Hi Fastlane community!
First, I would like to say I am sorry for not writing in awhile. I've had intentions of being more active and sharing things on here, but have been extremely locked down over this year.
The purpose of this is 2-part. First, I want to give everyone here my official "hello" and description of a project that I will be sharing with you as it continues to grow!
Secondly, I am hoping to open up the channels of communication for advice, input, and discussion to flow from and to the Fastlane community during the the project's growth!
To give some updates to everyone, in the past year I have been deeply delved into researching, learning, and making the lifestyle changes necessary to transition from my former positions of E (emloyed as chief technology officer of a corporation), self-employed (ran a consulting firm) into the B and I quadrants!
While I've managed to broaden my range of skill-sets in other areas of business, my 15 year back ground in technology (have been coding since I was 9 years old) causes me to gravitate towards things technology.
Background Story :coffee:
Fast forwarding a bit, I had an epiphany moment about 35 days ago. I've been logging business ideas for the past several months, many of which have gotten attention from investors and other individuals ready to commit themselves to the idea, but THIS one... This one was different!
To be honest, I somewhat stumbled across this idea while I was in the process of working on another. Even though it snuck up on me, I recognized the massive opportunity that stood, blaring me in the face from the tidal wave of demand that had grown for it over a few days. (I promise, I will be less cryptic soon, but I can't give out all the details just yet!)
After the idea's conception, I mentally mapped out how I would meet this demand and managed to locate a person who already had done almost exactly what my idea was as a side-project.
(Note to entrepreneurs: If someone else has already done it, and it saves you time, try to acquire it! Never re-invent the wheel if you can avoid it, plus you can use the wind in someone else's sails to get you going faster)
This particular project worked, but had bugs and was somewhat broken. The original author did not have the time to finish it. The first thing I did was to create a very powerful presentation piece that showed the massive capabilities of this project. (I never knew I had the skills for this, but if this fails, I'm told I could take up a career in voiceovers and presentations
)
I managed to leverage some quick capital from someone close to me in order to buy out the existing code, and I got to work with it right away! I had promise of funding which fell through because the guy flaked. I believe he was broke and didn't want to admit it, so I wasted several days waiting because I promised him the opportunity first. So I started off trying to get funding and wound up turning down one offer and abandoning a good one because it was just going to take too long. (Investors seem to like to move slowly, which at this point even a few days was long for me to wait, with this project!) So I started driving forward full-speed on my own!
:fastlane:
Within a week or so, I had solved all the users problems and the users began pouring in. We've had several copy-cats that sprung up and have tried to take the idea as well, but despite their level of succes, I am not concerned. The larger goal truly meets the need of this desperately hungry crowd and we will be rolling out with it soon!
I have been doing 100hr+ weeks working on this and finally completed a version that implements the new framework for massive scalability as well as advetising implementation. A month had passed, users were happy, and we were ready to do BIG things!
Where I'm At :cheers:
It's been a wonderfully exciting ride, and I am in a state of total awe and bliss in watching this project become such a success and receiving all of the thank you notes from our users has been fantastic!
Here's the awesome part. Our project is entirely viral and is growing exponentially. We're now getting more than 2000 new registrations per day, nearly every user who joins chooses to spread the application by invitation to all his social media group friends every time he uses it.
We're SEO'd to #1 spot on google for our specific type and #3 for a broad two-word search, which is AWESOME!
I've also managed to find another coder who is an absolute tech-ninja. He originally emailed me offering to write port my code for another platform. Shortly after, I've recruited him to work with me on the overal project and he's been working tirelessly with me, free of charge. He even matches my 28hr sessions! (I see a CTO nametag with his name on it in the near future, but shhh... Haven't mentioned it yet!
)
:icon_super:
The only problem with this currently is, I've dumped every penny I have into this as well as poured my every second into it. I know without a doubt that all the sacrifice put in so far is 100% worth it! But as we're growing so massively causing a non-stop demand for more support and better servers (and with my finances dimished), there's no longer any question -- it's time to monetize!
The advertising structure is now in place with the new version just released and has tracking as well (next version implements a laser-accurate targeting system) The one area in which I am currently lacking much knowledge and expertise is advertising!
But here's the good news...
We are currently getting nearly 2 million tracked ad impressions per day!
Judging by the fact that only 1/6th of our user-base has converted to the new version with advertising support. The rest should be converting within the week, and I anticipate us up to 10 million per day within seven days. Though every time I've estimated with this thing, I've been vastly undershooting due to the viral aspect. (No complaints!!! I love being wrong) This number is growing exponentially as well due to new registrations!
HELP! :shruggie:
I need advice!
As you might be able to tell from what I've told you already, I've taken a "JFDI" (see Mark Suster's article here) approach to this whole project. I had to make a lot of tough decisions like turning down funding due to the fact that I didn't like the character of one investor, and the other, while showing great potential, simply would have taken too long.
Also, this thing is my baby and I would get frustrated whenever I'd see someone just not "get it" (despite my completely rear-kicking presentation video) But I've realized that's often how it goes!
(Not all people will see your vision the way you do, because it's not their vision -- it's yours!)
This is why I've had to keep reminding myself, "This is my project. It's up to me to make it happen. It fails only if I let it. Let's do this thing!"
Thus far, I've decided to get this thing up and running with or without anyone, no matter what needs to be done, whether it's liquidating assets or working long hours. (Sunlight is overrated)
That said, however...
Now that it's up and going strong, I realize that it's time to get some outside advice and also start bringing on more people! This is where I hope the faithful community of Fastlaners will chime in!
The Challenge :smx5:
It is time to launch our initial advertising strategy! I'd love to hear what strategies you guys would do to monetize this situation.
Assumed Scenario: (conservatively estimated figures)
Rules
So far, my thoughts are the following:
We will need a lot of offers, as while we're still getting over 2000 new signups per day, the majority of ad views will repeat traffic and not "uniques". (Think of a website like myspace whose users spend hours per day on the site)
I'm thinking possibly doing a lot of CPA, affiliates, etc. Our users are your average social networking types. We don't have targeting yet, but will shortly.
I realize that I need to know the honest-to-God pros and cons about CPM, CPA, and CPC in social networking advertising. Most of the information I've found has been from the small-time guys. I'm not really interested in hearing what works for a 30,000/mo uniques niche website (No offense intended, but it doesn't provide me with the answers I need!)
So, guys... Any thoughts, advice, or strategy proposals would be greatly appreciated! :smxB:
Why No Details? :talktothehand:
To be candid, I am really excited to share this story with the community. Though I haven't had the chance to write much on here yet, this has been a great source of information for me and I simply love the spirit of this community. I intend to share with you all the full details of what I'm doing and how I did it, withholding nothing! Why? Because you guys rock, and I love what the PhxMJ and the others are doing here. I've been excited to become a bigger contributer to the community since I really 'discovered' it this past summer.
:yourock:
The reason I can't give you guys more information right now is because I have quite a few hostile copy-cats out there. I caught one guy today who had copied my entire web content word-for-word, image-for-image. (He did, however change the copyright statement to his name
) In a conversation I had with another competitor recently, he informed me he was reversing my code to satisfy his "curiosity".
As I said, I'm actually not worried. All of this will not matter when we get the next version out, as we will emerge as an entirely new platform altogether, thus creating an industry of itself rather than competing on the playground with the kids.
So, I promise guys... SOON! :smug2:
Until then, please feel free to post your comments, advice, thoughts, questions, etc! Consider this the initial thread, and in a week or two when we have the next version established, I'll reveal more!
RR -[:coolgleamA:]-
First, I would like to say I am sorry for not writing in awhile. I've had intentions of being more active and sharing things on here, but have been extremely locked down over this year.
The purpose of this is 2-part. First, I want to give everyone here my official "hello" and description of a project that I will be sharing with you as it continues to grow!
Secondly, I am hoping to open up the channels of communication for advice, input, and discussion to flow from and to the Fastlane community during the the project's growth!
To give some updates to everyone, in the past year I have been deeply delved into researching, learning, and making the lifestyle changes necessary to transition from my former positions of E (emloyed as chief technology officer of a corporation), self-employed (ran a consulting firm) into the B and I quadrants!
While I've managed to broaden my range of skill-sets in other areas of business, my 15 year back ground in technology (have been coding since I was 9 years old) causes me to gravitate towards things technology.
Background Story :coffee:
Fast forwarding a bit, I had an epiphany moment about 35 days ago. I've been logging business ideas for the past several months, many of which have gotten attention from investors and other individuals ready to commit themselves to the idea, but THIS one... This one was different!
To be honest, I somewhat stumbled across this idea while I was in the process of working on another. Even though it snuck up on me, I recognized the massive opportunity that stood, blaring me in the face from the tidal wave of demand that had grown for it over a few days. (I promise, I will be less cryptic soon, but I can't give out all the details just yet!)
After the idea's conception, I mentally mapped out how I would meet this demand and managed to locate a person who already had done almost exactly what my idea was as a side-project.
(Note to entrepreneurs: If someone else has already done it, and it saves you time, try to acquire it! Never re-invent the wheel if you can avoid it, plus you can use the wind in someone else's sails to get you going faster)
This particular project worked, but had bugs and was somewhat broken. The original author did not have the time to finish it. The first thing I did was to create a very powerful presentation piece that showed the massive capabilities of this project. (I never knew I had the skills for this, but if this fails, I'm told I could take up a career in voiceovers and presentations
) I managed to leverage some quick capital from someone close to me in order to buy out the existing code, and I got to work with it right away! I had promise of funding which fell through because the guy flaked. I believe he was broke and didn't want to admit it, so I wasted several days waiting because I promised him the opportunity first. So I started off trying to get funding and wound up turning down one offer and abandoning a good one because it was just going to take too long. (Investors seem to like to move slowly, which at this point even a few days was long for me to wait, with this project!) So I started driving forward full-speed on my own!
:fastlane:
Within a week or so, I had solved all the users problems and the users began pouring in. We've had several copy-cats that sprung up and have tried to take the idea as well, but despite their level of succes, I am not concerned. The larger goal truly meets the need of this desperately hungry crowd and we will be rolling out with it soon!
I have been doing 100hr+ weeks working on this and finally completed a version that implements the new framework for massive scalability as well as advetising implementation. A month had passed, users were happy, and we were ready to do BIG things!
Where I'm At :cheers:
It's been a wonderfully exciting ride, and I am in a state of total awe and bliss in watching this project become such a success and receiving all of the thank you notes from our users has been fantastic!
Here's the awesome part. Our project is entirely viral and is growing exponentially. We're now getting more than 2000 new registrations per day, nearly every user who joins chooses to spread the application by invitation to all his social media group friends every time he uses it.
We're SEO'd to #1 spot on google for our specific type and #3 for a broad two-word search, which is AWESOME!
I've also managed to find another coder who is an absolute tech-ninja. He originally emailed me offering to write port my code for another platform. Shortly after, I've recruited him to work with me on the overal project and he's been working tirelessly with me, free of charge. He even matches my 28hr sessions! (I see a CTO nametag with his name on it in the near future, but shhh... Haven't mentioned it yet!
):icon_super:
The only problem with this currently is, I've dumped every penny I have into this as well as poured my every second into it. I know without a doubt that all the sacrifice put in so far is 100% worth it! But as we're growing so massively causing a non-stop demand for more support and better servers (and with my finances dimished), there's no longer any question -- it's time to monetize!
The advertising structure is now in place with the new version just released and has tracking as well (next version implements a laser-accurate targeting system) The one area in which I am currently lacking much knowledge and expertise is advertising!
But here's the good news...
We are currently getting nearly 2 million tracked ad impressions per day!
Judging by the fact that only 1/6th of our user-base has converted to the new version with advertising support. The rest should be converting within the week, and I anticipate us up to 10 million per day within seven days. Though every time I've estimated with this thing, I've been vastly undershooting due to the viral aspect. (No complaints!!! I love being wrong) This number is growing exponentially as well due to new registrations!
HELP! :shruggie:
I need advice!
As you might be able to tell from what I've told you already, I've taken a "JFDI" (see Mark Suster's article here) approach to this whole project. I had to make a lot of tough decisions like turning down funding due to the fact that I didn't like the character of one investor, and the other, while showing great potential, simply would have taken too long.
Also, this thing is my baby and I would get frustrated whenever I'd see someone just not "get it" (despite my completely rear-kicking presentation video) But I've realized that's often how it goes!
(Not all people will see your vision the way you do, because it's not their vision -- it's yours!)
This is why I've had to keep reminding myself, "This is my project. It's up to me to make it happen. It fails only if I let it. Let's do this thing!"
Thus far, I've decided to get this thing up and running with or without anyone, no matter what needs to be done, whether it's liquidating assets or working long hours. (Sunlight is overrated)
That said, however...
Now that it's up and going strong, I realize that it's time to get some outside advice and also start bringing on more people! This is where I hope the faithful community of Fastlaners will chime in!
The Challenge :smx5:
It is time to launch our initial advertising strategy! I'd love to hear what strategies you guys would do to monetize this situation.
Assumed Scenario: (conservatively estimated figures)
- Social media type platform
- 3,000,000 ad impressions per day (growing with user base)
- 3,000 new registrations each day
- Two ad spots
- One 120x120 box (text possible underneath)
- One wide skyscraper vertical banner (160x600) width allows up to 250
Rules
- Family friendly ads, only!
- NO full page ads
- NO downloaders
- NO pop-ups, pup-unders, roll-overs, pop-inbetweens... Basically anything with the word "pop" or a preposition is a no-no
- Flash ads are ok, but I don't want any type of annoying ads.
So far, my thoughts are the following:
We will need a lot of offers, as while we're still getting over 2000 new signups per day, the majority of ad views will repeat traffic and not "uniques". (Think of a website like myspace whose users spend hours per day on the site)
I'm thinking possibly doing a lot of CPA, affiliates, etc. Our users are your average social networking types. We don't have targeting yet, but will shortly.
I realize that I need to know the honest-to-God pros and cons about CPM, CPA, and CPC in social networking advertising. Most of the information I've found has been from the small-time guys. I'm not really interested in hearing what works for a 30,000/mo uniques niche website (No offense intended, but it doesn't provide me with the answers I need!)
So, guys... Any thoughts, advice, or strategy proposals would be greatly appreciated! :smxB:
Why No Details? :talktothehand:
To be candid, I am really excited to share this story with the community. Though I haven't had the chance to write much on here yet, this has been a great source of information for me and I simply love the spirit of this community. I intend to share with you all the full details of what I'm doing and how I did it, withholding nothing! Why? Because you guys rock, and I love what the PhxMJ and the others are doing here. I've been excited to become a bigger contributer to the community since I really 'discovered' it this past summer.
:yourock:
The reason I can't give you guys more information right now is because I have quite a few hostile copy-cats out there. I caught one guy today who had copied my entire web content word-for-word, image-for-image. (He did, however change the copyright statement to his name
) In a conversation I had with another competitor recently, he informed me he was reversing my code to satisfy his "curiosity".As I said, I'm actually not worried. All of this will not matter when we get the next version out, as we will emerge as an entirely new platform altogether, thus creating an industry of itself rather than competing on the playground with the kids.
So, I promise guys... SOON! :smug2:
Until then, please feel free to post your comments, advice, thoughts, questions, etc! Consider this the initial thread, and in a week or two when we have the next version established, I'll reveal more!
RR -[:coolgleamA:]-
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