I have been thinking a lot about my chosen primary competitor, which at first I thought was Facebook. However, looking over the dynamics of Facebook I believe students are not necessarily their main target market. So, I decided that right now, especially with the current situation where students need to learn online, Baruch resources such as undergraduate advisement, counseling center, bursars office etc, will be my main competitors.

Right now, I have already reached out to someone from the undergraduate advisement office in order to chat with them and gain a better understanding of how students use Baruch’s resources and how the students truly benefit from them.

I will want to ask the following questions:

1. How many students actually use the undergraduate advisment?
2. What steps are taken to help struggling students?
3. What other Baruchs resources can student benefit from but are not aware of?
4. In what department do they feel they can do better to help Baruch students?

I mainly want to ask these questions because it will give me an understanding on how students are using school resources and on average how many students take advantage of the resources offered. Not only do I want to know if the students are benefitted but also what other resources can they exploit and take advantage of while at Baruch.

-Facebook is a large networking platform not only for students but for anyone that knows how to use it, it is a great platform to create a human connection and find people that can help you with almost anything you cannot solve yourself. Those are some of the aspects from Facebook that I will like to replicate for the College Insider Website, the ability for students to create real connections with other students and solve problems together.

-Unlike Facebook’s wide target market, I will want to focus my platform on new students and current struggling students that need to seek help and feel more comfortable by talking to other students and not their counselors.

-One of the most obvious competitive advantages that Facebook has that it’s their well-known user community, thousands of people use Facebook or know about it. However, it not mostly with college students.

-My value proposition is a bit similar to Facebook’s value proposition because it focuses on creating a community, but the College Insider wants to focus on creating an only student-based online community that will later enable students to network with many others in the long run.

-I still think the College Insider will be a great addition to any college campus because it will enable students to be more open about their struggles during college and it will allow them to help others overcome their struggles as well, not only will it create a closer and known student community but it will bring more success to colleges. One thing I can think of that will make me not want to pursue this idea is that right now people are desperate for physical human interaction, so another website that will allow students to find help remotely might not be what students want, however, this can easily be fixed by having meetings, fair, book drives, etc, and this will allow the students to interact face to face.

Explanations based on my assumptions:

Problem: As a transferred student, I have experienced firsthand how overwhelming it is to adjust yourself to change. Not all colleges follow the same aesthetic, in some cases, even CUNY colleges differ drastically from one another. Overall, Baruch offers many resources to help students on their academics, however not all of them are good for every type of student, some students need more help or a different type of resources. Moreover, new students want to hear more from the experiences of current/former students to feel more relatable to their own struggles.

Solution: A website is a great platform for students to interact daily. Incoming students will be able to as specific questions to current students and get worthy feedback about their concerns. Incoming freshman will not only have the ability to rely on other students for help, but they do not even need to sign up for a mentor program or anything of the sort since some new students do not find it helpful. It is a convenient and efficient way for students to gain better understanding about Baruch’s resources.

Unique Value Proposition: The unique side of this business idea is that new students will get truthful and raw advice and intel about life and academics at Baruch from students that have already been through it. It will help new students have a smooth transition into Baruch life.

Unfair Advantage: What sets this website apart from all the other resources offered to students at Baruch is that students are helping other students and pinpointing specific problems not only one student may struggle with, but many other students may have the same issue and they can all find their answers on the website. It allows students to freely express their concerns about college life and get advice from current/former students.

Customer Segments: Main customers will be students that are struggling with the transition into Baruch college either new incoming freshmen students or incoming transferred students. Additionally, current students will have the ability to talk about their experiences at Baruch, academically and socially.

Existing Alternative: We know that Baruch offers many resources for new students, transferred students, foreign student, and even current students. However, they are not all useful for every student. Therefore on the website the College Insider; students will have the ability to find what works best for them and how other students have used college resources and maximized their use.

Key Metrics: We need to keep track of how many students visit the website in a day, which a peak hour, and how many comments/interactions a day the website receives in order for us to be able to measure how successful the website is becoming and how we can help it become more useful for students on their everyday college life.

High-Level Concept: The main focus is on students’ specific necessaries. We want to pinpoint what each student really needs and we will achieve this by emphasizing with relatable experience from current students. New students will feel more comfortable seeking help from students that may or may not have struggle with the same things, it is like a community help blog.

Channels: In order to spread the word, I will use college resources such as Blogs@Baruch, fliers around campus, wide-spread emails about the website, and also social media. I decided to include social media because the today college students are more involved in controversial topics and products all through and because of social media engagement.

Early Adopters: With the current way of learning incoming students for the Fall 2021 will not get the full experience of college life, not only that but online college classes are different from high school online classes. Therefore, new students will find it very helpful to have a website where they can seek help anytime during their semester and get advice from current and former students.

Assumptions

·       New Incoming Students are more likely to take advice from students rather than their advisors.

·       Incoming students like convenience and the website will provide convenience to seek help instead of writing emails to different departments, or going to different departments on campus.

Out of all the resources offered by colleges for students to navigate through the different areas of campus, not many of them offer true opinions and inside comments from current students or former students.
The College Insider Website will provide incoming new/transferred students with raw and honest comments and inside information about college life and how to make the most of all resources offered on campus. The website will include pages such as class descriptions, professors, best resources, tutoring, the best food around campus, and tips from students on how to do best in college.
I believe colleges offer many good resources to help students succeed, however, nothing would be better than the students themselves helping each other around campus and giving other intel on how they were successful and the mistakes they wish others should know about.
This problem interests me because I was a transfer student at Baruch, not from another cuny, but from a college in Los Angeles. It was such a big change and I was lost during my first year at Baruch, not only inside the campus but also trying to find great spots to read, do homework, or have a meal around campus, which was what I used to do back in LA since we had a huge campus, not just buildings. If there was a website such a College Insider, that just focused on students’ intel about college life at Baruch, I would’ve had a smoother transition into Baruch.

We have seen many types of video streaming platforms emerge throughout the years such as vine, and musical.ly. However, one of the very first video streaming platforms was youtube, which over time it has become more and more popular with influencers.
I believe that Tiktok is solving a problem that many social media platforms have failed to solve before. Not only is it a more entertaining way of watching videos but Tiktok is curated with what you like to watch. They use something called the Baidu Model, which is a program that makes the app more appealing to users by giving each and every user personalized content on their “for you page” with the videos they watch daily.
Tiktok reminds users of the missed Vine platform, however, we all know TikTok is a better and improved video streaming service. This is because their business model is an attention-based concept, which allows users to use their creativity to make content and allows TikTok to make money by using ads on videos.
Tiktok was an app created by Bytedance, originally named Douyin and made exclusively in China, Tiktok was supposed to be Musical.ly’s rival. The app surpassed everyone’s expectations and because of the most downloaded app across the globe in late 2018.

First, thank you for coming to see my website.

I am excited to post about my business and get feedback from everyone to help me learn more about the business world and improve my business.