Okay so if you check out the post here http://benwaynow.blogspot.com/2009/03/twitter-idea.html you will see a lot more detail on the idea and how the thing actually operates and the security aspects.
So first of all what is SendSocial?
Send social is a way to send real physical items to people with virtual identities without the recipient having to disclose their physical address.
But surely people will send weird stuff to people they are obsessed with?
The service work in a way that this could not happen, either the recipient has to know you, or if they do not the package is checked before being forwarded onto the recipient.
But I don’t want to be sent something from somebody I don’t know?
To receive something both parties have to agree before the item is sent, its a bit like an escrow account for physical items.
Wait I have heard of things like this, is this not just a twitter givereal?
No, it will incorporate aspects of givereal, but with givereal you have to choose from their gifts, with send social you can go out and buy the gift if you want, or if retailers want to join in you can send from their selection of products.
Who would use this service?
Lets look at some scenarios:
1) Its valentines you fancy somebody on twit or fit, you go out you buy them chocolates, you send them anonymously using sendsocial, the important thing here is that if something is sent anonymously it is opened and checked by sendsocial, and remember we know who the sender is because we take thier credit card details, and the recipient has actually made the choice to accept the package.
2) You love @wossy and have had some interaction with him and you buy him a small meaningful gift to do with your twitter conversation, this time @wossy can see who you are and decide to accept or decline the gift based on what he knows about you, he can also pay a little bit extra if he wants it checked before it gets there.
3) You are a product manufacturer and want to get your product to guru @Scobleizer again you send the package and @Scobleizer knows who you are so accepts it.
What sites will this work for?
Well we will have to build a small simple automated system for each site but initially it would be very easy to build it for FaceBook, Twitter and Email Addresses
But how would it work, I don’t want to disclose my address?
Thats the whole point of the service! So looking at scenario number one this is how it would work:
Okay so user @inloveboy wants to send chocolates to @sheissosexy
1) @inloveboy comes to the site and decides that none of the items from our approved suppliers match what he wants to send this girl.
2) @inloveboy signs up pays the fee, chooses send anonymously, enters @shesosexy username
3) @shesosexy gets a tweet saying that she has received a gift and to follow @sendsocial
4) @shesosexy follows @sendsocial
5) @shesosexy gets a DM with a unique code and our website
6) @shesosexy goes to our website can see the details of the package and can accept or decline
7) @shesosexy accepts and enters her address
8) @inloveboy recives an email with instructions to send the item to @sendsocial shipping address
9) @inloveboy sends item
10) @sendsocial receives package, checks its contents, then we put @shesosexy address on it and send it FEDEX.
11) @shesosexy recives package and it brings a big smile to her face, after suspecting that it was @inloveboy that sent it, she asks him, he confesses, she has really really hot sex with him and they get married and live happily ever after.
What countries will it work in:
Well I can provide shipping addresses and infrastructure in the UK and the US but open to ideas if anybody wants a franchise in another country.
What's all this I hear about free shares?
Right well I have about a million ideas a year, most of them are shite, and a few are fucking amazing, I use my network as a sounding board, those who give me good feedback I usually give shares too in the company they helped. So seeing as this is a twitter idea I thought I would ask the Twitter community for feedback to see if it is what the community wants, and because that feedback is valuable and does not waste my money if it is a shit idea I am prepared to give up 10% pool of the shares in the company to anybody who either gets this message out there by RT this message:
RT @benpbway IS GIVING AWAY 10% POOL OF SHARES IN SENDSOCIAL.COM TO ANYBODY WHO RE-TWITTERS THIS MESSAGE GOTO SENDSOCIAL.COM FOR DETAILS
Please please try and send this more than once, remember having already done this you have a personal stake in the future of the company so the more people you can get to RT the more chance of us actually doing this business.
Okay whats the catch? Well there are no catches but the following rules apply:
1) Firstly this is just a concept it may never reach the light of day, for any reason should we not do SendSocial you have no rights to refunds, compensation; you agree that there is no liability on our part whatsoever.
2) This is going to have be partly done on trust, trying to come up with rights, shareholders agreements articles of association at this stage is impossible, we don’t even know if it will be a US or UK company. So until we know exactly what the structure is and we have worked out the issues then you are just going to have to trust me on this; oh yeah I hear you say that sounds like a scam, all I can say is that I have been in business for 15 years I have never fucked anybody over and a lot of the people who are retweeting the message are my friends; can you imagine the damage I would do myself and the business if I don’t not hold true to my word? The way I look at it is like this; should we become successful and we sell the company for a $20m I would make sure that the $2m is split between the people that got the message out in the first place, we may not even issues shares until we sell the company for tax reasons. The bottom line will be if it is a success and we sell you will get a cheque!
3) We take no responsibility for any tax or legal issues that may arise from acquiring these shares.
4) Duration initially we will be doing this for 7 days 05 March 2009, but may extend depending on success, please check back.
5) Tracking I am going to track it from my@ replies however if you want to double make sure you are on the list send your details to sendsocial@gmail.com
6)Again I just want to reiterate myself or sendsocial or any connected companies don't take any responsibity or liability for anything(okay its direct but its better than having pages of T&C that you cant fucking understand anyway)
7) By RT the message above you agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.
8) 10% of the value of the company will be put into the pot not more not less.
9) That pot will be divided by the number of users(not the number of times you retweet) who retweet the message above.
10) These terms are subject to change, modification, adaption without permission.
11) Because of investment the share pool may get dilluted but I will always try and protect these shares and try and leave them as undillutable, but this may mean we cannot aquirer further investment in the future; at some point we may have to dilute the share pool but only if the belief is that the share pool becomes more valuble because of it(i.e. it is better to have a small part of a much bigger pie)
Management Team, Investment, and tech stuff
So do I want to run this, no fucking way I have enough companies to run without another one to add to the list!
So I am prepared to give up more of the company to the management team, any investors and anybody who can build the technology. I try and end up with about 30% of a company by the time it launches so there is a good 60%(remembering the 10% above) to split.
I will provide infrastructure, two distribution locations(UK and US) and seed investment, but it would be nice for somebody to come in and match my investment or invest further.
If you know anybody who would be good for the management team or think you would please contact me at info@makingrain.com
You know me always open to suggestions.
Im sure I have left out stuff, please comment below and I will try my best to modify, this is a moving target as business always is.....
-----UPDATE-----
@simonlhill made a great point and I cant believe I did not see it myself, which is that if we provide a unique code that the shipping partner has access to(or even use their internal tracking code) through their systems a package could be shipped to an address by using this unique code without it being disclosed to the sender and without shipping having to be paid twice. THIS WOULD ONLY WORK FOR NON-ANNOMYNOUS PACKAGES - ANNOMYNOUS WOULD STILL NEED TO BE OPENED AT THE SENDSOCIAL SHIPPING ADDRESS
-----Warning-----
If you have protected updates you MUST email sendsocial@gmail.com as I cannot see your RT in a public search!!!!
