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Tim Jones
@timjones
Currently building a startup in public at themvpsprint.com
Mostly the latter - medium-to-high productivity and healthy (but hopefully a good amount of fun mixed in there too).
I got a Gold Card visa for Taiwan so I'm planning on riding out COVID there until May or June, then maybe South/Central America.
Antigua, Guatemala, Santa Teresa, CR or Puerto Escondido are my pick for you then. Weekends are a lot of fun but nothing really to do weekdays but surf, workout, hike, be healthy. All Digital nomad spots too. For anywhere- if there's a Selina, there's a workspace and they do understand how to have good wifi so it works as a good anchor/trust if you haven't been before. WIFI will be a problem if you don't do research first.
Yea that's cool! Very "WIP-py".
It'd be awesome if it worked, but building out a 2-sided marketplace from it would be tricky as a single, bootstrapped founder (ie a community for voice actors - supply, and hiring companies - demand). Maybe focus on only 1 side of it?
I'd try and zero in on the top problems voice actors face (just some ideas; you know better than me)
As a voice actor,
- I struggle to find work.
- I need community and accountability.
Or, the other side:
As a business,
- I struggle to find high quality voice actors.
- I struggle to manage voice actors.
Once you zero in on one top problem, you can narrow your your product to solve that problem as simply as possible.
Excellent!
You’re spot on with the problems that VOs face.
ACTUALLY, through my prior work (I connected to 100+ Recording studios in Morocco, Spain, Portugal, UK, and the US by going there in person and connecting f2f) I have a list of prospects that also have connections to hiring companies and that want to fill their studio because I initially connected studios and traveling voiceover artists (“voiceover nomads”) but now that I pivoted - COVID-caused - the voiceover artists and the studio have become one and the other side are hiring companies.
So, I’m pretty strong on the studio side (offering the supply), and the hirer side (the demand) is something I need to work for on the most.
building out a 2-sided marketplace from it would be tricky as a single, bootstrapped founder
That’s right, it is tricky but imagine it ACTUALLY worked. The vision of it alone makes my eyes grow :D
You got me thinking and I’ll start having some conversations with the people (actors and hiring companies that I’m connected with).
Thank you! That was really helpful already :)
Looks cool! I think there’s plenty of opportunity to pivot this to a remote, COVID-friendly world.
Another interesting route could be a productized service. Get some good contractors on board, find a niche within voiceover actors, put up a landing page, and sell a service.
Then if and when it works, start automating pieces of it and maybe turn it into a product.
That’s very cool feedback, Tim!
I just remembered, there were a couple of voiceover artists who filled out the complete questionnaire and they sent me all the details.
And then I got scared and didn’t know what to do with it.
I believe you got me on a great thinking path - now thinking out loud =>
There is nothing out there that actively and transparently gives voice actors work. It’s all relatively secretly and with a “I’m scared to risk my reputation” kind of thinking.
What if there was a way for VO artists to publicly talk about their work by simply showing what they did, e.g.
VO Artist voiced Project Name for Company Name.
Ex:
“Gordon Shumway voiced ALF for Melmac LLC”
Tagline: Show off your work by showing your work. What did you get done today? For REAL.
This would be a very WIP.co inspired idea 💡 ;)
And this would show hiring companies who worked on what by the simple presentation of their timeline, not by bla bla marketing text on their website.
Yea that's cool! Very "WIP-py".
It'd be awesome if it worked, but building out a 2-sided marketplace from it would be tricky as a single, bootstrapped founder (ie a community for voice actors - supply, and hiring companies - demand). Maybe focus on only 1 side of it?
I'd try and zero in on the top problems voice actors face (just some ideas; you know better than me)
As a voice actor,
- I struggle to find work.
- I need community and accountability.
Or, the other side:
As a business,
- I struggle to find high quality voice actors.
- I struggle to manage voice actors.
Once you zero in on one top problem, you can narrow your your product to solve that problem as simply as possible.
Excellent!
You’re spot on with the problems that VOs face.
ACTUALLY, through my prior work (I connected to 100+ Recording studios in Morocco, Spain, Portugal, UK, and the US by going there in person and connecting f2f) I have a list of prospects that also have connections to hiring companies and that want to fill their studio because I initially connected studios and traveling voiceover artists (“voiceover nomads”) but now that I pivoted - COVID-caused - the voiceover artists and the studio have become one and the other side are hiring companies.
So, I’m pretty strong on the studio side (offering the supply), and the hirer side (the demand) is something I need to work for on the most.
building out a 2-sided marketplace from it would be tricky as a single, bootstrapped founder
That’s right, it is tricky but imagine it ACTUALLY worked. The vision of it alone makes my eyes grow :D
You got me thinking and I’ll start having some conversations with the people (actors and hiring companies that I’m connected with).
Thank you! That was really helpful already :)
First of all - I also love the concept and the look and feel of the landing page. Well done. I had a few thoughts though:
Planting trees is the best solution for climate and biodiversity.
This is a bold claim, and users really need to believe it if they're going to convert. Pachama (pachama.com/) does a good job of this. (I personally believe it btw :) )
I guess it's also possible to focus on users who already believe it (which is a large and growing chunk of the population).
How do trees get planted?
There could be natural skepticism here. If I don't know you, how can I trust that you're not just taking my $$ and putting my virtual tree on the map?
More of a random thought - companies (Amazon, Delta, Microsoft) buy carbon offsets to make the claim that they'll be net neutral by some future date.
Could a startup (Like Upvoty, WIP, etc) with x employees and $y in server expenses do the same with a monthly tree subscription?
The latter feels particularly interesting. Simple Analytics wins customers that believe in privacy-first. Carbon-neutral startups could win customers that believe in fighting climate change. A Plant My Tree "I'm carbon-neutral" badge allows companies to make this claim (while providing an SEO boost and a viral growth mechanism in the process).
I believe Pachama will grow into a huge company, and will naturally be incentivized to go up-market, continuing to focus on the biggest companies. As they grow, and more and more companies push PR about committing to becoming carbon neutral, I bet an opportunity will emerge down-market (for small startups) to provide the same service.
Not to mention the value for you in converting one-time purchases into recurring revenue.
Nice, those haven't really been on my radar but I think they'd be a nice change of pace from they typical cities. Thanks for the rec's