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Wow Genius is really a perfect example of how startupland operates terribly & doesn't understand profit or media cos theverge.com/2017/3/15/14924238/rap-genius-web-annotator-chrome-extension-newsPermalink On twitter.com
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Let's play a fun game: name me a post-Facebook popular US 'get-covers-on-the-cool-magazines' type startup that is making a profit.Permalink On twitter.com
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WeWork, Pinterest (mby), Slack (mby). Annnd? Ok, we'll get back to this later.Permalink On twitter.com
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Let's talk about how dumb an idea Genius is. It is expensive, from a technical perspective...Permalink On twitter.com
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The tool already exists (Diigo) and has not seen widespread success. In fact, Diigo is a presumably a staunch competitor...Permalink On twitter.com
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You see, at the end of the Great Social Web Bookmarking Bloom in the late 00s, Diigo presided and benefited over consolidation in the spacePermalink On twitter.com
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Which makes it relatively stable, w/its redundancies trimmed. Also, on a user-level, it arguably has at least as good if not better toolsPermalink On twitter.com
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So Genius wasn't even "disruptive" except in the sense of its founders connections and "hipness".Permalink On twitter.com
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Hinging your bets on a startup based on how hip and cool and just-like-you the founders are is a classic startupland shitty move.Permalink On twitter.com
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Especially because it prioritizes white male founders & sets up serious egotism as a requirement for funding. Not a quality of good leadersPermalink On twitter.com
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Also, it practically guarantees you have problematic founders who, never being challenged, inevitably do shitty things to hurt the company.Permalink On twitter.com
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There's a reason this type of behavior is a pattern all over startupland: because being an egotistical asswipe gets you funding.Permalink On twitter.com
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Mostly because VCs see their younger selves (who had such success) in those types of people which *says a lot about VCs*Permalink On twitter.com
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Then there's the classic: 'we don't care how customers are using the site because we know how they *should* use the site'Permalink On twitter.com
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Repeated startupland theme: 'We don't care about how to make money, that will solve itself' so no sales people. A bet that never worksPermalink On twitter.com
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There's the shit culture problem, flowing from the founders being SV startup bros who have never had someone object to their ideas.Permalink On twitter.com
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There's the mistaking influencers for influence. No one cares what Rick Rubin or Junot Diaz are highlighting, because that's not their spacePermalink On twitter.com
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Oh, & also there is nothing particularly technically unique about the platform. No secret sauce. Which makes it oh so easy to roll your ownPermalink On twitter.com
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Next up: let's discuss how Genius's pivot shows that SV has neither a basic understanding or respect for media companies.Permalink On twitter.com
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Media companies are desperate to pawn off development on 3rd parties, so for News Genius to be such a dismal failure two things must be:Permalink On twitter.com
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1 Genius has no idea what the technical or operational needs of media companies are and had no interest in finding out (see: ignoring users)Permalink On twitter.com
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2 Genius had to be so sure that it new better than media companies what media companies needed that it provided awful support.Permalink On twitter.com
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This relates to how startups don't respect salespeople. They firmly believe (because founders are high on ego) their product sells itself.Permalink On twitter.com
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No product sells itself. Though I suppose you can always cheat in that regard.Permalink On twitter.com
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It's also notable that Genius is repeating the classic media mistake of mistaking clicks for engaged users.Permalink On twitter.com
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If they had listened to the media companies they had feigned to work with, someone might have told them that pivoting on that was a bad ideaPermalink On twitter.com
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So now, after having failed to work well with media companies, Genius thinks it knows better than all of them and is going to b/c a media coPermalink On twitter.com
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HahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaPermalink On twitter.com
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I like how understated the author is here "dramatic". What is meant is mind-blowing-ly stupid.Permalink On twitter.com
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So all the assumptions Genius is making in becoming a media company:Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: It has taken knowledge from NYT, WaPo and other big media cos and now knows better than all of them what digital media is.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: Media companies just put content on the web, they just shove it up there, no continual engineering support needed.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: Media companies also do not need dedicated sales plans. Assumption: Media companies do not need significant marketing effortsPermalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: We can just cover all verticals and ignore our specialty audience.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: Genius will somehow aggregate better and harder than anyone else but with less people than their competitors.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: Genius's brand (such as it is) will give it the cachet in medialand that it failed to gain in startupland.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumption: that Genius can do old media formats better than established companies while lacking a unique selling proposition.Permalink On twitter.com
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Assumptions: People want to listen to music via videos & be engaged & attentive; videos are an easy space to step into; video is profitable.Permalink On twitter.com
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To be clear: not a *single* one of the assumptions that Genius is making in its pivot to be a media co are true.Permalink On twitter.com
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If Genius had an inch of respect and communication with the old media cos they tried to work with, they could have observed this.Permalink On twitter.com
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Genius is really the perfect storm of disrespect for the media industry, startupland stupidity, and SV-style shitty planning.Permalink On twitter.com
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And the kicker is that they have LEARNED NOTHING. They're going into media co-mode with as little a plan on how to make money as before.Permalink On twitter.com
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Which brings us back to the top: Chronotope/842400987813941248On twitter.com
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All the cool kid status & rich friends in the world isn't going to help you turn a profit. If you don't plan to make one on day 1, you won'tPermalink On twitter.com
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And here we are, day one of the New Media Co Genius and they still haven't figured that out.Permalink On twitter.com
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The irony is, if they hadn't flipped over into that stupid VC-driven 'we need to take over the world' mode towards the beginning...Permalink On twitter.com
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... Genius would likely now be a small, but stable, perhaps profitable, narrowly focused business. Instead...Permalink On twitter.com
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... Genius tried to do everything b/f they even got the one thing right. A foolish move that put them in this position & will end in failurePermalink On twitter.com
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Everyone wave as Genius pivots their crashing car right over the guardrail. We'll see them on the other end of the 50 foot drop. Crunch.Permalink On twitter.com
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Today's lesson is: if you run a company, run it to make a profit, then use that profit to expand slowly and reasonably. And listen to peers.Permalink On twitter.com
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