Ten lessons of failure of PlayCafe website

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Recently, Internet entrepreneurs pay attention to the Web site circulated a post, the content of a foreign television game website founder of the "ten pioneering failure lesson." And many entrepreneurs taboo to talk about their own failure, the "experienced" the courage to share lessons with the younger generation, so that the post click-Through multiplier.

Originally, the author founded the Internet video game website PlayCafe 1.5 ago, and they are ambitious to run a game show where everyone is involved and highly interactive, players can watch their shows, answer questions, win bonuses, build teams, chat in real time and run their own games. Despite the high level of enthusiasm ——— the average user can watch a 87-minute show per game, and 40% of users will revisit the ——— within a week, but the user size is still small. At present, they have decided to suspend the site operation and return the remaining funds to investors. The following record of his personal experience of the words, may provide entrepreneurs with valuable "lessons".

First Look for quick money

We were fortunate to meet some of the top investors, but we spent too much time negotiating the terms of the investment. Money is more valuable than investment advice or networking. Next time, we will focus on expanding the network of investors to target those who are willing to make rapid investments in the early stages of the enterprise, even if they are not famous. Having three meetings with investors can be a long time to say that your network is not big enough. And, as long as your project is good enough, big-name investors will naturally come to the door.

Don't do your own stuff.

I suggest that entrepreneurs or investors who are interested in content production should think twice. Content making is harder than technology development. No content producer on YouTube can make 1.65 billion dollars 1% ($ 1.65 billion is the amount Google buys from YouTube). In addition, the popularity of digital video technology DVR and media sharing technology has reduced the revenue of content producers, and the emergence of paid advertising by effect has reduced the number of ineffective advertising in the market.

Make trade-offs between speed and stability

Another lesson of PlayCafe's failure is that it takes too much time to develop good content and technology. We want the site to be complex and stable, but it is doomed to be unsuccessful in an industry based on innovation and entertainment. As LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman says, if you look back at your first version of your website without being embarrassed, you've spent too much time on this version.

Time is money.

Well-known angel investor Paul Graham has a saying that good entrepreneurs will use their resources sparingly. I like to bargain for fun, for example, in order to save 100 of dollars in wireless internet, I would spend 3 hours bargaining. This is a waste of time relative to the size of our financing. Time is more valuable than money, because you cannot melt into time. David had suggested a price for our time. You can calculate your working hours in terms of salary, residual financing or total corporate value. And as your financing grows, so does the price of your time.

Marketing is not a trivial matter

The main reason for PlayCafe failure is marketing blunder. David and I are from PayPal, a company that is almost hostile to marketing. Our efforts in SEO (Search engine Optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) are still fruitful, but in order to attract users to watch real-time programs, there is still a need for sustained, highly skilled marketing activities. Marketing is a profound knowledge, not a layman can easily control. The next time we start a business, we will be able to make enough money to hire a marketing expert at the beginning of our venture.

Control and compute user access costs

We initially thought of marketing as a very creative activity: making promotional videos, launching marketing campaigns, and so on. The best marketing should be controllable and accurate. Before you find a marketing expert, you can use the AdWords keyword tool to start your own marketing, which will tell you how many people will search for a keyword on google. An ideal keyword the number of searches per month should be more than 10,000 times, put the keyword ads can not more than three competitors, and it and your site has a higher relevance.

Focus on your partner

The two disadvantages of a partnership are that the partner reacts slowly and you can't control them. But in addition to increasing the number of users and revenue, partners have other uses, they can expand your network of relationships, teach you how to marketing, help you find potential competitors, to become your potential acquirers. Because we too believe in our own strength, the result of the neglect of some partners. They later said that if we had forged closer relationships with them and proved our worth, maybe they would have bought us.

Don't underestimate spending

Although I suspect that more financing may lead to different endings, more money will always allow us to try more strategies. We made a detailed financial plan, but I underestimated the cost. The next time we start a business, we'll be better able to calculate the actual cost and get a little bit more money, so we can avoid refinancing when we're short of money.

The negotiations have to be left behind.

The most useful advice I got was from LiveOps founder Bill Trenchad (Billtrenchard), who said: "Always stay behind."

Easier

The latest lesson for me is easier. Silicon Valley is full of advice, but like a surgeon who has only theoretical knowledge and never had surgery, I think it takes a lot of hands-on experience to understand the complexities and variables of entrepreneurship.