Student protests

Why the hell are people flipping a dumpster??
This is New Zealand, not Vancouver after loosing the Stanley Cup last year. 

Ok I'll be that guy. Student protest opinion. I'm going to make the assumption that the majority of the protesters yesterday will walk away from Uni with the "BA" suffix and a 20K+ loan and no job. If I was a bank, why would I lend money at such a low interest rate to you? The higher the risk of the loan, the higher the interest rate?

The truth is that far too many people go to Uni who should not. They just don't know any better. People roll out of high school after 3 years of the NCEA spoon, no clue about what they want to be, and piss away their first year in in tertiary (i.e. essentially a repeat of NCEA level 2). Just look at the enrolment attrition rates of 1st year students to 2nd year. Student loans should be about accountability and provided on the basis that students understand / learn the consequences of borrowing like every other New Zealander with a mortgage. 

Photosales

Why use one of these when everyone has a 5 mxp camera on their phone and an Instaram app?  

Last year Dad came home with a massive grin on his face.  He announced that he'd purchased a business.  Not something one does frequently.

As Dad was born in the South Island on a farm, my first thought was the business would be some old-school 'home-made lemonade from the side-walk' profit model. Wrong.

It was an internet business; www.photosales.co.nz

I remember looking up from my 7 open google chrome browser tabs in genuine interest at hearing this news.  An established internet business? tell me more.

The value offering was simple: an e-commerce platform for photographers to upload and sell their photos.

The money side simple: the site takes a commission from all sales, depending on membership status of the photographer.  Different levels of membership also provided revenues, but reduced commission rates (i.e. a premium membership costs $60 p/a, but reduces commission on photo sales from 30% to 10%).

One year down the track, the website has some impressive growth stats:

• 600 active "free members" 
• Almost 100 'premium' members 
• Hundreds of thousands of page requests per day (due to google image search)
• Steadily growth in monthly digital photosales and member sign ups 

However the site has faces some serious key issues if it is to really take off:

• The site is dated, complex to navigate and difficult to operate from both ends
• Hosting is currently offshore and expensive compared to local / alternative hosting companies 
• No marketing strategy 
• No long term improvement strategy 
• No exist strategy 
• No active day-to-day management of the site from a strategic / operational perspective 

The has been recent developments however, steps in the right direction:

• A new webiste has been developed in Europe to phase out the old website, it has a strong e-commerce and social networking aspects, and comprehensive front and back-end capabilities.  It does however, require refinement. 
• Steps have been taken to move hosting to NZ for simplicity and cost reductions, however not yet happened yet 

Get involved. 

The point of this blog post is to find someone who is interested in getting involved in the website / company going forward.  Ideally the person would be quite tech-savvy and know a thing or two about business. There would be an equity buy in option should things turn out well.

Let me know if you're interested!

The Auckland Daily

Over the last 10 years, daily free newspapers ("FDNs" - catchy eh, I'll claim that acronym) have been introduced in almost every European city and several large cities in the US.  The proliferation of the "free daily" newspaper, funded solely on advertisements and designed to be read on the commute to work is clearly evident:

Worldwide, there are now over 44 million free newspaper editions being distributed every day; this is up from 24 million in 2005. Europe has the vast majority of daily free papers at 28.5 million, with the Americas at 6.8 million and Asia/Pacific/Africa regions at 8.6 million.

So why is there not one in Auckland?

I have identified three "critical success" factors for a free newspaper:

1. Distribution. A publisher will be able charge more for advertising space in a newspaper if more people read it. To this, a free daily newspaper must secure a sustainable, and if possible, exclusive, distribution channels. I.e. bus stops, buses, train stations, trains, kiosks down streets, cafes etc.
   
2. Cost efficiency. The only factor driving the top-line is advertising revenue, which means that cutting costs is the key to long term financial viability.  The publishing costs (printing, overheads, design, content) of a newspaper must be controlled to ensure that a profit is made.   
   
3. Consistent, high-quality content. In the mainstream media, reputation is everything.  Cost efficiency cannot lead to a budget publication.  To raise barriers to entry (protect the market from competitors), reputation of the newspaper is one lever that can be controlled. Content must be topical, punchy, and informative. 

Points 2 and 3 touch on an important issue: the FDN market has relatively low barriers to entry. If an independent newspaper broke into the FDN market in Auckland and started cannibalising the NZH readership, the APN may look to introduce a competitor, in an attempt to leverage existing distribution / publishing resources to drive the new FDN out of the market.  There are only two things the new FDN can do to protect against this: secure exclusive distribution channels and build a strong reputation so as to demand top dollar from advertisers.

From a  numbers perspective, consider the following analysis:

• The estimated working / permanent population of Auckland CBD is 40,000. Of this, it is estimated that 33,000 people enter the CBD by public transport on a daily basis. Assume you distributed the FDN successfully and 75% of those daily commuters spent on average, 5 mins reading the FDN ( ~ 25,000 daily readers).
  
• Without doing a detailed comparison based on APN ad rates, lets assume the average cost per ad is $1,500 p/day (effectively 6c per reader).  The FDN is 10 pages long, and has a content / ads ratio of 50:50, with room for on average, 6 ads per page (total average of 30 ads per edition).
  
• Based on the above two points, daily advertising revenue is ~ $45,000. 

Without doing any further analysis as to the cost of publishing an FDN, I can say that for the idea to be viable, the daily cost to produce the FDN would have to be less than the above.

Looking for contributors to the idea - any initial thoughts?  
 

The co-op bar structure / business idea

Lately I've been thinking about this concept have an finally got around to putting my thoughts down.  Let know what you think via comments.

A bar owned by the people who go there the most.

How it works:

1) Find a bar, either existing or suitable new space.  In either case, the bar will be reinvented / relaunched under a new image / brand.  Britomart area.    

2) Find shareholders.  Company is divided in to 1000 shares, each worth $100.  Each share entitles the shareholder rights to:

- a portion of any profit the bar makes;
- voting rights in any meetings;
- shareholder discount;

$100,000 of capital raised if all shares are sold.  No minimum investment. Maximum of 10 shares per shareholder (i.e. $1,000).

Shares in the bar can be sold at any time via the company website (bidding system).

If required, a loan may be required to cover the remaining cost of the purchase price, initial fit out costs and other start up costs.

3) Implement new image, brand, interior.

4) Ongoing management of the bar outsourced to a manager.  Manager and staff all have a minimum shareholding requirement.

5) A board (voted by the shareholders) is elected to provide a strategic monitoring function to the bar.

2012... the year where anything could happen?

This thing is the Mayan Calendar. And in case you haven't heard, it says the world
will end on 21 - 12 - 2012. 

Do you know what would make my year? If Phil the Greek a.k.a. Prince Philip staggered up to the Olympic torch and lit it with his cigarette.  That would generate some top shelf bhanter.  But who am I kidding, Bubble and Squeak* doesn't smoke ciggies. He's all about the pipe. It's never going to happen.

Or is it..?

In a year where an eschatologist reigns supreme, anything could happen. The link is to wikipedia, you know you want to click it.

In case you haven't heard, the universe is predicted to bring a 2009 B grade blockbuster to life on 21 December 2012. And at the Bhanter.com Totaliser Agency Board (B.T.A.B.), the odds on an apocalypse occurring in 2012 are $10,000,000,000:1. No shit. You can actually place a bet with us if you like, we will pay out in the event comes true. We have apocalypse insurance that will cover all apocalypse-based bets.

So 2012, with a backdrop of "anything could happen", I reckon you will bring us the following events, some serious, others not so.  

• Prince Philip lights the final 2012 London Olympic torch with a ciggie
• Obama looses the 2012 US Presidential election  
• Italy drops out of the Euro 
• The NZD is worth more than the USD (at some point)
• Wales win the 6 nations 
• Vancouver Canucks win the Stanley cup for the first time ever
• Adam Thompson named captain of the ABs 
• Kim Kardashian to get pregnant
• Justin Bieber to go to rehab 
• Iphone 5 doesn't get released
• Oscar for best Actor, Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
• Oscar for best Actress, Rooney Mara (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
• Nindendo release the Wii-U
• The world goes absolutely nuts, but doesn't end on 21 December 2012

* Cockney for Prince Philip. I.e. Phil the Greek ~ Bubble and Squeak. A rhyme is made with the second part of the phrase (Greek - Squeak), and a related phrase is attached. Hence the popular British meal is a perfect Cockney substitute for the name.  

The "Greek Mystique" on Ton o Cash.

Just when you thought reality TV couldn't get any worse after watching 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom - some genius went and dreamed up a show called Ton of Cash.

Basically it's like Survivor - but the contestants are only on the show because they're in a ridiculous amount of debt, and the prize for winning the show is money to pay off that debt.  

The best thing about the show is a contestant called the Greek Mystique - a self proclaimed pro arm wrestler and absolute twat.  He is a fucking hilarious twat however.    

The below clip is his reaction after learning he has been kicked off the show.  One of the funniest speeches I have ever seen in my life. 

More clips of the GM (including the original animal).

@peace ... the next David Dallas?

Tom Scott, Lui Tuiasau, El Truento, Dick Darstedly &
B Haru form the hip hop collective known as @Peace.

About two weeks ago I got a FB message from an old mate of mine. He'd stumbled across "this mean new underground rapper" that "no-one had heard of". My mate is usually on the money so I check it out...

And HOLY SHIT. These guys were mean. I reckon I could literally have their debut album (self titled) on repeat all summer...


http://at-peace.bandcamp.com/


The NZ hip hop collective has reviewed these guys:

Tom Scott, Lui Tuiasau, El Truento, Dick Darstedly & B Haru form the hip hop collective known as @Peace. Hailing from Auckland, New Zealand they’ve recently garnered attention from numerous radio stations, DJs, bloggers and opinion leaders at home and abroad with the release of their self-titled debut EP.

The EP offers an intelligent blend of smooth futuristic beats, conscious raps, amazing flows and rhyme ability that reminds of the hey-day of independent rap during the 1990s. The constant soulful hip hop energy of the EP transports postive vibes and a life affirming attitude. You can almost feel that the boys are hailing from the same paradisiac country as Ladi6 or Electric Wire Hustle, whose member Benny Tones was onboard to master the album

Definitely one to watch.

Check out the link if you have a sec, listen to the first couple of tracks. You won't be able to stop.