Thank you for tuning in tonight. You can call me Chunky, and I will be your audio host for the evening. Without further ado, let's begin.
For tonight's segment, I'll talk about Rob Coons of ScoutMilitary fame.
Robert Coons was brought into the studio to talk about his life and experiences as an entrepreneur. Much like Erik, Robert brought a new perspective to the table that I had never considered.
Robert's main claim to fame is ScoutMilitary, his purpose-built app to bring veterans, active duty, and other military personnel military discounts wherever they are. Sounds easy right? There are plenty of discounts, just dump 'em all in an interface with a map, and you're good to go! Well, let's be real; if it were that easy, Robert wouldn't have had to spend four years on the apps testing phases, and still hasn't fully launched yet. So what's really happening? First of all, yeah, it is easy to go and find military discounts at big chains, like retail stores and fast food joints. But what about the smaller stores and diners? Is it so easy to find the military discounts at a place you've never heard of or been to before? Not without asking, no. That's what separates ScoutMilitary from common knowledge; they have been building the apps database of discounts by hand, calling into stores and restaurants to ask about military discounts. The thoroughness of this search is matched only by how well the app serves this information to those that are wanting it. Not even mentioning that all of this is directed squarely at arguably the single toughest demographic to reach in the US.
But something really interesting came up in Robert's talk. He mentioned a bad review someone left on the app. The review pointed at some very interesting (and to Robert, rather surprising) issues. They said that the app does a lackluster job of promoting goods and services from American providers. Note, this was never a direct intention of the app. Robert himself said that from his perspective, the app was built solely to military personnel and their family save some money. But this wasn't the whole story. Service members, and by extension their families, are very proud of their allegiance and dedication to the United States of America. They carry that honor in everything they do, including shopping. This was not something Robert accounted for, but when it was brought up, it made all the sense in the world.
This taught me a valuable lesson about audience. When you're building a service for an audience, are you considering all the different values of that audience? Are you looking at all the reasons someone of that target demographic may want to support your service? Have you considered what this service is providing directly, and indirectly? These are all very important questions, and ones that should be a guiding force in any entrepreneurs journey.
And with that, I must bring this broadcast to a close. Don't you worry though, there'll be plenty more to come, so stay tuned.
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