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February 23 2012
Clone Wars: Author Discovers Bots Competing To Sell His Book
rock-em-sock-em
Carlos Bueno wrote a book called Lauren Ipsum. It's a book about understanding computers for kids. He priced it at about $14 and offered it as a print-on-demand title and ebook. All was going well, books were selling, when suddenly he noticed a few copies were being offered for $55 or more. But there were no copies to be sold at that price and presumably someone selling a used copy would reduce the price, not increase it. What was happening was that a bot had found the book and priced it at some ridiculous level - $45 at last count. Bueno was bemused, at best, and realized that bots had found the book and were essentially running a price war amongst themselves in order to offer the same print-on-demand book Bueno was offering at a massively inflated price. They were, in short, going to buy the $14 book and resell it for forty dollars more.
rock-em-sock-em
Carlos Bueno wrote a book called Lauren Ipsum. It's a book about understanding computers for kids. He priced it at about $14 and offered it as a print-on-demand title and ebook. All was going well, books were selling, when suddenly he noticed a few copies were being offered for $55 or more. But there were no copies to be sold at that price and presumably someone selling a used copy would reduce the price, not increase it. What was happening was that a bot had found the book and priced it at some ridiculous level - $45 at last count. Bueno was bemused, at best, and realized that bots had found the book and were essentially running a price war amongst themselves in order to offer the same print-on-demand book Bueno was offering at a massively inflated price. They were, in short, going to buy the $14 book and resell it for forty dollars more.
With New Facebook Integration, Prescreen Relaunches To Make Movie Discovery More Social
Screen shot 2012-02-23 at 6.42.15 AM
Independent filmmakers have a pretty tough when it comes to marketing and promoting their films; they really don't have the resources or tools required to expand their outreach, and get in front of new eyeballs. Only the big Hollywood studios have the resources to drive enough cross-platform advertising to stir up buzz over their upcoming blockbusters, six months in advance. And, it goes without saying that this isn't just limited to independent filmmakers, it's true for musicians, artists, and many more. That's why early ThePoint/Groupon employee Shawn Bercuson, Zoosk Co-founder John Smart, Dan Rummel, and Lee Wilson launched Prescreen last September -- to bring movie lovers an easy way to discover independent films they wouldn't otherwise and, in turn, give filmmakers, producers, and more a shot at drumming up interest in (and bringing eyeballs to) their work.
Screen shot 2012-02-23 at 6.42.15 AM
Independent filmmakers have a pretty tough when it comes to marketing and promoting their films; they really don't have the resources or tools required to expand their outreach, and get in front of new eyeballs. Only the big Hollywood studios have the resources to drive enough cross-platform advertising to stir up buzz over their upcoming blockbusters, six months in advance. And, it goes without saying that this isn't just limited to independent filmmakers, it's true for musicians, artists, and many more. That's why early ThePoint/Groupon employee Shawn Bercuson, Zoosk Co-founder John Smart, Dan Rummel, and Lee Wilson launched Prescreen last September -- to bring movie lovers an easy way to discover independent films they wouldn't otherwise and, in turn, give filmmakers, producers, and more a shot at drumming up interest in (and bringing eyeballs to) their work.
Clothes Horse Wants To Solve The Biggest Problem With Online Shopping: Finding Clothes That Fit
clotheshorse_site_screenshot
Clothes Horse, a fashion technology company based out of New York, is publicly launching its platform today in an attempt to address one of the biggest challenges facing online shoppers: buying clothes that fit. Through the use of a customizable widget that merchants add to their own websites, Clothes Horse can determine within just 30 seconds how the retailers' items will fit any customer. The goal is not only to decrease shopping cart abandonment, but also the rate of returns due to ill-fitting clothes.
clotheshorse_site_screenshot
Clothes Horse, a fashion technology company based out of New York, is publicly launching its platform today in an attempt to address one of the biggest challenges facing online shoppers: buying clothes that fit. Through the use of a customizable widget that merchants add to their own websites, Clothes Horse can determine within just 30 seconds how the retailers' items will fit any customer. The goal is not only to decrease shopping cart abandonment, but also the rate of returns due to ill-fitting clothes.
February 08 2012
Andrew Mason’s First Earnings Call: “Stop Sending Me Pole-Dancing Deals”
andrew-mason-groupon
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason just finished his first post-IPO earnings calls with Wall Street analysts. (We covered it live and looked at the numbers). "We believe we are on the cusp of a sea change” in behavior, he noted. “We’re about to see what technology can do for local commerce.” Listening to the call, I'd say his performance was mixed. He sounded a little nervous at first, but warmed up to the task just as he did during the IPO roadshow, joking with the analysts that one of the most requested features Groupon hears from customers to "stop sending me pole-dancing deals."
andrew-mason-groupon
Groupon CEO Andrew Mason just finished his first post-IPO earnings calls with Wall Street analysts. (We covered it live and looked at the numbers). "We believe we are on the cusp of a sea change” in behavior, he noted. “We’re about to see what technology can do for local commerce.” Listening to the call, I'd say his performance was mixed. He sounded a little nervous at first, but warmed up to the task just as he did during the IPO roadshow, joking with the analysts that one of the most requested features Groupon hears from customers to "stop sending me pole-dancing deals."
Groupon Ends The Year With $1.6 Billion In Revenues, Up 419 Percent
groupon-arg2
Groupon just announced its first earnings report after going public last October (it missed, read our liveblog of the earnings call here.). For the full year, Groupon's revenues were $1.6 billion, up 419 percent. The daily deal company, however, lost $350 million, most of that attributable to its very aggressive international expansion (7,000 out of its 10,000 employees are overseas). In North America, it turned an operating profit of $22 million, which was counteracted by $137 million in international operating losses. For the quarter, revenues were $506 million, up 194 percent. The net loss was $42.7 million, which at least was down from $379 million quarterly net loss the year before. We'll be doing our liveblog of the earnings call here.
groupon-arg2
Groupon just announced its first earnings report after going public last October (it missed, read our liveblog of the earnings call here.). For the full year, Groupon's revenues were $1.6 billion, up 419 percent. The daily deal company, however, lost $350 million, most of that attributable to its very aggressive international expansion (7,000 out of its 10,000 employees are overseas). In North America, it turned an operating profit of $22 million, which was counteracted by $137 million in international operating losses. For the quarter, revenues were $506 million, up 194 percent. The net loss was $42.7 million, which at least was down from $379 million quarterly net loss the year before. We'll be doing our liveblog of the earnings call here.
Groupon Misses Earnings Estimates (Liveblog)
groupon logo
Groupon just announced its first earnings since its IPO in November. For the fourth quarter of 2011, it reported revenue of $506.5 million, beating analyst estimates of $473 million. It's also profitable, with net income of $15 million. However, Groupon came up short on earnings per share, coming in at negative $0.02, rather than the positive $0.03 EPS that analysts were expecting. (That number includes a $0.07 cent tax from international operations.) As result, at 4:20pm Eastern, Groupon was down 11.3 percent in after-hours trading.
groupon logo
Groupon just announced its first earnings since its IPO in November. For the fourth quarter of 2011, it reported revenue of $506.5 million, beating analyst estimates of $473 million. It's also profitable, with net income of $15 million. However, Groupon came up short on earnings per share, coming in at negative $0.02, rather than the positive $0.03 EPS that analysts were expecting. (That number includes a $0.07 cent tax from international operations.) As result, at 4:20pm Eastern, Groupon was down 11.3 percent in after-hours trading.
February 07 2012
Yelp Ads Are Not A Rip-Off, You Pay To Seal The Deal
Yelp Logo Done 2
Yelp built its ad business by attracting users that know what they want, just not who to buy it from -- exactly when ads are most effective. That's why I find today's VentureBeat piece by Rocky Agrawal titled "Yelp advertising is a rip-off for small advertisers" to be ridiculous. His sources say Yelp charges a $600 CPM, or 1,000-times the standard online CPM rate. Yes, these ads are expensive, especially for low-end restaurants. But for lawyers, dentists, jewelers and mechanics with a high lifetime average revenue per customer, turning someone searching for their services on Yelp into a loyal customer is no rip-off, it can drive huge ROI.
Yelp Logo Done 2
Yelp built its ad business by attracting users that know what they want, just not who to buy it from -- exactly when ads are most effective. That's why I find today's VentureBeat piece by Rocky Agrawal titled "Yelp advertising is a rip-off for small advertisers" to be ridiculous. His sources say Yelp charges a $600 CPM, or 1,000-times the standard online CPM rate. Yes, these ads are expensive, especially for low-end restaurants. But for lawyers, dentists, jewelers and mechanics with a high lifetime average revenue per customer, turning someone searching for their services on Yelp into a loyal customer is no rip-off, it can drive huge ROI.
February 03 2012
Shazam, Delivery Agent Let You Buy Super Bowl Gear While Watching The Big Game
super_bowl_shazam_press-01
The Super Bowl is just around the corner, but unfortunately most of us won't be able to attend the big game. Parties are fun and all, but there's nothing like leaving the stadium with arms full of jerseys, footballs, foam fingers and the like. How else are you supposed to relive the excitement over and over without mementos? (In a non-serial killer kind of way, of course.) Well, the good news is that Shazam and Delivery Agent have partnered yet again to let you buy Super Bowl XLVI goods from your phone, PC, or tablet while you watch the game.
super_bowl_shazam_press-01
The Super Bowl is just around the corner, but unfortunately most of us won't be able to attend the big game. Parties are fun and all, but there's nothing like leaving the stadium with arms full of jerseys, footballs, foam fingers and the like. How else are you supposed to relive the excitement over and over without mementos? (In a non-serial killer kind of way, of course.) Well, the good news is that Shazam and Delivery Agent have partnered yet again to let you buy Super Bowl XLVI goods from your phone, PC, or tablet while you watch the game.
January 30 2012
DMARC Promises A World Of Less Phishing
images (4)
Some 15 companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, PayPal plan to jointly work on a standard for blocking phishing e-mails by verifying that they come from legitimate companies. It seems obvious that trusted, legitimate companies could come together to do this, but it's only started happening in the last 18 months. DMARC.org - or the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance - is a new white-list system will be available for use across the Internet.
images (4)
Some 15 companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, PayPal plan to jointly work on a standard for blocking phishing e-mails by verifying that they come from legitimate companies. It seems obvious that trusted, legitimate companies could come together to do this, but it's only started happening in the last 18 months. DMARC.org - or the Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance - is a new white-list system will be available for use across the Internet.
LivingSocial CEO: Lumping Us With Groupon Is Like Lumping eBay With Amazon
Tim O'Shaughnessy
The local commerce industry as represented by daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial is still barely learning to walk, even though Groupon has 10,000 employees and LivingSocial has 5,000. While the two companies look nearly identical today, don't be surprised if they diverge. LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy reminded me in a conversation last week that "a lot of people lumped eBay and Amazon together 10 years ago" because they both were "ecommerce" companies.
Tim O'Shaughnessy
The local commerce industry as represented by daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial is still barely learning to walk, even though Groupon has 10,000 employees and LivingSocial has 5,000. While the two companies look nearly identical today, don't be surprised if they diverge. LivingSocial CEO Tim O'Shaughnessy reminded me in a conversation last week that "a lot of people lumped eBay and Amazon together 10 years ago" because they both were "ecommerce" companies.
January 27 2012
YC Alum Curebit Raises $1.2 Million For Online Referral System
curebit-logo-200x200
Y Combinator alum Curebit, an online customer referral platform that leverages social media for "word-of-mouth" advertising, has just raised $1.2 million in funding. The investors include 500 Startups, Karl Jacob, Auren Hoffman, Dharmesh Shah, Gordon Tucker, Alex Lloyd of Accelerator Ventures, and others. The funding will be used for continued product development and a slight expansion to the team involving three new hires (two developers, one designer) to the company's now five-person outfit.
curebit-logo-200x200
Y Combinator alum Curebit, an online customer referral platform that leverages social media for "word-of-mouth" advertising, has just raised $1.2 million in funding. The investors include 500 Startups, Karl Jacob, Auren Hoffman, Dharmesh Shah, Gordon Tucker, Alex Lloyd of Accelerator Ventures, and others. The funding will be used for continued product development and a slight expansion to the team involving three new hires (two developers, one designer) to the company's now five-person outfit.
January 20 2012
TechStars Grad Promoboxx Signs Deal With Chevy On Super Bowl Campaign
chevy-promoboxx
Promoboxx, a TechStars Boston 2011 company focused on brand-to-retailer marketing, is going to the Super Bowl! (Well, kind of.) The startup has signed a deal with Chevy (via its client Big Fuel), which will allow 6,000 of its dealers to share Chevy's Super Bowl ads prior to the big game via social media, email and on their own websites.
chevy-promoboxx
Promoboxx, a TechStars Boston 2011 company focused on brand-to-retailer marketing, is going to the Super Bowl! (Well, kind of.) The startup has signed a deal with Chevy (via its client Big Fuel), which will allow 6,000 of its dealers to share Chevy's Super Bowl ads prior to the big game via social media, email and on their own websites.
January 19 2012
Google Commerce Starts The Year Off With A Reorganization
Google-Wallet
Some of Google's core product areas, like search and YouTube, have the enviable duty of retaining market dominance. Others, like its Android mobile operating system, get to be the free-wheeling disruptor. Google Commerce, meanwhile, has the perennial chore of trying to gain ground versus a vareity of well-established payments competitors ranging from PayPal on the web to Apple's iTunes and Amazon on mobile. So, it's not that surprising to hear about a reorganization within the commerce area as Google tries to figure this space out, as we and others did yesterday. Stephanie Tilenius, one of the two executives that Google poached from PayPal a couple years ago, has been moved to the side, according to two industry sources I've spoken with.
Google-Wallet
Some of Google's core product areas, like search and YouTube, have the enviable duty of retaining market dominance. Others, like its Android mobile operating system, get to be the free-wheeling disruptor. Google Commerce, meanwhile, has the perennial chore of trying to gain ground versus a vareity of well-established payments competitors ranging from PayPal on the web to Apple's iTunes and Amazon on mobile. So, it's not that surprising to hear about a reorganization within the commerce area as Google tries to figure this space out, as we and others did yesterday. Stephanie Tilenius, one of the two executives that Google poached from PayPal a couple years ago, has been moved to the side, according to two industry sources I've spoken with.
JackThreads Announces Unique Mobile App For Android And iOS
scaled.photo 1
Thrillist-owned Jackthreads has just announced the availability of their first mobile for Android and iPhone. Built by an outside vendor using designs and user experience built in-house, the app allows shoppers to browse new deals and sales as they are announced on the site and, if so inclined, make purchases. I spoke to lead developer Chris Steib who said that JackThreads saw that much of the traffic was coming through mobile sites, something they had not initially expected.
scaled.photo 1
Thrillist-owned Jackthreads has just announced the availability of their first mobile for Android and iPhone. Built by an outside vendor using designs and user experience built in-house, the app allows shoppers to browse new deals and sales as they are announced on the site and, if so inclined, make purchases. I spoke to lead developer Chris Steib who said that JackThreads saw that much of the traffic was coming through mobile sites, something they had not initially expected.
AppAddictive Raises $1.2 Million For Drag-And-Drop Facebook Page Builder & Ad Platform
appaddictive
AppAddictive, a newly launched DreamIt-backed startup from its 2011's NYC class, has just scored $1.2 million in seed funding for its drag-and-drop Facebook page creation tools and (forthcoming) ad platform. Designed to bring the same tools the big guys use to smaller businesses and other industry verticals, AppAddictive will offer dozens of easy-to-install applications for Facebook pages, including things like custom landing pages, photo and video galleries, static HTML, quizzes and more.
appaddictive
AppAddictive, a newly launched DreamIt-backed startup from its 2011's NYC class, has just scored $1.2 million in seed funding for its drag-and-drop Facebook page creation tools and (forthcoming) ad platform. Designed to bring the same tools the big guys use to smaller businesses and other industry verticals, AppAddictive will offer dozens of easy-to-install applications for Facebook pages, including things like custom landing pages, photo and video galleries, static HTML, quizzes and more.
Peecho Lands $750,000 For Its ‘Cloud Print Button’
peecho
Peecho, a Dutch startup that enables anyone to sell professionally printed products from their website, mobile or desktop apps, has raised $750,000 in financing from Peak Capital and DHG Holding to boost development and marketing of its embeddable 'cloud print button' service. Basically, their solution lets anyone sell digital content as physical products (think magazines, photo books, canvas prints and whatnot), by helping its customers hook into a network of professional print production facilities.
peecho
Peecho, a Dutch startup that enables anyone to sell professionally printed products from their website, mobile or desktop apps, has raised $750,000 in financing from Peak Capital and DHG Holding to boost development and marketing of its embeddable 'cloud print button' service. Basically, their solution lets anyone sell digital content as physical products (think magazines, photo books, canvas prints and whatnot), by helping its customers hook into a network of professional print production facilities.
BigCommerce Establishes $2 Million Fund For Developers
bigcommerce
Exclusive - E-commerce platform company BigCommerce has set up a $2 million fund for developers. With the launch of the fund, the Sydney, Australia-based company aims to sway third-party developers into submitting their integration and application ideas. Caveat: investments in successful entries are capped at $20,000 per project.
bigcommerce
Exclusive - E-commerce platform company BigCommerce has set up a $2 million fund for developers. With the launch of the fund, the Sydney, Australia-based company aims to sway third-party developers into submitting their integration and application ideas. Caveat: investments in successful entries are capped at $20,000 per project.
Ticketmaster’s New Facebook App Recommends Concerts From Your Listening Activity
Facebook Ticketmaster Recommendations
Of all the new Open Graph apps launched tonight, Ticketmaster's new Facebook experience is the most impressive. Sure it can share that you've "bought" tickets, but lots of apps have similar publishing functionality. What makes Ticketmaster's app cool is that it pulls your Facebook profile's music app activity from services such as Spotify or Rdio, and recommends nearby concerts of artists you actually listen to, not just those you say you Like.
Facebook Ticketmaster Recommendations
Of all the new Open Graph apps launched tonight, Ticketmaster's new Facebook experience is the most impressive. Sure it can share that you've "bought" tickets, but lots of apps have similar publishing functionality. What makes Ticketmaster's app cool is that it pulls your Facebook profile's music app activity from services such as Spotify or Rdio, and recommends nearby concerts of artists you actually listen to, not just those you say you Like.
January 18 2012
@WalmartLabs Crowdsources Walmart’s Product Selection With New “Get On The Shelf” Contest
Get on the Shelf
@WalmartLabs, the digital technology division of the world's largest retailer, is launching a contest today which uses crowdsourcing techniques to determine which items the company should stock in its stores and on its website. The contest, called Get on the Shelf, will be heavily promoted by all of Walmart's social media presences, including Facebook, Google+ and, most importantly, Twitter.
Get on the Shelf
@WalmartLabs, the digital technology division of the world's largest retailer, is launching a contest today which uses crowdsourcing techniques to determine which items the company should stock in its stores and on its website. The contest, called Get on the Shelf, will be heavily promoted by all of Walmart's social media presences, including Facebook, Google+ and, most importantly, Twitter.
Citi Backs Gift Card Exchange Plastic Jungle
plastic
Plastic Jungle, which operates an online gift card marketplace, has received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, Citigroup's investment arm. The size of the capital injection was not disclosed. The startup has previously raised over $23 million in financing from Jafco Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and First Round Capital, among others.
plastic
Plastic Jungle, which operates an online gift card marketplace, has received a strategic investment from Citi Ventures, Citigroup's investment arm. The size of the capital injection was not disclosed. The startup has previously raised over $23 million in financing from Jafco Ventures, Shasta Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and First Round Capital, among others.
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