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...at the end of the fight, when the matador feels it is time, he squares up with the bull in a final duel. The game is now over. There is no more taunting, no more missed charges. On this move, the gigantic thundering bull will charge straight at the matador, and the matador will do nothing but stand his ground until the last second. And then, with a final lunge, the matador will drive the tip of his sword cleanly between the bull's shoulders and straight into his heart, using the bull's own momentum against him to drive the tip of the blade home... and if it is done right, the blade goes in like butter, and the bull falls to the ground, dead.
This is how I see web marketing.
Other people talk a lot of sh##, but are always hiding behind some excuse or obstacle that prevents them from really getting into the mix:
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...other's are clowns, humorous distractions, that have their place and get some attention...
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...but it isn't really what the fans came to see.
So what does this have to do with Marketing and Monetization? I just submitted my application to TechCrunch:) Cross your fingers.
Cliffhanger.
...forget hanging; I just ran 3 steps and jumped as far as I could in order to clear the first ledge, and simply get invited. If I can do that, then the next hurtle is getting on stage... and then theoretically winning their coveted 'Disrupt Cup' and $50k prize.
I can't say my App is that good, but for as little time and money that was spent on it, it's still a bull killer:)
...but let me add, if there was ever a person more deserving of that cup than me, I hope I get the opportunity to shake their hand in person in NYC at the end of May. I just need to get on that stage and use that opportunity to disseminate that app, and I'm good to go. But if I won, wow, there is an enormous amount of publicity associated with that distinction... which is why I posted this thread in here.
This is another way of making money, theoretically. You build the app, disseminate it for free, get an angel round to build out some more functionality, then allow the angel to position your company to get flipped. The goal was in 6 months, starting with nothing, to raise the value to more than $500k. Then look for a serious round as soon as I can show the new product and that the current one has solid traction (I'm hoping as soon as the end of the third quarter.)
...But if TC says no (which is more likely than not) then it's back to 'Plan B' and my social whoring skillz:) I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything. I wrote them on Friday asking for early consideration, the same way I used to get my crap listed in dmoz by going to resource-zone, hoping they might swallow it quicker if I hang it out in front of them and give it a little jiggle:)
And the projected date for the big news?
The premiere start up launch competition by TechCrunch:
Disrupt Battlefieldhttp://disrupt.techcrunch.com/
Summary of the rules:
- Applications are due midnight PST on Sunday Night, April 3, 2011.
- We will review applications on a rolling basis, so it's to your advantage to submit as soon as you are ready.
- startups must be live for fewer than three months, less than two years old
- In selecting final contestants, we will give heavy preference to companies that launch for the first time to the public and press at TechCrunch Disrupt.
- PowerPoint slides and video demos are optional but highly encouraged. We reserve the right not to review applications without video demos based on application volume.
- If you're choosing between launch platforms and need an early decision, please apply and email us and we'll priority review your application.
...so I went for it, despite not having 5 power-point presentation slides and my video. Instead I submitted 5 mockups of my app (one page for each screen) and one 'summary' screen-shot which shows a screen capture after my app did it's thing, and has a bunch of stickies all over it with arrows diagramming what you are seeing. That is a gamble. But if I wait to get all my marketing collateral ready, I'll burn 2 more weeks..... and like they said, acceptance is on a rolling basis... so it's harder to bump someone out at the end, than it is to get in at the the beginning... so I attached a link-bait bomb to my 'early consideration' email to grab their attention, so they would give it
careful consideration, despite the lack of visuals...
Like I said, cross your fingers:) But overall it's just a few days invested, so it's worth a sincere effort to get in. But I have no problem taking this straight to market if they say it isn't for them. It's just that if I get any help lifting this off the ground it will really help ensure it's success. But if not, I'll just need a little more runway, and time, to get her to lift off:)
I just got an email response (to my 'Early Consideration' email) from the TechCrunch Conference Producer that said, "I'll have your application reviewed next week"
...so at least I know that I am standing in the right line at the bank:)
Good luck man, hope it works out for you.
...thanks, me too.
I don't know what the format will be. I guess they still pick 50(?), then maybe 10 get recognized at the end(?) and then a one gets the $50k prize at the end(?)
But right now, I just need to be one of those 50.
I guess I could know as early as this week, but they may just wait until the very end, before they let me know too, if there are more than 10 of us that are in contention.
I guess we'll see...
no news on the TC front, but I started soliciting VC advice here:
http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/21712/having-trouble-dividing-the-pie-w-my-partner-care-to-help-cut-the-slices
I really liked that other VC forum, and got lots of responses so I posted another question there that looks like this...
QuoteI have a killer Facebook app that is being built right now (will be finished by the end of May) and I'm looking for investors to come in after I have proved my numbers and dump gas on my fire, to capitalize on my first mover advantage. And I'm coming before you all today to ask you how something like this is 'done' (what is the financial instrument of choice?)
Here is my issue: the app uses many bleeding edge API's, which makes it very hot from a tech standpoint, since it is at the center of social, mobile, local and payment. These API's not only made the idea possible, but it made the idea extremely cheap to build... and unfortunately, by the same token, there is no way to protect the idea. And within 6 months there will be others in this space, plus the usual copy-catters.
But I believe, however, we have a killer app. And the way I intertwined it with Facebook, it will be very viral, especially initially. And it will make a pile of money for a least a year, maybe longer. The key, though, is disseminating it quickly to take advantage of being the first mover in this space. And I think I have a low cost 'CPA' strategy to make ALL our money back in a cycle, which may last only a week, with an upper limit that ramps up, and tops out, at around $500k per DAY in terms of an investment opportunity.
So what I'm looking for is an investor that is marketing/tech savvy enough to really see the brilliance, but one ethical enough not to flat out steal the idea from us. Right now I have $10k in it and a fair amount of time. Then I have another $5k set aside to launch it to show my numbers. Prior to launching at the end of May (hopefully at TechCrunch) I'll spend ~$500 to$1k on beta marketing... basically testing my new CPA model, as well as the technology.
Which means, once I prove this out in beta, and get hard numbers to back up what looks to be the case, I'm looking for investors to throw down some big money. In return they will get most of the profit, but I'll end up with a free user who touches several more for free. I'm looking to storm the market in less than 6 weeks, which is faster than just about any competitor could reasonably respond, even if they were hyper-agile.
The key to this type of strategy is just bum rushing the market before anyone even knew there was one, and by the time they know what's going on, you already picked all the low hanging fruit and they are forced to exert effort to get what's left ...or buy you out.
One idea is just do it as a quick cycle, recurring cash loan, which yields cash back.... you give me $X, I give you $X+$Y back in a week, then you decide if you want to roll all (or a portion) back over, etc. Another option we are set up for is selling Preferred Stock of our NV C corp. Another option is that Ron Conway Convertible note thing that is all the rage these days.
Honestly, since this thing is so scalable, and I'm looking for complete domination of this market, I was thinking about tying returns directly to PayPal, so that if you wanted to invest, you could transfer money to your PayPal account and then we would just use money out of that account as needed, so instead of sending me a wire, etc. everything is just done automatically, so I could collect money from essentially an unlimited amount of accounts to spend on the CPA efforts, and it would all end back up in the investors micropayments account, in real-time, without me ever actually managing anything.
Unfortunately, that last paragraph won't really make too much sense unless you know what we are really doing, but hopefully you get the point. I honestly haven't looked to hard at the financial instruments.... what I need, in a few months, is access to a lot cash and some folks that can watch the whole thing unfold, so they are confident everything is in order, so when the day comes to really push, there will be no hesitation, and they will throw down big cash.
Personally, I see this as almost no risk on the investors' part, as I don't see any scenario where they can lose money. They only put money in after everything is tested, JUST on CPA... and get it back, with big interest, within a week, to do again if they want, if we go the loan route. And they throttle the amount and shut off at any time. By the same token, the very biggest impact will be at the beginning of the launch, the same way Adsense made a lot of money at first because people weren't desensitized yet. And like I said, within a month after we launch there is a potential to invest several hundred thousand a day, if we wanted to.
So, given we are in a unique situation... in that what was not possible to do 6 months ago, for a bunch of reasons, is now possible thanks to combining several APIs, which did an enormous amount of heavy listing... and that as a Web Strategist/SEO/Social Marketer, with 15 years of self funded entrepreneurial experience, I've put myself in a position to capitalize on everything... how do I actually go about pitching this to investors?
My idea was a cash loan with basically no collateral. If I could pitch that concept to a few players: they can wait until the last second to decide, then sample what happens for real, then pour money into it as soon as they were convinced... in return for up to 100% of the cash back plus 100% of the profit...I thought they might actually bite, if they came in now, and had full transparency all along the way, so they were really comfortable.
And if I got a few signed on like that, then I would think there would be a few more that might be interested in the Preferred Stock, or the convertible note, to invest in a few more of my related and symbiotic ideas that will add even more revenue streams into the mix. The big idea marketing-wise is to: pull SE traffic from the web, FB traffic from the app, and then iPhone and Android store traffic, using SEO to ensure traction for the two most obvious verticals in the space. And I think I might need another $75k there, so we are realistically still in the Angel realm at this point.
Then, once we got traction, users, we go for a proper round of funding and I go for my V2 push, which ties everything together.
What do you think? Asking at the last second wont work, and if I ask now, I'm still not sure what I want, or what is 'common' in the industry. My ideas usually just work, so I fund myself. This one, though, deserves something more than a bootstrapper can offer...
- Mr. Estocada
from http://answers.onstartups.com/questions/22646/what-is-the-correct-financial-instrument-if-i-want-investors-to-dump-gas-on-my-fi
Dogboy, could you use something like kickstarter to get funding or prosper to get a loan?
I'm open to everything, I'm looking at everything, I'm just taking it all in... so I'm there, as soon as I get done here:)
Here are my thoughts as of right now:
1.) I'm going to go after an Angel to get me to market asap and give them Preferred Stock. I've already pitched 1 serious candidate (he sold his biz to AOL for $500M) and just got a friend up to speed so he can talk to some people he knows. Funny enough I just got a message from a guy on LinkedIn 2 seconds ago that begins, 'I'm an angel investor and entrepreneur in NYC. I'd like to speak to you about your expertise and consulting skills/services for companies I am working on' ...so who knows, maybe there is a God:)
2.) I'm going after cash investors that are interested in putting money in a PayPal Account and watching it cycle through the system and end up in a MicroPayments Account within 7 days, with an additional X% tacked on. They only get cash back/no equity. But the interest should be very good.
My rational is that if I go after both, I'll get one... then the other side will follow. In other words, if I get an Angel, cash investors will be more confident and vice versa. And then once there are a few cash investors, I could hypothetically get more, and keep dumping the cash into acquiring the user base at no cost to me.
And then at some point, throttle it off and reap the rewards from that point forward.
QuoteI just got a message from a guy on LinkedIn 2 seconds ago that begins, 'I'm an angel investor and entrepreneur in NYC. I'd like to speak to you about your expertise and consulting skills/services for companies I am working on'
...I just spent and hour telling him about my project and he was genuinely interested in it:) He is going to look over everything I send him over the weekend, and he wants to get back together at the beginning of next week. The idea I proposed was simply one of friends for now... I would post the job he wanted me in here, and he would review my proposal to give me advice on how to position myself... with the idea that he might even want in:)
Guys... if I get a VC to come in this quick, I'm going to light a fire so bright, poor Rumbas will wake up early thinking the glow was coming from the sun rise:)
Hahaha, if you light it and I see it up here in the grey of grey, I'll come over and roast some marsh mellows.
Good luck dude!
Dear Battlefield NY Applicants:
Thank you for applying to TechCrunch's Battlefield StartUp competition at Disrupt NYC. We are once again thrilled by the large volume of applications and we're reviewing companies as quickly as we can. Please know that we hope to review all submissions hopefully no later than end of April.
All Battlefield submissions will receive a final notification of status via email no later than early May. For companies who are not selected for Battlefield, you will still have time to consider joining us in StartUp Alley and vie for the "Audience Choice" vote each day at Disrupt.
-------------
To be honest, I would think they would've called by now if they were really interested, but who knows...
In other news, I've had 2 long conversations w an Angel investor, and I have a face to face sit down with him next week. And if I'm reading this right, he's going to bring a terms sheet with him and if it is at all possible, I'm going to try and sign with him, and just keep plowing ahead and not miss a beat.
I started designing the iPhone app today, with hopes I'll have funding by the time I'm ready to go to development with it.
The main app is maybe 2 weeks away from being done, minus the PayPal component, and I'm getting a quote from another team that specializes in the Adaptive Payments API so they could work in parallel to bring me to market even faster than I planned. Hoping Beta testing will begin by May 1.
Once the main app is done, I have 2 additional skins ready to go (in order to hit the 2 biggest verticals in my space) just to defend my flanks. Which means I'll have 3 apps, all 3 tweaked different ways, for different markets, by the end of May.
On the website front, I'm going the same route: WP with lots of plugins, overlaid with the user generated content generated by the app. Once it works, we cookie cutter it as well, and roll them out.
The idea is to draw engine traffic, App store traffic, and FB traffic, and then spin it.... and it ends, as always, with me taking over the world and drinking Momosas with a little umbrellas in them on the deck of my sailboat:) heeheh
...if it works, I'll buy you all a drink;)
Dogboy, not sure if you saw this, but I got an email from paypal today... they are also having a contest. Might be worth looking into if you plan to spread to android:
https://www.x.com/community/ppx/devchallenge
You could win $25,000 for your Android App
Use PayPal to integrate secure payments into your Android app and you could win $25,000, or $15,000, or $10,000. In fact, there are no losers in this contest. There are people that don't win money, but really, what's the worst thing that can happen? You end up with payments in your Android app?
Prizes
Grand Prize is $25,000
2nd prize is $15,000, not too shabby
And 3rd prize is $10,000, which is not to be sneezed at
In addition to the cold hard PayPal account deposit, the top 3 applications will receive marketing and PR support from PayPal to help build awareness of their application.
very cool! thanks for pointing this out to me:) I'm looking hard at iphone and android right now, so depending on funding, maybe I should push to go android first, if I can't build in parallel(?)
I did apply to PayPal's new VC connection/incubator program, called, 'PayPal X Startup Accelerator Program'
https://www.x.com/community/ppx/xspaces/accelerator
...where they try to find you interested VC but they said it would be several weeks before anyone would contact you, but so far, nothing.
They really are a hell of company and they seem to gaining even more traction with this new Adaptive Payments API.
Well, I just got back from a sit down meeting with the angel, at the Boca Raton Club.
It went well. We seem to be totally on the same page on just about everything and there was a palpable good vibe between us. In the end, he said he thought we would make a complementary team, and I agreed. But we also both agreed, I didn't really need money right now, but next month might be a different story.
Basically, as far as VC money goes, I've been running through a bunch of scenarios in my head, but the one I keep coming back to is the most basic one: get the basic app up and test it in real life situations and see what really happens before building anything else out. If it works, then we pull in some outside money to dump gas on the fire by focusing only on customer acquisition and not on additional technology (like an iphone app) as I had originally planned. I think the key to making money is to keep expenses to almost nothing and focus everything on just doing one thing that makes money on every transaction starting from Day1, and then look for a Series A (or a buyout) if I can show we are operating profitably, to take it to the next level, and really blow out all my ideas on additional revenue streams.
But planning for all this now involves too much of my time, BS numbers, and 'what ifs' at this point, imo. And we are close enough to beta to just wait for the real numbers, before we waste any more time trying to guess what they might be. All I know, is I think we are geared to go viral, I think we are covered on fraud, and even with no outside help, I think I can get my time and money out of this, without relying on flipping the company or a miracle... and there is potential for this to go very big, in a best case scenario. Which tells me I shouldn't look too far beyond this right now and just worry about today.
So basically, if it goes the way I hope it might, then I look for him to fund my CPA efforts and position us for a real round of funding. And while no commitment was made on either side, we both see a good fit and plan to stay in touch as this all unfolds.
Well, not sure if congratulations is in order yet, but at least you have no reason to send your condolences:)
Since I have no experience trying to get funded, the only thing I can compare it to is meeting a girl and then being patient. If she is really worth it, then it's worth taking your time not to rush things. In neither case do you want to come off as 'needy'. And the real truth is I was prepared to go it alone and so I'm ok until launch. Sure, it might be nice to have someone else cut some checks for the last leg, but not at the cost of too much equity.
The signals from him are positive and strong. After 2 one hour long meetings and a two hour sitdown meeting yesterday, it would've ended w him saying something other than 'let's keep this dialogue going', if he wasn't genuinely interested. So maybe I didn't get a kiss goodnight, but I didn't get a slap in the face either.
I also am starting to feel myself overreach and be a little too much driven by fear, and that is my que to refocus on making sure I got my basics covered. If I keep doing my job the rest will fall into place without me overthinking the situation.
I got an unexpected generic email, after a few months of waiting, from the PayPal X Startup Accelerator program. It didn't explain WHY it took them this long to respond, even after my followup asking them what happened to them, but better late than never. I think I'll give them a call today to really kick this thing in the butt and see if they could offer any help, even if it doesn't have to do with funding.
QuoteSent: Mon, April 25, 2011 5:25:26 PM
Subject: Accelerator Startup
Hello dogboy,
Thank you for submitting your application to participate in the PayPal X Startup Accelerator program. Excuse the delay in us responding. We want to help developers be successful.
Before we move forward, it would be helpful if you could share your expectations on which PayPal products and/or Adaptive APIs you will be using. If you need more information on that front, please check out: https://www.x.com/community/ppx/dev-tools
I'm very pleased to be in touch, and look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Best regards,
Saleem Qadir | PayPal X Developer Network
...and it looks like we are going to be going into beta around the middle of May.
So for all you that are in 'the inner core', I'll be posting some of the behind the scenes info as to what I have going on, as well as my marketing angles, etc. once we get the thing working in private.
The rest of you will just have to wait until I let the cat out of the bag, then I'll invite you to add the app and away we'll go...
Quote from: dogboy on April 19, 2011, 05:44:29 PM
get the basic app up and test it in real life situations and see what really happens before building anything else out.
I was looking for something else, but can't find it. But this might be motivating
http://mixergy.com/listen-to-users/
http://mixergy.com/derek-sivers/
http://mixergy.com/usable-guides-lean-launch-tracking-code-98379/
much obliged... I'm headed there now.
And yeah, after talking with that Angel, that seems like the right path forward: validate then move forward. And he and others have really tried to dissuade me from accepting an invitation (in any form) to be involved with TC, and think in my case there is more value in staying under the radar as long as possible than anything that could be gained by going and disclosing the idea.
Well, I think we are about a week away from something that looks like an app, but my guess we can't get it into the public until the 21st.
The more interesting news revolved around PayPal's Startup Accelerator program; I had two, 30 min (exactly) phone meetings with them. Basically the first one was all about me and the app, then there was a follow up meeting all about them. In short, there isn't really a 'program' in the conventional sense. It's more like they watch you very closely and they look at 1.) if you are a poster child for them (which I think I am, since without them, this app wont work) and 2.) if you could make enough money to move their needle.
This is a little different than an 'incubator' program, in that this program isn't really trying to help every startup get to market faster, it was more like if they like you and your idea they can introduce you to people in the valley, that could give you whatever you need. In that sense they aren't like an angel, they are like the people that introduce you to angels, get you office space... whatever you need to get you in a position to make everybody money.
At the end, he agreed that like the NYC Angel we are in talks with, he wanted access to my private forum and updates as we went into beta, with the idea that he was going to monitor the transactions as well, and then discuss how they could help me, only after they saw some kind of results. Which is exactly what I wanted. If I take it to market without help, then I'm going to be in a better negotiation position, once I'm there... assuming the app works.
So based on those conversations, I'm feeling pretty good. I got grilled on the second call, and nailed every answer, and they are genuinely interested and impressed. On top of that, I was speaking with an old friend who is CEO of another mobile payment startup and he told me to give him a one page exec summary and he would give it to a GM at PayPal and make an introduction, which should connect the dots within that company for me, at a high level.
It's time to get the muleta...
Good stuff, sounds like you're on track to full success.
Awesome, good luck!
My only regret is I should have used that software (we talked about in that other thread) to turn balsamic mockups into a working prototype. I could have saved an enormous amount of time had I just had the ability to show people what I was making, instead of trying to explain it to them.
Whey hey! Good luck!
For all of you who don't have access to the inner core, unfortunately, this is where we part company...
...the tercio de muerte has begun:)
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