Opportunity Snapshot
- Country: USA
- Industry: Publishing
- Stage: Initial growth (first revenues)
- Years in operations: 1
- Investment size: $252,000 / min. $84,000
- Type of investment: Equity
Investment Opportunity
I'm seeking one partner preferably at $252K for 30% equity but will accept splitting it among 3 partners for 10% equity and $84K each or 2 partners at 15% and $126K each
The project is about launching the ONLY sports fiction magazine in the U.S. and abroad. We hold 2 sports franchise licenses (inquire to know who) and we're using their 22 million fans as our launch base but we will branch out to general sports fans as well. Every sport will be represented at some point. We're launching March 2013 with an initial circulation of 3 million sports enthusiasts.
By the fourth quarter of 2013 we should have 3 million readers and by the 4th quarter of 2014 we should reach 10 million global readers. The publication will be free, that is how we can get such a large circulation. Unlike most magazines which derive their revenue through advertising and sales price we're using a merchandising business model where we monetize ALL of the content giving us ultimately 10 million people a month to sell merchandise to. So we're not as dependant on advertising as most magazines in this slow ad market.
Competitive Advantage
In the sports fiction category we have no direct competition. We have this niche to ourselves for the moment. As a free publication our competition technically is all of the other free alternative tabloids. But as we're all free it's not really a competition. It's not a choice either picking up the one or the other. If it's a subject of matter you usually just pick it up because it's free. As one third of this country is a fan of some kind of sport such a free publication will be in heavy demand. There is some competition for advertising among free tabloids but as our business model is merchandise based we have less of a need for advertising so there is no real battle.
Rationale for the deal
This is a wide open market for sports fiction which can lead to an empire - social media (e.g. a Facebook-for-sports-fans), overseas franchising, the content spawning movies, TV shows, video games, toys, clothing, etc. Sports fiction exists already in novels but there isn't a sports fiction periodical in existence. The content we create is designed to be merchandised - the fictional football teams in the comics, the sexy tennis star in the prose short stories, the funny team mascots in the comic strips, the interactive games, etc. Merchandise is either created by us internally or licensed out.
As an example let's say we have a series of short stories about a basketball team. We make a coffee mug for that team. We're exposing that story to 10 million readers. Even if only 800,000 people buy that coffee mug, that's still a lot of money. Now multiply that by multiple items for sale for multiple characters and it winds up to be an extreme amount of money just from merchandising. It's still an advertising generating publication, so whether it's through advertising or merchandising it will make a lot of money.
Use of financing
The $252,000 would be spent to produce the first two issues. This is an advertising supported publication normally but the first two issues need to be produced and printed before we start securing advertising which handles the production going forward.
Opportunity for the investor
I'm seeking one partner preferably at $252K for 30% equity but will accept splitting it among 3 partners for 10% equity and $84K each or 2 partners at 15% and $126K each. This project comes in with a built-in fanbase thanks to our two licenses. These owners will help promote the tabloid magazine and help us sell the merchandise to their fans. So our magazine will profit immediately upon launch unlike most magazines that take a year to show profit. Your high ROI begins July 2013. Looking mostly for a silent co-owner of the magazine but will accept hands-on based on how much hands-on.
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