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Forum nameGeneral Discussion
Topic subjectAren't app startups valued much higher than this? [Shark Tank related]
Topic URLhttp://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=4&topic_id=12733372
12733372, Aren't app startups valued much higher than this? [Shark Tank related]
Posted by Starks dunked on Bulls, Sun Feb-22-15 03:55 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRzdqmuMGg

Homey valued his company at $266,666? Aren't these kind of companies worth millions?

And why only 99 cent for the app? He should've made the buggy version with the ads only 99 cents. And offered the premium version for 5 bucks. A college student who's interested in saving thousands should have 5 bucks to spare.

12733413, valuation is whatever you can get ppl to agree you're worth.
Posted by poetx, Sun Feb-22-15 06:06 PM
dude said they had 92k downloads (i'm assuming at 99 cents). lets round up to 100k.

apple and google taking 30 cents on each dollar. so that meant they had 100k revenues - 30k to apple and google = 70k.

so they are at about 3x gross annual revenue on valuation or 4x if they're counting what they got back after apple and google's cut.

i think their valuation is a little low and suspect that they were moreso going after sharktank for the national publicity. (but even getting on shark tank and not doing a deal means you got to give up 5% of your company).

40k for effectively 20% of your company seems pretty high, unless they parlay this appearance into a LOT of coverage. but its on yahoo, etc., so it may have ended up as a very effective ad buy.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhRzdqmuMGg
>
>Homey valued his company at $266,666? Aren't these kind of
>companies worth millions?
>
>And why only 99 cent for the app? He should've made the buggy
>version with the ads only 99 cents. And offered the premium
>version for 5 bucks. A college student who's interested in
>saving thousands should have 5 bucks to spare.

the overall market (full time college students w/ smartphones) is around 18 million. better to go for maximum market share than get a smaller percentage of folks willing to pay more.

at 99 cents, at worst, it's a novelty. ppl will be pissed if they pay $5 and don't get a scholarship.

i don't know the demographics o how many students qualify for the type of scholarships they are marketing.




peace & blessings,

x.

www.twitter.com/poetx

=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad
12733426, wrong spot.
Posted by dapitts08, Sun Feb-22-15 07:03 PM
.
12733615, Thanks to Mark Cuban business owners no long have to give
Posted by Fishgrease, Mon Feb-23-15 08:23 AM
up a percentage of profit or equity in their company for appearing on the show.

http://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/mark-cuban-forces-shark-tank-to-remove-equity-clause.html


12733427, that was all ego.
Posted by dapitts08, Sun Feb-22-15 07:04 PM
mark and robert felt like they have more of the technical know how to run a business like this ... which is true ... and in their mind that should have been dude's number one priority

but instead he went with folks who BELIEVED in his purpose and vision first and that they are confident that they can build the product they need around it

it's not the first time daymond or lori has invested in someone based on believing in them or their story....hell robert and mark have to....this is just the first time that other sharks felt like they lost out by not getting the deal themselves and acted like little babies

edit: and it's not look dude doesn't know the scholarship space...he got $1.3 million in scholarships himself...so yeah...whatever technical issues maybe encountered i am pretty sure they can work that out
12733491, I just wonder how they'll keep
Posted by tariqhu, Sun Feb-22-15 09:53 PM
that db updated. seems like a heavily manual process.
12733505, he mentioned that they already developed an algorithm
Posted by dapitts08, Sun Feb-22-15 10:19 PM
i am sure one of the first courses of action will be to tweak and refine it

and create some kind of incentive program for students to self submit their finds to the database and run through an algorithm

as well as branding themselves as the go to place for scholarship givers to list their scholly to run through the algorithm

note: i keep saying run through an algorithm lol but i don't know the technicalities of how that works at al... all i know is that it is a way to use math and variables to data mine...lol
12733518, we're >< on the algorithems lol
Posted by tariqhu, Sun Feb-22-15 10:49 PM
12733560, what you see on that show is staged
Posted by AZ, Sun Feb-22-15 11:56 PM
Don't focus too much on the details
12733947, yea its low, prolly why lori jumped
Posted by Riot, Mon Feb-23-15 01:58 PM
if dude hit 92k in a yr (or two)
new class of freshman coming in school every year = easy million

the algorithm is not gonna change the earning potential of the biz
and if hes got 40k scholarships in the database already, there is likely only a few updates that need to be made year after year


the 'charity tank' comment turns it into racial dog whistle

meanwhile as dapitts said, they cut ppl off and jump on pitches early all the time. and get mad if the inventor wants to hear other offers


btw i had this same idea like 3 yrs ago
and for an associated college planner to walk thru application deadlines, aid forms, admission requirements, etc

since mad kids dont know or get lost in the process


but im a lazy ass and rather post on okp instead.
*nae nae dance*
12733967, The algorithm and technical details are probably the simplist part
Posted by PimpTrickGangstaClik, Mon Feb-23-15 02:10 PM
It's not to difficult to web crawl and data mine to create an aggregated database of schollys.
Just outsource it to some Ukrainian computer guy to do it real cheap

If I heard that idea and its early success, I'd jump too with getting into the nitty gritty
12734021, That was a horrible idea to answer in that way
Posted by Heinz, Mon Feb-23-15 02:52 PM
and start a business partnership with that whole answer now as if they were gonna walk away knowing its potential and that those 2 other guys wanted it. Never. He was in control and didnt even know it. I wouldve wait to see what Mark and the other dude had to say and offer

Also i would've went to Silicon Valley with the idea and found someone better to work with lol With an idea like that and the potential I wouldve explored my options the guys at Shark Tank are great businessmen and all but just for the tech world not necessarily my first choice

Damon and Lori were pretending like they didn't know what they did lol they bullied the kid on tv. It was great business move on their end and they had to stick to their guns that it was all about doing good for the world, but that was literally like 1/4 of it. It was mostly about getting involved on the cheap 20k each for 15% before he realized he could get more.

____

TWITTER : Heinz21st

IG : H_N_Z
12734035, His company is a database? The same database that can be found
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Mon Feb-23-15 03:06 PM
on this government site for free?
http://careerinfonet.org/scholarshipsearch/ScholarshipCategory.asp?searchtype=category&nodeid=22


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r
12734054, lol. That's what I was thinking. This dude swindled them
Posted by PimpTrickGangstaClik, Mon Feb-23-15 03:21 PM
There's a bunch of websites that do this already. And it doesn't seen like the type of work that is really made for a mobile app.

But I don't know. Maybe his data is more comprehensive.
He was talking about like 50,000 scholarships are available. This thing only has 6000
12734066, don't discount how important ui is for this generation
Posted by dapitts08, Mon Feb-23-15 03:30 PM
that site you linked up is an easy turn off for a student
it is extremely formal and does not look user friendly
it looks like a typical old school government site

my guess is scholly is built with a specific user experience in mind
the ease of using a touch screen
the likely use of buttons for navigation
most likely a more simpler and easier to navigate layout than what you linked up
all of that goes a long way
12734108, finding scholarships on your phone though? Shouldn't you sit at a computer
Posted by Buddy_Gilapagos, Mon Feb-23-15 04:09 PM
for that?

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"One of the most important things in life is what Judge Learned Hand described as 'that ever-gnawing inner doubt as to whether you're r