Everyone knows that Arizona State is “#1 in Innovation” but the forward-thinking minds of students and their abilities to find unique solutions to problems is one way we see this innovation in action.
Danielle Bricker, a junior Computer Science major with a minor in Sustainability, and Barrett Honors Student had the opportunity to apply these practices when collaborating with business and other engineering students in FSE 301/ENT 360: Entrepreneurship and Value Creation, a course taught by Brent Sebold. Her group created a business called E-Biz, which changed the way business cards are used and exchanged by making them more technologically advanced and eco-friendly.
During initial research, Danielle and her team realized how wasteful and disorganized the traditional business card can be. This is what sparked their interest in finding a more modernized adaptation of the business card itself. The solution they came up with was an app that allows professionals to share their business information with the click of a button, through QR codes and Bluetooth sharing. This app revolutionizes the business card because it completely removes the need for printing and spending money on cards in the first place.
Oscar, a young professional, spends many hours of his week sorting through the business cards that he acquires at different networking events. He also spends a lot of money each month to print his own business cards to share with others. He is E-Biz’s target customer. He needs a more efficient and cost-effective way to network with other business professionals in his field. Market research showed that potential customers would be happy to purchase this product if it helps them reduce their use of paper and overall business costs. They also preferred the E-Biz method of using offline sharing, unlike all of the common competitors who require cellular data to share their digital business cards.
“As an engineering student, this was a great opportunity to work with students of other disciplines and educational backgrounds in order to come up with an innovative solution to a current problem. This course pushed me in a way that I wasn’t expecting because I really had to take the time to think outside the box and in a more creative way.” Danielle said about her time in this course. “Dr. Sebold was really helpful in giving feedback throughout the process and making our venture as successful as possible.”
Click here to watch E-Biz’s pitch: https://vimeo.com/features/interactive-video
Website: https://dobricker.wixsite.com/e-biz