Time to start our own auction brand!?

[MasterBlaster]

This all sounds good.... Carolyn and I have had website building and back end experience. As for the business model, I have worked on this before. You will need someone to do the bean counting...

Brett, we maybe should set up a meeting with all the Perth people and get live stream going so who is involved can have a face to face.

 

[anakinleo]

I'm the bean counter...... a fully qualified one at no cost to the business plan.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Ok things seem to be moving along well and some good discussions going on. The one thing to keep in mind though is our MO is to make another choice for collectors who are sick of feebay and to always focus on looking after our members and not becoming greedy like feebay.

I'm all for doing it properly with the business plan, setting up a company structure etc etc...... but TBH I'm not real fond of the "shares" idea; personally I start to get the feeling that it becomes more about the money and less about the hobby when shares come into it. I want the site to be more about the people behind it and not what's in their pockets.

At this point, I don't expect everybody to agree on everything but at least you have the basic belief that a seperate hobby market place is required for the Australian market.

No reason to restrict ourselves to the Australian market; if we were doing a site like COMC then there would be; but I guess it would be easier to start off that way!? What do people think!?

This all sounds good.... Carolyn and I have had website building and back end experience. As for the business model, I have worked on this before. You will need someone to do the bean counting...

Brett, we maybe should set up a meeting with all the Perth people and get live stream going so who is involved can have a face to face.

I think once we get a core group of members we all need to have a chat together.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Alright judging by the comments everybody made here.

Here are the list of people who are potential investors;
A_Iverson_1
Ooneil
Goldcoastcards
lilreddevil
AyiosYiorgos
anakinleo
cobretti
ManC Perth
skip20
Mattya123456

Apologies in advance if I had missed out anybody's names or included any names by mistake. Just let me know. Maybe we should open this thread for another couple of days to garner more interest as potential investors. Lets say the cut off date is 31st January 2012.

This is the list I have..

Owner/Investor
--
A_Iverson_I
ooneil
anakinleo
skip20
AyiosYiorgos
Mattya123456
MandC Perth
lilreddevil
goldcoastcards

Site Supporter
--
bojob
theflyinggerco
mischap123

Not quite sure what their involvement is!?
--
drob50
cobretti

List updated once known.

Could you guys please confirm!?

Also..... noticed you put a "1" at the end of my name anakinleo It's an "I" as in A_Iverson_I haha

 

[MasterBlaster]

Investor mate... However we also wish to help in creating the site also as we have done this before with a almost working model.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Ok cool, thanks mate!

 

[lilreddevil]

Owner/Investor here. Would love to help with hands-on stuff and get this thing off the ground.

Am I too young to help out with you old-blokes?

 

[MasterBlaster]

Owner/Investor here. Would love to help with hands-on stuff and get this thing off the ground.

Am I too young to help out with you old-blokes?

Bainy, you have kraft disease... if you do not know what that is, look it up...

I have ideas for you.... Making graphics... However, you never get back to me about our little deals! <needs big hammer for your hard head>

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Oh boy Kraft Disease...... you don't want that!

 

[ooneil]

TBH I'm not real fond of the "shares" idea; personally I start to get the feeling that it becomes more about the money and less about the hobby when shares come into it. I want the site to be more about the people behind it and not what's in their pockets.

Personally i think the word "share" is something that is being used pretty loosely in this situation.

The impression from talking here that im getting is that a share is more like an upfront member fee. I think anyone that invests needs to be of the understanding that if you put your money in you cant just request it back and your most likely not to get it back. IMO the shares should be either non-transferable or transferable only with the agreement of 75% of shareholders. In terms of the money that the site makes it should be all invested back into the site - ie - no dividend payouts. However i think the 'ownership' principle that comes with having a share is an important one. You want people who put there hard earned in to it to have this concept of ownership.

 

[anakinleo]

I think it is good that we are bouncing ideas early in the piece. Everybody is entitled to envision a website of their own. May be it might be wise to start penning down the agenda of our first meeting, basically what are the most essential business elements we need to cover. Ooneil, you seem to have a wealth of experience in setting small businesses. Do you mind preparing the agenda for the first meeting. I'm actually glad that we have some good capable hands onboard, so really looking forward to this. Let's open this thread for a few more days to see we can attract any more capable people.

 

[anakinleo]

Btw, Bainy, age is no barrier when it comes to passion for the hobby. Your contribution will definitely be highly valued. Think about it, What could be the worse that can happen, you will be the new troll king of the website, a new kingdom for you to rule and own.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Yep..... would like to get this moving along soon as we have got a good base discussion going on and think it's time to move things to the next level pretty soon.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Can goldcoastcards, drob50 and cobretti please let us know yourtype of support!? Thanks!

 

[goldcoasttradingcards]

Can goldcoastcards, drob50 and cobretti please let us know yourtype of support!? Thanks!

My computer ability isnt as good as most of you but I am more than happy to assist in whatever way I can. I want to see this get off the ground.
Cheers Glenn

 

[A_Iverson_I]

My computer ability isnt as good as most of you but I am more than happy to assist in whatever way I can. I want to see this get off the ground.
Cheers Glenn

What I'm trying to figure out is are you going to be an Investor or a Supporter?

 

[goldcoasttradingcards]

Happy to invest & will definitely have heaps of cards to list so will support it in any way I can.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

OK awesome. Thanks man!

 

[drob50]

I am eager to get my hands dirty with this, however it does need to be done correctly or not at all.

I too have a pretty decent knowledge base when it comes to starting new businesses. I am currently the sole operator of a Import/Wholesale company which owns around 65 products including around half of which I have virtually designed/created on my own.
I would love to say 'I'll be an investors' but like any smart businessman, there is no way I am going to invest in something which at the moment has no projection at all to be a profitable business.

That's not to say that a little hard work can't bring it up to that point.

My suggestion is:

Get to work immediately on a SWOT analysis! - this means noting down ALL of the site's potential Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. We then give each one a ranking based on how important it is, and then do a quick sum to make sure the Strengths and Opportunities outweigh the Weaknesses and Threats! If it does, then only Lack of time and effort can stop it becoming a success!

The next step would be to take the info from the SWOT analysis and include it ALL in a business plan. This has been mentioned before, but really needs to be done in depth and detail.

I personally have a fair bit of experience with others areas of business including Trademarks, Patents, Marketing and most importantly... Sales

So what I am saying is, I am happy to help get it moving, and if we have a potentially good business on our hands, invest!

 

[anakinleo]

Wow Adam!!! Welcome to the club!!!