Would you use this service?

Digital_Guy

A good few years ago I had the idea for an Irish website where people could connect with experienced business owners to ask them questions in exchange for an affordable fee. The fee could be charged on a 'pay per question' model, or otherwise. Either way, the whole idea would be to give new and even established business owners (or whoever) the opportunity to get advice from seasoned business people for a reasonable fee.

In addition, lots of people love sharing their experience and giving advice / insights, and so it could be a platform they could use for the enjoyment and satisfaction of it, and where the money is really just a bonus. For others, it could be a nice income stream overall.

Anyway, shortly afterwards I saw a website called Clarity.fm, which is the exact same idea, but for phone calls. I saw it again lately and wondered could an Irish version work. It could be that Ireland is a small market for it but there may still be opportunity there and then there are other potential markets too (UK possibly, although I haven't looked into it).

Anyway, thoughts? Would you use such a service as either someone with skills and experience, or as someone seeking advice? Of course, you can always be an experienced person and still seek out advice from others, works both ways

Could be a good time for something like this too, considering how even more prevalent smartphone are now, the boom in entrepreneurship, and so on.

James 007

Digital_Guy wrote: »

A good few years ago I had the idea for an Irish website where people could connect with experienced business owners to ask them questions in exchange for an affordable fee. The fee could be charged on a 'pay per question' model, or otherwise. Either way, the whole idea would be to give new and even established business owners (or whoever) the opportunity to get advice from seasoned business people for a reasonable fee.

In addition, lots of people love sharing their experience and giving advice / insights, and so it could be a platform they could use for the enjoyment and satisfaction of it, and where the money is really just a bonus. For others, it could be a nice income stream overall.

Anyway, shortly afterwards I saw a website called Clarity.fm, which is the exact same idea, but for phone calls. I saw it again lately and wondered could an Irish version work. It could be that Ireland is a small market for it but there may still be opportunity there and then there are other potential markets too (UK possibly, although I haven't looked into it).

Anyway, thoughts? Would you use such a service as either someone with skills and experience, or as someone seeking advice? Of course, you can always be an experienced person and still seek out advice from others, works both ways

Could be a good time for something like this too, considering how even more prevalent smartphone are now, the boom in entrepreneurship, and so on.

I use Boards.ie all the time and pay a nominal fee of zero, however there probably is a gap there for specialised expertise advice

Digital_Guy

James 007 wrote: »

I use Boards.ie all the time and pay a nominal fee of zero, however there probably is a gap there for specialised expertise advice

Yep indeed, we all do but would also definitely see the two as quite different though for a wide variety of reasons. Funny you mention Boards itself though as I was thinking that it actually goes to show how such a service could be useful.

Think of all the expertise that is on this forum site-wide - would be nice if people had a way of accessing it in a structured way where both asker and responder each get something pretty solid out of it. When you have skin in the game (i.e. paying / receiving payments) you are also likely to put a lot more into you responses, and into your questions (thinking about the quality of threads here, and the variety in responses).

PhoenixParker

For established business owners this exists here :
http://www.thealternativeboard.ie/

For new business owners the enterprise boards will provide the appropriate answers/connections.

Digital_Guy

PhoenixParker wrote: »

For established business owners this exists here :
http://www.thealternativeboard.ie/

I would see that as quite different. This idea would relate to phone calls or online Q&A, where you could jump on a call or go online quickly, whereas that is a lot more involved and involves meeting up for coaching, etc.

PhoenixParker wrote: »

For new business owners the enterprise boards will provide the appropriate answers/connections.

True but that doesn't mean a service like this couldn't work of course. Plus again that is all about going to meet someone, setting up in-person meetings and appointments, etc - a different proposition altogether.

The idea could also focus on specific niches too - doesn't necessarily have to be B2B business advice.

Digital_Guy

I had an interesting PM there and am trying to reply but the message won't go through - I got an automated message saying your inbox is full and you need to delete some messages to clear space!

drunkmonkey

Personally I get advice from friends who are business owners some in the exact same line of business and others unrelated businesses. Might be just lucky a lot or my friends ended up self employed and a lot of them came from self employed parents so I have a good circle that way.

Anything legal straight to my solicitor, anything accounting wise straight to my accountant and so on and so forth.

I'm not sure what your help advice line could offer me or have offered me starting off as the times I got a kicking in business nobody could have seen it coming.

I'm not convinced it's a stand alone business without a lot of bolt on extras such as cheap consulting/mentoring/planning etc but saying that it's a very lonely place to be out there on your own and for a fee in the first year I probably would have paid it for someone to call and give me advice.

I'd probably pay €365+ Vat a year for a Virtual Director.
Your problem is how your going to get one of us to work for a fee you and your clients can afford.
I can't see anyone with the all round knowledge you'll need willing to do the Job.

Digital_Guy

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Personally I get advice from friends who are business owners some in the exact same line of business and others unrelated businesses. Might be just lucky a lot or my friends ended up self employed and a lot of them came from self employed parents so I have a good circle that way.

Anything legal straight to my solicitor, anything accounting wise straight to my accountant and so on and so forth.

I'm not sure what your help advice line could offer me or have offered me starting off as the times I got a kicking in business nobody could have seen it coming.

I'm not convinced it's a stand alone business without a lot of bolt on extras such as cheap consulting/mentoring/planning etc but saying that it's a very lonely place to be out there on your own and for a fee in the first year I probably would have paid it for someone to call and give me advice.

Yep, not a lot of people will have that kind of circle and even if they do it's always good to sound things out with an impartial stranger. Plus the fact that you and many others will seek out direct 1-1 advice from others goes to show there is a need. Not everyone would use it and would just go with the advice of friends or contacts, but I'm thinking many others would use it - even as a supplement to advice from people you know (second opinion, etc.).

Plus if it only involves a one-off cost (similar to one-off coaching / consultancy) sessions, as opposed to being tied into contracts or retainers, then I would say people could find it an attractive, commitment-free, handy drop-in type service.

drunkmonkey wrote: »

I'd probably pay €365+ Vat a year for a Virtual Director.
Your problem is how your going to get one of us to work for a fee you and your clients can afford.
I can't see anyone with the all round knowledge you'll need willing to do the Job.

Well the idea would be that you name your rate per minute. So let's say yours is €2/minute - you'd make €120 per call. Not bad at all for an hour's work, even if you dipped in and out twice a week? If you did then you'd make nearly €500 extra per month! Minus the site's (reasonable) fees of course, which could be say 10% or 15%.

On the all round knowledge - the site would probably work better as an industry-specific platform, but I'd say there is also a niche for an entrepreneur / start-up focus, where the experts have expertise and experience within specific areas. So finance, tax, funding, digital marketing, HR etc - it could cover a lot of areas within the starting / growing a business space.

ironclaw

Digital_Guy wrote: »

Well the idea would be that you name your rate per minute. So let's say yours is €2/minute - you'd make €120 per call. Not bad at all for an hour's work, even if you dipped in and out twice a week? If you did then you'd make nearly €500 extra per month! Minus the site's (reasonable) fees of course, which could be say 10% or 15%..

I remember we chatted about this before but this particular point is the fall down for me. What start up or business has €120 for an hour of someone's opinion, especially if they have to establish the relationship with the person in the first place? e.g. You are going to spend the majority of the first call getting to know someone and their problem, issue or idea.

I know someone could argue that your accountant or solicitor is similar money but at least it averages out over the year and they know your business inside out. A string of €120 per hour calls and I'd want to be getting serious value for it. Assuming I made three calls, that €360 could be far better spent on researching or even learning the answer myself. I'd equate that back to time and say, well, for minimum wage that's a weeks worth of research or figuring it out. That's where I'd spend the money.

I'd approach it a little different. I'd ask people to post up what their problem is e.g. 'I want to know the best way to enter the dairy market in China' and some info about the company e.g. Small business, 100,000EUR in annual sales. Then have experts bid on the problem offering a rate and time e.g. 1 week for 1000EUR.

Digital_Guy

ironclaw wrote: »

I remember we chatted about this before but this particular point is the fall down for me. What start up or business has €120 for an hour of someone's opinion, especially if they have to establish the relationship with the person in the first place? e.g. You are going to spend the majority of the first call getting to know someone and their problem, issue or idea.

I know someone could argue that your accountant or solicitor is similar money but at least it averages out over the year and they know your business inside out. A string of €120 per hour calls and I'd want to be getting serious value for it. Assuming I made three calls, that €360 could be far better spent on researching or even learning the answer myself. I'd equate that back to time and say, well, for minimum wage that's a weeks worth of research or figuring it out. That's where I'd spend the money.

I'd approach it a little different. I'd ask people to post up what their problem is e.g. 'I want to know the best way to enter the dairy market in China' and some info about the company e.g. Small business, 100,000EUR in annual sales. Then have experts bid on the problem offering a rate and time e.g. 1 week for 1000EUR.

Hey ironclaw, I had a whole reply written up but this stupid buggy website wiped it and I'm not typing it all out again.

The gist of it was that experts will have reviews on their profile and the caller will fill out some details on what they want to cover during the call, but there was a lot more. There is also the fact that this concept is quite tight and structured and experts should see it as attractive that they can get paid right after the call. Also tanyone who doesn't have 60 or 100 euro to invest in solid advice with an expert would want to ask questions about going into business!

Might drop you a PM to discuss further.

pedroeibar1

Nobody worthwhile is going to sit around waiting for a call that brings €120 an hour. If they do, it is not worth listening to their advice. To be effective, any advice proferred must be based on a complete understanding of the buyer's business, which will not be got over the phone in an hour. The type of phone consultation proposed will not work for more complex issues (simple ones like 'how do I open an ILC?' are resolved free by a bank). The idea is (marginally) workable for e.g. a 15 minute medical situation, but not on a complex business issue.

ironclaw

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Nobody worthwhile is going to sit around waiting for a call that brings €120 an hour. If they do, it is not worth listening to their advice. To be effective, any advice proferred must be based on a complete understanding of the buyer's business, which will not be got over the phone in an hour. The type of phone consultation proposed will not work for more complex issues (simple ones like 'how do I open an ILC?' are resolved free by a bank). The idea is (marginally) workable for e.g. a 15 minute medical situation, but not on a complex business issue.

This is what I was alluding to. We've spent weeks with businesses to get to know their business and then it takes a number of weeks of to/fro to develop a solution for them. Even take a simple, one page website build, you're probably looking at a day of sitting down with a business to really get to to know them.

I was mulling this over during the day and I can't really think of a single question I could answer in less than an hour or so. I'd be costing by the day and its far more effective to be face to face.

@Digital_Guy, have you ever worked in a professional consultancy role? Include onsite / remote experience? I don't mean that in a demeaning way but it may help to get some time with someone who has to develop this.

Digital_Guy

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Nobody worthwhile is going to sit around waiting for a call that brings €120 an hour. If they do, it is not worth listening to their advice. To be effective, any advice proferred must be based on a complete understanding of the buyer's business, which will not be got over the phone in an hour. The type of phone consultation proposed will not work for more complex issues (simple ones like 'how do I open an ILC?' are resolved free by a bank). The idea is (marginally) workable for e.g. a 15 minute medical situation, but not on a complex business issue.

An expert won't be waiting by the phone, but if someone books a call in your calendar and all you have to do is pick up the phone or log in when the time arrives, that is quite different!

ironclaw wrote: »

This is what I was alluding to. We've spent weeks with businesses to get to know their business and then it takes a number of weeks of to/fro to develop a solution for them. Even take a simple, one page website build, you're probably looking at a day of sitting down with a business to really get to to know them.

I was mulling this over during the day and I can't really think of a single question I could answer in less than an hour or so. I'd be costing by the day and its far more effective to be face to face.

@Digital_Guy, have you ever worked in a professional consultancy role? Include onsite / remote experience? I don't mean that in a demeaning way but it may help to get some time with someone who has to develop this.

I think you might be over-thinking it or misunderstanding the concept. This is not for in-depth scrutiny or analysis of someone's business plan or operating model. The purpose is to connect with a seasoned / established expert around a particular topic to avail of their insights into a particular area.

I can see how you would think I meant something closer to the former though maybe, given I opened with saying this would be about answering questions on the client's business.

From that perspective, of course the expert is not going to be able to provide an answer to something that requires e.g. detailed analysis of the callers P&L or their business plan, etc. They can only go by what info the caller has provided beforehand in that sense.

But giving advice in relation to a particular area (be it an approach to funding, digital marketing / social media, etc.) and an overview of what direction the caller should go in with something, is quite different. For example ironclaw, you would be able to give someone a really good overview of what direction they should go in if they wanted to build an app. You wouldn't need to know all the details of their business or finances or whatever, you would still be able to share your knowledge and experience in terms of what options are open to them, potential costs, pros and cons of the various options, pitfalls to watch out for, resources to review before proceeding, general tips, etc.

You definitely don't need to know the intricate details of someone's business to give solid advice, share your insights or steer them in the right direction. Sure if that were the case then you'd have to sit down with everyone for a week before you'd feel qualified to give them some pointers! Here is someone who I doubt knew all the finer details of the caller's business before chatting with them! https://clarity.fm/larslofgren/expertise/saas-building-a-b2b-growth-strategy

I know that if a business here wanted digital marketing advice and wanted to jump on a call for half an hour, I'd be able to give them a tonne of great advice knowing only their URL. In fact they could just tell me their business area and I'd have plenty of advice and insights to share, all based on experience.

ironclaw wrote: »

@Digital_Guy, have you ever worked in a professional consultancy role? Include onsite / remote experience? I don't mean that in a demeaning way but it may help to get some time with someone who has to develop this.

Em, yes - onsite, remote, agency, consultancy, in-house. Have helped loads of businesses with this type of thing and have been paid well for it. So I do know what I am talking about

MOH

Digital_Guy wrote: »

I would see that as quite different. This idea would relate to phone calls or online Q&A, where you could jump on a call or go online quickly, whereas that is a lot more involved and involves meeting up for coaching, etc.

Wouldn't you need quite a large, varied panel of experts, with a lot of overlap, to ensure both that you could cover the various areas people would ask about, and that the right person to answer the question would always be available quickly? And you'd need that in place up front to make the service worthwhile.

I'm not sure that the selling point of getting a quick answer ties in well with the idea of the experts doing this for a few hours a week. Actually, what happens if they do arrange a time and the expert's main job requires them unexpectedly? They're not going to put the call ahead of that?

Digital_Guy

MOH wrote: »

Wouldn't you need quite a large, varied panel of experts, with a lot of overlap, to ensure both that you could cover the various areas people would ask about, and that the right person to answer the question would always be available quickly? And you'd need that in place up front to make the service worthwhile.

Well my thinking is that this idea would work best focusing on a niche / specific sector (at least starting off). So whilst I'm posting this on a general business forum, I think the site would need to be more specific than that starting off; i.e. it would focus on a specific area of business or industry.

MOH wrote: »

I'm not sure that the selling point of getting a quick answer ties in well with the idea of the experts doing this for a few hours a week. Actually, what happens if they do arrange a time and the expert's main job requires them unexpectedly? They're not going to put the call ahead of that?

Not sure where you got the idea it has to be a quick answer. It'd be quite the opposite - you would book in for a call and it could take place a week from now. If the expert absolutely can't make the call for that specific half hour or or hour, then there could be a process around rescheduling - that'd be pretty easy to implement. This idea would work best for topics / questions that don't require a quick or urgent response, that's not what it's about.

pedroeibar1

Digital_Guy wrote: »

An expert won't be waiting by the phone, but if someone books a call in your calendar and all you have to do is pick up the phone or log in when the time arrives, that is quite different!

No it is not, in real life. Anybody with a proper consultancy background would be aware that it could never work like that.
Managing client expectation is fundamental to all consultancy work. Consultancy needs credibility and more importantly trust. A one-hour sound bite over the phone on most business problems has no hope of (a) providing appropriate advice or (b) being a foundation for building a business relationship.
People with business problems know who best to turn to, and phoning some randomer on the internet is not on any list of priorities.

Digital_Guy

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

No it is not, in real life. Anybody with a proper consultancy background would be aware that it could never work like that.
Managing client expectation is fundamental to all consultancy work. Consultancy needs credibility and more importantly trust. A one-hour sound bite over the phone on most business problems has no hope of (a) providing appropriate advice or (b) being a foundation for building a business relationship.
People with business problems know who best to turn to, and phoning some randomer on the internet is not on any list of priorities.

I'd suggest with respect you have an old-world view on this Pedro, and that the success of clarity.fm and myriad other online platforms proves otherwise.

People are increasingly comfortably with communicating online with experts in their field who they can see are experienced, and where they can benefit from their insights in a highly-convenient, affordable way that represents a good investment for the small amount of money they will spend.

ironclaw

I'd somewhat agree with pedro here. The value I could offer someone in an hour would be pretty much a rattling through the 'Top 10' for my particular area. I couldn't drill down into the specifics and details, which is the whole point of asking a consultant in the first place. You want someone to understand the problem, end to end, and deliver value. I've sat in plenty of offices where 'consultants' waffle through some pre-prepared script but are caught completely blindsided when someone asks a question or they realise their advice isn't a fit for the particular business. Customers want value and if you arn't delivering real value, then you are conman. Simple as. A lot of people use the consulting gravy train for a pay cheque and its reprehensible in my eyes.

My 'thing' so to speak is ecommerce and I've never had the same conversation twice. You'd think for example that each supermarket is the same, they ain't. They each have different logistics and manners of doing things. Now, M&S arn't going to ring me for an hour, but your smaller business might want some help and direction. Does John making a living selling widgets from his garage have €120 to drop on me? I'd rather give him a 10 mins sound bite for free, some links to read, and have him pay the €120 (or whatever) into an AdWords account to get him going. Or better yet, I'd rather ask him for €150 for a day and sit with him for a few hours to deliver real value and an action plan. And what might that get me? More business. Either I have a follow up with John or John tells Mick in the local commerce club and I get another contract. You can't develop that type of relationship over the phone because the person on the other end will be so keen to get value for money and when you don't really deliver, won't come back.

If it was my gig, I'd drop the short time element and offer consultants on a longer basis or even tier it e.g. Coffee with ironclaw, a morning with ironclaw, a full day, 3 days etc with perhaps a brief consultancy period to get a feel for what needs doing. Because on the other end of the spectrum, John might think he needs an hour on the phone to be the next Amazon when I know that he needs at least a year of engagement to build (or whatever)

Its a good idea but I don't see it working with short time / call scenario.

Moomat

ironclaw wrote: »

I'd rather give him a 10 mins sound bite for free, some links to read, and have him pay the €120 (or whatever) into an AdWords account to get him going.

The above sums it up.

I think the biggest issue you face will be getting people to pay for advice. The democratization of knowledge and well established mentor programs mean that those who have questions that could be answered easily, will usually find that answer for free.

pedroeibar1

Digital_Guy wrote: »

I'd suggest with respect you have an old-world view on this Pedro, and that the success of clarity.fm and myriad other online platforms proves otherwise.

People are increasingly comfortably with communicating online with experts in their field who they can see are experienced, and where they can benefit from their insights in a highly-convenient, affordable way that represents a good investment for the small amount of money they will spend.

Old world? I ran a paperless office since 1992. Everything done electronically with all international and domestic suppliers/customers commencing same era, deadline date of 2000 for 100% (met). Public disagreement with Clarity’s CapGemini in c 1997/8 on its view of the WWW and eCommerce (guess who was right!;) ). Old fart yes, disconnected Luddite no.
As I said earlier, it could work for medical items like ‘What is this rash?’ or in business for basic issues like ‘How do I set up a company?’ or ‘What is the difference between a partnership and a company?’ or ‘What should I be aware of when importing from China?’ – but the timeframe would have to be 15 minute slots. Nor am I convinced that potential buyers would pay the money. You also would need a panel, and I’m not sure that the right type of people would be available on a ‘call now’ basis.

Digital_Guy

ironclaw wrote: »

I'd somewhat agree with pedro here. The value I could offer someone in an hour would be pretty much a rattling through the 'Top 10' for my particular area. I couldn't drill down into the specifics and details, which is the whole point of asking a consultant in the first place. You want someone to understand the problem, end to end, and deliver value. I've sat in plenty of offices where 'consultants' waffle through some pre-prepared script but are caught completely blindsided when someone asks a question or they realise their advice isn't a fit for the particular business. Customers want value and if you arn't delivering real value, then you are conman. Simple as. A lot of people use the consulting gravy train for a pay cheque and its reprehensible in my eyes.

My 'thing' so to speak is ecommerce and I've never had the same conversation twice. You'd think for example that each supermarket is the same, they ain't. They each have different logistics and manners of doing things. Now, M&S arn't going to ring me for an hour, but your smaller business might want some help and direction. Does John making a living selling widgets from his garage have €120 to drop on me? I'd rather give him a 10 mins sound bite for free, some links to read, and have him pay the €120 (or whatever) into an AdWords account to get him going. Or better yet, I'd rather ask him for €150 for a day and sit with him for a few hours to deliver real value and an action plan. And what might that get me? More business. Either I have a follow up with John or John tells Mick in the local commerce club and I get another contract. You can't develop that type of relationship over the phone because the person on the other end will be so keen to get value for money and when you don't really deliver, won't come back.

If it was my gig, I'd drop the short time element and offer consultants on a longer basis or even tier it e.g. Coffee with ironclaw, a morning with ironclaw, a full day, 3 days etc with perhaps a brief consultancy period to get a feel for what needs doing. Because on the other end of the spectrum, John might think he needs an hour on the phone to be the next Amazon when I know that he needs at least a year of engagement to build (or whatever)

Its a good idea but I don't see it working with short time / call scenario.

What about the fact that Clarity.fm has already proven the model?

Another important aspect of this is that you can connect with people you can't meet in person. In the above scenario you can only meet people in your geographic area, you aren't going to be able to get in touch with someone who has grown a startup in Silicon Valley from 0 to wherever - but you might happily pay €100 to connect with him or her on a one-off or even twice-off basis.

I do get where you guys are coming from but I still think you are viewing it through the consultant 'lens', where it's quite a different proposition. I appreciate that to really consult with someone on a particular problem, a phone call is only going to be a springboard.

But in terms of giving someone valuable advice, I think a phone call would still provide loads of value. I could look at someone's website, take some notes and then give them a significant amount of advice on digital marketing, website optimisation and analytics during an hour long call. No different to sitting down with them for an hour and giving them the same advice.

And if someone is in Dublin and the caller is in Limerick, a phone call could work very well indeed. Granted if you wouldn't be comfortable with it it's not for you, but for plenty others it could work very nicely as an option imo. There's also the fact that the call could likely lead to an ongoing consulting arrangement, or further work in whatever form. There's nothing like getting on the phone with someone to kick off that rapport and opening up the possibility of follow-on work.

On that idea you mention ironclaw, I had a similar type of idea there actually. Different from my one here but along the lines of what you describe.

StupidLikeAFox

Digital_Guy wrote: »

What about the fact that Clarity.fm has already proven the model?

I had a look at Clarity - never heard of it before. Its very tech based and does seem to have a lot of experienced guys on there. I think tech is a kind of unique industry though - if you are going to focus on a niche, if you are a dairy farmer and need to ask a dairy specific question, is a potential competitor really the right guy to ring up?

How are you gonna recruit experts? Do you have a big network of guys to tap up?

What are you going to different to Clarity?

Also, you could schedule a call with their founder - its only $83 p/minute :eek:
https://clarity.fm/danmartell/expertise/lean-startup-and-product-growth-techniques

Digital_Guy

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

I had a look at Clarity - never heard of it before. Its very tech based and does seem to have a lot of experienced guys on there. I think tech is a kind of unique industry though - if you are going to focus on a niche, if you are a dairy farmer and need to ask a dairy specific question, is a potential competitor really the right guy to ring up?

How are you gonna recruit experts? Do you have a big network of guys to tap up?

What are you going to different to Clarity?

Also, you could schedule a call with their founder - its only $83 p/minute :eek:
https://clarity.fm/danmartell/expertise/lean-startup-and-product-growth-techniques

Yeah it's true, it's not surprising it's tech-focused as people in tech and who have set up their own online / tech startups are naturally going to gravitate towards something like this.

Unlikely to have much interest among dairy farmers, but in that example a dairy farmer might call a retired dairy farmer for advice.

I would have a decent enough network alright and would have several people in mind for a marketing-focused site. I think there is a gap in the Irish market and I think the Clarity model could work well, with some tweaks possibly. Or the same basic concept, but done differently.

That said, the challenge as always would be attracting people to the service in the first place.

PARlance

Digital_Guy wrote: »

What about the fact that Clarity.fm has already proven the model?

Can you tell us how Clarity.fm have proven the model? I.e Do you have financial information on them, what is its turnover, profitable or not, etc etc.

They've raised a moderate amount in investment ($1.6m) but I can't find any information on whether it's a viable business or not. There's a lot of noise around Tech Startups and very little business behind most.

Afaik they operate on a 15% commission which is fairly slim pickings. 85% going to the expert. 15% is a fairly bad starting point, for every €1 million they're getting €150,000 which would just about cover a Startup CEO, junior and standard Opex.

I'm not convinced Babestation for Business is a runner but it's a decent idea...

Digital_Guy

PARlance wrote: »

Can you tell us how Clarity.fm have proven the model? I.e Do you have financial information on them, what is its turnover, profitable or not, etc etc.

They've raised a moderate amount in investment ($1.6m) but I can't find any information on whether it's a viable business or not. There's a lot of noise around Tech Startups and very little business behind most.

Afaik they operate on a 15% commission which is fairly slim pickings. 85% going to the expert. 15% is a fairly bad starting point, for every €1 million they're getting €150,000 which would just about cover a Startup CEO, junior and standard Opex.

I'm not convinced Babestation for Business is a runner but it's a decent idea...

I think it's a decent idea too Parlance but realistically I'd say it would make a modest income too, so I agree with you there. However the running costs and time required should be relatively low.

Doing some rough calculations - if you had 200 calls per month and the average call was for €50, a 15% commission would only yield €1,500. So it would probably be more of a lifestyle business than anything else. It's different for Clarity as they have all of the top startup people / entrepreneurs with global reach / recognition.

Clarity was actually acquired fairly recently for an undisclosed sum, and merged into a company with a suite of different products and services geared towards startups.

MOH

Digital_Guy wrote: »

Not sure where you got the idea it has to be a quick answer. It'd be quite the opposite - you would book in for a call and it could take place a week from now.

I thought that's what you were saying here?

Digital_Guy wrote: »

PhoenixParker wrote: »

For established business owners this exists here :
http://www.thealternativeboard.ie/

I would see that as quite different. This idea would relate to phone calls or online Q&A, where you could jump on a call or go online quickly, whereas that is a lot more involved and involves meeting up for coaching, etc.

Digital_Guy

MOH wrote: »

I thought that's what you were saying here?

No just meant you can go 'online quickly', as in connect with someone right away, regardless of when you book for and as opposed to having to spend a bit more time seeking out someone.

That said you could probably book in for a call the same day, if the person was free.

Digital_Guy

Interesting to see this pop up very recently! https://21.co/ I saw an Irish guy in London in Marketing with this as his Twitter bio link.

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