THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT of FINANCE DATEPSU.COM Brian Clionsky Spring 2011 a Thes
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THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY SCHREYER HONORS COLLEGE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE DATEPSU.COM Brian Clionsky Spring 2011 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a baccalaureate degree in Finance with honors in Finance Reviewed and approved* by the following: James Miles Professor of Finance, Joseph F. Bradley Fellow of Finance Thesis Supervisor/Honors Adviser J. Randall Woolridge Professor of Finance, The Goldman Sachs and Co. and Frank P. Smeal Endowed University Fellow Second Reader * Signatures are on file in the Schreyer Honors College. Abstract Dating and relationships have never been a simple process. People are always searching for love and have found many ways to get around the traditional methods of dating and meeting to create lasting and successful relationships. Some of these methods include speed dating, blind dates, and video personal ads. These methods have always been in regard to the current technological advances at the time. Since the origination of the internet, people have used it as a means of communication and meeting. This started with the creation of online chat-rooms, online personal ads similar to those in newspapers and print mediums, and most recently online dating/matching websites. As technology continues to evolve so does the way online daters can meet which has changed and will continue to change the way people think/go about dating well into the future. DatePsu.com is a free student based Internet-dating and meeting website that will be targeted and exclusively for the students within the Penn state Community. The target market is Penn State students with an @psu.edu email addresses within the age range of 18-25. The current (Fall 2010) total enrollment at Penn State (all campuses) is 87,309, of which 77,179 are enrolled as undergraduate students. At University Park (Main Campus) alone, there are 44,817 students, of which 38,594 are enrolled as undergraduates. Going forward Penn State expects to grow either consistently with historical averages or at an accelerated pace. With a constantly changing (every four years) but steadily increasing market size which makes Penn State an ideal market of both size and characteristics. In order to register for the website and its services one must possess a psu.edu email address. Students will be able to post a profile with specific personal information geared towards dating and getting the attention of the opposite sex. Students will also be able to fill out a questionnaire, which will be used to create student matches based upon similarities. Users can only view profiles of other users if they with a minimum threshold of compatibility. Research was conducted to get a better sense of the target market and how to win over the college student since no major or legitimate localized college dating services exist. Also, another goal of the survey was finding out where students found information and which groups of people were influential to them in terms of learning about new services and products around campus. Penn State students of all ages were given two surveys, approximately 30 questions in length. The survey collected was only given online, through SurveyMonkey.com. Each survey was completed by over 280 students, distributed completely through Facebook. While there is not a clear lack of demand for a strictly online dating community at Penn State, it appears clear that most students do not feel that a whole website devoted to such a service is necessary. Penn State students find it easy to meet people in social and academic situations. Socially, there is definitely a demand for a connection and party website or Facebook Application extension in the local area with localized marketing, connecting similar people. I Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... I Table of Contents ............................................................................................................. II Business Plan Cover .......................................................................................................... 1 Company Description ....................................................................................................... 2 Industry Analysis .............................................................................................................. 4 Target Market ................................................................................................................. 11 Competition ..................................................................................................................... 14 Competition SWOT ...................................................................................................... 14 DatePsu.com SWOT ..................................................................................................... 16 Operations ....................................................................................................................... 19 Marketing Plan and Strategy ......................................................................................... 24 Market Research and Surveys ....................................................................................... 27 Online Usage Survey ..................................................................................................... 27 Results ........................................................................................................................ 29 College Dating and Relationship Survey....................................................................... 36 Results ........................................................................................................................ 38 Financials ......................................................................................................................... 47 Assumptions .................................................................................................................. 47 Advertising Sales ........................................................................................................... 47 Sources and Uses ........................................................................................................... 48 Balance Sheet ................................................................................................................ 49 Management and Organization ..................................................................................... 50 Human Resource Planning/Outsourcing ...................................................................... 53 Company Goals & Milestones........................................................................................ 57 Bibliography .................................................................................................................... 59 Appendix .......................................................................................................................... 62 Online Dating Statistics ................................................................................................ 62 Penn State Factbook/Demographics .............................................................................. 63 DatePsu.com Privacy Policy .......................................................................................... 66 DatePsu.com Terms of Use .......................................................................................... 73 Survey Recruitment Email............................................................................................. 85 Informed Consent Form................................................................................................. 86 Hoover‘s Company Reports .......................................................................................... 87 Academic Vita ................................................................................................................. 95 II Brian Clionsky- Founder and CEO “Whether you want to be tied down, or just hook up; DATEPSU has what you’re looking for.” Penn State’s Number One Online Meeting Place 332 W. Nittany Ave. State College, Pa 16801 (717) 580-1292 Clionsky 1 Company Description Company Description DatePsu.com is a free student based Internet-dating and meeting website that will be targeted and exclusively for the students within the Penn state Community. (The Penn State Community is defined as all students with a psu.edu email account which includes University Park and all branch campuses and students one year post graduations whose accounts have yet to expire. See market section for further clarification) In order to register for the website and its services one must possess a psu.edu email address. Students will be able to post a profile with specific personal information geared towards dating and getting the attention of the opposite sex. Students will also be able to fill out a questionnaire, available on the website, asking them questions about what they are looking for and who they are. Students will then be matched based upon their answers to these questions and how similar they are to other people. Potential matches will be presented based upon the best match. Users can only view profiles of other users if they with a minimum threshold of compatibility. Premise The basic premise for this business idea encompasses the growing popularity of online dating websites along with the way college students currently date