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A Plan For Startup "Spam"

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: A Plan For Startup "Spam"

#2

Post by master54 »

We all know that most successful startups got started by "spamming". Not everyone is a Google. For eg. Facebook spammed the Harvard mailing list. Youtube spammed Craiglist for hot girls to post on their site. Tagged got big fast by "spamming" too. See http://www.istokpavlovic.com/blog/?p=5

I'm sure many of plaxo's competitors would love to be in their shoes when everyone start cursing them. At least it's better than being ignored.

Now, given a choice, for your startup, would you spam? If yes, how do you handle the backlash? Ignore it?

As for myself, I think it is best to "spam". If I spam, i can grow more than twice as fast at the expense of the fury of maybe 10% of those spammed. But when those angry people started cursing you, you start to doubt whether what you do is right. But if you don't spam, there is a likelihood that you don't get the critical mass fast enough to fend off a future challenger.

Re: A Plan For Startup "Spam"

#3

Post by jey »

master54 wrote: post #2

We all know that most successful startups got started by "spamming". Not everyone is a Google. For eg. Facebook spammed the Harvard mailing list. Youtube spammed Craiglist for hot girls to post on their site. Tagged got big fast by "spamming" too. See http://www.istokpavlovic.com/blog/?p=5 I'm sure many of plaxo's competitors would love to be in their shoes when everyone start cursing them. At least it's better than…

I think "spam" in the sense of "creative advertising" like posting on Craigslist, posting to at least quasi-relevant mailing lists, etc is fine. Spam in the sense of unsolicited email and posting to unrelated sites (e.g. teenwag on news.yc) is absolutely evil and not OK. There's a fine line between evil spam and creative advertising, but as Justice Potter Stewart said in Miller v. California: "I know it when I see it".

Re: A Plan For Startup "Spam"

#4

Post by NickDouglas »

master54 wrote: post #2

We all know that most successful startups got started by "spamming". Not everyone is a Google. For eg. Facebook spammed the Harvard mailing list. Youtube spammed Craiglist for hot girls to post on their site. Tagged got big fast by "spamming" too. See http://www.istokpavlovic.com/blog/?p=5 I'm sure many of plaxo's competitors would love to be in their shoes when everyone start cursing them. At least it's better than…

Whoa, Youtube did what? Link me to that story!

Re: A Plan For Startup "Spam"

#6

Post by smaliker »

master54 wrote: post #2

We all know that most successful startups got started by "spamming". Not everyone is a Google. For eg. Facebook spammed the Harvard mailing list. Youtube spammed Craiglist for hot girls to post on their site. Tagged got big fast by "spamming" too. See http://www.istokpavlovic.com/blog/?p=5 I'm sure many of plaxo's competitors would love to be in their shoes when everyone start cursing them. At least it's better than…

Teenwag is hyper sucessful, do take a look at Alexa graphs and the millions being invested in it

Re: A Plan For Startup "Spam"

#8

Post by srodo »

master54 wrote: post #2

We all know that most successful startups got started by "spamming". Not everyone is a Google. For eg. Facebook spammed the Harvard mailing list. Youtube spammed Craiglist for hot girls to post on their site. Tagged got big fast by "spamming" too. See http://www.istokpavlovic.com/blog/?p=5 I'm sure many of plaxo's competitors would love to be in their shoes when everyone start cursing them. At least it's better than…

Teenwag might be one of the most successful companies ever formed and grown in the shortest period of time by the youngest kids
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