4 ms·

Build a Business, win $100,000

46 points by xal 17y ago

patio11 17y ago
The winner will be an info product which bids their 97% margins down to 0% or negative margins by buying AdWords ads to juice volume. What do I win?
- olegk 17y ago
  Yeah, they should've specified "most net profit" instead of "most revenue".
  - weaksauce 17y ago
    The problem is they cannot measure that as they are going off the shopify sales stats. Everyone would have to have a full fledged business and submit your financial reports to them for final judgement in the contest.
- ludwig 17y ago
  > What do I win? 100k, apparently. Since you know how to win, go for it!
- Psyonic 17y ago
  Pretty good idea. To go full circle, the info product should be "How to Win the $100k shopify contest!"
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
- netcan 17y ago
  That isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. Anyway, you overall point is right. Using revenue as the metric opens this up to being gamed with some sort of low or negative margins setup.
windsurfer 17y ago
US only, of course.
- ojbyrne 17y ago
  Which is kind of insane, given that Shopify is based in Canada.
- xal 17y ago
  I'll repost here what I wrote for Tim's blog: When putting together the contest we really wanted to make it a contest for anyone, anywhere in the world. Throughout the planning I spent more hours on the phone with lawyers than I’d care to admit to anyone. Unfortunately, as time when on, it became clear that it would be impossible to hold the contest anywhere outside the US without fundamentally altering the original concept. Without going into too much detail, the crux of the matter is the classification of the contest as a game of chance versus a game of skill. Apparently, being good at selling stuff online is considered chance by many agencies and therefore would be governed by Lottery laws, as silly as this sounds. That being said, you can still participate in this contest wherever you are. The prize money is significant, but don’t forget the spirit of the contest: to give a kick in the pants to all those people who have wanted to start businesses but haven’t. The real prize is having a business of your own at the end of the six months. You’ll still have all the same resources and guides as everyone else: support from the Shopify team, help and guidance from Tim and other experts, and more control over your financial independence.
dylanz 17y ago
It should be noted that you "must" be selling something through a Shopify store in order to be eligible. Perhaps the title of this post should be "Build a Business using Shopify, win $100,000".
- alaskamiller 17y ago
  Sell the most, based on your 2 best revenue-generating months, using Shopify in 6 months and win $100k. To get started, maybe start by going through eBay auctions and buying warehouse and manufacturer contact lists that will send you demo items for free!
breck 17y ago
Finally, a business contest that chooses a winner based on revenue! I'm amazed other contests don't use this simplest of objective measures to pick a winner.
- Psyonic 17y ago
  Note comment above (using adwords to churn with 0% margin, but winning the contest for the $100k). Profit might be a better indicator, but obviously much harder to measure.
cmos 17y ago
Actually, I think it's called 'let's put together a promotion that includes both shopify and 4hourworkweek and create a lot of talk about both'. That being said, $125k is a lot of money, and kudos to them for encouraging startups. Sparkfun is dolling out $100k in a couple weeks. Perhaps this is the new marketing engine of web 3.14159?
JoeyS1980 17y ago
Did some computation here... In order for Shopify to break-even with his $100K, they need 4,167 ($100,000 / $24 per month membership fee ) new registered paid stores. After that 2 months contest, MAYBE some of them will bail out with the membership. At the end, this contest is a very good marketing strategy to pull-in new customer. Nice job Shopify.
- ibsulon 17y ago
  divide by 6 (the contest is six months, not 2). That means 833 people for six months, some of whom will become successful and keep doing it. Then there's a 2% transaction fee for the entry level shop. Then, some will choose premium plans. If they even get 100 successful new businesses (that last two years and end up on the 60/month plan), they've paid it back with interest - the unsuccessful startups are just a little extra. (And, they get people who will use the service as customers and tell their friends!)
dabent 17y ago
Really a great way to promote Shopify. I wonder how much they paid for this (prize money aside). I'll hand Ferriss one thing, the man knows how to get eyeballs on a product and get people excited about it.
slapshot 17y ago
I'm currently building a business. I wouldn't do it for just a chance at $100,000. It takes a lot more to get real entrepreneurs to build a real business.
dazzla 17y ago
I'd love to start a store but I'm drawing a blank on what to sell or especially where to find it. Looks like the drop shipping and importing world is a mine field. Anyone have any pointers to get a rookie started?

46 points by xal 17y ago

The winner will be an info product which bids their 97% margins down to 0% or negative margins by buying AdWords ads to juice volume. What do I win?

olegk 17y ago
Yeah, they should've specified "most net profit" instead of "most revenue".
- weaksauce 17y ago
  The problem is they cannot measure that as they are going off the shopify sales stats. Everyone would have to have a full fledged business and submit your financial reports to them for final judgement in the contest.
ludwig 17y ago
> What do I win? 100k, apparently. Since you know how to win, go for it!
Psyonic 17y ago
Pretty good idea. To go full circle, the info product should be "How to Win the $100k shopify contest!"
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
netcan 17y ago
That isn't necessarily as easy as it sounds. Anyway, you overall point is right. Using revenue as the metric opens this up to being gamed with some sort of low or negative margins setup.

windsurfer 17y ago

US only, of course.

ojbyrne 17y ago
Which is kind of insane, given that Shopify is based in Canada.
xal 17y ago
I'll repost here what I wrote for Tim's blog: When putting together the contest we really wanted to make it a contest for anyone, anywhere in the world. Throughout the planning I spent more hours on the phone with lawyers than I’d care to admit to anyone. Unfortunately, as time when on, it became clear that it would be impossible to hold the contest anywhere outside the US without fundamentally altering the original concept. Without going into too much detail, the crux of the matter is the classification of the contest as a game of chance versus a game of skill. Apparently, being good at selling stuff online is considered chance by many agencies and therefore would be governed by Lottery laws, as silly as this sounds. That being said, you can still participate in this contest wherever you are. The prize money is significant, but don’t forget the spirit of the contest: to give a kick in the pants to all those people who have wanted to start businesses but haven’t. The real prize is having a business of your own at the end of the six months. You’ll still have all the same resources and guides as everyone else: support from the Shopify team, help and guidance from Tim and other experts, and more control over your financial independence.

dylanz 17y ago

It should be noted that you "must" be selling something through a Shopify store in order to be eligible. Perhaps the title of this post should be "Build a Business using Shopify, win $100,000".

alaskamiller 17y ago
Sell the most, based on your 2 best revenue-generating months, using Shopify in 6 months and win $100k. To get started, maybe start by going through eBay auctions and buying warehouse and manufacturer contact lists that will send you demo items for free!

breck 17y ago

Finally, a business contest that chooses a winner based on revenue! I'm amazed other contests don't use this simplest of objective measures to pick a winner.

Psyonic 17y ago
Note comment above (using adwords to churn with 0% margin, but winning the contest for the $100k). Profit might be a better indicator, but obviously much harder to measure.

cmos 17y ago

Actually, I think it's called 'let's put together a promotion that includes both shopify and 4hourworkweek and create a lot of talk about both'. That being said, $125k is a lot of money, and kudos to them for encouraging startups. Sparkfun is dolling out $100k in a couple weeks. Perhaps this is the new marketing engine of web 3.14159?

JoeyS1980 17y ago

Did some computation here... In order for Shopify to break-even with his $100K, they need 4,167 ($100,000 / $24 per month membership fee ) new registered paid stores. After that 2 months contest, MAYBE some of them will bail out with the membership. At the end, this contest is a very good marketing strategy to pull-in new customer. Nice job Shopify.

ibsulon 17y ago
divide by 6 (the contest is six months, not 2). That means 833 people for six months, some of whom will become successful and keep doing it. Then there's a 2% transaction fee for the entry level shop. Then, some will choose premium plans. If they even get 100 successful new businesses (that last two years and end up on the 60/month plan), they've paid it back with interest - the unsuccessful startups are just a little extra. (And, they get people who will use the service as customers and tell their friends!)

dabent 17y ago

Really a great way to promote Shopify. I wonder how much they paid for this (prize money aside). I'll hand Ferriss one thing, the man knows how to get eyeballs on a product and get people excited about it.

slapshot 17y ago

I'm currently building a business. I wouldn't do it for just a chance at $100,000. It takes a lot more to get real entrepreneurs to build a real business.

dazzla 17y ago

I'd love to start a store but I'm drawing a blank on what to sell or especially where to find it. Looks like the drop shipping and importing world is a mine field. Anyone have any pointers to get a rookie started?