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Comment by dutchbrit | Hacker News Reader

How do you plan to compete against LinkedIn & monetise?

We believe the platform is attractive to professionals who want an easy, privacy-focused way to promote the services they offer, with the ability to differentiate themselves from people offering the same/similar services.

The platform is zero-cost, ad-free and includes direct messages. I hope the UI is more easy to navigate and understand, compared to LinkedIn.

The TRU Score, while somewhat controversial, is more powerful than a star-rating system. Also, it works works for you as a buyer or seller.

Monetization is planned in a future release and includes [1] selling blocks of time to people who want to consult with you, and [2] promotions, where you [as a seller] pays the buyer for considering your services.

We believe it's a great time to build alternatives to the major networks that exist today. It should be easier for people to promote and sell their services. It should be easier for people to find trustworthy providers. And it should be easier to protect your personal privacy.

> where you [as a seller] pays the buyer for considering your services

Isn't this just ads?

Not advertising in the traditional sense. Today, many of the ad's you see are based on data collected about you. There is no "opt-in" and you are not compensated.

We envision a model whereby you select which promotions to participate in, based on your needs/interest "and" how much you will receive in compensation.

From the seller standpoint, we believe the costs to reach a consumer will be similar. Yet, the consumers they do reach will have a genuine interest in the offering. Thus the promotion has the potential to offer a better response. To be clear, the seller is able to select which members qualify for the promotion [Ex. based on location, occupation, TRU Score, etc].

From the buyer standpoint, we view this an an improvement over the current model. There is no privacy violation or personal data sharing with strangers. You have the freedom and choice of which promotions to participate in. Assuming it works as planned, it would allow you to make a more informed buying decision.

> selling blocks of time to people who want to consult with you

What does this actually mean? Would you be selling my time to someone else?

Do you have an import LinkedIn profile feature to reduce friction of adoption?

Also why doesn't your sign up support Google auth or any other identity providers? Another friction reducer opportunity right there.

The consult feature is in development for the next release. You decide if you want to provide this service in your profile. The idea is to make it easy for you to turn-on/turn-off this feature. Initially, we see 30-minute and 60-minute blocks of time, where you determine the price.

So, if for example you sell accounting services and I am looking for an accountant, I will pay you $xx amount of money to have an initial consultation.

You may prices your services high or low, depending on supply demand. But, for me as a buyer, it's a transparent low-risk way for me to meet/evaluate a professional that I am considering to hire.

The platform would take a % of the consult fee paid, which would take place off-platform [Ex. Stripe].

If privacy is a core focus of your pitch, there should be a document with specifics about your promises around privacy, etc. There's nothing stating who you are and why I should trust you with my data.

If you really want to sell me on your privacy stance, you'll convince me (with something structurally binding) that once successful you're not going to sell out and have my data subject to new rules I didn't sign up for.

I this point I've been trained not to trust any company that's not charging me.

Thank you for your comment. I understand, agree and feel the same. This is absolutely something we need to address very soon. Nobody knows us, other than what we have published on our SELLFF profiles. We wanted to launch, knowing that there remain some very important obstacles that we still need to overcome. Credibility and communicating trust to the public is certainly one of them.

Until we can get to the next step, we provide this: [1] https://sellff.com/terms [2] https://sellff.com/privacy

Also, my assurance that our intentions are good and that we will try very hard not to screw things up. Additionally, would welcome any suggestions you have for how we could meet this higher standard of trust you are looking for. Thx.

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