Advice on monetisation, getting user feedback for my cryptocurrency research platform? Should I take VC money?
Hi!
I have been developing a cryptocurrency research application/platform/thingy over the last 6 months based on a community I found on Reddit (/r/CryptoMoonShots). The idea is to find very early currencies/projects before they mature. It was originally a weekend hack project to help with my own research but picked up a few users and spiralled into a significant project.
I have a Telegram channel which is slowly climbing (140+ users as of now, maybe 1/day). The site did experience a nice jump after a large crypto Youtuber mentioned it (ReadySetCrypto) in one of his videos. It had a month or so of 100 users/day which fell off a bit and is currently sitting around 30-50/day.
The priority right now is to figure out if I can build a viable business model onto the platform while continuing to push out features and updates. My current idea is around PRO features (unsure of exact features as yet but have plenty of sites to draw inspiration from). Another idea was a private members area with specialised collaboration tools, mastermind groups, etc.
My question is threefold:
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where do you start when attempting to build a business model onto an existing application?
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how do you get user feedback? I have found it very difficult to extract much feedback from users on my Telegram channel. Should I add a 'feedback' or otherwise section directly on the site? Are there other sites which might help me get valuable feedback I can use to improve the site? Should I develop the habit of nagging every user I come into contact with (.e.g. directly reaching out to each and every one of the members I have on Telegram?). Should I request user testing sessions with everyone until I find those who bite?
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I have had a VC reach out with the potential to invest $10-50k. I mentioned my part-time contracting and he said he could potentially cover that for a few months so I could go full-time on the site (and pay him back later, didn't expect any cut). This seems like a great opportunity but also something I probably shouldn't get involved in this early? I need $50k to cover myself for a year runway at the moment. Thoughts?
For those interested, the site is https://moonfactor.com. Appreciate any insights!
Business model
Are there any affiliate opportunities with coin exchanges?
User feedback
You could try to befriend some of your users. DM'ing people on Reddit who you've had a conversation with also works. Express genuine interest in them and they'll probably express genuine interest back. This obviously doesn't scale but just getting to know 5 of your users really, really well helps more than you'd think.
Some user testing sites offer to bring you paid testers, too. Check out @jimzarkadas' list of user testing tools. Those probably won't be as good as the 5 afore-mentioned people, though.
Why not? What do you have to lose?
Investment
I'd ask myself: What would it allow me to do that I can't do without it? Are those benefits worth it to me?
That said, what's in it for the investor if he doesn't get a cut? I'd be a bit careful with that.
Hey Niklas, thanks for the advice!
There are affiliate opportunities but I don't have the traffic to make it worth it. I do know what users pay for on other sites (advanced portfolio management, trading features, etc). I do see subscriptions being the future of the site.
Will check out those user testing tools and continue to prod users, thanks!
I had the same thought RE the VC. I think he has an eye on a cut in the future. To be honest I would rather maintain 100% ownership anyway. It's my experience a lot of projects go downhill once investors are involved, and I am trying to get out of contracting for the very reason I don't want to answer to anyone but customers.
You're welcome. Glad to help. :)
Monetization
Those monetization channels sound great. If they work for others, they'll probably work for you, too.
User feedback
Really try to build relationships with people before you ask them for help. I can't stress that enough.
Let's take our chat for example. Let's say I sent you this message, you replied and I sent you another one which included a small request for help on something.
This is not what I'm doing here, but most people would have a hard time not offering their help in exchange.
In contrast, if I just sent you an email asking for your time, you probably wouldn't even read it completely.
Venture capital
If you want to maintain ownership anyway and don't like answering to people, I would probably skip the trouble and just do it myself.