Exploring Sustainable VR Use Cases for Startup Business Models: A Customized Customer Development Approach

Dimas Pandu Pratama () and Panca O. Hadi Putra ()
Additional contact information
Dimas Pandu Pratama: Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta 10430, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Panca O. Hadi Putra: Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta 10430, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-43

Abstract: Startups often face uncertainty and the potential Valley of Death. To address these challenges, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can serve as a starting point to identify business opportunities in markets driven by SDG-related issues. In this case, we propose using virtual reality (VR) technology as a “painkiller”. This study aims to explore VR use cases and their implications for startup business models and discover a problem–solution fit, i.e., identify the degree to which VR applications effectively address actual problems as “killer applications”. The study employs a customized customer discovery technique, an essential process in the Customer Development methodology. By exploring VR’s applicability in various domains such as entertainment, training, education, and tourism, this study unveils compelling use cases that align with SDG aspects, thus validating the hypothesis on startups’ potential to harness VR for SDG contributions. Furthermore, the study produces VR business model designs based on solutions to SDG-related problems. Thus, startups can function effectively as “painkillers”, offering solutions that are not only desired but urgently needed (problem–solution fit). The implications of these findings extend globally, underlining VR’s role in addressing SDG issues and offering practical insights for startup business model development that are applicable to broader technology adoptions.

Keywords: virtual reality; VR; use cases; sustainability; sustainable development goals; SDGs; startup business models; customer development; customer discovery (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6254/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/6254/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:6254-:d:1440320

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().