DD Potential Pitcher #7

First came HOT or NOT?, then came HOT or NOT NUDE (and no, you will have to find your own link for that one)...and now....the hot or not for pets???? Yup, wait for it...wait for it... http://coolordrool.com/

We interiviwed Maria Siu to find out why she wanted to pitch the Dragons

1)  Why do you want to be on the Den…? To get the word out about this exciting new pet lovers website. I need to raise capital to position it as the "go to" website for rating pets and shoppers paradise for pet products & services. This website has worldwide mass appeal and people will love it! The media exposure will definitely let the public know about this free community service for pet lovers.

2)  Why would you be a good bet for the Dragons to invest in? I have a successful track record of sales in service and product-based industries such as financial services, IT education and ecommerce. I booked millions of dollars for a big bank that I used to work for. Now I run my own internet company and I know how to market, create buzz and generate online sales. I'm an expert at minimizing start-up and operating costs as I create, maintain and manage the content for all of my websites.

3)  Why do you want to bring your product to market? To give people a fun place to showcase and share their passion for their pets with others worldwide. It will also serve as "the" place for people to shop for new and interesting pet products & services as people love to pamper and spoil their pets!

4)  How do you describe your product…? A free pet rating website where pets are showcased and rated by visitors worldwide. Even couples can post a pet profile together, this is not a site for singles. You only have to be 13 years old to join. Members create pet profiles, pet galleries and pet blogs to help bring out their pet's personality on the Internet. Being a pet lovers community website... members can also build their Friends List, CoolPet List and message each other. Services can be expanded to include a chat room, forum and much more!

5)  How did you came up with the idea…? I noticed how popular the Hot or Not website is for rating people so I came up with one for rating pets... Cool or Drool. Nothing like drumming up friendly competition for cats vs dogs. Besides there are many kinds of pets around the world, some that people are not even aware of and would love to vote on, for example, pet beetles are very popular in Japan! Bottom line, people love showing off their pets and the internet is a great place to do so.

6)  In closing what message would you like to send to the Dragons? I know how to create "win-win" situations by giving back to the community, building value for local & global businesses worldwide for this niche market and generating a fantastic opportunity for your investment dollars. Vote for me to be on the show as unlimited people worldwide will benefit from this website, now and in the future!

NOTE: this poll is not binding on the CBC nor the Producers of the Dragons' Den.

Comments

[Jason Barnes]

This idea is too 'last year.' Someone can easily build a flash-based widget that accomodates basically every function here when tacked on to a pre-existing, established social network website or blog. I'd like to think that even the CBC can showcase a better example of what Canada has to offer.

Interesting concept, but too late.

[Maria]

This website may not impress the tech heads but pet lovers deserve their own corner in this huge internet world, not be a tack on.

[Sean Wise]

What about Dogster?

Why don't they just add you feature to their site?

[Maria]

Having a domain name Dogster clearly signifies that it's related to dogs. When you go to the site, it's slogan is for the love of dog and the website is all about dogs. They've already positioned themselves that other pets outside of dogs are not welcomed, therefore, it's not a website for all kinds of pets to be added on now or in the future.

[Maria]

Further to comments left by Jason Barnes:

1) Many companies are interested in a niche market, for example, pet lovers only. General, catch-all social networking websites may not be suitable for companies on an advertising budget.

2) MySpace rolled out in 2003 targeting music lovers and sold in July 2005 for $580 million. In January 2006, Fox announced plans to launch a UK version of MySpace in a bid to "tap into the UK music scene".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace

Your line of thinking would suggest that Fox is also too late, too "last year" and that UK music lovers should be tacked onto MySpace's American website.

3) Social networking websites are all about the person, CoolorDrool.com is all about the pet, the pet takes center stage.

4) The script already includes Flash-based IM, Flash-based chat and a forum. It will only take me 2 minutes to add back the buttons to the front end of the website for users to click on for use. I've chosen to omit these services at this time because it costs a lot of money to run them and manpower to monitor. I have two other websites to run as I don't believe in putting all my eggs in one basket.

I want to keep CoolorDrool.com completely free for users. I would be open to companies interested in sponsoring extra services. Numerous chatrooms can be easily created with a company name integrated into the chatroom name, eg. HealthyPetFoods Dog Park chatroom.

I saw this from my campus days where companies paid money to have their name placed on certain classrooms.

[Elanna]

I think its a great idea Maria, I've told a few clients and they thought you have something, they too have animals and left with the web address before they left..I wish you the best of luck and Congrats!!!

[Maria]

Thanks Elanna for your comments and support!

One of the 3-member judging panel during my audition was a rep from Calgary Technologies. He emailed me about a week after my audition to tell me that he thought my website idea was one of his top two favorites. This vote of confidence means much more to me than getting on the TV show.

I haven't had time to market this website but I do appreciate the free exposure that it's getting. The website is being used as members are receiving smiles from visitors on a regular basis. If this website makes people smile, then it is working as intended.