Ask HN: Would You Use This? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Would You Use This?

6 pointsdownandout6 comments

Over the last decade, I have had a string of failed startups. The one successful business I co-founded was sold for $64 million, but my co-founder screwed me out of my $12.8 million stake. All of this has left me financially and emotionally devastated. I have decided that I will never again bother starting something unless I can verify that there would be actual customers for it.

I am thinking of creating a service where you can sell introductions to your contacts. If I need a contact at company X, I search for people that have contacts there. I let the people that have the contacts know what it is that I want to pitch to their friend, and if they think their friend would be interested, they introduce us for a fee. LinkedIn charges exorbitant rates for sending Inmail. The idea here is similar, except you get a warm contact and most of the money goes to the people actually providing the valuable contacts instead of lining the pockets of LinkedIn.

Would any of you use this as a buyer or seller?

Nope. Part of the value of a personal connection is that they're not trivial to get. I'm not particularly sold on InMail, and I'm not sure LinkedIn is either, since they keep calling me offering to sell me access to their network directly.

This reminds me of services which offer business leads. The hard part will be creating a marketplace for casual (and inexpert) sellers and weeding out shoddy products - I have collected about 150 connections on Linkedin. Since the initial buzz most have been accepted connections from "friend sluts".

If I wanted to be bothered, I could sell you my connection to "real-estate Bob" but, I don't really know him. More importantly, he doesn't really know me. My introduction might have no more value than a cold call, but how would a buyer know.

On the other hand, why create a casual marketplace? The sales lead model is based on directly collecting and selling knowledge. If there are buyers for introductions, produce the introductions directly rather than brokering them.

This, to me, is the epitome of sleaze. I would want no part of it as either buyer or seller.

If I'm the buyer: Pros - I get a warm intro to meet with people I otherwise would have had to have a cold intro with

Cons - The people know that I've paid someone else for their time and thus would feel standoffish, upset, etc.

If I'm the seller: Pros - I get to sell a contact one time. Cons - Once my friends find out that I sold them, they will cease being my friends and will actively avoid me

I don't see how it could be any other way for the casual person.

As a buyer, maybe, if that was the only way to reach them.

As a seller, no. If my contact would be interested I should be introducing them anyway (there are benefits of being the one to introduce something great to them without a direct financial reward). If they're not going to be interested I should not be spamming them for profit.

The startup ecosystem seems to run on goodwill. This idea might work, but I certainly wouldn't want it to.

This feels too risky. If a contact's worth selling connection to, you don't want to lose them. That would be far too easy to do with a string of bad introductions.

No, seems dirty. Would feel like I was selling out friends.

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