
Pinterest knocked off by Samwer brothers - pitdesi
http://www.pinspire.com/
======
AlexMuir
The Samwers hit it big with MyCityDeal ($350m-ish) and seem to be trying to
replicate its success. Wimdu, their Airbnb -clone is doing well and offers a
very decent alternative to Airbnb. (There are differences: Wimdu pays
affiliates 10% of bookings, Airbnb doesn't).

But there's a difference between a Groupon clone and Wimdu and Pinspire -
Groupon is a local business. It doesn't matter if Groupon has the whole world
dominated, if you can dominate your own country then Groupon are fucked.
People aren't looking for deals all around the world, they are looking in
their own backyard. So MyCityDeal got people on the ground and dominated the
UK/German markets. Brand outside these areas was unimportant. It was cheaper
for Groupon to buy them than build their own teams.

Wimdu - Slightly similar, but not really. Properties can be (and are) listed
on both sites. It's a global business - people from any country in the world
travelling to any other country. Brand and global coverage is essential here -
US travellers won't use Wimdu to travel to Europe. Likewise, Europeans will
find poor coverage of the US on Wimdu.

Pinspire - No advantage whatsoever. The European sites similar to Facebook
have taken a good beating (even, and especially those that were there first).
I can't really see Pinterest buying Pinspire.

Sites that I think would be ripe for them to clone though: Etsy, Tutorspree,
possibly Twilio.

~~~
kwamenum86
The idea is to get traction before the original company can. The idea has
already been validated in one market and in theory introducing it to another
market will work as well. When the original company is ready to expand to
those other markets then they'll have to consider buying the clone. It can
work for any type of company really.

[http://andrewdumont.me/post/15813416151/pinterest-clone-
pins...](http://andrewdumont.me/post/15813416151/pinterest-clone-pinspire)

------
simon_weber
Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but this sure leaves a bad
taste in my mouth.

Be first or be best, I guess.

------
speby
There is absolutely zero respect or dignity from what these guys do.
Regardless of their personal financial success that might stem from this
tasteless work, I would never support them, do business with them, or use
their knockoffs.

~~~
kiba
It would be great if you explain reasons why you feel that way.

~~~
rsiqueira
Their site (pinspire.com) is a copy of pinterest.com

~~~
getsat
How are either of these sites making money? I see that pinterest has raised
37mm (!!!), but I see no current way that they're monetising their users.

~~~
getsat
swindsor, it looks like you were hellbanned 100+ days ago.

