Smugmug
NO, I would not invest in this venture. After watching the video, I kept asking myself “why would I want to invest in this company?” When I think of photo sharing websites, I think of the big-name competitors: Flickr, Photobucket, and maybe even SkyDrive and Facebook. Even though they may have limitations (upload size, storage size, ads, etc.), these services are free!!! (… and have more registered users than Smugmug). More registered users typically mean those companies pop-up first when people type “photo sharing” on a search engine.
Aside from lack of ads and ability to upload high-quality photos, Smugmug did not provide good reasons to invest in their company. As a novice photographer, I would still use Flickr despite a 300MB upload limit, since I could upload 15MB photos (which would translate to high-quality images). If I needed more space, I could always create another free account. If Smugmug had acknowledged its competitors and provided a clear competitive advantage (in terms of either cost or differentiation) instead, I might have been more open-minded and listened to the longer venture pitch.
Posted in: Week 03: Analyst Bootcamp
lisamallen 2:09 pm on May 25, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree with you that it is important that the challenges to the venture be outlined in the pitch. It shows that the CEO and organizers have “thought it through”. When investing, you want to be confident that the developers have done their homework and researched the challenges that they will likely encounter on their way to success. It also shows transparency, which I think is vital to success.
-Lisa