CEO Michael Matousek got the idea while in a class at Kent State University.
Students skipping a class continually asked him for his notes. He started charging a few bucks. As fate would have it, he was in an entrepreneurship class which gave a platform to put the idea to use.
Flashnotes.com is a new web-based program that allows students to upload their class notes.
The person submitting the content decides the price and gets most of the profit. Students at about a dozen colleges are using it.
It's happening through word of mouth and flier distributions on campuses.
"They email their class, they leave fliers, and people start to know about the site and they instantly get the notes," Matousek said.
Matousek, 22, is from Brecksville. FlashNotes COO Dave Petruziello, 31,is from Mentor.
Matousek says he and Dave met at a networking event and just clicked.
"We have an opportunity to provide jobs and create some income within certain areas of mostly Northeast Ohio, so it's exciting, especially being from this area, we are able to contribute to the economy in that sense," Petruziello said.
The site has gone through some changes since its launch in December, 2009. In that time, though there have been 3,000 transactions, with peaks at times like midterms and finals.
Many times they happen during typical college study times -- like the middle of the night. When the website was in its infancy, Matousek had to stay up all night long and click "okay" to ensure each user gets the content they paid for.
These days, he is getting a little more sleep. People who are uploading notes are paid through PayPal each Friday. There is no subscription fee.
The Youngstown Business Incubator is helping the guys get on their feet. Jim Cossler is the CEO.
"When there is no cost of content and no cost of marketing, it's a homerun," Cossler said.
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