Hola Product Hunt!
RocketClub allows anyone to get a real stake in the products they use and love.
Sounds crazy? Yes, we think so too, but it ain’t stopping us from trying..
We built RocketClub because we wanted to help early-stage companies get traction. Most of us on PH probably know this well, getting traction is TOUGH. The idea came from wanting this solution for ourselves -a way to incentivize our own network, community, and early-adopters to become invested in the success of the product. The media makes us believe new products are launched and become overnight successes, whereas in reality, all products come out crawling and need the nurturing of early supporters. It's only right that early believers have a real stake (stock appreciate rights) and are compensated for their time and efforts.
We’re just at the beginning of a long mission. RocketClub also needs your help. Find out more and get a stake in RocketClub here :)
[EDIT] Thank you everyone for the awesome support. We just made top of the list today (don't care if we don't stay there.) For us, it really is about helping other companies. We hope we can make good on that goal.
@mossibat Thanks Mohsen! We don't have any crazy process since its mostly just a conversation between @chenny408 and I. We mainly make sure there is a committed team and an interesting product. Email me directly erik@rocketclub.co if you are considering, we love talking to new startups
@blendahtom@dvblnkk You sign up for companies you believe in, and help them by adopting their product, giving feedback, and referring friends. If you complete the tasks (as a way to prove you are really an adopter), you earn stock appreciation rights to the company.
It's not about us.. let me introduce @dvillarrealm of Banter! His app gives you the low-down on the hottest bars in town. Real-time photos and info so you can make every night out the type of night you want it to be: http://www.rocketclub.co/spottly...
@rocketclubco Erik and Paul have done an amazing job with the RocketClub platform and we're really glad to be featured on the site. As we start building our community of nightlife-lovers, we knew the best way to grow was recruiting ambassadors to help us grow Banter in their communities... RocketClub is making that possible. If anyone here likes to go out to bars, restaurants or clubs, check out Banter! It shows you real-time information about the local nightlife scene the same way Waze shows you information about traffic. And please send us any feedback.
@dvillarrealm is the real deal. I was sold the first day we met, 'Waze for Nightlife' just sounds inevitable. Who wouldn't want that when they hit the town? I surely hope they build that community of ambassadors, its for all of us.
@lauralynnz and @claudeb_mit -- I tried a sip of the Yerba Buena Cascadian Dark Ale the other week, it was delicious -- strong and hoppy, with a hint of s'mores. When does Batch #2 ship?
@gerrithall@rocketclubco We're shipping batch 2 now so everyone who signs up via RocketClub will receive get to try it including one beer from a 5 Time California Homebrewer of the year with multiple 1st places at the largest beer competition in the world.
@rocketclubco For people wondering why we're here... Since we're building a community of craft beer lovers who want to support talented homebrewers and try their tasty creations, RocketClub made perfect sense to us to allow our earliest members to share in our success. Why wait to crowdfund equity like BrewDog or do other community based ownership plans when the largest upside for our members is now and it's when we need their feedback and support the most. It's the ultimate win-win!
I'm a huge supporter of both Erik and Paul. They are both amazingly talented and there is no doubt in my mind they can pull this off. If I were starting Wahooly again today, I would structure it exactly like they've done it. Congrats on the launch, guys!
We just launched our 1st batch of startups in the Food & Travel vertical, featuring Banter!, a real-time Yelp for nighttime activities, and Noble Brewer, a Birchbox for craft beers, among others. Help us to support our partners and tell us what other startups you guys want to see on our platform!
@chenny408 It’s not just about us.. let me introduce @jbcettina of Food Moves. It's only available in NYC right now, but Food Moves is the app you want to have to find the best food trucks when you’re in town. http://www.rocketclub.co/food-mo...
@chenny408 Thanks for the intro! We are so excited to be launch partners with RocketClub and even more excited to introduce Food Moves, the first real-time locator for food trucks, to the Product Hunt Community. Please AMA!
@jbcettina Joel, you should tell us about all the different food trucks you have on board! I can't wait until I check out your app when I'm in the East Coast!
@rocketclubco@chenny408 we have had over 20 trucks join in just a few weeks and a deal in place that will bring us to over 50 very shortly! We have everything from Thai and Pizza to Meatballs and Bahn Mis. We have you covered. We are working on having New York, NJ and now Philly to the list of launch cities! Never go hungry and never walk too far to find the food that moves you.
this looks interesting; but also very confusing.
e.g. on this page: http://www.rocketclub.co/rocketc...
it says "sign up to get 500 company shares". I'm sure this is intruiging for the average non-tech user; but obviously anyone who knows anything about startups will know that this pretty much means zero without further information.
e.g. you could have 1 million shares issued and outstanding; or 100 billion.
I think that you need to give more context around what people are really getting.
@_jacksmith You're absolutely right, and thanks for the feedback. The number of shares is actually 1:1 compared to the number of shares outstanding in the company. But we'll improve on that messaging.. its also why we display the % stake in the company, so its clear X members are sharing Y%
@rocketclubco ok; I imagine that it would be different for different startups though. the fact that it says 2000 people sharing 1% does make it more clear though.
@_jacksmith Yes, its different for different companies. We decided not to show a discrete number of shares for companies who have a very small number of outstanding shares.
This is super similar to @danerobert Dana Severson's old concept at Wahooli. You guys should definitely connect. The idea was strong back then as well and I'm sure you could both benefit from connecting. :)
@nickatloot Absolutely. @danerobert is here in the comments. We reached out to him at the very beginning to make sure he was in our loop. Mad thanks to him.
Very interesting concept! Early users as partners sharing in the upside. How are members matched with start-ups? Would be great if RC helped attract long-term users (ie: who need the product) beyond the initial marketing boost.
@escourrou Members need to fill out a short application by answering a couple questions provided by the startup to gauge whether they're a good fit, and be accepted into the campaign. The idea behind offering shares is that the financial upside is directly tied to the success of the company which helps to align long-term incentives, and promote repeat usage and loyalty.
+1 for MIT startups!
Awesome idea. But regulators unfortunately don't always make life easy for innovators. I'd hate to see you shut down before your prime -- are you in the clear legally?
@gerrithall Great question! We structure RocketClub as platform providing marketing services to early-stage startups through its part-time workers or consultants on our site. Our members are compensated via stock appreciation rights by RocketClub based on the payment we receive and hold in escrow from the companies listing on the platform.
Essentially the members get the financial benefits of stock ownership without the tax obligations, which is a win-win for everyone :)
@rocketclubco Signed up and it looks like a great product. I have 4 questions: 1. Are the members (like me) considered as part-time workers/cosultants? 2. How is the payment amount that you receive from companies determined? 3. Have you considered using Blockchain (Bitcoin) based Escrows? 4. What is the business model to make money? Thanks!
@babu_ck@gerrithall great questions! #1: yes members, such as yourself, are considered consultants for RocketClub, #2: the total 'cash' out is based on the # of shares you own, which is stated for each campaign, times the value of each share at the exit event. #3: no not yet, we don't want to complicate things just yet, but have gotten that feedback. #4: we take a cut of the payout based on the amount of time we hold the shares under management.
I've used RocketClub for a few weeks now, and love how their executing on their vision. It's a great way for very early startups to seed user growth quickly. As a beta tester, the sense of having skin in the game is definitely a motivator to continue to test the products.
I'm looking forward to more companies coming on board, and seeing more diversity in the product offerings.
Man, thanks for that @benstern0! We're doing everything we can to get some interesting companies up on there. We started off with food and travel companies, and moving to social networking / entertainment next.
This is getting some really cool feedback from people who are not really exposed to new technology and products in my network. I'll share posts frequently, and this share has already encouraged many friends to reach out and ask me about how they can participate. Definitely on to something great here, and I'm excited to be a part of the first user group!
@lombardinelson Thanks Mark! I'm super excited to hear that there is interest here. We might seem a little techie focused right now, but the vision is that this can be for anybody. Early-adopters come in all shapes and sizes! At some point, every consumer encounters a product/service that is new to them from their perspective.
So my math might be fuzzy, but I want to make sure I understand the proposition. I promote a campaign such as the "RocketClub" campaign. Then I share 1% with 2000 other people. If sold at ~500k I stand to make $2.50?
@tyrale Yes, your math is correct. But generally startups are valued at much more than $500k. Very early stage companies are usually valued between $500k-$1.5M (early like RocketClub where we are a team of two)
Check this out page to find out how much different startups are valued at: https://angel.co/valuations
@rocketclubco Even at a generous 5m evaluation that only pays out $25 to each person. Sounds like really cheap crowd sourced testing and sharing for the hope of a very small payout.
@tyrale A $5M valuation is a company that has not raised a Series A round of funding yet and not really considered a win at all. Spottly is probably in the range of being worth $5M today and were seeking 1000 members for 1%. http://www.rocketclub.co/spottly...
The goal is to become 100-500x more valuable..
I have already heard about you guys from founders of Banter and TimeTag and was very intrigued. I look forward to learning more about startup's experiences with this. Great concept!
@petkoan Each startup lists a few tasks on their campaign to ensure a minimum amount of support is provided by each member. Our platform helps track this to make sure they are completed before any member earns their share.
It’s not about us.. let me introduce @Edwyn of Spottly. His app will help you find the best local foods anywhere you go (particularly Asia). If you like to eat at the best spots everyday, this is for you:
http://www.rocketclub.co/spottly...
@iamwormify Yup. We're hoping to pave the path for future companies, and give companies more channels to get traction. Of course, early adopters should also have a stake in the upside of the product they helped produce.
@iamwormify totally agree! that's the main reason we started RocketClub. getting traction is an extremely tough problem that almost all startups face. hopefully we can play our part in getting cool products in the hands of early users and get them to product-market fit. thanks for the support!
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