.     Resources Here at UF

V: All of the resources that I have here at UF are very valuable.

R: They’re also very rare. There aren’t many places that have this many resource available.

I: If someone has enough financial resources, they could copy it.

N: There are other resources that could provide the same benefits. Money could buy what we have here.

5.     The wealthy people that I know

V: All of the wealthy people that I know are very valuable. They also have a large circle of other wealthy friends.

R: Money is not rare.

I: Wealth can be copied fairly easily.

N: Money is pretty non-substitutable.

6.     My Hard work

V: The hard work that I would put into this business is very valuable.

R: Hard work is somewhat rare. There are a lot of lazy people in this world but there are also a lot of hard workers.

I: Hard work is pretty inimitable.

N: Hard work is somewhat non-substitutable.

7.     Location in Florida (Florida has the Most CCW holders in the country by far)

V: Location in Florida is very valuable

R: There are a lot of people in Florida, so it is not very rare

I: It is not inimitable because someone could just move to Florida and compete

N: Location can be substitutable with good shipping logistics

8.     Proficiency with tools

V: Having Proficiency with tools is very important to be able to build something mechanical.

R: This is not rare. There are a lot of handy people out there.

I: It is not inimitable because someone could learn to become proficient with tools.

N: This is not non-substitutable because a machine could do the same thing that I could.

9.     Barn (workspace)

V: I have a barn back home where I could start running the business from. It is very valuable to already possess a workspace and not have to pay extra for one.

R: This is somewhat rare. The average joe doesn’t necessarily have all of the free space that I have.

I: You can copy open space if you have money.

N: There are no other resources that could provide the same benefits as free space

10.  Contacts in Law Enforcement

V: I think all of the people that I know in Law Enforcement is a very valuable. They know a lot about the subject and my business is something that they could use.

R: This is somewhat rare. There are obviously people who know more people in law enforcement than I do, but I know more than a lot of people.

I: This is definitely inimitable. This is part of my social capital, so it is very hard to copy

N: There are no other people who could substitute the people in law enforcement.

My Top Resource: I believe that my top resource is actually the last one that I thought of. It is all of the people that I know in Law Enforcement. I believe that they could help me with this venture and spread the word about it to all of their other friends in law enforcement. I think this is most important resource because I believe that social capital is extremely important. Word of mouth is extremely powerful.