Venture Concept No. 2

Stud-Ease 

The opportunity I have identified is found within the college age students demographic. The learning curve leap students take from high school to college is a big one and can be especially large when it comes to exams. Often in high school, students are almost hand held through what an exam will be like and the content that will be covered. But when it comes to college, receiving a study guide can seem like finding the golden ticket in a Willy Wonka chocolate bar. Exams at the college level are much more difficult and can seem daunting to new students and even more experienced students if studying is difficult for them. There isn’t necessarily a cookie cutter way or an easy how to guide when it comes to studying. It can be discouraging to many college age students when they can’t find a way to study that works for them and exam after exam they are not scoring up to their potential. Not to mention some college courses are more difficult than others to understand and trying to find a way to study on top of that is a lot of stress for anyone to handle. With the amount of college campuses across the country, and the number of students enrolled each semester, the opportunity to assist in this problem seems promising.

The business idea I have developed is called Stud-ease. This is a studying service and aid that takes into account the concept that people learn and retain information differently. It sets itself apart because of the way it differentiates learning style through my proprietary Learning Style Assessment Quiz. This quiz which is offered free through the website identifies the learning style that best suits you and can group you into one of three categories: visual, auditory or kinesthetic learner. You will receive your results and then will be offered a monthly subscription to gain access to thousands of new resources at your fingertips designed specifically for your style of learning. The monthly subscription would be around $14.99 and would be the sole way the company gains revenue. The students would gain access to online tutors for specific courses that are especially difficult on the college level, alongside studying tips and video tutorials that would cater to the way they are able to best retain information. I would do a soft launch to begin with based on two campus locations, The University of Florida located in Gainesville and the University of South Florida in Tampa. As a student at UF I know courses and have quick access to student feedback, the reasoning behind selecting USF as a second location is my background with the campus. I attended classes there for a few years as an undergrad before transferring to UF and am still located in Tampa, FL. Selecting just two campuses to begin with would allow me to get product feedback before expanding to campuses throughout the country.

My company will help the opportunity I identified because of the personalization it offers and the uniqueness of the concept. Researching top competitors in the market I have found many companies that offer tutors but not a single one is based off of the learning style of the student. Identifying learning styles in students has become an interesting topic of research and using this to my advantage will help to differentiate my product from my competitors. The online convenience will be an asset as well since it will enable students to study and use resources in their time and whenever they find the need.  I believe a monthly subscription base for my venture is the best way to make revenue since it isn’t a long term commitment and offers an out for the consumer at any time. As a college student I can identify with the uneasiness of pledging money months in advance to a product and how difficult it is to commit to that in the consumer's mind. As college students balancing tuition and living expenses is enough to worry about each semester without having to commit to a long term subscription to a service that might not be viewed as a necessity. Setting the subscription as a smaller number would be less intimidating to the customer base I am looking to capture. In terms of employment I would need a few employees to troubleshoot and run some aspects of the day to day operations, but my most employed would be online tutors. Being online will allow them to be located anywhere across the country and offering part time hours could be a good income supplication for educators.

The most important resource to my company is the Learning Style Assessment Quiz. This quiz is what sets my company apart from competitors in the market and is the basis for the resources that are personalized for each student. The next product I would classify as “in the works” would be based on the major exams college students take. For example the CPA exam accountants take, the entrance exam for Law School, Medical school exams etc. Utilizing learning styles into studying for these tests can be big money makers and would be structured a little differently. Instead of a monthly subscription I would charge a one-time flat fee and offer it as a course with modules instead, still personalized based upon their learning style. These exams are very important to the career path these students wish to take and can be a great addition to my company. I would hope to have this product up and running at least five years into my company’s hard launch. I hope that in the same time span that expansion has taken place and the company structure is solid. I would like to always be a part of the company in some realm even though my true desire is to open my own music store and teach lessons, hopefully within the next ten years.

Feedback: I received quite the assortment of feedback for my venture concept and other assignments related to my venture idea. One of the most common pieces of critique I got was about the competitiveness of the market. I agree that the education market is a highly competitive market and has big players like Pearson, ACT/SAT etc. But our unfair advantage of the Learning Assessment Quiz is something that will set us apart in this market. Another piece of feedback that I have taken away from this concept is the verbal proof of concept. Many people have told me that they can relate to this problem and would consider getting a subscription, this helps to confirm that I have found the target audience after narrowing it down from the beginning of the semester. 

Based upon the comments on my first venture concept I gathered that the $19.99 price point could be a little on the higher end for a college student's budget on a monthly subscription basis. Due to this feedback I decided to set the price at $14.99 per month in order to engage a wider audience. As a college student myself I can understand how $20 a month can be steep when considering the other costs of college as well.