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Hi all, **(Moved from general startup thread as I think that was the wrong place)**
This is my first post even though I have been reading threads in this forum for over a year.
I'm a computer science university student and will be entering my final (4th) year in september.
Last week I thought up an idea for an internet based website which would provide jobs within a specific industry.
What gave me the idea was the fact that I was searching for this type of job and was struggling to get it.
And I know plenty of others are also searching for this job. So I spent the last week drawing up all kinds of ideas regarding the business idea, basically I was trying to find out if it was something that could be successful. I discussed the idea with several people including someone who had operated a business similar to it and everyone of them said it was a great idea. I worked out the costs of starting it up and how much I would make. I worked out that I could be easily making 200k + within 1-2 years of starting up.
Two days ago I reached a turning point when I realised that the figure that I used to calculate the size of the industry / number of people working in the industry was false. I discovered that the websites promoting this figure were including other jobs under this industry type (so the actual number was much less). I then searched for an accurate figure for the number of businesses operating in this industry and the number came to be 1/6th the size of the number I had initially understood it to be. So I spent the last two days working out if this renders the idea useless or if there is still hope.
At this moment in time, I am on the fence regarding whether or not to pursue this idea. I know that there is demand (possibly enormous demand) but the potential product/service supply has been reduced severely since the realisation of my error. If I can't supply the service I cant make a profit from it. I have since carried out more calculations using the new figures and I am sure that I could make profit however there would be a lot more work involved. I could be looking at initial expenses of 10k+ for the website, then realistically 2-5k gross profit in the first year. However, if I manage to get 1 in every 50 of these businesses to colloborate with me, I would earn 20000 - 60000+ gross profit. If I eventually got 1 in 5 of these businesses to colloborate with me, I would earn 200000 - 600000+ gp. These goals could be unrealistic and I could end up spending too much time and money - of which I will be limited (final year exams etc.). Or this could be something I could make work and be thankful that I took the risk for.
The questions I'm asking myself are whether or not this is too much work for the potential profit I would make. Should I wait for another idea to come along with higher potential. Or should I take the risk and go ahead with this idea. I know there is a demand, but I will have to work to achieve the supply.
Is a business that could potentially earn only 10k per annum in the first 1-3 years something I should stay away from ?
Or am I underestimating how useful 10k pa + the experience of starting the company could be ?
This is my first post even though I have been reading threads in this forum for over a year.
I'm a computer science university student and will be entering my final (4th) year in september.
Last week I thought up an idea for an internet based website which would provide jobs within a specific industry.
What gave me the idea was the fact that I was searching for this type of job and was struggling to get it.
And I know plenty of others are also searching for this job. So I spent the last week drawing up all kinds of ideas regarding the business idea, basically I was trying to find out if it was something that could be successful. I discussed the idea with several people including someone who had operated a business similar to it and everyone of them said it was a great idea. I worked out the costs of starting it up and how much I would make. I worked out that I could be easily making 200k + within 1-2 years of starting up.
Two days ago I reached a turning point when I realised that the figure that I used to calculate the size of the industry / number of people working in the industry was false. I discovered that the websites promoting this figure were including other jobs under this industry type (so the actual number was much less). I then searched for an accurate figure for the number of businesses operating in this industry and the number came to be 1/6th the size of the number I had initially understood it to be. So I spent the last two days working out if this renders the idea useless or if there is still hope.
At this moment in time, I am on the fence regarding whether or not to pursue this idea. I know that there is demand (possibly enormous demand) but the potential product/service supply has been reduced severely since the realisation of my error. If I can't supply the service I cant make a profit from it. I have since carried out more calculations using the new figures and I am sure that I could make profit however there would be a lot more work involved. I could be looking at initial expenses of 10k+ for the website, then realistically 2-5k gross profit in the first year. However, if I manage to get 1 in every 50 of these businesses to colloborate with me, I would earn 20000 - 60000+ gross profit. If I eventually got 1 in 5 of these businesses to colloborate with me, I would earn 200000 - 600000+ gp. These goals could be unrealistic and I could end up spending too much time and money - of which I will be limited (final year exams etc.). Or this could be something I could make work and be thankful that I took the risk for.
The questions I'm asking myself are whether or not this is too much work for the potential profit I would make. Should I wait for another idea to come along with higher potential. Or should I take the risk and go ahead with this idea. I know there is a demand, but I will have to work to achieve the supply.
Is a business that could potentially earn only 10k per annum in the first 1-3 years something I should stay away from ?
Or am I underestimating how useful 10k pa + the experience of starting the company could be ?
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