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Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

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Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#42
post #3

Congrats to Sahil, I think a few of us have been watching this since day 1. His record speaks for itself. It's also good that Gumroad was essentially made possible by Stripe's very accessible API (as far as I know). I think I speak for all Europeans when I say hurry up and get Stripe over here.

I'm always interested/a little depressed when I see Europeans telling Stripe to hurry up and get there. I've seen this comment many times now but have never come across a European saying "Will someone hurry up and do a Stripe here in Europe!?" I think if folks in the US saw a great European service that - due to regulatory issues - just couldn't also be available here in the U.S. there wouldn't be a lot of sitting around and waiting and hoping......Or maybe I'm reading way too much into this.

Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is not an answer to this question...yet. I built Gumshow.com a few months ago half-way expecting to update and re-brand the site for whatever niche really takes off on Gumroad. However, I don't think that this has happened yet. While our team here is going to give Gumshow a face lift and $7mil makes me feel good that Gumroad is sure to stay in the game, I'm just not sure where the explosive growth is go…

> While our team here is going to give Gumshow a face lift and $7mil makes me feel good that Gumroad is sure to stay in the game, I'm just not sure where the explosive growth is going to come from I respect you alot, but shouldn't that be something you just don't simply say, especially after raising that kind of money? Further, are you saying "nobody at Gumroad knows", or rather "hey, I don't know I am just an engine…

ok sorry for confusion! I stand corrected!

Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#47

No disrespect to the founder, but it is a strange world where 19 year-olds raise 7 million in 4 days...

They raised a $1.1 million seed round for Gumroad in just four days, though obviously the service and the people have been around longer. Three months later, Gumroad is announcing a $7 million Series A investment.

Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#48

I would love to know what their assumptions are, as well as their vision for the product. I hate being publicly critical of other peoples' startups, but from everything I've read I've really seen nothing that convinces me this is a good idea.

Not a good idea in what way? It's a terrible idea that people shouldn't use or it's an idea that should be used but won't take off?

Basically I see it as a useful product for certain situations. But what I question is:

- How big is the market of people who A) have something they want to sell and B) have a pre-existing audience who would buy it in significant enough volume to move the needle for both themselves and gumroad?

- How often is this actually the best tool for the job as opposed to using sales tools that tie into external distribution channels?

Again I'm not saying they're wrong, but nothing in any of the articles that have been written so far convinces me that they're right either.

Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#49
post #3

Congrats to Sahil, I think a few of us have been watching this since day 1. His record speaks for itself. It's also good that Gumroad was essentially made possible by Stripe's very accessible API (as far as I know). I think I speak for all Europeans when I say hurry up and get Stripe over here.

I'm always interested/a little depressed when I see Europeans telling Stripe to hurry up and get there. I've seen this comment many times now but have never come across a European saying "Will someone hurry up and do a Stripe here in Europe!?" I think if folks in the US saw a great European service that - due to regulatory issues - just couldn't also be available here in the U.S. there wouldn't be a lot of sitting ar…

The Samwer brothers don't seem to like waiting, and see the hell that they are getting.

Re: Gumroad raises $7 million from KPCB

#50
post #33
post #29

It's a great idea, and i was actually working on something similar before. I've said it before, but what scares me to death is when folks start selling copyrighted material. There is nothing to protect against it and the whole things pretty much revolves around good user behavior.

You can fix that with a "report this" link.

But you wouldn't know what's in the file unless you buy it. So you can flag it after the copyright is infringed and the seller has money in his pocket.
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