Re:I Can Has Funding: Cheezburger Raises $30M
by hugh3 on Tuesday January 18, 2011 @04:13AM
(#2115186)
If we're going to argue from analogy: Man, that Vanilla Ice really has a hit on his hands with "Ice Ice Baby". I'm sure he'll continue to have an equal string of successes for many years to come. I definitely need to invest in him!
This is the point: making popular memes is unpredictable. I Can Haz Cheezburgr certainly has a pretty good system in place for detecting and capitalising on new memes as they come up , but what about the meta-meme upon which they're based... the idea that it's horrendously amusing to put a big 36-point Impact caption on a random picture? If people get tired of doing that, can they adapt?
Re:I Can Has Funding: Cheezburger Raises $30M
by natrius on Tuesday January 18, 2011 @04:45AM
(#2115265)
I think the better analogy would be: "Man, EMI (née SBK) has really done well for themselves by signing Vanilla Ice. I'm sure they'll continue to sign good acts in the future."
Making popular music is unpredictable, but if you're good enough at marketing, you'll make a lot of money when a hit comes your way. I'd guess that's the Cheezburger business plan.
It's a fair point. Another questionable investment: Those guys with the Apple II. Who is going to be interested in having an Apple II ten years hence? The guys peddling DOS are some scam artists, too.
If only smart people could shift their business from one success into another, leveraging their talent, assets and experience in the process...
(And before the pedants jump in: of course ICHC isn't anywhere close to the same level of impact.)