Jim was a polished speaker and interesting fellow. I found myself listening less to what he was saying, and more to how he was saying it. From the moment he said, "I'm going to make you the most popular person on campus..." I found myself focusing on the mechanics of his presentation. I thought to myself here is a craftsman at attracting and holding an audience in suspense. There's a lot to be learned by how he does it.
And of course he introduces the topic of Lamborghini. Who isn't intrigued by that? Very effective use of the prop.
I can see how he would have been a very effective politician. Yet, it doesn't seem to have gone to far to his head. One of my cousins was a State Legislator years ago, and he's still Mike, but the experience did change him somewhat. It seems he has made a lot of invaluable connections through being a
legislator. This would seem to be an ideal career move. Might have to
consider it for myself. Well, perhaps more than consider, it's something I've considered off and on for a long time. You know, "boy if I were in charge, I would have done..."
Anyway, I enjoyed listening to Jim. There were some key points he brought up, which I agree with and think are important to take note of. The importance of having the right team and the right partners, and to not be afraid of failure. It was a valuable insight to know that some investors aren't interested in you if you haven't failed before, and can demonstrate you have learned from mistakes.
Some other important points I wanted to jot down from my notes, though I think it was Andrew who said them. Be authentic. Don't try to be someone you're not. Be yourself. And lastly, if you want to be an expert/authority on a subject, write about it.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Elevator Pitch
Hey there, aren't you _______. Hey it's good to finally meet you!
I'd like to let in on what I'm up to now and and an investment opportunity I think would be perfect for you. My latest venture, MergeMe, is on a mission to give people back control of how they communicate.
I know, right? Sounds huge. Pie in the sky. Crazy. Insane. Well, if you want to go big, you have to think big. I have a plan, of measure small concrete steps, that will systematically lead to this goal.
How are we going to start? We are starting with the launch of our flagship product, CrossRoads "where all your communications intersect." We will initially push this out as a free mobile application with limited functionality. The idea being to quickly build a user base of the application. They will be able to access up to 3 forms of communication in the application with limited functionality.
How you're going to get your investment back, is this. There will be two upgrade options to the application at $6.99 and $9.99. We're already in talks with Jeff Goldblum about being our spokesperson. We are in development now, and are looking at a 6 month launch date. With a strong marketing campaign, we forecast getting the application pushed into at least 5 million users within 3 months after launch, with a minimum of 20% upgrade option, which translates to somewhere between 7 and 10 million in revenue.
So we can have you're initially 500k investment returned within the first year, with the option to stay invested into the next phase.
We plan to take the profits from CrossRoads and combine that with funds from a kick-starter campaign, to launch the MergeMe platform. This platform will be run as "for value". We want to do for social media what wikipedia has done for information. We are partnering with SpiderOak to provide secure hosting of user content. Users will be provided a limited space for free, with the option to pay for more storage. The platform will connect users peer-to-peer. Users will have complete control over how their information is shared, stored, and whether or not they can remove information. The platform will be funded solely on user donations. No information regarding how users communicate will ever be used for profit. The only monitoring that will be done will be anonymous, and for the purposes of preventing abuse and improving the performance of the system.
That is our vision, and we hope you see the long term value of what we hope to accomplish. In any event, we know you see the value in our CrossRoads product, and look forward to bringing you in on the ground floor.
I'd like to let in on what I'm up to now and and an investment opportunity I think would be perfect for you. My latest venture, MergeMe, is on a mission to give people back control of how they communicate.
I know, right? Sounds huge. Pie in the sky. Crazy. Insane. Well, if you want to go big, you have to think big. I have a plan, of measure small concrete steps, that will systematically lead to this goal.
How are we going to start? We are starting with the launch of our flagship product, CrossRoads "where all your communications intersect." We will initially push this out as a free mobile application with limited functionality. The idea being to quickly build a user base of the application. They will be able to access up to 3 forms of communication in the application with limited functionality.
How you're going to get your investment back, is this. There will be two upgrade options to the application at $6.99 and $9.99. We're already in talks with Jeff Goldblum about being our spokesperson. We are in development now, and are looking at a 6 month launch date. With a strong marketing campaign, we forecast getting the application pushed into at least 5 million users within 3 months after launch, with a minimum of 20% upgrade option, which translates to somewhere between 7 and 10 million in revenue.
So we can have you're initially 500k investment returned within the first year, with the option to stay invested into the next phase.
We plan to take the profits from CrossRoads and combine that with funds from a kick-starter campaign, to launch the MergeMe platform. This platform will be run as "for value". We want to do for social media what wikipedia has done for information. We are partnering with SpiderOak to provide secure hosting of user content. Users will be provided a limited space for free, with the option to pay for more storage. The platform will connect users peer-to-peer. Users will have complete control over how their information is shared, stored, and whether or not they can remove information. The platform will be funded solely on user donations. No information regarding how users communicate will ever be used for profit. The only monitoring that will be done will be anonymous, and for the purposes of preventing abuse and improving the performance of the system.
That is our vision, and we hope you see the long term value of what we hope to accomplish. In any event, we know you see the value in our CrossRoads product, and look forward to bringing you in on the ground floor.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Dot.com to Dot.bomb The rise and fall of web mania
The craze of the internet was a time I remember well. I was graduating from the UW Seattle in 1991. It was an exciting time for geeks like myself. I was constantly tinkering with my 386dx40; upgrading hardware, tweaking Win3.1 to it's maximum potential.
And then the internet started to explode. I could connect with my friends from home. I could send and receive emails, wow. Graphical browsers came on-line. You could visit web pages that not only had text, but images. Things were a bit, slow. that 25k image took a few seconds to load, but boy was it worth it.
Then around 95, things really started taking off. Modems were getting faster, high-speed service were coming down in price. I knew more and more people who were installing high speed DSL over their phone lines. Next thing you knew we were watching video over the internet. It was pretty low-res at the time, but it was a glimpse into the future.
During this time, there was a "gold-rush" of websites. Companies try to understand what this internet was. Many realized, that it didn't matter if they understood it, only that they needed to be a part of it. Those that didn't adapt would pay the price. Internet companies were popping up all over the place, and for every such company there was a line of investors looking to cash in.
Everything came to a head with the turn of the century, and in 2000 the whole house of cards came crashing down. Many companies had become insanely overvalued. InfoSpace, on paper, was at one point worth more than Boeing...and almost over-night it wasn't.
There were many companies that barely looked good on paper, and with no real substance, vanished very quickly. This had the effect of crippling many companies that had a solid foundation, and many did not survive the fall out.
There have been other market bubbles since the internet explosion, such as the housing market. But these don't come close to comparison. I don't think I'll see anything in my lifetime as significant as the birth of the web. As the saying goes, "may you live in interesting times."
And then the internet started to explode. I could connect with my friends from home. I could send and receive emails, wow. Graphical browsers came on-line. You could visit web pages that not only had text, but images. Things were a bit, slow. that 25k image took a few seconds to load, but boy was it worth it.
Then around 95, things really started taking off. Modems were getting faster, high-speed service were coming down in price. I knew more and more people who were installing high speed DSL over their phone lines. Next thing you knew we were watching video over the internet. It was pretty low-res at the time, but it was a glimpse into the future.
During this time, there was a "gold-rush" of websites. Companies try to understand what this internet was. Many realized, that it didn't matter if they understood it, only that they needed to be a part of it. Those that didn't adapt would pay the price. Internet companies were popping up all over the place, and for every such company there was a line of investors looking to cash in.
Everything came to a head with the turn of the century, and in 2000 the whole house of cards came crashing down. Many companies had become insanely overvalued. InfoSpace, on paper, was at one point worth more than Boeing...and almost over-night it wasn't.
There were many companies that barely looked good on paper, and with no real substance, vanished very quickly. This had the effect of crippling many companies that had a solid foundation, and many did not survive the fall out.
There have been other market bubbles since the internet explosion, such as the housing market. But these don't come close to comparison. I don't think I'll see anything in my lifetime as significant as the birth of the web. As the saying goes, "may you live in interesting times."
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