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STRAMGT 356 Cohort Seminar 1

STRAMGT 356 Cohort Seminar 1. Juan Bruce Kate McCarthy Bethany Poole Adam Winnick. Information Search Marketplaces: People and Information You Can Trust DRAFT. Problem Definition. Google is an inefficient means of matching people who seek information with those who have it

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STRAMGT 356 Cohort Seminar 1

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  1. STRAMGT 356 Cohort Seminar 1 Juan Bruce Kate McCarthy Bethany Poole Adam Winnick Information Search Marketplaces: People and Information You Can Trust DRAFT

  2. Problem Definition • Google is an inefficient means of matching people who seek information with those who have it • People that maintain websites are not the only ones with valuable information • Reviews, ratings, comments can be valuable but difficult to search for on Google • Weak incentives prevent greater proliferation of information online • Bloggers earn $20/month on average from AdSense • Time-sensitive information that can be trusted is difficult to access • Emergence of RSS feeds compensate for Google’s inability to index fast enough • Google is optimized for advertising not for information

  3. Proposed Solution • A marketplace for information search will provide an alternative to Google by instituting the following: • Sophisticated reputation platform • Information will be filtered by the community using ratings (e.g. eBay) • Virtual economy • People will be able to exchange information using credits similar to those in MMORPGs (e.g. Second Life) • Collaboration tools • People will be able to exchange information passively (e.g. slashdot.org, newsvine.com, digg.com) and actively (e.g IM, VoIP) • Community search will trump algorithmic search

  4. Competition • Our competition is anyone that is a starting point for information search

  5. Market size and growth characteristics • Insert slide on growth of online search and market share of major players • Then talk about segmenting market for news/information search

  6. Venture Viability Research Plan

  7. Business Model • We are exploring several alternatives: • Virtual Economy • Users earn credits to access our ratings/filtering tools and content by contributing/linking to community or paying cash • People are already trying this • Could be very complicated – need an economist? • Lead Generation • Use Google AdSense or create your own ad network (Gather.com) and share with publishers of content • Money may be de minimus • Direct access • Ingenio (formerly keen.com) pay per call model • Take piece of transaction when files are exchanged • Subscription • Charge monthly fee for access to community • Not very popular outside of online dating • Should goal be to leverage existing information on web? • Should we acquire our own content, or do both?

  8. Market Evaluation: Investment Research • User profile – Retail investor • An investor who buys and sells securities for their own behalf, not for an organization, and trades in much smaller quantities than institutional investors • Unmet user need – High • Relative to institutional investors, the retail investor is at a disadvantage when making investment decisions • Costs • Lack of financial means to afford investment analysts, expensive databases and consulting services (e.g. channel checks, market analyses) • Access • Lack of trusted professional network to share ideas and craft investment theses • Lack of access to time-critical information • Technical sophistication of user base – High • High Internet penetration • High user engagement • High level of comfort with Internet security • High reliance on online information search and tools (e.g. Yahoo Finance)

  9. Market Evaluation:Investment Research • Market sizing Plan • Catalog process for investment decisions then segment and price information services • Institutional investors • Interviews with money managers • Retail investors • Available research (Forrester) • Survey (GSB classmates) • Obtain revenue per search (coverage x click-thru rate x price-per-click) for investment related keywords • Talk to Yahoo! Strategic Data Services • Available research • Show adoption of online trading (e.g. Ameritrade) as a proxy for growth in retail investing • Available research

  10. Contacts • Primary • [can list from wiki but should brainstorm also] • Secondary

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