If you had five dollars and two hours, what would you do to make as much money as possible?

There’s a six minute video from the Stanford technology venture program that asks this question, and gives three interesting solutions. One team pumped up bicycle tyres, another made reservations in restaurants that had lengthy queues and then sold their place, and the winner… well, you’ll have to watch the video!

So how is this applicable to magazine publishing?

The students who made the most money were the ones who were able to adapt. They saw a new challenge and knew they couldn’t afford to be limited by what they’d done in the past. In some senses, having no cash helped them find the creative spark they needed. They realised they had their own skills, and a three-minute presentation in the classroom at the end. They worked with what they’d got.

These are the sorts of people we think our new advertising barter exchange will appeal to. You’ve got a magazine that people read. You’ve got unsold pages. Why not barter them with other magazines and promote each other? Free promotion that benefits everyone.

Magazine publishers can sign up to ContraSwap today, free of charge.

ContraSwap was set up as low-cost and effective way to promote magazines to potential new readers. ContraSwap launched to all magazine publishers in beta testing mode in August 2009. Currently the site is free to use, with a premium product with additional features being launched in 2010.

Our key people are:

Ian Howlett: CEO

Ian has worked on software with a wide range of companies including Unisys, FT Knowledge, FT.com, BUPA and innovative travel insurer EHICPlus.com. He has an MBA with distinction from the University of Oxford.

Richard Hart: CTO

Richard brings a wealth of software development experience to us, having worked on systems used by leading names in the health, automotive, and communications industries. His work at a major healthcare provider revolutionised purchasing and saved the company millions of Pounds in costs.

Sue Fisher: Head of Marketing and PR

Sue has worked in Marketing and PR for a variety of publishing companies. She has spent several years focussed on consumer magazines for emap publishing. Sue has also worked for a financial publishing company focussing on both business magazines and consumer magazines.

Welcome to the ContraSwap blog. Here you’ll find information on the latest ContraSwap developments as well as any interesting information we have in regards to making your magazine profitable.

This is the place to go if you want to find out more information about our upcoming products – discuss issues that you think are affecting the publishing industry at the moment and contribute in votes and polls.

We will also be listening to any ideas you might have about products to help the industry so please either make your suggestions either by commenting or emailing sfisher@contraswap.com.

We will also be interviewing various industry people and publishing their opinions on this blog – if you would like to be interviewed please contact sfisher@contraswap.com.

This blog will be updated by either Sue Fisher (Marketing and PR) Richard Hart (CTO) or Ian Howlett (CEO).

Please come back soon!

Sue