What a difference...

3 months makes.

At the beginning of this competion I set my key business challenge as identifying routes to members.


I have spent a lot of time with Polly working through the options mainly focused around various media advertising options and mostly identified the shortcomings - cost and the limited scope of the communciation with prospective members. But I think we have finally struck strategic gold ~ Partnerships.

Polly has been AMAZING in developing the partner proposition ensuring the communication focus is on what Socialite can deliver to the partner. The success of early conversations with my preferred strategic partner meant that I was very focused on this negotiation however Polly challenged me strongly on the exposure of a one horse race highlighting the obvious risk that if the negotation faltered for any of a million reasons there was no alternative or fall back. So in taking Polly's advice and opening conversations with a diverse selection of prospective partners not only I am in a much stronger strategic position but I am realising that it is very feasible to structure a deal around a number of partners with no conflict of interest and benefit to both the Socialite model and the partners primary businesses - and this really is WOW!

Proof that we are onto something big is the recipricol interest from prospective partners. Think of the most prestigious restaurant sites and lifestyle media sites and I have got top level meetings scheduled. In principle I am looking for one major strategic partner and then a series of associate partners to create a stategic network.


The risk of developing partnerships in the early days of a business is that the potential of the business is not proven making valuation a challenge with undervaluation being as much as a risk as overvaluation calling for some sophisticated business modeling. So I have spent the last few weeks developing the partner model and finacial proposition round the clock which was both mind blowing and rewarding. There were a lot of sleepless nights spent twiddling formulas in my head and jumping up at 4am to note important changes. If I say so myself I am very pleased with the results. This week I had a meeting with the FD of the front running strategic partner option and it couldn't have gone better! Feedback was that my financial model was realistic, comprehensive and that the fabulous bottom line figures are if anything a little conservative. I can't tell you how thrilled I am. However the next challenge is to get to the bottom line ~ what the business is worth. Polly and I have discussed valuation models however this is a specialist area for an FD. I have called on a good friend who buys businesses in his sleep to cast his eye over my financial plan and am also seeking the services of a pay as you go FD.

This week is a big week of meetings and opportunity - I have got everything crossed....

Since the start of the Socialite members have enjoyed free pre-launch memberships. With the completion of Socialite in November 2008, the pre-launch members, who registered between June 2006 and October 2008, were given notice that subscription membership would commence in February 2009. The billing cycle ran on the 2nd of Feb and it was nerve racking! Socialite uses Protx billing so any cards which have not been charged in over 13 months [to allow for annual subscriptions] will not run a charge for which we forecast a 50% subscription failure, for the remainder regisered within the last 13 months, if the registered card had since expired again the subscription would fail. Also with payment notification many members were prompted to write to say life had moved on and they now lived outside of London or had married and had babies - which was proof of one of the reasons for a subscription membership whereby when members are no longer using Socialite we want them to cancel their membership as inactive members clutter the site and are a nuisance to active members. At the end of the process we had a 20% retention which we were delighted with! The members whose subscriptions failed will go on hold until their details are updated. Prompts for updating details are to access member messaging and to book Socialite Events so we estimate 20% of on hold members will reactivate in the next 3 months.

As a result of the billing cycle and on hold accounts, numbers are currently below the 1,000 target for full site experience so we are going to run the Founder Member campaign which was so successful in recruiting pre-trial members so numbers will be up to target again in no time.


Not to take my eye off the business development I have some fabulous business development in progress. I have just signed off an adwords trial. Polly gave me the contact details for her Mr Fabulous Rob Budd of http://www.top-click.com/ and he has put together a test program from which the online strategy has been developed. Polly also strongly recommended trying Facebook Ads - how addictive!!! It takes seconds to create an ad and specify your target demographic. You set a bid price of what you are prepared to pay by click [for advertisers who want a response] or impression [for advertisers who just want to be seen] and a maximum daily budget for what you want to spend [all in $ which adds a little Transatlantic glamour] then you have a very addictive online ad manager with graphs and all sorts.

Other fab news is that I have agreed a CPA [cost per acquisition] arrangement to promote Socialite on toptable with two campaigns. One is a founder member offer and the other is an event lead offer. I am also commissioning some fab credit card style membership gift cards.

Value adding to the member offer is another key strategic aim. This really is coming together beautifully. Nothing like the current austere times to make brands and venues very keen to create a little sunshine. Fabulous venues and member offers are rolling in.

In the meantime Bugs are my new favourite pets. In a complex site build there will always be glitches. Polly has instructed no insisted that I make sure I have found every glitch and snag in the site function. I have always been proactive with trouble shooting but Polly has pointed out that I need to actively seek issues and fix them before they surface and to get some more eyes on it for extra vigour. So I have recruited a team of friendly members and for the last 2 Mondays I have provided fine food and wine in return for trouble shooting the site as fresh eyes can find issues that over familiar ones might miss. This has been so, so valuable. The main issues which have been flagged are around navigation and making the site more intuitive. As myself and the development team know the site inside out we cannot now appreciate it from the perspective of a new member. The sessions have produced some very effective but simple improvements which will be going up in the next few days.

An ongoing business challenge is 'Socialite is a...' which is looking at the messages of Socialite of who are we, why are we here and what do we deliver. To date the message has been 'Socialite is an exclusive members club for people who are passionate about socialising and dining out in London.' However the results of the 'Socialtie is a...' Excersise is that 'Socialite London; Exclusive invitations to your desktop.' and the expanded description is 'Socialite London is a members club bringing exclusive dining and event invitations to your desktop.'


Finally this weekend Gina of Divine hosted a mentees get together. [Gina's Wheat Free Cakes are AMAZING and are a business opportunity in themeselves!] It was great to share stories and we all shared a challenge that we wanted input in. Mine was the 'Socialite is a.....' challenge for what is Socialite at the water cooler. So if a member says I am going to a Socialite Event tonight and their friend says 'what's Socialite', what is the two word answer? Members club tested as the best of many options [network too contrived, dining club too 70s, supper club too restricted]. The other good input from the girls was that there should be a single payment membership option as well as monthly subscription as some people are not comfortable with subscriptions. The best thing about getting together was to catch up on my fellow mentees positions on the roller coaster of setting up your own business. Some of us were at the top of the roller coaster this week with real highs and some of us were having very tough low weeks. Not only did we share this weeks ups and downs but we reminded ourselves that this weeks highs can be next weeks lows but that if it was easy everyone would do it - no pain no gain hey girls?!? Anyway, have decided I am going to launch a Business Start Up mascara that can keep lashes confidently long and lucsious through the tears of pain and laughter that accompany starting your own business...

Think of me this month as one way or another I am going to need my Business Start Up mascara before March is out....

Michelle
http://www.socialite-london.com/