AGLOCO™ is A Global Community owned by its Members
AGLOCO™ HISTORY
They started AGLOCO™ at a coffee shop near the Stanford campus. They sat down with a group of Stanford graduate students to design the next generation of the Internet enterprise using the infomediary as one of the foundation blocks.
They decided they wanted to build the economic network that enables individuals on the Web to share in the profits that their data and their actions help create. AGLOCO™ is more than a Web site and it is more than a VIEWBAR™ company. It is a network that links people, their information and their friends together to form something bigger.
Like all networks that have come before (from the Internet itself to MySpace), this one gets stronger as it gets bigger. AGLOCO™ with 1,000 or 10,000 members is not much more than the sum of its parts. But AGLOCO™ with 1 million or 10 million members starts to become important. It's important because it changes the consumer-company relationship online and changes the way everyone thinks about their online experience.
Why It Works. AGLOCO™ works because the network effects are self perpetuating. It gets stronger as it gets bigger. With more members and stronger cash flows, the profits that the members share in increase – and this draws in more users and hence stronger cash flows. The incentive to join early and tell many friends is big, as early members who help build the network stand to benefit the most (similar to nearly all start-ups, where the early employees tend to share disproportionately in the success of the company).
As AGLOCO™ grows, the economic incentive continues to grow as it is able to offer more and more value for its members. Unlike
AllAdvantage.com which incurred incremental costs for each additional member-hour, AGLOCO™ generates positive free cash flow from each additional member-hour and has virtually no incremental cash expenses for additional use of the VIEWBAR™. AGLOCO™ will have standard operating costs (site maintenance, bandwidth, insurance, telephones, office space, sales and administration etc.), but like Google these costs should be very low compared to the revenue Members generate.
The Members Own the Company. That's right – 100% of the company is member-owned. Users make good ideas valuable. Good ideas are great, but without members, they are just that – ideas. Every decision is made by asking what is best for the members over the long-term. It's a new way of thinking, but it works because we are all in it together. So how do members make money?
We Own the Management Company. The employees and investors own the management company. The management company collects 10% of the revenues of AGLOCO™ (like Tom Cruise pays his agent 10%). This should be enough incentive to continue to attract a great team of highly talented people that AGLOCO™ needs to maximize the value to its Member/shareholders.
Trust is Everything. AGLOCO™ loses your trust, and the network fails. AGLOCO™ works on behalf of the members and everything AGLOCO™ does must be kept in mind. Members know what AGLOCO™ is doing with their data and how they are using it for their benefit. Do you know how other Web sites are collecting your data or how they are using it? Chances are, you don't. Think about it.
No cost to a Member – Ever. AGLOCO™ never costs anything for Members. Ask former AllAdvantage.com members what it cost them to join and most will try to remember how much they were receiving in monthly checks (that's right – receiving).
Privacy is paramount. No spam, no pop-ups, no selling information, no emails from people you don't know, no emails to people you don't know, and no tricks. Period. Our track record is public – there are no hidden costs. The upside for members is potentially very large and the sky is the limit. The downside is essentially nil.
Be Patient. People always want everything right away. I do too. But things take time, so stick with them. It takes time, money and people to build everything, and they'll get there. Members at AllAdvantage.com complained that we were moving too slow, and then after the company was gone they realized how good it had been and complained that it had gone away! It takes time to be able to send checks for over $100 million to members. And so it will take time to set up an economic network to share the wealth of the Internet with millions of online users.
AGLOCO™ VISION
During the last ten years, the Internet has spawned a new economy: one where users create tremendous economic value but
hardly get anything in return. With AGLOCO™ we want to change that thinking. We hope that all companies that depend on its
users will eventually believe in what we do – The Members should share the value they generate for the company.
We believe that AGLOCO™ will be a success if we can change the entrepreneurial mindset on the Internet. Instead of only
looking for ways users can help them build the company, future entrepreneurs will be asking how the users can share in the
value creation.
We believe in a different way of looking at users on the internet. We developed the following philosophy for AGLOCO™
10. Members should be owners.The Members who are the source of value for an internet company should own that company. This brings transparency and rewards
the right people who contribute to developing the company.
9. Providers should be stewards.The providers of a service where Members create the value should act as stewards, not owners. The stewards of the company
have a duty to do what is right for the community, and maximize the benefits for the community. The stewards will act in the
best interest of the community if the incentive system is aligned.
8. You can make money without changing anything you do.The internet currently generates value from nearly everything a user does online. From a simple internet search, to clicking
on an ad, to making a purchase, someone is making money from these activities. Our job, as stewards of a large community, is
to ensure a fair part of that value is returned to our Members.
7. Privacy is not a nice to have, it is a must have.Our Members privacy is paramount. After all, without our Members, the community would not exist. That is why we will never
sell, disclose or give away any or all of our Members' information. A high level of privacy is far more valuable to the
community than any alternative.
6. Trust is everything.
The AGLOCO™ platform can be a gateway for an array of other services developed to provide both monetary and service benefits.
Whether early virus and phishing site alerts or simply a trusted information exchange, Members should benefit from such a
community.
5. Every single Member benefits.Every Member should benefit in his or her way by joining a trusted community. Whether earning money while surfing, or giving
that money away to charity, we believe the platform should represent what the Internet should be: a source of benefit for a
large section of the population.
4. Members that own the community should help promote and police it.A user that owns part of the community has more incentive to promote it and keep it free of malicious software and ill-
intentioned individuals. We believe that the overwhelming majority of our Members will want to reach out to friends, family
and colleagues, as well as protect themselves from scams and pitfalls on the Internet.
3. A community with a shared sense of responsibility.We stray away from advertising and products that are socially unacceptable. We strive to create an active and socially
responsible community.
2. A global community.
The internet unites the world across cultures, borders and languages. AGLOCO™ wants to bridge the divide in global
understanding and promote itself as a cross cultural, socially aware and responsible community.
1. Free is too expensive (our favorite).
A free service is always great. However, if Members produce what becomes the core value of the company – as we have seen with
recent online mega-deals - then we believe Members should receive a good portion of the financial benefit that the company
derives. However, you have a role to play and can help them speed up the process.
Get Involved. Pitch in. Tell your friends and build your referral network. Design a Web site explaining the economic network. Tell your company they should partner with AGLOCO™ . Write about AGLOCO™ on your blog. Ask yourself how you want to share in the value of the Internet. Think big.
It's your company. Have fun.
AGLOCO™ makes money for its Members in many ways.
** Search: Every time you use the Viewbar™ to do an Internet search, AGLOCO™ earns money from the search engine providers. (For example, Google pays as much as $0.10 on average for each search that is directed to its search engine.)
** Advertising: The Viewbar™ itself displays ads that are targeted based upon the websites you’re visiting. When you click on an ad and make a purchase, AGLOCO™ receives a referral fee, which we pass on to our Members. (Please note: Individual members do not receive any compensation for clicking on ads in the Viewbar™, and the Viewbar™ can detect if someone is clicking ads in a fraudulent manner.)
** Transaction commissions: Many major retailers pay commissions when you refer customers who make a purchase. AGLOCO™ collects that commission and passes it on to our members. (For example, Amazon pays an 8.5% commission to most websites who refer customers, and has cut deals for even larger percentages. The bigger the AGLOCO™ community, the better commission we can negotiate for our Members.)
** Software distribution: Numerous software companies pay websites to encourage the download of new software releases (for example, Adobe’s Flash and Acrobat Reader software), and trial versions of new programs. AGLOCO™ members not only get access to the latest and coolest software, they get paid for it.
** Service distribution: Many online service providers will look to the AGLOCO™ community as a source of new and active users for their services. (For example, eBay, Skype, and PayPal, among others, all pay fees to people who help them recruit new active users to their services)
** Product distribution: When Members agree to use a product, such as cell phones, high-tech gadgets, office supplies, new credit cards or financial services, AGLOCO™ can collect referral fees. Some companies even offer special rebate and cash-back programs.
AGLOCO™ Members make money in four ways.
(1)· Members earn a monthly share of the AGLOCO revenue based on the use of the AGLOCO™ Viewbar™ that month.
(2)· Members earn part of the company based on the use of the AGLOCO™ Viewbar™ that month (currently a maximum of five hours are rewarded.
(3)· Members who use our referral system to help build the AGLOCO™ network will earn more. (AGLOCO only has significant value as a large network and people who help build it should be rewarded. – We also feel that the early users who told friends about YouTube or MySpace or even Google probably deserved something too, but no referral system was available to record their work).
(4)· Members will also get a share of any commissions AGLOCO™ gets when a Member purchases a product or service from an AGLOCO™ Sponsor company.
Why should I join now?
· First, it costs nothing to Join and takes less than one minute.
· Second, you can help build the AGLOCO™ community by recruiting new Members TODAY.
Right now, inviting your friends to join AGLOCO™ is as easy and productive as it will ever be – but you need to invite your friends before someone else beats you to them.
Remember, the bigger the AGLOCO community, the more attractive AGLOCO™ is to potential business partners and advertisers.
Recruit your friends and family by contacting them through email. Use your blog and your existing social networks, such as MySpace and Facebook, to contact your friends and encourage them to join a new community that will actually let them earn money.
Be a part of the Internet’s first Member-Owned Economic Community.
Interview With The AGLOCO™ Developers
AllAdvantage is Back - It is Now AGLOCO™
Agloco Viewbar in testing stage