ccFOUND Archive
ccFOUND Archive
Piotr Michalak
•2 years

ccFound roadmap - state as of 2023.06.

ENTRY

In this article, I present to you the status of our roadmap at the end of June 2023.

By roadmap we mean the platform's functions, i.e. the programming perspective.

In a few weeks, in the report for investors for the second quarter of 2023, I will describe what we focus on in other areas of the company.

HOW TO READ THE ROADMAP

Below I explain in the descriptions what a given function is and why it is important.

I also report to you what we consider unimportant, showing which ideas we have noted, but they are in the waiting room for now (and why).

ATTENTION. I wrote the original article in Polish. Translations may contain errors and may not include formatting (all our plans are listed in points). We will try to improve at least the formatting of the translations in the coming days.

We do not provide dates when individual functions will be ready. This is due to the iterative nature of our work. What does it mean?

  • We are constantly considering how the functions implemented so far work and we change the priorities of our work. For example, we see that the odds are not enough to monetize the traffic on ccFound and we come up with the next step, or we go back and refine the previous feature. We pivot and revise our business idea to bring this startup to profitability.
  • Each feature is a new product that we need to maintain, polish, develop and fix bugs. Making a function in computer science is not a finished work, but a commitment. Generates errors by interacting with other functionalities. Sometimes you can't predict that, for example, launching a marketplace will cause 20 bugs that will have to be fixed for several weeks.

These things are normal in IT projects. The goal-setting of startups, which you may have been used to in crowdfunding campaigns, is largely made-up for the benefit of the public. The project, having no programmers employed and no written specifications, is unable to predict how long it will take to make the product. Nobody starts a startup with a 500-page specification. This is the truth and I apologize for being honest.

That's why I continue to signal the current priorities, but I don't specify dates or deadlines.

SUMMARY

TLDR: We currently have two top priorities for new features. These are thematic groups , ultimately related to courses and subscription products , especially our own subscription for access to most of the marketplace and further specialized subscriptions .

In other words, we're looking for a platinum product with the highest value possible to justify the ad spend. At the same time, we understood that education on the Internet goes towards building groups of people pursuing the same goal.

From major changes: our mobile app for iOS will be launched soon.

ROADMAP

(1) Mobile!

  • iOS application - premiere. [Important and Urgent]
    I would like to remind you that the Android application is already available in the Google Play Store. We are currently testing the long-awaited app for Apple devices. We are going through the verification process. It does not give a 100% guarantee that we will pass it - cooperation with Apple at the developer level is not easy and pleasant, but we are fighting.
    Fun fact: Apple requests screenshots of apps taken on a specific device and then rejects screenshots taken on that device. Apple requests a link to the privacy policy in English, then rejects it, requesting a link to the privacy policy in English. We face such challenges :-)
    • Encouragement to download mobile applications. [Important and Urgent]
      Icons will appear on ccFound encouraging you to download mobile applications. Also in the popup alert version on mobile browsers.
  • Downloading purchased products offline.
    Currently not urgent, but necessary in the near future for the development of the marketplace.

(2) Social media!

  • MVP thematic groups (open). [Important and Urgent]

This is currently the most important change to ccFound as part of further pivoting and searching for a product match with market needs. I see two levels where groups can become a revolution for ccFound:

1. The social plane.

We are currently creating a general multi-topic portal. It is difficult for me to ask a specialist question on it, because it will fall on the main page and I can expect answers from laymen.

The solution is thematic narrowing within groups. I prefer to discuss with people who are really involved in, for example, slimming and dietetics, or business and entrepreneurship, who have defined themselves as belonging to a given group. Outsiders cannot post anything there.

Unlike Facebook, our open groups will be visible to Google robots and additionally translated into other languages, which will give us visibility in search engines around the world and therefore attract new users.

2. Educational plane.

The educational market is currently moving away from selling courses for a one-time payment, e.g. PLN 200. Success in the industry is achieved by trainers who lead communities of people who support each other in pursuit of their goals. Payment is usually a subscription or we get temporary access (e.g. for a year).

Trainers focused on selling a course once, add less value to the lives of clients than teachers who constantly run their communities. That is why so often now, with the purchase of a course, we get access to closed Facebook groups.

However, once on Facebook, we are distracted by side content. We must then go to the tab with groups and find the one we were looking for. It's a long path full of distractions.

In addition, every interesting topic on Facebook is duplicated in dozens of similar groups...

We achieve a competitive advantage here. We start with open groups. We will link them to courses soon. We will limit the number of groups in such a way that the platform only offers active groups. Inactive groups will be automatically archived.

In the future, we will give trainers the ability to create subscriptions with access to closed communities and gradually released knowledge.

Currently, subscription platforms such as Polish Web2Learn or foreign Teachable do not contain social platforms. They are only used to display course videos.

On the other hand, for example, Kajabi and Skool have integration of courses with groups. But they are only available on a monthly subscription, which raises the risk for the trainer and is a barrier to entry.

ccFound, on the other hand, works only on a low sales commission.

Udemy also works on commission, but does not offer the functionality of groups linked to courses.

First of all, the indicated platforms do not contain open communities, i.e. an alternative to Facebook, allowing you to build a target group before you sell anything to anyone.

Therefore, they are only used to list paid products, and they do not solve the problem of building organic traffic. This is the biggest concern of any content creator on the internet.

Today, as an entrepreneurship teacher, I would have to have a separate free Facebook group (to gather interested people), because the ccFound homepage is not suitable for this purpose.

I would forward these people from my group to the ccFound marketplace or Udemy to sell anything. I would encounter the phenomenon of friction (people are reluctant to move between platforms).

Soon, as a creator, I will be able to build my open group on ccFound (and in a moment I will attach my free courses to it).

I will also be able to set up a paid group for advanced, with paid courses, gradually released as part of the subscription.

ccFound is used to build its popularity, being an ideal solution for anyone who just wants to enter the world of monetizing their content on the Internet.

ccFound is also the first “open Facebook”, additionally indexed by Google in many languages and optimized in terms of SEO, seamlessly transitioning to content monetization for those who want to use it.

  • Linking courses to groups and vice versa.
  • Subscription paid groups (with gradual release of content).
  • Closed groups (moderator approval required to join).
  • Broadcast groups (only group creator and group leaders can publish).

(Continuation of functions within ccFound as a social medium:)

  • Simple surveys. [Important and Urgent]
    The feature will allow you to publish a simple questionnaire with checkboxes as part of a question, article or after-hours post. I think it will bring the portal to life and bring a lot of fun in discovering what other people think about a given topic.
    • MVP prediction markets with performance rankings.
      Betting on predictions of various events (predictive markets) and creating performance rankings. No monetary betting for now as this falls under the Gambling Acts. However, just the fun of predicting the future and picking leaders can give ccFound an extra thrill!
  • Messenger MVP with notifications. [Important and Urgent]
    We will finally be able to write to each other. From the backend side, the framework of the system is ready. It is necessary to provide for the possibility of blocking unwanted communication.
    • ChatGPT4 in messenger for fvUSD.
      Possibility to chat with GPT4 in our messenger without having to pay a subscription for $20 in OpenAI. Micropayments using our fvUSD are enough to pay for API requests with a small overhead.
  • User profile modernization. [Important]
    The user profile is my "altar" on the Internet. On Linkedin, the profile became my CV. It has become my personal calling card on Facebook. Currently, there is no service that would allow me to collect and display all my data and achievements, and would become a kind of home page, a starting point, a place that presents me on the Internet and which I refine as my work. We are guided by this idea that the profile on ccFound will eventually become our "homepage".
    At the beginning, we plan to organize the view and add at least some of these functions and fields (note, here is a litany of ideas): photo gallery, place of residence, place and date of birth, bio, goals, schools and trainings, languages, competences and interests, publications, link tree, what I am looking for and what I offer, user's reputation - statistics and charts, rankings, badges, products created by the user and owned by the user with the possibility of hiding, subscribed users and tags with the possibility of unsubscribing, groups to which the user belongs and which the user leads, statements with the possibility of sorting [questions, answers, articles, after hours], filtering and expanding.
  • Adding inline photos in the content.
    You can now add photo galleries to posts and comments on ccFound. We want to give the possibility of pasting photos as part of longer articles, where you need to illustrate issues on an ongoing basis in the middle of the content, and not as part of the gallery.
  • Public statistics of the portal.
    Often in questions on the platform you ask, for example, how many users have registered on ccFound. In addition to this information, we want to show in the panel on the right how many posts there are in total and broken down into questions, articles and after hours, how many comments, trainers, courses, sales (in terms of value and quantity). We also provide statistics on paid questions, paywalls, pay me for answering, tips and tokens. And it's all with the switch: total, in the last 24h, 7 days and 30 days.
  • Advanced sorting and filtering criteria.
    We already offer the ability to sort by "recent" or by the number of raises or replies. We also give you the option of filtering only content without replies - or with e.g. 3 replies. We also filter by publication date, e.g. from the last 30 days. You can now filter only subscribed content on the page. We want to add more options: only show paid, valuable, personal, timeless. Also: show 18+, outdated, hidden (illegal and removed). Filtering is to be collapsed, by default it is to be shown with a full sentence on the basis of "Displaying by popularity from the last 30 days with max. 3 replies".
  • Automatic content tagging by AI.
    Already, some users do not pay attention to the selection of tags, and meanwhile we have to tag translations independently by AI. Why not tag and original content with an automaton?
  • Configure the frequency of the daily report (daily, every other day, weekly).
    Many users complain that the reports come too often.
  • Reply link download.
    In reports and notifications, we already see links that redirect directly to a reply or comment. However, downloading a link to them by the user is not included in the interface.
  • Footer - user's signature in response.
    Just like on internet forums, the footer allows you to write a few words about yourself and paste a link to your website.
  • Development of the reputation system and the judicial system.
    • Contextual and thematic reputation with dynamic rankings. [Important and Urgent]
      We want the ranking of users to change after entering a given tag or group.
    • Leaderboards (a subpage with user rankings in a given context).
      We also want to create separate rankings for individual functions, e.g. ranking of course authors or people answering questions.
    • Badges and awards (gamification). [Important]
      Users will receive rewards that are visible next to their username and in their profile. We will also see a path of progress on a given contextual path, e.g. in terms of asking questions, selling products or correcting translations.
    • Refactor of the judicial system.
      The entire current judicial system is built rigidly - it supports a few selected processes and adding more to them requires separate software for this process (again rigidly). We want to modularize this subsystem to make it flexible and ready for platform development. This is necessary to implement subsequent instances in the judicial system (the ability to challenge court decisions, which is also necessary for us to delegate judicial powers to users).
    • Delegating administrative rights to users.
      The vision of ccFound as a DAO - a decentralized organization - in which we delegate administrative powers to platform users is still valid. We are going to design how the invitation to the user to take over the new rights and the resulting responsibility will look like. This is related to reputation and rewards - the system is supposed to anticipate that a given permission is automatically unlocked based on the user's merits in a given field.
  • Ideas for later (we are considering).
    • Login with the link sent to email as 2FA.
      Just click on the magic link sent by email to log in. I'm actually annoyed with 2FA myself, but I doubt if this feature isn't just a whim and will accelerate the success of ccFound.
    • Public analytics of FOUND coins and fvUSD.
      Surely we would all like to see a public FOUND coin scanner, a list of the largest wallets and be able to analyze transactions. However, at this stage, the scanner will not magically make us more willing to buy products in the marketplace or display paywalls in responses.
    • Content versioning by IPFS.
      At one time, this development project was supposed to fit into our idea of fighting censorship. Already now, nothing on ccFound is completely deleted, but archived in the database. Throwing it to text files on IPFS probably won't change much.
    • Combining similar questions.
      From the beginning, we strive to make ccFound a place of organized knowledge, but this is not necessarily the idea that guides users. My current feeling is that sticking together similar questions (generating a whole set of new problems) would not add value to the community.
    • Advertising system - paid footers.
      We even have a written specification for how the system of non-invasive ads in user footers would work. However, traffic on ccFound is currently too low for the platform to make money from ads alone. Instead, we should test whether users would like to use footers to introduce themselves and promote themselves, completely free of charge.
    • Task auctions - DAO MVP.
      Let me remind you that ccFound was supposed to become a decentralized organization. Analyzing the issue, we came to the conclusion that the essence of DAO is based on commissioning tasks to the community, thanks to which everyone participates in the creation of the platform. I believe that both the community and the platform are not yet mature enough for this step, and we can also order tasks outside the platform.
    • Voice AI content reader.
      This is one of the many ideas of the user Hamster Grizzly, which I personally like, but I also have the impression that it would not make a revolution for users. Probably some percentage would like to listen to what we write on the platform, but for most people it is faster to simply read.
    • Dark mode and focus mode.
      Dark mode changes the color scheme of the platform from light colors to dark ones. Focus mode grays out the rest of the screen except for the content we are reading (e.g. selected answer).
    • Lenses.
      Lenses are the creation of a set of your own interests on the platform, which will ultimately allow you to turn on and off your own filters, as well as set up someone else's and view the platform from the perspective of another user. This initial idea still seems very cool to us, but it does not speed up the process of ccFound breaking even.
      • Hiding content for me ("X" button).
      • Delete forever (anti-subscription).

(3) Marketplace!

  • Implementation of ZEN as the primary form of payment. [Important and Urgent]
    It will reduce the costs of payment processing several times.
  • Automatic invoicing on behalf of the seller. [Important and Urgent]
    Absolutely necessary automation required by sellers.
  • Introduction of the fvPLN currency (payments in PLN). [Important]
    Necessary to serve customers from Poland on a massive scale. Currently, we present only the estimated cost converted into PLN according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland.
  • Flexible affiliate program. [Important and Urgent]
    The ccFound community can earn money by recommending products released on the marketplace. All users see a tab with the affiliate program in the marketplace and after joining it, they see a list of all products with commissions (percentage and currency). For example, we differ from Udemy in that the trainer can decide for himself how much commission he gives and whether he gives it at all - depending on the selected product. A trainer can have an 80% commission course in order to gain popularity and self-publish another 0% commission course - and that's fine. This also gives us the opportunity to engage in paid advertising of a given coach in the media - as ccFound, we can cover it thanks to this commission. Interestingly, most trainers have already agreed with us for such a commission, even though we do not have a PP system yet, thanks to which we have already started advertising them and are currently creating procedures for promoting courses in the marketplace.
  • Statistics panel for course authors.
    Necessary. Currently, the marketplace in MVP simply does not exist.
  • Support for subscriptions and temporary access. [Important and Urgent]
    • Temporary access, i.e. expiring access to the course after a certain period of time, e.g. a year.
      The function reminds you about expiring access 30, 7 and 1 day before, encouraging you to extend your access. The notification includes an option to disable a specific reminder.
    • Product packaging.
      Ultimately necessary for subscriptions, but it also allows you to create a product in which several courses are purchased for one price with a discount. Bundles are a separate product type clearly marked in the marketplace. This function is basically related to creating a paid group, which can also include several courses. Similarly, a package can contain one group. So we have to consider what comes first here, the egg or the chicken.
    • Selected ccFound courses in the Basic Plan. [Important and Urgent]
      This could be a revolution for our platform! ccFound as a training Netflix like other global platforms.
      The landing page of ccFound subscription courses is to become the main product sold by our advertising department, instead of - as currently - promoting registration in social media. For now, we will create landing pages in separate systems designed for this purpose. The hypothesis is that it is much easier to sell a university with many trainers and courses and micro-communities (huge value!) than individual courses.
      Subscription in the annual settlement - much more advantageous than the monthly payment. The amount is automatically debited from the card. Easy renewal support. The trainers themselves decide whether their course is included in the subscription and commit to temporary access (we want to avoid abuse and have time to remove the product from the offer on the landing page). Users see courses in the marketplace clearly marked and organized according to whether they have access to them ("premium" courses are not available on a subscription).
      Commission for trainers - settled according to the proportion of minutes watched in a given month. Statistics panel for administrator and trainers.
    • ccFound specialist tracks in add-on subscriptions.
      ccFound creates subscriptions dedicated to specialists in a given field, e.g. become a front-end developer, graphic designer, online marketer, carpenter, electrician, team leader.
    • Creation of own subscriptions by the trainer. [Important and Urgent]
      It allows you to create, for example, the "Robert Marchel University" by creating a specialized path, for example, on the subject of relationships in a relationship. This feature, combined with groups, makes ccFound a unique technology solution for online content sellers.
  • Flexible satisfaction guarantees. [Important and Urgent]
    It will allow, depending on the course or trainer, to give a 14, 30 or more day guarantee (or resignation from it), with money back support.
  • Sales promotions. [Important and Urgent]
    The trainer can activate a given form of promotion for a given product and set its parameters.
    • Price promotions - temporary.
      For example, 50% discount only until tomorrow.
    • Price promotions with a promotional code.
      For example, type BLACKFRIDAY for 20% off.
    • Promo codes for partners.
      Deducted from the affiliate commission, identifying the referral person.
      Set by partners for a given product participating in the partner program. For example, enter PIOTRMICHALAK and I will share half of my commission with you - the price of Robert Marchel's product "Friend for Life" will automatically decrease by PLN 200.
  • Product Launch Features.
    All online course platforms forget that it is difficult to record a course in a vacuum - as if for no one, counting on the fact that after hundreds of hours of work someone may or may not buy it. It's much easier to create a course for live people who are already waiting for it, and perhaps even paid for it, then immediately watch the material and give us feedback.
    • Subscription to the product waiting list. [Important and Urgent]
      This seemingly simple function will make it possible to test the demand for new, not yet created products on the marketplace. As a trainer, only after seeing 1000 registered people can I decide to create a given training. I can let these people know with product updates that I'm already working on it. I can then inform them of the launch and generate sales immediately. An offer of this type should be automatically archived after a certain period of time, otherwise the marketplace will be flooded with offers.
    • Product pre-sale - with returns support.
      People can sign up for training that doesn't exist yet. We offer a gradual release of materials that are yet to be created. Only after seeing that people have shown interest in my product, I start recording it. If I'm disappointed with a sale, I can back out of the idea and give people their money back. I commit myself to create a course within a certain timeframe.
      • Support for partial payouts to the trainer as materials are released.
      • Pre-order subscription support.
  • Mailing to clients of some of my courses. [Important]
    It allows the trainer to communicate with all his students. Currently, it is only possible to send a message by updating a given rate. It should be possible to mark which students (from which courses) I want to send a message. Limiting the number of shipments in a month to e.g. 4, with the option of buying more. This need is partly met by creating groups related to courses. The idea can be integrated with groups in such a way that a message sent to a group at the same time can be marked as mailing.
    • Easily turn off notifications.
      Ability to easily turn off notifications for a given trainer or course, including a notification settings panel broken down by subscribed people, products and forms of notifications.
    • Payment by the trainer of additional credits for sending e-mails.

(4) New products!

The ideas below could also completely revolutionize the ccFound platform. Let me remind you that we are looking for a match between the product and the expectations of the market. There are multi-billion dollar startups in the world that make a living just by doing one of the following things well. But what will work for us? Any of the ideas above or the ones below? Much depends on execution. Below, I only indicate the areas of development. Each of these products must be carefully written and designed - there is a lot of work ahead of us.

  • Consultations and tutoring 1:1 MVP / services.
    In the basic version, it may be enough to limit yourself to selling the product in the marketplace, which the trainer himself defines as the consultation hour. As you can see, such a flexible approach allows us to define the service in a different way and write that "I will design five logo proposals" or "I will do an SEO audit of the website". Ultimately, it may be necessary to implement a calendar, protect against contact data leakage (if we want to earn money as a platform by handling the entire tutoring process, and not on a one-time connection of people), handling returns and fraud.
  • MVP Announcements.
    In the simplest form, we could use the content publishing form in ccFound and add a new category “Announcements” here, similar to how we added “After Hours”. If we create an internal Messenger, it will not even be a priority to hide the user's contact details. However, geographic filtering and ad categorization functions will be needed in a moment. In addition to MVP, we will have support for the order fulfillment process analogous to Vinted, including payment processing, printing shipping labels, implementing payments for refreshing and boosting ads, and handling returns and fraud.
  • Merchandising MVP/ecommerce.
    Originally, the idea was that the expert offering courses on ccFound also sells his t-shirts, mugs and hats here. However, this idea is rapidly evolving into other material products. Some of you remember that I provided a use case for ccFound by a user who became an automotive expert here and can sell car parts in our shop. It's easy to imagine a nutrition expert selling their own supplements on ccFound - maybe even a monthly subscription! This idea generates a lot of problems, e.g. related to taxes and invoicing for sellers from around the world (various VAT and sales tax rates) and handling of delivery terms and shipping costs.

END

We've reached the end! Congratulations on your perseverance in reading.

Of course, we have a roadmap from the very beginning and we constantly update it, but without many hours of my work to write it down and explain it for you, it would be completely unreadable.

That's why I don't communicate with the community every day, because apparently I can't do it on the head. Here, however, I feel that I have exhausted the subject.

I am glad that you asked for a new roadmap, because preparing it also gave us a lot. While writing this, I had the opportunity to rethink my requirements and clarify some functions. I communicate these requirements to our team on an ongoing basis.

I hope you see the potential in the plans we want to implement. I am constantly wondering if we are going in the right direction and I am considering where the greatest potential is. This is the most important role I play in a startup. This is our "to be or not to be".

Therefore, I am particularly interested in your opinion, do you see more opportunities in groups and subscriptions , or maybe in classifieds, services and e-commerce ? Write why. I am open to your other ideas. You can report your problems in the comments that you want ccFound to solve. I promise I will take all comments into account.

In the meantime, we do not let go of other plans. We are adding Hindi soon which will give us the potential to reach over a billion people. We can finally do it, because we have reduced the costs of automatic translations by as much as fifteen times.

We are constantly refining SEO to better index in search engines. However, we still haven't gotten the traction we're looking for in terms of social media itself. We already have inputs from Google in French, Spanish, Polish and English, but there is no revolution yet.

So in the meantime, we're focusing on breaking the bank as a tech solution for people looking to monetize content online .

This will be our vision for at least the next few months. I believe that we will stand out on the market among the available tools, and people who want to put their products for sale will start flowing here - along with communities.

Meanwhile, we have reduced the costs of the entire organization by as much as half (compared to last year's costs), and at the same time we are returning to attracting investors, despite the weak sentiment on the market.

Will it work? I'll do anything to make it work. We will pivot and search for a market match until ccFound is profitable.

ENTRY

In this article, I present to you the status of our roadmap at the end of June 2023.

By roadmap we mean the platform's functions, i.e. the programming perspective.

In a few weeks, in the report for investors for the second quarter of 2023, I will describe what we focus on in other areas of the company.

HOW TO READ THE ROADMAP

Below I explain in the descriptions what a given function is and why it is important.

I also report to you what we consider unimportant, showing which ideas we have noted, but they are in the waiting room for now (and why).

ATTENTION. I wrote the original article in Polish. Translations may contain errors and may not include formatting (all our plans are listed in points). We will try to improve at least the formatting of the translations in the coming days.

We do not provide dates when individual functions will be ready. This is due to the iterative nature of our work. What does it mean?

  • We are constantly considering how the functions implemented so far work and we change the priorities of our work. For example, we see that the odds are not enough to monetize the traffic on ccFound and we come up with the next step, or we go back and refine the previous feature. We pivot and revise our business idea to bring this startup to profitability.
  • Each feature is a new product that we need to maintain, polish, develop and fix bugs. Making a function in computer science is not a finished work, but a commitment. Generates errors by interacting with other functionalities. Sometimes you can't predict that, for example, launching a marketplace will cause 20 bugs that will have to be fixed for several weeks.

These things are normal in IT projects. The goal-setting of startups, which you may have been used to in crowdfunding campaigns, is largely made-up for the benefit of the public. The project, having no programmers employed and no written specifications, is unable to predict how long it will take to make the product. Nobody starts a startup with a 500-page specification. This is the truth and I apologize for being honest.

That's why I continue to signal the current priorities, but I don't specify dates or deadlines.

SUMMARY

TLDR: We currently have two top priorities for new features. These are thematic groups , ultimately related to courses and subscription products , especially our own subscription for access to most of the marketplace and further specialized subscriptions .

In other words, we're looking for a platinum product with the highest value possible to justify the ad spend. At the same time, we understood that education on the Internet goes towards building groups of people pursuing the same goal.

From major changes: our mobile app for iOS will be launched soon.

ROADMAP

(1) Mobile!

  • iOS application - premiere. [Important and Urgent]
    I would like to remind you that the Android application is already available in the Google Play Store. We are currently testing the long-awaited app for Apple devices. We are going through the verification process. It does not give a 100% guarantee that we will pass it - cooperation with Apple at the developer level is not easy and pleasant, but we are fighting.
    Fun fact: Apple requests screenshots of apps taken on a specific device and then rejects screenshots taken on that device. Apple requests a link to the privacy policy in English, then rejects it, requesting a link to the privacy policy in English. We face such challenges :-)
    • Encouragement to download mobile applications. [Important and Urgent]
      Icons will appear on ccFound encouraging you to download mobile applications. Also in the popup alert version on mobile browsers.
  • Downloading purchased products offline.
    Currently not urgent, but necessary in the near future for the development of the marketplace.

(2) Social media!

  • MVP thematic groups (open). [Important and Urgent]

This is currently the most important change to ccFound as part of further pivoting and searching for a product match with market needs. I see two levels where groups can become a revolution for ccFound:

1. The social plane.

We are currently creating a general multi-topic portal. It is difficult for me to ask a specialist question on it, because it will fall on the main page and I can expect answers from laymen.

The solution is thematic narrowing within groups. I prefer to discuss with people who are really involved in, for example, slimming and dietetics, or business and entrepreneurship, who have defined themselves as belonging to a given group. Outsiders cannot post anything there.

Unlike Facebook, our open groups will be visible to Google robots and additionally translated into other languages, which will give us visibility in search engines around the world and therefore attract new users.

2. Educational plane.

The educational market is currently moving away from selling courses for a one-time payment, e.g. PLN 200. Success in the industry is achieved by trainers who lead communities of people who support each other in pursuit of their goals. Payment is usually a subscription or we get temporary access (e.g. for a year).

Trainers focused on selling a course once, add less value to the lives of clients than teachers who constantly run their communities. That is why so often now, with the purchase of a course, we get access to closed Facebook groups.

However, once on Facebook, we are distracted by side content. We must then go to the tab with groups and find the one we were looking for. It's a long path full of distractions.

In addition, every interesting topic on Facebook is duplicated in dozens of similar groups...

We achieve a competitive advantage here. We start with open groups. We will link them to courses soon. We will limit the number of groups in such a way that the platform only offers active groups. Inactive groups will be automatically archived.

In the future, we will give trainers the ability to create subscriptions with access to closed communities and gradually released knowledge.

Currently, subscription platforms such as Polish Web2Learn or foreign Teachable do not contain social platforms. They are only used to display course videos.

On the other hand, for example, Kajabi and Skool have integration of courses with groups. But they are only available on a monthly subscription, which raises the risk for the trainer and is a barrier to entry.

ccFound, on the other hand, works only on a low sales commission.

Udemy also works on commission, but does not offer the functionality of groups linked to courses.

First of all, the indicated platforms do not contain open communities, i.e. an alternative to Facebook, allowing you to build a target group before you sell anything to anyone.

Therefore, they are only used to list paid products, and they do not solve the problem of building organic traffic. This is the biggest concern of any content creator on the internet.

Today, as an entrepreneurship teacher, I would have to have a separate free Facebook group (to gather interested people), because the ccFound homepage is not suitable for this purpose.

I would forward these people from my group to the ccFound marketplace or Udemy to sell anything. I would encounter the phenomenon of friction (people are reluctant to move between platforms).

Soon, as a creator, I will be able to build my open group on ccFound (and in a moment I will attach my free courses to it).

I will also be able to set up a paid group for advanced, with paid courses, gradually released as part of the subscription.

ccFound is used to build its popularity, being an ideal solution for anyone who just wants to enter the world of monetizing their content on the Internet.

ccFound is also the first “open Facebook”, additionally indexed by Google in many languages and optimized in terms of SEO, seamlessly transitioning to content monetization for those who want to use it.

  • Linking courses to groups and vice versa.
  • Subscription paid groups (with gradual release of content).
  • Closed groups (moderator approval required to join).
  • Broadcast groups (only group creator and group leaders can publish).

(Continuation of functions within ccFound as a social medium:)

  • Simple surveys. [Important and Urgent]
    The feature will allow you to publish a simple questionnaire with checkboxes as part of a question, article or after-hours post. I think it will bring the portal to life and bring a lot of fun in discovering what other people think about a given topic.
    • MVP prediction markets with performance rankings.
      Betting on predictions of various events (predictive markets) and creating performance rankings. No monetary betting for now as this falls under the Gambling Acts. However, just the fun of predicting the future and picking leaders can give ccFound an extra thrill!
  • Messenger MVP with notifications. [Important and Urgent]
    We will finally be able to write to each other. From the backend side, the framework of the system is ready. It is necessary to provide for the possibility of blocking unwanted communication.
    • ChatGPT4 in messenger for fvUSD.
      Possibility to chat with GPT4 in our messenger without having to pay a subscription for $20 in OpenAI. Micropayments using our fvUSD are enough to pay for API requests with a small overhead.
  • User profile modernization. [Important]
    The user profile is my "altar" on the Internet. On Linkedin, the profile became my CV. It has become my personal calling card on Facebook. Currently, there is no service that would allow me to collect and display all my data and achievements, and would become a kind of home page, a starting point, a place that presents me on the Internet and which I refine as my work. We are guided by this idea that the profile on ccFound will eventually become our "homepage".
    At the beginning, we plan to organize the view and add at least some of these functions and fields (note, here is a litany of ideas): photo gallery, place of residence, place and date of birth, bio, goals, schools and trainings, languages, competences and interests, publications, link tree, what I am looking for and what I offer, user's reputation - statistics and charts, rankings, badges, products created by the user and owned by the user with the possibility of hiding, subscribed users and tags with the possibility of unsubscribing, groups to which the user belongs and which the user leads, statements with the possibility of sorting [questions, answers, articles, after hours], filtering and expanding.
  • Adding inline photos in the content.
    You can now add photo galleries to posts and comments on ccFound. We want to give the possibility of pasting photos as part of longer articles, where you need to illustrate issues on an ongoing basis in the middle of the content, and not as part of the gallery.
  • Public statistics of the portal.
    Often in questions on the platform you ask, for example, how many users have registered on ccFound. In addition to this information, we want to show in the panel on the right how many posts there are in total and broken down into questions, articles and after hours, how many comments, trainers, courses, sales (in terms of value and quantity). We also provide statistics on paid questions, paywalls, pay me for answering, tips and tokens. And it's all with the switch: total, in the last 24h, 7 days and 30 days.
  • Advanced sorting and filtering criteria.
    We already offer the ability to sort by "recent" or by the number of raises or replies. We also give you the option of filtering only content without replies - or with e.g. 3 replies. We also filter by publication date, e.g. from the last 30 days. You can now filter only subscribed content on the page. We want to add more options: only show paid, valuable, personal, timeless. Also: show 18+, outdated, hidden (illegal and removed). Filtering is to be collapsed, by default it is to be shown with a full sentence on the basis of "Displaying by popularity from the last 30 days with max. 3 replies".
  • Automatic content tagging by AI.
    Already, some users do not pay attention to the selection of tags, and meanwhile we have to tag translations independently by AI. Why not tag and original content with an automaton?
  • Configure the frequency of the daily report (daily, every other day, weekly).
    Many users complain that the reports come too often.
  • Reply link download.
    In reports and notifications, we already see links that redirect directly to a reply or comment. However, downloading a link to them by the user is not included in the interface.
  • Footer - user's signature in response.
    Just like on internet forums, the footer allows you to write a few words about yourself and paste a link to your website.
  • Development of the reputation system and the judicial system.
    • Contextual and thematic reputation with dynamic rankings. [Important and Urgent]
      We want the ranking of users to change after entering a given tag or group.
    • Leaderboards (a subpage with user rankings in a given context).
      We also want to create separate rankings for individual functions, e.g. ranking of course authors or people answering questions.
    • Badges and awards (gamification). [Important]
      Users will receive rewards that are visible next to their username and in their profile. We will also see a path of progress on a given contextual path, e.g. in terms of asking questions, selling products or correcting translations.
    • Refactor of the judicial system.
      The entire current judicial system is built rigidly - it supports a few selected processes and adding more to them requires separate software for this process (again rigidly). We want to modularize this subsystem to make it flexible and ready for platform development. This is necessary to implement subsequent instances in the judicial system (the ability to challenge court decisions, which is also necessary for us to delegate judicial powers to users).
    • Delegating administrative rights to users.
      The vision of ccFound as a DAO - a decentralized organization - in which we delegate administrative powers to platform users is still valid. We are going to design how the invitation to the user to take over the new rights and the resulting responsibility will look like. This is related to reputation and rewards - the system is supposed to anticipate that a given permission is automatically unlocked based on the user's merits in a given field.
  • Ideas for later (we are considering).
    • Login with the link sent to email as 2FA.
      Just click on the magic link sent by email to log in. I'm actually annoyed with 2FA myself, but I doubt if this feature isn't just a whim and will accelerate the success of ccFound.
    • Public analytics of FOUND coins and fvUSD.
      Surely we would all like to see a public FOUND coin scanner, a list of the largest wallets and be able to analyze transactions. However, at this stage, the scanner will not magically make us more willing to buy products in the marketplace or display paywalls in responses.
    • Content versioning by IPFS.
      At one time, this development project was supposed to fit into our idea of fighting censorship. Already now, nothing on ccFound is completely deleted, but archived in the database. Throwing it to text files on IPFS probably won't change much.
    • Combining similar questions.
      From the beginning, we strive to make ccFound a place of organized knowledge, but this is not necessarily the idea that guides users. My current feeling is that sticking together similar questions (generating a whole set of new problems) would not add value to the community.
    • Advertising system - paid footers.
      We even have a written specification for how the system of non-invasive ads in user footers would work. However, traffic on ccFound is currently too low for the platform to make money from ads alone. Instead, we should test whether users would like to use footers to introduce themselves and promote themselves, completely free of charge.
    • Task auctions - DAO MVP.
      Let me remind you that ccFound was supposed to become a decentralized organization. Analyzing the issue, we came to the conclusion that the essence of DAO is based on commissioning tasks to the community, thanks to which everyone participates in the creation of the platform. I believe that both the community and the platform are not yet mature enough for this step, and we can also order tasks outside the platform.
    • Voice AI content reader.
      This is one of the many ideas of the user Hamster Grizzly, which I personally like, but I also have the impression that it would not make a revolution for users. Probably some percentage would like to listen to what we write on the platform, but for most people it is faster to simply read.
    • Dark mode and focus mode.
      Dark mode changes the color scheme of the platform from light colors to dark ones. Focus mode grays out the rest of the screen except for the content we are reading (e.g. selected answer).
    • Lenses.
      Lenses are the creation of a set of your own interests on the platform, which will ultimately allow you to turn on and off your own filters, as well as set up someone else's and view the platform from the perspective of another user. This initial idea still seems very cool to us, but it does not speed up the process of ccFound breaking even.
      • Hiding content for me ("X" button).
      • Delete forever (anti-subscription).

(3) Marketplace!

  • Implementation of ZEN as the primary form of payment. [Important and Urgent]
    It will reduce the costs of payment processing several times.
  • Automatic invoicing on behalf of the seller. [Important and Urgent]
    Absolutely necessary automation required by sellers.
  • Introduction of the fvPLN currency (payments in PLN). [Important]
    Necessary to serve customers from Poland on a massive scale. Currently, we present only the estimated cost converted into PLN according to the exchange rate of the National Bank of Poland.
  • Flexible affiliate program. [Important and Urgent]
    The ccFound community can earn money by recommending products released on the marketplace. All users see a tab with the affiliate program in the marketplace and after joining it, they see a list of all products with commissions (percentage and currency). For example, we differ from Udemy in that the trainer can decide for himself how much commission he gives and whether he gives it at all - depending on the selected product. A trainer can have an 80% commission course in order to gain popularity and self-publish another 0% commission course - and that's fine. This also gives us the opportunity to engage in paid advertising of a given coach in the media - as ccFound, we can cover it thanks to this commission. Interestingly, most trainers have already agreed with us for such a commission, even though we do not have a PP system yet, thanks to which we have already started advertising them and are currently creating procedures for promoting courses in the marketplace.
  • Statistics panel for course authors.
    Necessary. Currently, the marketplace in MVP simply does not exist.
  • Support for subscriptions and temporary access. [Important and Urgent]
    • Temporary access, i.e. expiring access to the course after a certain period of time, e.g. a year.
      The function reminds you about expiring access 30, 7 and 1 day before, encouraging you to extend your access. The notification includes an option to disable a specific reminder.
    • Product packaging.
      Ultimately necessary for subscriptions, but it also allows you to create a product in which several courses are purchased for one price with a discount. Bundles are a separate product type clearly marked in the marketplace. This function is basically related to creating a paid group, which can also include several courses. Similarly, a package can contain one group. So we have to consider what comes first here, the egg or the chicken.
    • Selected ccFound courses in the Basic Plan. [Important and Urgent]
      This could be a revolution for our platform! ccFound as a training Netflix like other global platforms.
      The landing page of ccFound subscription courses is to become the main product sold by our advertising department, instead of - as currently - promoting registration in social media. For now, we will create landing pages in separate systems designed for this purpose. The hypothesis is that it is much easier to sell a university with many trainers and courses and micro-communities (huge value!) than individual courses.
      Subscription in the annual settlement - much more advantageous than the monthly payment. The amount is automatically debited from the card. Easy renewal support. The trainers themselves decide whether their course is included in the subscription and commit to temporary access (we want to avoid abuse and have time to remove the product from the offer on the landing page). Users see courses in the marketplace clearly marked and organized according to whether they have access to them ("premium" courses are not available on a subscription).
      Commission for trainers - settled according to the proportion of minutes watched in a given month. Statistics panel for administrator and trainers.
    • ccFound specialist tracks in add-on subscriptions.
      ccFound creates subscriptions dedicated to specialists in a given field, e.g. become a front-end developer, graphic designer, online marketer, carpenter, electrician, team leader.
    • Creation of own subscriptions by the trainer. [Important and Urgent]
      It allows you to create, for example, the "Robert Marchel University" by creating a specialized path, for example, on the subject of relationships in a relationship. This feature, combined with groups, makes ccFound a unique technology solution for online content sellers.
  • Flexible satisfaction guarantees. [Important and Urgent]
    It will allow, depending on the course or trainer, to give a 14, 30 or more day guarantee (or resignation from it), with money back support.
  • Sales promotions. [Important and Urgent]
    The trainer can activate a given form of promotion for a given product and set its parameters.
    • Price promotions - temporary.
      For example, 50% discount only until tomorrow.
    • Price promotions with a promotional code.
      For example, type BLACKFRIDAY for 20% off.
    • Promo codes for partners.
      Deducted from the affiliate commission, identifying the referral person.
      Set by partners for a given product participating in the partner program. For example, enter PIOTRMICHALAK and I will share half of my commission with you - the price of Robert Marchel's product "Friend for Life" will automatically decrease by PLN 200.
  • Product Launch Features.
    All online course platforms forget that it is difficult to record a course in a vacuum - as if for no one, counting on the fact that after hundreds of hours of work someone may or may not buy it. It's much easier to create a course for live people who are already waiting for it, and perhaps even paid for it, then immediately watch the material and give us feedback.
    • Subscription to the product waiting list. [Important and Urgent]
      This seemingly simple function will make it possible to test the demand for new, not yet created products on the marketplace. As a trainer, only after seeing 1000 registered people can I decide to create a given training. I can let these people know with product updates that I'm already working on it. I can then inform them of the launch and generate sales immediately. An offer of this type should be automatically archived after a certain period of time, otherwise the marketplace will be flooded with offers.
    • Product pre-sale - with returns support.
      People can sign up for training that doesn't exist yet. We offer a gradual release of materials that are yet to be created. Only after seeing that people have shown interest in my product, I start recording it. If I'm disappointed with a sale, I can back out of the idea and give people their money back. I commit myself to create a course within a certain timeframe.
      • Support for partial payouts to the trainer as materials are released.
      • Pre-order subscription support.
  • Mailing to clients of some of my courses. [Important]
    It allows the trainer to communicate with all his students. Currently, it is only possible to send a message by updating a given rate. It should be possible to mark which students (from which courses) I want to send a message. Limiting the number of shipments in a month to e.g. 4, with the option of buying more. This need is partly met by creating groups related to courses. The idea can be integrated with groups in such a way that a message sent to a group at the same time can be marked as mailing.
    • Easily turn off notifications.
      Ability to easily turn off notifications for a given trainer or course, including a notification settings panel broken down by subscribed people, products and forms of notifications.
    • Payment by the trainer of additional credits for sending e-mails.

(4) New products!

The ideas below could also completely revolutionize the ccFound platform. Let me remind you that we are looking for a match between the product and the expectations of the market. There are multi-billion dollar startups in the world that make a living just by doing one of the following things well. But what will work for us? Any of the ideas above or the ones below? Much depends on execution. Below, I only indicate the areas of development. Each of these products must be carefully written and designed - there is a lot of work ahead of us.

  • Consultations and tutoring 1:1 MVP / services.
    In the basic version, it may be enough to limit yourself to selling the product in the marketplace, which the trainer himself defines as the consultation hour. As you can see, such a flexible approach allows us to define the service in a different way and write that "I will design five logo proposals" or "I will do an SEO audit of the website". Ultimately, it may be necessary to implement a calendar, protect against contact data leakage (if we want to earn money as a platform by handling the entire tutoring process, and not on a one-time connection of people), handling returns and fraud.
  • MVP Announcements.
    In the simplest form, we could use the content publishing form in ccFound and add a new category “Announcements” here, similar to how we added “After Hours”. If we create an internal Messenger, it will not even be a priority to hide the user's contact details. However, geographic filtering and ad categorization functions will be needed in a moment. In addition to MVP, we will have support for the order fulfillment process analogous to Vinted, including payment processing, printing shipping labels, implementing payments for refreshing and boosting ads, and handling returns and fraud.
  • Merchandising MVP/ecommerce.
    Originally, the idea was that the expert offering courses on ccFound also sells his t-shirts, mugs and hats here. However, this idea is rapidly evolving into other material products. Some of you remember that I provided a use case for ccFound by a user who became an automotive expert here and can sell car parts in our shop. It's easy to imagine a nutrition expert selling their own supplements on ccFound - maybe even a monthly subscription! This idea generates a lot of problems, e.g. related to taxes and invoicing for sellers from around the world (various VAT and sales tax rates) and handling of delivery terms and shipping costs.

END

We've reached the end! Congratulations on your perseverance in reading.

Of course, we have a roadmap from the very beginning and we constantly update it, but without many hours of my work to write it down and explain it for you, it would be completely unreadable.

That's why I don't communicate with the community every day, because apparently I can't do it on the head. Here, however, I feel that I have exhausted the subject.

I am glad that you asked for a new roadmap, because preparing it also gave us a lot. While writing this, I had the opportunity to rethink my requirements and clarify some functions. I communicate these requirements to our team on an ongoing basis.

I hope you see the potential in the plans we want to implement. I am constantly wondering if we are going in the right direction and I am considering where the greatest potential is. This is the most important role I play in a startup. This is our "to be or not to be".

Therefore, I am particularly interested in your opinion, do you see more opportunities in groups and subscriptions , or maybe in classifieds, services and e-commerce ? Write why. I am open to your other ideas. You can report your problems in the comments that you want ccFound to solve. I promise I will take all comments into account.

In the meantime, we do not let go of other plans. We are adding Hindi soon which will give us the potential to reach over a billion people. We can finally do it, because we have reduced the costs of automatic translations by as much as fifteen times.

We are constantly refining SEO to better index in search engines. However, we still haven't gotten the traction we're looking for in terms of social media itself. We already have inputs from Google in French, Spanish, Polish and English, but there is no revolution yet.

So in the meantime, we're focusing on breaking the bank as a tech solution for people looking to monetize content online .

This will be our vision for at least the next few months. I believe that we will stand out on the market among the available tools, and people who want to put their products for sale will start flowing here - along with communities.

Meanwhile, we have reduced the costs of the entire organization by as much as half (compared to last year's costs), and at the same time we are returning to attracting investors, despite the weak sentiment on the market.

Will it work? I'll do anything to make it work. We will pivot and search for a market match until ccFound is profitable.

Show original content

37 users upvote it!

5 answers