Taking inspiration from this idea from steven poland http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-99-group-learning-of-anything-in-weeks/ i am planning to build a social learning site. However i am also believe that a business needs to generate money from Day 1. So i want to charge a fees to the users on a per course basis. Also i think people would be more motivated to finish something when they have paid for it. So i wanted to ask the HN community this question, Is providing a forum enough to ask people for money? Can you cite examples of any businesses which do that?
Not sure what kind of "social learning site" you intend to start, but the short answer to your question is yes.<p>A sites like ExpertsExchange comes to mind. Also, there is another company which I recently became aware of that offers "social learning" college classes. There are no instructors, but instead a social network of tutors and mentors. They are gaining some ground. <a href="http://www.straighterline.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.straighterline.com/</a> I have no affiliation with them, but recently read about them and sounds like an interesting idea.