Own 50% of cashflow from iPhone app if you help complete it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSff61nrtqY

Above is a marketing video we produced (one of many actually).

Some friends and I designed an iPhone app with the goal of making it safer to make calls while driving. The app is called SafeLane and is basically a dynamic "favorite" list that you have on the native phone app. Users can add/edit/delete items on the call list in the app or using the web.

The two use cases we wanted the MVP to support were:

(1) User knows they have a 1 hour commute later in the day so, while in their office, using the web interface they add 5 calls to their SafeLane call list and they then make those calls while driving.

(2) User's assistant adds 5 calls to user's SafeLane call list from assistant's office using web interface (think sales person driving between meetings).

The reason SafeLane is safer to use than the native phone app is that the user/driver has only to select a few (larger, easy to glance at) options instead of scrolling through emails, or worse, their address book. The graphic design of the app accounts for this and has giant buttons that are easy to use at a glance.

The iPhone app is 80% complete and alpha versions are working on actual phones. The website is about half done. We spent some time/money creating a nice looking website and produced a marketing video. Check it out here http://www.reserver1.com/safelane/content/home/home.aspx (IE only right now).

If you're interested in helping finish the app (I'm guessing about 40 hours of work for someone who know what they're doing) then we'd cut you in for 50% of the free cash flow. This isn't a business but it could be an interesting app that makes a little money and (hopefully) saves some lives.

Thanks for reading.

Do you have an email address I can contact you at?

fn@ altgate.com. You can also learn more about me from my blog http://altgate.com/.

I heard something like that exists for emailing while waking, I thought it a hilarious idea.

To be honest, though, I think a phone should just not be used while driving.

cool idea, good luck with it.

Could you elaborate on the 'free cash flow,' where does the money come from?

FCF = Revenue - Apple's commission - website hosting costs.

Thought is to price the app in the $5-10 per month range and target busy sales people to start. It's both a productivity tool as well as a safety thing (and can be expensed to the company).

I doubt it's much, but if we push our marketing there's a potential to generate $10-20K in FCF...

I'd take out some insurance, too, in case accident victims decide to sue you. Maybe I am just too paranoid, though.

Agreed!

I don't mean to sound negative, but if someone had the skills and inclination to "finish" your work for 50% of the net, why wouldn't they just go build it themselves for 100%?

I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea, but I can't see why someone else would work on it to completion and "cut you in" for 50%?

No, that's not negative. Perhaps that is the answer. The only thing I have to offer is about $25K of out of pocket expenses with a design/branding company coming up with specific designs, UX, branding and about a half dozen 30-second marketing videos. There is working code we have for an iPhone that does communicate with the website database, but there are quite a few things that don't yet work.

I think it only makes sense for a talented programmer who is between projects and has 1 maybe 2 weeks to invest in the potential for $10-20K of upside.