Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

My question, particular to the suggestion, is how would varied or multiple talents apply to resolving an identity theft problem? Yes it`s a major issue and people are running scared about lots of the publicized disasters, but does that make it a good commercial venture? What exactly is "the product?"

Expanding slightly; there seem to be two overall views or perceptions of this idea. For my part, I saw (or see) the proposition as a way to consolidate SuN member expertise into some sort of product. But another view is to offer whatever members have an interest, a separate business designed to sell or produce a product. I guess I`m not clear on the question again. :-)

For example, one interpretation of the original post would be, "Is anyone interested in joining forces to form a rocket ship company?"

Another interpretation would be, "Can we form a company based on the multitude of talents popping up on the site?"

When I was a musician, we had two different types of people who`s jobs often were confused: the agent, and the manager. Confusion probalby came because so often bands would have a manager-agent.

But the agent considered the band a completed product, and went out to sell that product. The manager considered the band to be an evolving product under development. The manager was more like a consultant, bringing market and business acumen into a mix where the musicians often had no such knowledge.

What I see happening on this site is something maybe like the manager`s position, but not a corporate "manager." It`s a nurturing or producing sort of thing, where people want a human database of resources that not only can answer a direct question, but also reach out and help startup business people form questions when they don`t quite know what to ask. Then again, I may be misinterpreting the original post.

I think Craig poses some interesting and appropriate questions. This is really "blue sky" thinking. I`m not sure there is clear definition or formula to this yet. I just threw up a very general idea in the hope that maybe we can hone it collectively through this forum. And my idea for a branded ecommerce site that would focus on hardware and software products focused on privacy and identity theft protection is nothing more than a seedling of an idea. I`m not sure it`s a good idea at all at this point. But just going on a hunch that this area coupled with the emerging successes we`re now seeing in ecommerce made me think that there might be merit. To be clear, I am open to hearing lots of other ideas before we focus on this one or any other one. Let`s keep exploring. Glad to know there is interest out there and to know that people are really putting some thought into the possibilities as well as the logistical challenges. Thanks Craig and to all commenting....

Jeff

-------------------------

Jeff Sloan Co-founder, StartupNation!

Perhaps we should use Jeff`s idea as a springboard for this project, and as the idea is brainstormed and discussed, we can determine if it`s an appropriate product. It could be that further exploration on this topic leads us to a tangential idea that hasn`t yet been considered. I think that proceeding with this (even as just an initial exercise) might be a good way to develop the process of this effort, if nothing else. Sometimes, just moving forward is a good way to figure things out.

With the privacy/identity theft idea as an initial concept, I`d suggest that we use our wide-ranging community to do some market research. With the multiple perspectives and varying levels of expertise of participating members, we should be able to gather a diverse collection of feedback.

Maybe those members who are interested in the marketing aspect could take some initiative here. If those with such expertise would propose some survey criteria, we could begin to evaluate the viability of the initially proposed product.

From my own personal perspective, I was thinking about collecting anecdotal information, asking "non-geek" types (e.g., average people who have a functional level of computer knowledge) about their privacy/ID theft concerns, what methods they currently use, and what they`d like to have available to deal with these issues. Then I might ask them to complete the phrase, "What someone REALLY needs to come up with is ...." It`s not a particularly sophisticated or scientific approach, but it would be a start.

Ok market research people (or anyone else), here`s your invitation to jump in with your valuable input.

Denise

I believe there is incredible potential for many different sorts of virtual enterprises within the SUN community. This is just the first, but being the first, before we get too far I think it would be beneficial to answer some basic questions. These are a few that come to mind. Surely there`ll be more:

• Is this open to any and all who express an interest?
• If not what is the criteria for inclusion?
• What investment would be required?
• Can equity be earned through investment of time and expertise?
• How is valuation placed on a particular person`s time and expertise?
• What happens when an individuals circumstances change and they cannot or do not wish to be activly involved?
• What is the exit strategy?
  

No doubt each person comes to something like this with a unique perspective. Due to the dispersed locations of the participants I expected this business to have an online emphasis. My hope is that it would not be just another "me too" sort of online business.

I`d like to see something that is unique, even revolutionary. Given the depth of talent available, frankly I`d be disappointed with anything less.



-------------------------

Steve - Kirk Foods, LLC home of the Gluten Free Cookie Factory - To reach any significant goal, you must leave your comfort zone. - Hyrum W. Smith, Founder, Franklin Quest

Yes, this is what I was pondering relative to the thoughts about an ID theft proposition. In such a situation, I would suppose there would be much technical work related to Internet security, hacker-safe programming, and so forth. True, there would also be the business end talents such as marketing, banking, financing, and so forth, but again, that`s a fairly limited set of expertise. It would tend to be a narrow subset of SuN members who would be able to participate.

The other aspect, where such a business would be open to anyone expressing an interest, would then have to be a product where the primary criteria would be simply an active interest in small business and starting/running a small business. :-) That`s a pretty wide field, but it brings in the idea of a database sort of thing.

What`s fascinating about the SuN community is that almost everyone here has the imagination to pretty much turn ANYthing into a business! LOL! I truly suspect, particularly in light of the poop-scoop thread, that if we were to toss up any single product idea, it would *always* develop into a practical application, one way or another.

Although that`s fantastic, in terms of how useful and helpful is this site, it becomes problematic when the entire community comes together to figure out what kind of e-commerce thing could the whole (or a large segment of it) community produce, develop, or be involved with.

In some ways, we could use the slot-machine or gambling casino model. A person makes an initial investment, then enters the overall enterprise, choosing only those areas in which they have expertise or interest. They interact with that particular aspect of the casino for as long as they choose.

Within that "area," they apply skill, expertise, and thought. They win or lose only in that area, not being a part of any profits being generated in any other area. When the person is through, they leave. Either they go to another constrained area, or they leave the casino entirely. At that point, they cash out, taking as profit whatever it was they built in their active area.

If we were to use the analogy to swap SuN with the casino, then what is the overall "product" being made available, or potentially available by the community? As far as I can see, it`s mostly imagination, creative thought, practical application of creativity, and knowledge.

Wait...! Kathy and I were talking, and came up with this: How about a co-op based on a Mall model? Or maybe even on a trade-show model?

Yahoo! focuses on first profit, then a community. This would focus on the community, then profit. It would offer a quality unavailable on the eBay flea-market mentality, but not at the commercial rate of an Amazon store.

Consider: One of the big problems for all small online startups is the transaction processing and checkout counter. On the other hand, places like Amazon stores are most often too expensive to buy into. What if anyone who wanted, joined a sort of mall-type site, possibly separate from the SuN main site, but interconnected?

The Sloan brothers could be the domain and site holders, and the code in the Mall structure would handle the oversight and mall management. They could possibly take a finder`s fee for sold-items, rather than charging a monthly fee.

Each store would come into a category, which would be a problem to figure out. Services and concrete products would be available, and aside from public access, there would also be member discounts.

There could also be "site support," where someone with problems could access an in-house group of IT people. Again, for a fee, but perhaps discounted from the IT or site developer`s standard fee? Dunno, I`m just thinking out loud. (I`m a dyed-in-the-wool capitalist, and have no interest in altruism; I should make that clear.)

So for example, we have people selling hard goods, often on their own site. They would continue that, but have something like a secondary storefront, or "window" in this mall. Because it would be (somehow) standardized, another member could handle certain code, or photographic editing, or site optimization, or whatever else. Maybe for a fee, but discounted?

The site could be something like a mall, or a co-op, or a freelance board, or whatever else. That would be the logistics and details. But this idea, on a conceptual level, would meet both initial criteria. It would allow anyone in the community to get involved, but it would also offer concrete, specific products.

There could be groupings within the mall, where the idea of a Web marketing and advertising agency could come together. Site developers, SEO and SEM people, graphics, and marketing people could join a subset to offer all-in-one advertising to either the open market, or discounted to internal members. Individually, each could maintain their own separate site. But this would be like a diversification, or second line of business and second Web presence.

The big advantage would be having the visibility of the SuN name, reputation, and initial site, which would then bring hundreds of small businesses into an umbrella advertising system?

SuN could handle the transaction processing, which would track all the money, thereby providing the basis for member payouts. That too, would have to be worked out, but the concept would work. It`d have the centralized database of information, which I think is the biggest problem when working out percentages, profits, costs, fees, or whatever else. We`ve got accountants, financial people, and analysts who could resolve that. They might form a Board of Directors, or Management Oversight committee.

There might be a global profit aspect, similar to a corporate share system, but without the option to buy more shares. Say, upon joining, a member would have 1 share. Each member would then get a major percentage of what they sold through the co-op store, but also at the end of the year, a 1-unit share of a designated percentage of global profits. Of course, that proposes a way for the overall mall first to generate income and profit as an entity.

Categorization would first divide by tangible and intangible product (services v. goods). Then, like a regular mall, each main set would divide by related items. So food, clothing, jewelry, decor, and so forth.

Because it`s online, there could be linked connections. So a diverse site with many items could be categorized in one place, but have a presence in other areas, just as an Index in a book works.

This could take advantage of the Internet and linking. Instead of having an actual store, the mall would be comprised of "shingles` people hang out. Search engines often search only the first three pages, so SuN could provide some 3-page templates. The member would then make a name, have a "window," show some products, and have a "doorway" portal.

A click on the store "site" would then move the customer to the members actual, personally run Web site. The next problem would be how to ensure the customer uses the SuN mall checkout after finding the member`s site first through the mall. If the customer finds the site directly, the member wouldn`t pay a finder`s fee back to SuN.

Jeff and all --

I just wanted to say that I have been following everyone`s posts and doing some brainstorming of my own - but have been so darn busy at work (still working now . . .) to contribute.  Life will be less hectic next week, so I will contribute then, I promise!

Linda

This has been tried before. Anybody heard of The Business Experiment? A group of about 800 people joined online to create an online business. Everybody that joined became part owner of the group. It failed. I think one of the biggest reasons for the failure was that out of 800 people, most wern`t pulling their weight. I was one of the 800. I didn`t pull my weight. I, like most people, joined because I was just interested in observing the process. Despite receiving media publicity, The Business Experiment shut down. Too many observers and too few people doing any actual work. I think this type of thing can still work but we would need to learn from the mistakes of The Business Experiment.

-------------------------

Tino Buntic TradePals - Free Sales Leads

Hi Jeff,

I think this idea is fantastic.  Since I have an HR background I would be happy to assist with how virtual organizations work and how remote people work together, and with any other "people related issues."

Janet

 

 After Craig and I talked about it I realized how fantastic this could be. There are so many possibilites of where this could go.

  Tito-We discussed this also.Although the Business Experiment failed I think that this could work . As you said if we learn from the mistakes of that, we would be better off.
   There are so many people here that have wonderful products that I think the mall would be diversified. Also since we have a lot of people with services this would help them also. As an example I could see a store front with real estate. With the realtors that we have on here if someone was moving and wanted to look for houses in that area they could.
  The other thing is that I think it would add credibility to a lot of small buisness being under one roof. To be able to go to different stores all in one place and have only one checkout would be great especially from  a consumer viewpoint.
  Janet that would be great. If we had experienced people lined up I think would avoid the many pittfalls that could occur.
 As we have often said there is such a diversity here that I think everyone would benefit from it.
Kathy


-------------------------