"6. Everybody seemed to feel the web game has shifted to the higher level. A lot appeared to feel that small publishers and sites would start to be squeezed out of the market in the coming years."
This is true, but I don't think it's completely accurate. To succeed as a small publisher, you will need to be remarkably talented and know how to efficiently market your site.
Gone are the days of lame content sites succeeding on pure bulk, like About.com. Except for Mahalo I guess.
I always thought Mahalo was a sort of fameballer site. The only people I know who've heard of it know it because of Jason Calcanis' reputation as "most obnoxious person in the world". I used to like it, but half a year ago it turned cluttered and ugly. Is that really a popular web site, or does it just get attention from Media 2.0?
1. Nobody expressed interest in content, social media or social network sites.
It think this is a real shame. All the Facebook, but for my dog / Facebook, but for my garden / Myspace, but for my Facebooks have really given a bad name to this genre of site. It became the type of site for people who were looking to cash in quickly or had no business getting involved in the internet.
The problem is that the web is a social animal. People want to interact and share. I hope we see the move toward social/crowd-source sites with loftier goals. I think there is still a lot of value to be had in these types of sites.
#1 considering VS's have probably heard half a dozen "Facebook, but with FeatureFoo" pitches a dozen times a day for about a year.
#2 and #3 go hand-in hand - Google seems to have gotten the top of the hill on monetizing people going from one place to another on the web. If you figure out how to take away 1% of their tolls, you've got a successful startup.
#4 is an old one - education doesn't scale. Web can make it scale, with money to be made.
Keep in mind these are the authors' impressions from talking to VCs, who traditionally (and perhaps by definition) are at least one beat behind what's really going on.
I think the web game for general apps has shifted up a gear. However I believe this down turn in the economy is going to drive more 'less tech savy' users to try and make a buck on the web.
To Jo Bloggs the web is an income stream he should be using to get through this economic downturn.
As an entrepreneur this is a market worth tackling?
What do you think?
If the above seems vague, it’s deliberate. Details are reserved for [whatis9.com] clients. But, the above should be enough for some entrepreneur to be dangerous.
Given the entrepreneurial spirit of HN, let's try to collaboratively dissect each one of these together.
I'm not clear I follow your logic. If you are focused on monetization, that just means you have a business plan with a great monetization story.
To get from a Business Plan to a staff, office, and working product, you need to get some moolah. If just a small amount of money, then you don't need VCs. Angels or bootstrapping will do. If you need a large amount of money, then VCs are the way to go.
They're looking for someone that has figured out a better a way...or rather, that they (they being the VCs) believe has figured out better/different ways of monetizing web traffic.
It's all a crapshoot until it's actually been done and works.
"6. Everybody seemed to feel the web game has shifted to the higher level. A lot appeared to feel that small publishers and sites would start to be squeezed out of the market in the coming years."
This is true, but I don't think it's completely accurate. To succeed as a small publisher, you will need to be remarkably talented and know how to efficiently market your site.
Gone are the days of lame content sites succeeding on pure bulk, like About.com. Except for Mahalo I guess.