NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, currently I'm working on a business plan for a business I plan on starting (I'll be starting it as a Limited Liability Company, LLC). The Company will, at first, launch a website to compete with www.XY.com and www.mogenic.com, two online communities for gay youth.

More info about me:
I'm 17, gay, and live in Bloomington, Illinois. I'm still in high school, however I will be attending four classes this semester (Math, Psy 101, Busn 101, Gens 100). Not that any of you actually care, though :p

Information about goals for the site:

Plans for the website to be hosted at gaizme.com should take the following form. I have the intention of implementing features which would support:


Free Membership: Email, Webhosting, advertisements on each page and in their email/personal webpage, profiles(With up to 4 pictures, the ability to send members a message to their email through the system, the ability to "wink" or send a "kiss" at members, picture ratings, a free webcam service, an Instant Message service (downloadable, will work with MSN, AIM, Yahoo, and possibly Jabber)

A Premium Membership option, with upon signing up getting all the benefits of a free membership plus having all advertisements removed, additional webmail space, additional webpage space, the ability to see who's visited your profile, the ability to see who's rated your picture, advanced search (Able to search by city or zip code given at registration), Ability to add a small Video attachment to the profile and small streaming audio file.


Well designed User control panels
User proflies with a picture, textual descriptions, locations, etc etc.
An IRC Chat client, allowing users to access the (future) network irc.gaizme.com which will be launched when the site is completed.
Extensive Message Boards integrated with the site.
A Dynamic Ad Program, where a program detects the general area of a user and displays an advertisement from an advertiser in that area.(With one or two banner advertisements on each page, a banner advertisement in the online webmail page[see below], and a single banner advertisement generated on each webpage.
Free webhosting, allowing users to automatically create a webpage (ex. username.gaizme.com), giving them 20 megabytes of storage and a certain amount of bandwidth per hour. Similar to Geocities, a WYSIWYG html editor will be needed, and so will an automatic template creation page similar to www.freewebs.com. The Banner will be at the bottom of the user webpages.
Free email, with users able to automatically create their own email account (ex. username@gaizme.com), and able to access it through an online webmail control panel. Premium members will be able to use IMAP or POP3 to retrieve their mail from the server. (Online email capable of holding up to 50 megabytes)
Free Webcam service, allowing all users to download a program that will work with the site and connect to other users for cam2cam chat. Similar to www.gay.com's video chat section. This will have advertisers on it at all times, even for premium members. Note: This may just be integrated with the Instant Messaging client, and set up like Yahoo!
Monthly Newsletter featuring user submitted material that all users can opt to receive or not.
Ability to block a specific user from sending you messages
Free downloadable Instant Messaging system - with the 'buddy list' having an ad similar to the way MSN/AIM has their ads(And capable of receiving and sending IMs to users of MSN/AIM/Yahoo and possibly even Jabber).
The ability to search by city, zip code, or region of state for a gay youth, PFLAG, or various other organization (HIV/AIDS awareness organization) that targets the 13-25 audience.



Two versions of the website will be created, one that is based on flash navigation and the other that is non-flash and a script that autodetects wether the user has the ability to view / use Flash or not, and also a link to the non-flash version on the main page.

Legal: $700
Stationery etc: $4,000
Brochures: $0
Consultants: $0
Insurance: $0
Rent: $5,000
Research and Development: $32,000
Expensed Equipment: $9,204
Other: $10,000
Total Start-up Expenses:$60,904

Start-up Assets Needed
Cash Balance on Starting Date: ($61,904)
Start-up Inventory: $0
Other Current Assets: $1,000
Total Current Assets: ($60,904)

The "Other" is Emergency funds, the Legal would be the cost of establishing Gaizme as a LLC. THe Stationery includes over 10,000 full page color flyers that will be mailed througout the country to various gay youth organizations, the $5,000 dollars will cover the first year of bandwidth/server colocation. (2040 for 2 servers for a year, 4080 for 4.) I'm going to copy/paste what I have business plan wise right now.. tell me how I should improve what I have if you could :)


Executive Summary:
1.1 Objectives

Establish an online community with a Premium Member user base of at least 1,000 users within the first year, abd 2,000 within the first 18 months.
Establish a free userbase supported by multiple banner advertisements in excess of 50,000 users.
Gain at least 2 million unique visitors to the webpage per month.

1.2 Mission

At Gaizme.com, our goal is to provide the best online community for the 13 through 25 gay youth market. Offering free email, webhosting, forums, chat, bi monthly updated content, and much more - we strive to provide more than our competitors at a cheaper price than them - for free. Gaizme.com will be better designed, more attractive, more reliable, and overall more user friendly than that of it's competitors, www.XY.com and www.mogenic.com. Gaizme.com's servers will be located in the NAP of the Americas, a Tier 1 Network Access Point, boasting the most reliable connection in the world.

1.3 Keys to Success

Provide more and better quality services than the mainstream competitors, (www.XY.com and www.mogenic.com)
Keep users satisfied through prompt moderation when needed and requested.
Update content regularly, and follow user suggestions when they are given.


2.0 Company Summary

Gaizme is a start-up company dedicated to serving the 13-25 gay online community. Vastly under appreciated and ignored, this market is waiting for someone to cater for their needs. Gaizme is here to do just that. We will focus initially on our website, which will provide several services - the most notable being a large profile database and instant messenger service. We plan on becoming the worlds largest gay youth online network, not only via the internet but via mass publication. Future goals for Gaizme is the launch of a magazine targeting the 13-25 gay youth audience, as there is currently not one available to this market.


2.1 Company Ownership

Gaizme will be created as a Limited Liability Company based in McLean County, Illinois - owned by it's principal operator, Michael Sievers, and controled by principal investors until investments have been paid off. As of this writing, it has not been chartered and is still considering alternatives of legal formation.

2.2 Start-up Summary

Our start-up costs come to $61,904, which consists of stationary, legal costs, logo esign, server purchases and other various costs. This also includes $10,000 to cover any "emergency" costs that might arise during establishment of the website and company. The start-up costs are to be financed by investors, which will be paid back as soon as profit is generated.

3.0 Services

Immediate plans for Gaizme is to launch our website, which will include articles updated at the minumum of every two weeks, free email, free limited webhosting, free profiles, an instant messanger service with the ability to use a free webcam service, a chat room, extensive messaged boards, and a monthly newsletter featuring user submitted material that all users can opt to receive or not. Further details will be given later.

4.0 Market Analysis Summary

Gaizme will be focusing on delivering high quality online services to the 13-25 world-wide gay 'youth' market. This market is under targeted and under appreciated, as there are only a handful of sites (2-3) that cater to their needs..

Our most important group of potential customers are gay youth between the ages of 13 and 18. While they might not be able to become paid users, the advertisements should generate more than enough income to fully sustain the site, and this peer group needs more help than the 19-25 peer group does, more help meaning they are still confused and need information to help them get used to their sexual orientation.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Gay young adults, specifically between the age of 13 and 18 compiles a significant audience that is largely under-targeted, specifically via online media and print. Gaizme will create an online environment in which gay youth will be able to prosper, share their ideas, and overall learn more about themselves, while making new trends.
Gay men between the ages of 19 and 25, generally with jobs - and due to their sexuality, no offense meant in generalization, more apt to spend money. Gaizme will provide content for all ages, and will be sure to attract this older audience by providing content geared towards them. This market segment is more likely to purchase premium memberships, and as such we will have some features geared towards them.


4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

Gaizme can't and won't survive just waiting for the customer to come to us. We must instead focus on our specific market segments, whose needs match our offerings. Focusing on our targeted segments is the key to our future.

We therefor need to focus on our marketing message and what we offer. We need to develop our message, communicated it, and most importantly - make good on it..

4.3 Service Business Analysis

There are literally thousands of online communities established and generating income for their owners, and many of them are large networks.

However, there are few non-adult gay sites, one of the few being the largely known "Gay.com" or PlanetOut Network. There are relatively no online communities directed solely at the 13-25 Gay Youth market. The only two have been previously mentioned, and those are XY.com and Mogenic.com.

XY.com, launched in 2001, has grown to over 100,000 registered users. The website itself is poorly designed, but it was expected in June of '04 that a new design be released. At the time of this writing, it is two months behind and staff at XY has diminished to one person, Peter Ian Cummings. XY.com is owned by XY Limited, which produces the third most distributed gay magazine, XY. XY Limited was started in 1996, and in the past two years has only published five issues of it's magazine. The staff of XY Limited has left the Magazine and the website to start up their own Magazine, in protest to Peter's inability to properly run a company. XY Limited has left their customer base to rot, which is essentially what earned them thel owest status rating frmo the Better Business Bureau.

Mogenic was established in 2000, and since then has become the worlds largest gay and lesbian youth network. Mogenic boasts a half a million people as monthly readers, which is a significant amount. After talking to dozens of users on Mogenic's site, they are upset with Mogenic itself. Mogenic was 8 months behind schedule in releasing an update to their site, they allowed the site to degrade down to the point that it was unsuable for several months. Mogenic has shown time and time again that it does not value their userbase. They currently are hosted by http://www.aplus.net, already giving Gaizme an advantage in our hosting arrangement. Dozens of users currently using Mogenic have stated they will migrate to Gaizme.com when it is launched.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Online, the key to getting users is providing what they want, when they want it.

Users will not use a website that is sluggish, has an outrageous amount of advertisements, a site that is "ugly", poorly designed and lacking features. Users will also not use a site if the site in question charges a large amount of money. Users always compare sites in an attempt to find what the best out there is. Generally, users follow recommendations made from their peers, so it is imperitave that an impression is made upon those that do happen upon our site so that they can spread it around.

The most important element of general competition, by far, is what it takes to keep clients / users. It is worth making concessions in certain areas to keep all site content up to date, content that keeps bringing the users back daily.


Not include is the Sales Plan, Marketing Plan, Break-even Analysis, Full financial Plan, and info on me :p I made a bunch of pretty neat graphs and charts to go with what I have now but I can't find them... so.. yeah, suggestions on improvements anyone?

You're gay? I didn't know that :o

You're gay? I didn't know that :o

Technically speaking, I'm bisexual - as are almost all human beings. Socially speaking, yes I'm gay. Your never 100% gay or 100% straight, maybe 99% straight/1% gay, but never a full 100% :P Everyone is a bisexual :D

Technically speaking, I'm bisexual - as are almost all human beings. Socially speaking, yes I'm gay. Your never 100% gay or 100% straight, maybe 99% straight/1% gay, but never a full 100% :P Everyone is a bisexual :D

I also believe it's okay to be naked :D anyway, sorry for trolling.

Interesting, very interesting. What kind of marketing strategy are you using? I understand the fliers and such but how else will you be attempting to draw business? (Marketing is a hobby of mine, just incase you are wondering)

Will you be using a positioning strategy, and what is your position? You said you have only 2-3 competetors, so you will either be able to make a very good position for yourself or are going to be trying to take their positions from them which could turn into a bloody failure...

Best of luck to ya, I have no reason to use your site, but hope you find a lot of people who do.

I also believe it's okay to be naked :D anyway, sorry for trolling.

It is ok to be naked... in the privacy of your own home.

Technically speaking, I'm bisexual - as are almost all human beings. Socially speaking, yes I'm gay. Your never 100% gay or 100% straight, maybe 99% straight/1% gay, but never a full 100% :P Everyone is a bisexual :D

I'm 100% straight.

Good luck. Some here will now hate you for being Gay. but you're not the Governor of New Jersey yet

Nice game plan. I'm sure you will find some venture capitalists. I've done this in the past but only when I use and believe in the product. Sorry no offence, but good luck nonetheless. I wish you success.

I'm 100% straight.

I seriously doubt that. Socially you could say that, but on a technical (psychological) level you will never be 100% straight.

Nice game plan. I'm sure you will find some venture capitalists. I've done this in the past but only when I use and believe in the product. Sorry no offence, but good luck nonetheless. I wish you success.

I hope I can find some :) Thanks :)

Looks interesting. :)

It may be in the more detailed financial plan, but I would focus more on some financial aspects - you've got a start at the burn rate of the company, but not the income. You might show a couple of price points -

You should also look at how many people are willing to pay for accounts - people complain on the net, but they don't necessarily pay afterwards. Look at what's happened with Salon.

You do seem to be ignoring the impact that advertising could have on your bottom line. The gay professional demographic is big right now; you should call up some teen-themed companies that advertise in Out or whatnot and see if they might be interested in web ads. (Do some reasearch on how much web ads cost, etc.)

One thing that you've left off is how much time it will take to set up and maintain the servers, diagnose problems, etc. Are you technical enough to do it yoursef? How much time per month are you willing to spend on it? What are you going to to if it goes above that?

The "R&D" category is a bit vague - is this just to put the technical tools together? Since you're looking at a 13-18 market, I'd make sure you have some money budgeted to check out legal issues. I'd also contract out the initial web site to professionals - it'll cost money, but if you get the right people, it'll stand out.

Also, how are you going to handle forum moderation? (Free premium accounts to moderators, pure volunteer, etc?)

For the numbers you're looking at, btw, I would look for an "angel investor" rather than a VC - you're definitely within the amount of money that a wealthy individual can pony up. Look for one who has contacts that can help you hire people or partner with existing companies that target the gay market.

I seriously doubt that. Socially you could say that, but on a technical (psychological) level you will never be 100% straight.

Well I am 100%.

You might also consider XY.com's valuation, and whether you could (or would want to) buy out their user base en mass if they're imploding.

The jolt people might be able to give you a hand if you asked them about a server to user ratio, which will be important as you need to expand. (I.e., you need more registered users per server than the server costs in order to not die from growth.)

You might also consider XY.com's valuation, and whether you could (or would want to) buy out their user base en mass if they're imploding.

The jolt people might be able to give you a hand if you asked them about a server to user ratio, which will be important as you need to expand. (I.e., you need more registered users per server than the server costs in order to not die from growth.)

I would have to assume XY.com's debt as well, most likely - which is over 3 million...

I would have to assume XY.com's debt as well, most likely - which is over 3 million...

If you bought the company, yes. (That debt is something to mention in your bizplan.)

If they go bankrupt, their user base (or at least email addresses of their users) would be an asset.

If you bought the company, yes. (That debt is something to mention in your bizplan.)

If they go bankrupt, their user base (or at least email addresses of their users) would be an asset.

Hmm, your right I should mention their debt. They have a new issue of their magazine but couldn't publish it because of their debt. :|

Well I am 100%.

I'm going to disagree :)

In order to literally be bisexual, you need to be sexually attracted to members of both sexes. While the potential (however small) for any person to be attracted to both sexes may exist in all people, the sexual attraction to both genders does not.

Just a few things to note about advertising: first of all, web advertising usually pays piddle. You get a few cents a click, and the click-through rate is around 1% or lower. In other words, the free users are eating up bandwith faster than ads are bringing in money to pay for it.

You have the premium plan, which is a good idea; it may offset the costs, or it may not. Just be aware that the premium plan not only has to cover premium users, but the majority of the cost related to free users as well.

Last but not least:

"A Dynamic Ad Program, where a program detects the general area of a user and displays an advertisement from an advertiser in that area."

Some users are uncomfortable with web sites tracking what country/area they are from, even though it's incredibly easy to do, and may use software to block you from seeing this information (proxies, for example). You'll need a set of "generic ads" for people whom you can't determine a location.

Good luck.

In order to literally be bisexual, you need to be sexually attracted to members of both sexes. While the potential (however small) for any person to be attracted to both sexes may exist in all people, the sexual attraction to both genders does not.

Just a few things to note about advertising: first of all, web advertising usually pays piddle. You get a few cents a click, and the click-through rate is around 1% or lower. In other words, the free users are eating up bandwith faster than ads are bringing in money to pay for it.

You have the premium plan, which is a good idea; it may offset the costs, or it may not. Just be aware that the premium plan not only has to cover premium users, but the majority of the cost related to free users as well.

Last but not least:

"A Dynamic Ad Program, where a program detects the general area of a user and displays an advertisement from an advertiser in that area."

Some users are uncomfortable with web sites tracking what country/area they are from, even though it's incredibly easy to do, and may use software to block you from seeing this information (proxies, for example). You'll need a set of "generic ads" for people whom you can't determine a location.

Good luck.

That's not true. Maybe socially, but go to any psychologist and he will go into an hour long explanation on human sexuality and how it is on a continuum - you could be 99% straight if you want - but somewhere you get the attraction to a male(or males), not a significant amount and not for a lasting time, but it does(or has happened) to you at one point in time.

So, again, in technicallity - everyone (or at least a large percentage of the world) is bisexual.

Nice game plan. I'm sure you will find some venture capitalists. I've done this in the past but only when I use and believe in the product. Sorry no offence, but good luck nonetheless. I wish you success.

For a 17 year old, for a web site (I mean you can't even legally sign a contract)? Maybe 6 years ago, but not today. No offense, but you better go find a nice gay business man with some kind of history in start up web sites. Not to rain on your parade or anything, but venture capitol for websites from experienced technical and business people is hard to come by. The failure rate for websites is huge. You are showing huge numbers there (2 million unique visits per month), without a very clear plan on how you are possibly going to get those numbers. Especially as you are really late in the web game. Plus you are marketting to under age children (13 to 18 year olds), I think you are opening yourself up to alot of liability that any venture capitolist is going to run from.

For a 17 year old, for a web site (I mean you can't even legally sign a contract)? Maybe 6 years ago, but not today. No offense, but you better go find a nice gay business man with some kind of history in start up web sites. Not to rain on your parade or anything, but venture capitol for websites from experienced technical and business people is hard to come by. The failure rate for websites is huge. You are showing huge numbers there (2 million unique visits per month), without a very clear plan on how you are possibly going to get those numbers. Especially as you are really late in the web game. Plus you are marketting to under age children (13 to 18 year olds), I think you are opening yourself up to alot of liability that any venture capitolist is going to run from.

I could sign a contract, although it would be invalid until something happened and legal proceedings would need to take place. Then the other party would have to prove that I was competent and knew what I was doing when I signed the contract. 17 or not, at that point it's up to the judge. Half of the business plan isn't done, so don't say I don't have a very clear plan on how I'm going to get those numbers :)

I would be marketing to 13-18 yes, and I would be taking the same safe gaurds as any teen website takes.

As far as my age, there are a lot of venture capitalists out there :) I'll find someone to invest.

For a 17 year old, for a web site (I mean you can't even legally sign a contract)? Maybe 6 years ago, but not today. No offense, but you better go find a nice gay business man with some kind of history in start up web sites. Not to rain on your parade or anything, but venture capitol for websites from experienced technical and business people is hard to come by. The failure rate for websites is huge. You are showing huge numbers there (2 million unique visits per month), without a very clear plan on how you are possibly going to get those numbers. Especially as you are really late in the web game. Plus you are marketting to under age children (13 to 18 year olds), I think you are opening yourself up to alot of liability that any venture capitolist is going to run from.

Being really late doesn't really matter when it's towards an largely untargeted market - there will only be 1 website targeting it within the next month or two... *shrug*

That's not true. Maybe socially, but go to any psychologist and he will go into an hour long explanation on human sexuality and how it is on a continuum - you could be 99% straight if you want - but somewhere you get the attraction to a male(or males), not a significant amount and not for a lasting time, but it does(or has happened) to you at one point in time.

So, again, in technicallity - everyone (or at least a large percentage of the world) is bisexual.

Psychologists say a lot of things. Like all science, it still has room for growth, and this particular one I take with large spoonfulls of salt. I need nothing more than the fact that I've never been attracted to a male to counter their points. They can claim I have all they want; but I think I'll take my word over theirs. :rolleyes:

As a side note, people generally don't win many arguments by telling people what they've seen or experienced isn't real, but that they know the -true- reality. Perhaps it's because a large percentage of these people are, in fact, crazy. Or perhaps it's the lack of compelling evidence versus the very compelling first hand experience. Who knows?

I misrepresented what I was saying.

http://www.dustyallen.com/image.PNG

The above representation is a good figure about human sexuality.

Now, when I say bisexual, I mean at one point in time has become sexual aroused towards a male (or multiple males), but very may well has not had that attraction since a young age.

I can write my business plan and such, but I have no idea were to look for Venture Capitalists or anything.. :x

I can write my business plan and such, but I have no idea were to look for Venture Capitalists or anything.. :x

Then why are you telling me there are lots of venture capitolists out there and you will find somebody to invest? How do you know what needs to be in the business plan if you have no experience looking for capitol. It's not easy. Almost impossible I'd say for a 17 year old....sorry, just being honest. You need partnership with somebody that can bring you some credibility.

Then why are you telling me there are lots of venture capitolists out there and you will find somebody to invest? How do you know what needs to be in the business plan if you have no experience looking for capitol. It's not easy. Almost impossible I'd say for a 17 year old....sorry, just being honest. You need partnership with somebody that can bring you some credibility.

My mom's "investor" / friend of the family is willing to sponsor me, i.e. they will take up responsibility if it fails and pay the debt. I'm currently enrolled in a business class, and my mom owns a business herself and I do most of the administration work, including writing her business plan last year when she needed to apply for another business loan to move to a different location.

It's not impossible, nor is it "almost" impossible. It isn't common, I'll admit that - but I have read of over a hundred instances if not more where teenagers start a business themselves and ended up very successful, and also several cases where they failed and ended up paying off debts most their lives.

I probably will be getting help finding venture capitalists from a good friend of the family - who also is my mom's accountant, and a very good one at that.

I plan on doing it alone first, and if no luck then I will seek the help of my moms friend. I am not going to plan on doing that, however - no one has ever handed me anything in my life so far and I don't intend to go seeking help like that. If I'm going to succeed, I'm going to succeed on hard work - not handouts.

I misrepresented what I was saying.

http://www.dustyallen.com/image.PNG

The above representation is a good figure about human sexuality.

Now, when I say bisexual, I mean at one point in time has become sexual aroused towards a male (or multiple males), but very may well has not had that attraction since a young age.

"Gay, straight, there aren't any lines anymore."
"Well here's a line, and on this side of it, we ain't gay."

My mom's "investor" / friend of the family is willing to sponsor me, i.e. they will take up responsibility if it fails and pay the debt.

If they have the resources to back you in case you fail, which, no offense, is a good possibility....the success rate of web based companies is very low....under 25% I'd guess, although I'd have to look it up to be sure, why won't they just be your financial backer and loan you the money themselves? There are of course instances where younger people have started companies and done very well, but I'm just telling you coming from a background of tech companies and start ups, that finding somebody to back a 17 year old trying to start a web company after the web bubble burst in the late 90s is not likely. I think venture capital is the wrong route. You'd be better off appealling to successful members of the gay community for financial backing. Somebody with some personal interest in the success of the project.

If they have the resources to back you in case you fail, which, no offense, is a good possibility....the success rate of web based companies is very low....under 25% I'd guess, although I'd have to look it up to be sure, why won't they just be your financial backer and loan you the money themselves? There are of course instances where younger people have started companies and done very well, but I'm just telling you coming from a background of tech companies and start ups, that finding somebody to back a 17 year old trying to start a web company after the web bubble burst in the late 90s is not likely. I think venture capital is the wrong route. You'd be better off appealling to successful members of the gay community for financial backing. Somebody with some personal interest in the success of the project.

Success rate is low.. for companies that start-up with a bunch of competition. The site I have would target a specific market where only one other website that is badly designed, on bad servers, and not staffed at all except by one or two volunteers.

Of course seeking venture capitalists woudln't be the only route I would take, I'll also be sending the business plan to several companies that might have an interest in the website and, as you said, prominent members of the gay community that have the ability to finance, or partially finance, this project.

Also, addressing the Dynamic Ad program - that is so that non-profit gay youth organizations, most of which are sponsored by the government and are funded by HIV/AIDS awareness grants can advertise to attract more youth to their organizations, so that the youth realize that they are not alone in the area and have someone they can go to for real life support, support that isn't purely internet based.

If they have the resources to back you in case you fail, which, no offense, is a good possibility....the success rate of web based companies is very low....under 25% I'd guess, although I'd have to look it up to be sure, why won't they just be your financial backer and loan you the money themselves? There are of course instances where younger people have started companies and done very well, but I'm just telling you coming from a background of tech companies and start ups, that finding somebody to back a 17 year old trying to start a web company after the web bubble burst in the late 90s is not likely. I think venture capital is the wrong route. You'd be better off appealling to successful members of the gay community for financial backing. Somebody with some personal interest in the success of the project.

They are now retired and I don't think they want to give me that much of their retirement fund if they don't have to :P The husband owns a lawn care company, the wife owns a business producing salon products; incidently, a product my mom originally came up with.

More power to you, Doujin. If you'd like, you can open a channel on my IRC network, irc://irc.flashwirenetwork.net, to help increase the number of investors and potential users, and as a nice place to talk.

You can also look at this site for information on how to find angel investors (or similar sites on the net) http://www.inc.com/guides/finance/24011.html

You can also look at this site for information on how to find angel investors (or similar sites on the net) http://www.inc.com/guides/finance/24011.html

Thanks :)

Success rate is low.. for companies that start-up with a bunch of competition. The site I have would target a specific market where only one other website that is badly designed, on bad servers, and not staffed at all except by one or two volunteers.

Success is low period. You better have a very well designed path to reoccurring income. Anyways, good luck to you and all that, just giving you some devil's advocate based on some of my own experiences with web based companies.

Good luck. Some here will now hate you for being Gay. but you're not the Governor of New Jersey yet

This is off topic, but the NJ Governor didn't resign for being gay, that was a cover. It is coming out he was involved with a scandal and corruption with Senator Torrecelli (surprise surprise that if he was corrupt and was involved with illegal transactions with the Torch who had to resign 2 years ago for corruption).

Oh, and good luck Doujin with this business. I took a business managelment plan where we wrote business plans so I know the work you are doing now.

This is off topic, but the NJ Governor didn't resign for being gay, that was a cover. It is coming out he was involved with a scandal and corruption with Senator Torrecelli (surprise surprise that if he was corrupt and was involved with illegal transactions with the Torch who had to resign 2 years ago for corruption).

Oh, and good luck Doujin with this business. I took a business managelment plan where we wrote business plans so I know the work you are doing now.

I'm glad that I am not the only one that sees through the NJ Governor's mask. It really bugs me that he was using his sexuality as a scapegoat. That asshole. :upyours:

I'm glad that I am not the only one that sees through the NJ Governor's mask. It really bugs me that he was using his sexuality as a scapegoat. That asshole. :upyours:

I'm curious, where are you getting your startup captal? Are you going to a bank for a loan? If so I warn that it is dangerous, but then again I'm not much of a risk taker.

I agree that it is wrong for the governor to take advantage of a group of people to cover up his crimes.

Isn't totally known yet. Possibly from many sources.. Venture Capitalists, "Angel Investors" as Upright Monkey pointed out, need to get my business plan finished first.

Isn't totally known yet. Possibly from many sources.. Venture Capitalists, "Angel Investors" as Upright Monkey pointed out, need to get my business plan finished first.

Venture Capitalists are a safer method for you, but you also give up some of the ownership and profits, which you may not want to do, but at least you share the losses if you are unfortunate enough to have any.

I've got to wish you good luck, it's going to be hard to succeed - but don't let that discourage you. If you can get started, even failure can be a springboard to something more.

Finding funding isn't really easy, though when I did it, I was looking for a wee bit more than you (20 times or so ;) ), and needed to make sure every thing was in place.

Is this just for gay youth, (you mention "Gay men between the ages of 19 and 25"...no women?), GLB?, GLBT? Is there a reason that you're limiting it to (some) subgroup?

Also, investors aren't usually looking to be paid off :) Generally they're looking for a stake in the company that'll they can sell for a lot more than they put into. You generally have to give up a lot for the funding, including some of the business decisions, unless you've got the experience in running a company (though with the numbers you posted, it probably won't be too horrible). Angels (if you can find one), are usually good, because they'll help point you to the resources you need and not make too many demands.

And never forget marketing. No matter how good an idea you have, unless you can get the word out, and convince people that you're worth it, you'll fail.

I've got to wish you good luck, it's going to be hard to succeed - but don't let that discourage you. If you can get started, even failure can be a springboard to something more.

Finding funding isn't really easy, though when I did it, I was looking for a wee bit more than you (20 times or so ;) ), and needed to make sure every thing was in place.

Is this just for gay youth, (you mention "Gay men between the ages of 19 and 25"...no women?), GLB?, GLBT? Is there a reason that you're limiting it to (some) subgroup?

Also, investors aren't usually looking to be paid off :) Generally they're looking for a stake in the company that'll they can sell for a lot more than they put into. You generally have to give up a lot for the funding, including some of the business decisions, unless you've got the experience in running a company (though with the numbers you posted, it probably won't be too horrible). Angels (if you can find one), are usually good, because they'll help point you to the resources you need and not make too many demands.

And never forget marketing. No matter how good an idea you have, unless you can get the word out, and convince people that you're worth it, you'll fail.

That is certainly an option that I wouldn't be completely afraid of doing. Giving up stake, that is - I could always try and buy them out at a later date. I am going to try and pursue it this way first, because it would be easier to run.

That is yet to be seen. I changed that from "Gay men" to reflect on gay/bi/lesbian/transgendered-transexual. There is no reason why I should neglect bisexuals and lesbians, they are equally important as gay men and I am not going to "discriminate" against them just because I am a gay male.

Putting GBL aside, transexuals need more support than homosexual men and women, and bisexuals do because they are ostracized not only by heterosexuals but homosexuals as well. The one group that should have some understanding as to what they are going through reject them, and I don't plan on continueing that with my website.

Marketing, I can get about 25,000 color copies now (originally it was 10,000 but I talked to a friend who works at a printing company and says he can cut down the price a lot, and will buy the ink and paper and just use the office machines. Of course, he said it might cost more than the amount I allocated to the flyers, and he said he would pick up the rest of it because he believes that what I am doing will do a lot of good.

This way, it goes directly to the market - I'd be wary of using online advertisements, but I won't rule it out as a possibility in the future. I also am becoming good friends with a couple people, both plan on starting a gay magazine - both already have funding to do so. Both of them also want to see my site going, so I will probably be able to get reduced advertising in their magazines.

Site design will be handled by aheadofmytime.com (http://www.aheadofmytime.com), which is a web development firm who has done work for ABC, Disney, Ford, the Oscars, Chevy, Bridgestone/Firestone, the City of Los Angeles among many others. They are based about an hour away from me so if anything goes wrong I could easily drive there and knock some heads over :p

I plan on doing it alone first, and if no luck then I will seek the help of my moms friend. I am not going to plan on doing that, however - no one has ever handed me anything in my life so far and I don't intend to go seeking help like that. If I'm going to succeed, I'm going to succeed on hard work - not handouts.

Go to the friend right away. There's nothing shameful about not doing everything yourself.

Anyway. I'm impressed with the plan. I think its a workable idea, though I don't know anything about the costs of running a website with lots of traffic.

Somebody mentioned looking at the advertising possibilities for revenue more. I was thinking the same thing, because you're going to be hard pressed to get users to pay you anything at least in the beginning, and even after that it'll probably prove to be a struggle. People are adept at ignoring pop-ups and other ads anyway, and if they are too annoying then they leave.

I was thinking of trying to position the site for non-gay people too. Maybe something like a "wanna-be" section, because lots of people are interested in the gay lifestyle or anything gay. That's create traffic which can be turned into ad revenue. Gay bars have to keep out straight people who want to see what it's like inside (and many gay clubs are cool places).

Go to the friend right away. There's nothing shameful about not doing everything yourself.

Anyway. I'm impressed with the plan. I think its a workable idea, though I don't know anything about the costs of running a website with lots of traffic.

Somebody mentioned looking at the advertising possibilities for revenue more. I was thinking the same thing, because you're going to be hard pressed to get users to pay you anything at least in the beginning, and even after that it'll probably prove to be a struggle. People are adept at ignoring pop-ups and other ads anyway, and if they are too annoying then they leave.

I was thinking of trying to position the site for non-gay people too. Maybe something like a "wanna-be" section, because lots of people are interested in the gay lifestyle or anything gay. That's create traffic which can be turned into ad revenue. Gay bars have to keep out straight people who want to see what it's like inside (and many gay clubs are cool places).

I don't think that there is anyone who "wants to be" gay. There are plenty of people who are "Label Free" or "allies", but I can't say that anyone would want to be ridiculed and ostracized.

I won't do pop-up or pop-under ads. I will have plenty of advertisement spots. There will be plenty of banners, at least one on each page (including the free websites - most likely at the bottom of the page there).

I won't charge per click, as some people do, but follow what most smart websites do and charge per impression (CPM - Cost Per Thousand)

The servers will be located at the NAP of the Americas (http://www.napoftheamericas.com), a Tier1 Network Access Point located in Miami. The person who will be managing the servers lives a couple blocks down the street and is a friend of mine.

As I said a couple points back, the 32,000 is for web design itself - however those numbers will change as I'm always looking for new "unique" things to attract visitors and.. those cost.

Dalekia, as for going to the friend - I would prefer to try and do this on my own. If it doesn't workout then I can always go to her in the end.

You mentioned costs of running the website - I can get 4 servers and get at least an unmetered 1mbps burstable to 10mps connection as long as 3% of the month is at or under 1mbps colocated at the NAP of the Americas for $850 a month.

The servers themselves will either be Dell PowerEdge 1850s or IBM x335s

I'm curious, where are you getting your startup captal? Are you going to a bank for a loan? If so I warn that it is dangerous, but then again I'm not much of a risk taker.

I agree that it is wrong for the governor to take advantage of a group of people to cover up his crimes.

He's a politician, what do you expect?

He's a politician, what do you expect?
From what I've heard this scandal will be as bad as the Illinois License for Bribe scandal, but since you are from Illinois, I don't think I need to explain it.

From what I've heard this scandal will be as bad as the Illinois License for Bribe scandal, but since you are from Illinois, I don't think I need to explain it.

Do you have any idea how many truckers in my town paid bribes to get their licenses? :x I can say one thing though, I'd rather have Ryan than the current Governor, Blagojevich.

Do you have any idea how many truckers in my town paid bribes to get their licenses? :x I can say one thing though, I'd rather have Ryan than the current Governor, Blagojevich.
I'm not a fan of either, I'm a Republican, but disgusted at the shit Ryan did.

I'm not a fan of either, I'm a Republican, but disgusted at the shit Ryan did.

I'm an Independant, but sometimes I identify as a Libertarian - really though I'm my own party :)

That is yet to be seen. I changed that from "Gay men" to reflect on gay/bi/lesbian/transgendered-transexual. There is no reason why I should neglect bisexuals and lesbians, they are equally important as gay men and I am not going to "discriminate" against them just because I am a gay male.

Putting GBL aside, transexuals need more support than homosexual men and women, and bisexuals do because they are ostracized not only by heterosexuals but homosexuals as well. The one group that should have some understanding as to what they are going through reject them, and I don't plan on continueing that with my website.


Good :) I see way too many people in the LGB community who sort of neglect TGs. It is different in a lot of ways, but still, a lot of the core issues that face both (especially the stigmas) are very similar. There are at least more than a few GLB adults out there that are visible and successful. Not so many TGs




This way, it goes directly to the market - I'd be wary of using online advertisements, but I won't rule it out as a possibility in the future. I also am becoming good friends with a couple people, both plan on starting a gay magazine - both already have funding to do so. Both of them also want to see my site going, so I will probably be able to get reduced advertising in their magazines.


I'd also see if there are any more mainstream (non GLBT) and target the desired age group that might be willing to carry ads. I'm willing to guess that there is a large potential audience for a website like the one you propose that isn't completly open about themselves. Especially when it comes to youth who might have less than accepting parents, they will not want to have tangible things that say "gay" that could be discovered. Websites (if you're careful) are much "safer" to someone who's not out to their family memeber. (yeah, I had experience with that :-P)

Word of mouth is important, but just getting to the point where is can spread'll be tricky. :(

Good :) I see way too many people in the LGB community who sort of neglect TGs. It is different in a lot of ways, but still, a lot of the core issues that face both (especially the stigmas) are very similar. There are at least more than a few GLB adults out there that are visible and successful. Not so many TGs





I'd also see if there are any more mainstream (non GLBT) and target the desired age group that might be willing to carry ads. I'm willing to guess that there is a large potential audience for a website like the one you propose that isn't completly open about themselves. Especially when it comes to youth who might have less than accepting parents, they will not want to have tangible things that say "gay" that could be discovered. Websites (if you're careful) are much "safer" to someone who's not out to their family memeber. (yeah, I had experience with that :-P)

Word of mouth is important, but just getting to the point where is can spread'll be tricky. :(

Well, I'm putting my business plan on hold for the next two weeks - I understand that my school has no GBLT "group" / "club". Apparently, it was disbanded last year due to the President of the thing having to much school work and then regular work to finish - so I'm stepping in this year to get one up and running again. I mean its a small school, only 4700 but hell youd expect some people to be interested in the group/club/whatever thingie :)

Well, I'm putting my business plan on hold for the next two weeks - I understand that my school has no GBLT "group" / "club". Apparently, it was disbanded last year due to the President of the thing having to much school work and then regular work to finish - so I'm stepping in this year to get one up and running again. I mean its a small school, only 4700 but hell youd expect some people to be interested in the group/club/whatever thingie :)

4700 is small? :) Damn. My high school was 900 or so, and I didn't think it was too too small.

They just got a Gay/Bi Group going which is pretty remarkable since it's a Catholic highschool. No L, since it's all boys, and they're sort of denying the "T" part. I've kind of poked them about that, but they're taking things slowly, and hopefully they'll realize that there are people at that school dealing with some gender issues :-/

Well, I'm putting my business plan on hold for the next two weeks - I understand that my school has no GBLT "group" / "club". Apparently, it was disbanded last year due to the President of the thing having to much school work and then regular work to finish - so I'm stepping in this year to get one up and running again. I mean its a small school, only 4700 but hell youd expect some people to be interested in the group/club/whatever thingie :)
Illinois seems to have tons of large schools. my cousins go to New Trier. My dad went to Maine East which is huge. (Hillary Clinton also went there)

Valparaiso High School in Valparaison, Indiana where I go is about 2,100 students and considered large in Indiana, the largest is Carmel at over 3,000 in Carmel Indiana

Well, I go to a small college now :p Big to me would be 10,000+ students... The high schools here are in no way small themselves.. they each have about 1800-2100 students each at NCHS and NCWHS, and Bloomington has about 1752 at last enrollment. Not including the one-two rather large catholic high schools that we have in town :p No high schools have any GBLT groups, and only one allows the group funded by the McLean County AIDS Taskforce to be advertised in the school newspaper.

Well, I go to a small college now :p Big to me would be 10,000+ students... The high schools here are in no way small themselves.. they each have about 1800-2100 students each at NCHS and NCWHS, and Bloomington has about 1752 at last enrollment. Not including the one-two rather large catholic high schools that we have in town :p No high schools have any GBLT groups, and only one allows the group funded by the McLean County AIDS Taskforce to be advertised in the school newspaper.


Ahh...ok. Sorry, from your age I thought you were in High School :) Oops.

Yeah, 4700 isn't too big as colleges go :)

I guess open minds is one of the advantages of being in a nice liberal part of the country :)

Ahh...ok. Sorry, from your age I thought you were in High School :) Oops.

Yeah, 4700 isn't too big as colleges go :)

I guess open minds is one of the advantages of being in a nice liberal part of the country :)

For a town of 100,000ish.. we have 4 colleges.. so size in this one is kinda lower than the others :p That doesn't include, of course, the surounding campuses - I just meant 4700 at the main campus.. don't know what the other colleges say .. anyway..

Ahh...ok. Sorry, from your age I thought you were in High School :) Oops.

Yeah, 4700 isn't too big as colleges go :)

I guess open minds is one of the advantages of being in a nice liberal part of the country :)


Your in a liberal part of hte country? Where are you from? Down here in Bloomington it's pretty conservative :p