23A

Resources

• Human capital: I believe I found a program that I am creative (1) and innovative (2)
• Social capital: after reading this assignment, I have decided to make a more human experience to my site. Instead of just the site generating lists of books and podcast recommendations, there will also be a "friends" feature where people can post their lists and suggest ones for you based on your list and likes! (3)
• Financial capital: there will be a membership fee of $5 a month (4). Also, you can write 2 in-depth reviews of an audiobook or podcast and post it to the site to get a free audiobook or podcast of your choice! (5)
• Capabilities: the website will produce user-generated content based on your past reads (a short survey of your interests (6), and your likes on social media (7)
• Culture: I want my culture to be a friendly and relaxed culture where bookworms/avid listeners can discuss their sophisticated books (8) but also where beginners can get more basic suggestions (9) and most importantly I want these two different categories to coexist and mingle! (10)

VRIN Analysis

1. Creativity is important because not everyone can come up with feasible but different ideas. I consider creativity to be SUPER valuable. It's not rare in a sense that many people are creative, but however everyone's "creativity" is different (that’s part of what makes an idea creative) so I would say my creative components are not imitable. Even though my creativity is not inimitable, it can be substituted with other people's creativity because all types of creativity are awesome and chances are, someone else's creativity can fit this business model.
2. Innovation is key in business! Everyone can come up with creative ideas, but how you use them is important. Innovation is the process of refining new ideas and implementing them efficiently. Innovation is definitely valuable and rare. It is probably somewhat easy to imitate innovation because people can find different ways of efficiency in their ideas. Innovation is a non-substitutable item though because a business needs to be efficient and creative!
3. The feature where you can have friends and interact with them is rare for the audiobook/podcast industry. I'm not sure it’s the most valuable tool, but its definitely a bonus to the rest of the features. It is rare because I've never heard of any other type of social interaction in this industry. It is imitable because other websites could recreate this feature. This feature, however, is substitutable.
4. The membership fee is pretty low in my opinion, so it is valuable and rare. I think the price is inimitable and can be substituted for a different price though.
5. I think the free audiobook/podcast of your choice in exchange for an in-depth review on one is a super valuable and rare idea! I've heard of free or discounted audiobooks, but they are usually bad ones that no one wants. Having one that you can choose is non-substitutable. I guess other companies can imitate this idea though.
6. User-generated content on past reads and personal surveys about your interests and book preference is super valuable and rare because it’s the core idea to this business model and I've never seen any other site offer this. It is substitutable for other methods of recommendations though. However, companies will not be able to imitate my site's exact code and methods for coming up with these lists!
7. Creating lists based on social media likes are valuable because social media really reflects what people are interested in. It's not just based on likes, but also accounts that you follow (for example, fitness accounts, meme accounts, etc.) I think this is a rare concept because traditionally audiobooks and podcasts are not linked or associated with social media, which also means its rare! This is non-substitutable because I don’t think there's a lot of platforms that display your interests better than social media.  This is imitable though, other companies could implement this system.
8. Having a culture where bookworms who read intelligent books is valuable because I think there's a lot of people who would identify with this community. It is broad enough were it include people of all gender, races, ages, and professions. I think it is also rare to have an online community for these kinds of people. It is non-substitutable because human references are the most reliable in the eyes of the consumer (word of mouth effect). Having real references and opinions is non-imitable because everyone has a different perspective that can't be recreated!
9. Having a culture where beginner/relaxed readers and listeners who read is valuable because there are also a lot of people who would identify with this community. It is broad enough where it includes people of all gender, races, ages, and professions. I think it is also rare to have an online community for these kinds of people. It is non-substitutable because human references are the most reliable in the eyes of the consumer (word of mouth effect). Having real references and opinions is non-imitable because everyone has a different perspective that can't be recreated!  (I realize that his bullet point has a lot in common with #8)
10. Having a community where these two types of categories (bookworms and relaxed readers) is super valuable because just because you typically identify with one of these categories, it's still nice to have more options and have options out of your comfort zone. I think having a community that promotes engagement between all types of readers/listeners is rare. It's also non-substitutable and not imitable because human experiences can't be recreated.

My Top Resource

It seems that having a culture where people can intermingle based on their identifying status as a reader/listener of books/audiobooks/podcasts is the top resource because it passed the VRIN Analysis. This tells that 8, 9, and 10 (I included 3 because they go hand-in-hand, but if I had to choose one then #10 is the most broad and inclusive).