john:
“Uncertainty is a feature, not a bug.”— Betaworks’ Andrew Weissman to me via GTalk in response to the backlash to Google Wave because they haven’t even suggested a monetization path for the product. If you embrace innovation, foster utility and value, and allow externalized innovation through open APIs and transparency, the uncertain road toward monetization will appear eventually (assuming you have the liquidity and persistence to find it). Do people still not understand that for Google, the bigger the web gets, the more important search becomes, the more inventory Google has to monetize? Grow the pie, and keep making money via the same monetization path you do now as long as it scales with the growth. (via gbattle)
Emphasis mine.
Assuming I have the liquidity and persistence… that’s a HUGE assumption. More and more, investors want to see that first paying customer before they are willing to invest.
This is why I focus on building companies (both waffl and the secret one I’m building with kyle) that have transactions built in. A lot less risky than trying to build the next facebook or tumblr. And god help you if you are trying to build the next google or youtube.
