

Need help for an idea - txcgray

Hi,<p>I emailed Derek Sivers for advice and he recommended I post here.<p>Background Me:  ER RN X 30 years, ENFP on the Myers/Briggs, founded TexARS; Texas Adoptee Reunion Services to have the non profit status for my Search Angel work of reuniting those separated by adoption.  I searched and found my birth family single handedly back in 1976 (before the internet) and have helped reunited many families.  Compiling a book on the Kerrville Folk Festival as I am very involved in the folk music community here in Austin, Texas.  My nickname in my younger years was "TB" for tenacious bitch.  I don't let go, I achieve my goals.<p>Problem:   I decided to go back to school to obtain a Bachelors degree and then pursue a Masters, possibly in nursing.  Since I have accumulated over 130 hours in nursing, criminal justice, sociology and psychology, I wanted a degree plan which would accept the majority of my credits and require the least amount of coursework to be awarded a Bachelors.  I spent hours and hours pouring over individual college websites comparing my transcripts with their prereqs, degree plan requirements, etc.<p>My thought is that there are a multitude of people in my situation, especially now with the economy, many people are returning to school in order to improve their employment prospects.<p>Idea:  A website where a user registers, enters their transcript information, coursework numbers, etc and selects colleges which fit their requirements; online, physical location, private, public, etc.  The program filters through all the degree plans and outputs a list of colleges, degree plans, lists which courses on their transcripts would be accepted and what further courses would be required to complete the degree plans. This enables the user to choose the path of least resistance in order to complete their degree.<p>Setup:   User registration is free, college, university, training program registrations are free.  Ad space sold to colleges, universities, training programs, loan programs, book stores, apartment locators, etc  Could be tethered to online communities such as facebook, etc.<p>Need:  Partner or Partners to bring this to fruition.  While the computer partner/s are building the program, I would be building relationships, obtaining funding, etc.  Would prefer someone here in Austin and second choice would be Kitakyushu Japan because I lived there for a year as a child and would like to return for a visit.  Really anywhere is fine, but if I don't tell the Universe what I want, how will it know what to deliver?<p>Other:  Please send me a message if you are interested and/or if you see the obvious problems to this idea which I, as a non computer person haven't realized because I don't know what I don't know.<p>Thanks!
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m311ton
Interesting idea. I think it is best-articulated with the phrase, "Choose the
path of least resistance in order to complete your degree."

Finding a developer is very difficult. Have you thought about pitching the
idea to one college and seeing if they will front the cash to develop this for
themselves? I could see a nursing school wanting to use this for lead-gen
purposes. Structure the deal properly and you'll get the cash to develop
something now and an opportunity down the road to roll it out without any
exclusivity. Maybe not ideal, but an opportunity nonetheless to get the ball
rolling before securing a partner. Having a customer developing your first
product would go a long way in your recruiting efforts.

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txcgray
Thank you. I had not thought of pitching it to a single university first.
Valuable suggestion. I can think of several which would like this as part of
their own marketingplan. Thanks

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txcgray
Wanted to add that there are a couple of universities which have it set up for
applicants to type in their transcript information as well as a common
application site for those applying to nursing programs. Both of those are for
individuals who have already decided which program is appropriate. This
website backs up the process to help the person decided which program they
wish to pursue. Especially someone like myself with multiple hours in various
areas who is looking for the path of least resistance to obtain a Bachelors.
These people are not really interested in a particular degree, they want the
Bachelors which will give them the most credit for the classes they already
have taken.

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glimcat
For most universities, the transfer credit is evaluated manually at time of
admission. For-profit schools are likely to be the major exception. Solve that
problem, and you might have a good idea. Absent a solution to that problem,
any implementation is going to be very limited.

Also, what's the math on the potential size of the user base? How does that
compute against your expected revenue sources? Obtaining data is likely to be
effort intensive. In the optimistic case, is it possible for this to break
even?

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txcgray
Thank you for your feedback. The amount of data will be huge and that is a
concern when thinking about the practicality.

Your first statement, that schools evaluate transcripts on admossion is
absolutely correct, this is not to solve the schools problem

oftranscript evaluation but to solve the prospective students problem of "
where can I go to complete my degree in the shortest time possible? And what
degree will be quickest for me to complete?"

Of course a formal eval by each school would still be required, but that step
is further in the process.

Thank you for taking time to read thru this and give a response.

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revorad
You should try and get a prototype built through vworker, odesk or elance.
However bad the prototype may be, you will have an easier time talking to
developers if you have something working to show them rather than just an
idea. Your idea is probably good but there are so many idea-people around that
it's hard to be taken seriously. Good luck!

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txcgray
Thank you. I had no idea of how to take that step. I will look there as well.

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revorad
Check out Dan Shapiro's interview on Mixergy.com - <http://mixergy.com/dan-
shapiro-ontela-interview/>. He talks about how he built the first version of
Sparkbuy (recently bought by Google) through outsourcing. You have to pay for
the video, but the transcript's there to read for free.

