From Concept to Cash in 365 Days

Written by Brandon Mendelson / September 12, 2009 10:00 AM / 19 Comments

This post is part of our ReadWriteStart channel, which is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs. The channel is sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark. To sign up for BizSpark, click here.

I had hoped that by 25, I would have been living in LA, dating actresses, and getting bit parts in bad movies as "the ugly guy"... you know, in the event that the studio wanted a Steve Buscemi-type, but not the Steve Buscemi.

Instead, I'm 26, broke, and trapped in Glens Falls, New York. I vent my frustrations by writing comedy pieces for the Huffington Post, I run a blog about social publishing, and, for some odd reason, I'm more popular than Serena Williams, Newt Gingrich, and Stephen Colbert ... on Twitter. Sadly, this doesn't help my chances with Serena or make me any money.

I'd like to change that this year.

The Two Traditional Funding Options

I'm not big on corporate sponsorship. I'll work with a company if it makes sense, but I'm burned out from so many years of chasing sponsorships. Sponsorship is a game for the well-networked or those whose presence is so big that they can't be ignored.

Nor do I want to deal with investors. I could write a business plan, take it to some venture capitalists, and pull in the money, but at what cost? The last thing I want is a group of MBAs watering my project down to please shareholders.

The Third Way

I started researching crowdfunding as an alternative. I came up with the unusually bright idea of selling advertising space on the back of 300,000 business cards. $1 gets someone an advertisement on one card, and they buy as many as they want. The incentive is that the cards are being used to set a Guinness World Record for "tallest wall made out of business cards," which makes them desirable and a collectible piece of advertising after the record is set.

A Million High Fives (or #AMHF) is the project I'm attempting to crowdfund and form a new business around. Although #AMHF is supposed to accomplish many things, I also want it to make crowdfunding a cool thing to do. If I can do it, you can do it. And if we can do it, then who needs sponsorship or venture capital?

I'll be documenting the crowdfunding of A Million High Fives and my new business from concept to cash exclusively here on ReadWriteStart. I have no connections, no money, and no resources -- just a big idea and a platform here on ReadWriteWeb. If I fail, you'll see every step of the fall. If I succeed, we'll have plenty to learn along the way. Not to mention, we'll be setting a Guinness World Record together. How cool is that?

Microsoft BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. Click here to apply.

Comments

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Hey, you are better than me. I'm 29, currently a PhD student but as time goes by, I am further and further away from my Porsche. :( If you are up for it, I'd love to work on a better way to work with ads on mobile devices... Banners and popup (and click-throughs) are heading the wrong direction, IMHO.

Posted by: Talmai | September 12, 2009 11:38 AM

Doesn't it cost about $1 to have a business card like that printed up? Printing on both sides and all? Perhaps if you go black and white only it will be profitable. Good luck finding 300,000 people though. That's the hard part.

Posted by: Mitch | September 12, 2009 11:39 AM

@Mitch,

As mentioned in the article, I will work with a company if it makes sense. In this case, we're teaming with Vistaprint to provide the business cards (at no cost to us). I'll have more details on that partnership in a future post.

@Talmai

Have to pass right now on that as I have my hands extremely full. But I know how you feel as I was working toward a (eventual) Ph.D. myself up until a month ago.

Posted by: Brandon | September 12, 2009 12:14 PM

Good luck to You Brandon!
I get this strange feeling when I notice that i.e. a dead guy Elvis Presley is still earning more money than I am alive and still kicking :-)

Posted by: Tomasz | September 12, 2009 12:45 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZxrF7IHFE0

Posted by: russian | September 12, 2009 1:58 PM

Still a lot of people think that their affairs make their lives. It's still Marksizm. All rich people understood ages ago that they are what they think about themselves. And nothing can change that ever.

Posted by: Impec | September 12, 2009 2:01 PM

Brandon - I'm definitely tuned in. I'm always here to bounce ideas off of. Call me anytime.

Posted by: Jason | September 12, 2009 9:01 PM

@Jason: Thanks! I'll be checking in shortly with another edition. Just have to recover from my cold first.

Posted by: Brandon | September 12, 2009 10:04 PM

Great post!

Hope you get there, wherever there is to you.

But that's where the weak close exists in your post.

You never really define where there is to you and you use the term hope, which never got anyone anywhere really :) or :(

It reminds me of a quote from my latest read...

'In the material world everyone is working for sense gratification...we are identifying ourselves with matter and we are thinking, "I am this body". But in order to perform real yoga one must realize his constitutional position as being distinct from matter...Purification ensues upon the realizing that, "I am pure spirit - I am not this matter".

Still your mind young yogi. You will get to the promised land, but ask yourself upon whose promise!

Posted by: Saul Henvey | September 13, 2009 10:14 AM

Hope you get there, wherever there is to you.

But that's where the weak close exists in your post.

You never really define where there is to you and you use the term hope, which never got anyone anywhere really :) or :(

It reminds me of a quote from my latest read...

'In the material world everyone is working for sense gratification...we are identifying ourselves with matter and we are thinking, "I am this body". But in order to perform real yoga one must realize his constitutional position as being distinct from matter...Purification ensues upon the realizing that, "I am pure spirit - I am not this matter".

Still your mind young yogi. You will get to the promised land, but ask yourself upon whose promise!

Posted by: sexizle | September 13, 2009 2:42 PM

You need to find a need in a market.
Then you define a solution suiting to the market and the need.
Then you try to have a business model that is profitable.
If no business model start at 1) over again.

Posted by: Engago | September 14, 2009 2:36 AM

Btandon my friend,

One word.

Microsoft.

Posted by: ricardo | September 14, 2009 5:40 PM

Ooops, I mean Brandon.

Anyway....MICROSOFT.

Posted by: ricardo | September 14, 2009 5:42 PM

@Ricardo,

I'm not following. You mean Microsoft as a sponsor?

Posted by: Brandon | September 14, 2009 6:02 PM

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Patricia

http://dataentryjob-s.com

Posted by: Patricia | September 14, 2009 7:33 PM

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Patricia

http://dataentryjob-s.com

Posted by: Patricia | September 14, 2009 7:36 PM