Comments on: Can a Company Recover from a Lack of Business Model? http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/ Internet news and commentary Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:09:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Does Twitter need to be killed or fixed? » mathewingram.com/work | http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-565341 Does Twitter need to be killed or fixed? » mathewingram.com/work | Mon, 05 May 2008 19:54:15 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-565341 [...] It’s not that I’m not in favour of distributed apps, because I am. And if there’s a way to create a system that Twitter also plugs into, then that might be not a bad way to proceed — because as Steve O’Hear notes, anything that comes next has to respect what came before. Fred Stutzman says he doesn’t think it will work. Cindy Aleo-Carreira at Profy says that the disintermediation move is one of the downsides of the “build it and then figure out a business later” model. I think she has a point. I’d love to hear what Ev Williams thinks. function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u='+encodeURIComponent(u)+'&t='+encodeURIComponent(t),'sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.facebook.com/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?12:26981) no-repeat top left; }Post it | Share This | Related links [...] [...] It’s not that I’m not in favour of distributed apps, because I am. And if there’s a way to create a system that Twitter also plugs into, then that might be not a bad way to proceed — because as Steve O’Hear notes, anything that comes next has to respect what came before. Fred Stutzman says he doesn’t think it will work. Cindy Aleo-Carreira at Profy says that the disintermediation move is one of the downsides of the “build it and then figure out a business later” model. I think she has a point. I’d love to hear what Ev Williams thinks. function fbs_click() {u=location.href;t=document.title;window.open(’http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=’+encodeURIComponent(u)+’&t=’+encodeURIComponent(t),’sharer’,'toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436′);return false;} html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.facebook.com/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?12:26981) no-repeat top left; }Post it | Share This | Related links [...]

]]> By: allen http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564121 allen Mon, 05 May 2008 17:45:52 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564121 Cyndy - when Fred is ready, have him call me - I have plenty of business model ideas for Twitter. Cyndy - when Fred is ready, have him call me - I have plenty of business model ideas for Twitter.

]]> By: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564111 Cyndy Aleo-Carreira Mon, 05 May 2008 17:45:35 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564111 @Ian I realize I forgot to address the part of your comment about scalability. I'm a wee bit concerned about their burn rate if they just did another round of funding, are running on AWS, and still can't scale that thing. Do they have some Cordon Bleu Executive Chef or something? @Eric Very true. However, any ads that are awesome that make the rounds are still television ads. I don't think there are any companies who've really been able to make that jump to compelling Web ads that get that viral surge like television ads. @Ian I realize I forgot to address the part of your comment about scalability. I’m a wee bit concerned about their burn rate if they just did another round of funding, are running on AWS, and still can’t scale that thing. Do they have some Cordon Bleu Executive Chef or something?

@Eric Very true. However, any ads that are awesome that make the rounds are still television ads. I don’t think there are any companies who’ve really been able to make that jump to compelling Web ads that get that viral surge like television ads.

]]> By: Eric Rice http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564061 Eric Rice Mon, 05 May 2008 17:38:10 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564061 @Cyndy My only point about having the ability to pay, is the a huge difference between balking when there's no 'pay' button and balking when there IS one. It's like when we say we don't pay attention to ads until of course, that one awesome ad that makes the rounds. ;) @Cyndy My only point about having the ability to pay, is the a huge difference between balking when there’s no ‘pay’ button and balking when there IS one.

It’s like when we say we don’t pay attention to ads until of course, that one awesome ad that makes the rounds. ;)

]]> By: Cyndy Aleo-Carreira http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564031 Cyndy Aleo-Carreira Mon, 05 May 2008 17:32:17 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-564031 @Allen I'm actually surprised that Fred hasn't cranked out a blog post on it yet. He does tend to get het up about his babies and no, I can't see him letting Twitter run free on the Intarwebs. @Eric I think there are a lot of people who might pay for it, but there are a lot who would balk at the proposition. Pownce still has way too small a user base from what I can see to really determine if it works, and Flickr still has the back-up of Yahoo if it's not profitable. Of course some money is always better than no money, but would enough people pay for it to even cover costs? They have taken in a LOT of funding. @Ian True, Google didn't have a revenue stream, but I don't think it's true that they didn't have a business plan. They also offered a seamless way to integrate the ad issue in what they were doing, which isn't the case when you are shoehorning ads into an app. Search naturally lends itself to ads and featured results, which put Google in a unique position. @Rob At some point, Web 2.0 is going to have to stop relying on ad revenue to support everything. I'm already immune to most ads, if I even see them since I use AdBlock. They are so ubiquitous that your eye passes right over them without even seeing them. Ads won't solve everything, and I can't imagine any way that Twitter could implement them without have them be completely invasive. @Allen I’m actually surprised that Fred hasn’t cranked out a blog post on it yet. He does tend to get het up about his babies and no, I can’t see him letting Twitter run free on the Intarwebs.

@Eric I think there are a lot of people who might pay for it, but there are a lot who would balk at the proposition. Pownce still has way too small a user base from what I can see to really determine if it works, and Flickr still has the back-up of Yahoo if it’s not profitable. Of course some money is always better than no money, but would enough people pay for it to even cover costs? They have taken in a LOT of funding.

@Ian True, Google didn’t have a revenue stream, but I don’t think it’s true that they didn’t have a business plan. They also offered a seamless way to integrate the ad issue in what they were doing, which isn’t the case when you are shoehorning ads into an app. Search naturally lends itself to ads and featured results, which put Google in a unique position.

@Rob At some point, Web 2.0 is going to have to stop relying on ad revenue to support everything. I’m already immune to most ads, if I even see them since I use AdBlock. They are so ubiquitous that your eye passes right over them without even seeing them. Ads won’t solve everything, and I can’t imagine any way that Twitter could implement them without have them be completely invasive.

]]> By: Rob Safuto http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563821 Rob Safuto Mon, 05 May 2008 16:49:30 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563821 The people that run Twitter could start making money tomorrow if they wanted to. They could introduce ads. Yes, some people would bitch and others would leave. But the vast majority of users would stay. Or Twitter could follow Eric's advice and keep their current service free but add a PRO option with more features. Either approach would be a step in the right direction for Twitter or any number of these free apps that aim to turn a profit someday. The people that run Twitter could start making money tomorrow if they wanted to. They could introduce ads. Yes, some people would bitch and others would leave. But the vast majority of users would stay. Or Twitter could follow Eric’s advice and keep their current service free but add a PRO option with more features. Either approach would be a step in the right direction for Twitter or any number of these free apps that aim to turn a profit someday.

]]> By: Ian Lamont http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563801 Ian Lamont Mon, 05 May 2008 16:44:32 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563801 Several well-known Internet companies have bounced back from not having viable business models to making money hand over fist -- Google springs to mind -- but I have to ask whether Twitter is really focused on business plans. Scalability seems to be their number #1 concern at the moment, and for good reason. Long-term, even if there's no revenue in the mix, which buzzed-up startup wouldn't want to follow the common dream of getting bought out and letting someone else worry about pesky business plans? Several well-known Internet companies have bounced back from not having viable business models to making money hand over fist — Google springs to mind — but I have to ask whether Twitter is really focused on business plans. Scalability seems to be their number #1 concern at the moment, and for good reason.

Long-term, even if there’s no revenue in the mix, which buzzed-up startup wouldn’t want to follow the common dream of getting bought out and letting someone else worry about pesky business plans?

]]> By: Eric Rice http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563691 Eric Rice Mon, 05 May 2008 16:26:32 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563691 Twitter has never given us the opportunity to pay for it. Pownce and Flickr do. Many do. It would be amazing to see what happened if they a) added features (that we probably should have had years ago) and b) had a PRO option. Yeah yeah yeah people say 'oh I wouldn't pay for X' but in reality, the 'pay' button will have someone pushing it. And that's money earned point blank. But. That's not the case. Calling Fred Wilson. Calling Fred Wilson. Twitter has never given us the opportunity to pay for it. Pownce and Flickr do. Many do. It would be amazing to see what happened if they a) added features (that we probably should have had years ago) and b) had a PRO option.

Yeah yeah yeah people say ‘oh I wouldn’t pay for X’ but in reality, the ‘pay’ button will have someone pushing it. And that’s money earned point blank.

But. That’s not the case.

Calling Fred Wilson. Calling Fred Wilson.

]]> By: Allen Stern http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563651 Allen Stern Mon, 05 May 2008 16:16:11 +0000 http://profy.com/2008/05/05/lack-of-business-model-recovery/#comment-563651 good post cyndy - i've said all along twitter needed to come out of the gate with some biz model - now they are dealing with huge numbers of api apps and now people want it to be "generic" - i can't picture fred wilson will let it go :) good post cyndy - i’ve said all along twitter needed to come out of the gate with some biz model - now they are dealing with huge numbers of api apps and now people want it to be “generic” - i can’t picture fred wilson will let it go :)

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