

TechCrunch Disrupt Champion Shaker Raises $15 Million - sahillavingia
http://uncrunched.com/2011/10/09/techcrunch-disrupt-champion-shaker-shakes-down-investors-for-15-million/

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alexro
I think that VCs that restricted themselves to only 'social introductions' are
indeed so desperate to have a way of meeting new people on the Internet. Also
it looks like they don't know how to do it without an artificial engine and
cannot understand how to do it without the facebook identity.

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mrkmcknz
I would bet my mortgage if I had one shorting this stock if it were public.

I can't see it going anywhere!

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jorde
What amazes me is that Shaker is almost a clone of Habbo Hotel, similar
virtual hangout, which was started in 90's by a Finnish company Sulake and
it's still going strong. While Habbo has been wildly successful it has always
been a place for kids and teens and never attracted more mature audience. In
2009 Sulake tried to replicate the same concept for adults (with virtual bars
and drinks) with Bobba Bar (<http://www.bobba.com/>), but this attempt has
failed to gain traction . The major difference was that Bobba was aimed for
mobile but it's hard not to see similarities. Call me a sceptic but I still
have a hard time believing that Shaker will succeed as the whole concept of
hanging out in a virtual world just feels weird to me. But then again some
people seem to like Second Life.

Arctic Startup has few articles of Bobba in case someone is interested:
<http://www.arcticstartup.com/tag/bobba>

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ssx
What is the defensibility for this idea? Shouldn't be that in users?

Are they just hoping for a Zynga acquisition?

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peterzakin
I think the idea is that it could create an experience similar to Turntable in
the sense that you can "socialize" with strangers in a safe way. Many of those
strangers also may be famous or influential; there may be something valuable
in an experience where you can virtually hang out with Mike Arrington.

It's cool having that kind of interaction on Twitter--and it's certainly more
"human" on Turntable since you're all engaged in a common activity that occurs
in real-time: listening to music. Unfortunately for Shaker (or so I predict)
virtually hanging out (apologies for the oversimplification) is hardly the
same thing as listening to music with other people. This sounds like a bet on
a trend...

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jlees
Aye, but it's a bet on a ten-year old trend. Remember IMVU? One of the stories
from that is they believed it was going to be a great way to hang out
virtually with your friends, but it turned out that users wanted to meet new
people, not simplified representations of their real friends.

The closest thing I can think of is IRC, and the way that (at least, to me)
nothing has really topped it in terms of real-time communication with friends
in the last ten or so years. Do we need a more graphical version? Maybe; but
I'd put my money on doing something compelling with mobile, not a Facebook
virtual bar. I do like the way Shaker tries to augment the world with little
touches like "You share a birthday", though. We need that on smartphones!

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peterzakin
Could be a bet on timing. Maybe they think IMVU was ahead of its time...

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taybenlor
After watching their video and trying out their product I have no idea how
they got to their conclusions.

The video keeps implying "You can't get real social interaction online", "Real
life connections are much more solid". It seemed like they were going straight
for "Hey, we are going to make a way to help your online presence meet
offline".

Instead they poorly copied bars, which only facilitate meeting because of
alcohol, and made it even more awkward.

Cool problem to solve, strange execution.

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spullara
What if Google does it? <http://www.lively.com/goodbye.html>

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kd1221
How many social chat rooms can exist simultaneously? World of Warcraft, Second
Life, Everquest, Facebook, Google Hangouts, Shaker, etc. Their success
basically depends on marketing to individuals who are further from the
neurotypical end of the autistic disorder spectrum.

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suking
Sorry - but what a joke. I don't see this working out for Menlo, but then
again, what do I know.

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mmahemoff
Note this is also Arrington's CrunchFund, in the previous round and again this
one.

I was surprised no-one really pushed them at Disrupt to explain how it's
different from lively, habbo etc.

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suking
I'm guessing because no one has heard of those because no one wants to hang
out at a virtual bar...?

