WebSite Watch 2
Of this weeks internet startups, the following caught my attention as having potential or an already established success, in which case I summed interesting events. This commentary is meant to shed some light upon the ever-growing world of internet business as seen through my eyes and provide a porthole into the opportunities I predict will meet with success.
PayPerPost (www.payperpost.com) This Orlando-based startup connects advertisers with product-bloggers for hire. Ted Murphy, founder and CEO just collected $10 million in venture capitol despite very negative press. First harassed for not disclosing the link between eager advertisers and paid bloggers, and later called evil for Murphy’s exemplary capitalistic site, many web startups would kill for as much publicity. Blogs must be active for at least 90 days while advertisers choose whether the blog will be positive, negative, or neutral towards the product.
Geni (www.geni.com) Geni attempts to bring the social networking craze to the genealogy world. Geni boasts over five million profiles and promotes itself as the place to connect family. Users enter their e-mail address and being adding family members to their tree. Family can only view each others’ profiles by creating their own memberships. As far as I can tell, the only way to view trees is via e-mail. This site could easily triple its membership by adding this an application for other social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace.
Startup Schwag (www.startupschwag.com) Chicago based business is reminiscent of VallySchwag, an online company that gave subscribers a monthly package of startup stickers, t-shirts, cups, and other promotional items. For $15 a month plus shipping, members receive a monthly package – thus far only containing a “startup t-shirt of the month”. Though other items will likely follow, the original, ValleySchwag, failed because supply of these items could not meet the demand. Rather than hounding startups for their schwag, this startup will purchase the licensing rights and make their own product. Of this week’s sites, I believe this to be the most mercantile and thus the most risky. I don’t see profits being anything more than a small-to-midsize trickle.
SayNow (www.saynow.com) SayNow allows members to send online voice messages to celebrities and allows the celebrities to reply to those who have subscribed to their fan community. 250 musician groups are testing the service – so far with very positive feedback. Palo Alto based, SayNow has over 870,000 fans who no doubt helped secure $7.5 million in venture capitol they recently aquired.
Vino Match (www.vinomatch.com) Promoted as the site to help you to “Find the perfect wine for any occasion”, Vino Match helps users match food, occasions, navigate types, ratings, counties, and countries. Most wines can be bought on the site but for those that can’t, a wish list can be compiled. The site makes buying and matching wine easy even for the “Rossi sipper”. As wineries continue to change their marketing methods and Parker/pricing indices, the American public especially is becoming somewhat wine-crazed. If I had to guess at whether this fad will last or not I would say this: throughout the annals of religion, philosophy, and history, wine has remained timeless.
