Assignment 1:

Read the following case and answer the discussion questions

Run Keeper:

Combining a Passion for Running and Technology to Build an Incredibly

Successful Business

Question:
1. Which of the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, discussed in this chapter, do you
see in Jason Jacobs? To what degree do you think these characteristics have contributed
to Run Keeper’s success?
 All four characteristics of successful entrepreneurs passion for the business,
product/customer focus, tenacity despite failure, and execution intelligence are
seen in Jason Jacobs, and these characteristics have no doubt contributed
to RunKeeper’s success. In particular, Jacobs has remained centered on
product/customer focus and execution intelligence since Runkeeper’s inception.
A focus on these issues can be seen in the way Jacobs set up the teams to
bring Runkeeper to market, and via his steadfast commitment to making
Runkeeper as strong of a product as possible before moving his company into
related areas. Jacobs’ focus on execution intelligence can also be seen in his
propensity to turn down promotional opportunities for Runkeeper,
to free his time to make the Runkeeper experience as strong as possible.
As reported in the case, in Jacob’s mind, the best way to build Runkeeper
is through creating an exemplary user experience.
The characteristic that best describe Jason Jacobs is execution intelligence. Jason
Jacobs was able to execute his business idea successfully. He raised money,
developed a business model, and put a venture team of six persons. Jason Jacobs
launched RunKeeper application in 2008. This application allows runners to track and
share their runs. The execution intelligence that Jason Jacobs implemented to Run
Keeper’s application has allowed his application to be one of the top selling apps in
 the ITunes store. Also, this application has more than two million downloads with a
high retention rate.

2. To what extent do you think RunKeeper’s basic business idea “adds value” to the lives
of its customers? Who is the ideal candidate to be a RunKeeper customer?
 RunKeeper creates to its customers an exemplary user experience. RunKeeper’s basic
download is for free; this allowed its customer to enjoy of the basic features that
RunKeeper offers to them. Customers can pay $10 dollars to upgrade to a premium
service which offers additional features. RunKeeper’s basic business idea adds value
to the lives of customers who lives are about fitness and running. I think those who
purchase this app, it does add value to their lives. It also adds value for the customers
because this just adds another outlet to a market that is very narrow. Individuals that
are health conscious can benefit from the app because it helps track progress, record
and analysis the runners personal work out. Most keen runners do monitor and track
their running habits. This app is to simply and make tracking quicker and more
efficient for those people. Many runners (and exercisers in general) find it
motivational to track their runs and in particular monitor their progress. This
is where RunKeeper adds value. It helps motivate people to keep running and to stick
with their running programme. The ideal candidate to be a RunKeeper customer is
anyone who is a runner or even a walker, which is part of RunKeeper’s appeal.
The app can be equally motivating to a professional runner or to a beginner who is
tracking his or her runs for the first time. Mainly the ideal candidate would be
marathon runners, Olympic runners, high school, and college students in race training
preparedness activities since they are interested in tracking their progress.

3. To what degree do you think it would be easy or difficult for another company to imitate
what RunKeeper is doing?
 It would be easy for a company to imitate RunKeeper’s vision but difficult to actually
follow through with the success. It would be hard for others to mock hard work and
persistence. Many can be generic but there is nothing like the real thing. It would be
difficult for several reasons. First, that customers usually prefer to use a product or
 service that they are familiarize with it. Second, although not mentioned in the case,
the RunKeeper app is now sufficiently complex that there are hundreds
of thousands of lines of code that run the backend of the product. That code
has been built and perfected since RunKeeper’s launch in 2008, and it would be
very difficult for a new company to quickly replicate it. Third, RunKeeper has a
strong brand. Despite Jacobs’ claim that he passes on promotional opportunities,
the fact is that RunKeeper has received a lot of positive press and is constantly
one of the top app in the Apple app store.
RunKeeper engaged its user from the beginning and generated a community of users
around RunKeeper's experience. This result is showed back in 2008 when people who
bought the premium RunKeeper application still active users.

4. Spend some time studying the RunKeeper app. What functionality do you think the app
should have that it currently doesn’t have?
 After Using and studying the RunKeeper app I think the function of the GPS tracking
should be removed because of hacking and other safety issues many people do not
want to have their personal whereabouts tracked.