One of the companies that competed with my Angus idea just raised $9 million in funding...wow. Back in mid-July, I was still working on Angus, which was advertising at the point of sale. I was attempting to solve a common ecommerce problem called, shopping cart abandonment. This is the problem where shoppers add items to their cart and then decide to checkout, but for different reasons, they decide to leave the retailer's site. While investigating the advertising market and the different business models being used, I came across BazaarVoice, whose business it is to compile consumer product reviews.
I did a SWOT analysis for Angus back then and wrote that BazaarVoice was one of Angus' competitors in the mature market for influencing consumer purchases. I'm not sure whether I'm happy that we set aside the Angus idea, because of this company's recent funding acheivements, but it's kindof neat to see that the analysis was purposeful.
Showing posts with label idea angus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label idea angus. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
Angus: SWOT
Here is the SWOT analysis that I did for our Angus idea. I won’t go into the details of the idea in this posting, since we’ve hashed that out in our yahoo group page already. Yes we have both a yahoo and google groups page; we like the google one better and transferred most of our info over to there.
Based on this SWOT, we canned this idea because there was not a compelling upside compared with the hurdles.
SWOT: Angus
Angus is a software venture with a vision on how to influence online consumer purchase decisions at the online point of sale. The venture is currently assessing which products will have the most impact on a mature market.
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Business Model | Business Model Products |
| Opportunities | Threats |
| Products Increase Market Share | Mature Market Competition |
Strengths
Business Model
Angus works on a business model which unites consumers with the information they need to make a purchase decision at the online point of sale. This business model overcomes the inadequacies that consumers are presented when visiting online retailers and auctions – lack of supporting product information, limited perspectives, and product excitement. This business model saves the shopper time by not having to search the Internet for product reviews, consumer perspectives, and marketing buzz, ultimately this means the shopper does not leave and will spend more time at the online point of sale. Not only will this model help online retailers and auctions sell new and current year items, it will also help influence the purchase of end-of-life and used items because the information doesn’t age and will continue to influence the shopper to make the purchase. The simplicity of this model will allow Angus to remain focused on influencing the shopper.
Weaknesses
Business Model
This business model is not unique, as it is already in use by many competitors in the online retail space. The competition is currently providing information to the shopper by means of consumer and expert reviews.
Products
Angus product offerings are not unique, they are as follows:
- Consumer review
- Angus would need to catch up with all competitors
- Expert review
- Angus would need to catch up with all competitors
- Video review – n/a
- Commercials videos – n/a
Opportunities
Products
Angus product offerings may be unique in the following ways:
- Consumer review
- Angus intends to provided filterable reviews.
- Expert review
- Angus is proposing to sign up a large list of 3rd party, expert, reviews and will allow the retailer to select which from the list to be displayed, perhaps based on the demographic of the shopper at that time.
- Video review
- Angus is proposing to allow all consumer reviews to be in any video format and source (web-cam, cell phone)
- Commercials videos
- Angus is proposing to sign up a large list of manufacturers and to provide their television commercials at the point of sale.
Increase Market Share
As broadband acceptance in the consumer market continues to rise, this will allow companies to offer richer content, including video. Angus’ video reviews and commercial videos will be able to leverage the greater bandwidth.
Threats
Mature Market
There may not be many opportunities for Angus to capture the business of retailers that are household names because these retailers already offer shoppers additional information at the point of sale. The most commonly used mechanisms listed in descending prevalence, based on an eye-ball survey:
- consumer review
- consumer review w/reviewer history
- consumer review w/user history plus expert review
- consumer review w/user history, expert review, and 3rd party video
Competition
There are many different types of competitors that serve this online retail market. The following types pose a threat:
- in-house solutions
- specialized software companies, like a Bazaar Voice
- open-source solutions
- social shopping networks, PriceGrabber.com, Epinions.com
Monday, July 9, 2007
Angus: SCORE mtg
Meeting 2
So I spent late Thursday night planning for my meeting with SCORE. I trimmed the presentation slides (attached) and practiced working the new message. You'll notice in the slides the Angus name was removed and replaced with my old company's name, Netaloft; my in-laws only had jokes for the "Angus" name, despite it being a codename.
My meeting with Paul Gasser was valuable, but different from the meeting with the in-laws. The in-laws helped with refining the message and doing the sales pitch. Whereas Paul gave more specific working advice regarding marketing strategy and how to cost the marketing plan and insights on how to lower investor risk; when I scheduled the meeting I asked specifically for help with marketing strategy and planning. Here are the major points coming out of this meeting.
1) Consider ways to lower investor risk. He mentioned, "jumping in with both feet" to show how serious you are with doing this business. The investors don't want to see you working for another company while running your own. Show that you already have customer feedback regarding your product or services. If a big-box company like BestBuy says that using your services will help them increase their sales by 10% and that they would likely use it, this will lower investor risk.
2) Actually work on the marketing plan because it is an action plan. You should be able to take it and start marketing. This being said, he helped narrow our customer market. Keeping in mind our limited resources, $, and people, we have to target very specific, niche customers. He discussed segmenting the market and picking an industry. Then figure out the pricepoint of the products which might have video commercials already produced, this pricepoint will allow us to know which customers can afford the service. Other topics where targeting strategies for individual decision makers within an organization, joining trade associations.
3) Think about a phased approach to getting capital. Phase 1 proof of concept sounds good, but it doesn't lower risk enough. He recommended actually having a PRODUCT, not just a service or module. Phase 1 will be better if we actually had a product completed and ready for the next round of investing. This leads to point 4...
4) Maybe customers want to host their own videos? We should not assume that our solution is the best one, that being we host the videos as part of our service and our software module residing on the online retailer's page will be all that the retailer wants.
In addition, Paul was not wowed, he only said "interesting". And he did mention in a gentle way that VCs are looking for more than just a business plan in which to invest, he recommended thinking about angel investments up to $1M. In addition, he liked the idea of setting deadlines, so the line in the sand is still Aug. 7th to submit for InvestSouthwest.
My own thoughts now include:
- reconsider who the primary customer really is, perhaps the manufacturer is the key, and the retailers are second.
- think about a different solution that will allow us to sell software or licenses, sell more!
- write a marketing plan, which fits into the business plan
- consider how we can start doing customer surveys
- schedule another SCORE meeting for Friday
- keep writing a business plan and make and executive summary from it; Paul appeared to have been expecting one...
That's all from me, we need to meet to finalize the picture, otherwise we won't meet the Aug 7th deadline. DE, are you getting back in the morning Sunday or evening? RG, do you have any time too? Thanks guys.
-john
So I spent late Thursday night planning for my meeting with SCORE. I trimmed the presentation slides (attached) and practiced working the new message. You'll notice in the slides the Angus name was removed and replaced with my old company's name, Netaloft; my in-laws only had jokes for the "Angus" name, despite it being a codename.
My meeting with Paul Gasser was valuable, but different from the meeting with the in-laws. The in-laws helped with refining the message and doing the sales pitch. Whereas Paul gave more specific working advice regarding marketing strategy and how to cost the marketing plan and insights on how to lower
1) Consider ways to lower investor risk. He mentioned, "jumping in with both feet" to show how serious you are with doing this business. The investors don't want to see you working for another company while running your own. Show that you already have customer feedback regarding your product or services. If a big-box company like BestBuy says that using your services will help them increase their sales by 10% and that they would likely use it, this will lower investor risk.
2) Actually work on the
3) Think about a phased approach to getting capital. Phase 1 proof of concept sounds good, but it doesn't lower risk enough. He recommended actually having a PRODUCT, not just a service or module. Phase 1 will be better if we actually had a product completed and ready for the next round of investing. This leads to point 4...
4) Maybe customers want to host their own videos? We should not assume that our solution is the best one, that being we host the videos as part of our service and our software module residing on the online retailer's page will be all that the retailer wants.
In addition, Paul was not wowed, he only said "interesting". And he did mention in a gentle way that VCs are looking for more than just a business plan in which to invest, he recommended thinking about angel investments up to $1M. In addition, he liked the idea of setting deadlines, so the line in the sand is still Aug. 7th to submit for InvestSouthwest.
My own thoughts now include:
- reconsider who the primary customer really is, perhaps
- think about a different solution that will allow us to sell software or licenses, sell more!
- write a marketing plan,
- consider how we can start doing customer surveys
- schedule another SCORE meeting for Friday
- keep writing a business plan and make and executive summary from it; Paul appeared to have been expecting one...
That's all from me, we need to meet to finalize the picture, otherwise we won't meet the Aug 7th deadline. DE, are you getting back in the morning Sunday or evening? RG, do you have any time too? Thanks guys.
-john
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Angus: Practice Pitch
Now that I've had a night to sleep/rest on the results of two meetings, I can now brief you on what was learned.
Meeting 1 was Thursday night and this was with my in-laws and their close friend from high school. I spent the night at their house in Central Phoenix, so my morning drive to Meeting 2 would be effortless.
Here are some major points :
1) Tell a story and move away from the data flow and concept diagrams. I did my business pitch to them and they were lost, and they started to argue between themselves about what my product/message really was. The problem they told me was when I diagramed the supply chain, they didn't see how that fit into the business; this being said one of the in-laws does supply chain mgmt for Intel. Finally, their friend started to give me sales advice; he having done sales in the magazine publishing business. The result was the following 30-second pitch,
- 59% of online shoppers with the intent to buy, do not make the purchase.
- We have a solution that will close the deal.
- We're offering a module and process that will allow manufacturers to control the message, maintain their brand, and bring excitement to the point of sale to infuence an impulse buy.
In addition, they said that I was giving too much information that just clouds the picture, like, "John, you already sold the product, but then you keep going and give more and more info that isn't needed, unless requested."
2) Deemphasize, but not throw-out, the user generated video reviews. The reason is this feature/option is a business opportunity in itself and it presents a complex picture to the simplifed sales pitch.
Well, there is a lot of rework to be done prior to the meeting tomorrow morning.
-john
Meeting 1 was Thursday night and this was with my in-laws and their close friend from high school. I spent the night at their house in Central Phoenix, so my morning drive to Meeting 2 would be effortless.
Here are some major points :
1) Tell a story and move away from the data flow and concept diagrams. I did my business pitch to them and they were lost, and they started to argue between themselves about what my product/message really was. The problem they told me was when I diagramed the supply chain, they didn't see how that fit into the business; this being said one of the in-laws does supply chain mgmt for Intel. Finally, their friend started to give me sales advice; he having done sales in the magazine publishing business. The result was the following 30-second pitch,
- 59% of online shoppers with the intent to buy, do not make the purchase.
- We have a solution that will close the deal.
- We're offering a module and process that will allow manufacturers to control the message, maintain their brand, and bring excitement to the
In addition, they said that I was giving too much information that just clouds the picture, like, "John, you already sold the product, but then you keep going and give more and more info that isn't needed, unless requested."
2) Deemphasize, but not throw
Well, there is a lot of rework to be done prior to the meeting tomorrow morning.
-john
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