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A little background first: I just got accepted to a one year master's program in chemical engineering at my school, but I need to find a way to come up with roughly $20,000 - $30,000 over the next year to pay for it. The problem is that I will be doing unpaid research and will not have much time for a job, nor would a part-time job pay at a good enough rate to cover the costs (and honestly... I'm not too thrilled about the concept).

I've had this idea in the back of my mind for a while to turn my personal running/cycling/sports workout log into an online start-up. I am currently running the site on a local server for personal use, but I've added so many features to it over the years that I believe it could possibly compete (in functionality and design) with some of the popular workout loggers on the internet already.

But I'm kind of scared to actually put it online, as I have no clue whether this could really work, and I have NO business experience. I really don't want to put ads on the site because I need as much screen real-estate as I can get, but I'm afraid that if I have a "premium" version of the site and something goes wrong, a lot of users will be angry about paying for a one-man operation that didn't work out (I guess I could get sued for that even?)

So I'm looking for feedback on whether I should pursue this and what kind of challenges I could expect to face. What kind of profit model should I set up? And how could I protect myself in the event that something goes wrong?

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Figure out how to declutter your site. Most users will get lost and won't need all that content at once. – JeffO Apr 8 '12 at 15:02

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I don't entirely agree with Gary E. You've stated that you realise earning the amount required for your tuition isn't realistic and have asked if it's feasible to still help pay some (or ideally all) of the loan back alongside your chem job. I don't see why not.

To address points 2 and 5:

The only way to gain business experience is to get stuck in and do it. There are endless resources online (including this forum) for starting your own business and exactly what is required both legally and effort-wise. Granted, you will gain experience of how business works faster in a pre-established business, but there is zero harm in launching your product. If like you say, most of the developer work is there, you don't stand to lose an awful lot.

There are a fair few workout loggers (a lot of people just use threads in forums), so I would have a think about how you could develop your product further. A workout logger I liked the look of integrated a social-network system to give more of a community feel. You could share your goals and achievements, as well as giving/receiving encouragement which is great when it comes to keeping fit.

My $0.02 - go for it.

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Thanks! I really appreciate the concrete advice you've given me, particularly the suggestion about integrating a social-network system into it. The best products seem to incorporate some sort of sharing into their site. Some of these other replies on here seem kind of pessimistic, like "the chance of you making money is very slim". (I almost believed it until my friend made a CRAPLOAD this past week when a big company bought his startup!) – Nick Apr 13 '12 at 16:34
Awesome, go for it and share it when it's a live product! (Or just PM it to me, I might be interested. :-) ). – Anonymous Apr 13 '12 at 18:03
up vote 5 down vote

The simple answer is no.

  1. Grad school starts in August. They will want half the tuition then. So you need to build a complete business and generate $10k - $15K by August. That's basically 4 months from today.
  2. You have no businesss experience. That means you aren't even aware of all the tasks you must accomplish in the next four months to make your product profitable.
  3. There is a large amount of compettion in the market you have chosen. How do you plan to break into this market?
  4. Even assuming you work 100 hours a week on this project from now until you start grad school, what happens after you start grad schhol? If you stop working on the product it is going to fail.
  5. Just because you have a product that you like does not imply you have a product that will appeal to the general public.
  6. Starting a business, especially with no business experience, is not a way to make money quickly.
  7. I finished a 2 year Masters program and had virtually no free time. You are doing a 1 year Masters proram- you are going to have no free time to devote to this project.
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Thanks for the reply. I guess I should clarify a few things. I can get interest free loans to pay for school, and while I will eventually be able to repay those with my chemical engineering job, I was looking for something that might be quicker. And also, the project is basically done -- it's just putting it online that I question. Do you have ideas for solutions to the other problems you've listed? – Nick Apr 8 '12 at 2:30
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Starting a new business is not a quick way to make money. It take time and tremendous dedication to get the business up and running. In addition, just because you made a product you like, does not mean it doesn't need a ton of work to get it ready for the public. – Gary E♦ Apr 8 '12 at 3:24
Alright, let's say I recognize those facts and would still like to pursue it as a long-term business venture. How do I address points 2 and 5 that you have made? – Nick Apr 8 '12 at 6:13
Follow-up: You have answered my questions (and I appreciate that), but now I am looking for actions/solutions I can take to address the problems you've listed. If I ask people I know about my idea, they will be able to (happily) give me a ton of reasons why my project WON'T work. Unlike you however, they haven't founded their own start-up, and they thus lack the knowledge necessary to overcome these obstacles. That's what I'm looking for. Thanks again! – Nick Apr 8 '12 at 6:39
If you are going to do grad school, you are going to have to take on other people who have expertise you do not have, and time you will not have, to do the work that must be done to bring this project to the public. – Gary E♦ Apr 8 '12 at 16:20
up vote 2 down vote

Start-ups often require investment to get started and take significant time to reach a profit (if ever). So, it's hard to say that this will help you fund grad school. The point is that a start-up is a big risk - if you need money without risk to pay for grad school, this may not be your best option.

It sounds like you have done a lot of the technical work for yourself, which will save that (time) cost, but the biggest problem will be finding customers willing to pay for your product.

You will need to test how people use the product, iterate and improve your product until it starts to generate customers.

If you distinguish yourself in this market very clearly, you may be able to charge customers. (Personally, I would be willing to pay for this service). However, this will require a clear understanding of what your customers need that your competitors are not supplying well.

A "freemium" model may allow you to grow your user base quicker than otherwise. However, it may be difficult to convert these customers into paying customers (customers who don't pay will expect to continue not paying). The success of ads will depend on how many eyes you can get on them.

I would not be overly concerned about angry customers at this stage - if your product is not reliable, customers are unlikely to use it or pay for it anyway! Being polite and understanding and giving up your personal time to explain the problem will usually be enough to mollify early customers. Your product does not sound like one that has a risk of damages for customer loss.

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Thanks, I really appreciate the suggestions. This is exactly what I was looking for. (I wish I could accept more than one answer though haha). – Nick Apr 13 '12 at 16:42
agree strongly with the accepted answer that you can only get business experience by trying it out. good luck, keep us informed! – Ronald Apr 13 '12 at 16:52

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