Need Input for Business Plan

[MBA UOP]

Hi guys,

Sorry that I have not been around for a while. What's up Phil! I have a question for you all. I have to make a business plan for a new ebusiness. Even though I am not 100% sure that it will work, I need it to graduate.

Phil's site, MBA-Forums and http://forum.digitalenterprise.org/cgi-bin.../ultimatebb.cgi (http://forum.digitalenterprise.org/cgi-bin/bulletin/ultimatebb.cgi) have given me an idea to write about a business I would enjoy running (I don't have any plans, just writing a papaer for school :D

I wanted the site to look like the following: http://forum.digitalenterprise.org/cgi-bin.../ultimatebb.cgi (http://forum.digitalenterprise.org/cgi-bin/bulletin/ultimatebb.cgi) and thought about using a subscription service after I get a huge userbase. My class in not for another week or so. I figured I would be a head start. Below is my EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE rip it apart or give me some ideas of what you think.


Executive Summary

Online learning is a new market that is currently in a booming stage. Everyone from corporations, schools, and governments have been touched by this new era is someway or another. $60 billion dollars have been spent by large and small organizations for employee development in entry level to senior executive positions (McGarvey, 2003). Cost savings are about 50 percent from classroom training to Web-based, giving employees and educators virtually continuous training to keep pace with today's dramatic workplace changes.

With the advent of the Internet, small businesses and entrepreneurs have entered into the research and education market with remarkable success by providing services to students all over the world. EBusGrad is a website devoted to the education field and gives new light to students at the collegiate level. It provides forums and tutoring services to students who need to increase retention, achievement, and the over all joy of learning. This free online learning environment promotes collaboration between students with multiple topics in the business field. Students need to register with the site in order to participate at no cost. There are premium services for students who need one-on-one training with an educated, professional tutor.

EBusGrad uses a multiple business model approach. These models include the advertising model and subscription based format. The primary goal of the site is to drive a huge amount of traffic by advertising on educational websites and by the use of viral marketing and offering a personalized sign-in portal that reflects the interests and business topics of the user. Value added services for the users include the unlimited use of the forums to post questions and answers, a personal forum email address, access to private tutoring chat rooms, and use of an electronic board and easel allowing multiple users to share their own creations such as diagrams, charts, and equations. Affiliate partnering will also be used with websites such as Amazon and BarnesandNobles.com.

EBusGrad financing will consist of personal funds from primary income, subscriptions fees, premium service fees, along with site advertising. The funds would be collected from an online payment service called PayPal.com which makes payment fast, easy, and secure. EBusGrad plans on collecting donations as well since the annual subscription fee is quite miniscule. A long-term strategy is based on penetration of a market characterized by slow growing revenue streams. A profit is not expected until a two year period. Major portions of revenue will be fed back into the company for long term growth. The board of directors will consist of husband and wife and no withdrawals will be taken out for personal consumption

[MBA UOP]

I forgot to add this:

Hiring Interns

One major advantage that eBusGrad has is using the help of interns from universities and colleges. While an intern may not have the same skill level as a seasoned employee, there are advantages for both parties. The company gets free labor and the intern gets something to put on their resume (Tiffany, 2001). It is a win-win situation. The intern does not have the aggravation to be physically present as well because they will be working in a virtual environment accessible from anywhere that has a computer connection (home, school, and the library). Not all companies need to lure workers by high wages or stock options. Sometimes convenience and wanted experience plays a major role, especially dealing with college students. What these folks can do it basically monitor the forums for unwarranted and spiteful comments that may pose a liability for the owners. This not only mitigates legal risk, but alleviates the risk of users perceiving the site of poor quality.

[philipwhiteold]

I am doing my capstone course for creating an eBusiness and I chose to make my own MBA forums with a few premium subscription services. I wanted to ask you about how much would I expect to pay for the site being created, hosted, and maintained by a third party. This is assuming that I did not know anything about HTML and programming. I need to out these in my business plan and wanted to get a professional opinion. Anything can help.



1st year cost
Software
$160 - vbulletin

hosting
$400 - $2000 managed hosting
$100 - $1200 unmanaged

domain names
$8+

graphics+design
$50 - $250 logo
$200+ site design

putting mba-forums out of business. priceless. :)


.................................................. ......

If you don't know what your doing the prices can be quite a bit higher. For graphics and design my quote is rather low because I know where to get so good graphic designers at bargain prices. ( www.sitepoint.com )

If you need the power of a dedicated server then www.ev1servers.com has just about the best unmanaged solutions. This is a bad option for someone not tech savy. Where I work we do managed hosting so it costs more but we provide more value through tech support.

If your not picky about domain names, and you can find one no one else is holding, then you shouldnt pay more than $20 for it. If you have to have a certain domain name then the sky is the limit.

Since you want to do subscription based service, vbulletin 3 offers a lot of solutions for this and I would reccomend it.

The site design cost can vary depending on what you need done. You could probably get all of the graphics you needed done for $250-$500. Plugging the graphics into vbulletin or any other forum software would cost you according to how difficult it was to do. It could be spendy. If you want to go beyond the forums to offer a content portal then your looking at big money.

[YaSO]

MBA UOP,

Let me play a devil's advocate here; there are literally hundreds of thousands of websites dedicated to education today(including mine). What differentiates your site from other education websites/portals? There are number of forums and newsletters. What will make your site/portal/service so special?

[MBA UOP]

YaSO,

One thing that I can emphasize in my plan is marketing. Forums are basically giving the user the same experiences. The only thing that would give me an advantage would be marketing. I would like to contact colleges all over the world and somehow get students to be aware of the site and entice them to sign on. There are thousands of students all over the world. However, I do not think that colleges and universities will want to give out students names and email addresses. I could also purchase a list of prospective students from another company (this may be too expensive for a one man show).

Thanks!

[MBA UOP]

Phil,

I am assuming that all these prices you put were yearly? I don't know why, but I would think it would sound like more $ since I need someone else's server, support, and site design. I see alot of free forum software out there, but I think I need my own server for that.

Thanks,

Jim

[YaSO]

I would like to contact colleges all over the world and somehow get students to be aware of the site and entice them to sign on.
Well... how would you do that ;) ?

I see a lot of free forum software out there, but I think I need my own server for that.
phpBB http://www.phpbb.com/
Invision Power Board http://www.invisionboard.com/
YaBB http://www.yabbforum.com/

Also I don't think you'd need your own server initially unless you plan some massive marketing campaign.

[howiehey]

There are lots of good resources online to provide info on distance learning - just make sure you are providing information of value to your users

Also - I agree - lots of good *and cheap* forum apps out there

Take care
Howie
http://www.hjventures.com/glossary.html (Definition of business plan terms)
http://www.investorbusinessplan.com (How to write an investor ready plan)
http://www.sample-business-plan.org (List of sample business plans)