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 1 Bani Sehgal Akshat Singh Ross Ferguson Adamo Sansalone Josiah Dueck Lin Ma Zhaokun Du
Group 2 Alexis Gantous Tunmise Ajiboye Natasha Shew Andrew Shepherd Ismyal Khan Matthew Grilli Shashank Rusia
Group 3 Abhimanyu Sheoran Rawaiz Sheikh Atanu Sahoo Mike Hockin Max Welyhorsky Gabrielle Stadler Jennifer Hsin
Group 4 Mayank Ahuja Feng Xu Yashodhan Sule Siddhanth Khanvilkar Sachin Mohanty Gagandip Grewal
Group 5 Runfeng Li Daniel Zhu Evelyn Vanderhoof Imaiya Ravichandran Annie Zhang Nikola Lapenna
Group 6 Syed Murtaza Nadeem Karanvir Singh Elvin Yu Milos Masnikosa Akshay Rewale Smarth Narula
Group 7 Noah Suissa Kaanshika Mittal Suyash Singh Kai Hu Christina Gucciardi Kaartikeya Pandey
Group 8 Aakriti Gupta Calvin Jiang Mackenzie Fulton Michael Saunders Eric Parr Shiva Sankar

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.