Ideas

Hi Pujunis.

I checked out the website. Overall I had a good impression.
I have three remarks:
(1)
Dealguys sounds as if it excludes women.
(2)
The phrase “do deals, together” is not telling me anything. It’s not catchy at all. Maybe something like network, deal and profit?
(3)
How do you get ‘big guys’ to sign up, how do you create the critical mass for the site to be successful and inviting to other.

Besides that: from the idea I don’t understand how you’re going to make money. Will the dealguys pay a monthly fee?

Tommy

Site looks great. Agree with Tommy that the feminist crowd isn't exactly going to be thrilled with this one...but if your target audience is guys, it shouldn't be a big problem. Just make sure that you've conciously decided to not cater to women.

There's one big key to this - you'll need to start off recruiting some well-known names in this industry. If you do that, others will join just to get a chance to connect with the top brass. Otherwise, I don't see what this would offer that LinkedIn doesn't have.

Good job so far, best of luck!

Very good.... GOdspeed!

vanhees - Thanks for the input! Here is my rebuttal:

1. In my business the term "deal guy" is very common. I have 2 deal guys representatives that are women, at this time, no one has struggled with it. That was an inital thought that I had too!

2. The "tag line" or slogan is simply, ...let's go! I played around with a bunch of them, I uploaded the wrong file. I also had join.connect.share.prosper! and "work SMARTER not harder!" To be very candid, if someone needs more than the domain to explain what the business is, this is most likely not a site they will gain from. This community will rip apart anyone that does not know A. What they are representing and B. People that pretend to konw what they are doing. This is one tough business!!!

3. The viral aspect is is 2 fold:
1. I have council currently going through the project and putting in Non-Circumvent/Non-Disclosure and Confidentiality Agreements all over the site. We have done tremendous research on "Digital Signatures" and we intend to incorporate them into the site. Due to the level of protection that the users will have within the community will encourage our members to invite as many fellow dealguys to the website so that they too are protected. There are major referral based fees as well as finder's fees that are generated in this business. In some cases, referral and finder's fees are the life line of many people.
2. We are hosting monthly networking mettings across the country for our members. We have our first meeting set up in Tampa at a high end lounge on July 19th. We are going to use this as a BETA. I am located in Las vegas and I am in the nightclub bussiness, so I did not feel that it would be fair to test it here. I expect to have 20 markets that have these meetings each month and a major Quarterly event where every member from across the country can attend.

In regards to generating revenues. This could be absolutely HUGE! We are going to have a small sucession fee (2.5%-4%) for every deal that is done on this network. We will generate revenues through a consulting division that I intend to set up that will be able to assist companies with a gamut of services from going public to introducing board members. The idea is to use peole within the deal guys network to accomplish this. I'm cheating, I have 2 companies that I am currently working with to spotlight as case studies.

Since there specific demographics, there are advertising oportunities that are otherwise unavailable that will allow companies hit the highest percentage of demographics outside of financial conferences!

There will be sponsorship oportunnities at each of our conferences and monthly networking meetings.

I am seriously thinking about adding 2 levels of membership, free and premium. If they elect to go with a graduated membership, there will be additional meetings they will be invited to and I would offer stuff such as Level 2 quotes and Real Time Quotes. We also have the ability to put limitations on the site, similar to LinkedIn, for the free memberships.

Naturally, we will create vertical markets around this community.

And the number 1 reason why I started this venture...Contacts!!!

I hope this was helpful!

Best,

Brett

Thanks Brett for this answer. Made me change my vote (in a positive way that is).
Tommy

thecougar-
Thanks for the comments! Well please read what I commented to tommy on regarding the name.

The distinction between LinkedIn and dealguys is that LinkedIn really caters to cutting edge technology, Venture Capital and retired professors that like to see themselves appear in forums! I like linkedIn, I am a member, but I have tried to use it in the past with little sucess. They have different focuses than I do. I am creating a powerful financial portal wrapped around a community that meets monthly, nationally!!!

I have already signed up friends that run major public companies, powerful SEC attorneys and house hold name companys' executives. I totally agree with you on your comment!!!

Best,

Brett

Thanks Tommy!

You can do must of this with linkedin?

Cool, glad to hear you've got the execs in place, should just be a matter of getting the word out to the right people and I'll bet you'll have a nice little niche site that will do pretty well. Good luck!

It certainly seems like a good idea to me. I agree with thecougar in that you will need to have some members' names up front to provide testimonials and give the site greater validity.

Are these meetings and contacts only (primarily) in the States or are they international (i.e. Canada)?

(Dont worry - I've already given you top rating)

pojunis, i've tried signing up to dealguys.net , and the [sign up] button does not function. Is this a mock-up and it should not be expected to function? Otherwise I'm using FireFox 2.0.0.4. And also you may not actually WANT me on the site, as I don't personally facilitate deals, I was just going to check it out... is there anyone your site would NOT be open to (I see bloggers listed, so I guess I squeeze by).

And a suggestion on how to deal with any concerns over sexism in your site's name... make it men only! (Ha! I kid! But you got to try saying "its for guys only" to at least ONE person who raises the point, just to see what they'll say!)

I still like Linkedin better so maybe I'm not a "Dealguy".

Most high ranking professionals have a limited amount of time so joining another social network might not be a priority to most.

I think you might need a demo to show users how it will work.