Value Proposition
The barriers to learning are enormous and can be grouped into four major categories which are social and cultural barriers, practical and personal barriers, emotional and workplace.

According to a study carried out by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills titled “National adult learner survey 2010.” 58% of barriers to learning are attributed to cost while 42% is attributed to time.

To tackle the aspect of cost and time which are the two major barriers to learning, Skillted presents a platform for an individual or a group to meet with others with the common goal of exchanging what they know or what their skill at their own timing with no cost attached. In other words, it creates a room for a user to teach what he knows to someone who in turn offers something the other party wants to know at an agreed time of their choice without any fee. Specifically, Skilted platform brings value to users through via the following channels:

• One to one Learning: Skillted platform helps learners overcome barriers faced in the traditional classrooms by providing one to one learning platform which breeds a more personal attention and enable an individual get their questions answered more personally.
• Skill Exchange: It also creates a platform for users to learn something new from each other. This way both sides is a “wins”. That is to say, a pianist interested in learning how to play the Guitar would find a guitarist wanting to learn how to play the piano.
• Mentoring: Skillted also creates an avenue for people to meet mentors.
• Group Learning: It also creates a platform for one group to meet another for the purpose of sharing skills, tricks and techniques. As an example, a band group wanting to learn the “E Piano Chords” in exchange for the “A# Piano Chords.”

Customer Segments
Knowing the proposed value, we are also aware of our target customers, the end users who would appreciate and make use of the Skillted. Below we describe briefly each of our target customers and how to would consume the service.

Skilled Works: This are people who have special skills, talent and training who would like to share what to know in exchange of learning something new and of interest from someone with a different skill set.

University and College: Students from Universities and Colleges can use it as a platform to meet other students from schools to share knowledge on concepts, knowledge on any topic.

People wanting to learn something new: Been that Skillted is not limited to students and skilled workers, it is also a platform for just about anyone wanting to learn something new or improve their current knowledge on specific areas of a given skill-set.

Channels
We have mapped out three channels to which we would use in getting in contact with customers to let them know about Skillted. Which revolves around taking advantages of existing technologies like social media and also organizing workshops and events.

Social Networking: We intend to use the likes of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+

Workshops and Events: This involves creating workshops and events most especially in both Universities and Conferences attended by professionals.

Blog Posts: In addition we would also create blogs post on our website to discuss about trending skills and benefits. This also would create value for users in determining what skills are relevant and commands high salaries.

Customer Relationships
To exchange communications with customers we would be leveraging our website, blog and social network like Facebook, Twitter and so on. By this, we would monitor user’s posts, their requests and response to development and information we and others share on social media.

Revenue Streams

There are two major ways at which we would be generating revenue and these are via in app advertisements and through “freemium” pricing.

Advertisement

There are two major subset that can be applied and they are Pay Per View (PPV) and Pay Per Click (PPC) model.

PPV: With this model, we would be generating revenue from each ad view from companies advertising with us. Basically, ads of would be displayed randomly but its frequency would depend on the budget set by a company.

PPC: This is the most common model which advertiser pay only when users click on their ads.

Both model can be combined with different prices to make it flexible for companies to make a choice that best suites them.

Freemium

This is a strategy where our services are offered for free, but comes with a fee for extra capabilities like registering as a private tutor with the sole aim for paid members to earn money for themselves. That been said, having paid members or users is another way to generate revenue on a monthly or yearly basis.

Finally, we would be taking advantage of the fact that University of Southampton Careers Destinations programs creates pathways and pave the way for businesses like this to kick-start – which allows us to focus on developing the network for it to be demonstrably profitable.