On Board With Six Apart
Until today it has been my practice to avoid directly discussing the companies in which I have invested. That is not because I have nothing to say about them. I could write a whole other blog about them. Nor is it because I am not enthusiastic about the businesses they're in. I am wildly enthusiastic about all of the businesses in which I have invested -- that's why I invested in them. But it has never struck me as that relevant or interesting to the VentureBlog readers. But for every well-reasoned rule there is an equally well-reasoned exception. Thus, please forgive me for heralding my latest investment on VentureBlog. It almost seems inappropriate not to blog about this one.
It is with great pleasure that I write about having invested in Six Apart. As many of you know, Six Apart is the maker of Movable Type and TypePad. Since its inception, VentureBlog has been powered by Movable Type. It is a wonderfully powerful piece of software that embodies the simplicity we have all come to expect from blogging software with the incredible flexibility and extensibility of the finest modern application software. I am also a big fan of TypePad, which powers my personal blog, SaysMe! TypePad is the yin to Movable Type's yang -- it embodies the flexibility we have all come to expect from application software with the incredible simplicity and reliability of a rock solid hosted service. As I've said before, "I think that blogging software is revolutionizing the way people communicate--whether to share pictures with family members or distribute a product spec to an engineering team" and Six Apart is at the forefront of that revolution.
Of course, there's more to Six Apart than powerful software. As elegant as I think both Movable Type and TypePad are, to quote myself again, "it's the people, stupid!" The Six Apart team is phenomenal and getting better every week. I don't invest in products or ideas or business models. I invest in entrepreneurs. And Ben and Mena and Barak and Andrew and Loic and Michael . . . and the list goes on . . . are some of the most dedicated, smart, creative, persistent, honest entrepreneurs I've had the good fortune to spend time with. It is my great pleasure to join the Six Apart Board and help build what I believe will be a hugely successful and influential company in the months and years to come.
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The embargo is over: Six Apart has finally announced from whom they had raised their series B. Surprise, surprise: David Hornik, and August Capital, have put in $10M, as a sole investor. This tells you how much these guys believe Read More
I was delighted to to see that August Capital's David Hornik is investing in and joining the board of Six Apart! Six Apart's TypePad powers my personal weblog here as well as Glenbrook's professional Payments News weblog -- and they Read More
I was delighted to to see that August Capital's David Hornik is investing in and joining the board of Six Apart! Six Apart's TypePad powers my personal weblog here as well as Glenbrook's professional Payments News weblog -- and they Read More
Geez, what they’re going to spend that money on?! Where is this crazy weblogging industry going? Is it true that... Read More
Six Apart, the creators of Movable Type and TypePad have created a lot of value, not only in their products, but also in their way of doing business and in sharing their thoughts and experiences along the way. Thanks and Read More
the feel at bloggercon III was so different than at BC I. successfully avoided focus on the A-listers, more women, younger crowd, so many programmers. more aggressive and a bit antagonistic tone in some popular sessions, so i stuck to the smaller group... Read More
Movable Type is probably the best blogging software on the Internet. It's a bit tough to customize, but I use it on all of my sites! they must be doing well, having decided to accept VC money for growth. I wouldn't do it again. VCs are a tough lot. But... Read More
Hoewel speculatie voortduurt is Flickr al enkele weken geleden verkocht aan Yahoo. De aankondiging zou vorige week plaatsvinden, maar is om onduidelijke redenen uitgesteld. Voor Yahoo is de acquisitie van Flickr niet zozeer een beweging richting weblog... Read More
And wait until you meet Nob and the rest of the Japanese team! Talk about dedicated, persistent, smart...
Just to let you know, I use typepad to power my blog and I love it.
jason
Selling to large corporations will be difficult. Microsoft Sharepoint and IBM's Lotus Domino/Workplace(websphere) already have most of the market - switching I believe will be difficult.
Consumers would rather use the free tools available. Witness the issues that Arsdigita had - switching their platform to J2EE and then going bankrupt.
Congrats on the investment! As I wrote here, I think the blogging area is fertile ground for investments: http://sshu-s4.tripod.com/blog/index.blog?entry_id=452950
And my hats off to anyone who can make blogging easier ... I have two engineering degrees and this stuff is still not so easy for me to use ... ;)
Steve Shu
Managing Director
S4 Management Group
Email: sshu@s4management.com
Web: http://www.s4management.com
Business Blog: http://sshu-s4.tripod.com/blog
Thanks for your trust & your kind words, David.
"I am wildly enthusiastic about all of the businesses in which I have invested -- that's why I invested in them."
Hmmm. Being an enthusiast myself and often getting criticised for it - as being unprofessional - this is good to know :)
Maybe enthusiasm for an investment is what differentiates a good venture capitalist from other financier-types.
Ok that's nice plug for the company, but it really didn't offer anything I wasn't already familar so why the plug? Seeking another round? Bucking up their spirits? what?
I don't understand why you are investing in this company. I don't see the logic of it.
There are a lot of companies which sell 2-3 software or web products, many of them more complex than this company.
Where is the huge potential?
OSS guys will just clone their web software and release it for free. And so the Movable Type guys will only make money for peanuts.
This is a strange paradox of the US economy, even after the dot-com bust. Companies with little potential don't get more clients, but they get VCs to invest in them. Strange.
This is not a flame. I really wish I knew why you invested - what potential you see in this company.
I agree, I dont get it either. The majority of the market is for free and simple weblogs that are a value-add bonus with other software, for eg. MSN spaces. Software like Typepad will only ever serve a niche, and Movable Type was quickly overtaken by much simpler, easy to install and extensible software such as Wordpress (many more PHP hackers than Perl hackers). So they have another $10M now, and they use it to buy LJ?
I dont see any signs of a clear strategy, just the aquisition of a large customer base, and some new services such as Typekey (which does not answer the problems MS had with Passport) and a massive licensing bungle.
I could point out many, many great and small software companies who need just a bit of a financial boost and some business advice to become world-class and category killers.