Validation Board Details $-$ Explain in narrative $($proper paragraphs$)$ for each of the following:

$($a$)$ Customer Hypothesis

$($b$)$ Problem Hypothesis Two of your SUSS friends and you are keen to start a new business together, having gained invaluable knowledge from various SUSS business$-$related courses. The following business

idea came about when planning for a year$-$end trip to Japan.

There are more than five $(5)$ million of outbound travelers in $2022.$ Though a far cry from the peak of $10\mathrm{.}7$ million outbound travelers in the pre$-$pandemic year of $2019,$ it is still a significant number due to our small population$\mathrm{.}2$ You believe that this presents a window of business opportunity as travel will increase in years to come as the world normalise.

Your team$$s idea is to start a luggage rental business, called $$TrippyBag$.$com$,$ for any travelers out of Singapore. One of the biggest inconveniences for travelers is to purchase huge luggage and then having little space to store them at home after returning from overseas. Getting external personal warehouse storage space is costly as it is a recurring expense. Furthermore, most luggage left unused for a long while will soon deteriorate, e$.$g$.,$ the rubbers of wheels may harden and break. Your luggage rental business is also to promote sustainability $$ reuse and share $$ rather than buy and dispose.

Due to different travel seasons throughout the year, rental prices will be set based on demand and supply on different periods of the year, for example, higher rental prices during peak travel period of mid$-$November to end$-$December. One of your friends is trained in IT$,$ and he would design and develop the first version of the

website and mobile app. The other two of you would be looking into the commercial aspects of the business.

Your team sees a great potential to this business, and there are other possibilities for upselling similar travel products or services as the business grows. While each person$$s initial contribution of $$12,000$ as start$-$up capital is not substantial, your team feels that the business idea is novel and should start off at the right footing. Without a proven business track record and experience, obtaining bank loans and equity financing to fund your business would be extremely difficult and out of the question during the start$-$up phase.

Now, your team decides to appraise and validate and test the business idea using a Validation Board before plunging into the new venture, to be certain that this business idea is viable before further committing time and money.