Monday, February 13, 2012

Our 9 Parts of Business Model !


9 Parts of Business Model: Here is the what we thought, assumed, and we're going to test it !

Customer Segments
     Hypothesis
     The queen of the internet. The one who has time, money, and motive. The one who is on the lookout for giveaways and discounts. The one who blogs. The one who shares hip, new products on Facebook, Twitter, and email. The Internet-savvy mom. Why her? Why not? To use the language of the book, this would be considered a niche market.
     Merchants who targets mom.
     Test
     Because our target doesn't have a lot of time, focus groups or interviews are out of the question. We are thinking the best way to poll this market is to do a quick Google survey.
     Scale? Go to this link [how it works page], and tell us how excited you are about website?
                                                            5 point scale
     Pass/Fail
     We pass if out target segment rates the site higher than all other demographic groups.

Value Proposition
     Hypothesis
     With online giveaways growing in population, HappyFreebie captures them from hip, new products, marinates them with discounts, and serves them to an ever growing and hungry market. Are you hungry?
     In the age of viral marketing, HappyFreebie offers merchants a low-cost, results based, data driven, social enabling  marketing channel for their new and hip products.
     Test
     Ask moms how valuable they feel the connection of daily deals to giveaways and hip, new products. One example would be asking them, "how much more often would you visit HappyFreebie vs. a daily deal site?" Another example would be to ask industry experts their opinions.
     Ask merchants how valuable they feel the data we offer is. Also, how much value they put on the social aspects of HappyFreebie. A specific question could be, "how much more likely would you be to feature a giveaway, because of the increased data and social interaction, rather than featuring a deal on a daily deal site?"
     Pass/Fail
     If users would visit us more than a daily deal site we pass.
     If merchants would be more likely to feature a giveaway, then we pass.

Channels
     Hypothesis
     Listed in order of importance:
                                                Email
                                                Facebook
                                                Mobile
                                                Website
     Test
     Ask subscribers what would be your preferred way of finding out about new products, entering to win giveaways, and getting discounts.
     Ask merchants which of the above channels you would feel comfortable using to sign up for a giveaway.
     Pass/Fail
     Determine which one wins.

Customer Relationships
     Hypothesis
     Our acquisition strategy is to spread the word directly to mom blogs and Facebook pages. Maintaining customers will be easy and can be accomplished through automated methods. And although we have not yet established the Facebook channel, doing so will help us keep customer relationships strong by engendering a community around giveaways and discounts.
     Acquiring merchants will be a little more difficult and will require a small sales force to reach out to products that resonate with the Internet-savvy mom.
     Test
     Get some ads on blogs and mentions on mom Facebook pages and see what percentage of the traffic sign up.
     Call some merchants and see how many contacts it takes to get a paying customer.
     Pass/Fail
     If 10% of traffic signs up for a free account.
     If we can get 1 paying customer per 20 contacts.

Revenue Streams
     Hypothesis
     New product giveaways/discounts generate the majority of revenue. Because we don't have any sales, we don't exactly know what customers are really willing to pay, but the price we charge is  $50 each. In the near future, giveaway prices will vary depending on the day. For instance, days leading up to Christmas will be more expensive than a day mid January.
     Sponsor ads are our second source of revenue. Again, we don't have any paying customers, but we currently charge $50 per month.
     Our hypothesis is that the price should vary by the amount of subscribers and traffic we have.
     Test
     Survey merchants and ask them their willingness to pay.
     Pass/Fail
     We'll find the optimal price through pricing analysis

Key Resources
     Hypothesis
     Our business model sets us apart from all the competition because of our unique combination of giveaways and discounts.
     When mom subscribes and interacts with the giveaways, we populate a rich database that will give us insights that are valuable for merchants.
     The fact that we are a startup. Our big competitors are too big to see the opportunity, and our startup competitors, if they exist, will be competing in a space that is old news after we're done.
     Test
     Do an industry competitive analysis and analyze all threats
     Pass/Fail
     We pass if we cannot find a competitor that offers the same key resources.

Key Activities
     Hypothesis
     Software development
                                                   Easy-to-use apps across multiple platforms
     Maintain platform
                                                  Safe platform for transactions to occur
     Online marketing
     Sales
     Test
     Research Groupon and understand the key aspects of their business
     Pass/Fail
     If Groupon's key activities align with the ones we are thinking, then we pass.

Key Partnerships
     Hypothesis
     Mom bloggers/Facebook page administrators
     Big ecommerce merchants that have multiple products they could feature
     Big consumer product companies that target mom
     Test
     Contact them and measure their interest in getting involved
     Pass/Fail
     If we get favorable responses, the we pass

Cost Structure
     Hypothesis
     We lean toward a value-driven model. We are focused on providing the greatest amount of value for the merchants.
     Fixed: hosting, domain, SSL certificate, McAfee Hack Safe, office, supplies, computers
     Variable: hosting, customer service, sales people, tech support, IT
     Test
     Contact a local entrepreneur that runs a consumer facing website and figure out if we are missing something.
     Pass/Fail
     Based on the feedback, we will modify our plans accordingly.

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