Dragon's den/American Inventor concept.

This is an interesting idea. I would not expect the "inventor" to pay anything to enter/display their products. The organiser would need to work out another way of generating income from such an event. If exposure and interest was high enough then I guess each 'event' could take place in a different sim and the sim owner could pay for the privilege of hosting the event for that week or day or whatever. This in turn would increase their legit traffic and hopefully their sales.

"I can see a few obvious problems but I’m bored of typing now"

Pep (as someone once said)

I am strangely attracted to the notion of a chocolate teapot.

But who other than the inventor stands to benefit most from the exposure? If someone has a New Thing they hope will be successful, they should be willing to put some money up. It's called "betting on yourself".

Well, there's already a kind-of version of this. It's called Show And Tell. I run one for new folks and there are several out there for oldbies as well. There are L$ prizes, but they're much less than a "business investment" would be, and there's no official "panel" awarding them - it's just done by audience vote.

Having one to which more expert content creators would come would be a benefit, though, I think. I say this because many of the higher level content creators I've talked to have given some credit to having help from other creators in the same field when they were starting. Right now this is a semi-random, "right place at the right time" thing; or worse yet, it's a "hassle" thing (I was very annoyed when one person told me they'd had help from someone who actually posted on his profile that he did _not_ help newbies - because I'd considered speaking to the same person but hadn't, because I respected his profiled wishes).

Of course the problem is, if those people would be prepared to turn up to an event on those terms, and I have a feeling that the answer is No. Moreover, the support they'd give would probably be more in terms of tuition and publicity than money - but that's a good thing, because monetary investment in SL has the problem of non-verifiability. So it'd be more like The Apprentice than Dragon's Den. The only problem is, for such a thing to exist and be of value would give out the message that those other than the "apprentice" couldn't succeed (yes, IRL, Dragon's Den has damaged entrepreneurship) which isn't a good message for SL. But, on the other hand, if it's true...

Well I don't want to derail this thread further- gosh - we NEVER have derailments in these forums!

But I do want to clear up the misconception re the cheap peeps- no one was to hand anything over to anyone- it was incumbent upon the Designers to invite friends and existing group members - yes this wd be a "super group" as you state it- because it wd essentially grant all designers access to the same group of people.

However, the competition, while real, would be no different than that present now in other such super groups as Fashcon and Freestyle- also it wd have the advantage over those in that it would unite designers from various fields. So someone who usually shops for clothes might get an interesting invite to a furniture maker or the other way around- and thus people and designers who may never have encountered each other now would.

As for spam- well I suppose the notices from the large groups such as Fashcon, et al, can also be considered spam- however, they do generate traffic and the members don't seem to mind overly or there wd not be such a large membership.

Regarding conflict of interests- I guess I have never been overly concerned with that or competition, my work stands on its own merits. Those who like it shop there, those whose tastes differ, shop elsewhere. I have sent people from my store to others' stores who I knew might have something they wd like based on their purchases. I realize you don't know me and so have no way of knowing I am telling the truth about that, but those that do know me, know it is so.

I guess it all boils down to though, to faith in your fellow Residents- the OP idea and the Cheap Peeps group and other similar group projects- if the parties involved don't carry thru, the project is destined to fail and since there is no enforcement possible ...

I do wish you luck with your idea.

The idea is great but who do you now would do it? What are they willing to do to truly
help possible competitors? Will they be willing too or will they not be wiling to because
that might mean less sales for them?
The few people I know who self admit earning over 30000L and up a week in sales seem
to busy to really spend much time apprenticing, aiding others and few even have said there
is only enough buyers for so many sales.
There is only one I know of who has offered classes on sales advise but the techiniques
I am not sure if the information can be applied to every business and if everyone else is doing similar techniques i.e hosting events in event listing pretty soon even that technique is no longer going to be effective.
I know in my own situation I don't have energy and time to promote my products
and create, have a life too.
As content designer I am fully aware of why I am rarely making sales.
It is because only small group of Residents are willing to spend money or those
who have it already have spent their money on more establish places.
There already too many other designers out there competing for few Residents
who spend money or have room for freebies in their inventory.
Things get lost in search engine or those who might be willing to buy a new
product don't know who I am.
I don't have any more energy to do anything more then what I am already doing.
It might be also because the style of things I am making others don't like.
Also I am such perfectionist I am not releasing tons of items that some more
well known designers I know would have released put up the product already.
I am going to keep designing and drawing even if I only sell one item
a month or every other month.

FD- I am not sure if u mean how do u know the people in the Design Contest the OP postulated really will carry it out- that's where the vendors someone else mentioned wd come in handy. Dont have to trust anyone - it is automated.

If you mean the Peeps- no, there is no way- u just have to hope and trust in ur fellow man/woman/furry. I know- tall order- but some one somewhere had to trust first or we wd still be living in caves - alone -

(Anyway if u meant the CP group- talk to me in IM or inworld so we dont keep taking this thread away from the original thought.)

I was just talking about the OP's idea and my experience being content maker
that doesn't sell much and my experiences with those who do make money here.
Confused what do you mean Amara?
What is automated?

There was something about setting up vendors to sell the new product a few posts back- so there is no question whether the new inventor gets paid or not 'cause he is using a vendor.

"Contestant 1, Ruth from Waterhead, you've been in SL for only one day now and are looking at opening a business straight away, that's the businness spirit we like to see, so what's your idea?"

"You give me copybot free and I make shop sell good stuff lots"

"Ummm ok, Contestant 2 all the way from Bay City, nice cloud, what's your new innotative business angle?"

"Thanks Jumpman, I seem to have trouble rezzing, LL servers are crap, I'm campbotting, a real challenge with big rewards, in my first week with only 100 alts, I've made enough money to upgrade to a 586."

"Hmm going to be tough to beat that, what have you got No3, you've had a whole week since rezzing in the Vehicle Sandbox to work how things work in SL, I'm sure that Chuck Norris avatar means serious business"

"I quit my RL job, and invested my Superfund into ordering a sim and 252 Openspaces to go with it for high density commercial and residental rentals"

"Contestant 4?"

Hmm tough crowd, not even a lol .....................

Thought it was a documentary . . .

Pep (Is Contestant 4 going to ask for money to promote his DisneyLand [tm] clone?)

Well, I thought it was funny.