Investors Digg Kevin Rose

2007-07-10T14:47:04Z

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Venture capitalists would love to do business with Web entrepreneur Kevin Rose, who has yet to cash in on his first two ventures, the popular Digg news site and the Web video production house, Revision3. But since neither company is accepting any more venture funding, investors angling for a piece of Rose's stardust will have to settle for Pownce.

This third endeavor, which went live on June 26, is a hybrid site that seeks to combine social networking, instant messaging, and file sharing. Users assemble a list of buddies, then swap messages, invitations, photos, music, and other files with one another. Created by Rose merely to distract himself in his spare time—with heftier input from three associates—Pownce is a classic next-generation Internet company: built on the cheap, reliant on users for much of its content, and launched with a low profile. Yet investors are already clamoring for a share.
Eager Investors

"I probably would invest in Pownce if he's going out for funding," says high-tech angel investor Ron Conway, who's invested in Digg and Revision3. "I like to invest in great entrepreneurs, and he's a great entrepreneur." Conway cites the potential size of the social networking market and the "pedigree" of Rose's team as reasons to invest.

Another Silicon Valley investor says he plans to quiz Rose at an upcoming meeting on how Pownce will differ from Twitter, a cell-phone-oriented social network, and other services within the increasingly crowded field. But Rose's history of creating sites that draw "a lot of excited users" could trump those concerns, this investor says, on condition of anonymity. "Kevin has been a source of much joy the last couple of years," he says. "Whatever he decides to do, I'll pay attention."

Launched in 2004, Digg has become one of the Web's most popular sites—recently ranking 95th among the top 100 online destinations, according to audience measurement company Alexa.com—by letting users vote for their favorite online news stories about technology and other topics. The ad-supported site attracts about 20 million unique visitors a month, according to Jay Adelson, chairman and CEO of both Digg and Revision3.
Digg, Revision3: Fully Funded

Digg has raised $11.3 million from Greylock Partners, the Omidyar Network, and angel investors (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/14/06, "Valley Boys "). If Rose and his backers decide to sell Digg, the site could draw interest from major technology companies such as Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) as well as from media concerns like Time Warner (TWX) or News Corp. (NWS).

Revision3—think Internet video with better production value—was launched last year and closed an $8 million financing round from Greylock and others on June 25, adding to $1 million in startup financing. Each month, users download 2 million episodes of the site's homemade shows. The most popular, Diggnation, draws 250,000 unique viewers a week to watch Rose and sidekick Alex Albrecht sit on a couch with beers and laptops, riffing on Digg's most popular stories. The company plans to quadruple its advertising sales staff of two in an effort to generate more revenue from its shows, says Adelson.

I had forgotten all

2007-04-12T04:57:39Z

I had forgotten all about it.’ And he went off and brought the little box and put it into the merchant’s trembling hands. Quickly the latter pulled out the key, which hung by a string round his neck, and opened the box; and when he saw that his treasures were all there he rushed into the road, and, with the box under his arm, began dancing like a madman, with great shouts and screams of laughter. Just then a messenger came running up and, saluting the gentleman attending the palanquin, he said: ‘The lady’s husband has returned, and is prepared to travel with her, so that there is no necessity to deposit the jewels.’ Whereat the gentleman quickly closed and re-locked the box, and handed it back to the waiting servant. Then from the palanquin came a yell of laughter, and out jumped — not a lady — but Kooshy Ram, who immediately ran and joined the merchant in the middle of the road and danced as madly as he. Beeka Mull stood and stared stupidly at them; then, with a shrill cackle of laughter, he flung off his turban, bounced out into the road with the other two, and fell to dancing and snapping his fingers until he was out of breath. ‘Lala-ji,’ said the gentleman who had played the part of the relative attendant on the palanquin, ‘why do you dance? The merchant dances because he has recovered his fortune; Kooshy Ram dances because he is a madman and has tricked you; but why do you dance?’ ‘I dance,’ panted Beeka Ram, glaring at him with a bloodshot eye, ‘I dance because I knew thirteen different ways of deceiving people by pretending confidence in them. I didn’t know there were any more, and now here’s a fourteenth! That’s why I dance!

kimberlyvase

Investors Digg Kevin Rose

I had forgotten all