
Waiting...
... for that next dot com bubble to burst. These ridiculous valuations are just unsustainable.
Cupcake and kitten-laden photo site Pinterest has bagged $100m in funding from a bunch of investors led by Japanese online retailer Rakuten. Rakuten said today that it was heading up the multimillion-dollar handout with help from existing Pinterest investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners and FirstMark Capital …
I use it to for interior design. I pin photos of a room, and products I'm thinking of buying to put in it, e.g. new curtains, paint colours etc. Others do the same thing for clothes. Basically it is a visual delicious, so just as useful as a bookmarking site, but more fun/comprehensible to non-geeks.
It is based on a popular US hobby called pinboarding. It is very popular, 80% of US users of pinterest are women.
As for commercials... They get lots of intent driven sales click throughs. http://www.shopify.com/blog/6058268-how-pinterest-drives-ecommerce-sales
The obvious business model is the same as Google's. Steal other people's content, let users organise it for you for free, then charge other people to get the resultant clicks.
Given all of the above, it seems a reasonable valuation.
Good explanation, although I would conclude differently. If it's an operation whose shtick is basically ripping off other people's content (and no doubt stripping EXIF/copyright info in the process... just checked - yep that's exactly what they do) then the valuation is an utter sham.
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Good article on the copyright issues at stake:
http://mansurovs.com/pinterest-copyright-infringement-made-cool
Pinterest needs to make an image fingerprinting scheme... so if images are resized or slightly cropped, they can't be uploaded again if they are taken down. It's not a terribly hard programming problem and it would solve the concerns of many. Better yet if they let photographers preemptively add their photos to the "no upload" database so we don't have to go searching for infringements.
I shouldn't have to add my photos to a 'do not steal' database to stop people stealing them - I don't have to add my TV or car to a 'do not nick' database. My photos are copyright unless I say they aren't!
Given the impossibility of stopping copyright rip-off ina dvance, the obvious alternative is for Pinterest to agree to pay ($100 a go?) for any copyright photos that appear on the site without authorisation.
> I don't have to add my TV or car to a 'do not nick' database.
True, but if you leave the driver's door open, the keys in the ignition and the engine running in the middle of London, you might be politely called "negligent."
Do not put stuff you don't want people to take in a place where they can take it. Especially if its impossible to tell if they have taken it or not, until after it has gone.
Wasn't that lesson #1 when you first wanted to take toys to school?
Ahh, facilitating copyright infringement and hoping idiots hand over money in return? One wonders how Rakuten managed to get so much money in the first place.
Not looking forward to this bubble breaking; idiocy like this is not going to do any favours to genuinely worthwhile startups in the near future.
I doubt that the bursting of bubble 2.0 is going to make much difference when it comes to getting funding for 'genuinely worthwhile' startups in the future. The dumb money that's funding the bubble would never have invested in them in the first place.
> If not, perhaps someone would care to bridge the divide?
I dare say most of us who are male and understand why Pinterest is popular find the thought of explaining it to the rest of you too wearying. "Look, here's an activity which I do not immediately find engaging. It must be incomprehensible!"
But those who want to take that first tremulous step into the exciting world of understanding other people might consider some related cultural activities, such as the taking and sharing of amateur photographs; reading store catalogs, fashion and "lifestyle" magazines, and the like; perusing the exhibits of a fair's awards hall. A few folks have engaged in that sort of thing over the years.
I personally have a Pinterest account only because my wife sometimes refers me to things she might want me to purchase (gifts, home furnishings, etc) featured therein. My leisure time is taken up by other activities I find more entertaining. But I don't have any problem understanding why others might enjoy it.
Firstly, Google+ was forced upon us, but nobody uses it, so don't start.
I run a big music & entertainment website at onedirection.net and up till today I've only ever saw the need to include Facebook, Twitter, and yes Google+ buttons, as they're the big three.
Pinterest has grown so fast though out of genuine word of mouth. Its a site that people like, and its a great alternative to both FB and TW. So much so that Ive now added a "Pin This" button on the site.
Guaranteed, we're seeing a viable new entry in the social media market here, not just an over-inflated-about-to-burst one.
And its quite cool too. Give it a go.
Chris.
Anyone looking for similar sites to Pinterest now that they have burst the bubble:
Boxnutt (http://www.boxnutt.com): Reddit meets Pinterest
Pinspire - same as pinterest
Chill (http://www.chill.com): for videos
Trippy (http://www.trippy.com): for travelling
Gentlemint (http://www.gentlemint.com): for guys