4 ms·

There already exist plenty of expensive ways to do this. You could, for instance, add it to your will. Or get a safe deposit box, put some envelopes in there, a

by hugh 18y ago

There already exist plenty of expensive ways to do this. You could, for instance, add it to your will. Or get a safe deposit box, put some envelopes in there, and mention the safe deposit box in your will. Or just leave letters with your lawyers (who are also keeping your will).

DanielBMarkham 18y ago
Agreed. Which means there is already a market with market players involved. I think that's good news, not bad. So what are your differentiators? Well you're virtual, not physical. So you can be changed easily. Plus you can offer all sorts of interactive multi-media instead of paperwork. You could electronically interact with other services, such as FaceBook or MySpace, where other older services couldn't. I'd use my differentiators (and there's more than I listed) to explore some market niches. There's nothing wrong with trying to create an entirely new market with a free service. To me, that's swinging hard for the home run. Or you could just take a good base hit and enjoy what you can get. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I do think that we startup types usually think big. "Big" is a very relative term -- a successful entry in an existing market could be a lot better risk/reward scenario than making it all up from scratch.
- hugh 18y ago
  You could electronically interact with other services, such as FaceBook or MySpace, where other older services couldn't. I like the idea that I can authorize somebody to change my facebook status to "Hugh is dead". It would be embarrassing if it were stuck for all eternity on, say, "Hugh is going skydiving". Realistically I think it'd be difficult to persuade people to give money to a brand new startup for a service which probably won't be delivered for decades. But maybe you can think of a way to do it, especially if you somehow tie yourself to some long-lived, trustworthy organization that people can be more confident will still exist in a century's time.
  - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
    Yes. By kicking this around a bit, I'm a little clearer on my original comment. My thoughts are: great site and idea! How are you going to bond with customers? Because you gotta get out there and live with your customers, and so far all I see is an idea. So fix the customer idea -- find and tightly identify a niche. Find the people who are already living with them and become their best friend. Take your problems -- lack of big name, lack of surety, etc, and turn them into assets.

by hugh 18y ago

DanielBMarkham 18y ago

Agreed. Which means there is already a market with market players involved. I think that's good news, not bad. So what are your differentiators? Well you're virtual, not physical. So you can be changed easily. Plus you can offer all sorts of interactive multi-media instead of paperwork. You could electronically interact with other services, such as FaceBook or MySpace, where other older services couldn't. I'd use my differentiators (and there's more than I listed) to explore some market niches. There's nothing wrong with trying to create an entirely new market with a free service. To me, that's swinging hard for the home run. Or you could just take a good base hit and enjoy what you can get. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I do think that we startup types usually think big. "Big" is a very relative term -- a successful entry in an existing market could be a lot better risk/reward scenario than making it all up from scratch.

hugh 18y ago
You could electronically interact with other services, such as FaceBook or MySpace, where other older services couldn't. I like the idea that I can authorize somebody to change my facebook status to "Hugh is dead". It would be embarrassing if it were stuck for all eternity on, say, "Hugh is going skydiving". Realistically I think it'd be difficult to persuade people to give money to a brand new startup for a service which probably won't be delivered for decades. But maybe you can think of a way to do it, especially if you somehow tie yourself to some long-lived, trustworthy organization that people can be more confident will still exist in a century's time.
- DanielBMarkham 18y ago
  Yes. By kicking this around a bit, I'm a little clearer on my original comment. My thoughts are: great site and idea! How are you going to bond with customers? Because you gotta get out there and live with your customers, and so far all I see is an idea. So fix the customer idea -- find and tightly identify a niche. Find the people who are already living with them and become their best friend. Take your problems -- lack of big name, lack of surety, etc, and turn them into assets.