The only time I've received help with someone "more powerful" was my mentor in business. I never seek money, but wanted advice that I could apply, I guess when he saw this it made him interested in helping me and that's how our relationship developed. I was offered the opportunity to get mentored without directly asking, however, I always took note of what he said reported my results. I think seeing someone actually listen/apply and report back on how your advice influenced them is all beneficial for some as well. In some cases I see myself as his experiment to see if all his business theories are right, in others I think he sees himself in me and in turn is helping himself through that. People like others who are like themselves.
I think the simplest recipe for success is set deadlines and meet them asap, the faster the start up meets deadlines the faster they grow and the faster they grow the faster they can succeed, booya
I think some of the others may agree with me...just teahch through technology. Make more places like khanacademy etc. Technology will disrupt the current system and through it people will be able to meet and stabilize a new system since it'll show people that learning is in new ways is possible. Bill and Melinda Gates foundation are funding Khanacademy and are excited about many sites like them, with technology we can answer more questions faster and help teachers focus on answering important questions while not repeating menial ones.
If you're gonna go down the free route...I've always wondered about Flickr's API...it depends for what purposes though and does stem close to legal issues, but its still powerful.
Just a spur of the moment opinion...but let me come up with a list...trading cards/games...meeting people socially...exchanging listed information on a specific field aka you make a list of great investors, one cellphone to cellphone tap and the other person has it...mmm hopefully that's good enough lol
Perhaps have a tagline written at the top telling people what your site does also you may want to show the site in action vs. advertisements of it in the banner. Overall I like it.
I think if asked people will say "I don't really need to know when my appliances are on or off"...however, they would be interested in spending maybe a few extra bucks a month to know if they are losing tons of money on appliances and if they can somehow reduce those costs with perhaps recommendations, especially if maybe you show them how much money you can save them first and then charge for recommendations and a monthly rate for future tracking ;)
My advice would be not to look at it as a "sale". Even framing it that way can scare people off and give people the wrong mindset, I think framing it as a value proposition shown within a conversation is the best way to look at it.
Imagine talking to a friend or someone you know and finding a real need they have and simply recommending it because you strongly believe it would help them.
Forget "always be closing" just listen to people and see if you have a valid proposition for them. The most successful salesmen I've seen have had way more knowledge on the topic then their customers and have provided them with what was really necessary for them reducing wasted time they could have spent searching, while also explaining why it was logical.
Lastly, I think you should have good body language not to make people think you're a serial killer and after a few practice sessions you should be fine. You earn courage by doing the task itself, either in little chunks e.g. doing a bit more and more each stage at a time, or doing the whole task at once without breaks.
Best book I've read on sales is: Spin Selling by Neil Rackham
