Doing research with Karin for our business idea, we were relieve to confirm that there are no direct competitors for our business idea. We only have a few secondary competitors but they are not focused on targeting students. Our business will be a website gathering resources for students struggling with financials for mental health due to the pandemics. The website would also had any additional information relevant to students like legal services or anything free they are eligible for.

We opted for a hidden revenue business model. We are working on making life more barrable for students who are already struggling so making them pay for our services is out of the question. Any funds needed to run our business will come from the companies we will partner with. Many businesses wants to have access to students as customer so they will be willing to pay us if it means our customer might become their future customers. We will display paid ads or sell survey we will ask our students to take if willing.

Our early adopter would be students below the poverty line and especially students of color from low wealth communities who have other responsibilities toward their family beside school. There will also be students away from home like international students and single moms students who have children to feed.

The other interviews I was able to book with a VITA Tax Program Director at Ariva and a Benefit Advisor Coordinator at Urban Community Services confirmed that our services is deeply needed by the youth. We understood that there are many resources created all the time to help students; financial as well as mental health help. But they are not taken advantage of enough and this is because they are not aware of it or they don’t know where to look. Our website will have a lot of value because on top of being made by students for students, we will gather all these resources in one place to satisfy our future customers.

Primary Research Takeaways

• There is no one place where students can gain access to all of the resources that are available to them
• There are plenty of resources available for students
• Many businesses want to gain access to students so they can expand their target market

Secondary Research Takeaways

• Many people actively search for resources that they need
• Anxiety surrounding access to food, rent payments, and more has increased during the pandemic
• Students are unaware of what resources are available to them