Seems as though the author got scared and gave up.
And rightly so.
How Google killed my startup
11–20 of 64 posts
Re: How Google killed my startup
#12Their description of the business model is to be gamefaqs.com, only with videos instead of text. As an avid gamer, that sounds: - very niche, their intended content would only be a small fraction of what yt gaming will offer (it focuses on live streams) - very unattractive, since learning how to play the game by exploring it is the fun of it - very unmonetizable, given that people can get the very same content, for f…
Exactly what I thought. Except they mentioned they did make over $1 million.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#13Their description of the business model is to be gamefaqs.com, only with videos instead of text. As an avid gamer, that sounds: - very niche, their intended content would only be a small fraction of what yt gaming will offer (it focuses on live streams) - very unattractive, since learning how to play the game by exploring it is the fun of it - very unmonetizable, given that people can get the very same content, for f…
> very niche. Yes, but I don't think that means it's doomed. Every site doesn't have to be youtube or twitch.
> very unattractive. Your complaint is extremely subjective and evidently false for tons of people considering the brisk business game guide companies have done for decades and that streamers do on twitch and youtube today.
> very monetizeable. Yes.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#14TL;DR playing video games is easier than starting a real company so let's do that instead.
His analogy of participating in a "boss fight" is flawed since it sounds more like they just turned off the game system as soon as a hint of the boss monster's first tentacle even appeared on the screen.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#15Their description of the business model is to be gamefaqs.com, only with videos instead of text. As an avid gamer, that sounds: - very niche, their intended content would only be a small fraction of what yt gaming will offer (it focuses on live streams) - very unattractive, since learning how to play the game by exploring it is the fun of it - very unmonetizable, given that people can get the very same content, for f…
Exactly what I thought. Except they mentioned they did make over $1 million.
Not quite:
"Our forecasts had us profitable as of summer, 2016, and closing our second year with nearly $1.2-million in revenue."
Those were forecasts, not actual revenue.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#16Their description of the business model is to be gamefaqs.com, only with videos instead of text. As an avid gamer, that sounds: - very niche, their intended content would only be a small fraction of what yt gaming will offer (it focuses on live streams) - very unattractive, since learning how to play the game by exploring it is the fun of it - very unmonetizable, given that people can get the very same content, for f…
> very niche. Yes, but I don't think that means it's doomed. Every site doesn't have to be youtube or twitch. > very unattractive. Your complaint is extremely subjective and evidently false for tons of people considering the brisk business game guide companies have done for decades and that streamers do on twitch and youtube today. > very monetizeable. Yes.
> Your complaint is extremely subjective and evidently false for tons of people
Possibly, but please consider this: Game guides and gamefaqs.com contain reference works wherein one can go and look up details when one is stuck. One doesn't usually read the whole thing to learn how to play the game in the most efficient way (unless it's competitive or has complexity on the level of a programming language, like Minecraft).
> streamers do on twitch and youtube today
I'm unaware of twitch streamers or youtubers who primarily teach how to play a game. Can you point out examples of those? I'm really curious.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#17>After all, one solid axiom of business: It’s hard for your better, paid service to compete against a “good-enough” free offering.
Hopefully for the sake of FastMail, Rackspace, et al, Google never tries their hand at email...
Re: How Google killed my startup
#18Ah, yes, the "our safety margin wasn't as secure as we thought it was" situation.
Re: How Google killed my startup
#19TL;DR playing video games is easier than starting a real company so let's do that instead. His analogy of participating in a "boss fight" is flawed since it sounds more like they just turned off the game system as soon as a hint of the boss monster's first tentacle even appeared on the screen.
Easier said than done with skin in the game. What would be their options facing that "Boss Fight"?
Re: How Google killed my startup
#20GameFAQS.com has been around since the 90s. They housed both user-submitted and commercial guides/tips/cheats/etc, and free.
Now, this guy has a great principle on the tech giants being a threat for a competitive, efficient economy, but I'm just not with him on this one. His only marketable niche would be to get the top paid gaming professionals (like the Dota 2 team that won $6million this month), and provide a market place for the top talent to coach, but he didn't see that, and it's a very small niche to begin with.