Project Vloggystyle

So, the name cracked me up the more I thought about it, so I guess we will keep it.  We can call it V-log for short when we are in the office and don’t want to be overheard, haha.   I am adding the category Vloggystyle to the Ideas and Brainstorms folder for now, and if we can develop it further, we will move promote it to offical project status.

So I am having a bit of the equivalent of writer block right now, I’ll call it idea block.  So, what I figure I will do in the mean time is lay out the elements we are working with and that may help me collect my thoughts.

The key elements that we are woking with:

• Video interview of successful entrepreneurs
  • This will initially be done by us
  • Possibility exists to turn this over to other entrepreneurs, students, etc
• Website that is designed to convey the idea easily and promote interactivity

The challenge here is that the elements are very open ended and there are many different directions this can be taken.  So I am outlining a few of them.

• What is the overall goal of the website?  Here are some ideas:
  • People come to learn about local businesses
  • People come to learn about entrepreneurship
  • People create a profile and interact with others
    • Members rate entrepreneur interviews
    • Members discuss what they like/dislike about the entrepreurs views
    • Members can give advice to the entrepreneur
• The site could feature an elevator pitch section where members could post video ideas
  • Other members could comment on the ideas
  • Entrepreneurs that have been interviewed could comment on the ideas
  • Members/entrepreneurs could collaborate here if a good idea is agreed upon
• Who is our target market?
  • This is a key questions, as this will determine the way the site is moneitized
  • Consumers looking for new, cool products
  • Entrepreneurs looking for advice and inspiration
  • Students doing research projects, case studies, etc
  • All of the above (this would be difficult, but may be possible)
• Monetization 
  • This will depend on how the site is structured
  • If it is focused around consumers, then members should have incentive to contribute
  • If it is focused around entrepreneurs being interviewed, then the incentive would go to them
  • Possible idea for premium content if it is focused around entrepreneurs
    • Members could pay to get advice from selected entrepreneurs
    • Entrepreneurs who particpate get a cut of the subscription
  • Possible idea if premium content is based around members
    • Entrepreneurs could pay to be part of the featured section where they can give advice to subscribers and further promote their products
    • Entrepreneurs could host real life MeetUps (party, business meeting, etc) at their business to describe more about their business philosophy as well as showcase their business. Only paying subscribers will be invited.

This merely scratches the surface.  I’m having difficulty wrapping my brain around the possibilities. I will keep chewing on it and come up with some more ideas.

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just a fun project?

 

(no relevance, just thought a motorcycle would be cool to put up)

 

Almost everyone of those entreprenuers was doing something that had been done countless times and they still made money (even in advertising).  What about this low cost idea: remember how we talked about doing interviews with Business leaders in the community?  

Seeing as there is only so much we can personally do, what if we created a site that featured interviews of CEOs and entreprenuers.  We could start off by personally doing them, then expand it out and let site visitors interview people in their areas.  We could sell location based advertising to the community that it is located in and share that revenue with the person that did the interview

ex. Johnny Smalltown sees our website and watches some interviews.  he says cool! and sees the opportunity to contribute and make a buck.  He lives all the way in NY and interviews the CEO of a company that he admires.  He uploads the video to our site and we sell advertising to related businesses in NY.  We spit the revenue for providing the platform to share.  

We could even put a spin on it that would be something like teaching journalism or practicing business skills.  Perhaps contact business schools in colleges and have the be a class project in which they can be exposed to business leaders in the community and upload it to a database that schools and individuals could use to learn about business.  

What do you think?  I would use it.  If it got big enough we could charge a membership to see premium features, full videos, etc for people and schools.

After speaking with you we brainstormed the following possibilities:

1. a video directory of sorts with interviews of local entreprenuers and business leaders. 
2. We could turn it into a Linkdin type place with video
3. revenue share with the interviewers
4. some type of promotion to encourage businesses to upload (top viewed in each area gets front page exposure, etc)
5. we might be able to partner up with college business schools to encourage their programs to participate
6. perhaps charge a fee for unlimited access, or to be able to leave comments, have a profile, etc.

We need to explore this further and find a possible revenue model.  You never know, we could build something like this up with the help of seasoned big named entrepreneurs, or position it to sell to linkdn.

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