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????8月1日，谷歌（Google）前拉丁美洲與亞太區(qū)運營負責(zé)人蘇克辛得?辛格?卡西迪正式啟動Joyus公司。這是一家集在線視頻、電子商務(wù)和社交平臺于一體的網(wǎng)站，也許對它的最佳描述是下一代電視購物廠商QVC。 ????Joyus的運作模式如下：Joyus特別關(guān)注美麗、時尚、生活和家居等方面的產(chǎn)品，目前已與數(shù)家女性產(chǎn)品生商達成協(xié)議。Joyus將制作長度為若干分鐘的網(wǎng)絡(luò)視頻，它們根據(jù)在線用戶的變化而進行有針對性的優(yōu)化（與長度為半分鐘的電視廣告相比可謂新生事物）。Joyus從廣告中收取少量費用并從成功的交易中收取一定傭金。 ????Joyus于今年2月啟動，最初由250名朋友及家人作為“種子客戶”，這些人可以邀請各自的朋友。隨后Joyus收購了時尚博客Splendora，隨著博客創(chuàng)始人吉娜?佩爾的不斷推薦，目前已有7萬到10萬名女性客戶正在關(guān)注Joyus的視頻。現(xiàn)在大家可以在Facebook上將自己加為Joyus的粉絲，Joyus還計劃在今年秋天面向全體客戶開放。 ????Joyus在啟動時發(fā)行了55萬美元的可換股票據(jù)，在第一輪融資中又成功募集到730萬美元。加速合伙公司（Accel Partners）和哈里森金屬（Harrison Metal）共同負責(zé)了此輪融資，辛格?卡西迪曾進入前者學(xué)習(xí)并開展過創(chuàng)業(yè)活動。其它投資者還包括天使投資人喬爾?海特（CurrentTV首席執(zhí)行官）、文吉?哈利那亞以及拉納得?拉賈羅曼【沃爾瑪（Walmart）電子商務(wù)部高管】。 ????寫到這里，我本應(yīng)該告訴你Joyus能否成功，或是會成為又一個風(fēng)險投資悲劇。不過我也不知道這個問題的答案。所以我不能告訴你答案。 ????但這并不意味著我無法列出Joyus的優(yōu)勢和劣勢。例如以下內(nèi)容： 優(yōu)勢： ????1 令人印象深刻的管理團隊：擁有卡西迪和易趣（eBay）前時尚產(chǎn)品負責(zé)人戴安娜?威廉姆斯等名角。 ????2 有機會通過在線購物和專注于年輕買家等手段顛覆當前的家庭購物市場，該市場目前正專注于電視渠道和年齡較大的買家。 ????3 辛格?卡西迪有可能利用在谷歌的經(jīng)驗，為Joyus加入個性化。假如我們正在觀看QVC，那我們所看到的商品都是相同的。Joyus現(xiàn)在也是如此，不過在不久的將來，事情也許會發(fā)生一些變化。 劣勢： ????1. 這一領(lǐng)域?qū)τ谶M入者沒有明顯的技術(shù)或市場壁壘。Joyus認為其價值主張是將電子商務(wù)與高端視頻及社交相結(jié)合，不過幾乎所有人都能這樣做（包括其它電子商務(wù)公司）。 ????2. 目前缺少個性化，而這正是在線買家翹首以盼的。而且這種專注于女性產(chǎn)品的購物網(wǎng)站現(xiàn)在多如牛毛。 ????3. 難道20多歲的年輕人真的愿意耐著性子看完長達4分鐘的潤膚乳廣告嗎？要知道，在正片前插入的15秒廣告都會讓這代人厭煩不已。 ????不過由于上面諸多因素過于松散，所以我沒法得出結(jié)論。Joyus是一家缺乏防御性技術(shù)、以個人消費者為主導(dǎo)的技術(shù)公司，而在風(fēng)險投資的帶動下，每個月都會出現(xiàn)幾十家這樣的公司。這意味著Joyus的成功與否很大程度上取決于品牌營銷 （及其獲得商品的能力，而這兩個因素之間的關(guān)系，正類似雞與蛋的關(guān)系）。 ????辛格?卡西迪能將Joyus變成快樂、價值、美麗或是強制購物的代名詞嗎？如果可以，那么Joyus將發(fā)展成下一個定位社交網(wǎng)站Foursquare或是家居裝飾網(wǎng)站One King's Lane；如果不行，定位社交網(wǎng)站Gowalla和美容網(wǎng)站BeautyStory.com的今天就是Joyus的明天。 ????不過此時此刻，我們還無法預(yù)知Joyus的未來。你、我以及Joyus背后的風(fēng)險投資家們對此都無能為力。雖然通常而言，很難對處于發(fā)展初期的公司做出預(yù)測，不過對于Joyus這類公司，它們的未來更難琢磨。唯一值得欣慰的是，風(fēng)投們在拋出大筆資金之前，通常都會有所預(yù)見。 ????所以我們不妨拭目以待。能做出預(yù)測固然顯得高明，但有時未必是明智之舉。 ????譯者：項航 |
????Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, former head of Latin America and Asia-Pacific operations for Google (GOOG), yesterday officially launched a new company called Joyus. It's an online video meets e-commerce meets social platform that might best be described as a next-generation QVC. ????Here's how it works: Joyus signs up makers of women-focused products, with a particular emphasis on the beauty, fashion, lifestyle and home verticals. It then produces a several minute web video, which is designed to be optimized for online customer conversion (which is a different animal than 30-second TV spots). The company charges a small fee for the ad, and then takes a cut of any resulting revenue. ????Joyus launched this past February with a "seed audience" of 250 friends and family, who all were allowed to invite their own friends. Then it bought a style blog called Splendora, which came with a list of between 70,000 and 100,000 women who now see Joyus videos accompany the recommendations of blog founder Gina Pell. Today users began being able to "like" Joyus videos via Facebook, and plans are to open the site up to all comers sometime this fall. ????The company raised a $550,000 convertible note at launch, and since has secured $7.3 million in Series A funding. Accel Partners, where Singh Cassidy had been an entrepreneur-in-residence, and Harrison Metal co-led the round. They were joined by angel investors Joel Hyatt (CurrentTV CEO), Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman (e-commerce execs at Walmart). ????This is supposed to be the part of the post where I tell you if Joyus will succeed, or become just another VC-backed casualty. But I can't do it. So I won't. ????This isn't to say that I can't make up a list of pros and cons. For example: Pros: ????1. Impressive management team, including Singh Cassidy and eBay's former fashion product boss Diana Williams. ????2 Opportunity to disrupt current home-shopping market that focuses on TV and skews older, by going online and concentrating on younger buyers. ????3 Chance to add personalization, by tapping Singh Cassidy's Google roots. If you and I both watch QVC, we see the same items. Same with Joyus right now, but probably not for too much longer. Cons: ????1. No obvious tech or market barriers to entry. Joyus thinks its value proposition is combining e-commerce with high-end video and social, but pretty much anyone could do that (including other e-commerce companies). ????2. The current lack of personalization, which digital buyers have almost come to expect. Plus a rash of other women-focused product sale sites. ????3. Do 20-somethings want to sit through a 4-minute video about body lotions? Remember, this is a generation annoyed by just 15 seconds of pre-roll ads. ????But I can't reach a conclusion because so much of the above is largely irrelevant. Joyus is a consumer-facing tech company without any defensible technology – just like dozens of other startups that raise venture capital each month. That means most of its success or failure will come down to brand marketing (plus its ability to secure merchandise, which may be a chicken-and-egg game with brand marketing). ????Can Singh Cassidy make Joyus synonymous with fun or value or beauty or compulsive shopping? If so, it can become FourSquare or One King's Lane. If not, it could become Gowalla or BeautyStory.com. ????And, at this point, there is no way of knowing. Not for me, you or the Joyus venture capitalists. Such ignorance has always been endemic to early-stage companies, but it seems elevated with companies like Joyus. The only saving grace is that VCs generally get an indicative answer before plugging in tens of millions of dollars. ????So we wait and watch. Predictions make for better copy, but not always smarter copy. |
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