One Day Ideas

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:

1. A photo
   
2. A blurb about themselves (100-words)
   
3. A blurb about why they need the money (100-words)
   
4. How much money they need
   
5. 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:

1. Creating a blog on this domain.
   
2. Registering a domain and pointing it to this one.
   
3. Soliciting stories - It would be hard to get really good stories at first. I see this being the most time-consuming.
   
4. Telling others
   
5. Posting one new story a day.

1. People submitting videos.
   
2. Discussion boards
   
3. People committing to doing something (ie - eating 100 hamburgers in an hour)

Posted by mkes1981 at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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.

Posted by Cal Newport at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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)

Posted by Richard Salem at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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?

Posted by Cal Newport at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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...

1. We register domain name and web hosting and build simple site.
   
2. We tell everybody about the idea.
   
3. People submit their picture and story to us via email.
   
4. We post acceptable ones into a database.
   
5. The database displays the accepted submissions randomly (probably some free script for this).
   
6. People vote on them, donate to them, or comment on them, or some such.

Posted by mkes1981 at 04:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)