advice sought

[Validweb]

I am looking for advice.

Any help much appreciated.

I have a very good short domain for a social network/dating or chatting site.

I'm in contact with a guy who has such a site at like ning, he's got 50,000 members but he doesn't have a domain.


So i suggested we work together, his members, my domain, and with a little bit of marketing we can get 10 times as many members.

But how would i go about making such an agreement? How would it work? Is it a bad idea? Has anybody else done anything like it?

Thanks.

[Sapphiro]

I think it's a good idea, but I'm exactly sure how to draft a valid contract.

Just last month someone approached me to be his xhtml/css partner in his social networking site, what he did was to make a rough draft in PDF which later on had both of our signatures on it. Until now I'm not sure if this 'contract' is actually valid under law, but since we're still at the beginning stage it doesn't matter much for now..

So actually like you, I'm also interested to know how to draft a valid contract..

[Validweb]

thanks Sapphiro

I'll keep you posted as to any developments.

[raoul]

how can a guy have 50k memebers when he not owns a domain?


Why do you think 50k for a social website is much? I think i read last days facebook has 500 million members

I understand that zukenberg also started his facebook with 1 member, beeing hisself, but honestly ask yourself, WHY would ANY of the facebook (or any other network) members even think about joining your "nice domain" site? Also remember that facebook.com was before Facemash.com.

IMO in such projects its not important to have the best domain, or a start with 50k members, you have to have something new, and this "something new" needs to be something that is not easy/fast developed, otherwise ALL social network sites from facebook ---> till the smallest one in the net will have it also running before YOU have your 50001 member.

[Validweb]

hi raoul
thanks for the advice. There are many websites that don't have domains. Search for ning.com communities. Companies like ning deliberately make it easy to have a web site using ning.com domain.

half the reason for zukerberg's success is that he started at harvard. The technology behind facebook is nothing special. if he went to some small university, you would never have heard of facebook.

I am not a harvard, so i need a different approach!

[Acro]

To make things official, form a Limited Corporation - assuming you're both in the UK.

[Validweb]

thanks for the advice, acro.

I thought about that, and its a good way forward. I don't know how all the details would work; my domain, his members, how would we share if and when the site grows, and so on. How would we tak advantage jointly of ad programs like adsense, for example. Sharing becomes an even bigger issue if an investment is made in time or money to grow the site. A lot of details to work out! That's why I wanted to see if any one had a similar experience.

[raoul]

hi raoul
thanks for the advice. There are many websites that don't have domains. Search for ning.com communities. Companies like ning deliberately make it easy to have a web site using ning.com domain.

half the reason for zukerberg's success is that he started at harvard. The technology behind facebook is nothing special. if he went to some small university, you would never have heard of facebook.

I am not a harvard, so i need a different approach!

Your worry about the wrong details, or your not telling us enough to give you proper advice.

- you cannot make money from 50k random people, its to random. 50k students (on average) are poor. If its 50k DNF domainers maybe yes. If its "50k digitalpoint domainers" it prouberbly useless.

-To attact the masses - you need something that others not offer, not something small like "abillity to sms other members free" , but something substantional, like "a time machine" (really bad metafor, but if I could fill that one I would be programming by now)

Zuckenberg;s success was not because harvard, but becuase his idea's how a network site should work. chatting, game competitions, and whatever more options facebook have. He stay 2 steps ahead before the competition by integrating all in one...

Who was the competion than? Back in 2000, ICQ was conciderd a big social netowork at the time, zuckemburg "just" got the idea to make it all in one place.

Maybe harvard helped him to get it spread faster, but with something that "was already existing" he would NEVER pulled it off in such (claimed) big size it is this day.

To come back on my example "students or domainers" , LINKEDin (or xing) are also some kind of social networks, for professionals. If your list is specific to some sort of "group" maybe you can succeed, but still its only attractive to join your new site if
-it has your "ex"
-it has some simular thinkers like you in the same profession/hobby

otherwise 50k is nothing, its too less, and yet your worry about adsense instead of something innovating

[Sapphiro]

From a web developer's view, Raoul is right, but if Validweb just want to increase his domain name's worth (and not really into developing a new social site), then he's right as well.. ☺ I would do something similar if I've got no intention of developing a particular domain name.

Just my 2 cents, cause I'm both a web developer and a domainer.

[Validweb]

holy cow! I've just been given complete administrative access to the site, including the database of members. Its more like 65,000, and growing quickly.
As co-admin I'm also being deluged with sign up requests, 100s per day.

Not sure what I'll do now.

How it came about is that i found out my potential partner does in fact have a domain which he hasn't been using.
Its not a particularly good one, but I told him that he should use it anyway. He said he didn't know how, and I offered to help him.

I meant help with his registar, but he mis-interpreted this and gave me complete control of the site!

Not sure what to do now. Will see how it goes.

all advice greatly appreciated.

[DC20]

Perhaps it's just me, but I don't like partners in business. If everyone makes money great! ...but not partners. Partners can refuse that the company go the direction you know is right, or cause problems if you just don't give them what they want. Perhaps some other kind of setup. Say, pay him $X for each user that was active in the last 2 weeks and buy it straight. Or if you must split things because you don't want to risk the money up front, then he can get X% of the profits. No say in the company, just X% of the profits. Or, and this would be what I would probably like, a (very) low percent commission for all advertising, but a (very) high percentage for advertising done on users he brings.

Much would depend on if he is just bringing the members and that is it, or if he will be an active part of your new site and its' development. If you see Dollar signs, talk to a lawyer. If it was me, I would probably draw up a contract in great detail, make sure to have a provision for the rest remaining enforceable even if a part is found to be invalid, then sign it in front of witnesses and have it notarized (in the US).

Just my $0.02, Good Luck!
DC20

[Validweb]

plugged into google analytics. the site is getting almost 4,000 visits a day. 1 or 2 hundred people sign up a day. 64,000 members.
How much should i offer for it?

[bhartzer]

There are many websites that don't have domains.

Sounds to me like a great opportunity. Check the Ning ( or other social sites) that have a lot of members and check to see if the associated domains are available.

[DC20]

Interesting! Well, let's look at this a different way, now that there is more information. What has he been doing to get the membership to that size? Is what he is doing still valuable to the continued growth? Is he looking to cash out, or just knows there has to be a better way to get bigger than what he has now and wants to stay working with it?

In reply to your last post, is there any revenue from the user base you would be acquiring, or what do you think they would be worth to you in the next 6-12 months?

DC20

holy cow! I've just been given complete administrative access to the site, including the database of members. Its more like 65,000, and growing quickly.
As co-admin I'm also being deluged with sign up requests, 100s per day.

Not sure what I'll do now.

How it came about is that i found out my potential partner does in fact have a domain which he hasn't been using.
Its not a particularly good one, but I told him that he should use it anyway. He said he didn't know how, and I offered to help him.

I meant help with his registar, but he mis-interpreted this and gave me complete control of the site!

Not sure what to do now. Will see how it goes.

all advice greatly appreciated.

[Validweb]

hi dc20
thanks for your interest.

the amazing and frustrating thing is, it's just a hobby for this guy. In less than 48 hours he has had 9,804 uniique Visits, but as yet he's got no interest in making money
from this traffic, or doing anything in particular with the site.

I'm scratching my head, thinking what to offer, or what kind of partnership to suggest.

---------- Post added at 11:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------

he hasn't been doing anything in particular except contacting his friends. quite a few people seem to come from facebook
Direct Traffic 6,628.00 (67.61%)

Referring Sites 3,151.00 (32.14%)

Search Engines 25.00 (0.25%)