Update: See here.
There have been a number of reports that silicon valley based Podtech is literally falling apart. I spoke to Podtech CEO John Furrier and asked him how many of the rumors are true. While he certainly fed me a certain amount of spin, the company has at least a few signs of life.
Podtech raised what was at the time a large series A round of funding - $5.5 million in March 2006. They were then largely focused on creating audio content only - interviews with entrepreneurs and paid “infomercial” type corporate podcasts. They quickly moved into video, hired Robert Scoble away from Microsoft, and got serious about producing a lot of content.
Fast forward to the Spring of 2007. They started to hit a lot of competition in the video space, Furrier says. Instead of creating yet more content, the company started letting some content-focused employees go, and refocused on syndicating third party stuff under the guidance of Steve Gillmor, their new VP of Creative Development. Talent like Loren Feldman at 1938 Media and National Banana came on board and began using Podtech’s Flash player in exchange for guaranteed advertising revenue. There are lots of other shows as well - see the right sidebar of their site.
All employees are encouraged to spend some of their time creating content, as Robert Scoble does with Scoble Show. Other than that, Furrier says, the company is out of the content creation business.
But Podtech needed a second round of financing…and they couldn’t convince a new investor to come in at current traffic levels and revenues. Two weeks ago existing investors US Venture Partners and Venrock Associates invested another $2 million in the company at the same valuation as the first round. Between revenues and the new capital, Furrier says they are good for a few more months.
Furrier is also looking for a new CEO for the company. Some rumors suggest that this was one of the requirements that Podtech’s venture capitalists put on the new round of capital. Furrier says it was his idea to do this, and that the company is at a stage where it needs a different kind of leader. He’ll stay on as President of the company, he says.
Their new model, which finds and signs talent for guaranteed revenue, and then aggregates sites to advertisers, is a good one. They need to continue to cut staff and get their burn rate very low - they will effectively become a production house and ad sales team for their partners. If they can complete the transition before they run out of cash, Podtech could still have a bright future ahead of it.
I find the site confusing to be honest. finding good content is not easy on there. I find myself checking it out from other sites like http://www.calacanis.com/ but don’t end up finding anything that I want to view/listen too. I think they need a redesign.
a .com extension instead of a .net would help their cause - though not sure to what extent
Not only changing from .net to .com, their current site design really sucks and looks so un-professional. They need to seriously re-design the site and start looking serious particularly considering their audience segment.
When do you think somethinglike this is coming… “Scoble signs deal with CNN to become their Chief Blogging Officer”. He’s the only reason I know what podtech even is.
Hey scoble!
Google blog is boring, I guess it’s your time to spice it up!
Dude! wasn’t the Scoble thing kicked out of MS?
Wow, off-topic, but I’ve just noticed TechCrunch hit the 500K subscriber mark. When did this happen? Last I looked for 450k or so …
Congrat’s!
#6
Kicked out> Huh, whatchu talkin bout. He left on his own terms. Huge loss for MS in my opinion.
Podtech has been around for quite some time, and even though some people only remember it since Robert joined, I personally feel like the best content on Podtech was when John himself was covering conferences, talking to people and their ideas. This was 2 years ago and things changed quite a bit. My personal opinion is that Podtech is losing traction not because there’s a lot of competition, but because the level of the content has gone down quite a lot. Allow me to explain:
People listen to podcasts (and watch video podcasts) for things they identify themselves with - this is why podtech grew so quickly in the past. It was usually entrepreneurs talking to and about other entrepreneurs and ideas. Right now, it’s admittedly sales-driven content. Podtech has a competitive edge because its a name people recognize (it’s not a .net/.com issue as some people here pointed out), but it’s producing content that you’ll only want to see if you are bored - you know it’s true.
If on the other end it went back to publishing words and opinions from real people (instead of sales/PR people for major companies), it would grab both current industry people as well as new audiences - because the content would actually mean something for a bigger share of the audiences out there.
I don’t want to call the new “out of content creation” policy dumb, but it doesn’t strike me as a good move. I want to see podtech people in the trenches talking to entrepreneurs and getting ideas out there, not waiting for others to pick-up sales material and publish them through the site. Don’t take my word for it, but I’d say at least part of the advisory board is doing Podtech a disservice.
Well said Fred! I still think that Podtech will manage to overcome this. After all everybody has these downhill periods. The thing is that they have to start going uphill asap.
is anyone now brave enough to divulge real numbers here? How these people think they will generate $2million of revenue in the next ‘few months’ fascinates me…
I hope Podtech makes it. Frankly, I think the name is a mistake on more than just the .net issue. The “pod” isn’t a good choice either, IMO, and I’m even leery of the “tech.”
I think Podtech should and could find a more mainstream audience if they’d position themselves as helping average people understand the tech world and what’s going on with the web, or at least have one channel devoted to that. Right now, it feels much too “insider.” And I say that as an outsider, nontechie person who likes some things on Podtech for what it teaches me. But I don’t feel like I’m really a part of their intended target audience, or like I even belong there at all, which is off putting. Many of the videos make me feel like I’m crashing a party and should just slink away. Most people who are made to feel that way even once will never come back.
Seems to me like there’s a huge missed opportunity there. Robert is the best one to make the transition. He’s approachable, affable, and he’s very curious and makes it all interesting to those of us who are curious, too. He could effectively introduce the tech world to those outside of it, if he didn’t assume his audience already knows who all the players are, etc.
Maybe PodtechForDummies.com is available.
“Their new model, which finds and signs talent for guaranteed revenue, and then aggregates sites to advertisers, is a good one.”
Doesn’t Podtech’s new business model sound alot like PodShow’s business model? … and wasn’t the idea of creating original content obviously going to burn through their inverstor’s money at a quick rate? No wonder the investors want someone else at this point behind the Podtech wheel.
“Talent like Loren Feldman at 1938 Media and National Banana came on board and began using Podtech’s Flash player in exchange for guaranteed advertising revenue.”
Is this really the talent pool demographic they choosing to build out their brand and create their new business model around? Who will come on board next? Dawn and Drew? Looks to me like the new investors need to get someone else behind the Podtech wheel quickly with a demographic vision before their new money goes up in flames.
I see their bigger “brand” problem in their name. Using Pod in your brand at this point is so self limiting and confusing at this point. To compete in the online video space at this point, your line video brand needs to deliver so much more.
The point is they need to change their name to also move their brand away from yesterday’s media hype “podcasting” and in the direction of where online video is heading.
PodTech is the PayPerPost of podcasting. They started labelling some of their content as “commissioned,” but I have been burned too many times in the past with hidden advertorial content that I can’t give them a second chance.
There’s too much content and most of it sucks. Loren Feldman? Seriously.
Michael, I think you were very kind to them. A few more months. “If…”
Put a fork in them already! The company has NO focus!
Scoble is the only good thing they have. In a year from now they will be gone!
Dawn: PodtechForDummies.com You crack my up!!!!
I agree, Raj.
In fact, I’ve heard stories of Matt Kelly (auto podtech person) going in and basically selling shows to them, branded as real content. You’ll notice that most (or the majority) of Podtech’s auto coverage is GM stuff. This is due to a deal they cut with GM. That’s not a strategy that is going to work long term.
A contact at Chrysler who I know said that Podtech was really pushing them hard on selling. These were PR guys who basically said, “look, we’re in PR and can give you access for your shows. We’re not buying them from you!”
“One of the soundest rules to remember when making forecasts in the field of finace is that whatever is to happen is happening already.”
@Fred
>I don’t want to call the new “out of content creation” policy dumb
Then I’ll do it for you. It’s dumb
For a company that seems to be all over the place, they have a pretty high burn rate if $2M + current revenues would only last them “a few more months”.
Do they have in-house advertising sales? I’d be curious how much of that is headcount - as an aggregator of third party content I would expect them to be able to reduce staff as opposed to having expensive content creators on salary.
Is it time to scratch this one off the list (http://www.go2web20.net/ ) then?
That’s a shame. They don’t appear to be a very focused organization though…. In addition, I have to wonder how big the audience for podcasting is to begin with.
It seems to me that the biggest error that many of these new Web 2.0 start ups is that they all target the same web-savvy audience with little or no just how great the gap is between the average person and a web-savvy person. Average people do not read blogs, post on forums, care if you are “web 2.0,” or use podcasts. Average users have a facebook or myspace, go on Youtube (but don’t have an account), use Google, and that about does it.
John Furrier posted over here: http://podtech.wordpress.com/2.....sic-facts/
I’ll talk later, but I gotta go and interview Michael Arrington for my show.
Scoble & Co DOA.
Goodbye Podtech
Goodbye Podtech, nice knowing you! Fun while it lasted
While I certainly do not want to believe in a Web 2.0 bubble, this is too good of an example of funding stupidity to be optimistic. Why would you go in this direction? It’s so clear that Google knows what is needed to create the real value in this space, including as open, free and ubiquitous access as there can be. C’mon money guys, starting drinking the right koolaid here. Get the creative vision of service to humanity here. Figure it out!
Good insight as usual Dr. Mike.
get their burn rate very low ummmm - can you cite any examples of a companies that did this in time to survive?
I enjoy Robert’s perspectives and consider him a real blogging leader and a digital inspiratation to the rest of us, but I don’t have the time to invest in his videos or PodTech’s other rich content. (just the facts please!)
Producing quality content is now playing with pawns rather than kings, and for some time it will be the companies that leverage the flood of free content or help people process the maelstrom of content that will win. e.g Facebook, Google, and your personal favorite winner, TechCrunch!
I enjoy the videos on Podtech a lot. They have done a good job with a few of the giants but one suggestion would be to make a list of all the tech companies, vc and individuals making news and visit each one including conferences and web 2.0 events.
Well with almost 40 full time employees I see how they’ve managed to incinerate the cash they were already given. I always thought of Podtech as a stealth, efficient, lean media property. With not being in the content creation biz anymore and just aggregating why would you need all those salaries? I don’t get it.
When the Web 2.0 bubble bursts big time in a year or two, maybe this will open up a big “domain name nostalgia” market… Maybe I can pick up podtech.net from a squatter on the cheap.
A wordpress.com blog doesnt really make a great impression as a corporate blog. Or is that more a personal thing ? Anyway, when scoble joined I checked out some of the videos, but once you have seen one startup (or two) you’ve seen them all. There were a few exceptions that were informative, but most of it is just a waste of time.
And I was just going to send them a pitch! Love their player though
It is amazing ppl line up for youtube but not for podcast.
Vijay
Podcasting will never be what it has been cracked up to be. Also, the iPod will be just another memory in 2 years. One more thing, as for podcast on cell phones, that’s another dead end road.
I can’t imagine the arrogant Furrier taking himself out, that has to be spin. And I hear from chatter that they only got half of the 2 million, with performance goals, for the other half.
Honestly, I’m quite happy that Scoble and Furrier ignored my inquiry to work together. I wanted to license (for free) my interviews with the likes of Craig Newmark, Kevin Rose, Mark Spencer, Dr. David Farber, Webaroo and others to be featured on their network.
I chalked it up to ego — Something I’ve never experienced over the years with folks like Gates, Ballmer and other guys that just happen to know this “nobody”.
It’s great being mysterious and unknown to most people.
my guess is that Facebook will hire Scoble (and other family members as that seems to be part of the deal) soon…given all of the publicity that Scoble gives Facebook and the space it occupies…it would not surprise me at all.
plus… if they are not creating new content and are strapped for cash, why would they have a VP of Content (or whatever his title is).
#38: we’re not “strapped for cash” and we are not getting out of content development. I don’t know where Mike got that.
#31: >once you have seen one startup (or two) you’ve seen them all.
Eric, one question: why are you reading TechCrunch then? All I see here is discussion about startups.
I cover a lot more than just startups. Today I have a distinguished engineer at IBM.
Many companies seem to think like “build, and they will come”… It just doesn’t work like this…
Online video is very hard to monetize. It’s a nice ‘icing on the cake’ but the content which is faster to produce and gets real traffic is textual blog posts, not video blog interviews which ramble on for 20 mins. When I do a video interview I keep it to 10 mins max, usually 5. People get bored otherwise. Unless Podtech can come up with truly compelling content for a business audience, or more professional stuff for a consumer audience it should call it a day.
Scoble and Facebook, now I see it…
Mike Arrington, at the spring VON conference, at your session with Robert Scoble, you said doing video was “hard”. You were half right. It’s hard when you do it RIGHT. By “right”, I mean having a working knowledge of the language of film.
I’ve got to echo the comments of Mike Butcher here. Video is nice “icing on the cake”, and when syndicated, can drive people to your site. I never really quite understood then need to SEE a 20 minute talking head. I think you can use video to tell business stories in a human compelling way. To do that though you need to have an understanding of the “grammar” or narrative style of visual storytelling.
If PodTech hopes to capitalize on producing their own content, they need to reach out to people who combine a traditional media skill set with a passion for emerging media. I’m just sayin’.
There is a reason we don’t do start-up content deals. Creating truly compelling content requires heavy investments upfront with no guarantee that it will find an audience, or any insurance that the audience will stick around. In the case of Podtech, they don’t have either compelling or the audience, giving them anything further is more likened to a grant.
@robert, yes I know, that is an excellent video, that’s what I meant by a few exceptions ;). BTW i came here through techmeme, i dont read techcrunch that often.
Loren Feldman is an ugly prick and asshole. Furrier was wise to can him.
Giving Feldman a forum is no better than giving bin Laden a forum; they’re both pricks, just with slightly different branding. Feldman, with a target on his forehead, should be used on a recruiting poster for al Qaeda.