Product & strategy
Identified a gap: students applying to the UK and US get either expensive consultants or scattered free advice. Designed a freemium model where the planning product is free and human support is optional.
The project behind the product
A free product,
built from scratch.
The College Original is a freemium platform I founded and run alone alongside my studies. The Student Studio is free for every applicant. Personal advice is an optional paid layer that funds the free product.
Build & operations
Designed and shipped the Student Studio, onboarding, payments, booking, document review and an admin workspace, with privacy controls so each student’s records stay their own.
Go-to-market
Wrote the guides library, set up a funnel from free content to free sign-up, and track sign-ups, activation and orders to decide what to build next.
Customer work
Advise students directly, then turn repeated questions into Studio features and guides, so the free product gets better with every conversation.
How the model
works.
Free: every self-directed tool, including planning, university research, experience records, writing workspaces, application tracking and the full guides library.
Paid, optional: one-to-one meetings, written reviews and feedback on drafts. Scope and full price are shown before payment.
Principles: no ghost-writing, no admission predictions, no profile scores. Students keep ownership of their work.
Built by one founder. University names describe my own background and do not imply endorsement.