How Smart is the SmartWell™?

This spring at the University of Connecticut, I mentored a team of graduate students (who were working on Masters degrees in Project Management and Economic Analysis) to help them create a unique new concept. Their startup concept is a unique water purification and beverage delivery system called the SmartWell™. Our consulting project was to help this team 1) define their consumer target audience for SmartWell™ and 2) promote their product to capture the greatest economic value. We evaluated three approaches that could work:

An equipment manufacturer;
A distributor; or
A beverage company.

The idea is that instead of buying 5-gallon bottles of water, this system is “bottleless” and connected with a filter, directly to a tap. You can get flavors, or add ingredients like electrolytes or carbonation. They’ve developed a prototype and are in the process of gaining “real time feedback” from their test market on preferred features. The team’s decision process revolved around three primary factors: investment capital required, time to rollout, and key factors to ensure long term success. The UConn student team spent significant time conducting primary and secondary research. This included looking at competitors’ websites to see what other products already exist, in addition to creating an online survey that asked the following questions:

How much would you pay for the product?
Are you aware of similar products?
If you use bottled water, would you use bottleless?

Based on those questions, the students gathered data about the size and growth potential for this cutting-edge beverage system. They are also thinking about branding and strategic combinations:

Should it be a branded product (e.g., Coke)?
What flavors should be offered (e.g., orange or lemon lime)?
Is it a sports drink alternative (e.g., Gatorade)?

Other key elements for the entrepreneurial team to consider in their strategy include:

Where would the SmartWell™ be produced, and what are the costs involved?
What amount could the beverage system sell/lease for?
How much funding is need to advertise the product?
How can their unique concept be protected through the patent process?

Here is another innovative, early stage company creating a new marketplace. They are at a crossroad where the bottleless category is growing, and folks want healthier alternatives than carbonated sodas. For an employer, it could be a nice benefit for employees that would cost only slightly more than having a traditional water dispenser. How do you find the next big thing? When you find it, how do you grow it?

Curtis C. Battles