Blog VC
On my familiar theme of how big blogs are the next VC phenomenon, I received a very interesting e-mail from a prominent Silicon-Valley venture capitalist the other day.
Is there, I asked him, potential to cash-in on the blogosphere's biggest? Here was his reply, in full:
I’ve been monitoring the blog world and related cousins for some time now. And I’m convinced their next stage is underway, trying to monetize them, getting “traction” on cash revenue that leads to firmer support. Innovative business models will be especially key to success. Each wave of startups goes through this stage and out come mostly carcasses. The few survivors will turn into the gorillas and chimpanzees of more narrow market segments. As the new wave mounts to a peak and then crashes, the surfers who make it to the beach will surprise us. So I’m enjoying watching the new adventure unfold, coaching a couple of Web2.0 era startups a third of my time. We’ll see how they all emerge . . .
Flatteringly, he noted in post-script too that this blog "shows me you have a curious mind and a lot of
character." I find the confirmation that Silicon-Valley is already looking towards the blogosphere for funding activity revealing.
The way I would probably go about capitalizing on this next surge in tech funding is to get some cash together, begin a fund, and buy out one or two of the big personality-driven blogs on the proviso that the writers remained in the game for at least another 5 - 10 years. Then I'd write a business plan, aiming to link some of them up into a giant blog network, with increasingly interactive features, and spin some of the others off to national newspapers and news orginizations looking to cash-in on the increased reader volumes and web interactivity these blogs would give them. In that way, the spining-off would only compound the value of my blog network. I'd give the bloggers some equity too. I'm just amazed there's no word about this right now anywhere, but one thing is for sure; now is the time to buy.
Today a blogger - even a very big one - would be flattered to part with ownership of their site for maybe $250,000; once one newspaper pays over several million dollars for someone like Michellemalkin.com however, getting a deal for the big blogs will be nearly impossible.
I really enjoyed your "Blog VC" post. Any suggestions on additional reading (news articles, blogs, etc.) on the topic of turning a profit with blogs?
Posted by: Matt | January 20, 2007 at 11:17 PM