Dear Jim Gaffigan, Louis C.K. paid $35k for his website. We'll do yours for $0.
dearjimgaffigan.com
dearjimgaffigan.com
-The design on your website is terrible. You need to fix this immediately. This just looks like a tumblr post, or a twitter stream or something. Actually, it looks like a "The Oatmeal" comic. It's unbecoming. Go look at the design of companies that do stuff like this, evaluate why they do these things, and why you should too.
-Drop the "look how hip we are" photos. You get to post photos like that when you're talking about launching your next multi-million-dollar company, not when you're offering to work for free.
-Post some examples of stuff that you've designed. Post examples of times you've worked with payment processors and dealt with potentially multi-millions-of-dollars worth of transactions.
-Post some examples of stuff you've built that has been at the scale we're talking here. Vaguely alluding to your friend embarrassing himself in front of Mark Zuckerberg isnt' really a good example of why your service isn't going to come grinding to a halt when it gets some traffic.
*And now about that astericks. If you do any of the things I listed here, please give me a portion of the money you make in the future. Here is how to get ahold of me: http://thingist.com/users/Ryan
edit: guys. This: https://twitter.com/#!/RossRobinson/status/17026182091597824...
Several times a day for a week?
Not okay. Give it a rest. At this point I'm sure he's seen it and is probably annoyed with you.
edit2: I found the site that you're trying to launch: http://launch.matinee.io/
You'd probably be better served to host this there. Now it looks like you're trying to start offering this as a service to a lot of people, and you want Jim Gaffigan to be the first.
That's cool, and that sounds a lot better than "We're two guys who like to drink beer and play in the snow. Trust us with your millions"
BIG ARROWS!
SCROLL WHEEL TIME!
The launch page as it exists right now is not really related to this campaign. We've just been using it to a/b test marketing language so far.
I totally agree the design is crap, after all, I made it myself!
Take a good long look through the website for Version Industries, the guys who worked with Louis CK. I've known Caspar for years online, and I still have no idea what he looks like. But I can see from this website that he does good work.
The reason for me is twofold: The asterisk, and the lack of product.
The Asterisk: You make it very hard to understand what "Free*" actually means. When you later say "we'll need to take a small portion of revenue..." a lot of red flags go up in mind. What if I want to deploy the product on my own server, where I will take care of the bandwidth and other costs? Will you still give me your product for free, since the only money you asked for was to cover bandwidth?
The Lack of Product: I don't see a demo (tell me if I'm wrong) showing how you have this turnkey "Louie CK model" solution up and running. If you don't have that, that means I'll be your guinea pig as your first customer. If I'm putting a product out there, I'm not willing to chance being a guinea pig because if problems occur (data stolen, server outtages, etc) it's my reputation that will suffer as a result.
It's a bad way to start a 'business'. It's a bad way to move forward on an idea. And it's a surefire way of setting yourself up to be looked at as worth... wait for it... nothing.
Instead of trying to entice him to pay you nothing, entice him to pay you 35k. Wouldn't that get you so much further in his eyes and also, in yours? Wouldn't that give you so much more runway to actually do the amazing job you're expecting of yourself, and also the one you're setting Jim Gaffigan up to expect of you also?
I see things like that, and I immediately think amatuer - because I was right there, thinking that way. And I didn't achieve anything of substance until I woke up from silly dreams of making it big by jumping on the backs of giants.
As for the cost, the reality is that a project like this takes a lot of bandwidth, and wouldn't be feasible at all if we weren't taking 5%.
Lack of product is a valid criticism. We've been focusing on customer development before actually building the thing, specifically because we need feedback in order to formulate the product correctly. This is a special case in which we would build a version of it specifically for Jim, and then use the same code to create a repeatable version.
So, in other words, if Mr. Gaffigan isn't careful, he's going to end up paying a lot more than $35k for his site.
A few things totally infuriate me.
1. > The bate and switch. Using an asterix to play down your "free" "fee" is not cool.
2. > The site design is sub-par (this didn't annoy me, just a constructive criticism.) No one should be criticised for having poor design skills, heck I suck.
3. > You have posted this story multiple times. This isn't cool. This is the aspect that is the worst.
4. > This isn't some good will gesture, it's a business idea sugar coated as some ploy to make money.
5. > 5%?!! (I especially thought of 5 points so I could say five on point five!)
Thats how I would put it politely.
Trying to make money by doing this kind of thing isn't wrong, but that's a private negotiation with the talent. You don't get to pretend you're doing it for "free" for upvotes and exposure.
The way to be humorous with something like this is to use a skit from one of his early comedy skits with a witty twist.
TLDR: Don't shoot yourself in the head with stupid remarks when you're almost at the finish line.
The style of writing that can be childish, tasteless and crude is very difficult to successfully pull off. Most times you're going to need a professional writer on staff to manage that persona effectively.
Hooooooot Pockets.
And for our next trick we'll make this calculator spell "BOOBIES". hehehe
lame