I have read enough discontent and borderline harshness elsewhere in this forum.

It's totally understandable, but as much as we'd love to consider CH a family, it isn't.

I am not here to place judgment on anyone, but do understand that business is business and some flux should be expected in all acquisition/mergers/deals.

Yes, the customer comes first, but we will all be far better off to let these guys sort out what is viable for their business (and its transition) first. That way, they don't feel pressured to tell us what we want to hear and/or make mistakes that will put us right back where we started from shortly after.

By any means, no one should place all their marbles in one place --that is just plain common-sense.

I, for one, STILL don't know what CH's business model ever was...perhaps it was trying to be all things to everyone?

Let the dust settle, or take your business elsewhere

/ooper

Posted: May 24, 2008, 3:04 pm

totally agree with what your saying there.

I for one am looking forward to transition. It can only lead to bigger and better things. The community atm is pretty tight, maybe we all need a new start just to get real investment opportunities off the ground.

Like you say ooper, one of the biggest things with CH is, How does CH make money? i mean they made all those viral videos early on (spending money) and then the idea wars competitions (spending money)maybe CH was just a platform to show customers of the software they're selling via Chaordix. I don't know tbh, i just made that up.

i've had a great time on CH but with the lack luster ideas coming though and us being joined by spammers frequently, i think us as a community needs to move onto bigger and better things, maybe vencorps is that things. Who knows?

all i know is that i want to give it a trial run before i slate it. Thats even if i slate it as to me it just looks like one heck of a great new opportunity. I mean this vencorps company could of started in direct competition with CH, and what would have happened then?

I have seen this kind of opposition before mind, in a game i used to play a few years back (runsescape anybody!?) when they moved from one version to another there was absolute uproar people quiting left, right and center (these were people who had invested hundreds of hours on they're characters) but then when the new version was released everybody was singing they're praises. actually is kind nothing to do with that but i think you get my drift...

sorry guys this is one of those posts when things kept popping into my head and i kinda didn't realize the post would be this long!

anyway to finish off...

Long live the spirit of CH! No matter where we all end up!

Posted: May 24, 2008, 3:41 pm

On May 24, 2008, 4:04 pm ooper said:

I, for one, STILL don't know what CH's business model ever was...perhaps it was trying to be all things to everyone?

/ooper

Hi Ooper,

Good thinking and well articulated in the post.

In case you were curious, CH has always had a core business model: its outputs, not its processes. Outputs being: Gwabs, GoN, etc. Processes: ch.com, ideawarz. We had hopes that if the community scaled then we would find some interesting way to monetize.

This is much like a typical VC. You don't pay them for their time, nor for submitting a business plan. They make money by investing capital (human and financial) into the people/companies they discover.

Make sense?

Posted: May 25, 2008, 1:33 pm

In case you were curious, CH has always had a core business model: its outputs, not its processes. Outputs being: Gwabs, GoN, etc. Processes: ch.com, ideawarz. We had hopes that if the community scaled then we would find some interesting way to monetize.

This is much like a typical VC. You don't pay them for their time, nor for submitting a business plan. They make money by investing capital (human and financial) into the people/companies they discover.

Make sense?

MJ, yes, it makes sense, thank you! I am familiar with the old VC concept, at least from a software perspective. I can also see why mixing it with crowdsourcing turns out to be interesting but challenging:

VCs and their associates are a team of core experts that work together well in choosing projects. They tend to have a stake in the company, so seriousness is a given. Furthermore, VCs have expertise in following good business and implementation practices with safeguards.

In contrast, the crowd is, well, just crowds. In the raw, it may be a good source for market and idea validation, but I think few would disagree that building a valid business from this single pool is ineffective to say the least.

I can envision VenCorps being the embodiment of LinkedIn, innocentive and CH, all under one roof and it is an exciting prospects from all parties involved. Without giving too much away to your competitors, do you see VenCorps as a different means of implementing the original model, or a whole different model altogether?

Best,
/ooper

Posted: May 26, 2008, 9:25 pm

hello folks!

well, I'm an Innocentive solver, and I've already made some money there. now I KNOW I'll make a lot of money there. the system is simple, straightforward, clear, honest. believe me - I'll be a top solver at that community, shortly.

looking for 'crowdsourcing' google brought me CH. and my experience has been:

VenCorps "capture" you as the main inofrmation at CH HOME.
then I entered VenCorps, I've read a lot of info, I've filled a complete profile, upload picture, etc.
After all this, I discover I had to be in the US or Canada to enroll, to anything. well, I'm in Brazil... ;o(

Then I came back to CH. the same profile, all my personal info, plus picture... adress, even a quote! (the ZIP code field is formatted for US, bu this is just a detail)... but when I tried to 'start a business' I discovered I can not - because I'm already with VenCorps. I go back to VenCorps, but the website give me no option to DELETE my profile.

I'm out of both!... great.

this is not global. with this mentality it will be surpassed by others, quickly. the major solver community at Innocentive live in India.

farewell!

Posted: September 19, 2008, 4:34 pm

On September 19, 2008, 5:34 pm esfera said:
Then I came back to CH. the same profile, all my personal info, plus picture... address, even a quote!

Esfera (who may now be gone and perhaps won't see this), the VenCorps migration path is intended to be one way. As far as deleting your profile I am stripping personal details and email address now for you from the CH site. If you want me to delete the account entirely then your forum post will also disappear. PM me or email me at gordon.mcdowell@cambrianhouse.com if you would like me to make that happen.

Sorry all VenCorps features are not yet supported outside North America... there is still plenty of activity for world citizens to engage in. It would depend on which aspect of VenCorps you are most interested in.

Posted: September 19, 2008, 5:03 pm