New To The Forum: would like criticism and feedback on idea/execution plan

[Michael Brand]

Hi Fastlane Forum! I would like to introduce myself here after lurking a little bit and ask for some constructive feedback on an idea I have been working on.

A little bit about me. I'm 21 going to be 22 soon and have been committed to unscripting for about 6 months at this point. I've graduated from college recently(thankfully with no debt) with a computer science degree and actually have a pretty cool job lined up to make some income in the meantime and get some real life experience. However, like all of you, I know for a fact I can't work a 9-5 forever, as I don't like taking instructions and I agree it's stupid to rely on Wall Street for my retirement.

I was first introduced to M.J's books when I was ~19 but I was an idiot by reading only half-way through Millionare Fastlane, saying "Nah that sounds like too much work and I'm not good at coming up with ideas" and walking away. But a couple months agom it hit me that entrepreneurship is the only real way to not end up like my parents who are near retirement age and are still overworked at their jobs and to live differently than them. Recently, I've finished Millionaire Fastlane and Unscripted and I'm working my way through The Great Rat Race Escape in audio book form.

Now for what I'm working on, I had the idea for a digital art frame business with a marketplace of independent artists behind it to source the artworks. So the idea is you buy the frame, put it up on your wall and you can purchase a couple pieces of art you like in order to display and switch between at your leisure. Now, digital art frames already exist from companies like Mueral and Nix Frames, with Mueral essentially doing the exact thing I'm describing here.

So what do I think I can do better than Mueral? Well I came up with a couple value skew points based on digging through their pages.

• Better Price: Mueral's frames are ridiculously expensive($599-$699) for what is essentially a fancy TV
• Better Resolution: Their frames only have Full HD resolution (1920x1080) when you can get a 4k TV for ~$200 dollars
• Better Longevity: Their one star reviews show that the frame does not last long at all and breaks often
• Better App: Their app is known for being glitchy, slow and unresponsive, eating away at customer experience
• Better Customer Service: Many complaints in their reviews describe the company being unresponsive and unhelpful in the event the device breaks

Now you may be saying "Hey, good job applying the principles from the book in finding skew but how are you going to execute on making a better frame/get digital artists interested to sell on your platform in enough volume to get consumers to want to buy?" Fair questions of which I have a couple ideas on / have put some legwork on in solving but would appreciate input on.

I mainly have the components of the hardware figured on for how I can prototype the case and what will handle the communication with the app. But my main challenge on this front is finding a TFT manufacturer who makes large enough screens in the Americas. I found one who I was in communication with this week who would meet the needs overall with full service manufacturing down the line but they have not responded recently despite a follow up email. I will reach out to them again on monday. I realize that at some point I may need to begin looking at asian manufacturers but if i can I would prefer to keep the production in the same continental space starting out.

Now for the marketplace this is a bit more of a challenge. The marketplace is somewhat conceptually similar to sites like RedBubble and Society6 where artists can monetize their designs for consumers to buy. There are some big complaints with these sites::

• They take a very high cut of the sales, so artists make peanuts off every sale
• They don't provide useful analytics for creators to understand why they are or are not making sales
• They don't provide a way to foster a connection between customer and creator, it is a very one and done deal
  
  
• So the main value skew I would offer would be
  • Provide artists with the majority of each sale made on the platform ~70% or ~60%
  • Provide useful analytics so they know where traffic is coming from
  • Provide a way to foster that connection between customer and creator (I am weakest on this one at this time)

As for getting the volume of creators, this is one of the biggest challenges I am facing. My main methods of networking with creators would be to

1. Establish business relationships with artists through licensing their work for use on website/advertising
2. Pay artists who I am working with to get the word out about what I am building
3. Pound pavement to local art societies/flea markets to speak artists IRL and get their input and interest in something like this.

Lastly I have done some soft validation for this project through dropping surveys through out the internet and getting some responses. The main take aways are that consumers would be interested in something like this. Creatives are a bit more hesitant but are open to new ways of monetizing their work

Any ideas, criticisms or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I realize that there is an extremely high chance of failure with a project of this magnitude, especially for a baby entrepreneur like myself and I have a gargauntian knowledge gap to cover. I will end my post here because it has already became a wall of text!

 

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[John Paul 182]

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Djiist,

Kujp Qeam