Hi,

My name is Mark Stephenson and I am joining as many forums and groups as I can at the moment to get some advice and ideas on how to go about spreading the word about our new social networking project.

Firstly, apologies to the other guy who has JUST posted pretty much the same thing, but it seems to ephasise the point that people are ready for something new, and there are people ready willing and able to offer it!

Having spend 15 years as a developer myself, and watching the rise and fall of some mighty (internet based) empires, enjoying the benefits of the new breed of social forums and complaining when they dont get it quite right (according to many). I decided to do something about it. I decided that the things a lot of people complain about with sites such as Facebook make complete sense. Why would you build a business model based on USING your clients and then not listen to what they want?

I have some amazing ideas that technology has finally caught up with that will really put the power back into the hands of the user whilst still offering a quality, feature rich, safe, scalable experience.

Im still in the process of finishing the exec summary, but have already designed out a boat load of concepts for the UI and features. Some of which I am so excited about I cant sleep! (which is good for progress I suppose!)

The money I have is being invested in getting the base work done. Ive purchased a the domain from a cybersquatter (annoying and expensive), ive paid designers and UI people. I have some reserved for more development legal fees and marketing, but Im guessing I should be saving more for my pitch.

With the rise of crowdfunding it has really given creatives a chance to get in on the action and offer something real without having to sell a kidney to do so. (Although if anyone is interested im sure i only need one).

The majority of the advice I am looking for (like most people I guess) will be releating to the initial seed funding, in particular how best to gain traction with a following and then put together a decent online pitch for crowd funding (and help with choosing the best crowd funding site).

Any advice, offers and comments I receive along the way will be greatfully received and Ill do my bit to help others where I can.

Many thanks,


Catch you on TheDownLow.com

Mark Stephenson.
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www.TheDownLow.com