9483
AiS

Session 7b

Joshua
Foster



Agenda

  1. Case: Making stickK Stick: The Business of Behavioral Economics.
  2. Behavioural Nudges from Business

"It is much easier to make money by catering to consumers' biases than trying to correct them."
- Richard Thaler

What are common goals people often struggle to achieve?

Why is it sometimes difficult to change bad habits?

How does stickK support individuals in changing their behaviour?

Commitment Device.

A tool that incentivizes an individual to overcome a bias causing sub-optimal behaviour (as judged by the individual).

  • Auto-nudges can only be applied by individuals who have a sophisticated understanding of their own behaviour.

"These nymphs had the power...of charming by their song all who heard them, so that mariners were impelled to cast themselves into the sea to destruction. Circe directed Ulysses to stop the ears of his sailors with wax, so that they should not hear the strain; to have himself bound to the mast, and to enjoin his people, whatever he might say or do, by no means to release him till they should have passed the Sirens’ island."

"The problem sets should have been graded. I had no incentive to do them, and as a result did poorly on the exams." - a student

The task.

Construct an argument for how one of the proposed business models can succeed. Use the preliminary revenue information provided in the case for support.

  • Groups 1 through 4 $\rightarrow$ B2B.
  • Groups 5 through 8 $\rightarrow$ B2C.
Group 1Ishi KhamesraAkber Amanulla KhanValentina EfionayiJudith OsemekeRamnik Minhas
Group 2Alan HwangAlice WuKiera TreloarKayla VargasAanal Patel
Group 3Quoc Lap NguyenAdam MeadowsAngelita MartinCherry QianMaro Egbedi
Group 4Aaditya GeedRobert GrayKendall ZhangMay El DamattyRio Baudisch-McCabe
Group 5Chaitanya GandhiBella Natasha DiegoElisabeth IannucciSam MacyJennifer Estrada
Group 6Dan HicksSifan WangCalvin ZehrDerek AdamMac Astritis
Group 7Sean MorrisSangeetha SambamoorthySilvia Pacheco DiazPrincess Adeniran
Group 8Michael SchumacherJosh GeIshani AdityanIain Smith

Small Group Task

Work with your group to create an argument for how your assigned business model can succeed.

What are the pros/contras of going B2B?

ProsContras
1)1)
2)2)
3)3)
B2B Revenue Model (Annual)
# Contracts = 4 Avg. Monthly Licensing Fee = $\$$15,000
Startup Fee (non-recurring) = $\$$35,000
# Contracts $\times$ (12$\times$ Monthly Fee + Startup Fee) = Revenue
4 $\times$ (720,000+140,000) = $\$$860,000

Average Revenue per Contract $=\frac{860,000}{4}=$ $\$$215,000.

What are the pros/contras of going B2C?

ProsContras
1)1)
2)2)
3)3)
B2C Revenue Model (Annual)
Type # Contracts # Failed Avg. Revenue Revenue
Charity 0.216$\times$22,400=4,838 0.199$\times$4,838=963 0.195$\times$360=$\$$70 963$\times$70=$\$$67,410
Non-charity 0.521$\times$22,400=11,670 0.129$\times$11,670=1,505 0.295$\times$360=$\$$106 1,505$\times$106=$\$$159,831
Gross Revenue $=$ $\$$227,241
Less 3% CC Fee $=$ $\$$220,423

Average Revenue per Contract $=\frac{220,423}{70,000}=$ $\$$3.15.

Which model do you prefer?

What happened.

Goldberg elected to focus on the B2B model.

  • As of the writing of the case (2015), stickK has quadrupled in size from 2010.
  • This growth allowed for additional resource allocation to the B2C business.
  • The company reported being cashflow neutral.