Please give feedback to these two posts

post 1

1) Purpose Brewing is a very small beer microbrewing business in the already crowded Fort Collins microbrewing market.

2) Purpose brewing is something I would say fills a niche of a niche. While it serves the microbrew industry, it goes further in that focus and produces some of the most unique beers I've ever tasted. They're highly experimental and cater to people who really want to try something different.

3) It's difficult to say how Purpose brewing truly addresses competition. Purpose is highly cooperative with other microbreweries and it seems to be part of the culture of Fort Collins. Microbreweries don't so much compete with each other in the sense that they are looking to outgrow competitors and capture a bigger share of the market, but instead are heavily cooperative and invested in eachother's success. If anything makes them competitive, it's having the best food trucks on weekends!

4) Purpose's strengths lie in it's unique menu, it's owner's expertise, and the intimate relationships the owner builds with regular customers. He is always there and loves teaching those interested about the beers he's brewing, the barrels he's using, the places he's been, etc. etc. He's a super friendly guy and definitely gets the attention of beer-lovers in the area.

5) I don't think I'd want to recommend anything! I love the small scope of Purpose and I think planning for growth and expansion would undercut the the strengths that Purpose has. In the interest of this class though, if Purpose were to plan and expand in the future, they'd have to figure out how to produce their beers on a larger scale and they'd definitely need a much bigger facility rather than the tiny retail space they operate out of.

post 2

Identify and describe a small business with which you are familiar, and be descriptive by stating the name of the business and the location (neighborhood/city/state).

Little Ghost Bootique is a small business a friend of mine started about three years ago, with it entirely online. She designed and created custom glass tobacco products(bongs). She stayed true to herself and made cute kawaii/hello kitty/animal crossing type pieces along with horror pieces like Halloween, Ghostface, or even Harry Potter-themed pieces.

What needs does the business fill? She created almost a cult type following, she realized there wasnt anyone in the market of making glass for women.

How does the entrepreneur address competition? At creation, there was no competition, three years later there are a couple of similar artist doing similar work but she is still the only of her kind that I can find.

What would you assess as the business' greatest strengths and weaknesses? The greatest strength is pivoting when needed. She is a one-woman show and has developed a system and a following of loyal customers that she now only takes custom work she wants to do. Her biggest weakness is that she still only does the projects she likes.

In terms of future strategic planning, what would you recommend to the owner? Staying true to her design methods and doing projects for customers that want something different. If it is not on her palate or something she knows about because she has grown to like it, she won't create it. There is a large customer base she leaves untouched