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Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

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Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#61

Post by unohoo »

alex_c wrote: post #51
unohoo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Give the Sequoia guys the benefit of doubt. They probably have seen something more (related to the product) that the rest of us havent or might be privy to other features in the pipeline. Obviously, they're a bunch of smart people who have backed some of the biggest companies in the tech landscape. In short, dont be so hasty to judge.

I've been hearing that about Twitter for years now, and I'm still waiting.

While I am no longer active on Twitter, I cant deny the fact that Twitter has become a massive distribution channel for content,links etc. There are two other such online distribution channels -- Google and Facebook. And they make lot,lot of money.

Twitter might still not have a viable business model, but they can experiment (now that they have a huge user base and data) and try to find one. While its not easy and obvious at times to find a viable business model, just reaching the sheer distribution scale as Twitter's is a huge hurdle in itself that very few incumbents will ever reach.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#62

Post by trickjarrett »

rayboyd wrote: post #8
trickjarrett wrote: post #7

I don't get it. I just don't understand what is so big about this.

Hype. If they say it's big it must be so. $41mm funding announcement and the fanfare with it, they need a lot of early traction fast. And it seems this is how they are going about it.

But this is ludicrous even for a hype machine. "Not since Google" is absurd for a social photo and video app.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#63

Post by matthew-wegner »

biot wrote: post #4
andrewpbrett wrote: post #3

"Will $25 million help you get five years into one?" Can 9 women produce a baby in one month?

Because, like pregnancy, businesses can't scale with more people? I'm as skeptical as anyone about this insane valuation, but I don't see your analogy applying here.

I think the aspects of a business that don't scale are how user behavior evolves over time. It takes awhile for groups of people to try new things and figure out all the different/awesome ways to use something (Twitter and @replies, RTs, etc are one clear example).

There is some limiting rate for iteration...

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#64

Post by itswindy »

What nonsense, people have run out of ideas so VCs are desperately hoping someone else makes it. From their site: "Simultaneously use multiple iPhones and Androids to capture photos, videos, and conversations into a group album."

How revolutionary is this? Meh.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#65

Post by ctdonath »

djjose wrote: post #50

Am I the only one who's first thought that came to mind when reading up on Color was the Sonar SuperComputer App in Batman: The Dark Knight? I don't mean this to be silly but the concept seems very similar in terms of data and perspective joined with location. If it reaches any type of criticality they'd have an absurd amount of visual data around location and time. That could've piqued Sequoia's interest.

Seems there are several of us thinking along these lines.

My version: "Color" + "PhotoSynth" = "OMG-level 3D world modeling"

Hype a critical mass of interest, throw a lot of CPU cycles at the data, port the results to Google Earth ... yow.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#66

Post by itswindy »

dave1619 wrote: post #24

Sequoia is not going to give $25 million away without good reason. It's just that folks like us can't see the good reason. Either the "good reason" is being hid from us for strategic reasons or Sequoia made a big mistake and the app/company is a dud.

Webvan, eToys, Pets.com and a gazillion million other sites got funded. But if Groupon is 'worth' $25 Billion

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#67

Post by alex_c »

unohoo wrote: post #61
alex_c wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hearing that about Twitter for years now, and I'm still waiting.

While I am no longer active on Twitter, I cant deny the fact that Twitter has become a massive distribution channel for content,links etc. There are two other such online distribution channels -- Google and Facebook. And they make lot,lot of money. Twitter might still not have a viable business model, but they can experiment (now that they have a huge user base and data) and try to find one. While its not easy and ob…

I'm not arguing that - Twitter has grown much more than I expected. I was referring to the "I'm sure they know things us mere mortals are not privy to" argument.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#68

Post by nutjob123 »

bradleyland wrote: post #14

"Not since Google have we seen this" I'm sorry, but this is the biggest line of bullshit I've seen in a while. Here's the thing: no one saw Google early on. Google happened, more or less, organically. They implemented a better algorithm and gained a lot of users by providing better results. Color appears to be Instagram + location awareness. Awesome. I can't wait to use it, but to call it "Google" is just ridiculous.…

I believe that the interest from these investors does not lie in the consumer facing functionality of sharing photos but the ability to target locations and inject relevant advertisements into this stream of photographs. The large amount of user centric information which this app is collecting is very attractive to market research groups which pay a lot of money. These are two revenue streams heavily utilized by google and facebook.

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#69

Post by natnat »

edge17 wrote: post #60
alex_c wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been hearing that about Twitter for years now, and I'm still waiting.

twitter is internet plumbing. it doesn't matter if it makes money, it drives ridiculous amounts of ancillary commerce. There's plenty of people that are willing to pay money to keep it alive because it serves their business. Infrastructure tends to be money losing businesses when they start; think youtube and more recently, facebook.

Most physical infrastructure is insanely costly to create in the first place. If a utility charges too much money for your liking and you don't have a couple billion to compete with them, tough shit.

The infrastructure of Facebook and YouTube and Twitter could be replicated by a small team of smart developers in a matter of months, probably costing only a few million dollars. The only thing they have going for them is network effects, which are less powerful than we think when there is a viable competitor (e.g. MySpace being overtaken by Facebook).

Re: Sequoia To Color Labs: Not Since Google Have We Seen This

#70

Post by cyrus_ »

evanw wrote: post #31

Am I the only person who thinks this could end badly simply because GPS is so spotty indoors?

Came here to say that. The iPhone seemed to be okay at using AGPS indoors but my Droid X fails miserably if I'm not outside. Good luck figuring out where I am, Color.
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