I-Corps: Living Patio Umbrella: Customer Discovery in the Restaurant, Hospitality, Recreation, Institutional and Entertainment Industries

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

The outdoor dining, hospitality, recreation, building, property management and entertainment industries, as well as homeowners and institutions, strive to provide comfortable and environmentally friendly places for people to eat, lounge, play, study, congregate, and socialize outside. In today's modern economy, many people spend the vast majority of their time indoors, but would prefer to be outdoors. However, for people to be comfortable outdoors in many situations, they need places that are shady, cool, inviting and comfortable; for it to be environmentally friendly they need the comfort delivered using sustainable practices and materials. Patio umbrellas are a common way to shade outdoor space, with about $500 million sold annually. Commercial grade patio umbrellas often sell in the range of $150010,000. Conventional patio umbrellas provide shade and some comfort, but they do little else for people. Plants, like trees, are often thought of in the same breath as shade (think "shade tree"). Plants not only block the Sun, but they also use water to cool the air surrounding them, provide beauty and naturalness, and are known to remove poisonous chemicals from the air. Plants are being used more and more on the roofs and walls of buildings to make them more environmentally friendly. This team has invented the Living Patio Umbrella which has the artificial canopy of a conventional umbrella replaced by plants. The invention is unique because of its modular structural design, novel placement of the soil container, and its micro-controlled, automated irrigation system. Preliminary Customer Discovery (CD), conducted as part of the UMD I-Corps regional program, provided feedback on 1) the technical design, 2) the ability to meet specific needs of customer segments (i.e., restaurants, property management, architecture, and resorts) and 3) insight on business models that we should consider. The team's aim for the NSF I-Corps national program is to continue customer discovery as part of the Lean Startup process to determine whether the team's initial hypotheses about the value propositions fit with the needs of identified customer segments. The team also aims to use the Business Model Canvas to develop and test hypotheses about how to operationalize the living umbrella into a green startup. The team will attend the course kickoff, participate in NSF webinars, interview at least 100 customers, and attend NSF's lessons learned session. In addition, the team intends to interview potential key partners, such as nurseries, to test hypotheses about business models for the proposed startup. If a strong product market fit is discovered, then the research team will form a Startup company named Living Canopies Ltd. to commercialize the Living Umbrella under exclusive license from the University of Maryland.