Last week I got into my #1 competitor’s beta: Quora. This application is amazing and their name is way better than mine. I love that they share the same central idea in their product: No duplication of questions.  There are some great strengths and obvious weaknesses to me, but I’ll save that post for later.  Today I redo my go to market strategy for my non-existent prototype, which I can’t seem to start by myself.  I keep saying I’m more of a fixer than a build-from-scratch guy, but maybe I should just get on with it.  I’m definitely way behind these guys technically.  I hope my story will catch their eye and we’ll talk about teaming up.  Either way I’m sure we’ll talk eventually.

My initial target market:
Brands trying to market on twitter and facebook that aren’t satisfied with the effectiveness of their campaigns.  As well as, other social companies and organizations, that want to capitalize on their value conscious way of operating in the world.

Positioning statement for economic buyer$:
For socially aware organizations who need to engage with online audiences in a meaningful fashion, the QuestionCollector is a value centric debate community, where we can all share our big picture values.  Unlike twitter and facebook we offer a rich cultural experience for brands to grow their online social identity.

Positioning statement for user buyers (free):
For rebels, jesters, believers, and thinkers the QuestionCollector is a debate hosting website for people who care about our collective future.  Unlike Yahoo!Answers, StackExchange, and Quora we create a deep cultural experience to organize us around our questions and values, while empowering people to participate in a story of freedom.

Value proposition for organizations:
We believe that organizations with social capital should be able to increase effective engagement with their people by achieving a greater reputation in the marketplace, through our ability to organize people around their deeply held beliefs and values, as a result of our unique multicultural experience.

Value proposition for users:
We believe that honest, caring, thoughtful people should be able to increase their freedom by participating in their own unique way, through our ability to provide an organized, cultural debate site, as a result of our unique ranking and privacy systems.

Just by doing these exercises repeatedly I’m finding great value in the process.  The sentences quite often end up absurdly too long, but they are excellent at squeezing out the answer, of what our product will be, and what we know it will do for our subscribers and our users.  <~ I think it’s training me to make my sentences too absurX… nevermind. It has also helped me see my business model more clearly, along with helpful advice I’ve been getting.  I look forward to getting a whole bunch more.  If you have any questions about what these mean,  I want to understand your perspective.  Please bang out a quick comment or tweet me and I’ll be sure to respond.

Thanks for reading!  I can’t do it without you.

Positions & Props: the Play with no Prototype by jazzmann91; Encouraging you to Question Everything.

Are you a rebel?
Definition #2 To resist or defy an authority or a generally accepted convention.
Rebels want freedom.  They want control over their destiny and choices.  They want freedom from authority, rules, and restrictions.  We love freedom and think our democracies would be much better served if we promoted and valued our rebels more.  Marc Emery is a rebel who is currently locked up for selling seeds (a heinous crime indeed).  What rule or authority are you railing against?

Are you a jester?
Definition #3 a professional clown employed by a king or nobleman, esp at courts during the Middle Ages.
We do not want to suggest that you are a pro clown from the year 711 AD.  We do want you to be a person who pokes fun at serious stuff.  Society has modern jesters.  They host shows like The Daily Show or This Hour Has 22 Minutes.  They just don’t get their paycheck from the magistrate anymore (though technically the Queen does dole out the cash to the CBC).  If you like ripping on stuff in a way that is comedic, you are a jester in my books.  No, we cannot pay you, but if you are that funny we’re sure someone will help you go pro! :-p

Are you a believer?
Definition: #6 A person who has confidence in the truth or value of something.
This is our broadest category.  Most people believe stuff, but what we are looking for are people who believe very strongly in something.  If you have a cause, a religion, a conspiracy theory, or an opinion that you want to advance, we need you.  We need you to share that belief, so you can find others who agree, as well as, find where our values diverge.  Our belief is that questions hold the keys to peace.  What do you believe?

Are you a thinker?
Definition: #1 One who devotes much time to thought or meditation.
Philosophers, futurists, academics, and voracious readers.  You like broadening your minds and probably have thought this at least once about yourself: “I think too much”.  We definitely think too much, but meditation has helped. We need thinkers to examine and sift through the values we hold and ask the questions that will drive humanity to resolve our differences.  Without you, we get nowhere.

ACTION STEP:
1) Choose your faction
2) If you use Twitter get listed by us. Mention me and which list you want to be on.
“I am a rebel! @wizard_71 ”
“I am a jester! @wizard_71 ”
“I am a believer! @wizard_71 ”
“I am a thinker! @wizard_71 ”
3) Comment! Share your thoughts. critical feedback is what will make us great.
4) Consider following us on twitter, becoming a fan, or subscribing to the blog.

Why are we sending out the call?  We need a community of passionate, sarcastic, unreasonable, and reasonable people to test the prototype with, in the coming months.

Thanks for reading and especially for taking action!

rebels, jesters, believers, and thinkers by jazzmann91; Encouraging you to Question Everything.

What is GAIA?

GAIA is an acronym for the name of my company: Golden Age Information Architects.  It is my personal brand.  I have a logo in the works and our first product, brand pending, is in design dock.  It is waiting for me to recruit the correct group of assistance.  Then I will begin full scale development.  I’ve begun to publicize my vision and am currently enjoying the hard work of drafting my business model, estimating initial costs, and learning how to write succinctly.  I should probably get someone to do more of this stuff for me.  Then I could spend more time building my designs.  I can not wait to sit down with my first team of developers, in our first office.

What’s your current investment status?

I’m at the friends and family stage of investment.  Check here for up to date info.

What can you tell us about the project?

I recently gave a speech about my project and posted it here.  I’ve been working on combining all the pieces in my mind for over three years.  I started documenting my design in May 2009 and have developed a feature list, implementation plan, and database schema.  Since I became self-employed in September, it has been the focus of most of my attention.

How do you handle the pressure of being self-employed?

Since I devoted myself full-time to this project, it has become clear to me that I’ve found my passion for life.  I enjoy working from dawn to dusk and I still have energy to burn.  When I was working my old nine to fiver, I could barely do ten minutes of work an hour, unless the pressure was on.  It was quite pathetic.  Now that I’m working towards something I fully believe in, I feel so much more motivated than ever before.  I’ve always thrive under pressure, but until now, I never figured out how to apply pressure to myself.  It makes me feel unstoppable.

What help do you have already?

Nina, my partner, is amazing.  She’s my #1 adviser and is helping me think out decisions.  I also have an artist friend helping me with my first logo.  Last I have a former colleague, who is prepared to work on the prototype.  Unfortunately he’s very busy working his current jorb, so I need some cash to hire him full time.

I also met a very helpful individual at the Reger Group.  He gave me some very straight forward business talk, which really inspired me.

What do you need?

• I need advice on who to include on my teams (executive, development, & marketing).

• I need guidance on how to approach investors.

• I need experienced start-up people that can verify my estimations aren’t out of touch.

• I need someone I can trust with my plans and call on for advice a few hours a week.
• I need an intellectual property lawyer to advise me on how to protect my investment.

If you feel you can fill any of my needs and are passionate about helping me succeed, I’d love to hear from you.

For more info on current positions and hiring policies, see my careers page.

Thanks for reading!

GAIA Seeks Advisers by jazzmann91; Encouraging you to Question Everything.