Since I last wrote I put negotiating with the investor on hold. I have been thinking heavily on what he said about simplicity. I came across this quote which gave me great pause to think:
"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away".
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
I realized that the contest could still be removed without losing the core, so we have decided to remove it and use it as a Plan B if the simple version is unsuccesful. So this means a bit of a redesign, which of course means a little more time developing. On the other hand, we now know that the project is fundable from an investors standpoint so it really gives us alot of options.
For those of you reading who are thinking of being entrepreneurs (or are already) I think that finding the core concept and making it as simple as possible really is the most important first step. All other things seem to be falling in place with this simple yet deceptively complex task. I'll keep you guys updated as things progress.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Investors and finding your core
Well, I heard back from the investor. He is definitely interested. Of course, simplicity rears its head again. He feels that the concept needs tweaking because it is too complex. As you know from my previous posts this has been an issue that I have been wrestling with for awhile. I have proposed a compromise where we run concurrent Betas in Toronto and Montreal. This way we can run our horses head to head. I really don't care which one wins, as long as we can most effectively facilitate reviews from people you know and trust...either way we should get that result.
Figuring out the core of what we are doing has been such a tremendously valuable process. You would think that figuring out what you do would be easy...after all it's what you do! But really figuring out your core is one of the most difficult things in business. For example, a nail salesman doesn't just sell nails. He sells what can be done with those nails. With bodbook we facilitate the sharing of information around social entertainment. When we get the most connected people talking about films we facilitate a tremendously valuable service that connects friends through the experience of seeing a movie that they like, hearing a band they admire, or reading a book with good reviews. This is why we use the slogan "Getting more social out of your social network". We want to help people connect to one another through social entertainment that they can share together in the real world.
I'll let you know how negotiations go with the investors.
Figuring out the core of what we are doing has been such a tremendously valuable process. You would think that figuring out what you do would be easy...after all it's what you do! But really figuring out your core is one of the most difficult things in business. For example, a nail salesman doesn't just sell nails. He sells what can be done with those nails. With bodbook we facilitate the sharing of information around social entertainment. When we get the most connected people talking about films we facilitate a tremendously valuable service that connects friends through the experience of seeing a movie that they like, hearing a band they admire, or reading a book with good reviews. This is why we use the slogan "Getting more social out of your social network". We want to help people connect to one another through social entertainment that they can share together in the real world.
I'll let you know how negotiations go with the investors.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Prototype 80% ready
Hey All,
Now that I know some people are actually reading this thing I should update a little more frequently. The prototype is nearing completion. Overall I am quite happy with how it looks and functions. After observing people using it I think that we need to add a little more in the way of information sharing.
Unfortunately Facebook has cornered the market with information sharing and we don't want to create duplication (we don't compete with, we compliment facebook)so we really have to figure out what unique information people can share on bodbook that they don't share on facebook. Our focus for bodbook is in sharing information about social entertainment (movies, music, events, etc) therefore we would like to facilitate more information sharing between peers about that. If anyone has ideas feel free to leave comments.
On the business end, I met with an investor on Fri afternoon and asked for $500 000. That's right, I asked for half a million in investment. Asking for that kind of money could either get you laughed out of the office, or very quickly shows you how much others value your concept. Well, I didn't get laughed out of the office. The investor was very interested and had ideas on other investors who might also be interested in getting in on the deal. The investment process will likely take months so I won't count on a fat bank account for awhile, but I feel very confident that we will secure the money we are seeking and will have a very strong launch position.
I really look forward to the launch of the service. I really believe that what we are creating will appreciably improve the flow of information around the entertainment we share with our friends.
If any readers want to test the prototype email me at: ken.seville@gmail.com
The site is only optimized for Firefox right now (v.2 will go IE and Safari) so I recommend that you download FF for the test (besides FF is a much better browser :)
Now that I know some people are actually reading this thing I should update a little more frequently. The prototype is nearing completion. Overall I am quite happy with how it looks and functions. After observing people using it I think that we need to add a little more in the way of information sharing.
Unfortunately Facebook has cornered the market with information sharing and we don't want to create duplication (we don't compete with, we compliment facebook)so we really have to figure out what unique information people can share on bodbook that they don't share on facebook. Our focus for bodbook is in sharing information about social entertainment (movies, music, events, etc) therefore we would like to facilitate more information sharing between peers about that. If anyone has ideas feel free to leave comments.
On the business end, I met with an investor on Fri afternoon and asked for $500 000. That's right, I asked for half a million in investment. Asking for that kind of money could either get you laughed out of the office, or very quickly shows you how much others value your concept. Well, I didn't get laughed out of the office. The investor was very interested and had ideas on other investors who might also be interested in getting in on the deal. The investment process will likely take months so I won't count on a fat bank account for awhile, but I feel very confident that we will secure the money we are seeking and will have a very strong launch position.
I really look forward to the launch of the service. I really believe that what we are creating will appreciably improve the flow of information around the entertainment we share with our friends.
If any readers want to test the prototype email me at: ken.seville@gmail.com
The site is only optimized for Firefox right now (v.2 will go IE and Safari) so I recommend that you download FF for the test (besides FF is a much better browser :)
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