What is this mysterious drivel?
Who is brianvan5155 and why hasn't he made any comments?
How has this made it to the front page?
What can it all mean?
Who is brianvan5155 and why hasn't he made any comments?
How has this made it to the front page?
What can it all mean?
I've been talking with Julie about her experiences as a like-minded professional and I also remain baffled why her extremely sensible business plan continues to //receive tepid interest// (EDIT: originally wrote "go unfunded" here but I'm speaking inaccurately and out-of-line) despite an aggressive half-year VC campaign while the most harebrained ideas in the world (founded by prep school dudes) seem to effortlessly accumulate resources provided by others... including free press from many of the news sources that get shared here frequently. I believe business leaders in our industry play favorites and manipulate us into believing their partners are somehow better and more deserving than the rest of us... and that it fattens their bottom line and increases their domination of the culture of this industry. I think more of us need to take a stand against this... if not just on principle, but because it's good business and certainly a better plan than the lengthy boom/bust cycles this VC ruling class keeps leading the rest of us through like lemmings, leading to capital shortages and employment drop-offs that starve families and stifle innovation.
So, let's use this as a forum to discuss what may or may not be wrong about this view of things.
Maybe cuz it's an API for social games. No Silicon Valley VC will fund anything that has to do with games these days. Untried harebrained ideas at least don't have dismal track records yet.
We are technically a suite of tools (which you know depending on your executional ability is an API, or a set of SDKs, or us hand holding you through using them) for brand managers and marketers to build applications and games with their own data. Layer up content + actions and out pops your very own custom THING.
We have found that there is a huge demand for brand creative, as digital marketing requires more marketing, not less, with newer storylines & media format being demanded w/ever more frequent turns.The advertising agencies are struggling to deliver quality, timely results, and brand managers struggle to afford the associated cost of traditional, all original (or custom) marketing.
We believe that if brands could rapidly create compelling new campaign media by leveraging a standing (and hopefully ever improving) body of component elements with their own brand data and concepts this is a powerful
Obviously this approach is well accepted today in software creation and the good news in we have worked with host of brands to try this theory out in practice- aka in client paid efforts.
Essentially what we're seeing, is if the tools allow quality brand marketing results, that reflect the brand’s story telling objective, then the brand manager is satisfied.
If the creative cost & delivery are both materially lower, this is a winning path—and the birth of a potentially formidable new cloud based SaaS business
Who really don't find us through our website but through word of mouth with ad agencies, brand managers and media partners. But nevertheless we say PLATFORMS! SOCIAL GAMES! SHIT WE THINK WILL PLAY WELL BUT OUR CUSTOMER BASE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT REALLY.
And well I suppose this is all true. But also framing.
The first 30 seconds of introduction to your concept is the most important - make sure people can understand it!
Speak plain English and explain in a nustshell what you do for whom.
Investors and brands are busy, make it easy for them.
"We help businesses make compelling games using their own customer's data"
"We help businesses make personalised games for their customers"
"Personalised games for your customers"
I have signed up for a demo. Would like the handholding variety please. I have a brand in truck accessories (http://traxda.com) and one in phone cases (http://sascase.com).
The background is that big companies like Coke or Nike need creative content to post on Facebook and Twitter. They pay PR agencies huge dollars to come up with that content.
My plain English translation would be something like: this company helps PR agencies make custom online games for their clients. The agencies will look good because lots of people will play the games. (Maybe the games also collect consumer preference data--not clear.) Agencies with developers on staff can self-service; agencies without developers can pay extra to get help.
You're website says:
"playapi IS A PLATFORM FOR CREATING SOCIAL GAMES"
And your name is "playapi." Sounds pretty accurate given the website. :)
Now as a total outsider to your business or it's history, having never heard of it, if this comment is like your pitch, personally, I think it is a little convoluted. HTH!
It's true that I have other friends who have very well-funded companies and who I believe have businesses with strong fundamentals. (One of them: a social gaming company) But I also can't deny that all of the friends who have received significant support in this industry have really similar backgrounds and attributes to them, and that the homogenous nature of the industry - in diversity and in thought - is disturbing. I think it discourages healthy growth of the industry from the sort of people who would disrupt the homogenous nature of the industry. The disruptors hate being disrupted!
That said, it seems like SV isn't really into the media agency industry, either. Even Apple's marketing is done mostly in Los Angeles. Maybe this particular company would be better off in NYC or LA?
And there is always Kickstarter.
I cannot imagine how many people's 20's have been wasted in the last decade chasing some mythical social web 2.0 dollar. We need to understand that most of the Instagrams of the world got lucky simply because of the bubble and the confusion over what's a viable business on the Internet not because they've actually created billions in value.
They won a damn lottery, they aren't creating models for new business.
Do you also read tea leaves?