Comment by brudgers

My comment expresses my opinion about the specific risks for graduate students considering the likelihood of economic viability of the idea.

The risk is a catastrophic event that might derail an academic career beyond recovery.

The economic viability assessment is based on the normal costs of doing all the things a company needs to do to stay in business relative to the unit economics, the size of the market, and the availability of alternatives with established track records.

If this was a product targeted at freshman students my take would be different. The stakes are much much lower for users; the market is much much bigger; and the norms of academic practice are far more fluid.

Grad school is not simply an extended undergrad…at least when theses and dissertations are required. People expect undergraduates to screw up. Part of graduate school is the expectation of maturity.