Ask HN: Built an app for my university. Faculty loved it. Should I charge them?
I built an app for my university in the US. They love using it. Now I want to charge a subscription ($16 per month), but I am an international student with F1 Visa. Should I form an LLC or incorporate? If yes, how, should I find a US partner? Or, I shouldn’t charge them at all?
44 comments
[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 93.4 ms ] threadI'm assuming the 16$ is per seat? Are the people currently using it the ones that can get the budget approved?
For example, depending on what type of student you are, and if you used school resources, your university might have some ownership of what you created.
So, first confirm you actually own copyright over what you made. Then work out what to do next.
A) If the uni find out I doubt they would do anything without coming and talking to your first, squashing an entrepenurial student is not great PR B) If things do go the legal route, well the company won't own anything, shutter the doors and walk away with some good life lessons.
Don't charge your existing university - let them use it free - you need references.
EDIT: and target it for them as a competitive advantage FOR THEM, so they end up sponsoring a more secure visa and future.
* Easy: ask your dept for a job or RAship to continue to support and build the app and grow its utility. We pay students all the time to build website infra for us in the cs dept. It is usually a ~20$/hr rate, though, so you won't make too much, but it will fund your improvements.
* If you built the app on your own laptop, and you've published the app to the app stores on your own account, you likely own all the rights. Good for you. If the app is hosted in anyway on university resources, then you should be careful if you want to grow this into a business.
* From my own experience, it is very difficult to sell to individual university departments. Much easier to get hired as a consultant. But "enterprise software" that is sold by a license may require the "university procurement" people to get involved. They will went some evidence you'll be around for 3-5yrs, etc...
* Look into how Piazza, Gradescope, Overleaf are doing with university-wide account sales. From what I know, those sales processes are slow and expensive, even though the apps bring enormous value to faculty (e.g., i end up paying for my own single accounts and expensing them against my research budget). Use your network to find someone at those companies to do more research.
Good luck!
btw, happy to try your app and give you feedback
I would also consider charging for non recurring engineering fees (sort of like consulting).
Instead of $16/mo/user charge a few thousand $s for integration or custom development. Paying for labor is something companies understand very well.
Luckily, we had a champion inside who took us aside and gently proposed that we repackage it into several line items: site-wide licensing, installation support, training support, 1-year of tech support, custom development fee, etc. It tallied to the same amount, but looked a lot more "normal" for procurement purposes.
I'm not saying they will spend thousands of dollars but you might be surprised how big their budgets are and the numbers they are used to.
this means if you coded this at your desk, even if on your "spare time", the university provided resources (the desk) and thus has a claim one your IP.
If it’s per university, see if you can have someone Venmo you a few months worth of subscription (to prove the model) before worrying about anything else. But it’s gonna be hard to make a living at this price point. Consider raising your price by 100x and see if they still love it then.
If it’s per user, see if it works for non-universities. If you can, let them use it for free, get a case study and go sell to every other industry, they will all be easier. We started our SaaS in a similar way at a lower price ($5/user/month), 10 years on we’re still rolling and we have never charged our uni a dollar. Feel free to email me if you want any more advice on this.
(Not a lawyer.)
ps. What does your app do?
I built two apps for international student community: one app for them to reserve the dorm’s kitchen and another app for students to submit pictures taken at on-campus events. The faculty can then view these and see international students’ involvement.
Would you feel right about charging them? I know this sounds hopelessly naive on HN, but not everything needs to be monetized, even if it can be. You have a right to make money, but you don't have a responsibility to charge them if you don't feel good about it.
Consider also how much responsibility you want to have to maintain and update this application for paying customers, and how much of your life you want to devote to supporting it.
Any answer is okay, I don't know your situation.
People get into enormous amounts of debt for the privilege of being at university.
The university has something of value (cynically a certificate). The poster pays to receive it. Now the poster has built something of value. If people are willing to pay for it, there’s no reason to give it away for free.
This kind of stuff needs to be discussed upfront.
Edit: except SaaS, which is what OP is doing…
Then you can start selling your software to other Universities. For a much higher ( or a fairer ) price.
Good Luck.
An F1 visa has significant limitations regarding work.
Violation of its terms could get you deported.
Deportation from the US often comes with a long term ban on entry.
If it doesn’t seem reasonable to pay an attorney for $16/user/month, that is an indication that the potential business is not actually viable…legal fees are an ordinary operating expense for a viable business.
Keep in mind that what you are considering leaves a clear paper trail should ICE decide to investigate.
Good luck.
My understanding is that you can't get paid in any manner unless it is through your university and even then there's only a limited number of options. If you decide to go ahead with it and charge people through other means (stripe / paypal / donations) you could get into serious trouble when you report your taxes. Even on a H1B (work visa) you are very restricted in how you can get paid.
I'm not a lawyer but my recommendation is to make it open source and free, and hope that it pads your resume. That may be more lucrative in the long run.
There is no issue with charging them to help on their mission. In fact, it's probably the only way to do so sustainably.
If they like your tool enough, and you stopped working for them for free to do so, they would likely find the funds to get someone else to make it, while using your free labour like too many organizations do already in other ways.
The other thing to look out for is brain rape. Academia will love to understand how you solved a problem in detail so either they can present it as their own, or imagine they could do it themselves.
Consider if you are being meek or gun-shy, and how much of it is the desired behaviour of you.