23A - Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

1. Network
• Valuable: For a product like mine, a network is what draws in the prospects. Getting future soccer prospects as clients leads to more profit. As a result, a network is arguably the most valuable thing to this service.
• Rare: For my service, having the right network is rare. Not everyone can coach, scout, or develop any prospect.
• Inimitable: It is not if people actually try to expand their network. In this small industry it can be hard.
• Non-substitutable: This network can only be substitutable by other qualified people. However, this network is especially necessary for my service, which is why I cannot substitute them.
2. My Diverse Expertise
• Valuable: I would say so, as I have experienced both sides of a similar product, and as a result have the knowledge to combine each strength from both programs.
• Rare: It is rare to have someone who has played at high levels for both a European soccer system and American soccer system.
• Inimitable: Unless you have the talent or if your family moves abroad then this would be inimitable.
• Non-substitutable: My diverse experience is the driving concept for my service and as a result it is non-substitutable.
3. Public Speaking
• Valuable: It is very valuable as you will need to sell the concept to clients and also actively manage staff.
• Rare: I would not say it is too rare and it depends on the person.
• Inimitable: Many people are good public speakers or can learn to be good public speakers.
• Non-substitutable: It is non-substitutable as everything in service is very verbally and vocally driven.
4. Investors
• Valuable: They are very valuable as they provide strong external support.
• Rare: Investors can be rare especially for startups.
• Inimitable: They are not inimitable as you can look for financial support elsewhere.
• Non-substitutable: It is substitutable as they only provide financial support.
5. Marketing
• Valuable: It is very valuable as it will get the product's name out there.
• Rare: No, marketing is not rare.
• Inimitable: In a technology driven age, marketing is very easy to imitate.
• Non-substitutable: There is no substitution for marketing and it is necessary.
6. Human Capital
• Valuable: A strong human capital is valuable for any sort of business. A company like mine needs devoted workers with strong personalities.
• Rare: It is not rare.
• Inimitable: It is easy to imitate.
• Non-substitutable: It is non-substitutable.
7. Social Capital
• Valuable: It is very valuable as I need strong connections throughout the city of my business. This would help spread my product through word-of-mouth.
• Rare: It is rare to have a strong social capital in startup businesses.
• Inimitable: It is easy to imitate.
• Non-substitutable: It is non-substitutable as my product can keep growing with a strong social capital.
8. Financial Capital
• Valuable: This is very valuable as I would need the right amount of financial assets for my product to grow and succeed.
• Rare: It is rare for startups to have a strong financial capital to begin with.
• Inimitable: It would be hard to consistently imitate.
• Non-substitutable: It is absolutely non-substitutable as financial assets are what will drive this product to reaching new heights.
9. Myself
• Valuable: I am very valuable for this product as it is my vision and mission for this service to succeed. I provide many different capabilities and all the resources listed above, which is why I am valuable.
• Rare: It is rare for other companies to have me since I am with this company.
• Inimitable: There are no other Arman Muslu's in the world that act like me or look like me so it is inimitable.
• Non-substitutable: I am the boss and owner so I am non-substitutable.
10. Market Share
• Valuable: Minimal competition so I would have a large share of the market.
• Rare: It is rare to own a large chunk of the market.
• Inimitable: It is inimitable.
• Non-substitutable: If I am still making a large amount of money and not consistently losing clients to upcoming competition then it can be non-substitutable; otherwise it cannot.

After conducting my VRIN analysis, I found that my network is my strongest resource. It is tremendously valuable for the success and growth of my product. It is also very rare to have a network like mine in the United States for this product. The fact that no one can really imitate it and the fact that it is a huge necessity for the success of my product show that my network is my strongest resource.