Summary: Courseopedia.com is a college course search engine, primarily marketing towards community colleges and those interested in improving their own personal skills.  The site launched in October 2008 and currently is only in the California region with 50,000+ courses.  Definitely keep an eye on this site!

1)      What was the “ahh haa” moment for you? How did you decide to start this site?
A few years ago I (Abdullah Yahya) wanted to find a French course to take in my spare t me. I first tried searching Google for courses but it didn’t give relevant local results. Then I visited the college websites in my area. Not only did I not know all of the schools available in my area, I found that searching them was very time-consuming and frustrating as I had to conduct separate searches. I figured if there was a search engine for jobs, cars and real estate, there should also be a search engine for courses. This led to the birth of Courseopedia with co-founders Jawad Ahmad and Haseeb Qawam.

2)      When did you start / how long did it take you to develop the site?

We started Courseopedia in October 2008. It took a few months to develop and a few months to populate it with the 50,000+ course we currently have in it from various California community colleges.

3)      The tough thing about starting any website is the “Catch 22” problem between Content vs Traffic vs Advertisements.  A site will not receive any traffic without adequate content (IE students will not visit Courseopedia if their school and courses are not listed).  No one will advertise or pay to be on the site without adequate traffic.  How did Courseopedia manage this constant challenge?

We realize that this is a problem so we aggregated course information from various California community colleges to seed the database so that prospective students will find results in their searches. We currently have a little over 50,000 courses on Courseopedia. We hope this will lead to colleges and private instructors to post their courses themselves (which is currently free) to generate more content for search users.

4)      What is the business model of Courseopedia?

Currently, Courseopedia is free for colleges and instructors to post course information. Eventually we will charge a nominal per-course posting fee. We may also sell ads.

5)      If a student is already enrolled at university___X___, why would they use your system to search for classes; when they can use the system provided by the school?

Courseopedia’s primary purpose is for the general public that is interested in finding continuing education courses such as real estate, art, weight training, French, Java programming, etc. Many of these types of courses are offered at community colleges. Courseopedia is not intended to replace a school’s own course search engine but rather to help them market their courses to the general public to increase enrollment.

6)      How is the site funded? (Privately, loans, credit, investors, etc.)

The site is currently privately funded.

a.       What are the top questions you would suggest to others to practice/know before seeking funding.
What’s your business model? How much traffic do you have? Who are your competitors? What’s your go-to-market strategy?

7)      Explain the process of how you got the first couple schools on-board.

We presented Courseopedia at the ACCCA (Association of California Community ollege Administors) conference and the TechEd (Technology in Education) conference. We also had a booth at the TechEd conference and emailed some college marketing directors. These efforts eventually resulted in a few early adopters coming on board as launch partner colleges.

8)      How do you go about expanding to other schools?

We plan on manually aggregating college course information until we generate enough traffic to the site which would interest colleges and instructors to post their courses themselves. Our expectation is that the more courses and traffic to the site, the more schools and instructors will want to post their own courses resulting in continuous expansion. /span>

9)      How do you get the word out about your website to the students at the 17 schools your currently at?

Courseopedia caters to the general public, not just current college students. As such, in addition to our publicity efforts, we plan on using social media and local advertising to reach out to the areas where we currently have many courses.

10)   How do you:

a.       Get the data

We have custom-built scrapers that aggregate course information.

b.      Maintain the data (and ensure it is accurate)

Every semester we aggregate new course information. Most college course information doesn’t change. We inform search users in search results that course information is subject to change and encourage them to verify the accuracy of course information with the course provider. Schools and instructors who post courses themselves can log in and update their course information to ensure accuracy.

11)   Do you plan on adding the ability to register for classes also in the future? (One stop searching, one top registration).
We currently don’t plan on adding a course registration feature because that would require integration with college registration systems which vary from one college to another and contain confidential student information. Colleges can include course registration links directly in course detail pages on Courseopedia for students to register directly at the college’s website.

12)   What top 5 resources do you use or would you suggest to other student entrepreneurs currently in school?

1. Use a shared web hosting service to initially keep costs low
2. Use open-source technologies to keep costs low
3. Use social media to help spread the word in a low-cost way (e.g. youtube, facebook, myspace, twitter, etc)
4. Read tech blogs, e.g. TechCrunch, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, etc, to keep apprised of other web startups, potential competitors and the startup community in general.
5. Attend free or low-cost entrepreneur meetings to network with people in the field.

13)   What is your favorite quote?

Don’t worry about what anybody else is going to do. The best way to predict the future is to invent it. -Alan Kay

This was a guest post by College Town Menus (CTM).  CTM enables restaurants the ability to dynamically control every aspect of their menu on one central website that targets students from their respective college towns. With CTM acting as the official restaurant portal for local universities, students are able to quickly identify what and where to eat, without having to search multiple websites or scuffle through their menu drawer.

My name is Derek Johnson, and I’m 24 years old. I went to school at the University of Houston. During my junior year, I decided to drop out of the entrepreneurial program to start my own SMS marketing company , Tatango.

What was your defining moment where you said, “I want to start my own business”?

I was sitting at lunch with a friend who was having trouble communicating with her group, and I could relate because I was part of various groups on campus. I realized there was a need that had to be filled, people needed an easier way to communicate with a large group of people. From then on, I worked to find a solution and the process lead me to start Tatango.

Tell us about your business venture, Tatango, and how it was developed. Why did you want to launch such a company and where is it at now?

As I said above, the company was born out of necessity; it wasn’t like I came up with the idea out of the blue. There was a need for a service like Tatango and no one was servicing that need. In regards to what we do here, we allow any group such as a church, athletic team, or college organization the ability to send text and voice messages to their entire group simultaneously from their computer or mobile phone for free.

Where did the name “Tatango” come from?

This is an interesting story. The company was originally named NetworkText and we decided to change the name because it was too descriptive and started to restrict us in terms of what we were able to do. Now with the company name, Tatango, we are free to move and adapt as we see fit. This was a costly lesson, so if you are thinking of picking a company name, make sure it can be flexible.

What has been the largest challenge launching into the mobile/text messaging industry? Is there much competition within the industry and your niche?

The hardest part about launching a company in the mobile space is that you have to rely heavily on the carriers, who in the end are the ones responsible to transmit our messages to a user’s mobile phone. This has always been a hurdle in the mobile space, but we have been able to navigate successfully through these waters with the help of our great partners. There are a lot of companies in the mobile space, yet most of them focus on the commercial aspects such as SMS marketing, but no one besides Tatango has been able to create a service built just for groups and organizations.

As an entrepreneur it is great to see your idea go from just a concept to a business supporting employees. Is there anything you wish you had done differently from initial launch to now?

I started the company with a background in business, thinking I could outsource the technology side. I was wrong. We were building a website, I look back and think I was crazy to put the forward facing part of our company (the website) in the hands of someone that didn’t have a real stake in the company. Instead of outsourcing, I should have brought on a partner that could have handled the technology side of the company and would complement my skills from the very beginning.

What’s your take on entrepreneurship? Are you born with it or can it be taught?

Entrepreneurship, I think there’s two parts to it… The first part you are born with, which is the drive, desire and “hustle”, this can’t be taught. The second part is the skills and knowledge that it takes to be an entrepreneur, which have to be taught to you. You can obtain this knowledge from anywhere, doesn’t mean you need to attend a four-year college. I learned the majority of it from my parents, who are also entrepreneurs.

Do you have any favorite books on business or motivation that you think our readers would enjoy or should check out?

I don’t have time to read books, but I do read blogs. As an entrepreneur I think it’s important to read two types of blogs: entrepreneurial blogs and industry specific blogs.

Being in the startup life can be a wild ride with traveling, long days, and short nights. How have you been balancing the startup life with the normal life of a 20 something year old?

I don’t really have a normal life of someone my age. I don’t have time to do the things that other people my age do, and that’s a sacrifice I understand I have to make. I see a lot of people who want the end results right off the bat, and it just doesn’t work that way. You have to be willing to sacrifice and work long hours to start your own company. Your company really becomes your entire life.

Finally, what is your top recommendation to students or young entrepreneurs looking to start a business on the internet?

Just go for it. I see a lot of people with really cool ideas, but they never take that leap and do it. If you really want it and are willing to work your ass off, then just go for it.

Derek, thank you very much for granting us an interview. We know you are busy and always have something going on, so it is greatly apprecaited.

Also, for everyone reading, be sure to check out the launch of Tatango.TV. Basically, they have placed web cams throughout their office and are recording everything 24/7 and streaming it on the internet. Should be fun!

Start off by telling us a little bit about your background – where you went to school, what you studied, etc.
I’m from Ohio, originally. Bowling Green and Dayton. I moved to Des Moines when I was 15. I went to DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana. Graduated in 1993 in Psychology and Business Administration. Went into advertising right after college.

What sparked your initial interest in entrepreneurship?
Always had a thing for coming up with business ideas. You know the routine. You come up with this great idea and ultimately end up talking yourself out of it. I became quite good at it. Drove my wife mad. But one day, almost four years ago, I had this idea that I found really hard to blow holes threw. That idea was and became what is known as SmartyPig.

Almost four years ago, my wife and I had our first child, Charlie. I remember thinking how important it was to start a college savings program for him. I remember starting his 529 plan a few weeks after he was born. We started putting a hundred dollars away each month. And after 5 or 6 months, I remember logging into the 529 site and seeing his savings build. And more importantly, remembering that feeling of “responsible saving”. It was like I hadn’t even missed the money. Automatically taken out of my checking each month. We just became accustomed to not having the money. Soon after I was in Phoenix playing golf with some old college buddies. I had just dropped them off at the airport and I went back to my hotel to kill a few hours before my flight back to Des Moines. I grabbed my computer looking for a site that would help me save up for other things in my life. I wanted to save up for a trip for my wife and I (some day) to go to Italy. A lofty goal I knew would take years to save for. And I also knew I wanted a new road bike next year. Was training for Ride The Rockies with some friends… So I just assumed there was a site out their that was all about “goal savings”. When I didn’t see it, I guess you could say I had my “light bulb” moment. Started drafting a business plan right then and there. It was all I thought about. Trying to shoot holes in the idea from every direction. I spent the next few months flushing out the idea and showed it to a friend of mine, Jon Gaskell. It wasn’t long before the two of us quit our jobs and became the co-founders of SmartyPig.

What is SmartyPig, how did you get involved with the project, and what role do you play now?
So what is SmartyPig you ask? Well, simply put, SmartyPig helps you save for specific goals in your life. Be it a vacation, a wedding, a big-screen TV, a home remodel, etc… Anything! It’s the only banking application that is truly social, allowing you to make your goal “public” so your mom, dad, family and friends can contribute to your interest bearing savings goals. In addition, if you know what you are saving for, SmartyPig has partnered with almost 20 retailers around the country (like Amazon.com, Best Buy, Sears, Home Depot, etc…) that will give you up to an additional 5% cash boost to your savings. SmartyPig goals are FDIC insured and accrue interest (currently 3.9% APY). It really is a 21st century piggy bank.

You can see my goals on SmartyPig here: http://www.smartypig.com/friends-goals Just type in my email address – mferrari@smartypig.com

We really don’t have titles here. We wear a lot of hats. Spend a lot of my time talking and listening to customers. Jon and I are copied on every customer service email and many times, find ourselves emailing back and forth with a customer. It’s great to hear what our customers are saving for and about how passionate they are about SmartyPig. I work closely with the developers to ensure the site delivers on a positive customer experience, brainstorm about future enhancements and services and I oversee the daily operations of the company.

When did SmartyPig open its doors and launch?
SmartyPig was founded in January 2007. We were in BETA for the first few months of 2008. We officially launched in April of 2008.

What advantages do you see SmartyPig having over other competition in the area of online banks and savings accounts such as ING direct? What would make someone want to switch to SmartyPig from another service?
Well, in all reality, we see us competing more with credit card companies than traditional online savings companies. We’re really trying to reverse the “buy now, pay later” mentality. The beauty of SmartyPig is that we really aren’t asking people to change banks. Keep your existing banking relationships. Save for retirement. Save for your 529. But when it comes time to save for specific things in your life, we believe there is no better way than SmartyPig. It’s fun. It’s social. And most importantly, it’s rewarding. Wouldn’t it be nice to own that vacation on the plane ride home? Not have to worry about paying it off for the next 20 months?

We also see SmartyPig playing a big role with parents and kids. Wouldn’t it be nice to finally sit down with your kids and talk about the importance of savings? SmartyPig let’s parents do just that. SmartyPig is using the latest in Web 2.0 technologies, including blogs, Facebook, a comprehensive widget platform that spans over 20 social networking sites, Twitter and Get Satisfaction.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Des-Moines-IA/SmartyPig/8164998395
Twitter: http://twitter.com/smartypig
Get Satisfaction: http://getsatisfaction.com/smartypig
Blog: http://blog.smartypig.com/

I don’t know if your willing to tell but, I figured I’d ask: Since launching SmartyPig, how many registered users have you had? And is there any way to follow how much money has been saved (or an estimate) with your service?
I can tell you that in two short months, we have customers in all 50 states. And as you suggested, SmartyPig has some pretty powerful metrics. We know what users are savings for, how much they are saving and when the are going to reach their goal.

What are the growth plans for SmartyPig? Are there goals that you are trying to reach over the next few months, year, etc such as a certain number of users, etc?
Each day I get to work, I think about how we can make SmartyPig better. We listen to our customers and react quickly. With that said, we are humbled by the response SmartyPig has been getting around the country and around the globe. We are looking at a number of opportunities for SmartyPig to expand globally. We believe the concept of savings resonates everywhere.

What has been your largest road block/challenge that you and your team have faced with launching a web 2.0 company such as SmartyPig?
There has not been one specific road block that comes to mind. Our biggest hurdles were in regards to the barrier to entry to the online financial services space in general. We worked very closely with our banking partner, auditors, state and federal regulatory groups. Our biggest challenges frankly stemmed from the fact that no one had ever seen a company like SmartyPig do what we set forth to do. And that is to build the only true banking application that is social.

Entrepreneurs who are still in their start up phases usually have some pretty good advice for younger entrepreneurs or students who are thinking about starting a business or may have just started one. What are some words of wisdom that you would pass along to help them out? Possibly things you wish you had known/thought about, etc.
Believe in the idea. And believe in yourself. I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone say “well, that will never work”. Just because someone has never done it, does not mean it can’t be done. Don’t take someone’s word for it. Do your own research and find the answers yourself. And most importantly, don’t be afraid to get outside your comfort zone. It’s usually when the best thinking occurs.

Being an internet based company, I am sure you spend a lot of time on the computer. When you get tired of looking at your own website or have some down time, what websites do you check out, what forums do you participate in, or what blogs do you read?
I have a few favorites. LinkedIn. Twitter. Mashable. TechCrunch. Crave. Facebook. Mint. I spend a lot of time (primarily at night) on the web just interacting with sites. Seeing how people are using things like AJAX and other techniques to enhance the user experience. I also love following what our friends at Happy Cog are up to. Granted we were a client, I think they’re all geniuses.
http://www.happycog.com

Finally, can you tell what the most saved for item or event is with the current users of SmartyPig?

What I can share with you is that the top 5 categories for savings on SmartyPig are as follows: saving to save, travel, electronics, home improvement, and weddings.

*****

Thanks again Mike for working with me to put together a great interview! Also, for our readers, look out for a great prize coming soon (as in a few days) from SmartyPig to encourage you to sign up and start saving!