TRICKY BUSINESS 2

PROGRAMME 2: BOSO

The business

Boso (Buy Or Sell Online) is a free online marketplace where students can trade second hand goods. They are not allowed to trade restricted items such as alcohol, tobacco or counterfeit products.

The entrepreneurs

Kulveer and Harjeet Taggar won scholarships to Oxford University where they joined an entrepreneurial society. They came up with the idea of an 'eBay for students', asked a friend to build them a website, and set up Boso. They are passionate about their business idea and confident that it will make them millionaires. Harjeet has turned down a job with a large London law firm and Kulveer has resigned from his £30,000 a year bank job so that they can work full-time on the business.

The business problem

Boso has a user-community of around 2,000 students and there is no membership fee. Although it has a niche market, other people could set up similar sites at any time. Boso relies on advertising income of around £1,000 a month. This barely covers basic business costs and does not stretch to paying any wages. Kulveer and Harjeet have long-term goals but are uncertain how to proceed in the short term. They know that effective marketing is the key to Boso's success as a business but need investment capital to pay for it. They cannot say how much Boso is worth and are unable to approach investors until they can do so.

The business solution

During the programme, John gives Kulveer and Harjeet some clear advice:

• Establish the Boso brand quickly as the core business idea has a short shelf-life
• Increase the value of the business by building the user-community – most internet start-ups make no money so business value is linked to user numbers
• Look for a small amount of UK investment to pay the wages, market the brand and recruit users
• Start looking for investors quickly and make them believe in the business idea so that they want to buy in
• If a marketing strategy fails, ditch it, move on and try a different approach.

The outcomes

There is little improvement in Boso's business performance. John believes that Kulveer and Harjeet have not been able to prove that there is a wider demand for Boso's services. The cousins have not lost faith, continue to treat John's advice lightly and remain convinced that Boso will be a winner.