havoc2005

This is a good approach. I think my urge comes from several areas.

1. Not feeling like I've done enough re: education. There's always a feeling that I need to have a graduate degree to gain some level of knowledge I can't self-study, to gain a network that might be closed to me without the credential, to feel like I tried harder.

And if I'm being honest, it's partially my ego that is driving this, ie: I want a degree from a top school just to know I was able to do it to not continue to have this regret lingering in the back of my mind.

2. I want to create. Your approach is great. I want to be more of a builder that way I can combine my marketing skills with building products.

3. I feel like I'm not accomplishing enough. So what are the levers I can pull to accelerate this? It seems like a graduate degree and a complementary skill set like coding would satisfy this itch.

Great app! I like the simplicity

I've always believed in going through a lawyer for this. Guys like Cooley and WSGR have startup friendly terms and plans that work out well.

How are you different from PandaDoc?

Thanks

I'll be there

Capitalization tables are commonly used for VC deals, ie: Series A, B, etc. What I am looking for is something similar that would be suited for an initial seed funding round.

Good advice. But where can I find out what company distributes the bar codes?

emailed

1. How will you overcome the chicken and egg problem and attract users who have read the books?

A. I was going to start out in a niche that I have familiarity with, IT certifications. I would like to reach out to three primary IT certification forums where users ask for advice about which books they should read to obtain a specific certification. I could use them as a test and pivot as needed depending on the outcome.

2. How will you screen users to determine that they have the necessary domain expertise to determine "knowledge maximization?"

A. Screening is going to be done through voting on the list. So there would be one list per subject, then users can vote up or down on any book in the list to change it's ranking.

3. How can a generic list of materials be assumed to apply to individuals with diverse backgrounds?

A. They can't. The hope is that the list will give the user a better idea of what to buy/read.

The reason I want to do this is because it is a problem I face all the time. When I want to learn a new subject such as Malware analysis. I search Amazon and get a fairly large list of books to choose from. Now I try to choose them by basing my decision on the amount of customer reviews, ratings and comments. What if we could simplify that and allow those same users to rank the books so you wont have to make a determination based on looking at three meterics for every book you want to take into consideration?

4. Finally, as soon as you see reading two books on the same topic as a problem, you have somewhat divorced yourself from the kind of people who typically read books - particularly readers in pursuit of technical expertise.

A. I don't see reading of two books on the same topic as a problem but the problem lies in the materials within the book. For example chapter 1-3 in one book and chapters 4-6 in another book might be the same material, so I want to avoid that. So I want to minimize the material you read within the books.

Our suggestions will come from users who have already read the books and have determined the bare minimum you will need to read to maximize knowledge.

Amazon suggestions simply basis off of ratings and copies sold so you might buy two highly suggested books off of amazon only to find out that it's the same materials covered, written by two different authors.

Any ideas on monetization?

This is a good question, I could do a shorter time scale by pulling specific chapters of every book and then combining them into a slimmed down reading list. Say, from book one read chapter 1-3, book 2 chapter 5 and 6, book 3, chapter 9-10 and that will give you x knowledge.

My initial thought was to monetize through affiliate sales but you're right. I have to find another way to monetize.

Competitors seem to be sites that simply suggest similar books

whatshouldireadnet.com reader2.com shelfari.com and of course Amazon

What they do not do is give you an orderly list of books and an order to read them in to maximize knowledge and avoid excessive repetition.

I was thinking of having it controlled through votes, up and down. So a user who just obtained say an IT certification such as the CISSP can list the books he read and the order for the search term "cissp". Then if one of the books is heavily downvoted it would be removed from the list. This way dated material will be removed and replaced with up to date books.