Pods + Netflix + Marriott = driveway holiday condos.

An editorial note to ponder: Sketching in design is a way to communicate ideas clearly and inexpensively. Sketching ranges from quick and dirty to brilliant-n-seductively detailed. In both cases the beauty (the real value) of the sketch is that it's cheaper than any physical prototype. Sketches communicate a great deal of intent/information, for rapid evaluation, cost effectively. Some sketches are good, some are bad. Iteration makes sketches and sketching better! Doing it over and over until it becomes second nature is the only real path to mastery. Like many skills the ability can be lost and regained. It is good to remember that not every sketch is going to be great.

Some are duds and after rereading the sketch below I think it's best summarized as such. ...practice!

-from 12/21
It's the holiday's. Holidays bring family and those interactions inspire comedians the world over. The holidays are delightful and stressful all at the same time. Challenges bring opportunity.

For this sketch, imagine yourself a person who lives far from immediate and extended family. This year the family has chosen to come to you. If indeed you are this type of person then you know what this means already! Those who don't just watch a bit of Christmas Vacation. It's like that but without the cat burning (hopefully, right)! Anyway, when they come, they come...all of 'em in full family glory! It is awesome for many reasons.

The arrival is awkward and fun, exciting and frustrating. Everyone comes to your place via plane and rental car. They bring with them every emotion, every hope and every dream too! Expectation sets the tone for comedy and tragedy. The week is an amazing span of humanity with all aspects of family life crammed into every power packed Hallmark moment.

Now, it's not enough that you have your own family to deal with but if you are married you have your in-laws as well which makes it double awesome. Logistic challenges quickly become apparent from transportation to meals. Then there are the competing traditions, unspoken expectations, burned foods, shopping debacles, medical emergencies, lost presents, lost parents, lost pills, clogged toilets, hurt feelings, waiting, waiting, waiting and cross cultural religious excursions [catholics and protestants-whoopee!]. The situation is ripe with challenge and challenge provides serious, not just comedic, business opportunity.

OK, to get the most out of this scenario you would break down each challenge one by one. Each discreet challenge has a business, product or service opportunity waiting inside. To be clear I will only focus on the challenge of lodging and meals. ...so little time in the day to write :)!

Ok, here is the challenge: Let's say you live in a modest 1100 sq foot home and you have 7 people coming to stay with you for 10-12 days. You have one extra double bed in a small spare bedroom. Assuming one of the couples will take the spare bed you still must find lodging for five others and the unfinished basement, no matter how big, is not going to work. If you're lucky you'll find affordable lodging close by. If not then you have to plan for some travel time between your house and the hotel.

Then there is the cost. Five people, ten nights (2 couples, 1 individual= 3rooms) ends up around $3000bucks at $100 per night! If you live in a moderate sized city then you can plan for at least $150/night at holiday rates after hotel tax! That doesn't even include food for all guests which will either be made every day at your home or bought out at a restaurant. Unless you have an awesome farmhouse inn with a full kitchen available you'll have to plan for lunches and dinners [for you and your guests] because the most you'll get out of a US hotel is a crappy continental breakfast. Hopefully you see the point and the challenge-opportunity: If you can't put up your entire family in your home then it is going to get expensive pretty fast! Plus traditional hotels imply dinners made elsewhere.

Challenge summary: accommodate ten people in a modest sized home for ten days and as a bonus figure out how to feed all of them peacefully!

Opportunity: create mobile, affordable lodging and modest dining experiences for small groups of guests at individual residential homes.

Here's the crux of this business sketch:
The business would start by acquiring a number of shipping containers in one test market like say, St. Louis. The containers would be turned into little suites or mobile hotel rooms that could be loaded onto existing, sub contracted "dumpster" hauling flatbeds!

Once transformed the bank of container condos would be trucked to customer homes and plunked down in the driveway for the required duration ...viola instant home addition, instant hotel! Basically this is like Pods meets Netflix meets Marriott.

Each container would be retrofitted to house two to three modest queen size beds along with a small lavatory. Power would come via either a plug/extension to your home or a quiet, clean-gas hybrid generator (propane, the other white meat). A person could order the kitchenette "suite" along with the bedroom containers or the "dining room" suite for a one day event in the case that the customer does not have an actual dining room large enough to accommodate all guests.

Now the food! Each guest would be granted access to online menus that they could use to construct meal plans for the week. Menus would be cost scalable from custom catering to semi-prepared-heat-n-go meals to packaged goods/groceries and snacks. Large groups could construct a weeks worth of meal online "together" or each individual could be left to fend for themselves.

Bonus, each guest would get access to a virtual online concierge who would help each guest with entertainment or shopping...ways to get away from other family members...as needed!

In the end you single-handedly get everyone in your home and outta your home at the same time!

Heh . Done!