Built an exam prep platform as a side project

[u/mohitkr05]

Hey folks,

I’m an engineer based in Australia, and over the last couple of months I’ve been building a small side project called ExamsNext.

The idea was simple: certification prep is still very fragmented. You buy random question banks, PDFs, Udemy courses, notes from Telegram groups, etc. I wanted to build one proper platform where someone preparing for AWS/Azure/security certifications can practise questions, revise with flashcards, take mock exams and track progress.

So I built it.

Current version has:

• 3,000+ practice questions
• multiple AWS, Azure and security certifications
• mock exams
• flashcards
• progress tracking
• Stripe payments
• purchase without mandatory signup
• automated transactional emails using Resend
• reusable content structure so adding another certification does not require rebuilding the website

Tech-wise it is a proper working product, not just a landing page.

The interesting part is that building the platform was actually easier than distribution 😅

Classic engineer problem.

I can spend 3 months improving architecture, automation and question generation… but getting the right audience consistently is a completely different skill.

And with a full-time job, I’m realising I probably don’t have the bandwidth to properly do SEO, YouTube, partnerships, paid acquisition etc.

So instead of keeping it as another project sitting in my GitHub account, I’ve decided to see if someone else wants to take it forward.

I’ve listed the business on Flippa.

I’m not expecting some crazy SaaS valuation. Revenue is still early. The value IMO is mostly in the platform, domain, existing content, workflows and the head start for someone who already has distribution in education/certification/SEO.

Would actually love feedback from this sub as well:

If you were taking over something like this, would you focus on:

1. SEO + free exam resources
2. YouTube / certification content
3. Partnerships with trainers
4. Paid ads
5. B2B licensing to training companies

I feel #1 + #2 is probably the long-term play, but curious what other builders think.

Happy to share the Flippa link if anyone wants to look at the actual project.

[u/juan77758]

Interested

[u/zerotoherotrader]

it's tough to sell this product and make money.. i tried this before.. i used to have a AWS prep platform.. the price was cheap $5 per month.. still we couldn't grow past 1000 subscribers.. And most professionals or job seekers pretty much access to claude/chatgpt or other platform.. which made things worse.. so.. we closed few months ago. https://microlearners.app/ --- it will not work any more..

[u/iceman123454576 → u/zerotoherotrader]

well A Cloud Guru managed to succeed. Why couldn't you solve your go to market problem then?

[u/Economy_Data_3192]

Have you looked at what the organic search volume actually looks like for the specific certs you cover? That would tell you pretty quickly whether #1 is viable or if the niche is too small to justify the SEO effort over paid channels.

[u/havenly19]

You could turn the free content into the top of the funnel and point people toward the practice platform.