A while back I got an email from Tim Murphy of ApplyMate.com which contained the following excerpt:
“…I recently launched ApplyMate.com – a free web-based tool that helps users track school and job applications. Most job hunters submit dozens and dozens of job applications, and most students submit about 10 college applications. So, I launched ApplyMate.com to help those people harmonize the mess – allowing users to cast a wide net while maintaining a tight focus.I’m a Milwaukee native and first time entrepreneur, and thought you might be interested in taking a look…”
I took at look at the site then and just recently had the time to go back and give the site a closer look. I was immediately impressed for the following reasons:
- Clean easy to navigate site.
- Contains a five minute overview screen cast that while not “professional quality” totally “gets the job done.” (There’s a lesson in this one for all of us waiting to make our screen casts professional quality).
- Delivers a “kick-ass half rather than a half-assed whole.” If you’re not familiar with the work of 37signals.com or their book Rework the concept is simple; the parts of your vision you deliver should be best in class and work exceptionally well without being complicated to use.
- Serves a perceived need. There will always be people applying to schools and in this economy there are plenty of people looking for work and/or looking to change jobs. What a great solution to keep track of all that.
Two questions I asked Tim so I could properly share his business success story with you.
1. How do you plan to make money with the site?
Tim: […] we’re going to host ads very soon. Then, depending on how popular the site becomes and how many users sign up, we’ll work into a “freemium” model – with paid subscriptions allowing members to track additional layers of information and including a few extra features (SMS reminders, interview maps, etc). Also depending on the site’s popularity, I’ll look at doing a mobile app.
2. How can I help you?
Tim: Right now I’m really trying to spread the word and that’s probably where you could help the most. If you ever found my site or story relevant and wanted to include in one of your blog pieces, that would be fantastic. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a good example of someone who never started anything before, and has no tech background, but just took an idea and ran with it. I’m someone who reads your blog and took action on an idea, rather than just thinking about it, you know?
Please let me know if this would be interesting to you. I’m open to discussing anything about the startup process, whether it’s idea creation, funding (I got a small business loan from a bank to finance the project), or anything else.
So, JimRaffel{dot}com readers, do we have any questions for Tim?