As an English major, the world of business and entrepreneurship is a rather mysterious, untouchable frontier, one that I’ve not explored and never really felt any desire to. My sophomore year I began studying graphic design, and as we reached the class section involving the study of branding I realized that not only was the whole process widely intuitive to me, but it was also deeply tied into business and entrepreneurship. A great company can only go so far if it is perceived as behind the times, boring, or dated. So, that’s a small introduction to how I got involved with the Graphrite. A roommate’s offer turned into a surface level study of business, branding, and marketing that I only want to deepen.
The Graphrite is a concept that was introduced to me senior year when my roommate decided to enter it in the Grove City College Maker’s Design. Fortunately, he needed a logo and I needed practice. So we haphazardly threw a logo together, came up with a presentation, and in a strange turn of events we ended up winning the whole thing. While that wasn’t the outcome we expected, it was the fortunate result. From that point on we began looking at ourselves, the tool, and the fledgling product in a new, serious light. So we brought on Maddie Williams to help with the business side of things. Also, the company became more streamlined and we all began learning more about how to make the Graphrite function at its highest capacity. Since that competition last February we’ve come a long way. Our product is now sold in the Grove City bookstore, we have a new design on the way, a website, a spot in the VentureLab program, and a well-oiled team. So, building on that success we have some specific goals for this product during our final semester at Grove City.
I personally would love to see the team become deeply familiar with this product. Know its ins and outs, know its purposes and, despite background, believe and know how it helps the target market. I believe this goal is very attainable, and one we’re close to right now.
Banking off that first goal, I want to see the product then marketed to professors here at GCC, and then to surrounding schools and bookstores. By understanding the product, by gaining knowledge about our target market, we can then venture out into surrounding areas and use consistent techniques to get professors and student to buy the Graphrite.
Next, I’d love to see a consistent social media presence. This can be difficult if you’re in a planning stage as we are currently, but once we reach the executing stage I plan on seeing a strong Instagram presence, with at least one new post a week.
This next goal may be difficult to execute, but all the more reason to pursue it! Keith has discussed the new design for the Graphrite, and I believe it’ll improve the product immensely. So, if we had at least 50 iterations of the new design by the end of the year at a minimum, I’d be thrilled. Couple that with a new, customizable website, and I think that the Graphrite is in a good position to get off the ground post college.