IU students start note-taking business

Your A100 exam is Thursday.\nSo is your E201 midterm, and your M118 test is Friday.\nIn case this is news to any IU students, seniors Benny Goldman and AJ Punjabi are hoping they have a solution.\n"We saw a need for a bunch of students missing class and not having the notes," Punjabi said. "You might be online at 4 in the morning and realize you have a test in four hours -- you might want to get the notes."\nThe two entrepreneurs decided to sell students those notes via the Internet. In November, they purchased the domain name www.hoosiernotes.com and got to work. Now midterms are approaching, and it's time to see if their investment will pay off.\nHoosier Notes seeks to entice over-achievers and under-achievers alike with its note-taking service. For $15, customers can purchase an exam pack with daily notes, chapter summaries, flashcards and a practice exam.\nThe company hires note-takers to attend lecture classes for which they are already enrolled. The notes are sent to an editor who formats them according to the Hoosier Notes style. \nWww.HoosierNotes.com became officially operational last week and now provides note packets for five large lecture classes. Goldman and Punjabi plan for that number to increase considerably in the future. \nCurrently, students can purchase notes starting four days before their exam. The first set of notes became available Sunday, four days before Thursday's A100 exam.\nSenior Bobby Ullery, the site's webmaster, promises the option to download notes after every class is not far off.\n"Utilizing the Internet for what we're doing is just a great avenue," he said. "As classes grow and change, we can change with them because we're virtual."\nScalability isn't the only advantage of the e-business. The Web site model cuts most material and capital expenses out of the picture. \n"It's cheaper for us to produce, and it's cheaper for the customer," Punjabi said. "And it's just convenient."\nHoosier Notes is piloting the model on five classes -- A100, A200, E201, E202 and M118. These are large lecture classes with multiple sections taught by the same professor -- more than 1,500 are enrolled in A100 alone. Goldman and Punjabi said they hope to be available to 3,700 students this semester and 5,000 in the fall. \nBut to succeed, The Hoosier Notes team will need to do more than just make its product available. With distractions like Facebook and AOL Instant Messenger to contend with, the company has found some ways to impart a sense of urgency in its clients.\n"We're offering a reminder service," Punjabi said. "If you sign up for our e-mail subscription list, the notes are going to automatically be in your e-mail box."\nThe home page also lets users know how long they have to study with a countdown until "crunch time" for each class's test. \nThe more committed student might even find a job opportunity at Hoosier Notes. In addition to an editor, the company has hired six note takers at $9.50 per hour. \n"We've given kids the opportunity to go to class and get paid for it," Punjabi said. \nTo create a quality product, Hoosier Notes plans to maintain high standards for its workers, he said. In addition to a high GPA (the note-takers average about a 3.6), applicants must submit notes from previous semesters and produce quality work throughout the semester. \nThe business idea is not entirely unique. Students at the University of Florida can currently purchase notes for their classes from www.gatornotes.com. \nThe creators of Hoosier Notes said they anticipate some backlash once the site grows in popularity. Faculty support of the business model is mixed -- some professors worry their students might forgo class in favor of a quick online cram session.\n"The students who are most likely to use such a service are likely to be those who are poorly motivated to begin with," said economics professor Arlington Williams. "Buying class notes online without any interaction with a classmate who attended or a teaching assistant is likely to have a negative rather than positive effect on these students' grades."\nHowever, Goldman's view of the average IU student's work ethic is different. \n"We don't want to make it sound like slacker service," he said. "There's people who go to every class and still need an edge. We're not a substitute for class; we're a supplement."\nThe editors must also take steps to avoid selling any intellectual property, Goldman said. Hoosier Notes packs will only include universal information. Any examples will have the key facts changed. \nBusiness professor Mikel Tiller, whose A100 students make up about 40 percent of the site's target market, mentioned some perks of using the site. \n"You can get an awful lot out of class if you're not distracted by taking notes," he said. "Especially if you want to be in the discussion. That's pretty meaningful."\nGoldman and Punjabi will soon find out if students agree. The first round of midterms this week will set the tone for semesters to come.\n"Word of mouth needs to get out, and people need to understand we have a quality product," Punjabi said. \nIf they do, Punjabi said the company has plans for expansion.\n"We also went and bought out every other domain name in the Big Ten," he said. "So now we have badgernotes.com, wolverinenotes.com, spartannotes.com. We're going to let the company grow. We're going to give ourselves a small salary. We're not looking to make quick money off this"