Boca Raton, Florida based VOIS Inc offers yet another social networking site but with one distinct difference: it’s traded on the OTC:BB.
The site itself offers your usual array of social networking features: user profiles, blogs, groups, classifieds etc etc. Traffic to the site isn’t wonderful, but I’ve seen far worse as well, with vois.com tracking at around the 10,000 mark on Alexa. Of course it wouldn’t be a social network if it wasn’t popular in a country most of you won’t care about: VOIS is big in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan, tracking in the top 1000 sites in each country.
The OTC listing looks and feels like a Web 1.0 play it’s because it is. VOIS Inc., was previously MedStrong International, and changed its name to VOIS Inc in March after acquiring (or merging) with VOIS Networks in February. Back-door listings might be on the way back; this is the second social networking site listed this way we’ve reported on recently, with BOOMj having taken the same path in late October.
I can’t see VOIS winning any awards for its service, but those with a stock market fetish looking to play around with some investments in this space, VOIS gives you that option.
when i first enter the site, VOIS give me feel like Yahoo! especially the icon at left corner.
deadpool.
… let me qualify my post – simply too many social networking sites. VOIS could be a great site, but I think that there are already too many me too social networking sites. Best of luck to VOIS.
Hmm. Let me think. OTC-listed and run out of Boca Raton, Florida. Ouch. I would not touch that deal with a 10-foot pole.
Although I’m not a fan of the OTCBB, with respect to raising capital, the public route is another option whose time is coming back.
As smaller investors see the type of returns angels and vc’s are making and/or the valuations being thrown around on the likes of Digg, Facebook, myspace etc…it is inevitable that public equity markets become interested again in web startups.
Depending on the local laws regarding raising money from “insiders” like family and friends, etc…sometimes it can be easier to find a public shell or inactive company, merge – then complete a private placement through a boutique firm.
It’s easy to dismiss this as a Web 1.0 play, and I’m not necessarily arguing that point. What I am saying though is that markets go in cycles and now that everyone has made their buckets full of cash in oil & gas, metals & mines, they are looking for other risk to bring them the returns they were enjoying elsewhere.
Mark my words, web startups and tech will be on the upswing soon. Buyer beware though on anything on the pink sheets as the OTCBB is called.
Generally these BB plays issue very small amounts of stock…between 1-3 million shares is the norm…this way, they can control the float and then hype the stock beyond belief…and it often will run like crazy…i remeber adsp in the fall of ‘99…started 1 day at 2.50 per share…issued a misleading press release hyping something about DSL…the shorts involved with Anthony @pacific over at the very popular ‘Silicon Investor’ message boards got involved too early…the stock closed at 10…then opened the next day at 21…this is where i began shorting it…the squeeze was ON…stock traded to 57 intra-day as it wiped out hundreds of accounts…literally…people went from 500k one day to negative account value the next…i knew some of these people…closed that day at 37…over the weekend, the truth began to be exposed…opened monday at 27 and then just went into a slow death spiral for a week until it finally got back down to the single digits…
but that 27 hour ride from 2 to 57 destroyed many great amateur short sellers…i survived however and went on to thrive as a short seller as the bubble finally popped 3 1/2 months later.,..
anybody remember any of this…?…or anthony@pacific…or the old silicon investor message boards…or the value that was placed on ’silicon investor’ at the time..what an era…
i made over $6 million trading in 22 months starting with just 50k on august 4th of 1998…and 95% of the money was made on the short side…
is there anybody reading this that used to be a part of silicon investor…and remember these times…just curious
sorry for the threadjack but stories of otc bb scams just bring out the old short seller still deep inside…
Duncan, thanks for the tip. I’ll be shorting the sh*t out of this stock.
I don’t think I’ve ever come across a real entrepreneur who has benefited from an OTC listing (or a listing on any similar bottom feeder exchange). The value can never catch up with the promote and you end up dealing with ignorant retail investors who’ve been suckered by the promote. Your odds of actually being able to trade a significant number of your shares at a decent price are zero.
SO AMAZING i’m shocked. i’m dieing for this.
this looks like it’s gonna end badly
what you know about Songza fool — google it! Songza i say
Wow, what a weak post: ‘This site has none of the features you’re interested in, and is basically shitty, but they’re listed on the stock exchange, so if you’re an idiot, you can lose your shirt.’
Public listing is good to get market feedback and raise cheap riskfree capital.
http://tekno-wo...ld.blogspot.com
“VOIS is big in Egypt, Palestine and Jordan”
Very interesting.
Interesting story. Normally I would agree Boca Raton is certainly not San Francisco but it seems like a lot of new social networks are coming from that area – just look at multiply.co (in Boca Raton) (they raised like $24 mil) story I read here on tech crunch and moli.com a few miles away. I think its called the internet coast or somehting down there. From the looks of things the vois folk have been plugging away at this for a while. The alexa chart has been growing for a solid year with big increases over last 3 months
Some of the features looks interesting, hopefully it will work nice for specific niche.
They get their new members by replying to personal ads on craigslist. Their feature set is similar to myspace 2 years ago but they are adding new things. I signed up a couple weeks ago but found anything compelling on there. But then again I also never found anything compelling about myspace.
I am waiting to get an email telling me to “hurry up and buy this one…It’s going to explode!!”. I am a financial analyst and I can almost guaranty you that this is NOT a good investment idea….Of course, if you like pump and dump schemes you may be in luck!!
YAAAAAAAAAAAWN… these “social” sites are multiplying faster the rabbits, looking forward to the long overdue cull.
Jon
I actually think the site is kind of unique! I just signed up and thought the my favorite URL was cool and I can see by they are big in foreign lands since they have the quick comment features. The customize section has thousands of graphics…..I feel this could catch on
I am not educated enough in the stock market to pass judgment on that aspect, but I think the site is quite a bit better then some of the competitors. I have been on the site for months and cannot believe the dramatic changes they have made to it. I have sent in suggestions and they actually respond and make the changes I have requested. For this reason alone they will have one up on the competition.
Don’t know what you guys are talking about. If it were to be a failure, it wouldn’t have been on the OTC, investors wouldn’t have backed it and it won’t be trading at $9 when companies such as local.com are trading around $4. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get listed on NASDAQ sometime soon.
From a design aspect, VOIS is very well done.
The ease of navigation and user friendly customization makes it easy for your everyday person to feel they have control of their own look for their page.
On a financial aspect.
Sometimes companies use the BB as a platform to get to a higher exchange, so people shouldn’t be so negative.
I really enjoy Vois and all it stands for.
Very interesting!
I really like the Vois site. It’s easy to understand and the people seem real! Thanks Vois!
I have signed up with them and liked the fact they have a business perspective, business social networking in their approach.
You get a chance to expose your services, find like minded business people etc etc. Never found this on any other site. Did you?
I get to see who has been looking at me and that is pretty interesting so is the epost, but my favorite is the speed search. This site will get more attention from me now thanks michael
So no VC’s anymore…OTC is the new route.
http://www.meetingflex.com
spam
the only thing that seems like spam on this site is the yelp sucks guy
hey, if anyone from vois is listening thanks for the site, it’s GREAT, good luck!!!
To Scott #18:
Like I said in #5, I don’t care for otc stocks, but I do have a question for you.
In most cases when someone in the oil & gas or metals & mines sector (usually a geologist) is convinced they’ve found something, they turn to the public markets to raise the money.
A company like Ultra Petroleum, which now trades on the Amex at $50, and has solid assets in both the US and China started out on what was the sleezy Vancouver stock exchange to raise the money they needed to sink the drills and get some results. This was a $1.90 stock as little as 10 years ago. As a financial analyst I’m sure you’ve heard of the stock and wouldn’t have much bad to say about it – although your attitude suggests you’d try.
So, back to tech. Why the negativity? You appear to have little or no knowledge on the stock, the company, or what their future plans are – yet you throw out the term pump and dump and slam them. As a FA you may not recommend their stock to anyone (based on the goals of the individual investor and their risk profile), but they didn’t deserve to be thrashed and labeled as a con.
That is unless you have some further information you’d like to share with the rest of the group???
@Vishal Mehta
“Don’t know what you guys are talking about. If it were to be a failure, it wouldn’t have been on the OTC, investors wouldn’t have backed it and it won’t be trading at $9 when companies such as local.com are trading around $4. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get listed on NASDAQ sometime soon.”
Local.com has a higher market cap than VOIS. Stock price is irrelevant. You need to multiply stock price x shares outstanding to see the market capitalization, which is a true measure of the markets assessment of a companies worth. As an example, Berkshire Hathaway shares, which have never split, trade at $132,000 a share, and the company has a market cap. of ~$200 billion. Exxon shares trade at $87 and the company has a market cap of ~$485 billion. In any case, what is the point of this post? There are tons of crappy social networking sites…you can make your own with NING in no time. There are also tons of crappy companies traded on the pink sheets (and surely some good ones as well). This post serves no purpose. I agree with Josh and his assessment. “‘This site has none of the features you’re interested in, and is basically shitty, but they’re listed on the stock exchange, so if you’re an idiot, you can lose your shirt.”
@Vishal Mehta
wow. you demonstrate a total lack of understanding of stock price.
Think about this… if someone says they’ll sell you half of a Honda Accord for $15,000 or one thousandth of a Ferrari for $100, do you think that a Honda Accord is a better car than a Ferrari? Because that’s essentially the comparison you made.
Stock price has a LOT to do with what percentage of the company you get when you buy it. And as #33 said, multiplying by the number of shares outstanding helps you make a value judgment on the company. Stock price, times number of shares outstanding, tells you the market capitalization (or how much the WHOLE company is worth to the “market”). Then you can compare apples to apples.
In my car example, 15K x 2 = 30K. $100 x 1000 = 100K. The 100K Ferrari is “worth more”.
THIS IS GREAT!
Just what we needed! Another social network site!
This has made my day. I am so happy now that I am actually shitting rainbows.
Hey Alexanderpink
“‘This site has none of the features you’re interested in,
What features do you think they are missing? You shouldn’t make a comment like that without at least showing what features could help. They seem to have more features then myspace, hi5, friendster? So what makes them so bad?
I looked at their news
http://money.cn...308112007-1.htm
What do you think of their BRIC strategy? Those 15 fastest growing countries to target?
@Len: The only reason a technology company turns to the OTC:BB is because they can’t raise money from credible investors, or because they are seeking to benefit from some short-term hype that never produces a real business. I’d be surprised if you could refer me to some truly successful technology companies (i.e. who have launched a real technology-related service or product and are profitable and demonstrating consistent growth) that are OTC:BB listed, or point to others who have successfully made the transition to a senior exchange.
VOIS IS A BLAST!!!—-I HAVE TRIED OTHERS AND HATED THEM. IF YOUR LOOKING TO MEET NEW AND INTERESTING PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD—-THEN VOIS IS THE RIGHT SPOT.
This seems like a sham site.
I’m certain I’ve seen good old “Cindy blue eyes” on facebook somewhere recently, not NJ, not 28, not Cindy. Seems to be a new fad of recycling photos e.g:
http://www.seek...l.php?id=119971
Dan
To quicklly answer your question I can refer you to many but I guess you never heard of a stock BIDZ.com stock BIDZ they went otcbb to nasdaq just in june 2007 $6 to $14 a share take a look
http://www.high...-164531398.html
chart
http://finance....&q=l&c=
In this market who is doing an ipo? especially in the usa
alibaba just did theirs on hong kong exchange
exchange
I have looked at the information above, and joined the vois site. I find that this is a very neat site and easy to find my way around. There are not a lot of children, teens, or young adults. People here seem to be about my age range.
When I go onto my Myspace page I get hammered with ad’s for ringtones and medical marajuna. There were kids inviting me to raves and bulletins galore of things that make me feel old. I am 48 years old and have never rave’d.
I feel that this vois is something I will give a try. I can always go to the rave later if it does not work out. lol.
Oh yeah Nasdaq was a OTC company before they went on the Nasdaq. Can you imagine that? Nasdaq was on the OTC. You can’t make that kind of stuff up.
I hope the Yelp guy stays here.
There are too many of this social networking sites now. I think it’s just getting to be too much.
VOIS is not like all the other social forums. True, there are hundreds of them out there. But this one is right up there with MySpace. What makes it even better is that it is extremely user-friendly and easy to navigate. The founders are always doing updates to improve the ease of use. Unlike other sites, it is very “business-friendly” and is a great way to market yourself in whatever profession you are in.
Above all, the people who run the site are very attainable and always answer your questions or emails promptly. It’s certainly not like trying to get in touch with “Tom” and getting an automatically-generated reply. Gary and Herb are REAL people and will respond to your needs. I know because I am one of the original first sign-up participants and anytime I have ever sent a message I get a personal response in return.
This site is destined to be bigger and better than Facebook, Hi5 and numerous other sites that are more or less a waste of time. You’d be smart to stick with it and interact with other business professionals because you never know just who you might meet one day.
Here’s to a prosperous day….
@ #38 Daniel Gibbons and others
Believe it or not, Intermix Media (previously eUniverse) was an OTC listed company and they had a pretty decent product (MySpace, among other valuable internet properties). They seemed to do okay – if okay is selling our company a few months too soon and for about 1/10th of the value. Seriously, they made to jump to legitimacy from the OTCBB and created a product with stying power.
#44
eUniverse (ticker EUNI) was traded on the nasdaq back in the day before being delisted. Intermix Media (new company name) then traded on the AMEX.
Neither of those two companies ever traded on the OTC, which is a much shadier way of listing a public company.
VOIS has pump and dump written all over it.
To Daniel #38:
As I said in both of my earlier posts, I’m not a fanboy of the OTCBB, so I won’t be trying to validate their existence. I’ve never bought or sold any stock listed on the pick cheats. (funny that spelling mistake wasn’t intentional but I’ve left it)
My comparison with respect to oil & gas and metals & mines was simply used to illustrate the point that there are more ways to raise capital to build a company, than to shop it out to angels and venture funds. Often these industries requires dumptrucks of cash to drill their holes and fly their 3d equipment to prove what’s in the ground. Quite a few times they fail and no different than the multitudes of tech startups that fail for any number of reasons.
The way you and others have posted your comments, you are classifying those companies using an alternative method to raise funds as fraudsters. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t – I don’t know.
However unless you’ve seen their b-plan, or some further info on the company that suggests that they are not worthy of any valuation, your comments are as baseless as their stock price may be.
Oh, and for all of those people who have never posted here before and are giving rave reviews of the site – you can save your time – it’s quite obvious what you’re up to.
To Vic,
I dont know about these countries, but it is very popular here in Atlanta. And most important – people are real. Thats all I need.
At Josh (#12)
Wow, what negative energy. It is quite obvious that you didn`t even try Vois.
Real people. Real connections.
For me, it is pretty simple:
Nowhere on net are you able to find any tools for vois such as MySpace add friends bots or similar.
But, of course, it all depends of you … if you like to chat with fake ones – MS is right for you. Enjoy it!