Socializr, the online event organization tool that first went into private beta in 2006, isn’t in good shape.
We’ve heard from a couple of sources that Socializr has laid off most or all of the staff and that the site is running on autopilot. The company confirms cost reductions but won’t go into more detail on the scope of the layoffs. From founder Jonathan Abrams:
We are definitely not shutting down our site, or our operations, or the company, but Socializr has taken cost reduction steps to adjust both to the economic conditions and the time required to grow an event invitation service, and we expect these moves to help us get close to cash-flow positive, albeit on a very lean burn-rate, and last a couple of years without needing further capital. Additional details are company confidential, hope you understand.
Abrams is best known for founding Friendster in 2002, one of the first popular social networks. Friendster ultimately lost its pole position in social networking to MySpace, which in turn lost to Facebook. But Friendster created a template for a user profile and friending that is still used by competitors.
Socializr was dubbed “evite 2.0″ when it first launched by various press, but it turns out that it’s probably competitive pressure from Facebook and others that have doomed the service. Evite hasn’t evolved much, but more social invitation products, such as those offered by Facebook, have stolen a lot of new user growth. Socailizr, which never had a huge user base, can’t compete with what is essentially a side feature at the mammoth Facebook.
Compete shows Socializr peaking at 90,000 or so monthly U.S. visitors earlier this summer, which is certainly not enough to sustain a venture backed business. The company raised a total of $2.25 million over two rounds, the latest in 2007.
It doesn’t look like Socializr is shutting down any time soon, but it’s definitely on DeadPool watch. Let’s hope it can find a way to pull out a win, even a small one.
bummer. these days the only way to really spark is by having a sincere viral strategy which many startups miss.
WTF is viral?
see napster.
AKA- stealing stuff and giving it out for free.
many of these deadpool companies (or deadpool watch companies) had the innovation in the beginning. but as of late just havent had anything that sets them apart from the big guys (facebook, twitter, google etc)
But when you read about reCaptcha being acquired by Google you realize that these niche companies can out-innovate the big guys. Its about continuously staying above the curve but that seems to only happen once in a blue moon.
Getting to the top is one thing, staying there is quite another. Friendster is a very good system for other parts of the world btw where facebook doesn’t dominate, so it still has a lot of room to grow as there are billions of people on Earth and many more billions to come.
Jon @ WoodMarvels.com
Agree. This prevalent attitude in Silicon Valley that if it isn’t relevant or big in the US, then it isn’t relevant or big.
This isn’t 2000, and one can be both highly relevant and really big in areas beyond the North American continent, without having much of a presence on that continent.
Sounds nice but totally false.
i hope you’re joking.
It’s really laughable how you include Twitter in a list of “big companies.” Facebook is getting there, but hardly qualifies as big.
Facebook has more customers than Walmart, GE, GM, Amex and the USPS *combined*. How are you defining “big”?
planet earth big.
Money penny big
Money-wise.
If I open a giant free store, I’d have a lot of customers too. Heck, I might even survive for a year by just selling advertisements to the products I give away for free inside.
Facebook is microscopic.
You have a very loose definition of customers. Users != Customers. Users = Product. Advertisers = Customers.
Except they’re not paying for anything. Walmart might have mullets, but they pay cash.
i doubt there’s a tech company out there that would’nt lay off all their staff if given the opportunity. as the internet matures and innovates it will inevitably put more workers out of work. the term startup’s will be replaced wih the term startin’s putting the internet as we knew it on deadpool watch.
Here it comes: Verizon says 16,000 layoffs wont be enough.
http://www.dslr...s-Coming-104411
The Internet is Next. dont quit your day jobs.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
BrainDeadPool
You need to create a new category for those companies like Socializr who technically still exist but are clearly dead in the head.
Or may be be a bad boy (firm). Look at the kind of coverage Joe Wilson and Kanye West got.
No one ever mentions SixDegrees when discussing social networking history – it predated Friendster by a few years.
and 100,000 years ago our ancestors sat by a fire. and grunted at each other… What Abrams did with Friendster was important in the evolution of the web.
Hey Michael, you should check out Sponty (http://www.thesponty). We have an interesting take on planning casual social events; all your friends are implicitly invited, and creating event is as easy as tweeting.
wrong, abrams just copied ideas from ryze, many of them like tribe, linkedin etc. followed ryze, of course ideas get copied again and again in the tech, the end game is who is the winner!!!
The use Indiana Jones font on their website.
I used to work for Jonathan years ago at another failed company. I foresaw this happening. When Hotlinks failed, I saw the spending they were doing to expand their networks, however I didn’t see any push to get it out. But back then it was a different internet world and I was very naive.
However I could see Socializr falling into the same rut. I didn’t see any pushing from this company and it just got overshadowed by everything else in the interwebs.
Sounds interesting to #Amiando
Nooooooooo!!! I love Socializer! Evite totally sucks and I was so happy when I found Socializer.