The first idea centers around providing a service for student entrepreneurs to find business partners and/or funding for the ideas.
Browsing the internet the only worthwhile sites that I found were as follows:
"Dorm Works" is a website which provides a service which
"Start an Internet Business & Pay Off Your Student Loans - How to start a highly profitable dot com with very little start up capital..."
After reading this I decided to continue, the home page was flooded with sales text which wouldn't look out of place on a pyramid system site or a spam business certainty site. It ultimately lead me (after a long read) to the bottom of the page where they had an image of a software box and a price next to it. Apparently they will provide you with everything you need to make $500 a month whilst you're a student.
I can safely say that this is not the kind of project that I will be pursuing and therefore does not count as competition. Although there are elements of the site which ring true with my project idea, I will not be selling a service which guarantees success.
Visually, the site fails to impress me either. There is a rushed feeling to the design and the paragraphs lack vital left and right padding so that they don't line up exactly the the div edges.
The navigation is also disappointing. Each main link is an image with no hover state which affects accessibility and the whole 'finished' feel of the site.
The second site I found follows much similar traits elicited by the previous. Here's a screenshot:
This site presents itself a lot better than the previous in the sense that there is a feeling that this site was outsourced to a company for the design. Although, the logo is a bit 'cheesy' with the 'cool' typeface used for the word 'students'. The header image of the people gives a personable feeling to the site and makes you feel like you know the success stories behind the idea.
Again, this site is selling a product which would aid you as a student in being a business guru. This service however, is only available to students studying in Nova Scotia.
The 3rd site I thought was relevant was the following:
Although not strictly speaking a student business website, it is offering a business competition for students. The clean, minimalist design (although indicative of a CMS template) indicates trust and a concept that you can rely on to speak the truth. This could be a design direction that I decide to follow.
The fourth site is more for educational rather than showcase. Here is the screenshot:
Initial thoughts are obvious, this is an ugly website. Ignoring that fact though, there are useful tips here and this could provide a relevant research base which could be explored if this concept were to be chosen.
Luis
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