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Didn't say at all that the business is ugly. Did say that the fundraising part is perhaps a lot flawed. You came here asking for honest feedback and then get hurt when you receive it? Sorry.Originally posted by wondering_why:
Tim,
It’s like having a baby that you nurture and have high hopes for their future; only to overhear someone say ‘God, that is one ugly kid’.
If you'll read more carefully, I wasn't suggesting you guarantee everyone's success. I was suggesting that -- if what you need is a track record to help you sell and if you're confident that groups who run the program right can make $50,000 -- then perhaps one of your upfront efforts should be to pick 10 groups (out of the whole country) and work with those groups extra closely and remove those groups' (only) risk in working with you. Then -- assuming those groups do as well as you say they should -- you'd have no losses (because the guarantee would be moot) and ten great success stories to share. That's the type of thing lots of entrepreneurs have to do. You want your cake and to eat it too. Someone starting a new physical store, for example, has to lease space, buy products, buy ads, etc. -- with no guarantee of sales. You're less looking for customers than you are looking for groups to go into business with you.And, where do you get off saying,
…that's the reality of what would happen if schools participated with you.
If it's such a no-brainer, how about you take all the risk instead of the groups?
If your program is such a guaranteed seller, what's the risk?
.....
After providing all those tools and options, you want me to also guarantee that regardless of the effort the group puts in, they will receive $5,000. I’ll have to think about that.
Folks aren't expecting problems. They don't think you're a bad guy. They don't think you're trying to steal from them. They just -- for good reason -- don't think this kind of program is going to be worth their efforts. You take that conclusion personally. You shouldn't. I commend the spirit with which you're making this offer. But I also agree with the groups in their assessment of the offer. Does that make sense?I thought about it. Nope, the only warrantee given is that they will receive the amounts promised, the results are auditable, and, as a member of the community and living at the same residence for 18 years, they may call me at home (they have my number) should any problems arise.
I think that's a wise decision. Good luck with your work.Tim, now for the decisions that you helped me make:
We will not move forward on the co-branding of the site, based on the customer’s cookie, to show that the group welcomes and appreciates the patron’s support.
We will not move forward on the plan to allow the customers to opt in/out of a group newsletter program. This would have allowed us to provide the group the email and/or address of each person who created an account after using the group’s link and allowing them to market directly to their patrons.
We will not continue to offer our site to the PTO/PTA communities. So far, the psychic return on the time and effort invested has been negative. Completely opposite to the expected situation and in the final analysis has been a waste of time. I leave them to their own devises, the sales representative, and the scam artists.