For our project, our group is exploring a platform for fostering productivity through shared accountability. We are specifically targeting individuals aspiring to break into software engineering (SWE), product management (PM), or consulting roles. These people must undergo intensive interviewing processes, requiring weeks or months of preparation, which often is a lonely endeavor.
I had conducted two relevant interviews: one of a student who is undergoing the SWE interview process, and one who had underwent the consulting process. Through both, I learned the following:
- Difficulties during the interview process:
- SWE: feeling unqualified, undermines interview. Lacks effective practice – usually sitting and coding by yourself, trying to convince yourself that this is the right way. No one to give you guidance.
- Consulting: Lots of studying on your own.
- Working style:
- SWE: Practicing – want it to be collaborative with a mentor, realistic simulation of actual interviews – WANT social interactions
- Consulting: Likes working collaboratively, would be especially good with case partner interviews (mentors)
- Platforms currently paying for:
- SWE: Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Amazon Prime
- Consulting: NYT, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Spotify, Hulu
- Would you pay for a service like our project?
- SWE: Would not like to pay, maybe because Stanford. Lots of resources here already – working mentorship – sort of like tutoring
- Consulting: Maybe – depends how good it is
Applicants to these jobs seem to prepare for interviews independently, and a common trend is that they would prefer to have others– especially mentors– be there to help support them. They tend to pay for entertainment, not social, product and services. they are hesitant on paying for our service, which indicates that this may be a relatively new market that this product is tapping into.
The markets that we have identified as potentially viable are the following:
| Market | Estimated amount of people | Market Size |
| Total Addressable Market: Students (undergraduate, graduate, new grads) worldwide applying for internships/entry-level roles | 2.3 Billion 20-30 year olds worldwide x 0.38 higher education enrollment rate x 0.10 going into relevant fields = 87.4M | $1.7B / Year |
| Serviceable Available Market: Undergraduate and Graduate students in the US applying for internships/entry-level jobs | (18.99M undergrad students + 3.1M grad students) x 0.25 = 5.5225M | $110.4M / Year |
| Serviceable Obtainable Market: Stanford students (undergraduate, graduate, new grads) applying for internships/entry-level roles | 16,194 total undergraduate/graduate students x 0.70 = 11,335 students | $226,586 / year |
We had calculated these statistics by drawing them from sources within 2 years online, as well as setting a tentative freemium business model; Individuals have a period of 21 days to try the product out with their friends, and then will have to pay $2.99 / month or $19.99 / year. To me, the identified markets seem viable, at least from a monetary standpoint, although actually tapping into each market will definitely be a challenge. Thus, these exercises provided my team and I some good insights as to where our idea stands, which I am excited to explore further in the upcoming weeks.
