E837: #StartupTuneup @ LAUNCH Festival Sydney: Founders pitch Jason on startup solutions

TL;DR

Startups pitch their challenges to Jason Calacanis, seeking advice and solutions to obstacles they face in their businesses.

Transcript

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Key Insights

• 🐔 Marketplaces are difficult to scale and require solving the chicken-and-egg problem.
• 🏛️ Startups should consider focusing on solving a specific problem before building a full marketplace.
• 😤 Sales teams are crucial for startups, and founders should invest in building their own sales and research teams.
• 👤 Attention is a valuable commodity, and startups should provide engagement and value to both users and brands.

Questions & Answers

Q: How can the founder of Vlog II overcome the chicken-and-egg problem of a marketplace and gain critical mass?

The founder should consider focusing on solving the problem of helping brands create user-generated content instead of building a marketplace. By offering consulting services for building sales teams and getting equity in successful companies, they can still have a viable business model.

Q: How can Silk Route overcome the challenge of growing their marketplace for hiring salespeople?

Silk Route should focus on helping startups build their own sales teams through consulting and teaching founders how to set up sales processes. They can charge a higher fee and also consider investing in successful startups.

Q: How can Screen Dopamine balance the advertising and market research sides of their platform?

Screen Dopamine should focus on the market research aspect, charging more for surveys and feedback from engaged users. This will provide value to brands beyond just engagement on social media.

Q: What should OK Ready do to prepare for the decline of car ownership and parking spaces?

OK Ready should focus on building a community and leveraging their platform to share other assets, such as storage spaces or equipment, in addition to parking spots.

Summary

This video features founders presenting their startup ideas and asking for advice on their biggest challenges. The startups include vlog II, an open source video production platform, Silk Route, an online marketplace for hiring salespeople, Green Dopamine, an attention marketplace connecting individuals and businesses, and okay ready, a mentorship matching platform. Lisa from Share with Oscar presents their real-time on-demand parking sharing platform.

Questions & Answers

Q: Can you tell me more about vlog II?

vlog II is an open source video production platform that allows organizations to easily source, brand, and license user-generated video content. They have developed a decentralized video production model where videos are broken down into 10-second chunks that anyone can create and annotate. The customer can then assemble the clips, apply their branding, and license it. The challenge they face is getting critical mass for their marketplace and finding a good CTO.

Q: How can vlog II overcome the challenge of getting critical mass for their marketplace?

The advice given is to step back and focus on solving the problem of helping brands create user-generated content instead of trying to create a marketplace for it. By focusing on one core group of people and helping them create content, vlog II can build a repeatable process and establish their value. It is also suggested to look into a similar company called b-roll for inspiration.

Q: What is Silk Route and what challenges do they face?

Silk Route is an online marketplace that allows businesses to hire salespeople by the hour. Their challenge is to grow the marketplace and deal with the expectations of customers who think they are responsible for their sales. They also struggle with finding the right balance of incentives to attract a good CTO and where to look for one.

Q: What advice is given to Silk Route?

The advice given is to focus on helping businesses create a kick-ass sales team instead of just renting a salesperson. By teaching businesses how to set up sales processes, build materials, and filter for the right talent, Silk Route can position itself as a valuable consultant and print money. It is also suggested to target venture capitalists as customers who can benefit from setting up internal mentoring platforms.

Q: What does Green Dopamine do?

Green Dopamine offers an attention marketplace where individuals can earn rewards for giving their time and attention to businesses. They help businesses gain genuine engagement from individuals who are willing to learn about their products, watch videos, provide feedback, and share their experience. The challenge they face is deciding whether to dominate Australia first or go global.

Q: How can Green Dopamine differentiate itself from other similar platforms?

The advice given is to focus on either pure advertising or market research. By choosing one and classing it up, Green Dopamine can attract customers who are willing to engage with businesses and provide valuable feedback. It is suggested to charge more than the current rate of 20 cents per minute and provide survey options for users to provide feedback.

Q: What is the idea behind okay ready?

Okay ready is a mentorship matching platform that connects students with professionals and companies. It allows enterprise customers to quickly scale internal mentoring platforms with data points. They provide a platform for students to learn from professionals and gain insights into specific industries. The challenge they face is deciding whether to dominate Australia first or go global.

Q: How does okay ready work?

Okay ready matches students with professionals and companies based on their interests and desired career paths. Students can learn from professionals through initial meetings and continue with casual flash mentoring sessions. The platform also provides data points for enterprise customers to track their mentoring programs. They charge $20 per user per month, and their current trial program includes organizations like IBM, Telstra, and government entities.

Q: What is Share with Oscar and how does it solve the parking problem?

Share with Oscar is a real-time on-demand parking sharing platform. It connects people with empty driveways and garages with those looking for parking spaces. The goal is to create more parking supply without building more parking lots. Share with Oscar has a thousand parking spaces being shared across Sydney and has helped local residents earn over $150,000 by sharing their driveways.

Q: What challenges does Share with Oscar face?

Share with Oscar's main challenge is scaling their platform and attracting more users to join the parking sharing community. They aim to compete with traditional parking options by providing a more affordable and convenient solution. As they grow, they will need to overcome any regulatory hurdles that may arise.

Q: What advice is given to Share with Oscar?

Share with Oscar is encouraged to focus on building trust and signifying to users that their platform is safe and reliable. They should also consider partnerships or collaborations with other services that complement their parking sharing platform. It is important to effectively communicate the benefits of sharing parking spaces to both hosts and drivers.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Founder of Vlog II discusses their platform that simplifies video production by breaking it down into 10-second chunks and allowing users to assemble and customize the content. They seek advice on scaling their marketplace and finding a good CTO.

• Founder of Silk Route explains their online marketplace for hiring salespeople by the hour. They are struggling with growing their marketplace and ensuring accountability for sales results.

• Founder of Screen Dopamine presents their attention marketplace, where users can earn rewards for engaging with brands' content. Their challenge lies in deciding whether to focus on pure advertising or market research.

• Founder of OK Ready introduces their mentorship matching platform that connects students with professionals and companies. Their obstacle is determining whether to scale locally or go global.