Hypothesis: The hypothesis is as follows: there is currently a pain point for all incoming students* especially international students starting a new college/university. The pain point is not actually being new, but is the feeling* that comes with being new. Currently, the main sources of relief, and our main competitor, is the welcome center, admission center, and international student center available in most academic institutions. But these main services do not do nearly enough to relieve the pain that incoming students feel. ScoopU efficiently provides a service for all incoming students that they would find strong value in. That value proposition is: Rid students of the feeling of being new by helping them adapt and feel confident to their new environment in a quick and effective manner that otherwise would not be possible.  

The value proposition currently holds strong in relation to the assumption that incoming students feel pain points due to the lack of services that help them feel more confident when attending a new academic institution in a new environment. So far most of the validation comes from the research gained from the Baruch college student services center. I am glad that after my interview with a representative, I gained more data and confidence to reinforce my ScoopU proposition. Even the representative thought that there was a need that they could not fulfill, and that ScoopU was a valuable service for incoming students. But going forward, more research needs to be done. There are two main areas of research that need to be conducted

First, I need to consider how valuable the information was in regards to the big picture for the value proposition. Baruch college is just one college. It’s a commuter school, a public college, in manhattan, and part of the CUNY system. The next rational step is to move on to another CUNY college and see if the resources for incoming students are any better or worse, using my foundational research from Baruch as a baseline. After accumulating the data from other CUNY Schools I should move on to other public and private academic institutions to conduct research there as well. Finally, I should move on to the institutions in the larger tri-state area. If I find patterns emerging, then I can deduce whether my hypothesis about the lack of pain relief for incoming students is validated or not. I would also like to do some more research in another more rural geographic region to see if academic institutions in say, Louisiana, provide more resources for their students. Finally, I would like to conduct research at top Ivy league institutions to see if perhaps their funding grants them the ability to assist their incoming students feel familiar and confident with their new setting and life. Secondly, I would like to create and distribute surveys to my target audience to further understand them on a deeper level. I would hand these surveys out to incoming students as well as students that were prior international students. Getting first-hand data directly from these students would further validate my hypothesis on ScoopU value proposition.

I am a big believer that the Peer to Peer business model would be the best platform to host the ScoopU service. However, where the incentive for a company like Airbnb would be the commission that the hosts receive whenever a guest stays in their homes, I would not offer monetary incentives. The only monetary incentive I would offer would be a donation option if the incoming student felt that their sponsor gave them exceptional service and gave them great value. Instead of monetary incentives, I would offer, through the ScoopU platform, Badges and certifications of exceptional leadership in public service and humanities, among other awards. My hope is that this certification or award would demonstrate to other employers the credibility that the sponsor has the ability to go above and beyond their personal tasks, and has the diligence and responsibility to make a difference in the lives of others. Is it a large leap of faith that a sponsor would willingly take time and effort to help out an incoming student without any monetary incentives? Perhaps. But in my opinion, I wouldn’t want anyone signing up for the ScoopU service as a way to earn some easy side cash, but instead pulls people who genuinely want to make an impact in the lives of others. If I were to provide any monetary incentive, it would perhaps be some sort of scholarship program where exceptional sponsors receive grants or stipends going toward furthering their own education. But the most important thing for a peer-to-peer platform is to have a balanced supply and demand on both sides. 

The peer-to-peer platform would actually then cause two different types of early adopters, the incoming student on the demand side, and the sponsors on the supply side. The specific early-adopting incoming student would be the student who is new to the country and has a language barrier that they feel might prevent them from getting their inprocessing done at their new university. This student will be living on a tight budget that prevents them from spending their money wastefully. This student would find tremendous value if they could go on the ScoopU service and find someone that could speak their language, came from the same geographic region as them, had a similar situation for coming to that particular school, etc. On the supply side, the ideal sponsor who would sign up would be a student who struggled along with the beginning of their journey in an academic institution that would like to do their duty to prevent incoming students from feeling the same way he or she did. This same student would most likely be at a juncture of their academic career where they are further along with their studies, have the time to be a sponsor, and are on the verge of applying to internships, or a new career position. Perhaps the industry that might resonate the most with these students would be a career that values selflessness, goodwill, and humanitarian efforts. An award, badge, or certification from ScoopU might make this sponsor/student stand out for a position in sectors of local or global welfare i.e governmental reform policy, non-profit startups, sustainable infrastructure for improvised areas, and other similar sectors.    

Appendix:

 The incoming student: a straight out of high school student, a first-time college student, a transfer student, an international student.

Feeling new: the feeling an individual who arrives at a new location, and has been thrown into a new stage/position in their life without guidance or assistance, might feel. The feelings of being new include: confused, intimidated, lost, scared, lonely, and the general ignorance customary with being inexperienced.