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7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

blog.socialmedian.com

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Re: 7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

#11

Post by briancooley »

socialmedian wrote: post #10
briancooley wrote: post #4

Wow. $40K/month burn? 11 developers? That's a tight budget?

with 12 people $40k/month total burn is like paying each person around $30k/year annual salary when you factor in other expenses like equipment, telecom, travel, etc. So yeah, that's pretty tight.

It's not the $40K that's surprising, it's the 11 developers. I'd have guessed 3-4 (and consequently a lot lower burn).

Burning over a quarter of a million in 7 months on a web app sounds like a lot these days, but I'm not out there doing it, so what do I know.

Re: 7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

#12

Post by michael_dorfman »

socialmedian wrote: post #9
michael_dorfman wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same thing-- the article made me feel a bit guilty for not liking SocialMedian when I alpha-tested it.

@Michael -- give it another whirl. We've gone a lot past the initial alpha features. Our repeat usage is very high right now -- about 30% of users returning daily.

I'll do that.

Re: 7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

#13

Post by davidw »

lacker wrote: post #5
augustus wrote: post #2

I love his execution advice and I have bookmarked it. The only problem is the site is no different than digg.

There certainly are a lot of digg clones nowadays. I wonder if it will be like search where everyone thinks it's a crowded market for a solved problem and then someone with an actually intelligent algorithm comes along and mops up.

I think it's more than an algorithm problem: initially with a site like that, it's all about getting more people, because without them, the site is worth nothing. Then, all of a sudden, poof, you succeed, but you get a bunch of flaming morons, and the quality goes down the tubes. Maybe you're in a position to make some money, but I wouldn't consider something like reddit or digg an unqualified 'success' in terms of making the world a better place.

Re: 7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

#14

Post by dmix »

socialmedian wrote: post #3

@augustus -- I encourage you to "dig" a little deeper. socialmedian = social news meets the social graph. Very different from Digg, although our roots are from their foundation. What we're trying to do here is personalized news at the topical level -- more about "me" informed by "we" vs. just a popularity contest. Poke around and would love your feedback.

If anyone outside of the tech world came to your site they would have no idea what it is.

Social news network is meaningless to a surprising amount of people, which will probably make it very hard to market.

Also, the constant user registration pop-ups kills your sites usability, and I consider myself an early adopter.

Re: 7 Months Into My 2nd Stint as a Startup CEO

#16

Post by socialmedian »

dmix wrote: post #14
socialmedian wrote: post #3

@augustus -- I encourage you to "dig" a little deeper. socialmedian = social news meets the social graph. Very different from Digg, although our roots are from their foundation. What we're trying to do here is personalized news at the topical level -- more about "me" informed by "we" vs. just a popularity contest. Poke around and would love your feedback.

If anyone outside of the tech world came to your site they would have no idea what it is. Social news network is meaningless to a surprising amount of people, which will probably make it very hard to market. Also, the constant user registration pop-ups kills your sites usability, and I consider myself an early adopter.

Agree on all fronts. Right now it is an early adopter product with crappy registration requirements. And that's the founder writing this.
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