Blue collar :relating to manual work or workers, particularly in industry, they usually dont have college degree
Linkedin: a social network that focuses on professional networking and career development.
Why is linkedin expanding to blue collar workers?
Ans: to expand new market as they have great untapped potential
Do you want anew app or integrate it with Linkedin?
Ans: you decide
I would like to look more into the problem space before deciding on that：
Target customer
I am sure blue collar works include ppl of different profession. But I would like to focus on workers who will be involved in building a house like construction workers, plumbers, electrician, carpenters，because I have a better understanding of that domain.
My general understanding of Blue collar jobs are its contract based, they usually get these contracts through friends or a contracting agency ( middle men),they don't use resume, they work on shifts ( night shits and day shifts) or hourly, some jobs need specialized skills and training, they get paid hourly, most of jobs are labor intensive so I am guessing they prefer younger and fitter person, they are not tech savvy, they prefer more face to face interaction cause they work on site away from computers at work.
Pain points:
1. Finding new jobs
2. Not knowing how to market themselves or the benefits of marketing themself
3. Learning new skills --> knowing what is best to learn ( in terms of demand)
4. Technology(computers and internet) is too complicated to understand
5. Middle men taking lot of money out of their pay
Solution:
Assuming most of the blue collar workers dont have computers, cause smartphones nowadays can do all the basic tasks that has to be done and they are always on the move and it is easier to use mobile phone. Like drivers can use their phone anytime. I think our solution has to be an app
here are the solutions for corresponding pain point
6. A system where jobs are posted and job seekers will be matched into particular job postings. Users can search for postings based on their requirement like shift, type of job
7. A profile which users can build, it will enable them to display their contact information (phone numbers are very important), work experience like buildings or houses they have been involved in, their skills, pictures, years of experience. Friends or past employers can give testimonials for a user, which can build their profile/portfolio
8. A newsfeed with information relevant to their skills. For eg, if he is a roofing guy he will get articles and new on lated roofing technology
9. The UI has to be simple. Its important to remember tat these are ppl who does a lot of physical labor and might be using the app after a long tiring day. They will not be patient to read long articles or long job requirement description. So UI should be more focussed towards pictures and images
10. payment should be displayed to our users. The payment system should be transparent and users should be able to know their pay beforehand, what is the cut off (if any).
MVP - 1,2,4, and 5 should be included in the MVP. I think its should be a standalone app and not part of linkedin. The requirements of this audience is different from the current linkedin users, its is very important to have a UI that appeals to the blue collar workers who are as tech savy as an average linkedin user.
Product vision: To empower the blue collar workers to be in charge of their own careers.
Upcoming feature
11. the above mentioned newsfeed.
12. Expand to other markets like drivers, farming jobs.
13. A system that matches users to vocational training in colleges or community colleges to keep themself updated. For eg, with self driving car coming up drivers should be prepared for an alternate profession, so we could match them to other career paths like something that revolves around operating bulldozer
Tradeoff/ Challenges
14. Its important to have jobs in our product (like uber needs drivers). Ppl wouldn't use our product otherwise. We need to attract ppl looking for construction workers to post on our product. We could advertise faster and easier recruiting process compared to their local contracting agency. Also cheaper, if we can completely cut off the middle me.
15. Blue collar workers are not as tech savvy so we need a strong go to market strategy to introduce them to our app.
Metrics:
No of accounts created, No of completed profiles
No of jobs applied, no of successful job matching,
1. Are there any specific constraints that you want me to take in to account when thinking through this problem : [Interviewer] No
2. Can i think through this in freeform or is there a specific goal we are trying to achieve : [Interviewer] I will let you decide the goal
Strategic Analysis:
3. Spotifyies mission is to - "Unlock the potential of human creativity – by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by it."
4. The company is a three sided marketplace with artist on the one end, listeners (music, podcast) on the other end with spotify being the curator of the market place.
5. They employ a freemium model with ad based free tier, a premium subscription tier and then a family tier (premium for multiple people)
6. Spotifyies competition include - Apple music, Amazon music, Youtube music are big platforms with advantages around their own devices and large user base they can access.This make is very important for Spotify to carve a niche and differentiate themseleves.
Users :
7. Casual listener : This user is a casual listener, only uses the app occasionally, does not mind ads, uses spotify to listen to music and podcasts but on sporadic basic. Spotify would want to engage these users more to get them converted.
8. Power user : This user has a few playlist, is engaged and uses spotifies social features, hates ads, loves the fact that he can listen to music across various devices due to spotify, loves the extensive library. Spotify would want to retain this user and through him acquire more customers through family subscriptions / referral
9. Artist : This user creates content for Spotify, They are budding artist who need exposure and are hoping Spotify can help them be rich and famous, these are the people are the core component of Spotify's mission statement and Spotify was originally built to help these people.
Of the above, user groups I think I will want to concentrate on improving the product for the Artist user group. Specially given any improvements in this section will -
10. Bring more content / original content (if played right) to Spotify
11. Will attract more listeners (reduce Spotify's acquisition cost) if these budding artist could create world class content (based on there talent and user preference data that Spotify has collected over the years), improve user engagement and conversion.
12. Further Spotify's mission to help budding artist live of their art and further differentiate Spotify form the likes of Apple Music, Youtube etc
Given that, lets concentrate on these user pain points.
Pain points:
For a artist customer, some of the core pain points are -
13. They are good artist, but lack the professional training and confidence they need to get to the next level.
14. They need other artist to make them whole ( a song writer needs singers, a band, a producer and a studio to complete recording)
15. They lack basic resources (money, full time jobs) and infrastructure (recording studios) to create professional product (music, podcast)
16. They lack the data, user feedback which they can use to create better content
17. These people are in a make it or break it profession, where an artist does not have a lot of chances to prove themselves and has to live through a ton of competition. This very nature of the business creates a lot of anxiety and causes an artist to live through a roller coaster of emotions. Every additional challenge to produce their first few songs make it very frustrating, sometime causing them to give up on their dreams.
Solutions:
Given that, some of the unique things that Spotify can do to help these users are the following -
18. A curated program for budding artist : Spotify can experiment with creating some curated mentorship program and provide tools to budding artist to create their first few songs. They can use this program to curate and judge artist for quality and potential (based on user data and user preference), provide them with required training, resources and professional help to create albums / podcast that help talent go further. While doing this Spotify can engage listeners and create user engagement and as an output not only help raw talent, but also in the process create original content for Spotify.
19. Online community : Spotify can create an online social network only for artist where artist can upload their creative works (under proper privacy and data protection) and find other people who can help make there art a professional product (a song writer, finding the right voice Or a singer finding the right band). This portal can allow artist to request temp help for their music piece / or provide work for artist that work on a single gig at a time. This mechanism will remove the hassle that a artist has to go through when finding other people in their band.
20. Data tools : Spotify enjoys a unique position due all the data it has on its users music preferences, tastes, like as dislikes. It can provide this data to artists (new and established) to help them follow the trend and create music that users like. The music created based on this data will also allow Spotify to further improve their recommendations to existing user base and create higher engagement with the listeners who want to enjoy the music they like.
For the above, I will priorities creating the "data tools" idea first as Spotify already must have this data arranged for its recommendation engine. I am thinking creating tools to expose the proper amount of aggregate data to its artists will be cheap (form expertise standpoint) for Spotify and drive huge value instantly. It will also help existing artist and encourage budding artists. It can be incremental in nature and Spotify can drive value from day 1. Next I would focus on the curated program for budding artist and so on.
Trade-offs
21. Spotify needs to be extremely careful when sharing data on its listeners so that they do not compromise their privacy in any form.
22. While this idea will work, competitors are going to follow quickly and try to catch-up. If the idea is selected, Spotify should make every attempt to capitalize on the first mover advantage here and create something of value quickly.
23. Spotify will have to use the tool, creative deal making (to attract established signers), and favorable terms (for a singer to create original content) to aid its strategy and differentiate themselves from the pack.
ME: GOAL: What are the business goals for this initiative?
INTERVIEWER: Please assume.
ME: Goals could be to** **improve communication skills/ **communicate with classmates/friends better/**enter a new market/empower children with disability to communicate better/etc. I’ll assume that the goal here is to enable children to communicate and engage better with their classmates since I have personally seen my niece and nephew (17 and 13) miss having fun with friends at school due to covid lockdowns.
ME: Are we referring to a mobile app?
INTERVIEWER: Yes.
ME: Is there a preference for a certain form of communication like verbal?Written?Visual?
INTERVIEWER: Assume any.
ME: Based on my experience, I’ve seen my nephew and niece are comfortable with written (texting) communication. When we say children, I would think of the following categories: Infants/Toddlers/Teens/Adults. Is there a preference?
INTERVIEWER: No.
ME: I would like to choose Teens since it seems less likely that infants/toddlers would be needing a communication app because usually, children start with their schooling after the age of 3. Most adults these days use Social network and other technologies to communicate. Teens usually are inquisitive, discovering new things, making new connections, striving to fit in and seek social approvals, etc. and communication/expressing their thoughts can become very crucial to achieve these goals. More clarifying questions:
ME: Are there any other specificities about these children that I need to be aware of?
INTERVIEWER: No disabilities Most of them own a smartphone with an internet connection Live with their parents Let’s start with teens in India Tech-savvy Spend most of their time on their phones Love to explore
ME:User segments in Teens: Can be classified based on myriad factors, but I’ll like to keep it simple here. I’ll go with 2 basic personality types. Introverts: Does not know how to express themselves/their opinion usually suffers from inferiority complex have fewer friends friendly yet restrained doesn’t like excessive attention Extroverts: Loves to go to parties very expressive have a huge friend circle limelight lover bold and loud Potential Secondary users: Parents Teachers Caretakers For the purpose of this exercise, I’d like to go with the 'Introvert' sub-segment since my nephew and niece are introverted teens and I am a bit familiar with their traits. If this sounds good to you, I’d like to proceed by brainstorming about their needs/pain points and some potential solutions.
INTERVIEWER: Please proceed.
ME: Just to recap, we’ll be aiming to help introverted teens bond and engage better with their peers through a mobile app focused on communication. Product Vision: Empower children to communicate, engage and bond better with their peers (I have mentioned ‘children’ in the product vision and not ‘introverts’ because vision is for the long term. We could also use ‘People’ instead of ‘children’)
Core Needs:
1. Express their opinion/feelings without being judged
2. Connect with other people having similar interests
3. Make some new friends
4. Feel safe amongst the crowd.
5. Be able to enjoy group activities/conversations
6. Share their likes/interests/hobbies with others
7. Be able to enjoy solitude when necessary
8. Want recognition/social approval from their peers
9. Feel comfortable in their own skin
Needs 1,2,3,4 sound foundational for Introverted teens to adopt and engage without platform. If this sounds good to you, I’d like to proceed with some solutions to address these needs.
INTERVIEWER: yes.
Me:
App capability 1: To address need 1, we could try with anonymous profiles where teens could express their opinions/feelings without any clue to their identity. Some other alternatives could be to have a fun profile with avatars and imaginary personal details. This will bring the fun factor and delight to our users as well as help in addressing need 4.
App capability 2: To address need 2, we could use AI algorithms to build a recommendation engine. We could consider several parameters for matching similar interests, like hobbies, favourite subjects, movies, cartoon characters, games, places, foods, teachers, sports, etc. Such information can be part of the profile page.
App capability 3: We could build AI to evaluate the teen’s chat frequencies and time spent talking to other people to understand the bonding level and maybe recommend potential friends based on this evaluation. If a teen is more comfortable talking to someone and talks often, it could be a sign that they would be more likely to add people with similar traits to their friend’s list.
App capability 4: Feeling unsafe can happen due to various reasons like lack of social approval from their friends, being bullied, unable to fit in, etc. I would assume the biggest safety concerns would be due to bullying. We could come up with smart speech/text/sentiment analysis algorithms that will detect in real-time any signs of misbehaviour and bullying and discourage the bully from continuing the same. We could also use chatbot technology to intervene in the communication if such instances are detected.
Given the above solutions, I can foresee some challenges:
1. Because teens are still in the learning stages, they might unknowingly use language/words that may come off as abusive/bullying to the algorithm and this might create an unpleasant experience for the user. This risk can be mitigated by training the algorithm to consider several other parameters (like the history of previous bullying, any reported issues, etc.) before flagging the behaviour as bullying/inappropriate.
2. Some users may take ‘freely express’ too far and may post something inappropriate. Good introductory videos during the onboarding can be helpful to introduce the users to different types of inappropriate posts and refrain from using them.
3. Data, privacy protection would need to be maintained at all times because any lapse in the same would invite anger from parents/schools/governments. The app would need to ensure to comply with any kind of child protection policy in the specific country of launch.
4. Social media giants like Facebook, Instagram or any other competitor may launch similar products and try to catch up quick. We could take the first-mover advantage and ensure a fun and engaging user experience to delight our users and differentiate ourselves in the market.
In order to measure the efficiency of our solution in addressing our user’s core pain points, I would think our key KPIs will be the following
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