AIBU to ask if you would pay for this?

[Sunflowers095]

I have a business idea but I wonder if there would actually be a demand. Essentially, I've been thinking a lot about how different backgrounds affect your ability to succeed professionally, as well as how graduates are struggling for work.

It would be a platform for women, the main idea is mentoring. So for example, a student (or someone looking for a career change) would have access to things like CV templates/reviews, forum, 1 on 1 calls with women who have experience/are accomplished in their careers and can act as a mentor.

This would exist as a free and premium version (mentoring would be premium).

It would be a partnership with the mentors directly (where they would be paid a fee) or an agreement with their company to have them represent the business as a mentor. The companies/mentors would benefit by having younger people with skills but no experience provide ideas/small projects. A bit like a competition but the company can use winning ideas.

I am yet to iron out exactly the details but want to validate it first. Personally I would pay for a service like this & I think new generations are less family oriented and more career driven.

It could make a great addition to the CV of the younger women as well as the mentors, serve as a community aimed at helping women succeed professionally.

If the premium version cost for example £20 would you buy it? Assuming it's a monthly rolling subscription that can be cancelled anytime and you can benefit from unlimited resources and a monthly mentoring call? Thanks in advance!

What problem are you trying to solve?
A lack of resources? There are an abundance of mentorship programs, coaching and online forums etc , for free.
A lack of experience? That's what unpaid internships and competitions etc are for. If people could afford to do that why would they pay for the privilege?

Having attended a lot of these and myself changed career - impressing colleagues opened doors. My boss (who gave me a chance) started on tech support for example. 'Mentors' can give generic advise but the people who truly made a difference were those I worked for and whom I proved myself to over a period of time.

You could try working with companies to organise programs that bring in diverse talents. Like case study days held by management consulting companies, or PwC's women in businesss. These are all legitimate work experience, organised by the company, leading to paid jobs.

However the idea of a paid platform for work experience is unethical

I’ve been involved in a lot of mentoring and it’s always been free and though a Uni or an industry non-profit origination or scheme.

So my first concern would be how would you monetise it.

The second is if this is for every industry or just one? If for every that’s an awful lot of ground to cover and when you give advise and information it must be correct.

If for just one industry and a women in [insert industry here] does not already exist then set one up and you might find yourself eligible for grants and sponsorship to the point it could be a full time job for you

What has a working class family got to do about anything..

But anyway, I think you will find, that many others have had the same ideas for a set up plan similar to yours.

I mentor young people through several charities, and have volunteered with others before. I am aware of many other great charities that I cannot support as I cannot stretch myself any further!

I also mentor former and current colleagues.

I agree that young people often are clueless, but that's why charities exist to connect them to people like me, who will invest their time in them for free. I wouldn't mentor with you - it feels exploitative charging a young person for advice that they should have got for free, had they been born into a family with successful working role models.

I would add that I'm uncomfortable with how you have brushed off criticism, implying that people who don't agree with you are not career-driven, rather than immediately accepting there might be a hole in your business plan. If you want to set up a business - and again, this is something I mentor people with! - you do need to learn how to respond more positively to feedback. Even if you have a good idea and a good plan, that doesn't guarantee plain sailing, so you need to build a bit more resilience.

As you said, back to the drawing board...