4 ms·
Fundraising from... you - Need $5,000 from 500 people, each giving us $10.
https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2007-12-19.5536225936
We really need to finish this project and we need $5K from 500 people total, each giving us $10.
We're a 2 man startup in Palo Alto. We're looking for angel investors for a while but can't really get connected or referred. It's been more than 8 months since we started working on it. We're close to a private beta, but we can no longer work full-time on it. We just need to get a day time job again to pay rent and food.
With $5k we can go full-time again for 2~3 months and finish beta much, much faster.
Since we're asking money from you, we have our executive summary, resumes, and a 5-min presentation movie available for download.
- Presentation Movie
http://bookvair.com/pitch-qt.html
- Executive Summary and resumes
http://bookvair.com/bookviar_files.zip
- Project Page
http://bookvair.com
We'd also like to invite contributors to be our first group of users, and give them special deals when we roll out book swapping features.
I understand it's not the "normal" way to ask money but we're willing to try every way possible to make our website go live.
If you have any comments, critics, feel free to post. They are as valuable as money donated.
Thank you very much.
Merry Christmas!
Leo & Jason
sayaww@gmail.com
- jakewolf 19y agoI'll give you $100 if you give me $200 first.
- ph0rque 19y agoHmmm... this might become a good way to raise money. I wonder if it's possible to make it tax deductible unless the company becomes successful and pays "dividends"?
- rms 19y agoI once considered selling equity like this as a kind of micro-IPO but it gets messy with non-accredited investors and all that.
- leolin 19y agoWhat happened then? Some thing went wrong?
- rms 19y agoIt was impossible to do it in a way I was sure was legal without any legal budget. If it wasn't for that, I think it would be a great way to raise money.
- sbraford 19y agoBecause it's not legal in just about any way you try and do it. I'm no lawyer but companies are always trying to do this, and some get smacked down by the FTC.
- edw519 19y agoOnly $5000? Why not use a credit card and keep all your equity?
- leolin 19y agoOur goal is $15,000. I think we'll have to get a load of $10,000 eventually.
- rms 19y agoOK... I read your executive summary and I think $3.99 is way too much to pay to swap a book. $3.99 can get you a book at a used bookstore. I understand that you are trying to make the best site for book lovers, but then the real challenge for all social sites is getting users. How do you get users?
- leolin 19y agoYes indeed. $3.99 can get you a book at a used bookstore. But you might not be able to find the one you want immediately. Used bookstores are for explorers, not buyers. Besides, $3.99 isn't enough for a popular title or a hardcover. However you can get them through swapping with a flat fee. -- We'll focus on one thing and make it work. In our case it's book swapping. If our service is good then we'll have users. I don't think there's other way.
- aristus 19y agoOne question and an observation. Q: if this is a "swap", who pays the 4 bucks? Both parties? O1: I think you are onto something here. But it is probably not this exact idea. If your proposition is "cheap + used + as fast as Amazon"... why not just use Amazon? People with books valued over 4 bucks lose out; better to sell it. O2: You have been working on this full-time for 6 months, and have 3 months more to go? That is an unhealthy amount of time to do something like this without user feedback. I am tempted to invest, but I think that's more to do with the low minimum than my excitement. The most innovative and clever thing is the funding method, not the business.
- joeguilmette 19y agoyea the video was very well put together, but not once did you address the very important nuts and bolts as to what exactly mean with the $3.99 swap. do both parties mail their books at the same time? why the $4 fee? what does that money buy? to me, this looks like you could get leapfrogged by a facebook app, which says a lot. also, is this $10 an investment or a donation? do we get any equity for purchasing?
- falsestprophet 19y agoYou expect people to donate to a profit seeking venture? That is insane. I think you would have better luck asking for investors of >= 1000 and giving them equity. edit: Nevermind. I just read one of the co-founders is a business-dev guy with a "big idea" and I just vomited in my mouth. edit edit: Why do you keep telling us you are Taiwanese? Note Paul Graham never tells us he is English.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- mrtron 19y agoI am starting a business, the business is to solicit donations. I also like how they are asking for funds to start the site, but don't explain what the money is actually for. How is 5k going to magically get things off the ground? Is the bus-dev guy going to outsource it?
- sbraford 19y agoI'd also recommend you do some contracting work if you can swing it. I recently left a full-time position and now devote 50% of my time to contracting, making 2x as much per hour. Net result: I have 50% more free time and make roughly the same amount. There could be dry spots if the economy / web bubble slips, but for the most part demand seems to be exceeding my capacity so far. ($4k contract for 50 hours of my time this month, for example)
- wehriam 19y agoI agree.
- cmccann77 19y ago$5000 isn't worth the risk of using 500 non-accredited investors. If you really believe in your company my advice is to put some real sweat equity into your business and a. get a part time job, restaurant servers get good tips b. take out a credit card c. liquidate everything you can to afford it d. or a combination of all three
- mwerty 19y agob. and c. are not an option for everyone. Their risk profile may be different than what you think it to be.
- jgrahamc 19y ago1. How do you compare with all the other book swapping sites out there? 2. You financials seem to indicate that by 2010 you'll have revenue of $70k is that correct? 3. Why would I pay to swap a book? It seems to me that in swapping a book I'm already giving something and getting something of 'equal' value; what makes you think people will pay for this service?
- icky 19y agoTalk to a lawyer first! IANAL, but IIRC, once you have more than a certain number of investors, you are effectively a public company (and will be forever the bitch of the demon-prince SarbOx!) Make sure your competent legal representation gives you the go-ahead before doing this...
- leolin 19y ago@jgrahamc 1. How do you compare with all the other book swapping sites out there? We offer faster swapping. In the presentation video we called it "Instant Swap" but didn't explain in detail. Here's how it works. At our site, people don't have to wait to swap their books. Just send your book to us and you can request a book back. It's different from other sites because we work with a fulfillment center they are only peer to peer. 2. You financials seem to indicate that by 2010 you'll have revenue of $70k is that correct? Yes, we calculated the numbers by comparing it to one of the swapping site. Don't believe it, though. It only shows our faith. 3. Why would I pay to swap a book? It seems to me that in swapping a book I'm already giving something and getting something of 'equal' value; what makes you think people will pay for this service? Swapping is all about getting the book you want with low price. If you swap manually, it's cheaper because sending a book usually costs $2.47 via USPS. However no one can tell you when the book you want is available. At our site, you don't need to wait, when you see some book you want, click instant swap and then send your book. The book you want will be delivered to you in 5-10 business days. All you have to pay is $3.99. We think it's a better swapping experience and worth $3.99. ----------- @cmccann77 Thanks. Our goal is actually $15,000 but we don't think we can make it. So we decide we get around 5k through this and get a loan for the rest. ----------- @aristus Q: if this is a "swap", who pays the 4 bucks? Both parties? Only the one who gets the book pays. Sending is free, getting a book is $3.99. O1: I think you are onto something here. But it is probably not this exact idea. If your proposition is "cheap + used + as fast as Amazon"... why not just use Amazon? People with books valued over 4 bucks lose out; better to sell it. Swapping is for people who sell their books to read more. If they want to get money, selling them on ebay or Amazon would be a better choice. O2: You have been working on this full-time for 6 months, and have 3 months more to go? That is an unhealthy amount of time to do something like this without user feedback. We started it as a part-time and go full-time a few months ago, but can't continue because of financial reasons. We do show our prototype to friends and ask for feedbacks, just not publicly. --------- @joeguilmette Q:do both parties mail their books at the same time? why the $4 fee? what does that money buy? to me, this looks like you could get leapfrogged by a facebook app, which says I didn't explain everything because I'm afraid no one will go through a presentation more than 5 minutes. The other reason I don't explain is customers don't have to care about the swapping details. You send your book when you see some book you want, and pay $3.99 total. The book you send goes to our warehouse and you don't have to worry when someone wants your book, we'll handle that. The $3.99 is for shipping + our commission Q: also, is this $10 an investment or a donation? do we get any equity for purchasing? It's a donation. We did want to make it an 3%~5% investment (compared to YC funding 5%~7% for $15k) but we don't think we can promise anything so we dropped it. We'd like to give contributors special deals when we start the swapping. --------- @falseprophet Q: Why do you keep telling us you are Taiwanese? Note Paul Graham never tells us he is English. A: It's the same as people calling their live website a "beta" --- just some excuse when things go wrong.
- deleted 19y ago[deleted]
- felipe 19y agoHave you tried Prosper? http://www.prosper.com http://www.prosper.com
- leolin 19y agoNo. I'll take a look, thanks for the link.