After reading the checklist of a journalism start-up by Adam Westbrook, I decided to put my business model into these questions and see if they work, and what I get based on my assessment doesn't seem to be working that well. Here we go and we'll see why.
1, Is it a new idea?
I wouldn't say it is completely new, drudge report is about doing the similar thing. Except my idea will bring in different articles by different major newspaper across the globe on one single issue. I would say it should qualifies as a new idea.
2, Does it have a defined target audience?
Yes. People who does not have too much faith in what the U.S. mainstream media and wants to hear different perspectives. But I think this might just be the problem, those people probably know where to find the news source they want and I wonder if they will need my help.
3, Does it provide niche (hyperlocal) content?
Probably not. Again my idea will not be limited to audiences in certain areas but rather an interest group. So I would say my idea does provide a specific content.
4, Does it satisfy a desire that is not being fulfilled by someone else?
Again if people want unique contents with different perspectives, their interests would be the main motivator for them to find those different perspectives. But if I do a good job with what news to select and how different newspaper report these news from different angles, I would have some followers who are tired of digging through different websites by themselves.
5, or does it do something better (faster, cheaper, more effectively) than someone else?
no competitor has been found yet. So... I would assume mine is going to be a trendsetter.
6, Does it actually have income potential, or it will rely on funding?
Asking for donations from my readers wouldn't be impossible, but the operational cost for this website wouldn't be too daunting, from my opinion. Starting this project could be a one person operation, because there are only number of certain news of the magnitude that's I want to find different articles on. The domain name for a website with low traffic wouldn't cost too much. (as Jacobson has mentioned) and that would probably be the only area that requires funding, assuming I still have a day time job. As traffic goes up and my readership has accumulated, I can start accepting advertisement offers.
7, Does it use the power of crowd-sourcing/community?
ermmmm... never thought about this. I guess I can have my readers gather different versions of the same stories and post them on my website, and also comment about how they feel after reading all these different versions of news story.
8, Would it be fulfilling for journalists to work for?
ermmmm... No...
9, Does it publish/exist on more than one platform?
I think it has to exist on the internet, because all these different reports will come from internet sources.
10, If it has content, is it sharable?
It is definitely sharable as I would allow my readers to form opinions of their own, and they can share these opinions as freely as they want.
11, Does it require a lot of money to run?
As I've mentioned earlier, it doesn't according to that model. But if copyright and hype-linking is an issue, then I probably need to abort this plan because I wouldn't be able to afford that kind of money.
12, Does it have boot-strapping potential?
This is a bootstrapping business from top to bottom.
13, Does it scale?
It definitely has the potential of getting big if my sourcing quality is good and people have genuine interests in diversity in news.
14, Does it fulfill a public service?
Yes. My mission is to inspire people to get information from as many different outlets as possible therefore eliminate the possibility of getting biased version of stories.
15, Is it a legally sound idea? What about copyright?
This is what I'll have to figure out. If this hype-linking will constitute violations then I better adopt a different ideas before all those multimillion news company decide to sue my butt off.
16, Would it appeal to venture capitalists, angel investors?
I wouldn't say so because my idea does not protect or even maintain corporal interests, is breaking up the chain of monopoly. This wouldn't be very appealing.
17, and...Does it have a cool name?
worldaccordingtousandthem.com? not cool enough, but I am working on something better.
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