24A

My name is Mickel Fadel. I am a student at the University of Florida. I am here today to share with you my description of a concept for a new venture. The Straw-Whisk. I have found an opportunity here in Gainseville, Florida and I am seeking to seize this unmet need using my innovation and venture concept. Since Alachua County passed the ban on plastic straws, I as an entrepreneur became more aware of this potential venture concept and desired a change for the paper straws. Essentially, I became a potential customer with a need for a reformation of paper straws. After a few conversations the effect of paper straws, I became aware of this problem that Gainesville and other regions have suffered and that created a window of opportunity for myself. My Straw-Whisk is geographically stable and demographically has the potential to flourish due to the number of students and individuals who eat out in general. There are many restaurants in the world and receiving a well-textured straw will stimulate the need of the customers and will allow them to be loyal to the higher quality product with the “nice” straws. This opportunity has the capability of reaching worldwide with the right amount of laws put in place and it has a high-volume demand worldwide. Until restaurant owners remove the sale of beverages, straws will always have a need in the market and this window of opportunity is infinite worldwide. Every person in the world has at least eaten out or used a straw, and they did not care which kind of straw they got, if they received a straw with their beverage. Plastic is always the option and therefore if I can get my product out there just like plastic did, then I see my invention becoming everlasting money machine.

My Innovation is a paper straw with a twist. The Straw-Whisk. My straw is different than any other paper straw because it includes a glazed bees wax from the middle of the straw all the way to the tip in order for the costumer to feel satisfied drinking out of his/her beverage without the soggy texture. Some paper straws even rip apart, and with my glazed protection we secure the middle part of the straw allowing the straw to remain in water for a longer period without ripping apart. My straw is made out of biodegradable materials therefore it has a more positive environment risk than any other straw because if it ends up in the ocean, the wax is more likely to get eaten by fishes and the paper will dissolve in the water, unlike plastic. Paper is much more expensive than plastic but due to this law passed, paper will not be consumed by users and nothing is wrong with a little twist to it from my end. Therefore, I decided to remove paper from the straw essentially saving more money than regular paper, because wax is cheaper than paper and as a user, I do want to decrease the cost for my merchants. Therefore, I have decided to cut the paper in half and use wax for the other half reducing the cost of the straw, while also securing the straw. Depending on who I am dealing business with, is how my pricing will go because I refuse to sell thousands of straws to Costco and sell the same straws to local restaurants when they purchase 1/10^th of that price. What I will make sure to do is remain my cost a little under the cost that they are receiving to make sure that both parties are satisfied with this process. The only way my business can start running efficiently is to make sure I am hitting my goals and I am meeting my needs. My goal is to target a market with a high demand using The Straw-Whisk and I want to satisfy my costumers, my users, and my retailers/wholesale departments. I would essentially sell a pack of 24 straws for under 2 dollars which is cheaper than any other straw company out right now. With the packaging, the shipping, the making of the straws, the handling, the taxes, I would still be profiting from selling the straws for that much in retail price on the shelves of Walmart or Costco. My restaurant and wholesale businesses would receive a cheaper price because they are purchasing more than a few hundred straws and therefore I would be willing to drop my prices to a penny per straw. That would make 100 straws equal a dollar. I would be making so many of these straws at such a low cost that I would double my margins if I sold one straw for a penny.

Venture Capital.

My innovation will allow consumers to be satisfied to using the paper straws without complaining or feeling unhappy about their product. I for sure have felt the need to throw away my paper straw out many times due to the discomfort of the sogginess texture received from the straw. Not only will costumers be delighted from using the unique straw, we would also be raising awareness regarding out marine lives since the law was passed for that reason. The reason to why costumers would switch to my product Is because it will be forced on them just how plastic or paper was forced on them, and it will be very easy to switch because it is a better product than the paper or plastic product used before. My glazed tip includes a comfort around the lips causing a unique satisfactory in the brain to prolong the sipping action. My competitors are other straw makers with different materials and their weaknesses are that my product is cheaper and natural. My product is natural and has an enormous amount of supplies without harming our planet. My secret sauce is that I am cheap to make, my next venture is to create a professional prototype by the end of the year, and I see myself creating a large demand in the United States as an entrepreneur. This venture allows me to grasp an idea on my future.