[FormPay]

UPDATE: This first post has been updated on 4/18/ Please read below even if you visited before...

I am going forward with this project, I have prepaid 20% of the coding fee to the web development team who will be creating this site. I still however am looking for investors as i do need capital to pay for advertising.

Now what i need in terms of capital and what it will be used for:
Misc:
Web Design (not the coding but the actual template design that) $750
Logo $200
Dedicated Server: $189 per month * 4 months = $756

Advertising: (keep in miond to start i will be targeting my home city of tampa)
Direct Mail campaign: $4,500
Google Adwords Campaign: $2,500
Yard Sign advertising $750
Radio Advertising $835

Total capital needed: $12,750 - i added $2500 reserve just incase of unexpected cost.
This is down from $35,000 as i have emptied my bank account and i have sold my car (chrysler 300) to finance this. i am now without a vehicle (although i do have access to one, my parents own 3 and are letting me use theirs) so i hope this explains how faithful i am in this project.

One feature about this business that possible investors might like is:
- Low overhead cost
we can keep this site up and for about $200 per month without advertising.

- owned coding
We own the coding and all resell right to it. which means if a competitor likes our idea (and there are 3-4 competitors making millions a year) we own the right to sell it to them. Also, please note the clients we are targeting are NOT the same clients are competitors are! which makes it even more lucrative to the large competitors as it will generate a new revenue stream for them.

- Minimal competition
Even though there is a lot of competition for this market itself. The larger websites are not targeting the same customers we are. Or if some are, The fees for the service are over what most of our potential clients can afford or are willing to pay. I have set the pricing at 15% of what our cheapest competitor charges. I came to this amount by determining what our clients need and what they dont. One thing our clients do not need is national exposure as it is gear tword a local population. The larger competitors have their business model geared towards large multimillion dollar companies who NEEd national coverage which cost a great deal more.

- Uniqueness
Like i mentioned before, although we are offering the same service to lower end customers, we are also offering a unique website model which larger competitors do not offer their clients. This allows us to eventual create a product in which we can also aim are national business in the future when we are profitable enough. Also, due to the uniqueness of our site, a large competitor may see the value in the early and want to put in an offer to purchase the company while we are small before another company has the chance to.

[capforge]

Have you spent that free time putting together a business plan, doing market research and otherwise being serious in your attempt to launch? If not, go back to class, and save the startup energy for nights and weekends. Don't put all your eggs in this basket, is what I'm saying, until you get a little further down the road with it.

[Squandered Halfpints]

Very true. Let me tell you a little story. I have a good friend who came up with an idea for a social networking site (which he may still launch) which is very unique, and has the chance of becoming a huge success. He devoted over 5 months of his time after he graduated with his B.S. from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to working on every single aspect of its development (without any job). He moved to the Silicon Valley, and lived in his car for three of these months, doing nothing but work on this project, all day every day.

He found a partner, (who had his mult. grad degress. i.e. masters/Ph.D. in every subject needed, with the experience) to help him create his website -note. this person was not being compensated in any way and was supporting a family with his software engineering profession. They worked together for about 2 months, till this tech. creator of the site stumbled upon some news that one of the large social networking sites were doing something sort of similar. It had just a very, very, small resembalance of their project, but it was enough for his to drop of the time and effort he invested. He told my friend about it, and told him he was quitting the project. Everything came to a crash. He lost about $7,000 of his savings, and he has really nothing of value to show for it.

My heartbroken friend is now living near me, with an uncompensated internship at a marketing agencey and working a valet job for minimum wage. Though his entreprenurial spirit is not lost, he needed to get a job, cause that spirit doesn't pay bills. He tells me he learned a lot, and it may help him in his next venture, but that is about all he got from it.

The moral of the story. That bright burning lightbulb of an idea in your head may stay lit for thousands of hours, but it will only start to dim when you hit a barrier. Go to school, and treat your idea as a hobby, not an inevitable cash cow.

[FormPay]

ok thats nice and all but some things you might want to know:

1- Yes i have a business plan but im not giving any detail out on public forums or anyone who doesn't legitimately have the know how to build the site or the resources to fund it.

2- Its NOT a networking site.. It just uses the same type of platform networking sites use. AGAIN NOT A NETWORKING SITE

3- I'm getting a degree in e-commerce as we speak and run 2 successful internet business's as well as worked in e-commerce in m-commerce payment processing fields.

[CIsaac]

In what kind of forum are you willing to divulge the information an investor would need? And is there a potential for 1) rapid sustainable growth, 2)significant size and scale, 3) disproportionate profitability?

[clp11479]

to create a myspace/facebook would take 1 person quite a long time (as in years probably). you'll probably need a team of programmers, a website builder to create the layout, a graphics person to handle the pictures, etc...

[FormPay]

Originally Posted by CIsaac

In what kind of forum are you willing to divulge the information an investor would need? And is there a potential for 1) rapid sustainable growth, 2)significant size and scale, 3) disproportionate profitability?

Hi,
If you sign and email me back a non disclosure form, Im willing to email you a semi-detailed business plan (there will be certain point left out just for my safety)

1 - Yes
2 - Other companies who are in the same field but do not really provide the service are worth in excess of 500 million. However my concept makes it a lot easier and cheaper for the end users (customers)
3 - as compared to the initial investment? definitely. If im provided the proper funding, After talking with my professor who teachers e-commerce (USF) and the input i have gotten from my family friend / industry professional, there will be a large demand for this and we can realistically expect a profit of $70-$100k within the first 12 months the site goes live. (and that is being modest to be safe)

[FormPay]

Originally Posted by clp11479

to create a myspace/facebook would take 1 person quite a long time (as in years probably). you'll probably need a team of programmers, a website builder to create the layout, a graphics person to handle the pictures, etc...

Really it wouldn't. But i will not be creating the site, we will be hiring professionals. Also, again its not a myspace/facebook clone.

[coleygirl1041]

I'm anxious to hear how this all comes out.

[FormPay]

ill be sure to keep you updated and this forum will be the first to know when its complete.