Sat, Jan 3, 2015
( follows on from "An idea for a new charity platform - Part 4" )
So over the last few weeks I have been spending lots of time working on my other businesses and not had a huge amount of time to dedicate to Taskfundr. However this week I have made explicit time for "thinking" about the platform and to address some of the business model issues that I have discovered even as early as now whilst developing the MVP.
Before I begin I go further I also want to point out that although currently I am not validating with other real-world customers I am able to validate the process personally as I am currently operating as two of the three major user groups - and this will cost my company real money.
One of the major challenges polluting my thoughts has been the charity vs for-profit models. Designing this platform was never intended to be a not-for-profit and is most intentionally designed to become a profitable company.
Finding a better way to raise money for charities has always been a focal point of the platform and the reason for its inception. However the more I carry on and build stuff and address issues, I realise the larger market that seems more and more obvious.
Rapidly the platform is transitioning into an alternative crowdfunding platform that I can see being used to raise funds for all sorts of ventures whether they be for an international charity or a sole trading professional.
I can see the importance of building the 3 way market place more and more now, but this has had an impact on the purity of the original business model. It has now also pushed me to think far more about end pricing etc.
Can it become a true marketplace?
The aim of creating this platform is to see whether it is possible to create a win-win business model for everyone involved. That doesn't mean for everyone using the platform, that also means for the platform too as a profit-making service.
My belief is that to achieve this it needs to create a real value for all 3 sectors of the taskfunding market place (the Recipients, the Angels and the Taskfunders). Everyone needs to get something in exchange for whatever they put in. They also need to get enough back that they feel the platform is justified in taking a commission as the facilitator.
Having started off mainly focussed around the idea of charity fundraising, some of the more obvious business model questions were ignored, such as "what does an Angel get back for their investment" (as with charity contributions there is a altruistic purpose for the donation) or "what is the correct amount of tasks that should be attributed to the Angel" etc.
But having thought more about the possibility of making an actual marketplace for raising funds through doing, these questions have become more complex to answer.
However, I do believe that with work and tackling each of the issues head on it is achievable to make something that all users will feel comfortable with and will be able to offer a genuine new form of crowdfunding which I am really excited about.
So from now on in, this concept has shifted from being a charity fundraising platform into being a crowdfunding platform, whereby charities are the first class citizens. Ideally I would like to make a marketplace that generates enough revenues to allow charity fundraising activity to be zero commission.
In future posts I want to talk about some of the dilemmas that I have been through or will be going through, as part of a short series.
Until next time... …
If you are interested in any of the ideas that I have talked about or want to get in touch about helping, launching a campaign etc then send me a tweet @jimhilluk.