Numbers, Numbers, Numbers.......

Posted by Blip Central on behalf of Blipfuture


Hello everyone,


We have received quite a few questions about the financial side of the business plan and through the Q&A on ShareIn.  Now we’ve got the initial rush of launching the campaign out of the way, we have written up some more information about the financial plan for Blipfuture. 
This new document is now available on our crowdfunding page.  You will need to register to access the documents if you haven’t already (your Blipfoto username and password will not work on the crowdfunding page).  Registering doesn’t commit you to anything – making a pledge to the campaign is a separate step.


We strongly recommend that you read the financial plan to understand our proposals in detail, but here are some very brief highlights of the answers to the most common questions:


Q: How many Members are there?


A: 6300 users posted blips in December 2014.  Over 6400 users logged in and 3698 users posted blips in November 2015.  User numbers were higher before the controversial Polaroid rebranding and company liquidation - some people have left Blipfoto due to the uncertainty about its future in recent time.  We will encourage lapsed users to return to the revitalised site. 


487 new users created accounts and 183 posted their first blip in November 2015.  We will encourage the community to recruit and engage with new members, spread the word about Blipfoto, and generally promote the site.  Our mission is to create a sustainable Blipfoto, and that means we need to maintain or grow the membership base.


Q: How much will membership cost?


A: Our mission is to become sustainable, which will depend on paid subscriptions.  However, free memberships have always been a part of Blipfoto.  We have not committed to membership pricing or structure as it is something we intend consult on with the community.  The community should have a say in this since it will be so crucial to success.


We expect running costs to be around £120,000/year, so if the 3698 users who posted in November all took out paid memberships we would need an average membership payment of £32.50 each.


If there is low take up of memberships, Blipfuture CIC will first seek to cut costs to create a sustainable future for Blipfoto. 


Q: Is the £180,000 all going to buy Blipfoto?


No.  If we raise £180,000 a very significant portion of that is working capital so we fund Blipfuture while we put in place the new paid membership scheme.  Some of the funds raised will go directly towards buying Blipfoto.  We expect the deal to buy Blipfoto will include a combination of cash, shares and long term payments.


More Questions?


If you still have questions after reading the financial plan, the best way to get an answer is to ask us directly through the Q&A facility on our crowdfunding page.
 

Annie, Bob, Graham and Ian – the Blipfuture team.