23A Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. My personal experience with medical conditions and using the medicinal benefits to change my lifestyle and better my condition. (Human Capital)
• Valuable: Yes, it can help me better my insight into what my potential consumers needs. 
• Rare: No, there are many other people that share the same medical condition that I do and want to seek a healthier lifestyle. 
• Inimitable: Many people want and seek the same lifestyle changes that I can provide with my product. 
• Non-substitutable: Yes, there are manufactured products that could help with my idea but they aren't are healthy or sustainable as my product. 
2. Knowledge of my prototypical customers from interviews. 
• Valuable: Yes, this could show a certain outcome for my product and see how the market can change over time. 
• Rare: No, business owners and entrepreneurs are supposed to know what their customers will want. 
• Inimitable: Other people can interview prototypical customers and see what they may need from a product. 
• Non-substitutable: My consumers know what they want and it could be difficult to change a person's mind after they are already set on the idea of something. 
3. My parents can help mentor me as they both work for businesses and could give me ideas on how to better my product
• Valuable: Yes, because they are much older than me, they have been through trial and error and can help me with their advice from working for businesses. 
• Rare: Could be. My parents may have experienced something is business that is completely different than the everyday consumer. 
• Inimitable: No, advice given to me is unique to every single person. 
• Non-substitutable: No, there is nothing better than experience when it comes to business. 
4. Social Capital: I live with many people that want to change their lifestyle. Going to a large university also helps to tell people about my business idea. 
• Valuable: Yes, having a large amount of people to have as potential customers can help spread the word about a business idea. 
• Rare: No, many people have a big social media following or also go to large universities. 
• Inimitable: Not really. It can be hard to talk to a large amount of people with an idea of a business. 
• Non-substitutable: Yes, working for large corporations and networking with large groups of people could provide the same thing. 
5. Financial Capital: I have money saved that could help support this venture. 
• Valuable: Yes, having a good financial backing could help any business.
• Rare: No
• Inimitable: Yes, many people could have money saved or a large financial backing from parents. 
• Non-substitutable: Yes, loans and scholarships could provide money to start a business. 
6. Being a Biotechnology major
• Valuable: Yes, I know how the body works, how prescription and OTC medications work and what they can do to the human body on a cellular level. 
• Rare: I would like to think so. I haven't met any other people that are a Biotech major. 
• Inimitable: No, it's not easy to copy the knowledge that I have learned. 
• Non-substitutable: It could be by a professional, but I already know several people who could help me. 
7. Having a background in various scientific fields. 
• Valuable: Yes. Having a background in varying science fields (cellular biology, chemistry, ecology) helps me with my product. 
• Rare: No, many people may have knowledge about these subjects. 
• Inimitable: No, finding accurate information can be hard sometimes. 
• Non-substitutable: Yes, you could higher multiple people to do each task but if I already know about the product, I wouldn't need other people. 
8. Knowing many people that work on a daily basis with essential oils
• Valuable: Yes. They can help discuss the mechanisms behind use essential oils and give me a connection to get products readily available for me at all times. 
• Rare: Yes, I don't know many people that know franchise owners of essential oil companies. 
• Inimitable: Not too hard to copy the idea from me but to put it into practice could be a lot harder if that person doesn't have the same resources as me. 
• Non-substitutable: No, unless I wanted to give my consumer a product that I don't believe in. 
9. Experience with fundraising and starting up campaigns.
• Valuable: Yes, I have fundraised and started campaigns since I was a freshmen in high-school. 
• Rare: No, many people may have experience with fundraising. 
• Inimitable: Other people can begin start-ups with their own assets and experience. 
• Non-substitutable: I could hire someone to do this theirselves but I would need to do much of it myself in the beginning. 
10. Customer service experience that could make the consumers experience very individualized.
• Valuable: Yes. It is alway important to know how to treat your customers right and to provide the best experience you can. 
• Rare: I don't think so, many people may have experience in customer service industries and jobs. 
• Inimitable: It isn't hard to copy customer service ideas and tips from others. It's actually helpful. 
• Non-substitutable: No, there's nothing better than an actual person to help a customer with their problems. 

After completing my VRIN analysis, I think that my human capital is my greatest resource. Having personal experience through a medical condition shows how close I am to my business idea. This experience that I have had for the majority of my life has made me look to alternative solutions and I want to be able to share that with everyone, whether or not they have a medical condition. Essential oils could overall help with a healthier lifestyle and that could have a good affect on the person that is interested in them.