WeBook: is it realistic?
The WeBook elevator pitch features a composed president of the company giving a 60 second overview of her company. We are told that WeBook would like to upend the publishing business by bringing writers together and using a community voting system to bring new books to the market. It is their hope to do to publishing what Ebay and Linux did for their markets.
As a venture capitalist, I have mixed feelings about the pitch. WeBook appears to be organized and already operating to a reasonable capacity given where they are in development. I appreciate that they know what their product goals are, and how they are treating the market differently from what currently exists. I have a good feeling about the president as a person who can carry projects forward in an effective manner. However, I also have some reservations. We are told that WeBook is trying to upend a $50 billion industry and it is not clear as to what WeBook’s goal is for market penetration. I believe they greatly overstate the impact they could make: there is a large divide between publishing a book and selling a book. The Pitch was good: I would like to find out more details of the venture from WeBook.
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jenaca 7:12 am on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I agree with you, the pitch was very good and I too would like to learn more about WeBooks company. I also watched this pitch and found that they identified their goals and within the first 10 seconds stated her pain pitch.
I also believe she included lots of examples of why one would want to join her. However I felt she lacked stating why WeBook will become more successful than the current competitors out there. She did state good facts, but nothing really to make me want to jump on board with her!
Great find!
andrea 4:47 pm on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug, you make a great point with “there is a large divide between publishing a book and selling a book.” I wasn’t clear also if WEBook is publishing print copies or mostly e-books. And how are they marketing and distributing their books? I’d be interested to know more about the company.
Everton Walker 5:31 pm on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Doug,
I like your take on the pitch. It is clear that they know what they are about and aiming to get there. However, in typical advertising mode, I think the presenter exaggerated to some extent about 50bn dollar target. I can’t blame her anyways as one needs to sell their product with optimism and bit of sensationalism.
ifeoma 6:18 pm on September 21, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Doug,
Nice one! On your opinion about the president, I agree. I also think she sounds quite confident and I can also relate to your mixed feelings. You have worded it well by saying, “I believe they greatly overstate the impact they could make” I also had questions about the marketing of WEpublished books and am not sure how long it took to build the capacity of 1,500 book projects and their growth rate is not mentioned. The President simply says, they are growing quickly- well how quickly?
However, the pitch inspired enough curiosity in me with their idea of “open publishing” to want to know more.
Doug Smith 8:31 pm on September 24, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
In terms of market size, I really liked David Hansson’s presentation. He effectively deconstructs the stigma of not wanting to be an instant billionaire. Why does WeBook want to upend a $50B market? Frankly speaking, those terms are rediculous. At one of my past jobs we were quite happy with trying to get a 5% share of a $5B market. Even that scale is usually risky for a VC. These days it is even harder to get capital. Wallstreet is tight and it takes fire to fight fire. If you want to topple a $50B market, you had better be prepared to spend $100’s of millions. Or be lucky.