Who is your target market? For an adult to take nearly a year out of their life is a big ask. For whom do you expect it will be worth it? Staff/campaigners at existing non-profits? Existing bloggers/youtubers etc on related subjects? Anyone else? How large is the potential pool of students and how will you reach them and convince them that the course is worth the time and money?
I realise this is not a commercial project, but I think you would benefit from some start-up like thinking: who is this product for, what is the market, how do you reach customers, what is a minimum viable product from which to iterate? Apologies if you have already done that, but it wasn’t communicated in your post.
Thanks for the note! I answer your questions below. One overall comment: this is an expansion of a project/school that’s already successful and profitable, with a proven model and product. I’ve already taught 100 students, with demand far beyond what I can currently supply.
“Who is your target market?” City and state employees, and several markets in the general population, with immediate focus on tech, law, and finance professionals. I am not asking them to take a year out of their lives; all of my classes are meant to be taken with a regular job and busy life.
“For whom do you expect it will be worth it?” I’ve taught over 100 students already, and ~all of them would say it’s been worth it. It’s exciting to learn what the government actually is from a charismatic teacher, even if you don’t go on to be super active politically! (Although many do go on to be active politically, empowered by their new knowledge.)
“How large is the potential pool of students and how will you reach them...” I think the pool is at least 10,000 people throughout NYC, but probably far more. I’ll reach them the way I’ve already been reaching them with my established classes, via Twitter, my newsletter, and word of mouth. Demand already vastly outstrips my ability to teach my current classes, which is why I’m focusing on expanding and training more teachers.
“I think you would benefit from some start-up like thinking.” Agree, and already done. Maximum New York (and me) have been sustained principally from revenue/profit since I started in March 2022.
I think it would add a lot of value to this post to emphasize that this is already something that’s being implemented / you already have the infrastructure for. Like Dumbledore’s Army, I would have a lot of skepticism towards this if it wasn’t clear that this was already being put into practice / the way was already paved. My first thought was to comment on practicalities and purpose. Since it’s already in practice or on the way to being there, knowing that fact would allow people like me to move on and give comments that are more relevant to the project in its current state.
Who is your target market? For an adult to take nearly a year out of their life is a big ask. For whom do you expect it will be worth it? Staff/campaigners at existing non-profits? Existing bloggers/youtubers etc on related subjects? Anyone else? How large is the potential pool of students and how will you reach them and convince them that the course is worth the time and money?
I realise this is not a commercial project, but I think you would benefit from some start-up like thinking: who is this product for, what is the market, how do you reach customers, what is a minimum viable product from which to iterate? Apologies if you have already done that, but it wasn’t communicated in your post.
Thanks for the note! I answer your questions below. One overall comment: this is an expansion of a project/school that’s already successful and profitable, with a proven model and product. I’ve already taught 100 students, with demand far beyond what I can currently supply.
“Who is your target market?” City and state employees, and several markets in the general population, with immediate focus on tech, law, and finance professionals. I am not asking them to take a year out of their lives; all of my classes are meant to be taken with a regular job and busy life.
“For whom do you expect it will be worth it?” I’ve taught over 100 students already, and ~all of them would say it’s been worth it. It’s exciting to learn what the government actually is from a charismatic teacher, even if you don’t go on to be super active politically! (Although many do go on to be active politically, empowered by their new knowledge.)
“How large is the potential pool of students and how will you reach them...” I think the pool is at least 10,000 people throughout NYC, but probably far more. I’ll reach them the way I’ve already been reaching them with my established classes, via Twitter, my newsletter, and word of mouth. Demand already vastly outstrips my ability to teach my current classes, which is why I’m focusing on expanding and training more teachers.
“I think you would benefit from some start-up like thinking.” Agree, and already done. Maximum New York (and me) have been sustained principally from revenue/profit since I started in March 2022.
I think it would add a lot of value to this post to emphasize that this is already something that’s being implemented / you already have the infrastructure for. Like Dumbledore’s Army, I would have a lot of skepticism towards this if it wasn’t clear that this was already being put into practice / the way was already paved. My first thought was to comment on practicalities and purpose. Since it’s already in practice or on the way to being there, knowing that fact would allow people like me to move on and give comments that are more relevant to the project in its current state.
Ok, sorry for the misplaced advice. Good luck with the school!