There’s a lot of buzz this week surrounding Facebook’s Initial Public Offering, and for good reason. Facebook has become another in a growing list of companies that are making millionaires out of every day people who happened to be there in the beginning. Pay attention because there are more doors opening daily. You just have to know where to look.
I’ve spent years helping start-ups, not only with web design, but with planning and consulting. Over the years, I’ve learned several ways to get in early on start-ups like Facebook and I have ownership in a lot of companies. Below is some of what I’ve put into practice.
Earn Shares Socially
One of the really easy ways to get in on the ground floor is to earn shares in a company by way of social media promotion. My busy schedule and lack of time has kept me from making one of my ideas a reality, but thankfully, someone else has done it instead. The idea was to create a site that brings new start-ups together with social marketers to generate buzz for the start-up in exchange for stake in the company that the social marketers would split. Wahooly is trying to do just that. This week, they opened up in beta to 20,000 users and 4 start-ups, promising to pair them up in the relationship I envisioned. This will be one to watch for sure.
Zurker offers what I wish Facebook or Twitter had in the early years. Basically, they’re doing for themselves what Wahooly offers to do, just without the middle man. Zurker is a start-up social network that aims to compete directly with Facebook for your updates and daily loyalty. In an effort to grow their user base virally, they’re offering vShares for referrals. Unlike actual stock shares or options, vShares are a virtual representation of your right to equity in the company if they ever get big enough. You have to have a little faith here, but the payout may be worth it.
Become An Owner In A Product
When you go offline and walk into a store, have you ever wondered who invented the product you just bought? One of my favorite new companies in recent years is Quirky. It’s a platform for inventors, thinkers, and designers to see their ideas and designs come to life in the form of real-world products. Quirky guides the invention process all the way through to a completed product that they then get on the shelves of big box stores like Target and Bed Bath & Beyond. Right now, those stores and others have products on the shelves that I’m getting checks for about every month. If you are creative, check it out but like other ways to earn, be ready to wait a while for that first notable check.
Other Ways To Earn
If you’re in a position to do it, consider taking shares instead of (or as part of) payment for goods and services. Web developers, printers, artists, and anyone who can help growing (and sometimes broke) start-ups save a few bucks can often walk away with shares that have the potential for millions of dollars down the road.
This is better when you really believe in the company and its future, but can be a good idea even if you don’t. A great example is David Choe, the graffiti artist who could be worth $200 million when Facebooks IPO hits. In 2005, when Facebook was still limited to students and relatively a small player, Choe came in to create art and opted for a small stake in the company rather than payment. Even though he reportedly didn’t think much of the Facebook concept, he’s going to reap substantial rewards from its success.
Many companies will pay (in options, often) for your expertise as well. If you can call yourself an expert in anything, leverage your unique experience and knowledge and offer to consult for a related company in exchange for shares or options. The more you help, the more your shares may be worth in the end and everyone wins.
The Waiting Game
Taking ownership in a product or start-up will not make anyone rich over night. David Choe, mentioned above, was once homeless between his work for Facebook and the great position he’s in today. Employees of Google spent years working hard before becoming IPO millionaires. If you need the money now, do things that will earn you money, but if you opt for shares in a company, be prepared to wait for years before your ship comes in.
Conclusions
Even the busiest of people end up with free time spent chatting or playing games on Facebook. If you had an free hour every day (after work and family, of course), would you give it up for a small chance that it could turn into a large profit one day? If so, try some of the things above and report back in a few years.
Are you doing any of this already or is there anything I missed? I’d love to hear your input in the comments below.
As we come to the end of another year, many of us will reflect back on things we’ve experienced, lessons learned, and just everything the last 12 months brought us. 2011 has been an incredible year filled with tons of important world events as well as a lot of interesting celebrity events and gossip. Sadly, but not surprisingly, “interesting” squashes “important” online, putting celebrity news and gossip far ahead of important world events when we measure our digital voice online. Frugal Dad put together the following infographic, showing what the world found compelling enough to search for, share and talk about on Google, Facebook, and Twitter.
Nothing creates progress like competition. Of course, when we’re talking about all the changes Facebook continues to roll out, many just grumble and shake an angry fist. Sometimes I agree, but today I was actually impressed with a rather large update Facebook is about to roll out to your profile page.
(click to see it full size)
This new Timeline view has things rearranged to display all your posts in a timeline. The cool part about this is that you can jump to any spot on the timeline with the timeline navigation bar on the right of the profile. When in your own profile you can more easily hide content that you don’t want to show up and feature an item by making it span the full width of the timeline.
Another obvious change is the personalization updates, starting with the large header picture at the top. For my profile, I chose a picture I took of Phoenix at night but you can use any image from your uploaded photos or upload a new one.
Additional customization includes the ability to pick and choose what applications, etc to display. Although I need more quality time with this update, I like what I see so far. I don’t spend a lot of time looking at my own profile but I see some usefulness to this layout when viewing other profiles.
Get your new profile early
Want your update early? If you do, there’s a back door in to start playing with it before Facebook rolls it out to everybody next week. One of my favorite YouTubers, Household Hacker made this how-to video.
If you update your profile, be sure to comment below with your Facebook link.
Picture yourself driving along and another driver cuts you off without so much as a turn signal or runs a red light. You want to hold that driver accountable. Sound familiar? In New Delhi, known for horrible traffic conditions, people have found a new way to hold these bad drivers accountable using cell phones and social media.
Reporting Traffic Violations With Facebook
A couple minutes ago, the image above joined 3,333 other photos on the Delhi Traffic Police Facebook Page. The image was uploaded to allege a parking violation and along with it, Sanjay Munjal included the following description of the violation pictured:
Dear Traffic Police Commissioner,
Please Challan the owner of this i10 Car DL-8C-N9144 for illegal parking under section 122/177 MVA since this car is blocking the service lane which is used by other residents of Surajmal Vihar, Delhi – 110092 from C-297 to C-306 and C-307 to C-316 for entering and exiting and the said vehicle owner Mr. Satish Kumar lives in D-4, Surajmal Vihar, Delhi – 110092. The attached photograph of the illegally parked car was taken on 05/08/2010 at around 10 am. This vehicle owner is in a permanent habbit to block this service lane in this manner.
Here’s how it works. You’re wandering around New Delhi, heading to or from work, going to the store, whatever. You notice a violation of motorcycle helmet laws, parking, red light running, illegally tinted windows, etc. You quickly pull out your camera phone and snap a photo, which you then upload to the Delhi Traffic Police Facebook page. There, it will likely be reviewed by the Delhi Traffic Police, usually resulting in a ticket.
Nearly an hour ago, a photo of a bus was uploaded to report a violation involving parking in a bike/pedestrian lane. The reported violation was met almost immediately with a response:
The people are speaking out against bad drivers and the police appear to be responding quickly with promises of action.
Is This System A Good Thing?
Any time technology significantly impacts our lives, it brings with it questions about the value it provides versus any possible negative impact. The speed camera debate in Arizona was a shining example of our struggle, as a society, with the pros and cons of our growing use of technology. I saw the value in possibly reducing accidents due to speed, but I felt it was far outweighed by the inability to effectively enforce any of the tickets, not to mention the new dangers of drivers quickly hitting the brakes when they see the photo radar camera. To me, it was smart technology that overlooked an array of concerns (financial, legal, and safety) that made it hardly worthwhile.
In this case, the pros of the New Delhi Facebook system are obvious. First of all, it’s incredibly cost-effective. At most, they need one person, I’m guessing, to monitor the Facebook page, respond to reports, and pass reports on after validating them. Compared to the man power that they’d have to hire to be as effective, this is a drop in the bucket. Second is the elegance and simplicity. We’re in an age where snapping a photo to show proof of a violation is as simple as answering a phone call and the integration of Facebook into all the major smartphone platforms adds to the simplicity. Finally it gives the average man or woman empowerment to do something about the people who break the rules.
Possible problems with this type of system? I can only think of a couple. For starters, you have to be careful when you ask anyone to do something other than driving while behind the wheel. Taking a picture while you drive is doable, but not very safely. Getting a shot that’s not blurry while you’re moving is a difficult challenge and can severely impact your own ability to drive safely. As well, there may be the occasional invalid report and I’ve already seen what appears to be overzealous individuals who seem to enjoy reporting a lot of violations. This excitement to defeat bad drivers may come with casualties. Still, if people remain fair and only report safely (like from the passenger seat or while walking), this system seems like a good bet, to me.
In the time it took to write this, three more photos and a video were uploaded, so it appears to be catching on. What do you think of the idea? Would you support or oppose the same system in your area?
