7A- Testing the Hypothesis

1. Alarm Clock Opportunity

2. Many people struggle every day with waking up on time for school, work, or appointments because their alarm clock is not powerful enough and they sleep through it. 

3. Hypothesis: I believe that by making a powerful alarm clock such as an alarm clock mattress, where it creates motion to awaken the sleeper, would provide a solution to this problem.  To be clear, the who are those who are impacted by waking up early for school, work, or appointments. The what is the fact that people are typically challenged when they have to wake up early for multiple reasons including their alarm clock is not powerful enough to wake them up. The why for this is because the alarm clock is simply a sound and many people can sleep through sounds, even loud ones. People do not necessarily get woken up by their alarm clocks and they need a solution.

4. The interviews I conducted were wide-ranging. I interviewed 2 people who are in school, 2 people who go to work, and 1 person who had an early-morning appointment. These were my results: When I talked to the people who were in school (college and high school students) they said that they never wake up perfectly and they normally have multiple alarms set on their phones or other devices to ensure that they wake up on time. They said that they have slept through their alarm on several occasions and also know of people who had done the same thing. I then proposed my solution to them. The college student thought it was a great idea especially if the mattress was also comfortable. He said he believed that it would "correct the problem" he has of not waking up on time. The high school student said that she thinks it would be a good idea but also suggested having varying vibrations or movements because if it is the same movements than it acts as more of a soothing thing rather than something trying to wake you up. I then talked to the two people who are in the workforce. One of them told me that he regularly had problems waking up early for his meetings or shifts he had to make. However, because he had this problem early in his life he has worked to correct it and has been able to nearly eliminate this problem through a different sleep schedule and more powerful alarms. The second person I talked to said she still has problems waking up early for work. She said that she is an incredibly deep sleeper and loud noises tend to not wake her up, especially if she is really tired when she goes to bed. She said that she frequently has to have her husband come and wake her up so that she can get to work on time. Both of these working people said they would welcome a new alternative to the traditional alarm clock. When I told them about my idea involving the mattress that moves/vibrates, the woman thought that it would really help her and she thinks that it could solve her problem. The guy said he thinks it’s a good idea but probably wouldn’t buy it because he thinks the alarm clock he now uses normally does the job. When I talked to the women who was making an early hair appointment, she said that she struggled to get up for this appointment but that was just because she went to sleep late the night before. She said that her alarms do normally wake her up, but she worries that they sometimes do not go off. She said she gets nervous when she has to wake up early because her alarm clocks don’t always go off. When I told her about my solution she said it sounds like a great idea and she would consider it, but she also would like to have a more reliable traditional alarm clock as well. 

5. These interviews that I conducted were very helpful and insightful to the early stages of my opportunity. I believe the market and target consumers are out there for a product like this. Although the older crowd may have waking up early solved, I think that for many people waking up early is still a struggle. For some, simply not having a reliable alarm clock is the problem, but for many it is just not strong enough or they are too much of deep sleepers. Overall I was satisfied with the information that I received from my interviews about this opportunity.