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Merrows Collage FAQ
- What is your idea?
- Who are you?
- Are you genuine?
- How did you come up with your idea?
- Why do you need money for Merrows?
- What will you do with the money?
- Why buy a place in the Collage?
- Is a square too small?
- How long will the Collage be online?
- If you want money for your company, why don't you get a loan or VC?
- What makes Merrows different/unique?
What is your idea?Merrows, a start up company from 2003, is trying to raise money to grow the company. I, Trevor Oakley. started the company in August 2003, and registered it at Companies House, and for VAT. I am the only full time employee, and in January 2003, the company's first part time employee (bookkeeper) started. Merrows has always used Indian contract labour for data entry, and currently (February 06), one operator is engaged. For several months, I have pondered how to raise money, and conventional notions of Venture Capital and loans crossed my mind. You can read later how they cannot be realised. After hearing of the success of Alex Tew, the undergraduate student who raised $1,000,000 and after my brother talked me into selling advertising space, I have started the Merrows Collage. Under my power Merrows has grown into a 70,000 page website, £90K in quartley sales, in just over two years. During this time, I have done almost all the work in company, which has included the following:
The real worth in the production is Zenoware and my product knowledgde. Zenoware can easily produce a million page website and has the following features:
The entire website is automatically generated, and can be converted from SQL SERVER to ORACLE in minutes, or from static to dynamic presentations in minutes. The actual appearance of pages can be changed in minutes as the whole site uses XSL and CSS and all data is via internal XML feeds. Merrows can grow rapidly, if it has the following:
If Merrows can raise more money, it will grow, and the Collage, considered one of the founding aspects of raising money for Merrows, will get more profile. That will provide a return to advertisers. Who are you?I am a veteran software engineer with 20 years engineering experience. I am also a graduate in Physics, a postgraduate in Control Systems and Information Technology, a former researcher in Intelligent Algorithms, an EDS Systems Engineer graduate (Ross Perot's training), and former outstanding employee of the year for EDS (UK division). I have worked with most common software technologies from COBOL to c#. I can probably write code in a 100 programming languages. My career took me around the the world, and I lived in several larage business capitals such as New York, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, as well as residence in countless other cities. Now, I live in Southend-on-Sea which is close to my home town. I have no plans to travel. I would like to see Merrows grow into a strong company. Are you genuine?The whole proposal is completely genuine. If Merrows gets stronger, the Collage profile will strengthen. The feedback from customers is normally very positive, and I have no doubt at all that if Merrows can get funding, the company will go a long way. How did you come up with your idea?I was driving in Westcliff a few weeks ago, and I heard an interview with Alex Tew after his site was attacked. I did not really pay much attention to the interview, I just thought "another rich guy." When I said about it to my brother, he said I should try and sell advertising space. I still did not think much about it. Everyday I use http://news.google.com and look at the Business and Technology stories. I was surprised to see a string of sites similar to Tew's site. I still did not think much about it, until I saw many of the "copy" sites were selling a lot of advertising space. I read the blogs, and it was clear that the concept of advertising in small squares was born. After pondering again, how I could raise capital for Merrows, I considered Tew's idea. The idea was too plain for me to use. Tew had just used a rectangle, and the Tew site had almost nothing except advertising - like a TV channel with mainly just advertising. Therefore, I needed to adapt Tew's idea. I decided to use my company name (MERROWS) and sell space in the letters. It would be a collage for the lifetime of Merrows. Why do you need money for Merrows?To grow Merrows, Merrows needs the following:
The above will cost a lot of money. What will you do with the money?A van is the top priority, and then a new shop outlet. After that, 2-3 employees are needed. I want to import as the market is strong, and that means buying containers of goods from Eastern Europe, China, or Turkey. Why buy a place in the Collage?Merrows will grow, and that will increase the visibility of the Collage. Merrows gets filtered visitors - shoppers. Web professionals know type of traffic is more important than volume. The Collage will potentially be seen by thousands of shoppers. That will offer a return to advertisers. Also you as an advertiser will be associated with a company which stands on quality and sells some of the finest goods in the world. They range from Persian rugs, to handcrafted gold taps. I have been told by countless traders that I have an "eye" for quality. Association with Merrows will be a privilege. Is a square too small?No, size can be adjusted online using ZOOM - a feature of Flash. Also a linklist will feature the advertisers which made the Collage possible. How long will the Collage be online?The Merrows Collage will remain online for the lifetime of Merrows. If you want money for your company, why don't you get a loan or VC?To seriously expand business, a lot of money is needed. Loans can be used for small ventures, but major expansion as I plan, needs major investment. It is illegal to advertise for private shareholders, so that option is closed. Venture Capital is normally for sums involving millions, and aimed at the VC taking over much of the management. I don't need millions, and I don's want a lot of lawyers and business types taking over my company. Merrows has a simple vision: to supply to anyone who can buy something. I want Merrows to sell foodstuffs (organic), furniture, lighting, and more. I hope one day that Merrows will sell in Asia, and one day peope everyone will be able to buy food, water. Merrows is not a money making machine - my vision is far beyond that. It is about changing distribution so buying is easier and more choice is open to customers. What makes Merrows different/unique?Features of Merrows:
The features taken as one, make Merrows different. |