Paul Carr on the demise of Salon.com, from The Guardian Online:
“I feel really sorry for anyone trying to raise funds to launch a subscription-based website in the current climate – it would be easier to get funding for a new pan-European fashion retail brand led by two Swedish ex-models.”
Hah. Don't I know it. I'm small (make that 'microscopic') fry compared to Salon, but what I could do with a tiny, weeny fraction of the 50 million quid they've pissed up the wall… it makes me spit feathers. Trying to raise money for an internet business, even with a proven business model and a solid business plan, in the current climate is like trying to teach Bush Jr to read – a slow painful process with no guarantee of success no matter how much hard work you put in. The words 'Internet' and 'start-up' are dirty, dirty words still, and bank managers everywhere hide under their desks in terror the minute they hear them.
Thing is, not every internet-based business haemorrhages money out of every orifice. Some of us manage to keep our costs down by working our arses off every hour of the day, and (as was the case at 3am this morning) several hours of the night too. We don't have big offices, lots of staff and long lunches. In fact, we're lucky if we get lunch at all. Any business that involves the web gets tarred with the Boo brush, and I fear it's gonna be a long time before that changes, but I do take heart from the likes of Pyra, whose long term hard work seems to be finally paying dividends.
Meantime, I'll soon either be another internet bankrupt, or (and this is my preferred route) I'll find someone somewhere who's interested in stumping up a measley £10k to allow me to expand my business. Either way, I don't anticipate an easy ride.
Not a truer word said
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