00:19:03 · Vansh Langer, Michael Nogen
[00:19:03] S5: Right. Only thing I could say... Only, like, kind of assessment I could make is that more than the venture funding, you would... They're looking for the the value add of getting... If if they were trying to get to the universities, then there's... VC funding is not the worst way to, like, get more of intros. [00:19:22] S4: I think that there's a a huge opportunity. I'm not as familiar with the... His competitive landscape because I don't know who... I know there are different verticals that are taking... Well taken care of, but I don't know. I think to answer your question from a venture, like, how venture backable is this? I think it's gonna... Still gonna require a significant amount of money in terms of marketing and just awareness. You know, I think it's not... I would not assume that this is just coming through, you know, partnership channel and and the college counselor. This is a brand new, you know, new workflow, new platform, new tool. I also would, you know, expect this business to also maybe focus on a certain region first and do it really well and become the player. And that way, then you can replicate the model elsewhere. I don't know the nuances or how diff... How diff... Difficult or different it is, you know, if you're servicing North America market, Canadian versus US versus, you know, Germany versus Australia.
00:20:28 · Michelle Kwok, Michael Nogen, Vansh Langer
[00:20:28] S3: Yeah. They are very different. Like, I think US is probably a huge market, and you'd probably make the most money off of it, especially what... The way that he was talking about it, especially with the Visa, like, that... I resonate with that a lot. Like, the Visa aspect, the getting the new SIM card, it's impossible to get housing here as an international student. There's definitely a market here. I just... I don't know. There's a... There's definitely a cap also to how many international students are coming to The US. And so it's more... In terms of being a venture backed up business, it's like, is this a billion dollar business, I guess, is more what I'm asking. I think I agree. There... I think this needs to be a business. This needs to exist. It needs marketing dollars to get out there, but I don't know how it gets to a billion dollars. [00:21:18] S4: Is that limited because of this potential, like, one time use? Because that's what also I'm getting Yeah. Stuck on. It's okay. You go there, you discover, but what keeps me on that platform and just not think there [00:21:30] S5: is a thing to keep you on the platform there. Right? Like, once you get all the services set up. [00:21:35] S3: It's one time. Yeah. I did it one time.
00:21:35 · Michelle Kwok, Michael Nogen, Vansh Langer
[00:21:35] S3: It's one time. Yeah. I did it one time. [00:21:37] S4: So you're spending a lot of money to acquire a customer. I... Who knows? I mean, it's... The business is too young to figure out, like, what's the actual LTV, but, you know, I I don't know. I think to make this really venture scalable billion dollar business plus, maybe it's like, how do you keep people on the platform or get them again? Like, just... It can be like a one and done. [00:22:00] S5: Yeah. That where you gotta... I mean, you have to capture the universities. That's who you... That... That's the revenue you need because a student... [00:22:08] S3: Yeah. Because then they'll be recurring for sure. [00:22:10] S5: Yeah. Like, if NYU is gonna give you a million bucks a year to, like, be the provider for all this, then that, you know, there's there's a use case that every... Theoretically, every university that has Internet international students and mass would do something like that. [00:22:24] S3: But there's also a cap on how many is... How many universities have that have enough students, like critical mass that they're willing to pay for it.
00:22:24 · Michelle Kwok, Michael Nogen, Vansh Langer
[00:22:24] S3: But there's also a cap on how many is... How many universities have that have enough students, like critical mass that they're willing to pay for it. [00:22:31] S4: Or the platform becomes almost like, it's the, you know, it's like the razor razor blade type of thing. So it's like you you you have a a model. So using the NYU as an example, you saw in the NYU, and it's like, let us build... Be your platform for all new students that are coming in. Let the university push it out, which goes to the parents, which are big decision makers, the students. But, essentially, it's like... It's it's... You're creating, like, a tool, and then you can replicate that same tool and sell it across to any university. And there are lots of colleges, universities. That's... I mean, that's how... What... Even when [00:23:08] S5: he first mentioned it, that's exactly how I thought it was this... Where it was going. And, I mean, like, you can obviously have a paid version for students that are going to, like, say, you know, a small school that wouldn't need the school to have this. You could have, like, a $20 or $30 option for those kids. But, yeah, like, if I'm if I'm if I'm I'm I'm the, you know, the the board of chancellors or whatever at at Harvard, I'm like, have, you know, 20% of my incoming students are international, then I would wanna make it as easy as possible for them, especially given everything that they have to do. This would be a a justifiable and usable expense.
00:23:08 · Vansh Langer, Michael Nogen, Michelle Kwok
[00:23:08] S5: he first mentioned it, that's exactly how I thought it was this... Where it was going. And, I mean, like, you can obviously have a paid version for students that are going to, like, say, you know, a small school that wouldn't need the school to have this. You could have, like, a $20 or $30 option for those kids. But, yeah, like, if I'm if I'm if I'm I'm I'm the, you know, the the board of chancellors or whatever at at Harvard, I'm like, have, you know, 20% of my incoming students are international, then I would wanna make it as easy as possible for them, especially given everything that they have to do. This would be a a justifiable and usable expense. [00:23:44] S4: But also, if you think it's all... If you're making money off international students, which are typically the ones that pay full price Right. This almost becomes an extra, like, white glove type service Yeah. That actually benefits from a university perspective. It's like, hey, now I get a higher NPS score or, you know, we had such a easy time getting, you know, our visa and housing that people are gonna... You know, it's like, it's [00:24:12] S5: it's organic. Like, most international students obviously come from wealthier families and everything too, right, to even afford to go abroad like that. So the fact that he wasn't charging any students and only making affiliate money seemed like a missed opportunity as well because those are the people [00:24:27] S3: that Oh, would be way willing to pay $50 a month or whatever.
00:24:27 · Michelle Kwok, Vansh Langer, Krish Bajaj, Michael Nogen, Vansh Langer
[00:24:27] S3: that Oh, would be way willing to pay $50 a month or whatever. [00:24:31] S5: All of the luxury services Yeah. To make sure that their kids are not stressed out and that they're just focused on what they're there to do, to study. [00:24:37] S3: I absolutely think he could he could make it... Be making recurring revenue off of the students right now. [00:24:42] S2: Yeah. [00:24:43] S3: But where do you guys stand on whether you think it's a venture business? [00:24:49] S5: The things that we just discussed were tweaked, I'm certain it could be venture backed. In its current stage, I don't think so. [00:24:55] S4: Because right now, it sounds like it's just more of just another chan... Like another market. Yeah. It should... Yeah. It's an affiliate marketing. [00:25:01] S1: Do you have an opinion on answering your own question there, Michelle?