Idea for MJ Demarco and The Fastlane Forum

[ExaltedLife]

Hey MJ,

I want to see what you and other Fastlaners think about an idea for the Forum that I think could work well, seeing as there is a range of members, from hungry bootstrappers to the successful and affluent.

I've been going through a transformation recently, inspired by "Personality isn't Permanent", a book that I purchased after hearing a review from a forum member. One aspect of this is that I'm questioning old limitations I've held. For instance...I'm an idea machine, and I have really good ideas every day, and some of them I don't execute on because they require investment of capital that I just don't have - and yet, I've not once ever tried to secure outside investment.

I was thinking about this, and after I realized - wow, I can actually pursue that, and nothing has been holding me back but my own self limiting beliefs - I thought to myself, "Well, where should I start looking for potential investors?"

For obvious reasons, it wasn't long before I thought of the Fastlane Forum.

So here's my idea, do with it what you will:

Why not create a sort of 'Shark Tank', built from this forum? I don't know whether there might be legal issues, but it seems to me this is a prime space where such a thing could grow.

What do you think?

 

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[AFMKelvin]

Hey MJ,

I want to see what you and other Fastlaners think about an idea for the Forum that I think could work well, seeing as there is a range of members, from hungry bootstrappers to the successful and affluent.

I've been going through a transformation recently, inspired by "Personality isn't Permanent", a book that I purchased after hearing a review from a forum member. One aspect of this is that I'm questioning old limitations I've held. For instance...I'm an idea machine, and I have really good ideas every day, and some of them I don't execute on because they require investment of capital that I just don't have - and yet, I've not once ever tried to secure outside investment.

I was thinking about this, and after I realized - wow, I can actually pursue that, and nothing has been holding me back but my own self limiting beliefs - I thought to myself, "Well, where should I start looking for potential investors?"

For obvious reasons, it wasn't long before I thought of the Fastlane Forum.

So here's my idea, do with it what you will:

Why not create a sort of 'Shark Tank', built from this forum? I don't know whether there might be legal issues, but it seems to me this is a prime space where such a thing could grow.

What do you think?

There's already an ideas thread. If someone executes an idea the one that came up with it gets a reward I think.

 

[Mike Stoian]

Probably the best thing you can do is start a progress thread and actually start working on it. ( there must be something you can do without capital or to get outside capital from people you know)
Nobody is going to invest in your idea if you haven't done anything on it so far. Otherwise they could just take your idea and run with it themselves.
People don't invest in ideas, they invest in businesses. If you've seen Shark Tank, the sharks always ask for numbers. How many have you sold? How much you expect to sell this year? What is the churn rate? What is the profit margin ? etc etc. They laugh idea guys straight out of the place.

So if you make a progress thread where people can see and understand some of your business, they also get to learn more about you from your posts and they may become more inclined to invest at some point.

 

[ExaltedLife]

I understand what you guys are saying.

The ideas thread is different from what I'm proposing. I'm offering the idea because I think there's huge potential within the Fastlane Forum to build an investing platform of some kind.

And with that, it's not because I intend to rely on it to find investors, but because its easy to suggest, I think its a good idea, I don't lose any opportunity cost by suggesting it because I don't have skin in that kind of game, and if it works out I might get some credit down the line, which is always nice.

 

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[Brrr]

I would imagine MJ would want to avoid:

1. The liability which comes with having a platform like that.
2. Attracting all kinds of scammers, both investors and investees, and having to deal with regulating & managing that.
3. Assuming it all worked well, turning the forum into a pitchfest where everyone is trying to be the alpha and cult of personality starts. (I like the vagueness of people's affairs here).

Anecdotally, if people see your business is doing well, they will come and ask questions to try and wet their beak. If you have something that is genuinely good finding investors isn't the hard part.

If you have nothing except an idea, but no business that is already executing on the idea, then an investor is probably the last thing you need at that stage.

 

[Kasimir]

I love the idea in general. But I think it can't be like shark tank it rather should be like Kickstarter. The Forum would get a small percentage for making sure everything is legit. So I won't go into the direction of investing in an idea rather in a person who already started with the execution of his/her plan.

So yeah great idea. But your problem is that you need MJ and the forum. And I'm not sure if that's their intention, but let's hope for the best.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Why not create a sort of 'Shark Tank', built from this forum?

Because it's entirely a different business model complete with a long list of legal issues, not to mention, plenty of competition in the crowd/equityfunding space.

It isn't as simple as "Hey, lets just create a new forum category!"

In effect, you are suggesting I create another business, one that would likely require more employees, more lawyers, more headaches, and more drama. Not interested.

It also suggests that the forum is teeming with multimillionaires ready to drop thousands or millions -- while the forum has many here, they are the minority. Furthermore, the unfortunate pattern at the forum is people are leveraging the forum to get started and launch their business-- but once they gain traction and find notable success, they tend to leave and rarely return, unless one has something to sell. It's a bit disheartening that we're here for the grind, but not so much the glory.

In other words, Match.com is a great resource when you're looking for love ... but not so much if you find your love.

That said, I do appreciate the suggestion my friend.

 

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[MTF]

It also suggests that the forum is teeming with multimillionaires ready to drop thousands or millions -- while the forum has many here, they are the minority. Furthermore, the unfortunate pattern at the forum is people are leveraging the forum to get started and launch their business-- but once they gain traction and find notable success, they tend to leave and rarely return, unless one has something to sell. It's a bit disheartening that we're here for the grind, but not so much the glory.

I'll say it again and will keep repeating it: this forum keeps giving me tons of value, perhaps even more, even now that I'm retired (thanks pretty much entirely to the value and support I got out of it).

Speaking of which, I have a few new threads in mind so need to finally get to posting them

As for the thread idea, even in VC and angel investing, extremely well analyzed startups backed by great investors and started by great entrepreneurs mostly fail. What would be the chances here on the forum when you lack lots of the background check tools the big angel/VC funds have?

 

[Kak]

If you want a more formal arrangement than what is already available here, I say offer some money up and see who bites.

You could do a paid panel of “sharks” that hear pitches for people that want to hone their shit before real meetings.

Something like: If you want to pitch your venture at 4 forum members, name your price and see who you attract to one of the 4 seats.

If you name $100 as your price, you will attract $100 talent. If you name $1000, you will attract $1000 talent.

You might have more than 4 that agree, then you get to pick who.

Schedule a zoom call for one hour... And then it’s a pitch followed by questions and then feedback thinking like an investor or customer. Everyone is bound to confidentiality by accepting a seat. Boom, done, and the burden of the arrangement is on the offerer, not the forum.

 

[ExaltedLife]

If you want a more formal arrangement than what is already available here, I say offer some money up and see who bites.

You could do a paid panel of “sharks” that hear pitches for people that want to hone their shit before real meetings.

Something like: If you want to pitch your venture at 4 forum members, name your price and see who you attract to one of the 4 seats.

If you name $100 as your price, you will attract $100 talent. If you name $1000, you will attract $1000 talent.

You might have more than 4 that agree, then you get to pick who.

Schedule a zoom call for one hour... And then it’s a pitch followed by questions and then feedback thinking like an investor or customer. Everyone is bound to confidentiality by accepting a seat. Boom, done, and the burden of the arrangement is on the offerer, not the forum.

That's sort of what I had in mind actually. It seems like a win-win to leverage the forum in this respect, because it's a fun reason to "stay for the glory" of investing seed capital and watching the progress of the grind.

 

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