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October 31, 2005
PBWiki - Creating Wikis is As Easy As Making a PB&J Sandwich
Today, I had a great conversation with the co-founder of PBWiki. He is a recent graduate of Stanford and a few months ago, he and friend created a site where consumers could easily create a wiki. After softly promoting it, he got 1,000 registrations in the first 2 days and now has over 15,000 and is the leading consumer wiki web site.
I think there are many things that led to the success of the site. However, from an outside perspective, I think he created a perfect metaphor. Many people have heard about wikis, especially via the wikipedia, but they didn't know where to get started (myself included). The idea of having a wiki for a free in a matter of a few minutes is just very appealing.
Overall, I think there is a big shift to simplicity. In fact, I just read the Fast Company cover story on this topic. "For Dummies" has done very well in the book publishing industry. In fact, becoming the first or second most successful book franchise ever. In a way, Google is the "For Dummies" for software.
It seems like there are many opportunities for "momentary enterprises" based on simplicity. I think a particular hole to fill would be making "getting started" easier. I think a lot of people don't start stuff because it's fuzzy in their mind. However, when it's broken down into its smallest components, it can become very easy. One specific thing I've heard mentioned by many people recently is the complexity of starting up a business. Many people are extremely interested in this, but never do it.
In search of knowledge
I have really enjoyed our recent discussions on ideas such as DesperateForMoney.com, BrokeStudent.com, and TheScreenplayExperiment.com. This style of back and forth feedback and critique seems to be doing a good job at shaking out important insights.
My recent thought, however, is that we need, at this early stage, to balance discussions of our ideas with more systematic investigation of existing ideas. By studying what is out there and what has worked, I think we will arm ourselves with a lot more creative ammo to motivate our own, even better ideas. In particular, I might suggest the following three foci for the near future:
1) Identification, on this blog, of good sources to monitor or discover existing ODIs and related phenomenon. For example, I have been trolling iFilm.com recently to sniff out viral videos that are breaking out.
2) Locate and post about any and all ODIs. Once an ODI has been posted about, we can start to discuss its merits. Try to identify what makes it hookey.
3) Open up lines of communication with ODI originators. For example, what if one of us sent an e-mail to the founder of milliondollarhomepage.com, and explained, honestly, that you are part of a small group that is intriguiged by web phenomenons, and was wondering if he would mind talking with one of us (or answering e-mail questions) about his experience. We could then get an insider scoop on how he came up with the idea, what the initial iterations were like, what caused the tipping point, etc.
Combined, these three directions might quickly produce a solid wealth of creative inspiration for our idea construction.
Thoughts?
Momentary Enterprises
An interesting essay about the phenomenon of "momentary enterprises" -- targeted, low-cost web services that pop-up to meet specific demands. Seemed relevant to this discussion...
October 27, 2005
Joy to the World
I'm so happy!!!!! I just meditated for about 1.25 hours. I've been meaning to do this for nearly 4 months now. I can't believe it. I attribute the success to the "power of now with no excuses". Over the last few months, I've been making very convincing excuses to myself - I'll do it tomorrow - I'll do it after I finish working - I'll do it on the subway...etc...etc.
Wow. Normally, if I will myself to do something, I just do it. I think I can better understand why people put off stuff that are really important. The only moment is now. Tomorrow never happened and is only in your head.
Today sets a very powerful precedent. If any one is reading this, I hope they'll stop reading this and do that one thing that is important to them...now...no excuses...it feels great. So what I've learned or re-learned during the experiment is:
1. Make public commitments, even if its to a few friends
2. Give updates to them frequently
3. Use the Power of Now (no excuses allowed).
The next trick is increasing the meditation time per day.
Day 4
Arghh..Today got thrown off when I went to take a nap at 10:00am. The next time I opened my eyes it was 4:00pm!!! And now it's 5:00am and I leave on a flight in a few hours.
I don't think the way the experiment is constructed now will yield the results I'm looking for. I'll probably get a few interesting insights every day and be more relaxed. However, I feel that there is more potential to the technique and I won't be satisfied until I explore it.
I think one thing that slows me down is that I really only meditate for any length of time when I'm on a subway and cut off from the world. When I'm at home, as soon as I sit down to meditate a flurry of thoughts come to mind. I can let go of them, but it only takes one really convincing "Damn. I forgot to do that" before I run to the computer and jump into action.
One thing that I learned from the meditation retreat is that 95% of the tasks that seem urgent, aren't really that important the next day. During the 10 days of silence we weren't allowed to journal or communicate with anyone. this was great because if I had a journal I would have started making to dos and started planning them. It's sort of like letting a decision wait until the next day. Our thoughts make us think that they're reality, when they're not.
When reading a book, I heard a person talk about someone who had a normal 9-5 job and then meditated for 8 hours every night. For some reason, this seemed really inspiring to me. What stops me from doing it is that since the business isn't making money, I feel like I have to devote all my time to getting it sustainable before allowing myself to rest. We have a lot of debt now.
Alright. Here's what I'll do. I'll start off with 2 hours of sitting meditation. 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening. - This does not include the subway!!!!!!
I'll start right now!!!! I'll meditate for the next 1.25 hours until my alarm clock rings.
October 26, 2005
Day 3
Today was informative. I put in the time to meditate. However, the mind was drifting a fair amount. I tihink this is OK as my goal is to observe and be ok with what is observed.
As I was meditating, old memories were coming back about why I meditate and why it's so important to me reaching my goals. It is interesting how I forgot these. I notice that I often have to learn the same lesson over and over. I forget and then remember.
Going over the day and events is so tempting. Thinking about worst-case scenarios, to dos, new ideas at some level is exhilirating. The body gets a quick out of it. While seemingly productive, my experience with observing thoughts tells me that the majority of them are not productive and that the more I engage in them, the less control I have.
I think something that leads to a cluttered mind is mult-tasking. I try to do five things at once. It goes well for awhile, then I have this feeling of getting behind and feeling cluttered. Then I start rushing and end up leaving 5-10 minutes. Then I end up running to where I need to go worrying that the people I'm meeting will be annoyed that I'm late. I think I could be more productive if I just did one thing at a time, left early to places, and focused on doing what was the most important task at any given time.
Another thing I'd like to work on is my humor. I think I take things to seriously. I think humor puts life in a different context, which makes things more fun, more healthy, and ultimately gives a perspective on life.
I've wanted to start this for awhile, but I think I will start trying to observe funny things about myself. Here are some for beginning:
- When I'm wearing something that I think looks nice, every time a female walks by and we make eye contact, I think to myself, "She wants me." It's more of a reflex than a choice. I guess the same goes for being in a bad mood. When I'm in a bad mood and I make eye contact with a guy, I think to myself, "What are you looking at jerk? You want to fight fucker." Good thing I don't act on this as I'd probably get my ass beatean having been in zero fights my entire life. It never ceases to surpirse me how much we project our thoughts onto others.
- Why do I curse in my thining, but never curse outloud?
- I'm working at getting better at breaking rapport and saying what I really think. While listening is a great skill, sometimes people open up and they say crazy things. For example, I remember one time I was talking to this guy I met and he started making fun of Jewish people (probably not knowing that I'm Jewish). I didn't know what to say so I was like, "Yeah..those damn jewish." Of course, I didn't really say that, but I didn't disagree, I just listened. I think that I listen so well that I probably agreed with him and saw his side. Another time, I was taking a 36-hour train ride. The guy next to me completely opened up. He started telling me how he makes money on the side by purposely throwing himself in front of cars and collecting insurance or suiing. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "What the fuck did you just say?" But I nod and say something like, "Wow. I didn't know you could make so much money doing that." Four hours later into the ride, he opened up more and starting talking about having sex with strangers in bathrooms on trains and planes, even while the husband is on-board. For that, I reflexiively said, outloud "Wow. That's interesting. Tell me more about that." Then I said to myself, "Wow. That's interesting. I want to know more about that." But on a more serious note, How do you listen so well that you can see anybody's side, but still remember where you stand? Am I the only one that has that problem?
October 25, 2005
IDEA: Use What Works
This is a car advertisement. When they finished filming the ad the people who made it noticed something moving along the side of the car, like a ghostly white mist, and an eerie sound that you can barely hear (must have sound). The ad was never put on TV because of the unexplained ghostly phenomenon.
Watch it and about halfway through, you will see the white mist crossing in front of the car then following it along the road ......
Spooky!
So this is an idea for this blog. As part of the public portion, what if we posted viral ideas we came across, such as the one above. These are proven to get traffic/word-of-mouth and people could refer others to this site to view the video and we could get money from Google Adwords? The earlier we catch the idea, the better.
October 24, 2005
Day 2
Amazingly, it's working. The motivation I've been trying to build for months has come. Although I only invited six people to read this blog, committing to something publicly makes it much easier to do.
It is amazing how what you focus on changes the world you perceive so much. By the simple act of focusing on body sensations in my free time, my level of relaxation goes up tremendously. On your purely practical, non-spiritual level, it seems to me that learning how to train the mind and deciding what to train it with may be the two largest predictors of happiness and success.
I think certain thoughts are like an addictive juice. I first realized the power of this last June. For the previous six months I had been doing a lot of meditation and not letting my mind get carried away with fantasies, etc.. I was still focusing on business, but more focusing on it as something I did not letting it become who I was. At any rate, I was at a speaking seminar and I decided to let my mind go instead of control it. Well, immediately, I felt the juices flowing like a burst of sugar, and I started thinking non-stop about the business that night and coming up with creative ideas. I couldn't stop and it felt great. Well, after that, it was harder to get a grip on the mind again. While the creative bursts feel great, they seem to take control and it feels like I don't have an option, but to think about certain things.
I guess that's the problem with addictions. It's the upside that makes it difficult to stop. Also, it seems so harmless. My sense is that I can lead a happier life and a more successful one by letting go of fantasy and other "to be defined" thoughts even though they provide short-term benefits.
Day 1
Today was a pretty uneventful day. While the experiment was on my mind for much of the day, it was hard to keep one-pointedness of mind through tasks that required my full attention, such as having a conversation on the phone or answering email.
With that said, I'd like to make more alterations to my lifestyle. I am going to start meditating again, starting with one hour a day and perhaps gradually moving up.
From an observational perspective, I woke up in a grouchy mood. I felt a combination of being behind and also second-guessing myself for creating this blog, which may be misunderstood. Things turned around after having a long conversation with a friend. It is interesting that one can be in a bad mood, but when you're thrust into a social situation it can immediately disappear. For example, my mom and I would often get in big arguments as she was driving me to school. Sometimes, I'd be to the point of crying. However, as soon as I got into the school, any remnants of sadness were gone.
This leads me to think that any mood could be easily let go with the right mind programming.
October 23, 2005
The Screenplay Experiment -- critical mass
An important question for any ODI, as mentioned before, is building interest and momentum in the early stages. This would require a publicity push. But this idea, especially with the $1 this-is-not-a-commercial-venture angle, is condusive to such publicity. A sweep of hollywood related bloggers would probably put out the word. We can also get some coverage in screenwriting magazines (which have concentrated circulations, but are pretty low-key and cheaply put together, so persuadable). Perhaps, even, we can make an agreement with such a magazine to have a regular feature about the experiment -- i.e. what's the current state of the screenplay experiment, including an update, and some exceprts. That would really be a best case scenario.
In all these initial pushes, we emphasize the potential to get upgraded to a moderator. That is, push people to get their early because that maximizes their chance of grabbing a bigger role.
Finally, we can anatagonize movie executives; find some way to disparage the experiment in collaboration, and then use this as ammo to bolster the community. Perhaps post the latest quote from someone saying why the idea can't work.
The Screenplay Experiment -- v2
Here is a refined version of the idea taking your feedback into account...
TheScreenplayExperiment.com remains an experiment in collaborative creativity. At the lowest level, we have a discussion board for tossing around ideas. Above this, we have a collection of wiki's for writing rough drafts. Registered users can contribute to these wiki's. At first, we maintain ulitmiate control, but, the plan is, we invite users to become the moderators for each wiki based on their participation. Finally, once the rough drafts begin looking good, we have the entire community of registered users vote on which one they like best. At this point, the moderators of that draft can clean it up, and then we're done.
Following Michael's points from earlier, the idea has low risks, guarenteed small returns, and large potential upside. For example, browsing the site has the immediate return of reading the current state of the movie ideas. People are interested in movie concepts. And it's a good 10 minute distraction to check in every few days to see how the plots are unfolding. Are they stupid? Are they cool? Are they crafting a wicked twist ending? At the next level, participating in the ideation, the return is receiving recognition for your creativity. It feels great to have an important plot point or character be added on the basis ofyour recognition. At the highest level, is being a moderator. The benefits here are clear, you are in control of a creative community. Very ego-gratifying. The potential large upside is the treatment eventually getting turned into a movie. This is not a financial upside. It's a cool-factor upside. You were a part of Hollywood history. You can go to a movie, and know that you had a part in making it. In fact, you can go to a movie, and point to scenes that you yourself actually constructed. Great, fun, and exciting.
The key that brings this together, at least from a publicity and community standpoint, is this guarentee that the site owners will sell the treatment for exactly $1. In fact, we should have part of the registration process be clicking on an agreement that basically says "I am participating only on the understanding that the resulting idea can only be solds for no more than $1." There's the hook. It transforms this into a creative, community venture. The common movie-goer fighting against the excesses and mediocrity of the studio system. We think your movies suck, and we can do better!
My Newest Experiment
Hypothesis: I am not the body or mind. There is no traditional 'I'.
Method:
- Observe the body's sensations and thoughts throughout the day.
- Be non-attached and non-judgemental to what is observed.
- Do not label or analyze what is observed until the end of the day.
- Write a blog entry at the end of everyday with observations.
- Repeat for one month
- As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I had an awareness of there not being an 'I'.
- I've attempted to do this half-heartedly before, but I feel like a half-completed experiment is not worthwhile.
- I've explored near-death experiences and past-life regressions through many books. Many of these books were first-hand accounts. Others were written by people who had developed some level of professional respect in there career and took risks by exploring the phenomenon. All these books were interesting reading, but I'm interested in testing out stuff.
- I went through a past-life regression via hypnosis over the summer. It was a very interesting experience and I learned a lot about myself. However, I didn't go as deep as I would've liked and its really hard to know where the info is coming from. Is it the subconcious or it is actually a past-life?
- I think doing the experiment will lead to interesting observations, ideas for new experiments, and generally lead to more happiness in life.
- Distractions. When doing things like checking email and having conversations, it is extremely easy to get distracted for hours. Writing a blog entry will lead to more accountability. I've also created a sign that says "Observe" that I've made my computer desktop background, that I will post throughout the apartment, and that I will keep in my notebook. I will also mentally remind myself to observe me every time I think of it.
- Making Excuses. The body will get worried, angry, etc. In those states, I imagine that I will have pretty convincing reasons for why this experiment is a complete waste of time. As those emotions come up, as they surely will, I will not avoid them, but I will focus on being aware of them. I think starting out with a finite amount of time on this experiment will make it easier not to accept excuses.
Polymory
Having close connections with people is something that has been important to me. I love the feeling of feeling really connected to someone. I think it is one of the best feelings there is.
This was one of the things that got me interested in the idea of an open relationship - the logic being that physical contact with femailes is an extension of a deep connection and makes it deeper. Furthermore the logic was, why does this connection have to be with only one person. Is it such that it would become weakened by sharing it with others?
As with most experiments in my life, I've read books on it and it turns out there is a whole community of people who believe in it, but that's besides the point. Here is my current thinking on it:
- I don't think there is anything 'wrong' with it. The feelings that come up from both sides are opportunities for growth. I would go as far as to say "Incredible Growth!! if expressed in the right way.
- I think intimate contact with others and the longing for it changes the dynamic of the original connection and also makes things more complicated by introducing a romantic component. This is ok, if you're ready for it and willing to put the energy toward it.
- EXTREMELY clear communication is required, preferably by everyone with each other. The potential for miscommunication and loss of trust could is big.
Alcohol
Alcohol as never really made sense to me. First off, I don't like its taste. Second of all, I've seen countless number of people make decisions they later regret and/or throw up repeatedly and feel sick the next day.
In high school I enjoyed drinking at parties because it made me feel more relaxed around girls. However, this never helped me get any girls in high school anyway!!!
I pretty much stopped drinking the night I met Sheena. She can probably count the number of times she's seen me drink on one hand.
The hardest part about not drinking that I've found is the social aspect. I now feel comfortable going to a bar and ordering bottled water or sparkling water. I think it will be difficult for me at business meetings when everybody else is drinking, but I haven't really encountered it yet. And I wouldn't be against drinking a tiny bit.
John Sexton, the president of NYU, has never even sipped alcohol once so this gives me hope that there's ways to get around it.
To me, it feels like the greatest benefit of alcohol is the buzzed feeling. My pesonal feeling is that I'd rather find ways of getting positive feelings that don't cost money, don't have negative health effects, and don't make me need more and more of it to feel its positive effects. Although, I do have to admit that it is difficult to get relaxed quickly in social situations without it, although it is theoretically possible.
Sleep Results
In high school, I slept probably 4-5 hours a night and took naps on nights that I could. On weekends I'd catch up. This practice resulted in me being very sleep during the day.
During college, I read a fair amount of books on sleep and explored techniques for getting less sleep, and remaining attentive so I could get more hours out of the day. I've also started to explore lucid dreaming, but decided I'd rather spend my time on making more out of my waking hours.
I now sleep as many hours as I need to and generally wake up by myself unless I have an early appointment. I try to keep a routine of going to sleep between 11-1, but that varies (right now it's 3:00am and I can't fall asleep becase of jet lag).
This seems to work very well for me. I'm very rarely tired during the day. Also, on day where I have no choice but to get less sleep, I'm not really affected and I can catch up right away. I think not being sleep makes me more happy and more productive.
Diet Results
In high school, I didn't really know anything about diet, except that I wanted to be muscular so I could attract more female attention. It's sad, but true. I ate tons of candy, had protein shakes often, etc.
I first started thinking about diet after attending an Anthony Robbins seminar where there was a whole six hour portion on diet. The part of the seminar that affected me the most was watching how the animals are slaughtered and what they're fed. I won't go into that, but I decided to become vegetarian for a mixture of health and moral reasons.
Over the years, I've gone on and off a vegetarian diet. Things went up a level when I decided to go on a 100% raw food diet. In addition, I did a four day fast.
I stopped the raw diet after six months and went back to being a vegetarian. Now, I'm just a vegan. I don't drink and very rarely eat sweets.
Here's what I've learned from this whole experience:
- I will be very careful to be a part of an "extreme diet" again. After reading many books and attending many meetings on raw food, I saw a lot of circular thinking and putting the ideal experience over people's actual experiences. I still feel that a 100% raw diet can work well for people, if they're very careful, but I don't think one has to be 100%. I probably eat 60-70% raw food.
- Not eating sweets probably has had the largest impact. I very rarely crave sweets and as a result, I don't have ups and downs like I used to. I have a much more balanced feeling, not to say that my mind doesn't throw that off.
- Fasting was interesting. After a day of it, the desire for food became much less and I realized how little food the body needs. However, after the fast, I gorged myself on food. I couldn't get enough even if I was already full.
- I'm a vegan now not because I think meat is innately bad for health. However, after learning how animals are raised, what they're fed, and how they're killed - it doesn't seem like the best choice for me in terms of health or ethically. I think there are other options I could pursue such as open-range chicken and grass-fed cows, but I don't think these things are regulated very heavily and I don't feel like spending the time to research companies.
Meditation Results
I consider meditation to be my most fruitful experiment yet in my life. I heard about meditation at the end of high school when I read a book on Yoga. I practiced it for the first time during my freshman year for a free introductory class. I started practicing it for real after going to a free Vipassana Retreat where I meditated for 10 days in silence.
While I've never had an "out-there" experiences, it changed how I view myself. After trying to focus for over 100 hours on different sensations in the body, I realized how little control I have over the mind. Also, I realized many of the tricks the mind plays on itself. In day-to-day life, I'm normally too slow to catch on to a lot of stuff, but the tricks become pretty obvious when there are no distractions.
For example, I noticed my tendency to fantacize about things was taking me away from actually doing things in the present moment that I didn't like. In the case of meditation, I was fantacizing about going to the next retreat for 20 days instead of 10 and going to many throughout the year. In the mean time, I was simply fantacizing instead of doing the actual meditation in the present moment.
There was a lot of stuff like that, all of which added up to the feeling that I am not the thoughts I have. Furthermore, it is not necessarily the most productive use of my time to be thinking about stuff all the time. Also, it was interesting to see that most of my thoughts seemed unproductive.
My Deapest Fear
I think that my deepest fear is being nobody. I first realized this a year and a half ago when I was having a deep conversation with somebody. I first asked my friend what her what her deepest fear was, not having planned my own answer at all. Not surprisingly, she asked me the same question, and I decided to respond without thinking of it. My answer was, "Being Nobody."
I didn't really understand my answer until about 6 months ago. I was meditating and I had an awareness of what it would feel like to be nobody. I'm NOT talking about having no brand. I'm talking about having no identity.
The only way I know how to describe it is via buddhism and saying that it was an awareness of what it would be like to have no ego. I would've expected this to be a wholly good thing, but it wasn't. It felt empty.
After the last few months, I've had the feeling of wanting to hold onto existence of my identity. At the point when I had the awareness, I was meditating about two hours/day. After it, I have trouble meditating for 2 minutes. Also, I re-picked up a number of bad habits.
In the past, I've felt like dealing with fears and getting the motivation to do so has been fairly easy. This has been different this go around. I'm still building up the courage. Have you ever felt paralyzed by fear?
Why I'm Writing Another Blog
I'm writing this for the selfish reason of having the feeling that I have to express something that is inside of me. For the better or worse, I don't feel like I can express many things on my more public blog. Many of the people who read that don't really know me and they will read it under the context of Extreme Entrepreneurship, which may not be the appropriate context.
This blog will not be for the purpose of building a better brand or getting more money. You're receiving this because I put my closest friends on my notification list. I put you on this list because I trust you and I really appreciate and respect you and the journey you're on. I will not be offended if you do not read entries, but if you do, and you feel the desire to comment, go ahead.
October 21, 2005
Publicity Person
In a random thought, I think it would be powerful to have a person who is a publicist weigh in on ideas and also write press releases when ideas are launched. Just a thought.
Desperate for Money - V2
Overview
Sample
Qualities of Successful ODIs
Overall
- The idea is very easy to get.
- The idea is very quick to get.
- The idea is easy to communicate to others.
- The idea is new.
- The idea is big.
- The idea is edgy.
- Give people their money back if the idea doesn't reach a pre-defined tipping point!
- Make it possible to contribute in very small ways and still receive some benefits.
- Give contributors recognition. Give special benefits to early contributor (e.g., the first 100 people to contribute will be acknowledged as founders on the web site). Firefox gives recognition via a roll call.
- Allow people to get recognition for the success of the overall project and the success of their contributions.
- Make the founders have enough skin in the game that they're willing to promote the site to others and even invest more time/money to protect their initial investment.
Getting ODIs to a Tipping Point
So far, I think the ideas that have been generated are all very interesting and feasible to some degree. However, I feel that were no taking "tipping points" into account.
Two hurdles I see us having to jump for the ideas are:
- Visitor W-O-M. We need to make the idea compelling enough that people will visit the site and tell others, even in the beginning when there is little content.
- Visitor Contribution.Secondly, we have to make the site compelling enough that people will contribute content, votes, or even capital when there isn't much content and there aren't many visitors.
A different case study is The Business Experiment. Their idea has generated a lot of chatter and publicity, but the contributions from its members haven't been large. In fact, there are a lot of free riders waiting to see if it is worth putting in more time. From this, I would argue that getting visitor contributions is perhaps the largest component in the beginning.
Perhaps we should focus on making crazy incentives for early adopters who are contributors. My sense is that if you can get people to champion the idea in the very beginnig, then the idea will reach tipping point sooner. At its most simple level, I think this can be accomplished by lowering the risks and increasing the potential upside. Ideas for accomplishing this can be seen at Qualities of Successful ODIs.
October 17, 2005
IDEA: TheScreenplayExperiment.com
The Pitch
How many times have you walked out of a movie and exclaimed: "I could have written something better than that" ? Finally, a chance to put this common boast to the test. The Screenplay Experiment is a study in both the power of collaborative thinking and the creative ability of the movie-going public. At TheScreenplayExperiment.com budding cinemphiles from around the world can collaborate, using wiki technology, to craft the perfect movie treatment. No more plot holes, boring characters, or weak twists...the optimistic premise of this site is that from the combined power of many movie lovers can emerge a movie concept devoid of the common problems that frustrate us at the theatre time after time. At least, that's the hope. Will it succeed? That's up to you -- and thousands of your movie-loving peers.
If the treatment ends up sucking, then everyone who participated is no longer allowed to complain once the credits roll. If, however, it ends up compelling, then the site owners will sell the rights, for exactly $1, to the production company or studio that seems to be most capable and most committed to actually getting the project onto the big screen.
Continued in the extended entry is a quick discussion of how to make money from the idea and some potential problems...
The Financial Model
Money can be made by ads. Hollywood is obsesed with itself, so, if played right, publicity from the hollywood press should not be hard to gain. From there, other mainstrem outlets might chime in. Especially if the project starts veering towards a success or dismal failure. This type of project would attract the huge aspiring screenwriter crowd . This crowd is very desirable to the huge industry that sell books, and seminars, and script doctoring services to these hopefuls.
Furthermore, following the lead of SaveToby.com, there is money to be made by selling hipster merchandise at the site. That is, merchandise that only people familar with the project would recognize (understated, retro, obscure, and/or campy t-shirts...perhaps containing a quote that was lambasted by the participants with a particular furor, or understated versions of the logo, etc.)
The Problems
There are many. Such as...
How do you get the collaboration to work? I assume a wiki model makes the most sense, but there would have to be some sort of hierachy of rights to prevent idiots from ruining other people's efforts.
What about people stealing the idea? There might not be too much we can do about this. Though, let's be honest, the final treatment will most likely suck, so who cares. Perhaps stringent copyright notices would be enough to scare of most theifs to be. Besides, even if it was stolen, that could cause a ruckus, which would generate more publicity for us.
Could we build a big enough audience to make it interesting? I don't know much about this aspiring screenwriter world, but I think, for the most part, these people are energetic and eager to look for any way they can to distinguish themselves. i.e. to be a site admin for TheScreenplayExperiment.com might inspire many to work feverishly...every bit helps in that industry. One way to drum up initial promotion is to target some screenplay related bloggers and web site owners to offer us their advice on how best to set up the collaboration structure. After doing this, they would most likely post about it, generating a good initial buzz?
The ODI Wiki?
If (and this is a big if) we decide to keep this blog private, only allowing people we invite to participate, then we might consider launching a companion wiki. The idea being that as theories get polished and tested, and lessons enumerated from analyzing other ODIs and trying our own, we could start to capture the information in the Wiki. Over time, this Wiki would grow into a rough draft of what could become a compelling book (or eBook). It also ensures that lessons learned one day don't need to be relearned many days later.
First Movers
So as Richard pointed out, it turns out that one of my ODIs is already being done.
In general, should this matter? My first inclination is to abandon the idea, since competing head-on with an almost identical concept doth not a one-day idea make -- 1) the competitive element may drain the "click" factor from the ODI, and 2) there's no first-mover advantage to leverage.
I believe the idea of a first-mover "advantage" is usually overblown in most industries -- quite the contrary, I believe the first-mover often succumbs to pitfalls that serve as an example for later-movers to avoid. However, my initial thought is that in order to be a successful ODI, you need to be the first mover.
What do you think?
Now Where Was I?
In addition to being generally fascinating, the October 15th NYTimes Magazine article, Meet the Life Hackers, got me thinking about how an ODI can enhance productivity via simplicity. The article mentions that some "sickeningly overprolific" workers utilize the simplest tools to manage their daily tasks -- "they find one extremely simple application and shove their entire lives into it."
Perhaps an ODI website can be promoted as the end-all simple solution for enhancing productivity and task management. A clean, ultra-simple Google-like user-interface that provides users with a place to record what they're currently doing before they get interrupted, record To Do lists in a clean and simple manner, etc. E-mail reminders can be sent from the website to remind a user to complete a task. Like del.icio.us, which allows users to record bookmarks from any computer, this site could be used to allow a user to record their tasks at hand from anywhere. Something that allows a user to return from an interruption and answer the question, "Now where was I?
There seem to be a million CRM tools with a thousand screens each, but not one extremely simple, easy-to-use personal productivity tool that's available online. Your thoughts?
NowWhereWasI.com - Discuss, discuss.
October 16, 2005
Online vs. Offline: Part 2 - ODI Implementation
Scott Pollack, a very good NYU friend, and also the coiner of the term "One Day Idea" is more interested in the offline aspect to this. That is keeping the idea to a trusted group of friends who meet offline, brainstorm ideas, and then implement the ideas.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I think this blog is a great idea, and can be a valuable resource for budding and experienced entrepreneurs alike. My original thoughts were that a public blog such as this could be used to discuss thoughts on One Day Ideas (ODI) in general, rather than specific opportunites waiting to be implemented. Contrastingly, an "entrepreneur club" formed in the model of an investment club would be a venue for a small group of trusted individuals to carry out whatever ODIs most tickeled their respective fancies.
However, having seen a few day's worth of discussion on this site, it is obvious that there's something here. The DesperateForMoney.com idea is perfectly inline with ODIs that seemed to have taken off over the years. However, my concerns still remain -- as this blog gains popularity, how can the proprietor of an ODI protect it from some untrusting idea-poacher lurking in anonymity? How can we prevent someone from having registering and launching DesperateForMoney.com and BrokeStudent.com while we flesh out the details in the public domain?
Cal, I like your equity sharing plan in the post "Learning from the TBE Example," but how do we assure such a system works? The honor system only works when you know who's in your circle of trust. As they say, "in cyberspace no one cares if you scream."
October 15, 2005
Company Updates
Last year, Extreme Entrepreneurship was selected to take part in the Stern Incubator, a program of NYU's Stern School of Business. I just finished writing a company update for them, which summarizes what Extreme Entrepreneurship is about and what we've been doing. Allow me to share it here:
Over the summer, Sheena Lindahl and Michael Simmons began working full time on Extreme Entrepreneurship. Their focused attention has been a catalyst for some exciting developments – from a more developed business model to the establishment of key partner relationships.
The company is focusing on three channels through which to fulfill its mission of helping students plan, prioritize, and pursue their vision for life: books, speaking engagements, and an online community. Significant progress has been made in each of these arenas.
Extreme Entrepreneurship is currently working with a book packager and literary agent, who is helping them to improve the quality of and relaunch of The Student Success Manifesto and The Student Success Manifesto Workbook. Additionally, the packager is assisting in the development and sale to a publisher of a flagship book and workbook, Extreme Entrepreneurship and All or Nothing, Now or Never, as well as an extended series of “pocket mentors” – practical guides to achieve the goals in one’s life plan.
In addition to speaking engagements that Michael and Sheena have been taking part in, they are currently planning The Extreme Entrepreneur Tour (EET) in partnership with Advantage Networks. EET is a collegiate entrepreneurship tour traveling to 150 college campuses throughout America starting in the Fall of 2006. EET brings together America’s top young entrepreneurs to spread the entrepreneurial mindset to their peers at a grass roots level. Young entrepreneurs who've made, earned, and sold their company for millions and/or made a huge impact before 25 have already been recruited as speakers.
Lastly, Extreme Entrepreneurship is in the process of developing an online community to be targeted at college students and purchased by colleges. The community features the ability for individuals to post and receive feedback on their life plan and goals, as well as to send surveys to help them get feedback on the tough questions they face on their journey. This community facilitates communication between individuals and their mentors and peers. Rahim Fazal, an MBA Candidate at Richard Ivey School of Business and young “dot-com millionaire” who started and sold his first business while completing his last year of high school, is assisting in the market research and creation of the community.
Tangent Rant: Transaction World: Extending the Pay-to-view ads
Time to put the futurist hat on.
Increasingly, our world is measured via transactions. I can imagine a world in which your earnings and credit limits are pre-estimated from birth. I can imagine a world in which desicion trees and their estimated ramifications are given to you at every turn to help you make more informed decisions.
Stepping back to a more realistic vision, I can imagine a AOL-esk service that gives you money for everything you do. Everytime you check your email, you can accept an ad or survey to make money. Everytime you read a news article online or anything... you are given an opportunity to make money in relation to what you are doing. Simple choirs make you money and build your reputation as a insightful consumer. Maybe employeers could read responses and hire based on the quality of one's participation in the service. You get credit for your day-to-day thoughts!
October 14, 2005
Pay-to-view ads
Michael mentioned in a previous posting those once hot dot-coms that paid people to watch ads.
Anyway, following Michael's earlier prompt, how could such an idea be revived again? Clearly, right now, the leader in in this field is freepay.com. This site has you fill out "offers" and then refer a bunch of friends. If all of these friends fill out "offers" then you get a free product. I'm not sure what one of these "offers" entails, but I assume it involves a survey and you giving permission to receive mail for the rest of your life.
What could we do better? Here are some ideas:
1) Focus on college students and recent graduates. An incrediably hot market. And we're young, which leverages our youth as a selling point.
2) Kill referral requirement. For me, at least, this is what stops me from something like freepay. If you were to offer me money or a product for spending my own time, I might do it given a lazy weekend and a low bank account. But I draw the line when it comes to annoying my friends. Of course, we could still reward referrals for those who want to do it. But we don't have to require it.
3) Use a graded focus group model. Instead of simply gathering some demographic stats and an address, what if we present the respondent with a privite wiki. The wiki contains the structure of a marketing plan (including pitch, pitfalls, discussion of the psychology of the target market, and how to position), and a bunch of pages of background material on the product. The respondent is asked to use the background material, and his or own insights and experience, to fill in the blanks of the plan. That is, basically construct a marketing plan web site from scratch. They key is to grade the responses on a scale of 1 to 10. The better your grade, the more money you get. Therefore, these young people have incentive to really put in some effort. If you give some shitty effort, then you might get a couple bucks. If you dedicate an afternoon to polishing some smart ideas, you might make a couple hundred bucks. Intelligence is rewarded. Insight is rewarded. Effort is rewarded. Many students will spend this time. Especially because the activity is engaging and interesting. And companies will kill for this level of insight into their target market. This info would be much stronger than what a focus group would provide. If you gather students into a room for an hour, they will either tune out, or worry obsesively about saying the right thing to be cool in the situation. Give them a web site to build on their own time, and offer them money for their insight, and they'll start turning out some gems.
4) The report variant. The problem with this above idea is that it's too service oriented. Each client requires a new survey, which we get paid for, but requires effort to setup. This could, of course, be very much automated. And the money could be very good for a system that requires very little work to calibrate for each new customer. But another variant is to use some of the funds to run our own surveys, and then anaylze these responses ourselves to generate a youth markeitng report to sell to companies. The advantage of this piece is that selling the same report twice costs as much effort as selling it 500 times. Comparable reports, by the well, currently sell to companies for around $15,000 to $20,000 a pop. A twist on this variant is to first approach some companies to fund the surveying in exchange for getting the report for free and having input on its direction. We, however, are free to resell it to anyone else we want at a nice profit.
Learning from the TBE example
The message Michael posted from TBE got me thinking. What's the best way to go forward with this concept in terms of ownership issues? That is, we assume many ideas will be bounced around, and that most people will contribute to most ideas, but only a few people will probably really push any one given idea. So how do we balance who gets credit for what without getting greedy, overly subjective, or complicated?
Here is one suggestion--a refinement on Michael's earlier post--that I will throw out for feedback:
Let's make a clean split between inspiration and perspiration. On this (public) blog, we can discuss specific ideas as well as articulate general theories about what makes ideas work. Most of the inspiration work should occur here. Ideas can be repeatedly polished, poked, prodded, and reformed. Not all will survive. But those that do will boast a solid hook, specified site features, and targeted promotional plans.
At this point, those who are interested in taking on the perspiration duties identify themselves as owners. The domain can then be bought, and the detailed work of putting together a site map and tech spec for the web developers can continue among these self-identified owners on a private extranet, on the phone, and in person.
At the same time, discussion can continue in the public blog about promotion. Once the site is launched, it is hoped most everyone from the public blog will aid the promotion by tapping their networks. At this point, the owners identify the non-owners who contributed significantly to both the idea development and promotion. We call this group contributors. The owners will continue to be responsible for all details (and finacial support issues) related to an actual venture once it's up and running.
With all this being said, we can now talk turkey. In terms of revenue splitting, how about something along these lines:
* A set percent of revenues goes to the web developers (up until a certain per-project cap)
* Another percent (10% - 15%) goes to a pool that is split by the contributors.
* The rest is split by the owners.
This general approach recognizes that not everyone can contribute equally to every project. However, it does give incentive to help polish and promote other people's ideas. As these "inspiration" activities are not too taxing, and they can lead to a nice little financial return. Enough, at least, to justify the effort.
Imagine, one day in the near future, this evolving into a powerful community of smart entrepreneurs, where most people had small stakes in many ventures, and large stakes in a few, everyone pushing to help everyone else, everyone making some nice scratch in return.
The Business Experiment Status
Check out this blast email I got from thebusinessexperiment.com. It is fascinating and has a lot of ideas that we could learn from:
Hi Everyone,There seems to be a problem at TBE. We put something up for a vote, and we get emails and forum posts about how we aren't ready to vote on that issue yet. Nothing is getting done. The business plan has been "open" for weeks and it is going nowhere. This wisdom of crowds process for creating a business simply does not work. There is no accountability. We are experiencing the classic free rider problem where each individual lets everyone else do the work, and hopes that the crowd does good work and they get their cut of the next big thing. As a result, nothing gets done. Yet the moment I talk about moving away from giving out equity to everybody, I get a bunch of complaints about how then there will be no incentive to participate. Let's face it. Participate in what? As of now there is no business.
Think about this for a second. In this era of WEB2.0 hype, we have the only company attempting to bring users together to create a real business or businesses. We have a talented and creative user base that is interested in these ideas. And we are getting ready to get a lot of attention as a major business periodical will publish a story about us late next month. Don't give up just yet.
The major change at TBE is this - we are going to create an "upcoming vote" blog and "upcoming vote" forum. The blog will list polls opening in the next few days. The forum is where you can discuss options that should be in the polls. When the polling day comes, the poll is posted. If you didn't get a chance to contribute your opinion, it's too late. Options will be pulled out the forums and posted so that you can vote. If no options are posted, Sean, or the teams, can make the decision without input from the crowd. We can't wait on every one of you to give us your opinion because this has to get done someday.
Finally, the equity issue is becoming a very big problem for us. Seriously, there may be no way around it without spending a whole bunch of money. Even if we give options or warrants or promises or anything like that, if there is a chance you end up with equity, the SEC requires us to go through an expensive disclosure process. However, if groups stay small, that is irrelevant. If you want to use TBE to find 5 people to start a company with and split the equity in that yourself, it is fine because that is a small number of people. So, next week there will be a vote on how TBE will solve this problem. If you have a proposed solution, post it in the forum and we will put it up for a vote.
There is one new open poll, about whether TBE should pursue other businesses right now or just focus on WOU. Many users seem not to like WOU, so perhaps those of you that don't would rather work on something else.
This has been an experiment, and round #1 has failed. Help us define the next direction for the site. Somewhere in all of this, there is a new way of doing business. Yes I know, you don't want to share it with the crowd because you want compensation for your idea. Didn't we cover the value of ideas already? Log in. Make TBE what you want it to be, but let's make it something other than a freerider's utopia.
Blog Description
I sent the web site to a few people without much explanation. It clicked with some people right away, but others didn't really get it. I personally think we should make it less with an academic goal and make it a goal that will draw more people. While I'm extremely interested in the academic component, I don't think that will attract as many people. I propose the following revised description:
A One Day Idea is a low-cost web venture, requiring no more than one day’s worth of effort and less than $100 to launch, that ends up yielding huge rewards in terms of financial gain, publicity, or both. It completely flips the conventional 10% inspiration / 90% perspiration equation. The goal of this online discussion is to create and evolve ideas and ultimately form teams to implement them. We believe the more people that participate in this process, the more effectve and plentiful the ventures will be.
Testing Out New Ideas in Less Than One Month With Less Than $20
I see a common implementation process emerging:
- Refine the idea on blog (free)
- Come to some sort of agreement to implement the idea (free)
- Register a domain name ($7.95 per year with Go Daddy)
- Create a revenue-splitting agreement with an offshore web development team (free)
- Create and refine the specifications and demo site (free)
- Develop and test the system on an existing domain (free)
- Register for a web hosting account ($9.95 per month with Net Basiks)
- Launch the site
- The One Day Ideas idea community promotes it through their own network.
Entrepreneurs are famed for having a million ideas, but being not as strong in or passionate about implementation. Imagine if people could work on what they're most passionate about and strong at. On the other hand, entrepreneurs would have to make a big shift in mentality. They would have to:
- Be open with their ideas and trust an honor system.
- Be open to having a small percent of something big.
The Wisdom of Crowds
I can already see the power of The Wisdom of Crowds developing in the following ways:
1. Ideation - We're starting to get ideas that evolve on other ideas. Also, existing ideas are evolving rapidly.
2. Implementatoin - Once ideas become refined enough, individuals who feel it can work can begin to dedicate time toward implementation. Furthermore, people who believe in the idea can very easily promote it.
As we recruit more people, it seems like both of these steps would be improved. Theoretically, more and better ideas would evolve. Also, good ideas would be less likely to be abandoned as individuals become more likely to find ideas they would like to implement.
Implementation Strategy
It seems like a lot of the ideas we've proposed so far will require the most time during the web development and programming stages. I like Cal's idea of doing a revenue split with our connections abroad.
Another aspect that will take time is the creation of specications and demo-site that we to send to the web developers. Even a simple site would probably take one day to develop. I think we can definitely use an open-source approach on this. The specs can be created as a blog entry that is continually edited. Also, since most of us have HTML knowledge, we can build a simple demo site together.
New Vocabulary
I have a feeling that our discussions will result in a new vocabulary. As such, I created a new category called "vocabulary". So, when you coin a new term you can post it to that category. Also, when other mention it in entries, they can link to its definition.
Start With a Cross-Over
Interesting thought...
I mentioned in my previous post that a student-centric web site like BrokeStudent.com might lead to some media cross-overs, like a related show on a college cable channel like MTVU or Al Gore's thing.
What about starting with such a cross-over? That is, what if a group of young student/entrepreneurs approached MTVU or Al Gore's channel, and pitched a show and a web site. The idea would be that we launch some youthful web site like BrokeStudent.com, and design (but not produce) a related TV show, such that both promote each other. It's a win for the cable station, because it expands their brand into authentic web communities and strengthens their audience, and its a win for us, because we don't have to put up money, and get big promotion.
Broke Student Click
As I have posted earlier, my working theory is that at the core of any One Day Idea is a "click" --- the ability for a quick description of the idea induce a release of pleasurable chemicals in a person hearing the description for the first time. Accordingly, before I even consider specific features or promotional plans of an idea, I am first interested in analyzing whether or not the concept is "clickable."
Along these lines, let me first re-present the main idea of BrokeStudent.com:
"BrokeStudent.com is like a manic love-child of Craigslist and Facebook. An online community, where college students try to convince other college students to pay them money for everything from the mundane to the outrageous. There is no longer any reason to ever be broke again. If you need some extra cash, there's got to be something that you can do that one of your classmates is willing to pay money to see."
The primary click I am hoping for here is student's realization that a) they could use some extra cash, and b) this web site might actually make that easy. CraigsList works on that click. But here, it's more focused, because there is something safer and simpler about just dealing with your fellow students then a general citywide community. It seems more youthful, less dangerous, and fun. And the idea of having more money is a powerful one.
What are your guys thoughts? Is this a real click? Or a dud? Is there a way to make it stronger?
The promotion would be, hopefully, viral, in that outrageous posts can get circulated via e-mail forwards, which would inspire more people to post outrageous things. This could be encouraged by a "hall of shame" featured on the front page.
In terms of end game, the obvious option is sale. This audience is so desirable, that if it grows to a decent size, one of the larger players in the field (i.e. Facebook) might snatch you up to add to their portfolio. There is also some media crossover potential here. A related mini-show could be pitched to MTVU or Al Gore's youth network.
In terms of the "perspiration quotient," the launch expense would be somewhat minimal. It would require some back-end programming, but using one of the off-shore firms we know, we could probably reduce the price with a capped-profit sharing agreement (i.e. if they want $1000 for the work, we pay $250, and give them 10% of the ad profits until we have paid them $2500 or shut-down the site). The upkeep would be minimal once launched. As mentioned, people could report inappropriate posts, and the admin could skim through to delete posts as needed.
Desperation Seperation
I think it makes sense to seperate DesperateForMoney.com and BrokeStudent.com into two seperate ideas. They are different enough that I think each has more to gain by being discussed alone. Accordingly, I have created a new subcategory for the student-centric idea.
What do you think about the following plan:
For the next week we can post heavily about both--filling in the details, refining the features, and articulating the hook that would make it catch on. After about a week we can then decide whether either, both, or none are worth pursuing to the implementation phase. This phase would involve in-person discussions, and the construction of a solid action plan. In general, this style of approach might work best for getting the maximum out of this blog. It allows us to harness the web to streamline the "inspiration" step, but doesn't do away with the in-person discussions and deadlines necessary to succeed through the "perspiration" step once an idea graduates to that level.
October 13, 2005
Purposeful Giving
On Seth Godin's blog, he points to a school that was built in Nepal as a result of ebook sales he donated.
I think that this is a very smart move. It seems like everybody is jumping on the cause-related marketing band wagon. This means that it's less unique to say, "A % of sales are donated to charity."
With that said, do you think the desperate for money idea has a relation to this. Corporations could donate to the best stories and get a better return on their donations.
In my experience in the nonprofit world, many sell themselves with stories of top alumni, not statistical analysis on the impact they've made.
A Daring Adventure
In June I began working full time on Extreme Entrepreneurship. The time between then and now has been an amazing experience for me. One which it is time to start recording. Here are some of my observations:
Rollercoaster of Confidence and Doubt. In past months, I have experienced some of the strongest self-confidence and the strongest self-doubt I have ever had. I am becoming a much more modest person as a result of going from thinking I’m a genius to feeling entirely incompetent in the span of hours.
Self-Knowledge. My lowest point on the rollercoaster was when I dared to be fully in the presence of my self-doubts. In one of his speeches, David Hawkins, author of Power vs. Force, says that if you accept yourself fully, for both your strengths and weaknesses, then you become immune to criticism from others. He suggested writing down all the criticism you have of yourself to identify and then accept them. I tried this exercise one night and was ready to give up the company. I felt like I was holding it back, that I wasn’t strong enough to help it succeed. But this feeling of inadequacy slowly went away and I began to realize that all these fears that had been festering at the back of my mind were false. I was strong enough and competent enough. I could see my strengths and weaknesses for what they were and I began making plans for how to manage them.
Deepening Relationships. Michael too has been coming to know himself better. And as a result, we are able to work better as a team – both inside and outside of the business. Inside the business, we’ve taken responsibility for the tasks we’re most naturally inclined to do. We’ve identified each others strengths and weaknesses without judging them, and used this information to our advantage. Outside of the business, we are supportive and accepting of each other, which provides a sublime environment for the growth and the energy needed to reach our goals.
Discipline. I have always been an incredibly disciplined person. When I was entering the workforce and paying my way through college, this was probably my greatest competitive advantage. I was dependable. I would produce quality work ahead of schedule. It has always amazed me how much doing this alone sets you apart from the crowd. But building a business and relying on its income to survive requires a whole new discipline, foreign even to me. It means getting up early every day and working through the day consistently instead of retiring to the comfortable looking bed in the other room. It means being willing to get your hands dirty with the detail tasks you feel are below you. It means making scary and significant decisions multiple times a day. It means constantly checking in on yourself to make sure you are staying true to your values and goals. And it means facing your deepest fears of failure and rejection. Every day.
Facing Fears. There are so many fears that I have had to face in this endeavor, I don’t know where to begin. Sales calls are one. I never want to make sales calls. I suppose it is a fear of rejection, and I am working on my skills in this area. But there is no way to be profitable without sales and one thing I’m definitely learning is that following up by phone is a key way to get sales. Another fear is that I’ll run out of money. Having struggled with money for most of my life, being financially comfortable is no doubt at the top of my goals. And this threatens that in a big way if it fails. I believe I can build myself up again if that happened, but it would mean more years of struggling to get by.
Acceptance. All of the above has led me to a greater understanding of myself, the world I live in, and how I want to live my life. As Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing”.
Online vs. Offline: Part 2
Scott Pollack, a very good NYU friend, and also the coiner of the term "One Day Idea" is more interested in the offline aspect to this. That is keeping the idea to a trusted group of friends who meet offline, brainstorm ideas, and then implement the ideas.
Hey, don't get me wrong, I think this blog is a great idea, and can be a valuable resource for budding and experienced entrepreneurs alike. My original thoughts were that a public blog such as this could be used to discuss thoughts on One Day Ideas in general, rather than specific opportunites waiting to be implemented. Contrastingly, an "entrepreneur club" formed in the model of an investment club would be a venue for a small group of trusted individuals to carry out whatever ODIs most tickeled their respective fancies.
However, having seen a few day's worth of discussion on this site, it is obvious that there's something here. The DesperateForMoney.com idea is perfectly inline with ODIs that seemed to have taken off over the years. However, my concerns still remain -- as this blog gains popularity, how can the proprietor of an ODI protect it from some untrusting idea-poacher lurking in anonymity? How can we prevent someone from having registering and launching DesperateForMoney.com and BrokeStudent.com while we flesh out the details in the public domain?
Cal, I like your equity sharing plan in the post "Learning from the TBE Example," but how do we assure such a system works? The honor system only works when you know who's in your circle of trust. As they say, "in cyberspace no one cares if you scream."
.
Refining the Desperate Idea
First, I used the "subcategories" feature and put all the entries on this idea under it. I thought it might make things a little easier, especially once we start debating multiple ideas.
After hearing each side, I like the idea of opening it to a wider audience and making it a site that people donate money to individuals instead of big corporations where they're not sure where there money is going. In other words, I don't think it is as exciting when it is just for students, and I think the quality of the stories will drive its diffusion across the web.
I picture people posting the following:
- A photo
- A blurb about themselves (100-words)
- A blurb about why they need the money (100-words)
- How much money they need
- When they need it by
I think the easiest revenue route (easiest to get) besides Google Adsense would be taking a percentage of each donation. For example, let's say somebody wants $100 dollars. Our system could automatically make it $110 and then we'd take $10. This would be easy to do with the Amazon.com Honor System where I believe you can make a donation campaign with a set amount that shows how far you're along to your goal.
At the most simple level, this idea could be implemented by:
- Creating a blog on this domain.
- Registering a domain and pointing it to this one.
- Soliciting stories - It would be hard to get really good stories at first. I see this being the most time-consuming.
- Telling others
- Posting one new story a day.
- People submitting videos.
- Discussion boards
- People committing to doing something (ie - eating 100 hamburgers in an hour)
October 12, 2005
Trivializing ideas to "one day ideas"
FYI: I am posting this email to check our thinking and so that our "one day ideas" don't become too complex.
From my email to Mike:
Thoughts on Overall concept:
I'm a bit concerned that we are trivializing ideas by calling them "one day ideas". I would highly doubt that any of the ideas we discuss, were executed in one single day. For example, savetoby.com probably got put together in a day... but the concept and business was woven over many months OR perhaps even years. There is a tendency to call things "one day ideas" because most of them depend on the web, and websites are simple to build.
Mike, you hit on the core of this thing when he was talking about inspiration versus perspiration. Perspiration is associated with money, time, and hard work. Inspiration is association with revelation, instant gratification, and no investment. This "onedayidea" concept stems from the fact that the internet enables inspiration; a single viral idea or story can generate physical and emotional capital, mobilize people, and instantaneously become the center of a national debate.
I don't mind calling it "onedayideas.com" , but perhaps we can keep ourselves productive by checking ideas against broad metrics like:
1) inspiration-ability of the concept:
2) controversy-driven; it's buzzworthiness
3) the sheer lack of effort and investment it takes to implement and manage after implementation
4) authenticity of story: sincerity and honesty seem to drive the successful ideas
5) measurable results (ie money, press/publicity, clicks, qualitative reponses)
This also raises the question: Should we consider onedayideas that are heavily, financially backed.
Defining Desperate
This is starting to get interesting.
Michael, can you flesh out a little more your idea about what people would post? It seems like we are diverging slightly, so this would be a good time to lay both directions out on the table and reach a consensus on what sounds best. In particular, I was starting down a path that was rapidly turning into a more irreverant, college-targeted version of elance.com. Your direction is different. More of a philanthropic, social experiment feel to it. I'm intruiged, but I want to make sure I understand correctly. Is the basic idea that people who need money post a plea for why they are deserving, and then individuals can donate to specific people?
There could, actually, be two different ideas here. And there is, of course, nothing stopping us from launching both. One could be a fun college-style eLance were students try to get money from other students, the other, and interesting twist on personal philanthropy -- instead of donating to a big organization, fix individuals lives.
Desperate Challenge
Hey Cal- You're right, desperate students is probably the key anchor to attract attention. They will also buzz to their friends about the post. However, I think its more provocative to include the creepy adult.
I think it would be cool to pit the creepy adult against the college kid against the homeless man, etc. As a social experiment it would be interesting to tally results and see how, when, and for what reaons people give. Perhaps there would be a entry space for donors to explain why and how they may their choice.
I think the snobby college kid could get a run for his money from from the depressing, fourty year old virgin. This type of competition may drive repeat donors who suddenly have a stake for their choice to win. Could we include a forum for the participants to talk trash or just communicate with each other? As cal stated, each desperate participant needs a goal to hit as well, at which point they are no longer deemed desperate.
As for the revenue model, I'll push the typical ad/sponsor model and say... I'd like to put the participants up for coporate sponsorship and we take a cut. It forces corporations to make a choice and state their side... which is lofty, but interesting. (IE Kaplan sponsors a widow that always wanted a degree over the college kid that wants a cancun trip)
Desperate Students
An interesting play on Michael's DesperateForMoney.com idea is to focus specifically on students.
Desperate adults can be creepy. And the site could quickly devolve into something very lewd.
Students, on the other hand, are often desperate for money. Not the huge, depressing, multi-thousand dollar mortgage payments that an adult might need, but a much more lighter $100 for plane fair, or $50 to buy a new DVD player or something. Also, they are easy to screen for, as facebook.com demonstrated, because you can simply require that they have a valid .edu e-mail address. Finally, students are very comfortable with web technology, and will happily web surf for hours in search of entertaining content -- the best being real content about real students doing real outrageous things.
Accordingly, we could imagine: BrokeStudent.com or DesperateStudent.com or PoorUndergrad.com, etc. You have to be a student to post pleas or reply to pleas, but anyone can browse. If you need money, you post a plea, which consists of a photo, what school you attend, your sob story, and what you are willing to do in exchange for this money. Here the creativity of the audience, as Michael points out, will lead to the entertainment value, as students outdo each other to come up with more outlandish proposals. On one end of the spectrum there could be boring stuff, like offers to tutor or do your homework or clean your dorm room, on the other end of the spectrum there could be offers to eat two dozen hamburgers, or streak the library, or panty-raid a sorority or whatever. And, of course, this brings more attention, as other students want to see what their idiot peers are offering to do. The transactions can be controlled by the individuals. Like craigslist, most would probably happen in person between two people at the same (or nearby) schools, so we wouldn't have to worry about building a payment system or getting involved in those complications.
Instead, there is money to be made first by advertising. Start with Google AdWords so that you can get an immediate cash-reward for a huge traffic spike. Then, if it catches on, you could seek out individual sponsors, and do creative advertising for larger money. Then, of course, perhaps, the ultimate endgame would be the sale of the site.
The whole thing remains low maintenance of course. A simple registration system. The plea posting engine is just a glorified bulletin board. People can report bogus postings (things that are illegal, too distasteful, or adds) and the site administrator could have a real simple interface for deleting any of these posting.
What would be required to jumpstart publicity? I assume we get as many people as possible that we know to post. Then get as many bloggers as we know to write about it. Then send unsolicited info to other bloggers. Then post flyers? Maybe the key would be to plant an outrageous post then leak it to the media?
Promotion of Ideas
Something we should consider is promotion of ideas. Once an idea is refined, it is probably worth making a list of A-List bloggers that might have a propensity to blog about it. If this blog itself tips, then the liklihood of each idea tipping will probably be higher.
Selling the Invisible
Another trait that I noticed with milliondollarhomepage.com (MDHP) and also chrisandluke.com (CL), thefirst corporately sponsored college students, is that they sold the invisibe. MDHP sold ads without an audience and CL sold announce corporate sponsors without having them (see press release at http://www.chrisandluke.com/press.html).
What is true with both of these is that the first people to buy in have the most to gain. For MDHP, they get their pick of space and ad size. For CL, the sponsor gets tons of PR.
Desperate for Something
Alright gents. Cal - your idea on milliondollarhomepage's success being partially due to its story got me thinking... What about a site with a similar format to hotornot.com that illicits very interesting stories.
Desperateformoney.com
Features headshots of people (they have to be making a desperate face) and says why they need the money, and perhaps what they're willing to do for it. This could get funny submissions. Savetoby.com is a play on this. Visitors could donate to the individual. We could take a percentage of the profits.
This idea would be edgy, humorous, but at the same time actually help people who are desperate. Also, one nice aspect of this idea is that it is franchisable.
In terms of the implementation, here would be the steps...
- We register domain name and web hosting and build simple site.
- We tell everybody about the idea.
- People submit their picture and story to us via email.
- We post acceptable ones into a database.
- The database displays the accepted submissions randomly (probably some free script for this).
- People vote on them, donate to them, or comment on them, or some such.
October 11, 2005
Million Dollar Copies - The Self-Help Effect
This blog entry describes several of the many copy-cats that were launched after Million Dollar Homepage's initial publicity blitz. The key is that, as far as I can tell, none of these copy-cats have reached anything near the hundreds of thousands of dollars generated by the original -- even though they are functionally identical, and, for the most part, cheaper.
There is probably an important insight at play here. What made the original site click with so many people? It's clear that there is a strong hook lurking behind the scenes. The idea could be summarized in one line: "a poor student sells pixels to pay his way through college." When you hear this hook, you are compelled to check out the web site. When you check out the web site, the idea is so simple, so bold, so novel, that something "clicks" in your mind. This produces a pleasurable effect. This effect fuels the success of the idea.
I've long been interested in this "click." I've studied it mainly from the context of book writing, where I refer to it as the "self-help effect." It comes from the observation that a good self-help book offers a premise that is:
1) Simple;
2) Bold (alternatively, provocative);
3) Novel ("i never thought of that...");
4) Inescapably logical.
When we encounter a premise that meets these four criteria, we experience a flush of pleasure (which must source from something biological in our brain's construction), and this pleasure induces us to buy. The term "self help" is probably much too restrictive even in this context, as this style of premise occurs all over the book world. Such as in business (How to Become Ceo proposed that simple to follow, but stringent micro rules about daily behavior will lead to macro-level success in business) and in fiction (Jurassic Park proposed that it is scientifically plausabile that dinosaurs could be brought back to life).
Anyway, I wonder if the self-help effect is at the core of One Day Ideas like the Million Dollar Homepage? It's copy-cats failed, perhaps, because the novelty aspect was gone. And once you lose one of the key aspects of the effect (novelty, simplicity, boldness, logic) it fails to produce the required pleasure.
Following this thought to its conclusion would imply that brainstorming these ideas should occur with these four properties always in mind. How do we test this theory? First, we need to observe more One Day Ideas. We can see how many boast these four properties. If many do, then we can develop an idea use the "self-help" effect as the primiary guide; then see how well it works.
Getting Started
Michael has the right idea. The best way to jumpstart this discussion is to post about existing One Day Ideas. Once we get a feel for what has worked for people in the past, we can begin to theorize about why they worked. Being good scientists, of course, we will then have to test these theories by launching our own ventures. That’s the part I’m looking forward to...
Accordingly, if anyone knows of any other existing One Day Ideas like Million Dollar Homepage, please post about them. Similarly, if anyone knows of any good blogs or websites to monitor to find out about new ventures has they happen, please post this info as well. The more we observe, the better we can act.
October 09, 2005
Million Dollar Home Page
Million Dollar Home Page is the perfect example of a one day idea. It was created by a graduating high school senior and only involves basic HTML knowledge. It was setup in a few days with the only costs being web hosting and domain registration. Two months later, it gets over 100K visitors a day and has made its founder over $300,000.
If you had thought of this idea, would you have pursued it? While this idea is one of the rare ideas that manage to breakout, I think it is possible over-time to refine one's thinking to the point that the probability of having a breakout idea is high. Furthermore, I think we live in a unique era where the time and money involved to create one of these ideas is extremely small.
It is commonly accepted that 10% of an company's success is inspiration and the other 90% is perspiration. One day ideas turn this upside down.