User-study: we organised customer pilots and usability tests with our two most important customer groups: i) end users (city explorers, domestic and international travellers) and ii) content creators (city and travel blogs, influencers and publishers) to gain a complete understanding of the solution’s technical acceptance, including value proposition, demand, improvements needed and future development roadmap. The overall feedback from end users has been positive, especially regarding Flaner’s memory enhancement feature, 100% of the interviewees understood the memory enhancement concept and declared they liked it and they would use it. Users mentioned the benefit of having a digital extension of their memory without putting effort in memorising information about places that matter to them. We also received a clear feedback about what to focus on for the future development in order to deliver a great user experience. The overall feedback from content creators was also very positive. All content creators saw a high value proposition in Flaner's vision as they quickly understood the value added for them and the potential to monetise their audience better. In fact, 100% of content creators interviewed found it seamless to extract their blog content using Flaner’s memory enhancement extraction tool.
Technological assessment: Through user tests and content creator’s pilots, we gathered additional information on the technical feasibility of our core innovations. The feasibility of our technology platform was tested under several real case scenarios and, at this moment, our machine learning algorithms have outperformed some of the most respected tech companies focused on Artificial Intelligence in the industry. The collected pilot data and user experience reports provided us with sufficient data to create a development plan towards market readiness.
Commercial and market assessment: we conducted in-depth analyses of the initial target markets to realistically evaluate market size, growth, competitors/substitutes, clients, and partners. This helped us to determine the likelihood of market success, plan next steps, while simultaneously assessing acceptance of our product among customers groups. Flaner will be initially focused on places and their explorers; thus, the market segmentation for end users will be done according to a combination of (i) geography, (ii) age and (iii) income. Regarding content creators, the market segmentation will be based on three main criteria: i) geography, ii) creator’s audience size and iii) type of content. Notably, our business model is based on a travel content marketplace where we connect both end users and content creators.
IPR assessment: Flaner LDA is the full owner of all intellectual property involved in its product and processes. We conducted a preliminary freedom to operate analysis in-house and have determined that there are no barriers to full commercialisation. There are no known regulatory issues preventing the company from operating. The product does not infringe on any known patents. We face no specific regulatory barriers, but the issue of data protection is important. We cooperate closely with our customers and we have extensive experience with privacy policy issues, therefore, we are making sure the product and services are fully GDPR compliant. As Flaner’s memory enhancement software platform is planned to be a global product, the team has already registered the brand and domain names on various territories, taking into consideration the expansion strategy.
