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VC Interested in my idea, but no clue how to monetize

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PJ Pahygiannis

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I'm getting ready to launch a company called Shopfluential (it is still being built) and was hoping to get your brutally honest feedback and criticism.

The site ranks people on their influence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
or YouTube from 0 to 10 and gives them a one time use discount codes based
on their score. They must score a 2 to receive a discount. A 2 would receive 20% off and a 10 would receive 100% off. Anyone can have influence. ANYONE can be an influencer.

I developed formulas/algorithms for each social network to try and measure their influence based on engagement. We DO NOT look or care about how many followers a user has. For example, a like is worth significantly less than a comment on a post. A share is worth a lot more than a comment. We pull data over time from the social networks API.

They connect/link their social media account with one click and then get their score. If they want to get a discount code they have to tell us their age, gender, location, and their interests. We take that info and match them with brands that are targeting people like them. Then they choose from those brands which to get their discount from.

We partner with brands to supply the discounts and discount codes. I have signed up over 800 brands to give discounts - everything from snack company's, subscription boxes, bikini brands, etc. I sent cold emails to these brands and literally asked them to tell me everything they hated about the idea so I could pivot/adjust to their feedback

The brands supply the codes for the influencers to shop with on their website. They decide what scores to target and the number of codes to distribute.

The original idea was after the user uses their code on the brands website and receives their order, they post about their purchase with a custom affiliate link to the brands website to track
the sales they generate and charge brands 10% of all sales that come from the influencer and pay the influencer half that. BUT to create an affiliate network from scratch has proven to be very difficult and VERY expensive.

All the brand does is supply us with a list of discount codes for each score they want to target.

I have one very big and famous CEO/VC interested and have a meeting with another one in the first week of September.

How would YOU monetize this?
 
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E duaqmi ug foggisipv ofiet, katv sevvmoph jisi, tuni nohjv neli tipti... uvjist puv...

1. Eggomoevi temit - tonomes vu xjev icevit fuit
2. Vseptedvoup % - tonomes vu ecuwi, cav zua xuamf hiv e qisdipvehi ug vji fotduapv
3. Efwisvotoph - tonqmi ceppis us nusi veshivif moli dunqivoph qsufadvt (tonomes vu enebup)
4. Mief Hip - zua jewi wemaecmi feve, dunqepoit xomm qez gus ov. Katv huv vu qodl vji sohjv upit epf fidofi og zua esi ulez timmoph zuas atist opgusnevoup.
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6. Ineom nupivobevoup - timm foggisipv qsufadvt fosidvmz vjsuahj vji ineomt zua deqvasi.

Qsucecmz e duaqmi nusi vjuahj.
 
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Stop Peeking Through the Keyhole.
Open the Door.

You hit a wall because the best advice isn't free—it's earned. Since 2007, MJ DeMarco has been active here daily (99.9% active rate), building a war room for entrepreneurs who refuse to settle for mediocrity.

  • Active Daily: Life-changing content posted dozens of times every day. No dead threads.
  • MJ's Inner Circle: Direct access to the author of The Millionaire Fastlane.
  • Vetted Network: Connect with founders scaling to 7 and 8 figures.
  • Proven Roadmaps: Strategy over motivation. Execution over "hustle porn."
"SCALED TO 6-FIGURE MONTHS"
"Tips and advice here saved me from huge mistakes, others allowed me to scale my business to 6-figure months."
— User MitchC
"INSANE QUALITY OF PEOPLE"
"The number of high quality people I've met from this forum has been insane. All of it predicated on building real value."
— User Richard Peck

"You are the average of the five people you surround yourself with."
Are you surrounding yourself with success?

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