I have worked for InfoArmy a few months and created reports. It wasn't the best paying job but I had fun doing it. Unfortunately a lot of people didn't care about the company and just created low quality reports. Today the CEO of InfoArmy announced that they will stop using their current business model and will move on to something else.
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Letter from the CEO of InfoArmy:
InfoArmy
launched last June. Since that time we have worked together trying to
create an innovative new business model that would allow many
researchers to eventually earn income on the InfoArmy platform.
Unfortunately, the current business model has several large and
unfixable problems:
● Sales
are not happening. So far InfoArmy has sold just 44 individual report
subscriptions ($4,356). All of this revenue was distributed to
researchers (InfoArmy did not take 50% as planned under the Revenue
Share model).
● Almost
two months ago we hired a full time sales person. He has been
unsuccessful so far. Data quality is the main issue preventing sales.
Common complaints include incorrect revenue estimates and competitors.
● Publication
bonuses have created the wrong incentives. Some researchers have
published the lowest quality reports they can get away with.
Quarterly
updates are very unpopular – even with our best researchers. The
report abandonment rate for quarterly updates is high. Updates are
critical to the success of the current model. We have been unable to
create a sense of report ownership across a large enough group of
researchers.
So
far InfoArmy has paid $146K to researchers (averaging $23/report), and
some researchers have made over $5,000 individually. We are very happy
that many hard working researchers have made money. However, without a
clear path to revenue this model is unsustainable.
InfoArmy
takes full responsibility for the above issues. This business model
was our idea. Unfortunately it isn’t working as planned and we have to
make some major changes.
We haven’t figured it all out yet, but we believe the new model will look something like this:
● No more 50/50 Revenue Share. Members will exchange information they have for information they need.
●
No more report ownership. Many different people will contribute to
reports and make estimates. Reports will be updated in real time
instead of quarterly.
●
All reports will be free (in their current form). The object will be
to create added value that can eventually be put behind a pay wall.
For
purposes of clarity, we will no longer be paying InfoArmy members for
their information gathering. If you choose to continue to provide
services to us under the new model, you will not be paid under the
Revenue Share model or by any other means. The Terms Of Service that
govern the services you provided will terminate with the final payment
you receive. InfoArmy is creating an entirely new business model that
will have new terms. As of today we have made all existing reports
free. If you wish to remove the reports you created from the InfoArmy
website please contact us at support@infoarmy.com.
We
made one final General Fund Payment on January 31st, 2013. Along with
the General Fund payment we included an Appreciation Bonus to thank you
again for your support. Each initial report creation was awarded $5 and
each update $2. These bonuses applied regardless of whether or not you
still owned the report and were split 80-20 between the PR and SR. This
final payment will make the total amount paid to researchers
approximately $200K (or approximately $29 per report).
We anticipate that you may have questions and concerns. Please email us at support@infoarmy.com
and we will respond as quickly as possible. We will also have two
webinars to answer your questions. They will occur on Friday, Feb 1 at
3pm PST and Monday, Feb 4 at 7am PST.
To
the majority of researchers who believed in the InfoArmy vision of
creating a revenue share platform we offer our sincere apologies that
the current model did not work. We recognize that many of you poured
your hearts into creating reports, and we are very sorry to have let you
down. We truly thank you for your support and have enjoyed getting to
know you all. We are hopeful to see you again when we launch the new
model.
With best regards,
Jim Fowler and the InfoArmy Team
