I'm gonna play devil's advocate here.<p>Don't bet against a world-class hustler who can also build cool shit. And that's Bill Nguyen.<p>Let's remember how Lala came to be. He built a service for swapping physical CDs, which promised to make sure that every album ever recorded made its way onto Bittorrent (since someone could rip and flip an album that had never been encoded for <$1). He managed to use that as leverage on the record labels to give him extremely permissive licensing for the Lala streaming service, in exchange for shutting down the CD swapping business. I've been involved in content negotiations with record labels, and they do not give up ground easily. Not even Apple seem to be able to get that far...and they're Apple.<p>Then, he managed to get Sequoia to give their highest-ever pre-launch funding round. Sequoia isn't known for being a pack of dummies. Color has probably spent less than 10% of that round so far. There's a billion dollar market somewhere in this mobile photo sharing thing (I can't see it yet, but I can smell it), and I wouldn't be shocked if he's the one to cash in on it. Color has an accomplished team, and enough cash to make plenty of mistakes. He might have used every buzzword on earth to raise the round, but it worked, and now he's got plenty of gas in the tank to build something genuinely disruptive. And if Lala is any indication, he knows how to disrupt markets and build tight products (Lala was at least 2 years ahead of its time as a product).<p>While Color app might sound like it was created by pasting together TechCrunch and FastCompany articles, this is only the beginning for them. Color is clearly in it for the long haul.
Hello, my name is Ms. Connie Jones . I am from SILICON VALLEY . I have recently inherited a social program from deceased prime minister of SILICON VALLEY with valuation of USD 100,000,000,000 . Contact my barrister to arrange transfer of USD 41,000,000 to secure ownership
This is the best thing in 2011 by far. I enjoy the fact that more people are seemingly calling bullshit on this industry, it kind of needs a dose of realism.
I love how the backlash of this app racing through the web.<p>I'm not sure if this one bad investment is a horseman of the startups apocalypse but I think the valuation is definitely wayyyy off.<p>I still wish them the best but until this thing hits critical mass I don't see myself using it....<p>Maybe that was the plan all along.....Get alot of hype and backlash at a crappy app...get alot of users willing to try it since it sucks soo much...BAM...critical mass => the app now has value??
I have a serious question: why do people get upset at bubbles? Is it jealousy that others are getting investment or flipping their companies where you perceive little value? I'm not asking to be a bitch - just curious cause i feel some of those emotions myself but I rationally know that they are counterproductive.<p>Shouldn't we be happy for our startup brethren? Does color's funding hurt you (or the industry?). I imagine all this froth is serving to make it easier for worthy people to get investment, raising developer salaries and other generally good things.<p>Would appreciate serious feedback.
Reminds me of a tweet by Angus Davis I stumbled upon a couple of months back.<p><i>Amazing how many brilliant minds and millions of dollars have been applied to enable people to share photos.</i>
This is a very low-quality post and an even lower-quality thread. Stop to think. Sequoia have the best track record in the industry. Is it <i>likely</i> they're completely fucking stupid? Because that's what follows if these snarky comments have merit.<p>Man am I thankful I have something awesome to do with the rest of my day.
More likely, this Colors app is probably a very, very tiny part of what they really got funded for.<p>Conclusion: no one <i>really</i> knows what they got funded for. Sure, a stealth company getting 40M in funding is bad; but getting 40M for an app called Colors is what's got people ticking.
I fully expected that some part of your app would involve porn. In fact I think by using a .xxx you're obligated to include porn...well, at least you should be obligated.<p>Add porn, raise the round to 80 mil and we have a deal.
You had me at slide #2.<p>Seriously though, how many "social"...excuse me "elastic" networks do people need to be a part of? I'm one of those weird people who doesn't care that my "friend", whom I've never actually met or spoken a single word to, is getting ready to brush her teeth (yes, I know she is probably a he). With Color in particular, I don't understand how sharing photos with people who are within eye sight is interesting considering you are seeing the same thing!?!?<p>The presentation of Color is slick, but from a usability aspect, the video looked very confusing. Admittedly I haven't tried using the app since no one I've talked to about it has installed it and the app store description clearly states "Warning: Don't use Color alone". I personally hold nothing against the Color team for taking the money, but VCs COME ON! Even if VCs are investing in apps like this in hopes of a Facebook or Google acquisition, $41,000,000 seems ridiculous. Then again, I'm just a developer hoping someday I'll create something that someone thinks is worth a buck.
It's time's like these I refer back to my favorite HackerNews comment of all time: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2133161" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2133161</a>
I just listened to the Richter Scales' "Here Comes Another Bubble" last week. I would repost it as a thread, but I'm not sure how well it'll fare, so here it is on all its glory.<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6IQ_FOCE6I</a><p>When was the song released? December of 2007.
Very funny. I especially enjoyed the wheelbarrows of money slide.<p>I have one lagging question I can't seem to find an answer for: Where can I register a .xxx domain?
all that could be said by a lot of startups. After the somewhat unexpected success of twitter, facebook and all that social crap, all investors are afraid of missing out on the next opportunity. Thus, artificially increasing the market and inflating the "bubble"