
Disqus Gets VC Funding, Releases v2 and Kicks Competitions' Ass. - immad
http://gigaom.com/2008/03/18/disqus-gets-vc-funding-releases-beta-2/
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deepdive
Except they don't really kick the competitions' ass. The page view counts are
bogus because SezWho does not host a site's comments (which most sites prefer,
frankly). SezWho has more customers and activity than Disqus.

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alaskamiller
curious, what are the potential monetization strategies?

they only occupy below the fold or secondary jump pages so they're rarely a
destination site. build the business intelligence site that om malik wants?

monetize the landing pages from google traffic? but then publishers will get
pissed that they're stealing the googlejuice.

involve more functionality a la identity management?

morph into mini-reddits or mini-blogger for everyone and upsell?

the tradeoff of a commenting system for ads would seem ludicrous as well. the
only competitive advantage they have is a network effect. build to flip?

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sanj
I had the same question as well.

A couple of ideas:

1\. No monetization, just eyeballs until an acquisition.

2\. Freemium model: paying customers (bloggers) get access to more useful
services (eg: better spam protection, user tracking, demographics on
commentators, better threading)

3\. An attempt to make the conversation the destination. Consider a system
where the comments become more interesting than the original post (/. was this
way once...), and disqus having that niche, since they own/host the comments.

4\. Comment aggregation, a la blog rolls. Again, make the conversation the
destination.

5\. Enterprise deals: the Harvard Crimson was mentioned. How about lining up
CNN's iReport?

Others?

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whacked_new
I agree with 1 most; there are a number of possibilities and fantasies
suitable for proposal writing, but if I attempted this it would be aimed for
acquisition and nothing but, and would only do it with external funding.

Intensedebate started out pretty well, but they never seemed to iterate. No
rapid expansion = die, so, poor ID.

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rglullis
Disqus is quite interesting, and amazingly simple to use. For that alone it is
good to know that they are doing well.

On a unrelated note: since when half a million qualified as a "VC" round of
funding?

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danielha
When it comes from a VC. :)

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rglullis
Right you are. ;)

It just one more example to show how VC is turning more and more of a seller
market.

Now, the bigger question: at what valuation?

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vlad
I remember reading a discussion on Hacker News where danielha discussed
creating such a service a few months before he created it as part of YC. Am I
right?

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konsl
What happens if blog tools (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc) include threaded
comments in their next release?

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mdemare
Profit!

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far33d
That's great! USV seems to really like investing in services they use
themselves instead of "trends".

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petenixey
Awesome news champs - great product and so easy to log in to! ;)

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mattmagpayo
Hard to find a use for this, but congrats to the Disqus team.

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blored
Congrats guys!

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ashu
cool. congrats...

