1

ALAWI NADIM TAUFIQ 1609080

BATTAGLIA RICCARDO DAVID 1240696

DLUTOWSKA JOANNA 1538750

LANZI FRANCESCO 1554138

TODORO VALENTINA 1302025

ZUNINO DIEGO 1261932

rOOmiversity.com - Improve your experience abroad -

AGENDA1. Business Idea

2. Market Analysis2.1 Competitors2.2 Buzz

3. Business model

4. 2.0 tools

5. How to implement the community

2

1.BUSINESS IDEATHE ESTIMATION OF DEMAND AND ASSESSMENT OF TEST CITIES

BUSINESS IDEA

THE CREATION OF A COMMUNITY FOR EXCHANGE STUDENTS Core idea Housing issues 

Complementary “services” Information sharing

4

THE CORE IDEA

Finding accommodation abroad for short periods is not easy

Additionally renting out accommodation in home country for short periods can also be problematic

Providing a total solution for the housing issues of exchange students

BUSINESS IDEA

5

2.MARKET ANALYSIS THE ESTIMATION OF DEMAND AND ASSESSMENT OF TEST CITIES

SOURCES USED

ERASMUS Market as the first Market

Data easily available

From European Commission (Good Data)

A.Y. 2009/2010 (Recent Data)

7

OUTGOING STUDENTS

SE TR DK FI RO SK SI HU AT LT GR PT NL UK BE FR CZ PL DE IT ES0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

401 402 447 462 477 530 917 975 995 1075 1125 1172 1522 1711 1780 1876 22614038

8978

11690

20992

Outgoing Students

Outgoing Students

Main Outgoing Students: Italian and Spanish

Advantage in trying to solve language issues which could affect IT and ES students

8

INCOMING STUDENTS

Language issues (II) the other side of the coin Try to manage a bargaining for a three months sub-let with an Italian

Landlord… Italy and Spain as the main markets

ES IT SE DK DE FR PT UK BE NL NO CZ AT PL IE SI FI GR MT0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Incoming students per Country

Incoming Students

9

CITY BREAKDOWN

CITY INCOMING population INCOMING/POPULATIONLOVANIO 1093 89185 1.23%LUND 798 82800 0.96%LINGBY 451 50609 0.89%SIENA 430 54543 0.79%GRANADA 1862 240661 0.77%SALAMANCA 1152 155740 0.74%VAXJO 378 55600 0.68%SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 600 95092 0.63%COIMBRA 622 101069 0.62%

No Capital (and Business) Cities offer more sophisticated

Erasmus Student population pounded wrt City Population

10

WORLDWIDE MARKET

OECD data: Anglo-Saxon countries favorite destinations Longer Stays (more than one year study programmes) Different Needs Markets for expansion

11

WRAPPING UPrOOmieversity.com will focus on:

ERASMUS market: Spain and Italy

Greater Effort in University Cities such as: Granada Salamanca Santiago de Compostela

Siena

12

2.1. COMPETITORSTHE EVALUATION OF COMPETITORS

COMPETITORS

Direct Competitors

Classified advertising

Product/service specialized: house/apartments/room rentals

Community specialized: students room rentals and sharing

• Pros and Cons

Indirect Competitors

Universities Official Websites

Social Networks (classified advertising)

• Pros and Cons

14

Direct CompetitorsClassified Advertising

15

Direct CompetitorsProduct/Service specialization: house/apartments/room rentals

16

Direct CompetitorsCommunity specialization: students room rentals and sharing

17

Pros CONs

Free Easy to edit/use Network effect (big volumes attract big

searches) Fast searchability Foster sense of urgency dailyness Basic design and no frills

Subject to obsolescence Lack of moderation/feedbacks Low reliability and scams Lack of accountability (safety)

Accuracy Advance searchability (filtering) Moderations and feedbacks Integrated payments Ad hoc user interface and design

Subscription fees or pay per use models Membership and registration Chicken & egg problem

DIRECT COMPETITION PROS & CONS

Classified advertising

Services specialization

18

Pros CONs

Reviews and peer reccomendations Sense of belonging to the community Social networking (the party effect) Exclusivity

Poor usability Lower market size and supply Low spending user profile (deal lovers)

Currently updated information Accuracy Advance searchability (filtering) Moderations Accountability

Expensive (fees) Not specialized on students’ needs Local

DIRECT COMPETITION PROS & CONS

RE Agencies

Communities specialization

19

Sample of a list of local specialised websites suggeste by the university official website. (e.g Amsterdam)

Official university websites with internal tools or sections with accomodations classifieds

Indirect CompetitionUniversities Official Websites

University official Websites (accommodations services)

National Students Websites (accommodations services)

20

Indirect CompetitionSocial Networks (classified advertising)

21

Pros CONs

Free Ease of use Expertise on student issues Info on oncampus/college solutions Direct channels Already part of the application process

Limited range of solutions Expensive solutions are provided

Free Easy to edit/use Network effect (big volumes attract big

searches) Fast searchability Foster sense of urgency dailyness Basic design and no frills

Subject to obsolescence Lack of moderation/feedbacks Low reliability and scams Lack of accountability (safety)

INDIRECT COMPETITION PROS & CONS

Universities’ websites

Social Networks (classified ads)

22

2.1. POPULARITY OF THE TOPICWHAT TYPE OF COMPETITORS DO WE HAVE? WHERE DO WE POSITION OURSELVES?

SOME CONSIDERATIONS FROM A FIRST SEARCH

The topic is highly inflated: no risk of low search volumes

2 main websites at the global level:

• CraigsList

• Gumtree• (and Easystanza in Italy)

Not focused business: not only housing services but other ecommerce purpose

24

FROM FORUMS, BLOGS & DISCUSSIONSBINGSOCIAL, TWITTER, IGOOGLE..

Main issues • Length of the stay

• E.g. “Finding the accommodation (in Switzerland) for short term rent is extremely difficult especially in big cities..” 

• You will simply be not able to rent an apartment (even for sharing) from an agency. As the  minimum required stay is 1 year and you have to provide them with all sort of guarantees. In addition they will prefer someone with longer term over you.

• University actual role/help • Scammers• Unappealing interfaces• Specific needs (vegetarian, celiac people, etc..)

25

WHAT PPL THINK OF CURRENT WEBSITESCRAIGSLIST

Global websites are good but not enough.

26

MOST COMMON PROBLEMS

Scams

Reliability

27

ANSWERS, THREATS & OPPORTUNITIES

Alternatives• RE websites• Other less known or local websites• Paper solutions• Universities officeOther considerations • No one else has the same traffic• Communities not a solution 28

Old fashioned, unappealing interface

ANSWERS, THREATS & OPPORTUNITIES

29

Swapping for lower-end homes, rooms, etc..

ANSWERS, THREATS & OPPORTUNITIES

30

3.BUSINESS MODEL

BUSINESS MODEL

Complementary goods Mobile phone application (fee) Coupon service

Bids

Personalized Pages financed by

Universities which want to have ‘premium

services’ for students

32

Strenghts• Efficient information sharing service• Turnover of users over time• The first community for only exchange

students• Growing number of exchange students• Big market • Neccessity of service

Weaknesses• Many direct and indirect competitors• Strong names to overcome • Network effects of competitors

Opportunities• Becoming the reference/official website for

Exchange Students• Increasing importance of communities• Specificity of exchange (period)• Network effects • Scammers in existing websities• Complementary activities • Relationship with universities

Threats• Legal issues• Lack of trust in communities

SWOT

33

HOW TO OVERCOME LEGAL ISSUES

Agreements with landlors

Partnership with universities

Disclaimers to accept to join the community

34

4. ‘2.0 TOOLS’

HOW TO IMPLEMENT 2.0 TOOLSCommunity & Forum

Upload content, Feedback/comments & Folksonomy

Map + Geotagging

Application for smartphones

Augmented reality

36

INWARD-FACING SMSkype

- Main communication meanWiki & Calendar sharingFoursquare

- All employee will always be geolocalized Twitter

- For the upper managment

Yammer - Knowledge sharing - Innovation contests

TIMELINE INWARD-FACING SM

SkypeWiki &

calendar sharing

FoursquareTwitter Yammer

When we’ll be more

numerousBasic social media to start

with

Last step

38 38

TeamsBetter teamwork and

sharing of ideas

Projects Better progress tracking

and collaboration

KnowledgeLocate info to do your job

(internal SN)

Admin/trainingBroadcast company

policies and education

INWARD-FACING SM

39

40

INCENTIVES HOW TO STIMULATE ’INTERNALS’?-AWARDS: the more you participate and keep updated your material, the more you will be rewarded (monetary incentive and others)

-STATUS: the more you are proactive, the more you stimulate cooperation and communication among members, the higher your ‘2.0 profile status’ higher powers

-INTERNAL MARKET: internal market for projects and tasks. Wages will be partially on a variable base. If you want to earn more, check what goes on on all internal platforms!

COMPANY INNOVATION KICK-OFFOnce a year, employees are invited for a weekend in a location where they have to develop a new innovative idea for the company.

The follow up proceeds during the year through social tools’ support such as Wiki, Blogs, the community.

At the end of the year the best innovation is awarded with a proper prize (e.g. Holiday, Devices, Coupons, etc..)

41

OUTWARD-FACING SMFacebook & Twitter (profile of the community + logo)

- Clients can post opinions, questions, announces participate Linkedin & Xing

Email & Newsletter- This will be a mean to communicate wih the outside but not as

internal tool cause by definition doesn’t enhance knowledge sharing

42

MarketingPublic content to built web

traffic

Public relationsMonitor/comment on

product /service

HR/ recruitingLocate new employee

CXOAs leader, share opinions

and knowledge

OUTWARD-FACING SM

43

44

WORLD MAP OF SOCIAL NETWORKS (JUNE 2011)

45

Other country specific social networks:

- Iwiw in Hungary- Nasza-klasa in Poland- Hyves in Netherlands- Lidé in Czech Republic- Mixi in Japan- Draugiem in Latvia- Wretch in Taiwan

OUTWARD-FACING SM LOCAL SN

5. HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE COMMUNITY

Pre-Launch Campaign

Community La

unch

Contest: «Create rOOmiversity Logo»

COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION

Agreements

47

AGREEMENTS:

Contacting national embassies

Relations with universities (dorms and scholarships)

COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION

48

PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN:

Contest: «Create rOOmiversity Logo»

Social-Marketing (intensive advertisement Campains on the most popular Social Networks, Blogs and Universities’ websites)

Newsletter

COMMUNITY IMPLEMENTATION

49

University

City

University

City

Coming from Going to

rOOmiversity

51

A HARD WORKING TEAM

Thanks.

If you have any questions, contact us via: info.roomiversity@gmail.com