Slides for the London Hacker News event on 27 June 2012. We discussed PeerJ, a new Open Access journal, and a framework for disrupting other industries.

1. The following slides were presented at the
London Hacker News event on 27 June 2012.
http://www.meetup.com/HNLondon/events/69942082/
Out of context from the voiceover, some slides
won’t make a lot of sense, so I’ve added a few
context speech bubbles.

2. Paywall – but your taxes
paid for it already!

3. CONTEXT: People like Josh
cannot get access to the
research they need for life
threatening diseases. Nor can
their doctors, and now even the
world’s wealthiest library,
Harvard, has urged faculty not
to publish behind paywalls
because they cannot afford
subscription fees.
JOSH SOMMER
CHORDOMA FOUNDATION

4. If we can set a goal to sequence
the human genome for $99
-then why can’t we also publish
that research for $99?
CONTEXT: A solution is open
access or ‘OA.’ The author pays
a fee to make the paper free to
download. However, it still costs
thousands of US $$ to publish
OA today.

5. CONTEXT: In response, I co-
founded PeerJ, that has a low
fee of $99 for lifetime
publishing. I also started a new
kid at the same time . Note: I
don’t recommend having a kid
and a new startup at the same
time!

6. Backed with $950K seed led by O’Reilly
AlphaTech Ventures (OATV)
Tim O’Reilly is on the board
London and San Francisco
Raised with just an idea – no product, no
revenue, no customers
This is what I’m here to
talk about

7. CONTEXT: I’d like to see more
‘real’ problems being worked
on by today’s tech talent, rather
than more simple apps being
built. That’s a tough road
though, so the idea here was to
give some pointers.
Use a framework for disruption
Or…a case study of changing
academic publishing
#HNLondon, 27 June 2012
@jasonHoyt
jason@PeerJ.com
Co-founder & CEO, PeerJ

8. My background is science; formally for past
17 years
Did a PhD in Genetics – witnessed &
suffered through woes of getting published
You don’t need a formal edu, but you do
need to know your shit & be passionate

9. CONTEXT: Even if your talent is
something like being a Python
programming language expert,
you can still partner with an
expert in say ‘green-tech.’
Today’s big problems need
crossover like that big time if we
are going to solve them.
Framework for disruption- #1
FIND A PROBLEM THAT MATCHES
YOUR DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE

10. Academic Publishing is 300+ years-old.
The Web has turned into a recent problem
for the big academic publishers, just as it did
for the music industry.
Academics are pissed.
-More than 12K are now boycotting the world’s largest
academic publisher, Elsevier. thecostofknowledge.com

11. Framework for disruption- #2
FIND A LONG-STANDING OR
SOON-TO-BE PROBLEM

12. Two biz models in academic publishing
Journal subcriptions (300+ yrs old)
Author pays per article (< 15 yrs old)
Printing press technology of 1660
still drives today’s business models.
WTF?

13. CONTEXT: In academic
publishing, something as simple
as a fresh looking webpage
would be a welcome change
from the 1990’s look of today’s
journals. PeerJ is also adding a
third biz model of lifetime
membership. Old markets can
be disrupted in such ways.
Framework for disruption- #3
FIND A PROBLEM WHERE TECH OR
NEW BIZ MODELS CAN BE
INTRODUCED

14. TheCurrent Academic Pub Market
$10 Billion
Global annual revenue
~40% profit margin
150 Million
Knowledge workers
(the readers)
10 Million
Authors
(the customers)
1.5 Million
Publications /
Year
(the product)

15. CONTEXT: If costs of Open
Access drop (e.g. PeerJ’s pricing)
then the ‘old guard’ with
shareholders to answer to
won’t be able to dramatically
lower costs. Competitive
advantage. Similarly, there are
old incumbents in energy,
banking, etc that have much to
lose. Look out for ‘backroom’
politics that the incumbents can
afford to play though.
Framework for disruption- #4
FIND A PROBLEM WHERE
INCUMBENTS HAVE MUCH TO LOSE
IF THEY COPY YOU

16. A/B
TEST

17. CONTEXT: I tested the appeal
for PeerJ with just a simple
landing page back in Dec ‘11.
Word got back to me that
lobbyists & others were already
discussing who was behind the
idea in D.C. That was my first
signal that the idea was worth
evaluating and pursuing further.
Test your concepts early and
cheaply.
Framework for disruption- #5
A/B TEST YOUR IDEA AS EARLY
AS POSSIBLE

18. Join me!
Pete Me
Pete Binfield
Co-founder & Publisher, PeerJ
Friend for several years People who believe in Pete
Previously ran world’s largest
journal – PLoS ONE

19. CONTEXT: In the end, you don’t
need to convince everyone at
the start. Choose your co-
founder(s) wisely.
Framework for disruption- #6
YOU ONLY NEED TO CONVINCE ONE
OTHER PERSON – BUT MAKE THEM
COUNT

20. Go Make It Happen
@jasonHoyt
@thePeerJ