Digital Land Acknowledgement:
As ttom app continues to grow and operate exclusively in the digital space, we acknowledge using high-speed internet and electronic equipment, devices, and digital meetings that are not readily available in many indigenous communities. These digital advances are ingrained in our day to day operations, and are creating an acceleration of global climate change through the carbon footprint of these devices. Because climate change impacts indigenous peoples at exponentially greater rates, as we sit in communion with each other, connected through this technology we must acknowledge that we sit on land stolen from Native people, and the genocide committed against the Native people by European settlers. We must bring this truth to the forefront and recognize the impact it continues to have on indigenous people.
ttom app is based in Rogers Park, Chicago, Illinois on the land of the Kiikaapoi (Kickapoo), Peoria, Kaskaskia, Bodéwadmiké (Potawatomi), Myaamia, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ.
This land acknowledgement was inspired by the work being done at American Blues Theater as they have adapted to digital theater during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click here to learn more. To reveal which tribes lived on the land where you now sit, visit this map
Image Description:
Brightly colored images of a sneaky black cat with a multi-hued blue cellphone, and images of phone home screens, and people using phones appear throughout. The colors for backgrounds and text are whimsical and saturated. The color palette includes black, white, Magpie Blue #0D47A1, Sunflower Yellow #EAC435, Robin’s Egg light blue #86BBD8, and Sundress Salmon Pink #FE4A49.
Text reads:
ttom
a chat fiction app for grow ups
*grown-ups
MISSION
ttom creates a more immersive and complete experience, for a deeper connection to the storytelling by telling chat fiction NOT through text messges alone, but also voice messages, video messages, emails, images, and music, and the characters' interactive home screen.
ALL IN REAL TIME
PROBLEM
chat fiction content tends to focus on sex and violence as topics to capture audiences
chat fiction is geared toward younger audiences
primarily teens, missing out on tons of cell phone users
most chat fiction apps contain pay walls making enjoying a story frustrating and expensive
chat fiction is based on on-demand content, unlike real life
chat fiction stories tend to last a few hours or a day
SOLUTION
ttom works with emerging and established voices in the Chicago theater scene, creating more diverse themes and distinct characters
ttom appeals to older audiences with longer-form storytelling, and more mature themes
ttom delivers content IN REAL TIME creating more suspense and exhilaration, mimicking real life
ttom prices each story individually, with no surprise paywalls
ttom creates an immersive experience beyond the chat fiction itself, including the ability to navigate the characters' cell phones
Pricing and Profit Sharing with Authors
ttom prices all pieces based on how long the story runs
The shortest stories in ttom's library runs one day, the longest is the length of a novel and runs for two and a half months.
Day-long pieces are $1.99
Week-long pieces are $3.99
Months-long pieces are $9.99
ttom values it's artists' time and work
all authors are paid 70% of profits from their story sales
MARKET SIZE
Entertainment App Usage Has Had The Largest Increase In Market Share From 13% in 2016 to 21% in 2019 and still rising through 2020.
TOTAL AVAILABLE MARKET: 100M Chat Fiction Users
SERVICEABLE AVAILABLE MARKET: 60M Users aged 18-35 years old
MARKETSHARE: 20M Older Gen Z - Gen X, ttom can capture more as they age into the app
WHY ARE WE LOOKING FOR FUNDING?
TTOM HAS BEEN SELF FUNDED SINCE IT'S INCEPTION IN 2013
ttom's owners have contributed the following since 2018
Man hours: 3,000hrs (10 hours x person x week x 3 years) = $105,000
Actual Dollars: $2,000
Total: $125,000
ttom needs help with large one-time expenses and increasing operation costs due to hosting and sending more/larger amounts of data.
WHAT YOU ARE FUNDING?
Trademark logo federally: $660
Trademark logo state: $150
Wordmark: $660
LLC Annual report: $75
LLC address change: $50
Marketing: $500
(upcoming with launch, video editing, more servers)
Cloud hosting: $300/month x 2 months
(due to the expanding library)
Credit card processing: $500/monthly x 2 months
Standard operational costs: $125/month x 2 months
Freelance coding: $225/week x 4 weeks
TOTAL: $4,845.00
WHY IS TRADEMARK AND BRANDING SUCH A LARGE LINE ITEM EXPENSE?
Over the years, the 8 years that we have been working on this app, numerous chat fiction apps have entered the market. Since 2018 we had been operating under the name Magpie and logo. We were forced to file name changes for the LLC and rebrand when a chat fiction app of the same name and logo entered the US market in 2020, scraping all the work we had done on logo and branding up until the point.
THE TEAM:
Carolyn Minor: Founder, Owner, Business Manager, Author, she/her/hers
Jessica Kress: Owner, UX Designer, she/her/hers
THANK YOU!
So many friends have been here through this arduous journey to launch. Starting back in 2013, with the first iteration of Carolyn's novel, all the way to 2021 to see a cohesive team actually big this to fruition.
ttom is thankful for any and all support: emotional, social media, word of mouth, mentoring, life advice and encouragement that we have received over the years.
ttom CANNOT wait to get into your phones and your hearts
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
