Comments on: Tales From The Deadpool: Amp’d Mobile’s Sordid Remains

By: Sky Dayton Steps Down As CEO of Helio

Sky Dayton Steps Down As CEO of Helio — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:34:33 +0000

[...] going through $360 million in capital, some of which went to buying ads on MTV and distributing promotional condoms. Hopefully, Helio won’t suffer the same fate. CrunchBase Information Helio Information [...]

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 23:57:49 +0000

Burning through $360 million – wow.

By: AW

AW — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:06:49 +0000

Man, I saw that picture in my RSS reader before I even saw the name of the article and almost spit soda all over my monitor.

Truly ironic. How do you burn through 300+ million? Maybe the investors should have been the one wearing condoms…

By: Josh

Josh — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:43:23 +0000

I dunno, I think the condom is pretty damn clever. Then again, i watch a lot of Ultimate Fighting Championship, where Amp’d ran a lot of ads.

By: Steen

Steen — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:28:19 +0000

Where is the bankruptcy auction taking place?

By: Lateefx

Lateefx — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:07:32 +0000

I give this post an A+ just for that last line…with the ridiculously humorous pun about getting “FLEECED!”

By: Steve Ballmer

Steve Ballmer — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:19:47 +0000

Is it me or does that look like a picture of a ummm well, you know.

http://fakestev...er.blogspot.com

By: Alex Miller

Alex Miller — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:04:54 +0000

I love how stupid they are. If no one has kids, then they’re entire business is finished.(I tried to make this funny… but nothing that came out*snicker* would be appropriate for the interweb.)

By: Ah Yer!

Ah Yer! — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:31:41 +0000

Maybe he should send those to all the investors who pumped money into Amp’d and themselves got fleeced in the process.

Maybe the investors should have invested their money in something sensible.

I have no sympathy for investors. If they can’t tell something good and decent from bull, they shouldn’t call themselves investors. Do your homework before your invest, and odds are you won’t lose $360 mil.

By: Marketing Condoms

Marketing Condoms — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:06:51 +0000

[...] the title said Amp’d Mobile’s Sordid Remains we all know that Amp’d Mobile is [...]

By: Darin Carter

Darin Carter — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:59:33 +0000

Now thats some good marketing … LOL
Darin

By: ProfilePilot

ProfilePilot — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:58:40 +0000

“Try not to die” is only half as funny as “Amp’d Mobile Is Coming” stamped on a condom package. Odds are they won’t be “coming” any more so clearly the condoms are no longer necessary.

By: Timmah

Timmah — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:47:25 +0000

This is the greatest post… I have ever seen. NICE work.

By: Nigel Rowe

Nigel Rowe — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:30:29 +0000

># Gonzalo wrote
> Don’t know if it counts but there was a Facebook post on TCUK:
> http://uk.techc...30;..in-london/

I didn’t even know there was a Crunch UK site. Where is linked on the main TC page? Now I’m waiting for Crunch New Zealand, easy to read a few pages of articles a month probably…

By: Suzanne Fowler

Suzanne Fowler — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 18:21:39 +0000

Try Not to Die. Hilarious. If only their business plan were as good as their ability to acquire venture capitol.

By: Alan Wilensky

Alan Wilensky — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:27:12 +0000

moderated? Me? Things just get worse.

By: pissed

pissed — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:17:37 +0000

Wow, maybe Amp’d will start paying off all of the contractors and vendors that they screwed over with the pennies on the dollar they have collected during their fire sale.

I find it disturbing that the media continues to hype the notion that Amp’d Mobile’s customers didn’t pay their bills.

Amp’d Mobile didn’t pay their own bills which forced contractors to not finish work that would have enabled their customers to pay their bills.

As one of the firms that got royally screwed the Amp’d senior staff and executive team are the folks who need to be held accountable, not the customer.

By: Alan Wilensky

Alan Wilensky — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:08:35 +0000

Wow! 360 million. Gone.

I have been trying to push an almost airtight business plan with an unassailable model since 2005, and I got nothing from any of the VC’s except blank stares. Then, they go and fund not only the likes of Amp’d – spectacular enough, but several web20 clones captained by well know valley figure heads that seem to specialize in burning small companies down in the post Series A phase.

Maybe a real mobile business plan that serves a working, blue-collar market is just not sexy when you can choose to place capital into dozens of social video sites that are virtual clones of each other. Bah!

http://abmw.wor...-business-plan/

http://abmw.wor...fleet-dispatch/

By: TDavid

TDavid — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:58:25 +0000

This line made me laugh: ““Try not to die.” Little did the Amp’d marketing genius who came up with that line know that the expiration dates on the condoms would outlast the company.”

Nicely written, Erick.

By: Resim

Resim — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:47:37 +0000

Virgin got in early and went after distribution (pre-paid wireless). IMO, MVNs aren’t good business. Too many unknowns about provider relationships/contracts–maybe for prepaid, but otherwise I’ll stick with Cingular.
Cool post
thanks

By: Pranjal

Pranjal — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:36:05 +0000

Damn!………they burned through $360 million and still a bankcrupty. If i had got a $100,000 out of that capital, I could have done some good web 2.0 product. Had some ideas but no cash. Just a simple blogger at the moment.

By: Gonzalo

Gonzalo — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:35:03 +0000

Don’t know if it counts but there was a Facebook post on TCUK:
http://uk.techc...bate-in-london/

By: ProHipHop: Hip Hop Business

ProHipHop: Hip Hop Business — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:34:11 +0000

Off Topic: Amp’d Mobile Condoms Outlast Company…

Big money, big ego, big bankruptcy sale: A company called VoodooVox…occupies Amp’d Mobile’s former posh offices on Union Square in Manhattan, complete with a massive terrace overlooking the city. VoodooVox CEO Scott Hamilton was able to acquire the…

By: Gonzalo

Gonzalo — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:30:37 +0000

There are several success cases of MVNOs in Europe, where prepay is more prevalent. I don’t have the figures, but Virgin Mobile is highly regarded in the UK and has a very different image than T-mobile, from whom they rent the infrastructure. It’s competitive advantage it’s based not only on marketing, but on excellent customer service, which is what most wireless carriers lack. Also, I think they keep a slimmer organization than traditional operators since they are usually able to beat them on price as well.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 16:29:46 +0000

We’re gonna party like it’s 1999…