Zivity, the adult social network and media site that describes itself as a “community-powered showcase of female beauty”, has laid off 1/3 of its staff, cutting back from 22 employees to 14. (Again, 1/3 seems to be the magic number - Jive and Seesmic have both laid off about a third of their staff in the last week).
Zivity is in a unique position as one of the only venture capital backed sites with “adult” content (i.e. nudity), and has raised a total of $8 million. Earlier this year the site scored Napster co-founder Jordan Ritter as its CTO.
Co-founder Cyan Banister says that cuts were made across the board, and that the layoffs are a preventative measure that will ensure the company’s sustainability over the next few years as it has become much more difficult to raise further rounds of financing in the current economic climate. The site is still in private beta, and Banister expects that it will go public in the first quarter of 2009.
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Do the markets affect peoples sexual activity? when times are bad do you have less sex or more sex?
none! i guess
http://12tb.com
You have more. It’s just angrier.
I have always wondered if you have a successful website does it help with the girls? When those Twit CEOs say I am the CEO of twitter do the girls go ooh awww?
If you are confident about whatever you do, that’s what gets girls. A site, flippin’ burgers, if you’re really into it and they see you are, you’ll get em easy.
The girls will then ask, what’s Twitter
Arrrg…what is the point of building a website if it don’t help with the babes…so true about twitter which is funny because the girls I know can text a million miles a minute. Me thinks twitter would be broke if the “gossip girl” type market ever started to use it. By the way that is a weakness of the iphone I have been told. It is hard to use with long nails.
here comes another bubble ……………..
No bubble here, just a really poor business model…
As a photographer, I used the site but found it to be extremely non user friendly with rudimentary carrot and stick business practices.
The ONE cool thing, was the founder chic posing nude. I was hoping this would become a trend in the start-up world… actually, still hoping. hehe.
There’s nothing adult about this - that’s simply a euphemism for stuff you’d rather not have everyone know that you do.
It’s not cool, not helpful to individual nor society, not admirable in the least.
What a pitiful way to use real talent and creativity.
Spot on!!!
I find it cool.
And helpful - males me feel good.
And I admire people who are willing to do that for me.
Moral: Different strokes for different _____, Mr Bob.
I actually never found Zivity all that “adult”. I’m more of a kink.com kinda person though, I guess.
Try taking the thing out Beta and get it live and then you might not need funding.
I met Cyan down in Hollywood and she struck me as a can do kind of chicky-dude (no slander meant, I call my daughters chicky-dudes and I hope to help them take over the world someday and rule with an iron fist) that speaks soft in-order to throw you off guard and then she hits you with the brain power. Odd business model but they are making money.
This “Was that my out loud voice?” moment brought to you by:
Michael Kassing
MarkTend.com (decidedly unsexy except to Trademark Lawyers)
http://marktend.com
This site is such a waste. Free porn abounds, so no one is going to pay, really. And if they do want to pay, why would they use a SuicideGirls knockoff when you could use the original? Just because there’s some kind of weak social network wrapped around it?
It really, really doesn’t make any sense to me.
When adult sites have economic problems, that’s when you know the economy is in real trouble.
Looked at Zivity a few times, nice site, but a little clunky. Nice pics but mainly a glamour type site.
Props to the crew there and hopefully can turn it around.
The only place for sex online is porn.
People, when not in the mood, don’t want to social network about porn.
It’s like taxes or the dentist, when you have to do it - you have to do it, but you don’t linger around a ’social sex’ site just for the sake of it on your free time
Why pay for porn? I remember finding it free online from a Classroom at Microsoft Sweden back in 1994. Trumpet Winsock, come back! All is forgiven!
Maybe startups are realizing that they are over-staffed and are learnign the hard way not to burn through investor cash so quickly?
http://www.BeatlesConcerts.com
Won’t this site have the same exact problem as Playboy is having? Why would anybody pay to see super soft-core porn when it’s free everywhere? For $10/month, you can get this: http://www.videobox.com.
Like Hi5 and all the others, looks like they’re just taking Ron Conway’s advice and “raising an internal round” .
;P
Now they just need to cut 2/3 more and they’ll be right on track!
I am sure you meant “the remaining 2/3″ .. because cut 2/3 more doesn’t mean they’ll be at 0
I thought that it might be useful if someone who actually subscribes to Zivity chimed in.
I am a huge fan of Zivity. And to call it porn site shows a lack of understanding.
Yes, it has nudity. It also has pictures of women fully dressed. In a nutshell, Zivity is a community of models, photographers and fans, who like pictures of beautiful women. Not airbrushed, not explicit, not-exploited women. And sometimes they get naked.
I talk to a lot of Zivity models. I spend just as much time talking to Zivity photographers. Teenaged boys are not the target audience. People like myself are the target audience. People who are unashamed to say that the female form is beautiful, and we like to see it photographed in beautiful and creative ways. People who like professional photography, and want to encourage those who are really good at it.
There is a niche for Zivity, and I’m proud to support them. I hope today’s events make them financially strong enough to endure. I for one will do everything I can to support them.
There may indeed be a niche for Zivity, but wedged in between free internet porn and the established premium pay sites, the niche isn’t big enough to make money in. Zivity is a guaranteed waste of venture capital.
I said here, the first time it was reported on, that Zivity would never make it. I’m willing to double down on that statement now …
@gresh, sure you may end up calling this one in the end, and then again, you may be dead wrong. As with any startup, only time will tell.
Given the slumping economy, they have made a smart move to cut back for the greater good of the company’s future.
@PKReeves Well said! I, too, am a big fan of Zivity and agree that there is a niche audience for Zivity. An audience of models, photographers and fans of tasteful, high quality art who are willing to pay for the value it provides.
I wish the Zivity team all the best in these challenging times!
The zen of nudity is not affected by the BARE market. Global warming will cause more of us to shed our masks.
1/3 is the Magic Percent so show investors that you are serious! For some reason I am less concerned that these cuts are being made due to the fact that they all seem like good cuts that need to be made… Even AdBrite, should be closer to profitability with these cuts!
the fact is there is little room to market softcore. the only way playboy gets away with it is by having famous models.
softcore of pretty nobodies is a dead-end.
I’m a Zivity member, and I don’t think the ‘you can get porn for free’ argument is valid/applicable. It’s about quality, and, sometimes, having some level of interaction with the models.
Why pay for VB, when you can just go to Videosz.com and download all you want?
Better quality and easier navigation than VB.
http://www.videosz.com
I am very upset. I had an account for the beta site and now it does not work.
Fabian,
I just looked up your account and it should be working properly. Please don’t hesitate to contact me. cyan at zivity.com
Cyan
can I be a model here? just kidding
with your smile you would never need to be
I mean that as a compliment.
Nobody else see the irony that the employees were LAID off?
Ok, maybe it blows when someone loses their job. Opps, sorry.
Hold on tight. It’s going to be quite a ride. People shouldn’t live with their families’ futures impacted by poor management at the company they work at, Wall Street, etc. Consider alternatives and the possibility that you can be self employed. Entrepreneurs are developed, not born. http://www.LikeSoup.com
Clod winter is comming!
I’m a bit disappointed no one has made any jokes about an adult website’s “staff” getting smaller. But I won’t.
I dont now kinda funny for an adult site to be laying people off lol. Seems like everybody is being affected by the economy. Never thought I would hear this.
Steve
grindvision
im glad about this, dont need another sex driven website ..
http://gatesandjobs.blogspot.com/
Does that mean we get 1/3 boobies as well? huh?
On a site like that, what do even 14 people do all day??
That is pretty crazy. Has anyone heard anything about http://www.pornstargf.com ? Thanks.
It’s not a layoff, it’s just a way to get rid of *dead wood*.
What a total moron you are