What am I missing?

Lol, nor do I.  The good news is that money is not the goal. Adding value in the world is the goal. First I need to build something that adds value.

If I can find a business model that lets me devote more of my time to adding that value and reaching more people (and even creating employment), that would be awesome.

100% agree.

I'm definitely considering how to make feedback digestible and actionable.  I know that a good manager or a coach can be helpful in this, but not everyone has access to those. Is there a way we can 'coach' each other? I still use my trusty "challenge network". I'm working on this one.  Reach out if you have ideas.

Eugh. I hadn't thought of this one, thank you. If I build the platform the way I want it - purely individual owned - users still may not be allowed to ask their managers/peers to give them feedback on it at work unless it's corporate approved. Sigh. 

OK, I will work with this.

One of my strengths is being highly receptive to feedback (I take it onboard and action it).  There is danger in building something that assumes what works for you will work for others.  So please help me  - point out my blindspots. And I will keep trying to stay open, so that what I build can have value for as many people as possible.

I don't believe this will 'help' anyone. People help themselves. How will I know if this has connected anyone with meaningful information or opportunities for learning and positive change?  

There are the standard vanity metrics (daily/monthly active users, etc), but I need to make sure I build frictionless feedback loops, and keep talking to users.

Marketing to individual consumers is hard - There is so much competing for our attention. We don't also have a lot of spare cash either. Businesses pay for this sort of thing.  Trouble is, the corporate "feedback systems" and HR tools space is quite packed.  B2B sales cycles are also really long.  There might be something here though. I'll keep it in mind.

In the face of sometimes overwhelming self-doubt, every bit of encouragement is so meaningful.

This was also offered by someone I look up to as a successful entrepreneur, so it means a lot. ...Maybe he was just being nice, but so what, through cognitive behavioural therapy I learned that I'll never know someone's true intentions, so why not consider all possible intentions and then choose to believe the one that makes me feel good?

..."I'm serious. It is simple, valuable and could scale with whatever plan you intend... Building a platform may be tricky but you just need a good engineer and some starter capital."

The starter capital bit is tricky, because how do you convince an investor to give you money if making a financial return is not the goal? :D I doubt this is a fit for impact investors because it's solving problems at the on the top of our hierarchy of needs

This is a very cool idea.

I find it incredibly freeing to separate, in my mind, the value of my performance from my value as a human being.  

Making this specifically about the work could definitely help alleviate some of the awkwardness (on both sides) in the feedback process, and mitigate our natural defence mechanism that prevents us from hearing and benefitting from feedback on our performance.

If I choose to try something new in my performance, as an experiment, and then gather feedback, how will I know if it's successful?

That is the right question.

I don't know the answer yet.  I know the answer is not that you just "feel" like it went well or not, or that you base your decision on one person's feedback...

What does success look like to you?

Agreed. 

Humans are not good at objectively evaluating performance. We do better, however, if we're asked to evaluate one skill or aspect at a time (and especially if we have a framework/rubric for assessing against).  There is need for more/better structure on both sides of the tool (the giver and receiver of feedback).

"Would effectively be an outsourced HR function for a specific onboarding session. 

I like the thinking and can see how it would add value to an organisation trying to inculcate feedback as a culture."

I like this...  but I am still grappling with my aversion to having a company pay - because the goal is to create value for the individual, and have the individual own the data (and drive what we build)...