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I think your google point is spot on. I wanted to stay away from this and thought that the content creation route might help mitigate this. Would you agree th

by noahc 16y ago

I think your google point is spot on. I wanted to stay away from this and thought that the content creation route might help mitigate this. Would you agree that there are three types of online businesses: 1. Businesses that rely on engineering(twitter, Facebook, google). These are businesses that you for sure want to stay away from. 2. Businesses that are basically e-commerce. Zappos, Amazon, etc. This would be tough to do because of the need for inventory. 3. Content businesses lifehacker, wine library, etc. These are ideal because they require little/no capital and only hand work put in by the students. This handwork can then spread over 4 years and hopefully they have something at the end of 4 years to show for it. As far as home runs vs bunts and thinking they would all be successful, I'd be happy with 1% success rate. Thanks for the awesome input.

Scott_MacGregor 16y ago
I think spreading the work over 4 years is too long. I would focus on getting something workable together and online before halfway through the semester. Push them to stay up late and code and hit a deadline. They won't melt if they lose a little sleep. Then have them work on iterating the design and the business based on feedback from adult relatives who login to the sites. Also, maybe some of the students want to do e-commerce. Maybe you could offer them some flexibility in this area. Will the PTA flip out if you involve the students with selling wine? Maybe you could work a deal with some local business where the students websites act as a reseller but carry no inventory. Farm supplies, or something. The customers can be local, if the newspaper does a story on this it is free advertising. Maybe somebody's mom cans preserves or something. Be imaginative. It is just to learn and maybe make some money, not corner the market.

by noahc 16y ago

Scott_MacGregor 16y ago

I think spreading the work over 4 years is too long. I would focus on getting something workable together and online before halfway through the semester. Push them to stay up late and code and hit a deadline. They won't melt if they lose a little sleep. Then have them work on iterating the design and the business based on feedback from adult relatives who login to the sites. Also, maybe some of the students want to do e-commerce. Maybe you could offer them some flexibility in this area. Will the PTA flip out if you involve the students with selling wine? Maybe you could work a deal with some local business where the students websites act as a reseller but carry no inventory. Farm supplies, or something. The customers can be local, if the newspaper does a story on this it is free advertising. Maybe somebody's mom cans preserves or something. Be imaginative. It is just to learn and maybe make some money, not corner the market.