Dot-Commitment

He visited venture capitalists around Washington and took a trip to Silicon Valley but came back empty-handed.

"They want to know how you're going to make them money and how quickly," he said. "It's a little frustrating that they don't really care about my vision."

Recently, Birnbaum agreed to fund Daylert a while longer as Hassan searches for a sizable investment.

Hassan travels to school after school to market the site. He said Daylert already has 3,000 users and garners 200,000 page views a month, active at about 10 schools. But he realizes that figure has to grow -- and fast.

"If we're not at 150,000 users by the end of the year, we're in trouble," Hassan said.

Universities, which have already invested time and money in competing products such as Blackboard course management software, have been hesitant to adopt a competing product.

"What really seals the deal for faculty is student demand. . . . Faculty respond to that," said Brian Britt, a Virginia Tech professor who received a presentation on Daylert from Hassan.

Hassan openly acknowledged that he wants this venture to make him a multimillionaire. But he claims -- and has long told associates -- that he has higher motives.

"Islam has a very negative vibe in the country. I want people to realize I'm a Muslim doing this," Hassan said, adding that he wants to use his potential riches to support Bangladesh.

On an evening last week, Hassan did what he most needs to do as a young chief executive: take advice from others.

He went to a Washington Capitals hockey game at Verizon Center as part of the MindShare program, which has been a local forum for established technology entrepreneurs to help start-ups. Before the game, he listened to AOL vice chairman emeritus Ted Leonsis give a talk on entrepreneurship.

Hassan sat a few rows up, one of 40 people all hoping to be in charge of the next great technology company. Most of them were 10 or more years his senior.