Our vision is to create an easy and convenient tool that would help young adults develop long-lasting, meaningful relationships with peace of mind.
http://www.froffr.com
Friends of Friends - Technology Entrepreneurship Opportunity Execution Project
1. Friends of Friends (Froffr)
Team Connectors
Stanford Venture Lab Technology Entrepreneurship
Fall 2012
2. The Team
Audrey Leung
Audrey’s professional background is in public accounting and financial
consulting. She double majored in Business and Psychology at UC
Berkeley and also dabbled in her own startup with other classmates during
college.
Will Jang
Will Jang has over eight years of experience with programming and is
currently a software engineering technical lead for NBCUniversal with
experience in open source technologies: Java / MongoDB / Scala / Spring.
Alan Tan
Alan is Trained in accounting and finance and has been delivering
enterprise software solutions for over 10 years. He has been eading teams
in implementing high volume CRM, Billing and Payment systems for
companies such as Apple’s iTunes and App stores.
Ubi Ukoh
Ubi is a UI/Javascript developer at Instructables. Motivated by a desire to
build both a team and a product from the ground, learning about the startup
process, and creating a unique social product to help connect people.
3. Our Story
More and more of Audrey’s single friends were requesting her to
introduce them to her other single friends, but she encountered some
challenges:
These friends were living and working in different cities
They did not have common circles of friends
Some of her friends who were dating online were also not having much
luck finding quality dating partners.
Upon further research, Audrey found that in 2010, approximately 30-
35% of all couples met through friends.
After pitching the idea and creating a team for the Venture Lab
Technology Entrepreneurship class three other students also
expressed their interest in the startup idea: Alan, Ubi, and Will.
Our surveys conducted when we were testing our value proposition
showed that the majority of customers wanted to safely meet new
people for a certain purpose or activity. Therefore, not only could this
website be used for dating, it could used for introducing friends for
any casual activity.
4. The Opportunity
Meeting Introducing
• Lack of means for people in their twenties • Awkward introductions via e-mail or in
to turn connections online into long-term person
relationships in person • Unable to introduce friends personally
• Lack of safety meeting others online due to time or distance
• Too much time spent searching online for • Finding the right context for introductions
new people to meet in the same location • Forgetting names
• Difficulty finding common interests • Not knowing the right fit
• Lack of privacy in online meet up
websites
• Difficulty scheduling meeting times
Total internet
users in
2010: 240M
Users ages
20-29:
42.7M
Potential
customers
based on a
7.4% market
share: 2.4M
Sources: Market data based on www.census.gov and www.internetworldstats.com. Market share based on average market share of
online dating and meetup sites such as match.com and meetup.com
5. The Product
Prototype here: http://froffr.com
Convenience and usability
Introducing friends online is easier and faster than setting up a
live, in-person meeting.
Customers can link their Facebook, E-mail, Twitter, Google+,
and LinkedIn accounts to populate all their friends and easily
introduce them all in once location
The product will streamline this process while providing
features such as: matcher reviews and an incentive system to
set up positive matches.
Meaningful, quality matches
Due to the smaller degree of separation, there would be a
greater likelihood of a long-term relationship forming that using
sites that match you up with strangers.
After being introduced, users will have a more focused platform
to start new conversations with follow-ups and suggested
activities.
6. The Product Features
Purpose or objective of • Specify common interests or goals as part of the
introduction introduction template
Commitment / Follow-up
• We will provide e-mail follow-up on all introductions or
introduction requests
Real-time feedback and a sense • Future mobile website and communication through
of urgency to the interactions mobile messages
Less Awkwardness
• Common interests, activities, and friends reduces
awkwardness
Scheduled meeting time
• If calendar is imported, we can schedule meetings
during common available times
Confirmation that parties agree • Users will click on an “agree” or “like” button to confirm
on meeting interest in an activity or person
Most comfortable introduction
through friends or activities • Show common friends and suggest common activities
7. Sales & Marketing
Facebook
Launched two day marketing campaign at $15 per day
Based on keywords: friendship, friends, dating, matchmaking, introduction, finding new friends, find friends
We didn't see results at the $1 and $1.50 bid amount. I upped it to $2 on day 2 and that's where we got 17 clicks (from
83K views) and paid 0.88 per click. We would have had more clicks if we allocated a bigger budget or or if FB had the
budget rollover feature.
StumbleUpon
Launched two day marketing campaign at $12 per day
Directed toward people ages 18-35 with interests of: Business, Dating Tips, Education, Married
Life, Matchmaking, Relationships, Internet Tools, Self Improvement, University/College, Facebook
Applied Google Analytics tracking to the website
Other (Craigslist, Facebook Groups, and Reddit)
Craigslist: Advertised in the platonic relationships section
Facebook: Posted in dating and meetup related fb groups
Reddit: Asked questions and posted links in 10 subreddits
8. Partnerships and Distributions
Key partnerships with companies that will sponsor or provide discounts to casual
activities such as movies, restaurants, concerts, etc.
Customers can link their Facebook, E-mail, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts
to populate all their friends that they can introduce to each other
Website
• The need to invite friends in order to create introductions on our website will add users to the site
Partners & Affiliates
• Promote through activities that we partner with
Social Media
• Avenues such as Facebook and Twitter will help us get the word out
Pilot Groups and Interviews
• Gain a strong early evangelist following
Create searchable content and buzz
• Through a blog and articles on other blogs/websites, create excitement and PR around Froffr
Mobile application
• Eventually, this will also have a mobile version for using on-the-go
9. Revenues & Costs
Revenues
Freemium model: premium accounts which will provide
additional features such as introducing or meeting 2nd or 3rd
degree contacts
Online advertising: Companies that would like to advertise
activities or events through our website. Pricing model similar
to Facebook or GoogleAdwords once we have obtained a large
enough audience
Mobile ad revenue once mobile app is launched
Cost Structure
Focuses on creating the best value for its customers while
maintaining a free, user-friendly website.
Fixed costs: utilities, rent, website domain name, SG&A
Variable costs: server costs, employee salaries (depending on
how many are hired), marketing/advertising
10. Funding
• Bootstrap product using our own team
to develop and bring to market
1
• Obtain funding from angel investors
2
• Obtain funding from Venture Capital
firms once user traction has increased
3
11. Risks & Mitigations
Risks Mitigations
• Lack of adoption due to: • Increase adoption rate by:
• Complications setting up • Simple, user friendly
profile interface
• Complications setting up • Familiar messaging
introductions system like e-mail
• Awkwardness in online • Provide ice breaker such
introductions as mutual “like” button
• Competitor sites more • Build incentives such as
aggressively promoting status recognition, news
introducing friends of feed, and activity discounts
friends to differentiate product
• Technical difficulties in • Be flexible to pivot the idea
implementation as necessary