Big Layoffs At Insider Pages

Silicon Valley based Insider Pages, one of the many user review sites that have sprung up in the last couple of years, has reportedly laid off 2/3 of their total staff recently. The news is coming from companies that are interviewing former Insider Pages employees.

The company, which is funded by Sequoia, Softbank and idealab, seems to be unable to keep up with the growth of competitor Yelp (and others) in this crowded space. Both Alexa and Google Trends suggest Yelp is the only company with any traction right now. Other companies doing something similar include Judy’s Book, Zipingo and Riffs.

I wrote about the increasing amount of bad news we are seeing from Internet companies yesterday. This trend will probably accelerate this year, and I think it is a sign of the overall health of the industry. A little bad news keeps the market sane.

Fred Wilson is saying that when we write about bad news we are celebrating it, and that it isn’t healthy. I don’t think that’s the case. We are chronicling the ups and downs of Internet startups, and I think people can learn just as much, if not more, by studying the failures as well as the successes. I also opened up a thread in the Forums to discuss whether or not the TechCrunch DeadPool is a bad idea. Let me know what you think.