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It's not that bad, you need to execute it extremely well. Last year I tried something in this direction called as MolSeek. Did not work out well, but I think I

It's not that bad, you need to execute it extremely well. Last year I tried something in this direction called as MolSeek. Did not work out well, but I think I will try again. I will be keen to listen what you are up-to, only if you think year idea is worth sharing.

polyfractal 15y ago
Excellent, thanks everyone for the advice! I think I could easily produce a barebones beta and just push it to grad students (the intended user) for free, see what happens. If people adopt it, perhaps I can investigate adding bells/whistles as you mentioned. How big of an audience/revenue stream should a startup shoot for? I really have no idea. Just for fun, I ran some quick numbers: A 10k yearly fee works out to 0.04% of MIT's library budget (26m), and 0.27% of my alma mater's budget (3.6m). If 10% of 4-year universities adopted the service (~230 colleges) that totals 2.3m yearly. Obviously that is a really simplified example. I imagine larger schools would pay more than smaller schools, 10k is probably a silly number, ten percent adoption is probably overly-optimistic, etc. But I suppose it puts everything into rough context.
- abhishektwr 15y ago
  I think you are going in right direction. Library budget is pain in ass, there is a huge untapped opportunity to disrupt the whole eco-system. Good luck with your Beta.
- bricestacey 15y ago
  For most libraries, 10k is a fairly large fee for something only a small number of people would use. We do spend good money on very specialized databases, but they're fabulous resources, not something you can just whip up by yourself. Also, large fees require additional authorization above and beyond regular acquisitions. Something more reasonable would reduce friction. Another idea for marketing: You may want to consider trying to sell to departments by contacting faculty/grad assistants researching in the affected field. Then, have the faculty request the library purchase a license. We pretty much buy anything faculty requests within reason, but ignore salespeople.
  - polyfractal 15y ago
    Very interesting, thanks! I admit I just made up 10k as a number, I have no idea what libraries typically spend on various acquisitions. I've contacted my alma mater's library asking similar questions. Would you mind an email from me about this?

polyfractal 15y ago

Excellent, thanks everyone for the advice! I think I could easily produce a barebones beta and just push it to grad students (the intended user) for free, see what happens. If people adopt it, perhaps I can investigate adding bells/whistles as you mentioned. How big of an audience/revenue stream should a startup shoot for? I really have no idea. Just for fun, I ran some quick numbers: A 10k yearly fee works out to 0.04% of MIT's library budget (26m), and 0.27% of my alma mater's budget (3.6m). If 10% of 4-year universities adopted the service (~230 colleges) that totals 2.3m yearly. Obviously that is a really simplified example. I imagine larger schools would pay more than smaller schools, 10k is probably a silly number, ten percent adoption is probably overly-optimistic, etc. But I suppose it puts everything into rough context.

abhishektwr 15y ago
I think you are going in right direction. Library budget is pain in ass, there is a huge untapped opportunity to disrupt the whole eco-system. Good luck with your Beta.
bricestacey 15y ago
For most libraries, 10k is a fairly large fee for something only a small number of people would use. We do spend good money on very specialized databases, but they're fabulous resources, not something you can just whip up by yourself. Also, large fees require additional authorization above and beyond regular acquisitions. Something more reasonable would reduce friction. Another idea for marketing: You may want to consider trying to sell to departments by contacting faculty/grad assistants researching in the affected field. Then, have the faculty request the library purchase a license. We pretty much buy anything faculty requests within reason, but ignore salespeople.
- polyfractal 15y ago
  Very interesting, thanks! I admit I just made up 10k as a number, I have no idea what libraries typically spend on various acquisitions. I've contacted my alma mater's library asking similar questions. Would you mind an email from me about this?