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And that story about X was friends with Y, whose cousin knew someone who etc... I'm not impressed.
Basically, I find it hard to believe that someone would write that a 1,500 users site is positioned to knock MySpace out. How's that for unsubstantial hype? Please, call us up when the site has at least beaten its most direct competitors, then we can talk about the MySpaces of teh world.
Sorry for the negativity but buried as inaccurate.
You are right: I should have mentioned the other Spanish-language sites. However, the sites you mention focus on the social networking scene in Spain and Spanish Universities, with only minor coverage of Latin America. Vostu is notable because it is the first to direct its efforts entirely at the Latin world.
The grassroots level campaigns seems interesting too. Given my experience pitching to VCs, it would seem extremely hard for this company to raise $$ is they have an elaborate and expensive marketing model. We have companies like StumbleUpon, Flixster, Facebook that grew without extensive teams on the ground. That will be the Achilles heal for this company.
Disclaimer: I am an MBA from MIT Sloan. I have nothing against HBS folks or MBAs in general. Just amused that having MBAs in the team was a big factor in you writing this story! We are on the West Coast not east coast!!! Maybe you should talk about a couple of companies that MIT Sloan '06 students started.
1) Pixamo.com - a photo sharing site that is heavily used in MBA schools in the East Coast. In about 2 years the Sloan student reportedly has sold the company for $10 million
2) Visible Measures - another Sloan '06 has raised about $5million + in Series A from Boston based General Catalyst Partner. Customers include brightcove, adobe.
3) Pawspot - copy of dogster.com with a real differentiated model (building a social network based on the real need for pet sitting). They have good traction in NYC.
We, born and raised Latin Americans (Neal, thanks for the props but we are more proud of being Latins than Harvard MBAs), are having the times of our lives doing this, we see enthusiasm wherever we go in Latin America, and we are really grateful that this enthusiasm is reflected in the article.
The discussion shouldn't be "why is Vostu getting so much coverage," rather, it should be "how are sites in this sector (Spanish-language internet world) melding together new technologies in ways that create better, more helpful, tools for the Spanish speaking world."
Vostu's focus in Latin America is a great example for emerging internet companies that the Valley is not the only home to innovation (i am unaware where Vostu is based, but if they were based in Latin America that would be a great testament to growing tech in the Spanish speaking world).
Too much emphasis is placed on high-tech areas like California or the East Coast and the companies born there, when many of those companies lack an understanding for and interest in markets like Spain and South America.
Props to those that are thinking about, and building, great technology outside of the Bay Area.
Also we are building our new “community system”, not so much focusing on Universities (less than 10% of Latin Americans are going to the university). End of august 2007, everything will be online :)