Archive for January, 2008

Thoughts on the Scripped business model

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Finding free wireless is less of a struggle than I thought it might be. Fortunately, I can use my iPhone to stake out the airwaves at a cafe before cracking open my laptop. If enough unlocked networks exist, I take the plunge, buy a coffee, and dive into Scripped for the next two hours.

I’m in LA for another week to think hard about our business model. It’s difficult because so much of what we are doing is contingent on the work that other companies are doing. Scripped is about as far upstream in the video production value chain as it gets. We exist where ideas are generated, and we’re happy here because it’s really not that crowded. There’s ScriptShark, which no one has access to, and TriggerStreet, which too many people have access to. We’re unique because we have a writing app that helps new writers test the screenplay waters and see how it works.

But how do we make money? The three of us are basically broke. I’m over $100k in debt from Harvard and MIT tuition and living expenses, Sunil poured his life savings into UCLA and the rest into Scripped, and Zak is in similar dire straits. But such is the life of an entrepreneur, a perspective I had the good fortune to grasp firsthand in a tour of Silicon Valley startups with my MIT Sloan classmates. Every successful startup we spoke to had a rice, beans, and sleeping bag sob story. Surprisingly, the spartan lifestyle continued even after their first $6m funding round.

So we need to monetize our services, but as I said, the monetization of a script is contingent on the monetization of the downstream video product. How much money will a producer make on a million YouTube, Revver, or *.tv site video views? No one really knows, but the answer will help us understand how much the script that drove the video is worth. Once we get this far, it will be easier to determine what to charge and to whom. I suspect the Scripped Writer will always be free. We’ll eventually charge fees to promote scripts to producers, and likewise to allow producers or their agents to browse the catalog of scripts that Scripped members allow permissions to see.

Regardless, from the perspective of a young guy sitting outside of a coffeeshop at Sunset and Vermont, it’s a fun problem to think about. Maybe we’ll put up a donation button instead. I think Sunil needs some new underwear.

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Launch Goes Well

Friday, January 11th, 2008

scrippedb1.jpg

Well the launch ended up being a huge success, and we were very happy with the way the event ran. I was a bit nervous, because a few minutes before the event, it looked like no one was going to show. Thankfully, a lot of people ended up showing up late and we  had about 70 people in the audience. It was a great moment for us.  Varitey Magazine, the Santa Monica Daily Press and The Daily Bruin were all present - we hope to get a mention, or a write-up somewhere, but that wasn’t the real victory here. More later - I woke up for a meeting that I thought I had, and I am completely exhausted. Loooonnnnnggggg week.

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Two days ’til launch

Monday, January 7th, 2008

It’s getting down to crunch time, and I’m starting to get a bit worried. My stomach hasn’t been treating me well the past few days, due in large part to poor eating/stress/going out last night.

What I learned today - never purchase an open-box product from an electronics store. In anticipation of the event, we are trying to complete this “checklist” of things to do… One of them is “purchase digital video camera and return a week later.” I have definitely returned stuff in the past… Last year, I took a week-long backpacking trip to Yosemite, and I purchased a funny looking hat for the trip. The hat is meant to keep your head warm at night, etc, etc… Well, I wore it for the whole week, and thanks in large part to a terrific return policy (will not mention store name, but feel free to email me to ask) I returned it without any questions being asked of me. Hurray for good return policies.

Thing is, when you buy consumer electronics from a store like Best Buy, or Circuit City, they are way more sophisticated. They know taht jerks like me come around every now and then looking to “borrow” expensive consumer electronics for one or two uses. Their way around this is to charge you a 15% restocking fee for any item that costs in excess of $200. There is ONE exception to this rule - if you purchase an open box item, they WILL refund all of your money within 14 days.

I went to Circuit City on 4th and Arizona the other day and bought an open-box Hitachi DV Camcorder. It was marked down signicantly from the original price, and it would have been perfect for our launch event. To my disappointment, I walked home and discovered that it did not have a battery. When I took it back right away and explained the situation, they tried to tell me that it was actually my fault, and I may have taken the battery… After some squabbling, they gave me my money back. I think next time I’ll just go to Costco.

Is this really California? The weather is awful.

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New Year, New Challenges

Tuesday, January 1st, 2008

Happy new year! This year, in keeping with the theme of relaxing, I didn’t do anything terribly exciting. My girlfriend and I went to a house party in San Francisco, which was pretty cool. It was in a neighborhood called Glen Park, which is really, really nice. Some dental school students were the hosts, and man, those guys are trouble. They bought one of those ice-block sled things that you could do shots off of. One of the guests was in America from the first time (from Germany) and he was the guy pouring the shots down the ice sled. Hilarious. He also taught me how to open a beer bottle with another bottle - skills of a misspent youth.

Two years ago, I was in India for a tennis tourney, and I ended up hanging out with Carlos Moya and a few other ATP guys (Ivan Ljubcic, etc, etc…). Word to the wise - never drink with an Ex-ATP #1 - they stay out late. It was not pretty.

The new year is going to bring a lot of new challenges for Scripped. One of the funny things about Scripped that has changed a lot over time is the business model. We have a really good idea as to how we want to monetize the site (actually, about a 100 good ideas), but we need to focus and decide on two or three. One of the challenges we face every time we step into a VC meeting is the prospect of explaining that our target market is large enough to justify an investment. The inherent problem with those meetings is that business people are not really our target market, nor do they really understand our target market.

Ok, those are my brief thoughts for the day…. Enjoy the picture of Moya and I. It was a pretty fun night.Carlos Moya and Sunil

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