4 ms·

Why would you need funding? Your product seems "finished" and you have a ton of users. You just need to monetize better than crappy ads

dumbfounder 13y ago
Because I have 2 kids and I can't afford to work for no salary anymore! And the site needs a redesign.
- Grokit 13y ago
  Just some honest constructive feedback here. Kinda just seems like an excuse to me...I don't have kids, so I can't empathize, however, it couldn't take THAT much time to work on monetization strategies. 6 million uniques on a consistent basis is pretty substantial attention, and attention = power, nowadays. Plus, why would an investor want to throw any more money at you when you've already somehow dropped well over a million bucks? I think if you just put some elbow grease in, you'd make it work.
  - dumbfounder 13y ago
    All that investment money went into previous products, only the underlying tech was taken to create Twicsy. Only about $30k was actually invested into Twicsy itself after that (just to pay my terrible salary). Since then I paid to keep Twicsy afloat out of my own pocket until this year when it finally started breaking even on raw costs (still can't afford to pay myself a salary).
- cmac2992 13y ago
  I certainly understand needing to support your family. But I understand why investors are so leery. Additional $$$ in the business and a redesign would probably result in more users but probably not a substantial increase in revenue. Your monetization strategy is not working at 6 million(impressive btw) users then why would it work at 12 million users. There is a very small ROI with the current strategy. Properly monetizing 6 million users would result in alot more than just beer money. what you've done is awesome. With a few tweaks to the business model you could generate real revenue without needing to raise investment capital.
  - andrewhillman 13y ago
    As someone who is in "this space" and a product guy, @Dumbfounder, needs to refocus then rework the design. Its not much many to edit a decent psd designer then get it chopped off and ready for xhtml.I've done many Its a cheap way to get a slick new design in no time at all. Refine later. I have access to some who do high quality psd+css w/ good turn around time. You tell them what you want, toss around ideas and you get yourself a final product that needs little work. I His pages have too much going on. Less is more. You should be able to clean things up and drip one 250x250 px ad for say 10-15 cents. Once the ui is reworked this will come to life. I like what he is going but right now he is doing too much. If you want to chat him me up. I am a front end dev and we could probably build some interesting things. I am pretty sure I could bring its full potential out within 2 month of so while not spending much month at all. @dumbfounder. If passionate. Reach out to me today.I have some free time this week to dicuss if you want.
    - dumbfounder 13y ago
      A redesign is only a piece of the puzzle, it will not make the site suddenly fundable. I need the time to work on a few fundamental things to position the site to be more attractive to both users and investors, and time is money.
      - andrewhillman 13y ago
        I just reread what I wrote. Yikes! Please excuse all the auto-correct typos. Is this a "new" startup or is it part of your previously funded searchles company? I completely understand that a redesign is only a piece of the puzzle but when dealing with visual site... design can be a huge piece of puzzle. It can also make a big difference in revenue. I dig your passion.

dumbfounder 13y ago

Because I have 2 kids and I can't afford to work for no salary anymore! And the site needs a redesign.

Grokit 13y ago
Just some honest constructive feedback here. Kinda just seems like an excuse to me...I don't have kids, so I can't empathize, however, it couldn't take THAT much time to work on monetization strategies. 6 million uniques on a consistent basis is pretty substantial attention, and attention = power, nowadays. Plus, why would an investor want to throw any more money at you when you've already somehow dropped well over a million bucks? I think if you just put some elbow grease in, you'd make it work.
- dumbfounder 13y ago
  All that investment money went into previous products, only the underlying tech was taken to create Twicsy. Only about $30k was actually invested into Twicsy itself after that (just to pay my terrible salary). Since then I paid to keep Twicsy afloat out of my own pocket until this year when it finally started breaking even on raw costs (still can't afford to pay myself a salary).
cmac2992 13y ago
I certainly understand needing to support your family. But I understand why investors are so leery. Additional $$$ in the business and a redesign would probably result in more users but probably not a substantial increase in revenue. Your monetization strategy is not working at 6 million(impressive btw) users then why would it work at 12 million users. There is a very small ROI with the current strategy. Properly monetizing 6 million users would result in alot more than just beer money. what you've done is awesome. With a few tweaks to the business model you could generate real revenue without needing to raise investment capital.
- andrewhillman 13y ago
  As someone who is in "this space" and a product guy, @Dumbfounder, needs to refocus then rework the design. Its not much many to edit a decent psd designer then get it chopped off and ready for xhtml.I've done many Its a cheap way to get a slick new design in no time at all. Refine later. I have access to some who do high quality psd+css w/ good turn around time. You tell them what you want, toss around ideas and you get yourself a final product that needs little work. I His pages have too much going on. Less is more. You should be able to clean things up and drip one 250x250 px ad for say 10-15 cents. Once the ui is reworked this will come to life. I like what he is going but right now he is doing too much. If you want to chat him me up. I am a front end dev and we could probably build some interesting things. I am pretty sure I could bring its full potential out within 2 month of so while not spending much month at all. @dumbfounder. If passionate. Reach out to me today.I have some free time this week to dicuss if you want.
  - dumbfounder 13y ago
    A redesign is only a piece of the puzzle, it will not make the site suddenly fundable. I need the time to work on a few fundamental things to position the site to be more attractive to both users and investors, and time is money.
    - andrewhillman 13y ago
      I just reread what I wrote. Yikes! Please excuse all the auto-correct typos. Is this a "new" startup or is it part of your previously funded searchles company? I completely understand that a redesign is only a piece of the puzzle but when dealing with visual site... design can be a huge piece of puzzle. It can also make a big difference in revenue. I dig your passion.