Microcosm - 2nd Seedrs crowd-funding round

bad time to be jobless...

Is there ever a good time?

Seedrs money in my account, ready to pull the trigger...

when its planned perhaps...

Or you live on the gold coast, in summer.

They play bike polo on the Gold Coast, you know?
#justsayin

Launch beers?

To invest or keep buying food for the next three months? Don't have any [strike]disposable[/strike] income at the moment.

Then don't invest. Really.

Pretty much.

If you can't afford to eat, you shouldn't be investing.

don't invest what you can't afford to lose

So - with the top-up, can we only do the amount to maintain our investment, or can we 'go large' at the same time?

I believe that you can only top up in the private launch, and you can go large after the public launch.

Just updated the listing btw, it's being finalised at the moment. The only thing left is for Seedrs to create a transcript of the video (I'm assuming this is for both audit purposes and accessibility).

Ready to go.

Pretty much.

If you can't afford to eat, you shouldn't be investing.

Just not sure if it makes sense to invest peanuts. Oh well, perhaps I will have a good day out with my daughter with that £50-100.

Hell yes.

Ta, David.

To invest or keep buying food for the next three months? Don't have any [strike]disposable[/strike] income at the moment.

Then don't invest. Really.

Pretty much.

If you can't afford to eat, you shouldn't be investing.

don't invest what you can't afford to lose

Just not sure if it makes sense to invest peanuts. Oh well, perhaps I will have a good day out with my daughter with that £50-100.

Ingest, don't invest.

Masticate, don't speculate.

2 days after the private launch.

Currently scheduled for:
3rd September private launch
5th September public launch

Thanks. In the diary.

I like private launches.

Not a good yacht, there's no bike rack.

I could always squeeze a couple of Bromptons into a cupboard...

Euph?

Absolute filth...

David, how much of Microcosm's revenue do you anticipate coming from affiliate links versus your other sources of revenue? Given that affiliate links rely on third parties, it's possible that they could be disrupted by something else, which Microcosm might or might not be able to monetise. (I can't imagine what, mind you, but such is the nature of disruption.)

Initially, the bulk of the revenue will be affiliate links.

By being in the equation at the point that an intent to purchase converts to a sale as a result of a recommendation on a forum is pretty killer, and does not leave space for other intermediaries between us and the merchant.

Our concern with affiliate fees is less about disruption (they have been an incredibly stable revenue model for businesses for a very very long time - i.e. travel agents), and more about whether the revenue scales in-line with the business needs. That is, whether the revenue can keep pace with the costs of growth.

For that reason two other revenue streams come into play:
1) For forums that are majority private spaces, a usage fee.
2) When we have a network of forums, a paid access merchant/brand dashboard.

The first of those should be obvious to all, and will be along the lines of £x per n active users per month. You pay for what you use, and it's only applicable to private forums.

The latter is non-obvious, but imagine tooling for brands/merchant to be able to easily obtain information about how their brand is mentioned, market research, customer service, etc. And then imagine that someone like Trek might pay to use a single tool to access most cycle forums... and you pretty much get the idea.

But for the outset, affiliate links will make the majority of our revenue with private forum fees making a small percentage. As we grow into something more substantial, we imagine greater revenue coming from the merchant/brand tool, and then affiliates, and finally private forums.

The latter is non-obvious, but imagine tooling for brands/merchant to be able to easily obtain information about how their brand is mentioned, market research, customer service, etc. And then imagine that someone like Trek might pay to use a single tool to access most cycle forums... and you pretty much get the idea.
.

From a business point of view - very clever. How will you manage privacy?