I am impressed by the amount of press coverage Mark got :)
He deserved it because its difficult to generate that many page views in such a short span of time. Plus its a great app!
Threewords.me is up for private auction
71–80 of 85 posts
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
The whole "ideas are worth nothing" never made a lot of sense.
I never got the hacker obsession with idea vs execution. It seems fairly obvious to me that you need both to succeed?
Most of us have plenty of ideas and not enough time to execute most of them. So we're more impressed when someone shows us something cool that's actually usable rather than another article about how someone had a vague idea for a cool thing that's supposed to become practical in another 10 years, but which we doubt will ever actually get produced.
In short, it's a lot easier to come up with an idea when you don't have to actually do the work to make it feasible. See also: "I have an idea, I just need a programmer or two."
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#73How can you sell something with no terms and conditions mentioned that he is selling, "Sale includes data, domain, brand." And then continue to say, "We promise we won't spam" on the signup page? How does that work then?
Well, I take it that /he's/ promising not to spam. The same that I can promise that no crimes will happen in my home- it's only as good as long as it's _my_ home, not someone else's, and I can reasonably manage things. Even with a friendly-reading T&C he'd be free to break it any time, as would any future purchaser. I'm not a laywer but I'd believe T&Cs exist more to protect a site than its users, presenting the gene…
Pre-existing contracts may be binding on someone who purchases a business. So the buyer of a web site might be bound by the TOS. Thus, a promise to customers could survive the company changing hands. (I can't speak to the particulars of this case, though.)
The flip side is that TOSs typically have some provision for amendment. Such provisions might be invoked by a company's new management. However, the management has to be careful even then, because of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_form_contract
Again, I'm not suggesting that any of this would necessarily apply to threewords.me. This is just my understanding of how it works in general.
BTW, I couldn't find a link to the TOS for threewords.me.
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#74If anyone ever questions the value of the idea versus the value of execution, use this as a cuationary tale. Here's my post outlining this very idea from 2 years ago: http://www.manyniches.com/n00b-notes/my3words/ 2 years. I even registered the domain my3words.com. What did I do with it? Not much. I have no idea if Mark saw my post or not. I kind of hope he did, so that I can feel a little better about not executing.…
There are two kinds of execution:
1) building a prototype (which, knowing Mark, I'd say took him at most 2 days)
and
2) sticking with it for several years and making it profitable, through the thick and thin, the emotional roller coaster, and all that.
It took me a year to complete stage (1) and I'm still on stage (2), three years later.
My web app (a casual MMO game) had the same wave of organic growth in the beginning that Mark's had, was mentioned on top blogs in the game industry, played by news anchors on live local TV news half a country away, etc., (this list goes on and on). Yet my site never got drooled over on Hacker News or Tech Crunch (possibly because I never submitted it to either), and I never had all these people telling me how great I am, how awesome my idea was, and sounding so sure that it will make me rich.
My site has 10x more users than threewords.me, been cloned by many developers in various countries around the globe, and still retains the top spot among those competitors. In fact, it seems that I actually invented a new genre of games with my idea (how many people get to say they invented Tetris, FPS, RTS, RPG, or MMO?)
All this, and yet I'm still barely making more from the site than I could be making from working at McDonald's. Yet I persist. It's been my full-time job for the past 3 years (the web app, not McDonalds :)), ever since I parted ways with my well-salaried software engineering job.
If anyone is tempted to call me stupid or lazy for not making millions from my idea, I'll be the first to admit that maybe I am. I didn't do any marketing or emailing Arrington, or any of the like. Instead I've been focused on building what my users want, developing features, fighting fires, and talking to users (many of whom constantly criticize me for not pushing out new feature fast enough).
Not a single real user ever said to me "Wow, this will make you rich," it's always more like "Wow, I LOVE your game! Please add features X, Y, and Z. They are super important! Hope to see X, Y, and Z working soon!"
Therefore, I sometimes think the startup community needs a dose of sanity. Not every tiny app is going to make millions. The web economy seems like a gold rush for many. If threewords.me makes any real money from this sale, it will be due to the exposure it's received to people participating in that gold rush.
In conclusion, I'd like to say that my comments are not intended just for criticism. If any of you think you know how you could make tons of money from threewords.me or from a casual MMO game (that doesn't have any virtual goods to sell), then I hope you can tell us how you would do it, rather than making assumptions that somehow anyone can get rich by building a free app and getting several hundred thousand people to sign up for it.
(P.S. Mark, I think you're a great guy and your app is very nice, so please don't take my comments the wrong way - I'm just trying to add some perspective to this discussion.)
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#75If I was a digital agency/consultancy, I'd snap this up. I think it would be fairly easy to fork and customize for big brands that want to do Facebook promotions, reviews, focus groups, etc. "Tell us your 3 favorite items at Applebee's ..." "Thanks for trying the new filet mignon chalupa at Taco Bell. Describe it in 3 words ... " "What 3 things are most important when choosing your next car? ..." (I'm sure someone mo…
Good ideas. Some brands and celebrities have a threewords.me with cool results, like Smashing Magazine: http://threewords.me/smashingmag Also celebrities (thanks to @Mazy) like Young Money's Lil Twist - http://threewords.me/liltwist I also did a test for using sentiment analysis as a monetization point, using the Amazon Kindle (question was, "What do you think of the Amazon Kindle?") which was displayed on top of the…
I only see spams from most of the msg. I think you are doing a right thing trying to capitalize while the hype is there. Based on alexa, it is dying out already.
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#76If anyone ever questions the value of the idea versus the value of execution, use this as a cuationary tale. Here's my post outlining this very idea from 2 years ago: http://www.manyniches.com/n00b-notes/my3words/ 2 years. I even registered the domain my3words.com. What did I do with it? Not much. I have no idea if Mark saw my post or not. I kind of hope he did, so that I can feel a little better about not executing.…
There are two kinds of execution: 1) building a prototype (which, knowing Mark, I'd say took him at most 2 days) and 2) sticking with it for several years and making it profitable, through the thick and thin, the emotional roller coaster, and all that. It took me a year to complete stage (1) and I'm still on stage (2), three years later. My web app (a casual MMO game) had the same wave of organic growth in the beginn…
you can't tell us all that and not show us the game!
what is it?? and how is it not earning a livable wage with 2 million users?
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#77Making the bids public would definitely be a good idea (one person bids x, person 2 bids x+500, etc).
No, it would not be a good idea at all. Let's just for a second pretend that I'd be an interested party (I won't be bidding). I would assume that most of the people bidding are not 'players', I'd assume that they would just try to get it for a song and a bit, the equivalent of buying Manhattan from the Indians because they're not aware of what it's worth. Mark is a smart guy so he won't be going for that. The second…
Couldn't he use anchoring (e-bay style) with a minimum price?
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#78If anyone ever questions the value of the idea versus the value of execution, use this as a cuationary tale. Here's my post outlining this very idea from 2 years ago: http://www.manyniches.com/n00b-notes/my3words/ 2 years. I even registered the domain my3words.com. What did I do with it? Not much. I have no idea if Mark saw my post or not. I kind of hope he did, so that I can feel a little better about not executing.…
Agreed. I picked up twentytwelve.net a couple of years ago (I was surprised to find it completely unregistered at the time) and have several ideas for making a bit of side-money out of it - but having ideas and making plans is worth nothing if you don't find the time and enthusiasm to actually implement something and support it afterwards.
Maybe at some point this year I'll pull my finger out and find time to do something meaningful with it, before the window of relevance runs out...
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are two kinds of execution: 1) building a prototype (which, knowing Mark, I'd say took him at most 2 days) and 2) sticking with it for several years and making it profitable, through the thick and thin, the emotional roller coaster, and all that. It took me a year to complete stage (1) and I'm still on stage (2), three years later. My web app (a casual MMO game) had the same wave of organic growth in the beginn…
you can't tell us all that and not show us the game! what is it?? and how is it not earning a livable wage with 2 million users?
I prefer to stay anonymous on here, but I can be reached by this same username on Gmail if anyone wants to know more.
I'll just say that it's a very simple skill-based, text-based multiplayer race-against-others game (something like a multiplayer speed Scrabble). It has almost no graphics and uses AJAX.
how is it not earning a livable wage with 2 million users?
It's livable if you have very low expenses, but in my limited experience, 2 million users just aren't enough for a free website to make good money. Maybe I'm hugely under-monetizing the site somehow, but I don't really see a good source of revenue other than from ads.
Re: Threewords.me is up for private auction
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
you can't tell us all that and not show us the game! what is it?? and how is it not earning a livable wage with 2 million users?
I prefer to stay anonymous on here, but I can be reached by this same username on Gmail if anyone wants to know more. I'll just say that it's a very simple skill-based, text-based multiplayer race-against-others game (something like a multiplayer speed Scrabble). It has almost no graphics and uses AJAX. how is it not earning a livable wage with 2 million users? It's livable if you have very low expenses, but in my li…
A cursory Google search would seem to imply it begins with a "T"? You might wish to reconsider the depth of your anonymity.