RichStudent brainstorming session

[MadDAVO]

Hello All,

I own the domain name RichStudent.Com for almost a year by now. I bought the domain name out of interest cause I thought I could really do something with it and will attract students worldwide.

I am thinking the website could be used as: RichStudent.Com, A Place for Students with Rich Ideas In Mind. And I do charge different membership package, starting from $1 a month. For example, for $5 a month, members will get their domain.richstudent.com website and user@richstudent.com email address, with 1000Mb storage for video's and images, access to chats, blogs and forums.

And on top of that, members will get an entry to win prizes every month, for example members who have the best video ratings from other members, wins the video of the month competition. And different competition for every other months.

And as for what this website is all about, it encourages students worldwide to come up with ideas--to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! And upload homemade videos on the subdomains, and get ratings from other members. Its not only for entertainment purposes, but most importantly for educational reasons. Its a place where you can chat about anything as long as its interesting, not boring.

How does that sound? Is the 1GB storage generous enough or a little too much? I would like other members to comment on my idea of this whole thing.

I am still brainstorming every now and then about what I should do with the domain.

[MadDAVO]

I need pro's and cons about my idea. I'd love to be criticised harshly about the whole idea but be please be logical if you may. As for the pro's I'd love to ask one question: would you join such a service online? Also, be reasonable and logical about your opinions.

[Lex]

I dont think you need to add that type of a membership, the fact is people can get free hosting, free subdomains, free email and free image and video storage. However you could help people start a website with hosting, top level domain (.com) and maybe a special help service to all the hosting and domain members to help them get started.

Also alot of students wont want to post there ideas as we see on here, as they can post them at cambrian house soon and they can earn money from other people developing them.

However i do think it would be a good forum type site with blog and chat for students who want to get rich, i know this is a popular concept (im a student and im working on building a few sites to pay for uni ).

Would i pay to join a service no for the reasons listed initially.

I think you could also include articles , business resources etc to help students start to earn $$$ online. I also think you could earn cash from refering students to programmers etc who need to build a complicated website.

Its a nice domain and could become a nice site,

If you have MSN we could discuss this more as i think it could be interesting, PM me.

[more freedom]

I think this is an awesome idea.

May be you can think outside of the box that you might want to expand the market other than just students. Just kidding, but you got my point.

This is a great idea, and I think I GB of the storage size is great.

[akula]

no, not good

you're not in a position to compete with video sharing networks

Hello All,

I own the domain name RichStudent.Com for almost a year by now. I bought the domain name out of interest cause I thought I could really do something with it and will attract students worldwide.

I am thinking the website could be used as: RichStudent.Com, A Place for Students with Rich Ideas In Mind. And I do charge different membership package, starting from $1 a month. For example, for $5 a month, members will get their domain.richstudent.com website and user@richstudent.com email address, with 1000Mb storage for video's and images, access to chats, blogs and forums.

And on top of that, members will get an entry to win prizes every month, for example members who have the best video ratings from other members, wins the video of the month competition. And different competition for every other months.

And as for what this website is all about, it encourages students worldwide to come up with ideas--to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX! And upload homemade videos on the subdomains, and get ratings from other members. Its not only for entertainment purposes, but most importantly for educational reasons. Its a place where you can chat about anything as long as its interesting, not boring.

How does that sound? Is the 1GB storage generous enough or a little too much? I would like other members to comment on my idea of this whole thing.

I am still brainstorming every now and then about what I should do with the domain.

[Aletheides]

Cut the subscription fee.

It looks like it would be a website that people would be interested in. You could leverage the traffic in different ways for $$$.

[MadDAVO]

Lol.. Thanks everyone for your replies!! I appreciate it. Akula, I know I am competing with other reputable companies out there its gonna be tough. This is a brainstorming session where anyone can say what is wrong and put in new ideas to contribute to my original idea.
Aletheides, I love your idea I wish it could be as simple as that. One problem: if I cut the subsciption fee, too many new members will join.. lets say 5000 will join in the first two months, then, I will have to pay few grand for the hosting fee every month..
Somewhere along the line, there is a flaw with my idea.. or, lets say, flaws.. Unless I can come up with some sort of idea that can support this whole business, and the support I need are sponsors. If I can somehow get sponsors to pay me monthly fee and/or commission that is enough to cover the expenses of the whole website.

Help me brainstorm!! Perhaps I can make like a 50mb free account, then users can upgrade to higher packages with a certain price. That way I can generate many customers into my website. GOOD IDEA? if not, then what are the flaws?

[MadDAVO]

lol more freedom, since the domain name itself target students worldwide, from /primary/high school to college/phd level all are welcomed, but i think its better to create a niche market so I know what my targets are, and sponsors will start coming to me, or me looking for them, once I get large enough customers.

==Brainstorming Session Who Got The Brains To Come Up With Ingenious Ideas??? I Bet You Don't!!==

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this should be the thread's title so more people will come in

[akula]

If I can somehow get sponsors to pay me monthly fee and/or commission that is enough to cover the expenses of the whole website.

dude, that's the problem

you need CUSTOMERS who pay you MONEY

that's how people run BUSINESSES (as opposed to hobbies)

"sponsors" is not the way to start a business. contracts for delivery IS a way to start a business

so, the kind of stuff you're thinking of has no business model

to correct this flaw, you need to focus on the important needs of accessible prospects

the only way they're accessible, is if you know the industry

so your ideas have to be limited to what industries you're familiar with

therefore, because I don't have your resume, I can't brainstorm with you

throwing around ideas which are not accessible to you is not brainstorming

it's day dreaming

I don't have time for day dreaming

hope you understand

where have you worked before?

[MadDAVO]

Hey I dont normaly publish my email address online due to all the spams.. I hate them lol. But here goes : brainstormingrichstudent@hotmail.com add to your msn and chat(only when Im free but I'll leave it on anyway) or email me if you have serious ideas or just want to brainstorm and help out then you're most welcomed!

[MadDAVO]

Haha Akula ur whole attitude is cracking me up... You read my mind! (I was seriously gonna write, that my lack of knowledge in the field is another problem)
In sponsors, I mean companies that have student products or services that like to advertise on my website for a fee, and/or commission basis.

Akula I have to say you are most likely wrong to say that " 'sponsors' is not the way to start a business". How many online websites out there that their only source of income comes from "sponsors"? Too many. A lot of reputable companies have sponsors that generate extra income for them. Plus, how do you think youngentrepreneur.com make their profits from(I dont know how much lol)? Scroll up and take a look at the ads. Even million dollar companies have sponsors that support them, for example: sex.com.

lol.. doesnt seems to bother me. You are subject to your own opinions! I encourage that. Thanks again.

[akula]

Haha Akula ur whole attitude is cracking me up... You read my mind! (I was seriously gonna write, that my lack of knowledge in the field is another problem)
In sponsors, I mean companies that have student products or services that like to advertise on my website for a fee, and/or commission basis.

Akula I have to say you are most likely wrong to say that " 'sponsors' is not the way to start a business". How many online websites out there that their only source of income comes from "sponsors"? Too many. A lot of reputable companies have sponsors that generate extra income for them. Plus, how do you think youngentrepreneur.com make their profits from(I dont know how much lol)? Scroll up and take a look at the ads. Even million dollar companies have sponsors that support them, for example: sex.com.

lol.. doesnt seems to bother me. You are subject to your own opinions! I encourage that. Thanks again.

nice. it's very simple.

just because something may be working for somebody, does not mean it will work for you.

anecdotal example: I hit the casino and drop 10k on black. Now, for me it's a good idea because of my circumstances. It makes sense to do that. For you - may not be such a good idea.

specific example: Take any advertising funded startup. They can afford to be unprofitable because the reason these startups exist is for the founders to have better resumes. It's got nothing to do with making money - because all of those site (except for a few exceptions) are not profitable when expenses are fully accounted (i.e. salaries). They're not in it for the money, because they're not making any.

Likewise, just because News Corp can afford to have a loss leader (i.e an unprofitable business), does not mean you can afford to do the same. These guys have alternative reasons for having these businesses in existence (such as IP hoarding, lead generation, preemptive competitive positioning), and they have a portfolio of other cash-cows which pay the bills.

You don't have a portfolio. You can't afford to run an unprofitable business. Which means that you can't run a consumer facing Web startup. Why? Because to get profitable on ad revenues requires a large capital investment to develop market mind share - none of which you have.

This means, you need to sell expensive products or services, to clients who can pay for them, so you can get profitable on customer financing.

Are you getting any of this? To arrive at your idea, you need to set objectives, and then eliminate all options which are inconsistent with these objectives.

In your case, for a basic 1-2 person startup - you need first year revenues of 100k to pay your expenses and have some sort of retained earnings so you can generate further growth. You're not gonna clock 100k in revenues, with some consumer facing online-community-we-help-people-connect-and-be-friends-so-they-can-learn -sort-of-thing-dot-com (that is, unless you've done a 15 million dollar A round lately).

Ok? It's simple. It's not opinion. It's just an arithmetic fact. You need 100k. You're not gonna get it with what you have in mind because that means you'd have to be clocking several million page views a month. It's unrealistic.

What do you think about that? I think, you should be glad because now you know what businesses NOT to get into, so your options are more evident and you have less to worry about.

[WetSock52]

just because something may be working for somebody, does not mean it will work for you.

I couldn't agree with this more.

However, akula, I believe you've provided an answer to your own riddle. You say it requires 100k for the startup to cover expenses and provide for future growth. Sponsorship is just one method to obtain your initial capital. One could easily make the arguement that "venture capitol" is sponsorship with a fancy name. Honestly, all forms of startup capital can be considered sponsorship - be it angel investors or robbing a bank...you're either sponsored by family/friends or by Wells Fargo

I don't think we can discredit the economic power of "sponsorship" in business (and not just for padding our resumes). Look at Google. Their primary business is "sponsorship" (in the form of advertising). They didn't make their fortune off of selling expensive items.

Akula, I usually agree with your posts but in this example I think you're discounting the usefullness of sponsorship if used correctly.

[MadDAVO]

Westsocks52,

Thanks for the insights. Just because something may be working for somebody, does not mean it will work for you. But if its working for many people, why will it not work for me?

Lets try not to go off track here guys common.. This is a brainstorming session... and we are entrepreneurs, or at least with entrepreneurial mind, ALWAYS know that there's ALWAYS an/( ) answer(s) to solve one's problem(s). This is why we are different. In life, EVERYTHING is about taking risks. But the catch is how much risks are u willing to take? You can't say somebody is wrong or right if he bets 10000 on (black) on the roulette wheel, even while the odds are against him. If he is willing to risk that amount of money, then its not a problem. But, if he's a gambler who goes there everyday, then in the long run the house odds will dry him out. You see what Im saying here? It doesn't really matter what business I plan to start here.. what matters are the results and progress of the business IN THE LONG RUN.Therefore, I need to have a plan, a business plan. First, I need ideas and ways to solve the problems. Just throw in any ideas that came to your mind.

Take a look at http://weirdtechnewshub.blogspot.com...ess-ideas.html

Some of you may have seen this already. I don't daydream about my ideas. But, the reason I show you this link is because, perhaps, with your attitude like this Akula, you will say it won't work to most of the ideas they had before they started the business. But, who would have thought?
You see where Im going here right. My whole point of this is: If I am willing to take a small risk (after finding a way out of the problem), then its not a matter of right or wrong. Its about the progress of the business in the LONG RUN, how will I cope, etc etc.

Akula, I want informations+ opinions from all point of views here. I appreciate if you keep your "black thinking cap" messages shorter so you will not discourage people with other thinking cap types from contributing to the whole idea. I want the whole picture here, not just one part!

As for where have I worked before, I am currently a psychology student(1st year) and works at the casino part time. I had other part time jobs before so yeah.

[MadDAVO]

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