
Textbook Rentals Big Business - Kleiner Perkins Goes After Chegg - qhoxie
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/09/textbook-rentals-big-business-kleiner-perkins-goes-after-chegg/
======
kul
these guys were our early boso.com competitors

~~~
aston
Yeah, they've been around quite a while. I remember them starting to acquire
book-selling companies right around when me and a few friends had a really
popular one starting at MIT. We abandoned that space 'cause it looked like
there was no money in it. I'm doubly impressed, though, since 1) they stuck
around and 2) they actually managed to run into a really sick business model.
Maybe pg was right about startups succeeding by not dying...

------
nazgulnarsil
there are a lot of aspects to the college experience that haven't made it into
the 21st century. lots of business opportunities.

~~~
wyclif
Other than textbooks, what did you have in mind?

~~~
omouse
There doesn't seem to be a good classifieds system for campuses. Facebook
isn't too helpful, neither is craigslist.

~~~
cdr
Pretty much every college (or every technical one at least) has a homegrown
system or three.

From what I've seen, most students just use Craigslist. I don't see the
problem with it.

~~~
maximilian
Craigslist works well for colleges with small towns. Thus the load on the
classifieds stays low enough to keep track of. Bored students can then just
surf the for sale section. In bigger cities it stops working so well, but
really, college students mostly have crap, so I wouldn't buy from them anyway.
I like to buy from yuppies who are getting rid of their sorta-used couch to
get a new better one. They practically give it away.

------
utsmokingaces
Their books are still expensive. College student should buy international
versions for around $20. Abebooks.com has tons of them.

