Samenvatting

This thesis deals with the problem of students who do not always know how to fill in their leisure time. There is limited information on the behaviour of Dutch students in their leisure time. By researching their passion related behaviour I gained insight in the positive and negative points regarding a website which gives students fill in their passions in their leisure time. These insights also result in a profitable company. As a result of the findings a business plan is formulated.
Field research is performed on eleven respondents. These respondents are all a Hbo- of Wo-student in Haarlem, Leiden, The Hague or Delft. These respondents gave answers to this in-depth interview. The field research focussed on the behaviour of the target group, and how the target group fit their passions in their leisure time. The last questions focussed on how their behaviour could be translated to the implementation of a profitable company.
Concluded can be that the target group spends an average of € 250, - a month on their passions. And the target group have an average of 15 hours leisure time a week. More than half of the group is interested in spending this time with people they are not familiar with, as long as they share a same passion. Passions that are popular by these students are Food/Drinks, Sports, Culture and Business entrepreneurship. Media that influence the target group to go to a website to share these passions are social media like Facebook and Twitter.
Concluded can also be that students spent their time on passions or things they are familiar with, and with people they already know. They let social media inspire and inform them regarding their passions.
These outcomes were used to perform an extra field research. 171 respondents were asked to fill in a questionnaire. 146 samples were suitable for further analysis. The outcomes of this research underpin the demand of the target group regarding the Explyre concept.
As a result of these conclusions I advise a website following the concept of the Lean Startup vision of Ries (2011). Explyre.com brings the target group together on a online platform which connects the target group through shared passions. The target group can plan to share their passions offline. Companies can offer their services by helping students to find a way of doing this in a new city. Also others than the target group who visit new cities can make use of this service so they are well prepared when they visit new places of want inside information of familiar places.
The best way to implement the website is to use co-creation.. This should give up to date relevant information on how to effectively help and approach the target group. The macro environment is suitable for beginning a startup. When building Explyre.com, privacy and data protection should be taken in serious account.
Explyre has to learn from the competitors. Work together with them instead of seeing them as a threat. There is in Holland no such thing as a website which aims
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on bringing students together in real life according to their passion. Facebook and Instagram are very useful media to get in touch with the target group.
Also co-creation will stimulate to innovation of the product. As long as there is no professional web developer, insights should come from other students. Make this close connection to the target group a unique selling point and do not aim on quantity, but quality.
The target group is interested and curious in meeting new people. Apps like Tinder and Sportbuddy confirm these interests. Explyre.com should be a website that brings the target group in contact with each other by shared interests and passions. Factors like same age and shared passions are very important to the target group, and help them to get out of their comfort zone. Students can put an offer of passions sharing on the website. Other can join them in this. Examples are cooking a nice Italian dish together; go to a new museum or following the same bootcamp class. Explyre does not aim on romance, but on sharing passions and inspire each other.
Explyre can generate revenue on three points. Firstly, the website can revenue incomes through advertisements. Secondly, I can organize events by my self that suit the passions of the target group. The revenue is in asking participants a fee of €12,- for participating. Lastly Explyre can offer companies a possibility to share their services or products that are in line with the passions of the users on a so made business page. These facilities will cost the company €30,- per month. The amount of €30,- per month is underpinned by outcomes of a research conducted with 6 local companies. These companies suggest an amount of €34,- per month.
I also recommend further analysing on the specific preferences of the target group on usability and design of the product. An implementation plan is added in the business plan in order to advise the approach of this route.
This thesis contains four parts in the following order; a business plan, a justification plan, a reflection report and an appendix. For transparency reasons these plans all contain a separate table of content.