1. Differentiate #1 Exclusive NovoEd
users/students
• For more info. check out the customer segment I wrote that’s on our
spreadsheet
• Companies like monster.com and careerbuilder.com may be successful in
that they make a lot of money, have national visibility and have a lot of job
listings but unsuccessful in their ability to help people actually land jobs.
People who use these sites have a hard time landing jobs partly because
they are competing for jobs against the general public (not a very good
filter for employers). For example, if I was Intel, I wouldn’t post job
openings on these sites if I wanted brilliant engineers. Instead I would
goto Stanford or Cal Tech and post jobs under their own job search portal
(a better filter)
• So maybe we should start by focusing on building a job search site for
NovoEd users/students
– Why? – There is a built in international audience and students who are
actively involved with education may also be interested in learning and
working abroad
– The question is how do we get all these students to know we exist?
2. Differentiate #2 Think Visuals
• Think about how computers executed programs before the
windows graphic user interface. If you wanted to run a program you
would type some computer language like “run microsoft word”.
• But with Windows 95 all you had to do was double click on an icon
and the program ran. In both cases you ran the same program. But
how you did it was significantly different and changed the user
experience. In essence the GUI made it much easier, simpler, and
painless to run a program. The function didn’t change the form did.
4. Imagine if ours looked more like this
Search visually possibly using Google maps
5. Differentiate #3 Think Sports Agent
• Because each contract is unique and
complex, athletes, celebrities, supermodels have
agents to finalize jobs and endorsements
– Because landing international jobs is more
complex, maybe we can include the option of having
your own personal job agent to simplify and expedite
the process
– To ensure quality, job seeker are able to evaluate and
rate their job agent (similar to ebay: rate buyers and
sellers)
• This incentivizes job agents in providing great service and
enhances the credibility of our site and agents
• Example: http://www.avvo.com/ - a site to find, ask
questions, and rate lawyers
• Example: http://fiverr.com/ - a service marketplace starting
at $5
6. Differentiate #4 our system covers all the
legalities
• Where others just post jobs, our site actually does all
the legal paper work to ensure you get the job with no
immigration/legal problems
• This may require us to have a stronger relationship
with employers or government to ensure meeting all
immigration compliance laws.
• Example: Cartagz – “Cartagz.com helps people save
time and avoid trips to the DMV through this unique
and easy to use online service.”
– To renew your California drivers license or other vehicle
related services, you can either goto the DMV office, goto
their government site or go through an online company
like Cartagz that simplifies the process for an additional fee
• https://www.cartagz.com/about-us/
• http://dmv.ca.gov/portal/home/dmv.htm
7. Think about water to differentiate
• Water is a commodity yet has been able to
differentiated itself
• Examples: Fiji, Evian, Dasani, Bling ($21), etc.
8. Others Differentiators
• Exclusive U.S. jobs for internationals
• Maybe focus on small business that don’t know how to
recruit and hire internationals
– Example: an ethnic restaurant that would hire
internationals
• Focus on a specific profession
– Example: A job search site for computer engineers only
• Focus on specific companies and function as their
international human resource
• Focus on international students looking to go to school
and work abroad
– Partner with schools and universities
9. What is our Goal?
• The goal isn’t to be fixated on the idea (an
international job search site)
– Don’t fall in love with the idea
• The goal is to start from the idea and learn,
evolve, and iterate to uncover a business model
that works
– So we can start off as a international job site and end
up as an international freight distribution app
– Example: Burbn (Foursqure type app) evolved and
became Instagram
• http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/08/instagram-a-pivotalpivot/
10. Things to consider
• How often will people use our site (customer life cycle)
– My guess, probably 1 or 2 times in their lives
• What is the potential customer acquisition cost
– The cost in money and time spent to acquire 1
customer/user
• What is the future of international jobs
– Are employers planning to fill more jobs with
internationals or less
• Why would they prefer international over local?
– Structural unemployment
• Is there a mismatch between the skills of the foreigner and the
skills needed for the available jobs
