Just Be Friends

Just Be Friends was originally launched as as service for adult women to meet other women for friendship (what you will see on the website currently). After Janice Taylor, founder of Just Be Friends was chosen as one of Oprah's Ultimate Viewers and received the trip of a lifetime with Oprah to Australia. The concept of JBF evolved from women to kids under the age of 13, forming JBF kids.

JBF is a safe, interactive platform where kids can find a friend, be a friend and make new friends using tools such as the JBF Friend Finder™, JBF Go Play™ and JBF My Backyard™.  Every day 1 in 4 children struggle to find friends just like them and are ultimately bullied and cyber bullied as a result. One common misconception is that kids should wait it out, "it gets better" but for a kid that can seem like a lifetime. Further to that, there is a breakdown in how children are socialized and learn their social education.

Just Be Friends is NOT a social network but a creative social education tool for both parents and kids. 

Just Be Friends is pioneering the world of social education by cultivating a creative space for children to learn, be and make new friends. The value-add for the parent is the ability to be directly involved using their own tools such as JBF Valid ID System™ and the JBF Cord Technology™. JBF provides a balanced set of tools for both parent and child to leverage social media in a safe and controlled manner.  More importantly, JBF's unique differentiation is based on 3 core pillars: 1) Safety/Security (parental involvement), 2) Healthy Social/Friendship Development, 3) Online to Offline Relationships both for child and other affiliates. 

One key aspect of JBF is how do we provide a social education? What do they do once they get there. Just be Friends has created a creative place for children to create virtual backyards/playgrounds that feed the child's personal interests and children can invite one on one play with friends just like them. Children can then build their virtual backyards together. For example, children can choose from specific templates "space" as their backyard, both children could then create "space" together once both parents have approved the match. Children can then play together and share the experience. Both sets of parents will have virtual "kitchen windows" to observe play, interject if needed and to be able to be part of the creative experience. 

The other key aspect is we do not want children to spend all their time online, therefore to accompany the virtual backyard play children could then request a "playdate" possibly connected to their backyard they are creating or not but they could request play offline, for example, if they created the jungle they may then want to go to the real Zoo together. Parents can then see what interests their child, encourage that offline play and both parents can participate in the social education of their child.

Just Be Friends: a place where kids create safe playgrounds for friendships and fun! Find a Friend. Be a Friend. Changing lives one friend at a time. Just Be Friends a social education platform.

Lead Developer: Ed Yaffa former Yahoo and Sun Microsystems lead who is developing the JBF prototype

Director of Marketing: Mary Camarata, current Director of Marketing for Enterprise Group

Three Main Revenue Streams

1) Subscriptions: Basic and Premium for parent ID verification, friend finder tools and games and offline playdate tool.

2) JBF Offline Affiliates: using the JBF playdate tools, children and parents can plan offline acitivites and purchase for them using our tools through JBF.

3) JBF Merchandise: The power of JBF is in our brand and messaging, requests for T-shirts, backpacks, baby clothes, water bottles etc to have the positive message of Just Be Friends on these products (minor revenue stream but can create residual income.

Quick Facts on the Market:

- Parents spend over US$260 billion on children under the age 13 on clothing, games, online spending, etc.

- Private Education (early and K-6) spend on kids under 13, US $400 Billion

- Over 7.5 Million Children Online and growing rapidly

Projected Revenue and Total User 5 Year Goal:

- 20 million users/$5 average spend/user/month:

- 1.2 Billion Annual Revenue

1) Safety/Security: Direct parental involvement and parental ID verification is one advantage compared to the current landscape of children online spaces.

2) JBF Friend Finder and Creative Playground: we specifically match kids to other kids for NEW friendship. Children will be specifically matched based on interests, age, geography and parental specifications. Parents are also matched at baseline and will be able to select specific types of friends for their children.

Through the creative playground tool children can cultivate their own landscapes and engage with their friends in those spaces. They could create a "jungle" playground for example, invite a friend, play and share developing the core functions of their social education. The build out of animation, games and tools will be dependent upon their subscription level. All geared to the social education of children and under the watchful eye of their parents.

3) Offline Activities: JBF encourages the friendship to go offline. Unlike our competitors we want parents and children to use JBF as a tool, a social utility to take that friendship offline. We are a springboard and soft landing to cultivate those friendships and to provide a social education.