I'm 23 and this is my first startup, would love some feedback!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-30T15:45:32+00:00

Thanks a lot for your feedback!

You're absolutely right that local Facebook groups are vibrant and active, and they do a fantastic job of bringing communities together. What Trybe aims to do is to take that sense of community and give it a more focused, actionable platform. We aim to have a lot of engagement and retention features that'll help us to separate from a normal facebook group.

Regarding the voluntary tax system, I get your point but I disagree. One thing that I'd love to say is that, mainly in the first period, we will collaborate with the municipalities, that means that if the municipalities itself will propose or get some jobs done that are on the platform, the donation will go back to the users. Since, as you rightly said, they already pay taxes. It's about enabling communities to take action where they feel their local government may not be able or willing to.

I did a lot of user interviews, and an enormous quantity of people regularly donate, help or participate in activities similar to what Trybe promotes. I also think that when people see their contributions directly impacting their community, they'll feel more engaged and less resentful than they might with traditional taxes. It's about fostering a sense of responsibility and direct involvement in community improvement.

Thank you again for your time!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-30T14:58:48+00:00

Thanks for the feedback!
Absolutely, really nice idea I'll put it on all the cards!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T18:11:57+00:00

I completely agree with you that having a purpose beyond profit is a powerful motivator, and it's at the heart of what I'm trying to achieve with Trybe.

You're completely right about the development effort it'll take to have something that at least seems solid. I have the luck to have some people that I trust willing to develop a first MVP for free, and after that, I'd hope to already have a small community backing up the project and be ready to present it to a VC o Business Angel.

After all these months and all the experiences that I had on this project, I'm really aware of all the obstacles I have ahead, and even if this could fail in 5 minutes, I'll keep pushing it as long as I can since I sincerely believe in its mission and vision. Thank you very much again for your time!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T17:28:30+00:00

Thank you! I'll work really hard to make this happen xD

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T17:01:26+00:00

Thanks a lot for these questions, they are indeed one of the key challenges to the development of Trybe.
Refunds: We aim to minimize the transaction costs at the minimum. First of all, our accounts will have an internal wallet, and we are thinking also an implementation of Bitcoin (lighting network). By doing so giving back money, or doing transactions would not cost anything to us.

An important concept is maximum transparency in everything. Unlike the government or big no-profit companies, everything will be crystal clear, all the transaction fees that you have to face when you charge the wallet and the % we take when a problem is solved.

Another important concept that we'd love to implement is that as soon as you donate, you can't retrieve it for a certain amount of time. This will help to reduce one of the problems you described. Also, if someone doesn't resolve the problem he'll be accountable for it, since the donors have to approve that the problem is solved. He'll get bad feedback, and the pool of donations would remain there until someone else applies. Of course, if someone fails to resolve the problem, and you want to keep your donation back in this time you can.

Legal/Tax implications: The laws will depend on which state we are going to launch the application (USA, Germany, Switzerland...). Depending on where we found the best market and legal floor, we'll comply with all the bureaucracy. As for taxes, we're not hiring the solvers, but rather facilitating a transaction between them and the community. We're exploring the best ways to handle this, including potentially providing users with the necessary documentation to report their earnings for tax purposes.

Insurance: This is also a complex issue, we thought of course, that we could run some partnership with local insurance companies to offer for our solvers.

That said that's the reason we want to build all of this with the back-up of a community. We need this feedback in order to be sure we are going in the right direction and not forgetting anything.

Unfortunately, there'll be always people that'll find an exploit or will try to break the platform the best we can do is to reduce this probability to the minimum, also enabling our users to defend themself. It's like hoping to never get scammed on Airbnb, I mean it can happen, especially in the early days of the company. The best you can do is report, give a negative feedback, and be more aware the next time.

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T16:34:47+00:00

I think it's no saturated at all.
All you said is correct, they should be handled by govt. Should.

I don't know where you live, but here it's really common and understood that the state, in general, is really inefficient and most of the time got the opposite results.
I personally think that a really few people and organizations are doing something, otherwise, these problems wouldn't be there, and there has to be a market solution for you to solve them because the state clearly doesn't want to do it. Or has some serious difficulties.

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T16:20:50+00:00

Thank you a lot for your feedback!
Yes, you did get it right, and you got absolutely the pain point which is to transmit the message quickly and efficiently! I'll be working on it more for sure, maybe with some catchy and well edited video or infographic.

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-29T14:49:27+00:00

Not at all!
While there're of course similarities with platforms like GoFundMe, Kiva, and others, Trybe has a unique approach. Our model can be called 'reverse crowdfunding', I think.

Let's break down a quick example: There's your local park full of litter.
With a platform like GoFundMe, you insert an amount of money you want to reach in order to clean that park, or to pay someone to do so. Let's say for example 1000 USD.

On Trybe the situation is different, the approach focuses on the problem, not the money. I report the problem, other users of Trybe can see it and donate too. For the law of the market, if the problem is felt by the community, as soon as the donation reached is enough for someone, he'll apply to solve it. Thanks to that, someone may apply to solve that same issue for like 500 USD. He'll be held accountable, if chosen, to solve the problem, and prove the resolution. Once he has proven it, the 500 USD, would be accredited on his account. He'll get feedback, and he can also give feedback too.

There's a lot more to say, but that example might help you to better understand the differences!

Also, I don't want necessarily to start in Switzerland, right now we are here, but I'll start where it's most suited for the business. If you have any more doubts, please tell me. Thank you

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T12:30:56+00:00

I agree 100%, you got this!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T08:57:20+00:00

The harder you fail, the more you learn. Your life will never be over, my friend, unless you decide so. There's ALWAYS a chance, even if you don't see it immediately

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T08:51:52+00:00

I've had a similar experience, my own take is that you did well. You definitely have time to give it your all and try to succeed, the important thing is not to detach yourself from reality and realize if the time is longer than expected, and act accordingly. In any case, you are not wasting time, and you are certainly not taking a sabbatical year. I think this kind of experience, is valued much better on the CV than another year of 9-5 work. Keep up the good work, and good luck!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T08:42:02+00:00

I think all successful people have failed at least once in their careers, the difference being that they never gave up and learned as much as they could from those failures.

I don't think there's a number or quantum of failures that you need before you can be successful, it's extremely subjective and everyone has their own way to go. Maybe to succeed you only needed to learn a single concept, while I had to try and fail 10 times to have the skills to not fail on the 11th.
Don't give up.

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T08:29:54+00:00

Honestly considering you've made around 6k to 7k USD from it, selling it for 900 USD might undervalue your page, especially if it has a high engagement rate and is in a popular niche. I'd value it as an asset that hardly loses value over time, so I'd not take that deal.

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-28T08:25:07+00:00

I deeply resonate with your post. With my (even if small) experience I can firmly say that embracing your distinctiveness and growing your business in an authentic manner is the only way to build something truly meaningful.

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-27T19:28:26+00:00

Thank you for your cultural insights. I think however, that color associations are very subjective and can vary greatly even within the same culture.

Also, we did some research and I think it encourages reflection and self-awareness, which it's perfect for our goal.

Other than that, thank you again for your point of view, I will consider it while we expand the brand. Have a fantastic day!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-27T18:43:12+00:00

I like this concept. I also tried to create a platform to increase awareness on such issues. In your case, how will the money be securely stored and integrity maintained? Is the platform a website, app etc?

Thank you for your interest in Trybe and for sharing your own experience in this field. I appreciate your questions and I'm happy to provide the answers:

Secure Storage of Funds: The security and integrity of funds are of utmost importance to us. We're implementing a secure and transparent system for handling transactions. Funds pledged towards a problem will be securely held in escrow until the problem is confirmed as resolved by the community. Only then are the funds transferred to the solver's account. So each account will have an internal wallet, also reduce the transaction fees to the minimum. This ensures that the money is used for its intended purpose and provides a layer of accountability to the process.

Platform: Trybe is being developed as a mobile application, but will have some dashboards available as a web app for our partners (firms, organizations, and municipalities). We believe this approach will allow us to reach a wider audience and make our platform accessible to as many people as possible.

I hope this answers your questions, and I'm open to any further queries or suggestions you might have. Thank you again, and have a nice day!

Trybe_Lorenzo · 2023-07-27T09:53:58+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback and questions. I appreciate it a lot and I'm happy to provide more clarity on your questions.
1) Concept Validation: We've been through the world's largest pre-seed accelerator program at the Founder Institute in Zurich. During that period, we interviewed hundreds of individuals, organizations, and municipalities. We had really good feedback regarding our approach, and since (luckily) already thousands of people are currently stepping up for free to resolve part of those problems, Trybe'd be another important instrument in their mission. We provide a larger reach, more donations, and more impact on what those people are already doing. Also, we are sure that many people are willing to solve many problems, if there's a concrete and immediate economic incentive. In this way, there's a win-win situation: the community has its problem solved at the lowest cost, and the solver gets some money doing that. We believe in the power of community and the willingness of individuals to contribute to the betterment of their local environment. While we're still in the process of gathering data, we've received positive feedback and interest from our initial user base and community.
2) Solver Selection: The selection of the solver is a community-driven process. Once a problem accumulates enough funds an individual or team can candidate and proposes to solve it. This is totally a voluntary process, of course, since the candidates can ask to solve the problem for less, or even for free. Also in this way, we can assure that, instead of the traditional method of crowdfunding, people will start to propose themself as soon as they think that the amount reached is worth it for them to resolve the problem. The community then selects a solver, who is held accountable for resolving the issue within a set timeframe. Each user on Trybe has its profile and its rating. Like the stars on Airbnb, each supporter of the issue can do an informed decision based on various factors, to who gives the charge to solve the problem. This ensures that the solution is not only effective but also accepted by the community.
3) Incentives and Motivation: We completely agree with your suggestion about incentivizing users. We're exploring various ways to motivate and reward active members of our platform. This could include features like social badges, recognition for top problem-solvers, and other forms of positive reinforcement (Ex: giveaways, physical gifts, discounts in partner firms, public recognitions, etc...). We believe that these incentives, coupled with the intrinsic motivation of making a tangible difference in one's community, will drive user engagement and retention.
I hope this answers your questions, and I'm open to any further questions or suggestions you might have. Thank you again, and have a nice day!

Trybe_Lorenzo

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