Part I: Sustainability Update
Ive been reading, thinking, and consulting to figure out the best path forward to help us get to a sustainable place. Last week we launched two options - back us and upgrade. Here is a quick overview of the feedback we received:
1. Some of you did not like that someone who backed us for $5 would get the same perks as someone who signed up for a more expensive monthly plan.
2. Many of you requested greater transparency. There was some level of fear that we would misuse the funds in some way.
3. Several of you wanted to find ways to provide a way to upgrade people that have less financial resources.
4. Some of you did not like the advertising language. For example, we were testing buttons that said Want to feel better? Subscribe today to start feeling better.
Ive listened to this feedback and worked to integrate it into this next iteration. Remember that this is going to continue to be a process. We are not going to get it right immediately. Instead, we are going to have to figure this out as a community. What Ive outlined below is the next iteration. Based on the feedback, this seems like the best way to move forward.
1. We will only have one back us or upgrade option. To start, we will remove the monthly, annual, bi-annual, and forever upgrade option. People can back us for $5 or more per month to unlock all the perks involved with an upgraded account. These perks involve the 32 paths, sustainability icons, conference calls, and trainings. If this works, then well be delighted. If it doesnt work, then well need to test other options.
2. We will be transparent about our costs. Weve created a remarkable system and Im very proud of what weve accomplished. We will have to decide as individuals, and, collectively as a community, how we are going to make 7 cups sustainable. We have 17 months to figure it out.
7 Cups, as we know it, requires $65,000/month to operate. This includes all infrastructure, insurance, office, and salary costs. We have investment capital to run us through May 2017 (you can read more about that here. We have some distance to go to reach sustainability. We can get there, but well need to collaborate, make hard choices, and problem solve in order to make sure that 7 Cups continues to survive and thrive for years to come. Well display this goal with a thermometer that fills up as we make progress towards our goal.
3. We will continue to work very hard on our 7 Cups for Organizations and 7 Cups for Mental Health Professionals initiatives to bring in additional income. Once these launch, youll be able to also help by recommending that your school, organization or company adopt 7 Cups as a means of providing emotional support to its students or employees. These initiatives will yield recurring income that will help us reach our goal.
4. We will use personalized language on buttons and tips to call attention to the back us option. Well test language like: Want to back 7 Cups and get extra help for depression? Subscribe today to… We dont have these all mapped out yet, but will soon.
5. We will create a way for people to gift a 7 Cups plan to another person.
Im being open and honest with all of you about where we are now and what we need to accomplish as a community. I prioritized us learning how to solve bigger problems, because I believe they were the much harder problems for us to solve. For example, working together to create a compassionate way to scale mental health care is 100x more challenging than figuring out how to make 65k/month in revenue.
Now, with that said, it isnt a slam dunk that 7 Cups will get to sustainability. Our community and other organizations may decide to not fund 7 Cups. People may see it as a good idea that came into this world, showed a new way of doing things, and then ceased to exist. I am going to give it my all, and I know many of you will as well, to make sure that this doesnt happen. However, if it does, it does not take away from what weve accomplished. We created a blueprint for how to scale compassionate care. That is really what I wanted to do and Im very proud of us for figuring that out.
This all leads us to where we are today. Weve solved some very big problems on our journey so far. The next problem we have to solve is how to cover our costs to get to sustainability. Last week was our first iteration. This is our next iteration. We have done something beautiful here. What Ive outlined above is one way that I believe we can keep 7 Cups both beautiful and sustainable.
Glad to hear we are going to get an update about this, I really wish 7Cups to become sustainable, keep up the great work everyone 💕
@Ace13Thanks! I'm confident we'll get there. It'll just take perseverance.
Thank you for this post!! I love all the ideas and big plans to come!! Keep up the great work! Again, thanks for keeping us all informed :)
@mscoxie you are welcome :). thanks for always being so encouraging!
Can we advertise 7 cups of tea to celebrities, how can we do this Glen? This would be a big help, if they invested in this site!:)
@peacefulSoul8 yes you can :). Not sure how to do that exactly, but it'd be great if they helped spread the word about us!
@peacefulSoul8 thats a great idea! One place to get started easy is twitter. By tweeting to celebrities, you can spread awareness about 7 Cups. You can also contact some youtube celebrities who may be passionate about the mental health space. You can PM me once you hear back and if you need any help to proceed.
@Twish I was going to say the same thing! MANY celebs are on twitter and would most likely be interested in what we do here. Id start with Ellen Degeneres :)
I know WE can do this, as a community, this is a perfect example of how we come together and support one another <3 @GlenM Thank you for sharing this with us!
@Dillion Thanks for the support Dillon. Appreciate your positive attitude. I agree and know we'll get there. It'll just take a lot of hard work and problem solving.
Hey Glen & Team; thank you so much for these updates - it really is appreciated by myself and I'm sure plenty of others too.
1. We will only have one back us or upgrade option. To start, we will remove the monthly, annual, bi-annual, and forever upgrade option. People can back us for $5 or more per month to unlock all the perks involved with an upgraded account. These perks involve the 32 paths, sustainability icons, conference calls, and trainings. If this works, then well be delighted. If it doesnt work, then well need to test other options.
From the wording, let's call this option "Subscribe". It sounds as if the only option you're initially going to be introducing is the subscribe option; which, though I find fantastic and for ease of clarity and manageability, absolutely works 100% -- though a lot of members, though want to subscribe and support 7Cups, may not necessarily be able to do it on a continual monthly basis ($5 may not seem like a lot to some, but it is a huge amount for others).
How do you plan on overcoming that?
I think, going forward, it would be a good idea to have a secondary option to donate once. I understand that this would completely disregard what's been said so another option could be to have the ability to subscribe forever or have a 1 time subscription (2 months or a recurring one month). And that's it. I think that could work a great deal -- however, I understand your intention for the beginning to drive sustainability as you need a regular source of income.
2. We will be transparent about our costs. Weve created a remarkable system and Im very proud of what weve accomplished. We will have to decide as individuals, and, collectively as a community, how we are going to make 7 cups sustainable. We have 17 months to figure it out.
I am so happy to hear that. As discussed with you and Krink, part of the issues with distrust I've seen could be partly due to the transparency. This may not have been an intentional thing as I understand the need for a certain amount of privacy due to competitors and such like, though I strongly believe with a website such as this, there has to be a line -- as it can come across as deliberately witholding information that there is no need to hold. Again, I am not insinuating that is what is happening. As explained in another thread, intent is nothing when the outcome is different.
You've now made it clear that 7Cups is a business venture (note: not charity) and though I know the reasons and completely agree with that ideology, I was wondering on if you were able to provide further clarification as to the profit-side of things. I am assuming 7Cups will ultimately, as well as being sustainable, be a for-profit enterprise (irrespective of if the money is being pumped back into the venture).
And are we able to see Company details, at all? I've noted that a few members have had issues pertaining to this. From my understanding, 7Cups is a Privately Incorporated business (absolutely brilliant direction to go in), though I'm curious as to the details pertaining to said business.
I really do appreciate your being open about disclosing costs etc, however -- and I really, firmly, believe it's a step in the right direction.
3. We will continue to work very hard on our 7 Cups for Organizations and 7 Cups for Mental Health Professionals initiatives to bring in additional income. Once these launch, youll be able to also help by recommending that your school, organization or company adopt 7 Cups as a means of providing emotional support to its students or employees. These initiatives will yield recurring income that will help us reach our goal.
I think this could be a wonderful avenue to go down; As I'm to understand it you are (or intend to) work with mental healthcare professionals to help improve the resources available to Listeners. As well as a means for 7Cups to work with said professionals in a physical capacity.
I'm certain you all have the greatest of plans for this so I'm not going to comment much aside from one suggestion: I think it may be an idea, if it is feasible, to draw up paid-for classes/courses for Listeners to gain qualifications (much akin to the internship) to further their own paths. These qualifications, I fully anticipate, shouldn't be the same as, say, a university/college degree, though I think it would be a greatful addition.
4. We will use personalized language on buttons and tips to call attention to the back us option. Well test language like: Want to back 7 Cups and get extra help for depression? Subscribe today to… We dont have these all mapped out yet, but will soon.
This is something I've gone into a lot of detail into with both you and Krink, so I'll hold back for now -- though, again, absolutely wonderful step in the right direction.
5. We will create a way for people to gift a 7 Cups plan to another person.
I think it would be a great idea, building on from earlier, to be able to gift 'days' to a member out of your own subscription. You could implement this by working out a mean for how much members are typically paying for a months' subscription and then work it out on a per-weekly basis (potentially on a daily basis), and charge that plus a tiny premium (perhaps!).
For example, "Gift #### User 7 Days of Subscription for..."
And the user would receive a message something along the lines of: "Somebody thought you were doing fantastically and has gifted you 7 days of 7Cups Membership to help you even more." Or something.
I mean it when I say thank you for all you're doing and though I've every confidence 7Cups will be successful and will really be a market-definer (world-changer too, perhaps?) -- development is needed on this plan.
And it's clear you're doing that.
I hope I wasn't too rambly and everything I've said has come across okay!
@BugInARug, thanks for encouragement and feedback. Here are responses to your questions:
1. We still have a lot of experimenting to do. Right now we are doing as outlined, but we'll likely need to test the 4 option upgrade piece again. We may do that as part of the back us page as we have it now (i.e., a person backs us, but has to select one of those options). We may also test it separately again. We are also going to test the 1x payment thing at some point as well. As you can see, there are lots and lots of things to test. I'll keep you updated.
2. I'm not sure what details you are referring to. Yes, 7 cups is a company. We are corporation based in Delaware. I just had this info added to the Terms of Service yesterday. If there are other items please just PM me.
3. I like this idea and will think on it more.
4. Yes, we have a lot of word-smithing to do and we are in the process now of refining the tips and the buttons.
We will no doubt get there. It'll take time and lots of learning. We've already figured out a number of things.
I'm also wide open to all of your ideas on how we can get to sustainability as well.
@GlenM Thanks for the reply!
1) Absolutely. It's all a work-in-progress and I fully anticipate we will get there. It's all about earning that $65,000 on a steady basis -- and it's about coming up with the best way of doing that!
2) That's all I was really asking for, as it wasn't made clear aside from in your Investment post -- so thank you so much for doing that.
3) Brilliant to hear!
4) Of course, and it's abundantly clear you are trying.
New systems will always take a lot of time, practice, and effort -- and the dedication from you and the rest of the team is really encouraging.
Of course I'll PM you, as I have been, if anything comes up but you (and the whole team), I feel are doing fantastically to respond to everything that's happening as and when you need too, all whilst still moving over to a way to sustain yourselves as a company.
Take care!
@GlenM
I like the subscribe forever once option also.
Thanks for this. It's hugely important. May I make one suggestion ? Whilst I don't think anyone would question that the true measure of success is the help that members and guests get, if the money doesn't arrive it will need to change, and not necessarily for the better. I think in the big picture, the issue for you in terms of scalability is to do with multipliers.... number of paid staff to volunteers... number of volunteers to members/guests. If it's going to be sustainable, there will have to be some economies of scale so that as you grow and your revenues grow, they outpace the cost base. In order to do that, it's important to identify where the value is to members and guests, and how they can reflect that value back. If it's not them directly, then their agents (like people they work for, organisations set up to help them etc.) . I think your route to sustainability is there... finding that vein where people are happy to pay because they are getting value for money, and you get enough of them to get cash positive. Not everyone will be able to pay the full value, you've identified that clearly already, but there will be enough to be able to get you above water :)
@Ed78 great points :). You sound like someone with experience in this world.
We talked with the mentors several weeks ago about some of these issues. Our current plan is to start conservative, test to see if things work, if they don't work then we take the next step and keep iterating until we identify the inputs that work best.
Do any particular ideas/areas of focus strike you right now?
@GlenM
Although 7 cups is undoubtedly always about helping people, like any other enterprise it has to be managed, and management often resolves down to managing numbers, and multipliers. This is a particularly good example of that, I think. You have your fixed costs, which will include people and offices and machines and so on, but you have almost no variable costs. If in one month you get half the chats, youll still have mostly the same costs. Similarly, if you get a lot of extra chats, the cost be wont rise that much. So if your cost line is more or less constant, you need to focus on revenue from activity … by that I mean how can you get your revenues high enough to cover costs and get some margin for investors or for further growth and development. From what youve said, thats mostly donations (plus institutions, which Ill mention a bit later.
The thing is that as you grow your members/guests, and listeners to spend time with them, so you get strained on your personnel. You take longer to respond to things, you have to loosen your grip on some stuff, which is really tough I imagine. Now, purely from a revenue point of view (and it sounds cold for those people that never have to worry about generating revenue), some members/guests are more valuable than others. By that I mean that some will be able to offer financial support in gratitude, or just because they believe it deserves it, whereas many others wont be able to, or want to. But those that cant/wont contribute must be supported by those that can. So the conclusion is that if you are not getting enough of the ones that can, in some way you need to try and make that ratio higher.
So in maths terms, if for each one of you in the core team you can cope with up to say 50 people that are mentors, moderators etc., and they in turn can manage say 200 listeners, who in turn manage 5000 members/guests. Ive no idea what the real numbers are, but Ill use those as an example.
So now, in your sustainability regime, you need to split those guests/members into those that can contribute, and those that cant. So maybe for those 5000, you need 1000 that will make a contribution.
This is one of the KPIs, or key measures, I believe you would need to manage progress. If you are gaining too many members/guests that arent paying, youll strain the system and lose performance and sustainability.
What are the conclusions? I believe at some point you will have to focus your efforts on member/guest acquisition on people that can pay. Thats a tough one, but its segmented… so for example if your payment methods are more efficient in the US than in say Philippines, push harder on US.
2 more points.
The wikipedia has an appeal… it compares its cost base to that of other similar sites. It does a great job. If you compared what you do here to what it would cost to get any kind of professional support for all of the people that benefit from the site, then the costs of 7 cups would be almost laughable. So why not do that ? Why not show us all the equivalent figures that we are managing ?
The other point is with your institutions initiative is that the ratios will be very different I believe. If they are paying fees for the service, its likely that they will require some kind of commitment in terms of listener level. Currently if I connect as a member/guest I can choose who my listener is, and I can see reviews etc. Sometimes, its difficult to find someone with a good rating, or with experience, and there the experience for the member/guest can be disappointing. So if an institution is paying for service, its very possible that this situation wont be acceptable for them. Again, in this case your ratios have to be adjusted.. youll need some way of separating out listeners that they are happy with (which could actually be a private listener pool, with people they provide, if you are OEMing the site) . But even in this case, you have to manage your ratios carefully, because the 1:50:200:5000 wont apply… youll have inevitably new fixed costs, or at least changed priorities for your permanent staff, and that will then have a knock on effect to the basic service.
So I hope this doesnt come across as being negative ! I have to maintain companies and get revenues, and it is tough. But at the end of the day its numbers that help… no measure no management, and for very busy people like you and your team, it may help to adopt some ratio based performance measures to help keep focus.
Good luck, and congratulations for what is already a spectacular achievement with this site.
@GlenM I sincerely appreciate the additional information! I understand that you don't have an obligation to disclose all of these things, but I think that the additional transparency will buy you more goodwill with your volunteers than it might potentially jeopardize your business. I look forward to more posts like this and always appreciate your willingness to listen to the community as you move forward!
@GlenM
Perhaps I can assist with some of the cost..
If you can message me privately or though my email could you tell me what the cost is for the items I'll list below
*Yearly domain cost (it should be yearly)
*Internet service provider (Business class line cost?) or do you use a hosting provider/data center?
*Depending on which one you use above, what is the cost of which one you use?
I run and own server boxes, I might be able to check our resources and perhaps offer a better deal then what you may currently be paying to cheapen the expenses..
At the moment I run a bounce of game servers and about 4 websites give or take..
If you wish to discuss this with me we can at least talk it over, It's up to you guys though, I'm not sure if what I have can handle it but I can always check and if it can't we could discuss having me grab a new server box and putting it on our pre-existing line etc..
@SpiritWolfie thanks for the offer! We run a pretty complicated system at present and are really tied in with our current setup. I do appreciate you offering to help us out tho!
@GlenM
Will you post these thoughts (or a version of them at least) where they will be visible to members? 7 Cups is more than just listeners! If the message is transparency why post it in a forum visible only to site volunteers and not the people who we hope will pay for the service?
Knowing the monthly cost is very helpful; it would also be nice to get a sense of how that would change as the site (presumably) grows.
@JBlue, I'm working on a version for the member side. Thanks!
@GlenM
I look forward to the member/guest version of this post! I'll be sure to share it around and try to gain support for us.
Regarding transparency, does 7 Cups profit from any arrangement it has with Navigator Enterprises LCC, the sole owner of the data collected from the site - and what is this data used for? Might some of the stipulations in the Terms and Conditions raise concerns with potential partnerships?
@SpencerT that was the original name of the LLC, but when I went through YCombinator the company was reincorporated as 7 Cups of Tea, Co. This shouldn't be a problem for any sort of partnership. Do you see navigator on the current version of our site? If yes, then let me know and I'll update it.
@GlenM It's on the Listener and Member agreements.
