Comments on: $1.2 million for … this? http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/ Soapboxing every damn day Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:02:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Konrad Roeder http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-10681 Konrad Roeder Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:06:56 +0000 http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/#comment-10681 A CEO and 12 engineers. That's a real healthy burn rate. How big is the widget market? I've seen hundreds of companies that are in the widget business. Certainly myspace is supported by thousands of widget and blingie companies. Unlike music that wears out due to people's tastes, once a widget is made and works well, it's pretty much around for a while, just change the skin to make it look new. As Yahoo and John Aquino have already figure out, some widgets are more popular than others. To have a unique web page, you need new ones. But they are becoming more and more risky to invent due to the law of diminishing returns. The risk is in developing the widgets. If they don't sell, there is no return. I would let moonlighters make the widgets. However, the aggregator has a good variety can gain repeat web designers use them. It would seem to me that the money would be in aggregating widgets in a widget store and not in creating them. Yahoo has bought that spot with big bucks. I would think the power of the long tail lies in having the largest collection of reliable, bug-free, versatile and inexpensive to operate widgets. The bigger the collection, the bigger the overall revenue stream. It really does not cost a lot of money for a server farm of widgets. Now back to the number of employees question. Why does wikipedia and craigslist have only twice as many employees as you do? Maybe the way to compete against Yahoo is with a self-service widget store with ranking and test results, user feedback... A CEO and 12 engineers. That’s a real healthy burn rate.

How big is the widget market? I’ve seen hundreds of companies that are in the widget business. Certainly myspace is supported by thousands of widget and blingie companies. Unlike music that wears out due to people’s tastes, once a widget is made and works well, it’s pretty much around for a while, just change the skin to make it look new. As Yahoo and John Aquino have already figure out, some widgets are more popular than others. To have a unique web page, you need new ones. But they are becoming more and more risky to invent due to the law of diminishing returns. The risk is in developing the widgets. If they don’t sell, there is no return. I would let moonlighters make the widgets.

However, the aggregator has a good variety can gain repeat web designers use them. It would seem to me that the money would be in aggregating widgets in a widget store and not in creating them. Yahoo has bought that spot with big bucks. I would think the power of the long tail lies in having the largest collection of reliable, bug-free, versatile and inexpensive to operate widgets. The bigger the collection, the bigger the overall revenue stream. It really does not cost a lot of money for a server farm of widgets.

Now back to the number of employees question. Why does wikipedia and craigslist have only twice as many employees as you do? Maybe the way to compete against Yahoo is with a self-service widget store with ranking and test results, user feedback…

]]> By: Ahmed http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-10289 Ahmed Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:34:54 +0000 http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/#comment-10289 @idontgetit - funding something silly isn't about relativism - it is about objectivity. Doesn't matter if Ning or KickApps are ridiculous ideas, it doesn't make JS-kit and more (or less) questionable. @idontgetit – funding something silly isn’t about relativism – it is about objectivity. Doesn’t matter if Ning or KickApps are ridiculous ideas, it doesn’t make JS-kit and more (or less) questionable.

]]> By: idontgetit http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-10214 idontgetit Wed, 15 Aug 2007 07:16:49 +0000 http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/#comment-10214 This shouldn't be that complicated to understand. KickApps and Ning have received significant financing to enable web 2.0 features on 3rd party websites. Ning recently raised some $40M dollars to power social networks. In the case of this company, clearly they're targeting more basic features but some which are still central to the web 2.0 phenomenon such as ratings. Given that family tree websites have gone out for $100M pre-money and an ice cream vending machine co. commanded a $75M valuation, this is nothing to get too worked up about. This shouldn’t be that complicated to understand. KickApps and Ning have received significant financing to enable web 2.0 features on 3rd party websites. Ning recently raised some $40M dollars to power social networks. In the case of this company, clearly they’re targeting more basic features but some which are still central to the web 2.0 phenomenon such as ratings.

Given that family tree websites have gone out for $100M pre-money and an ice cream vending machine co. commanded a $75M valuation, this is nothing to get too worked up about.

]]> By: Ahmed http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-9839 Ahmed Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:38:41 +0000 http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/#comment-9839 Khris - yes it is true I don't know about your roadmap. But I read TC talking about advertising in widgets or charging per month - which is what I based my talk about the revenue. It explicitly states this on your demo page: "JS-Kit's Ratings service is completely free and does not contain advertising." - the move to advertising won't be free. iBegin Weather is getting 650ish sites a month after < 3 months, and without any mention on sites like TechCrunch. And at the same time, it is *not* a money maker. It doesn't make any money, and it was never intended to make any money. Inserting advertising into our widget would kill its popularity overnight. Trying to charge for it? Never going to happen. Yes JS-Kit is empowering publishers, as is Blog Flux and iBegin. But we don't have 12 engineers nor $1.2 million to do that (and survive) :) Khris – yes it is true I don’t know about your roadmap. But I read TC talking about advertising in widgets or charging per month – which is what I based my talk about the revenue.

It explicitly states this on your demo page: “JS-Kit’s Ratings service is completely free and does not contain advertising.” – the move to advertising won’t be free.

iBegin Weather is getting 650ish sites a month after < 3 months, and without any mention on sites like TechCrunch. And at the same time, it is *not* a money maker. It doesn’t make any money, and it was never intended to make any money. Inserting advertising into our widget would kill its popularity overnight. Trying to charge for it? Never going to happen.

Yes JS-Kit is empowering publishers, as is Blog Flux and iBegin. But we don’t have 12 engineers nor $1.2 million to do that (and survive) :)

]]> By: Khris http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/comment-page-1/#comment-9836 Khris Wed, 08 Aug 2007 18:29:24 +0000 http://www.techsoapbox.com/12-million-for-this/#comment-9836 Hello, Thank you for your interest in discussing JS-Kit! In my opinion, your post is incomplete. Given that you have not spoken to JS-Kit you are unfamiliar with our product road map and long term revenue model. As such your cannot accurately conclude how many engineers we might need or how we will monetize our efforts over the long term. On our adoption, you hold iBegin Weather as an example. Using your numbers they are growing at ~650 sites a month vs our 1,000. It would seem that we compare favorably. Lastly, the real story here is that JS-Kit is empowering publishers with the features they need to compete against the "big box" sites. Our services are easy to use, work great, and are affordable. Keep an eye on us -- there is a lot more to come! Be Well, Khris Loux, CEO JS-Kit khris at js-kit.com Hello,

Thank you for your interest in discussing JS-Kit!

In my opinion, your post is incomplete.

Given that you have not spoken to JS-Kit you are unfamiliar with our product road map and long term revenue model. As such your cannot accurately conclude how many engineers we might need or how we will monetize our efforts over the long term.

On our adoption, you hold iBegin Weather as an example. Using your numbers they are growing at ~650 sites a month vs our 1,000. It would seem that we compare favorably.

Lastly, the real story here is that JS-Kit is empowering publishers with the features they need to compete against the “big box” sites. Our services are easy to use, work great, and are affordable. Keep an eye on us — there is a lot more to come!

Be Well,

Khris Loux, CEO
JS-Kit

khris at js-kit.com

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