25- what's next?

Existing Market:

(The response below is to part 3 of the assignment since we are in a social distancing phase because of the virus making part 2 and essentially part 1 unavailable.)

I think my product/business venture could likely go one of two ways. The first scenario would be to continue to grow my business. This would involve hiring more staff, securing factories and warehouses, organizing distribution of the product and finding more, bigger ways to advertise and get connected with the existing target market. In this path I could see the business making new variations of the same product to give customers options when buying a razor blade sharpener. Certain specialties could be a product that is all inclusive, one that is just the blade sharpener, one that is the blade sharpener with the fan, one that specializes for on the go usage etc. All these products would be applicable to a very similar market, but having many similar products at different prices based on their features could generate more revenue. The all inclusive ones would be more expensive than just the basic blade sharpener ones for example.

The second scenario, if I am being completely honest, would be to sell the company. If I have a chance to get the product to a point where I can sell it to one of the larger razor brands for millions of dollars, at this point I would very likely take that deal. It may be leaving a lot of future money on the table, but for a startup like mine to compete with some of the biggest personal care companies in the world and take a share of their market for years to come is extremely unlikely with the amount of resources they have. With the money I acquire from selling I could put it toward other investments or even begin a whole new business venture.

New Market:

(once again the assignment was altered slightly, I tried to answer the questions as best as possible without doing the interviews)
Instead of targeting people who are looking for solutions to issues with shaving, a new market I could apply the same technology too is kitchenware and more specifically knives. While there are already a few similar products (knife sharpeners) in this market, my automatic blade sharpener and cleaning system all in one could be very useful for not only home cooks, but for restaurants as well. For home cooks this product can be a convenient way to keep knives sharp and prevent them from having to buy new ones. This product targets home cooks, more specifically, people who often use sharp knives when preparing meals.

While having home cooks as a new market could do well, selling to restaurants may be a more lucrative business because of how often they use their knives. Restaurants use sharp knives for almost every meal all day long. As a result, their costs for buying new kitchenware (including knives) is probably really high every year. If I could alter my product to sharpen kitchen knives instead of razors, I could sell this to restaurants and have them save a ton of money each year. Additionally, I would sell this product at a much higher price to restaurants, while it likely wouldn't cost any more to produce than if I were selling it to home cooks.

This market sounds just as if not more appealing than my original market for the razor blade sharpener because I feel like restaurants all around the world could use this product if it was effective in sharpening knives efficiently and it would save them money.