just realized this was originally posted 10 years ago...
Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
131–140 of 184 posts
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#132My take (just the first five): 1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom. Spotify & Apple Music. Pay $10/mo for unlimited access to most music. Took the wind out of music piracy. (TV & film are undergoing a similar transition to subscription models, more slowly.) 2. Simplified browsing...Grandparents and small children don't want the full web... Apps. Remember this list is from just one year after the…
> Spotify & Apple Music. Pay $10/mo for unlimited access to most music. Took the wind out of music piracy.
Did artists make more money as a result?
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet from a business perspective, Twitter is doing terribly. The news platforms we seem to gravitate to don't end up being profitable.
Fundamentally, we refuse to pay for content. As long as we continue to do so, they won't be profitable. The issue is that we also complain about the dumbing down of online info, and decry the lack of quality content. The advertising model does not work for valuable content creation. Period. Until someone figures out what its replacement is, news (and all non mass-produced content) will continue to slowly die online.
Do you happen to know what Quartz's business model is (qz.com)? They seem to have no subscription model to pay for even if you want to, nor do they seem to serve ads (as far as I've noticed, but maybe they serve a few), and yet they seem to have decent quality content.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#134Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 3. New news. NY Times topped $1 billion in subscription revenue last year. Quite a feat and definitely an indication that money is to be made in digital news. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/08/business/new-york-times-c...
Impressive but digital only subs were $340mm.
That only counts digital-only subscribers (people like my parents still get the Sunday paper with their digital subscription) and if you add in digital advertising, their online-only business is nearly $600M. That's pretty substantial.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#135Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet from a business perspective, Twitter is doing terribly. The news platforms we seem to gravitate to don't end up being profitable.
Twitter is profitable with revenues of $732M. What’s your definition of a business failure?
Twitter has wracked up 2.5B in losses over like 11 years. Only now have they turned a profit. That is a failure in the time frame of its existence. http://time.com/4241716/twitter-losses-twtr/
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#136Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fundamentally, we refuse to pay for content. As long as we continue to do so, they won't be profitable. The issue is that we also complain about the dumbing down of online info, and decry the lack of quality content. The advertising model does not work for valuable content creation. Period. Until someone figures out what its replacement is, news (and all non mass-produced content) will continue to slowly die online.
Do you happen to know what Quartz's business model is (qz.com)? They seem to have no subscription model to pay for even if you want to, nor do they seem to serve ads (as far as I've noticed, but maybe they serve a few), and yet they seem to have decent quality content.
They are a subsidiary of Atlantic Media Group that are explicitly advertised as no pay walls, no registration, and no app downloads:
https://www.atlanticmedia.com/brands/quartz/
Atlantic Media is owned by David Bradley and Laurene Powell Jobs invested in The Atlantic recently (but I think all of the subsidiaries are still owned solely by Bradley).
Before he was in media, he founded and sold a few advisory companies that went public, where he made a few hundred million dollars. So I guess Quartz's business model is live off the largesse of very wealthy benefactors?
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#137Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you happen to know what Quartz's business model is (qz.com)? They seem to have no subscription model to pay for even if you want to, nor do they seem to serve ads (as far as I've noticed, but maybe they serve a few), and yet they seem to have decent quality content.
They are a subsidiary of Atlantic Media Group that are explicitly advertised as no pay walls, no registration, and no app downloads: https://www.atlanticmedia.com/brands/quartz/ Atlantic Media is owned by David Bradley and Laurene Powell Jobs invested in The Atlantic recently (but I think all of the subsidiaries are still owned solely by Bradley). Before he was in media, he founded and sold a few advisory companies t…
Oh wow, thank you! It very much did remind me of The Atlantic -- makes sense now!
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#138I would love it if someone tackled the auctions market better. Ebay continues to focus more on being a marketplace, and promoting buy it nows. A real auction house should extend the time limit as long as people are putting in bids.
I'm amazed auctions have not taken over live show tickets. Scalpers skim off millions of dollars every year that events/middleman startup could capture themselves if only someone designed a proper live show ticket auction.
The artists don't want this. They want fans long-term, and for the fans to not feel excluded because of monetary reasons. They believe that keeping the tickets at a below-market rate achieves this. Whether this strategy has the effect they desire I have no idea.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#139Earlier quoted context omitted.
Twitter is profitable with revenues of $732M. What’s your definition of a business failure?
Twitter has wracked up 2.5B in losses over like 11 years. Only now have they turned a profit. That is a failure in the time frame of its existence. http://time.com/4241716/twitter-losses-twtr/
Twitter is almost certainly worth more today than their historical losses, making them a success.
Re: Startup Ideas We'd Like to Fund (2008)
#140My take (just the first five): 1. A cure for the disease of which the RIAA is a symptom. Spotify & Apple Music. Pay $10/mo for unlimited access to most music. Took the wind out of music piracy. (TV & film are undergoing a similar transition to subscription models, more slowly.) 2. Simplified browsing...Grandparents and small children don't want the full web... Apps. Remember this list is from just one year after the…
> 3. New news I think this is where blockchain tech will prosper. Integrated wallet in you browser and nano payments to purchase access to articles. I don't want to subscribe to FT or New York Times, because I only read one or two articles per week. But I would happily pay 50c per article to get a few days access
This a-la-carte model is quite dangerous, because there's a difference between readers' willingness to spend money, and both the amount of work and the importance for society an article has.
These sorts of decision are currently in the hands of editors who, despite all the growling, are still inclined to allow vast, expensive, investigative goose-chases.
If you introduce per-article payments, it becomes just too easy for the business department to explicitly see which articles bring in more than they cost. But you want the cross-subsidies that are necessary for a well-rounded publication.