DISQUS

Jenny · 4 months ago

Hey Anthony,

You lazy little wannabee journalist. Why did you even bother with this article? You should have just published the link to BoomTown. This type of copycat article is why tech blogs suck ass. No additional insight, no investigative journalism, just a rehash of what someone else already published. I bet you paid someone to do your homework in high school too. You should be ashamed of yourself.

Anthony Ha · 4 months ago

Hi Jenny, since you're so big on original reporting, maybe you should email Kara at BoomTown and see if she thinks I ripped off her work?

berry zito · 4 months ago

Dear Angry Jenny,

Boomtown is not in my RSS feed so I appreciate the regurgitation.

Sincerely,

Berry in Beantown

berry zito · 4 months ago

you failed to proofread. did the city of palo alto really tell you about the number of Ning accounts created? please try harder because i like venturebeat and you're not helping credibility. maybe you and dean should edit each others posts since you both seem too busy to proofread?

Anthony Ha · 4 months ago

Thanks for catching that, I've fixed.

That said, if you're seriously looking for a news site without typos, well, good luck. I don't think it's a secret that some of our stories, particularly those on breaking news, don't get edited until after they're published.

berry zito · 4 months ago

I'm just looking for a bit more effort. For example: "I don't think that some of our stories....don't get edited until after they're published". So if I translate the double negative does that mean you think some stories do get edited? Or that some stories don't get edited? Ugh. Repeat after me: Proofreading is good. Proofreading is good. Proofreading is good.

Anthony Ha · 4 months ago

Ouch. I suppose I was asking for that. I'll note that by the time you'd posted your reply, I had already corrected the comment, but that doesn't make me feel (or look) any less sheepish.

As for your little mantra -- as I implied earlier, we proofread our posts, and they're also edited by another VentureBeat staffer. That usually happens before publication, sometimes it's after, and yet typos still slip through. However, if you'd prefer to assume that we just throw stories up without reading them, don't let me stop you.

berry zito · 4 months ago

Fair enough. Its free content and you get what you pay for, as they say. ;O)

Bernard Moon · 4 months ago

Pretty cool to see a commenter and her alter ego within the same post. We just need one more and can call this "The Three Faces of Zito"

berry zito · 4 months ago

If you're suggesting I'm the "Jenny" character I can assure you that's not the case. I have no problem with regurgitating stories...that's what blogging (and "web 2.0") is all about. This was just the post that finally prompted me to comment on what seems to be an increasing pattern of failure to proofread. I'm off the soapbox now and do appreciate the VB folks bringing me the news.

Vishal · 4 months ago

Pretty cool i think it is useful. Get more useful news at www.theventurepost.blogspot.com

Andy · 4 months ago

Lofty valuation has never been over.

If facebook, a company that has never made a single cent in 5 years of existence and has no guarantee of ever doing so, can gain a valuation of $15B or $7B or whatever, then Ning at $750M is downright a bargain...

ddines · 4 months ago

All this shows that Andreesen is the master at pumping up valuations on poorly performing assets.

Even if you believe that the 200,000 private social networks are active, how many are actually willing to shell out for premium service? I would venture a guess of 1-5%. Even if we assume 10% that is 20,000 willing customers at $25 pop (this price is from their blog), that is 500K per month. Let’s not forget that they also make money selling ads. Assuming they can make $.20 per user* on 2 million users, they would take in another 400K /month, for a total of 900K/ month or $10.8 M per year.

As for expenses, I am not privy to their numbers but I can guess that between employees and servers, they are probably losing money at least as much as the revenue stream.

So to recap the math, $750M for a company that makes less than $20M a year (using generous assumptions) with little prospects of turning a profit. Do I hear “Bubble 2.0” popping?

*Raj Kapoor (Managing Director at Sillicon Valley’s Mayfield Fund) estimates that that the big social network sites make $.20 month per user on ad sales (source: http://www.undertheradarblog.com/blog/social-ne...).

alyssa09 · 4 months ago

hi