Talkwheel©
Executive Summary
Contact info: Jeff1Harris1@gmail.com
216-401-8166
Talkwheel, The GPS of Discussions, created a new discussion model for the web allowing groups to interact and
communicate more effectively and efficiently.
Talkwheel compresses the time and effort to navigate and participate in online discussions. Our intuitive, scalable
discussion model offers a visual representation of a threaded forum. The Talkwheel widget and platform can be
embedded in any website, or implemented with already existing group collaboration software.

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Left Side of the
Discussion Model
Roundtable view of the
discussion
Participants’ icons are
displayed
Arrows show who is
commenting to whom
Follows the natural flow
of a discussion
`

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Right Side of the
Discussion Model
Shows threaded
discussions
Can start new topics
within a discussion
Can respond directly to
a previous comment
Traditional model on
steroids!!
.
Market Opportunity
Web 2.0 has sparked an explosion of social networks. Members of online populations are eager to interact with one
another, but as communication and complex tasks proliferate online, so do problems of frustrating ineffectiveness and
decreasing satisfaction. Current web discussion models are stuck in web 1.0 technology. The most popular discussion
models on the web: IM, email and forums are fine for one on one chat, but hinder any sort of group communication.
Why current linear discussion models fail:
 Bound by post-and-reply technology with no map of relationships.
 Confusion and diminished clarity plague linear discussions models.
o No clear view of to who comments are directed.
o Difficult to follow the flow of conversation, much less analyze large volumes of activity.
 Utility diminishes with length of conversation as text accumulates with no clear path of discussion and an
inability to build consensus.
o In organizations, individuals waste countless hours because of ineffective means of communication
with colleagues.
 Money is lost, along with diminished productivity.
o Also organizations have not found an effective way to communicate and interact with customers
using their website.
 Valuable opportunities and feedback are lost.
 Without the features to facilitate the natural flow of conversation, meaningful discussions are difficult and
rare – most users leave one-off comments.
o Recent news in TechCrunch reports Twitter users’ frustration over a lack of discussion features.
 This applies not just to Twitter, but every major social network.

If online networks improve their means of facilitating discussion among users, they
please their users, and retain a user for longer, which increases click-through
revenue due to incremental site usage.
In this landscape, a new discussion model is needed to fulfill the growing demands of Web 2.0 users.
Talkwheel Solution
Talkwheel created its discussion model with three things in mind; capturing the group dynamics of a discussion,
following the natural flow of a conversation and making the most relevant information to a user readily observable. Our
roundtable discussion model is intuitive and scalable making it great for group discussions. We created a simplified way
of threading a forum while also making it interactive and combined it with a ‘roundtable’ interface; we connect users and
facilitate discussions beyond what standard sites and services can offer.
Talkwheel's discussion model
 Takes an interactive threaded forum and combines it with a participant centric roundtable that traces the
threads and path of the discussion in a visual interface.
o We took some elements of Gmail and Twitter and added our own secret sauce to create a new way to
thread a forum that truly follows the natural flow of conversation and expands to capture extended
discussion activity.
o The roundtable model compresses the time and effort used to navigate a discussion, while also
allowing the user to seamlessly follow the path of the discussion, providing the groups the ability to
interact and communicate more efficiently.
 Offers the ability to branch and sort through discussions; using a tag, user name, or thread.
 Provides algorithms to show trends of the conversation
 Groups can form public, private or semi-private discussions; catering to a variety of needs and circumstances.
 To attract a wide spread audience, the discussion platform can be embedded on virtually any website, or
implemented with already existing software.
Talkwheel can accommodate basic online discussions, but also more focused applications.
 Organizations. TalkWheel fills the niche in organizations where instant message and email fail.
o Improves communication with internal community
 Keeps instant constant contact among coworkers working on projects, while offering easy
ways to sorting through discussions.
 Host alternative conference calls.
o Improve communication with external community
 Form outside focus groups with customers/website visitors to consider subjects of interest to
an organization, such as the feasibility of a new product or service.
 Social Networks. Social Networks have millions of users, but no real way of holding discussion among users.
o TalkWheel will provide an intuitive discussion model for already established groups and
communities.
 Academic Institutions
o Improve interaction between students and professors in online classrooms
o Provides an outside place to continue class discussions
o Promote discussions within the student body
o Research collaboration and peer-review
 Newspapers, Blogs, and Online Media
o There are millions of articles on the web and some of them do have commenting systems, but the way
commenting systems are currently set up, is that individuals leave a comment and never come back.
We want to actually from discussion at the end of these articles.
Market Entry
Talkwheel has already reached preliminary agreements with several groups as early implementers of its discussion
model. This will allow testing of our model in a wide range of usages and applications. Joint ventures offering interesting
usages and applications of our technology already in discussions. Talkwheel has the ability to tailor its core discussion
model to accommodate a website/software‘s specific needs.
Talkwheel’s Embeddable Discussion Model
 Discussion platform
o Talkwheel can embed its discussion platform (threaded forum and roundtable) in practically any
website, blog, or already existing software.
 Roundtable widget
o With an already existing commenting system, Talkwheel has the ability to just attach it roundtable
widget.
o Interest also shown in the roundtable widget as a means of other information sorting/storing
applications.
Conversation and collaboration among people is more than just a sequential chain of comments. The Talkwheel
solution is to facilitate group discussions and enable viewers to capture the essence of a conversation without searching
across disjointed comments and replies.
Current competition employs strictly linear discussion models
 Google Groups, Yahoo Groups – Common forum websites that have the ability to create groups among
people sharing similar interests. Discussions are restricted to mass messages and one-to-one replies.
 Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short
frequent answers to simple questions.
 JS-Kit makes simple widgets that can be added to websites and blogs. A host of widgets includes; generic
commenting, rating, polling and rating comments.
Talkwheel Team
Key personnel
 Jeff Harris – Founder and CEO leading the company formation and strategy. Several years experience
working in technology and software start-ups. Currently a student at Hamilton College, but on leave for an
indeterminate amount of time to live in Palo Alto and concentrate solely on the launch of Talkwheel.
 Adrian Chan– A social media expert providing us leadership in social media design, a field he has coined
"social interaction design." He has consulted countless Web 2.0 companies as well as those seeking to
implement Web 2.0 strategies. His social interaction design approach, a mix of conventional design
methodologies, psychology, and sociology, aims at the "social interface:" where individual user interactions
produce emergent social phenomena. He is helping turn our discussion model into an amazing user
experience.
 Jeff Easter- Leads the development team of three individuals all with MA’s from Design Interactions at the
Royal College of Art in London. He has worked on product development research teams at the MIT Media
Lab and Schulze & Webb, and has been involved in the development of social networking projects with
organizations such as Orange, IDEO and The SEA. .
 Martin Krzywinski – Researcher working on conceptual basis of roundtable model. Genome mapping
scientist specializing in data visualization at BCGSC in Vancouver.
Advisors
 Christopher Celeste – Former president of Resource.com, one of the biggest design and marketing firms,
and founder of Findaway Digital, the leading provider of digital audio books.
 Gene Groys – Serial entrepreneur and currently the CEO and founder of StaffKnex.
 Jim Harris – Founder of successful startup technology companies ranging from software to robotics and inbetween, with Think-A-Move, a hands-free device controlling ear mic.
Status
Talkwheel is focusing work on the roundtable concept and design. A widget demo for proof of concept is currently
available. Our new revamped discussion model will be available for testing March 20th.
Developing this core version of our platform prior to integrating with various applications will shorten the time to rollout future expansion. To date much interest has been shown in our model, and numerous strategic partnership and joint
ventures are underway.
We are currently working on a large project for Twitter.
Revenue Model
Talkwheel will have a stable, reliable revenue model compared most other web 2.0 companies because Talkwheel does
not depend on the unpredictability of advertisement.
 Premium licensing and service fee. The Talkwheel discussion model can be embedded with already existing
collaboration/organization driven software, or offered to any website that values discussion among users.
Talkwheel will offer a basic free roundtable widget as a trial version. TalkWheel
will charge a fee for additional functions on the roundtable and threaded forums (e.g., branching and sorting
capabilities, working document hosting, responses via text message ect).
 Market Research. Information fees charged to market research companies in exchange for browsing
discussion activity, and gain insight as to the nature of opinions circulating across the web. Information fees
for gathering data and trends that interest consumer product corporations.
Financials
Talkwheel has been funded thus far from friends and family. With $2,000 we were able to produce a proof of concept for
our discussion model. We then took the demo, and used it to raise the additional mondey we needed to get our product
market ready.
Q1
Revenue
Site Members
Net revenue
Expenses
Development
Support for site - In house support
SG&A - admin and marketing
Total Expense
Operating Profit (Loss)
Cum
Q2
TalkWheel Proforma:
Q3
Q4
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
0
0
1,000
5,000
5,000
15,000
25,000
75,000
31,000
95,000
459,884
919,768
1,656,260
2,898,454
5,418,056
8,127,083
11,919,722
16,687,611
7,500
0
200
7,700
19,000
1,000
1,000
21,000
20,000
5,000
2,000
27,000
40,000
10,000
10,000
60,000
86,500
16,000
13,200
115,700
300,000
183,954
229,942
713,895
600,000
579,691
724,614
1,904,305
900,000
1,625,417
2,031,771
4,557,188
1,500,000
3,337,522
4,171,903
9,009,425
-7,700
-7,700
-16,000
-23,700
-12,000
-35,700
15,000
-20,700
-20,700
-20,700
205,872
185,172
994,150
1,179,322
3,569,896
4,749,218
7,678,186
12,427,404
Channel Strategy
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Strategic partners- forming strategic partnerships with other enterprises, or already existing
organization/collaboration software, and selling the new product as a joint venture
o Interesting usage of our technology already being explored.
Reseller market- exploring sources that can push our product to many clients.
Self service- creating an intuitive website that allows clients to implement our discussion platform/widget
themselves.
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
Exit Strategy

Early exit: Potential Acquirers
o Multiple companies, such as JS-Kit are buying early start up companies that show promise in
improving features in online conversations and blogs.
o Enterprises providing collaboration and communication software for companies (Zoho, Microsoft,
and Salesforce to just name a few) that have old technology

Later exit
o Blog software companies such as: Blogger, Six Apart and Automattic, would be interested in
incorporating our discussion model into their core blogging platform.
o A large social or professional network may want to be the sole proprietor of our discussion model.