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As never before the ability of online networks has the potential to shape the world. Tumpang is preparing to take advantage of this dynamic by offering people who come together online the ability to put their joint purchasing power to work.
The Tumpang model is interesting. Manufacturers are asked to discount their products if Tumpang can guarantee a group purchase of a certain quantity of items. Then, within their site, they offer the items for sale at the discounted price providing enough people agree to purchase the item at the discounted rate. As individuals the customers may not be able to get these ‘bulk’ discount prices – as an online mini-purchasing group, they suddenly have more power.
Tumpang is currently focused on the Chinese market…but are making moves to go international. There are two obvious challenges at this point:
Products are often country specific so although they have international plans, this may not translate well for the mini-groups. Will a German purchaser be interested in a kettle for the Malaysian market? See my point?
Most of the products on the site at this point seem relatively low quality i.e. Tumpang does not seem to be striking deals with Apple, Panasonic etc but rather more unknown brands. However, as their purchasing power and traction increases this should give them more negotiation strength with the bigger, more popular manufacturers.
So, Tumpang is one to watch. This crowd purchasing approach could create another shift in online purchasing.
Andrew
Founder -Advisor Garage
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/community
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I wish I could tell you all about Flixor but I’m not allowed to today. What I can say is that Flixor is a very cool up and coming company focused on tools that have both consumer appeal but also the potential to revolutionize the advertising industry. I recommend you go to http://www.Flixor.com, bookmark it and watch as this company moves from stealth to a very compelling young company. If you are a potential angel – reach out and I’ll forward on your contacts – you won’t be disappointed…
Andrew
Founder – Advisor Garage
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/Community
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For anyone that has read any of the posts on this blog, you’re probably used to seeing a review of the business model of an up and coming young company. Today’s post is different. It’s a Startup ‘Quick Intro’. My goal is to intersperse the usual type of postings with ‘Quick Intros’. We’ll see what reception these quick intros get!
A friend has been working on a startup called Zaplee.com – so given that I’m particularly excited about the company and it’s opportunity, thought I would do a quick ‘drive by’ about Zaplee.
Zaplee has been working on creating consumer software to provide small and medium sized companies with call center functionality via the Skype service. This gives Zaplee the capability to offer a other companies call center capabilities without painful and expensive setup costs and processes and like Skype, gives users very low monthly costs for ongoing call center services which have tradtitionally been unreachable by many young companies.
There are many exciting elements to the Zaplee business model but as they are still so ‘fresh’ I’ll need to wait a month or two before getting into details. Zaplee is currently going through an angel investment round. This is one of those ‘once in a decade’ opportunities so if there is anyone out there that wants to explore this opportunity…send me an email and I’ll pass it on.
http://www.Zaplee.com
Andrew
Founder – Advisor Garage
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/community
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I can’t tell you how much I love this business concept! I’m not 110% convinced about the capability to make significant amounts of investor revenues but frankly…that’s just not the point of this neat new business. So, let me tell you about “It’s Your Movie”. The basic idea is for the online community to fund, audition and vote for characters in a movie called “The Flirting Club”. It’s a complete mashup of a number of popular ideas…think “The Producers meets American Idol” and you are some of the way there!
Business Model:
- Members of the public can buy a ‘stake’ in the movie of $10, $100, $100. What’s not clear on the site is what stakeholders get for their stake although the site does say the higher the stake the more ‘say’ in the movie.
- Advertising is another revenue stream for “Its Our Movie” although as the site currently has a 4,000,000 Alexa ranking the revenue is likely to minimal at this point.
- Movie Rights and Sale:Â I could find no reference to movie rights or sale as it relates to stakeholders but it is a new business so that may appear in their FAQs.
Some Core Functionality/Elements:
- Auditioning: To audition for a part, members download the script, choose a character and video themselves. After uploading the Audition to http://www.youtube.com / http://www.metacafe.com / http://www.dailymotion.com the code is then re-pasted within the “Its Our Movie” Website so the community can review and vote on the auditions
- Characters:Â A summary of each character is included in the site and video auditions can be added against each character
- Voting: Members can vote on a 1-10 scale for each audition. They will also be adding the ability for people to vote via text message/SMS
- Photos/Videos: Photos and videos of each person auditioning
- Member blogs
- Member forums (Is this a Drupal site with a skin? Hummm)
Likes:
Sometimes new business are not about money…OK, rarely new businesses are not about money because money is oxygen for startups but in this case, its about the excitement of being involved in creating a movie. Doesn’t EVERYONE want to be involved in creating a movie? Even if it’s a bad movie for goodness sake. Now here’s a little prediction, as momentum grows for this new site then it won’t be long before Simon Cowell and the rest get wind of it. Before you can say “Teletubbies” I’m guessing that this process may move from the web to other mediums. When that happens then this could become a significant opportunity for the founders. If I was a stakeholder, I’d be looking for some reassurances that I’m buying a tiny piece of that potential success.
Dislikes/Suggestions:
- Be explicit about what stakeholders are getting! It’s great that you’ve raised $100K but if you want to hit the $1M target then I would outline what those folks were getting…really clearly!
- My understanding is that the Director is Alex Jovy. Is it THE Alex Jovy that received an Oscar-nomination for his film Holiday Romance who also went on to produce and direct the thriller Sorted starring Matthew Rhys and Jason Donovan? If so, let us know people! At the moment it looks like some obscure guys idea that is absolutely exciting but we need to know it’s legitimate and this isn’t paying for someone’s extended vacation in the South of Spain.
Additional Opportunities:
- Plug this into the TV machine and turn it into a show.
My Virtual Investment:
With my virtual $1M, I would personally stake a virtual $500K providing someone gave me virtual percentages of the revenue.
http://www.itsourmovie.com/
Interested in other articles about Its Our Movie?
Andrew – Founder
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/community
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Bringsome is a pre-beta, very early stage company and website that has ‘legs’. By legs, I mean it has the potential to expand it’s service offering and revenue streams as the business grows. So what is BringSomes business? Helping people connect together to BringSome products from one country to another. No, don’t think illicit drug trade mules importing bad white powder from obscure countries, think someone with a passion for flavored liquid non-dairy coffee creamer in China that would pay a small fee if anyone from the US happens to be about to jump on a plane to Beijing. Imagine the scenario ~Mum, Dad and the kids have decided to live and work abroad but little Johnnie has a twinkie fetish – that’s where BringSome comes in. But not only that, given the price differences across country boundaries, the enterprising can use BringSome to make some extra cash.
Business Model:
BringSome does not, at this point, take a ‘piece of the action’ i.e. there are no fees for ads, no percentage off the top if someone ‘buys’ a product from another member, in fact the revenue model is currently limited to:
- Paypal donations
- Ads (Google and a few locally generated image ads)
Some Core Functionality:
- Place ads and a little ‘please bring me X because’ note along with a product shot of the item you need
- Contacts are kept private. If you can deliver the desired product, you can ‘email’ the requestor via the site and sort out how to trade
- Very simple, quick and easy signup. No long ‘tell me your inside leg measurement’ forms.
- Personal message center along with forums, a place to ‘Hurrah’ when you get the adored item
- Search by text or location / country or just browse
- Polls and Who’s Online
Likes:
A nice niche which could be easily expanded as BringSome gains traction. The BringSome system is beta and somehow the lack of control and member driven content gives it a real people helping people feel. Makes me feel closer and less removed from the community. It would be great if Dave could somehow keep that ‘feel’ as the site scales.
Dislikes:
Just a few questions/concerns:
- There’ s very little traction building tools within the site i.e ‘Send to Friend’ or similar on each ad or page. There are some slight elements of bookmarks and one overall ‘ Send to Friend’ but that is site wide rather than on each product. I would recommend more member driven traction building tools especially as I may not be traveling soon to Beijing but may have a friend who is. A perfect opportunity to send the ‘Creamer’ ad to them so they can help out the Beijing creamer fetishist!
- The site requires some logistical challenges on the back end to work. Example, I’m travelling to Beijing and want to take that desired creamer. I email the Beijing member and we agree where to meet so I can give them the item. This means I have to take time out while in Beijing and find a place that I may not know to meet a person I may not know to give them creamer. In some ways this could actually be quite interesting. It could also be a pain in the rear. One idea – I would definitely bring the creamer to Beijing in exchange for a local person to show me briefly around Beijing. A great way to see a new place and perhaps make a new contact or friend.
- Is there any responsibility for the site to outline legal restrictions? Are there certain goods that are illegal in one country but not in another? If this is left to the individuals to figure out, there could be some issues down the line for a small number of members and perhaps the site (?)
- Web 2.0 sites are tough to really get going even in one country – for BringSome to work it requires decent numbers of members in multiple countries which is tougher! But you know what…I think Dave and BringSome will actually do it and I think it will because of the member driven, personal ‘feel’ that the site has through user created ads without the ‘Ebay’ish’ template other sites have.
Suggestions:
- Lost revenue opportunity: Not requiring members to set a finders fee for the item they need and taking a little piece or charging for ads. But perfectly understandable as it’s very early days for BringSome. Something tells me the site will probably go that route when they reach what they feel is critical mass.
- The site requires the ad creator to write where the item they need is from. There is a field for their location but it would help ‘matches’ if members can search not only the requestor’s location but where the requested item is from. So, I’m in the US and I’m about to travel to China. If I go search China ads I’ll need to wade through ads from people in China wanting items from everywhere before finding ads for items needed from the US. Not a problem now as it has a small membership, will be an issue when BringSome skyrockets!
My Virtual Investment:
With my virtual $1M, I would BringSome virtual investment of $2o0K! Especially if someone can bring me some Cadbury’s Crunchies from the United Kingdom to the United States (NJ/NY). Crunchies in New York just DON’T taste the same! Try not to sit on them during the flight over, they melt!
http://www.BringSome.com
Interested in other articles about BringSome.com?
Andrew – Founder
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/community
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Our Million Dollar Startup Game blog covered ‘Amie Street’ back in February. I hate to say “I told You So” but Amie Street has just finalized it’s Series A funding round and the interesting piece of information is that Amazon.com lead this funding round. Our blog gave Amie Street one of the highest ‘virtual’ investments to date. I’m sure Amazon invested more than $750K and this should be the sign of an interesting relationship between Amie and Amazon. Great news but don’t sell out to quickly guys. Good Luck!
Andrew
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com/community
++
 Aime Street recently responded to the recent post ‘Aime Street: A $750K Virtual Investment’ with the following important point:
”
Hey Andrew,
Thanks for the 750K. Guess we’ll have to see what happens when that situation pops up. An important point along those lines is that we don’t tie down artists who upload their music with any sort of exclusivity agreement. The more people that hear the music, the better.
Lucas”
Thanks for the clarification and update Lucas. The fact that Aime Street is focused on the good of all sides of the customer equation is clear. Its great that a company is putting its customers first and this should ultimately ‘pay off’ for everyone.
Have your say here: http://www.andrewive.com/mdsg-forum/
Andrew
Founder
http://www.AdvisorGarage.com
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