

Mibbit (axod's startup) video featured on Google Code Blog - abstractbill
http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2009/02/now-playing-developer-created-videos.html

======
axod
Hehe thanks guys, it was quite fun to do, not so much seeing myself say "erm"
quite so much (This is after I edited out several 'erm's).

FYI The video was put together with screenflow and iMovie.

If you use some of the Google APIs I'd definitely recommend putting something
together and submitting it, especially ideas of what APIs they should do,
improvements they could make. They really listen to the users.

------
markessien
I like axod. I don't follow his story in any way, but what I like about his
product is that it offers actual value, there's no barrage of marketing,
there's no incessant self profiling, there are no blog posts where he praises
himself by describing how he did things right.

He's the underdog guy that one roots for, the real deal, the one that focuses
on his product, and not on his selling.

Axods ability to give this impression in just a few articles about him and his
product should be a model for startups who want to stay genuine.

~~~
natch
His startup may be great, but unfortunately, to me, he tainted himself as a
credible well-meaning business person when in my opinion he used YC as a
platform to promote his bigoted anti-Gay views on California's Proposition 8.
I'm guilty too of talking about non-tech stuff on YC, but that's only part of
the issue; the disturbing thing is to see someone using their position in this
community in a way that promotes denying certain people their rights. I'll be
downmodded for being off topic, no doubt, but somebody has to speak up about
this.

~~~
abstractbill
People are more complex than you give them credit for. Axod is an ace coder, a
smart business guy, a talented musician, a great dad... and yes, _dead wrong_
about prop-8.

I wouldn't be so quick to write-off someone for a single flaw. We all have
them.

~~~
axod
Heh thanks ;)

Just to clarify though (I think this argument is along the lines of
politics/religion/etc - no one ever changes their viewpoint)... Thought I'd
state my case though since people seem to think I'm 'wrong' ;)

    
    
       * I am 100% for equal rights for all.
       * I would rather they call it something else
         we have waiter and waitress to determine the sex, why not marriage and <insert_other_word_here>?
       * I don't feel strongly enough about it to actually vote on it - either way.
       * If I was gay, I wouldn't really care enough about it either to push for a change from the status quo.
         IMHO There are more important things that need fixing in the world.
    

If people truly think it's a cause worth fighting for, then go for it. Hope it
brings them happiness.

I'm not wrong though, I'm just a person with an opinion.

~~~
unalone
Your text stretched out the screen. :-( (EDIT: Thanks!)

I disagree with you, but I'm sure you don't want this to turn into a debate. I
care more that you've created a great service, which you have. However: if you
weren't allowed to marry the person you were in love with, I think you'd feel
differently. You're married right now, no? Wouldn't it suck if you'd been
banned from marrying her?

~~~
thaumaturgy
In his defense, he doesn't seem to care if they're married, he'd just prefer
it was called something else.

I campaigned against 8 in my area, but I think that if we're going to argue
against its supporters, we ought to at least argue against what they're
actually saying. :-)

~~~
unalone
Yeah, and there's a separate argument for that, but this isn't the place to
argue it. This is the place to congratulate him on his incredible site.

------
lbrandy
axod's too shy to post his own good news, but even bigger (in my opinion)
news: mibbit will become the default irc:// handler in Firefox. I have to
admit that irc:// links are pretty rare, now, mostly due to how unreliably
they work. Big usability win for Firefox.

See [http://informationisart.com/stas/mibbit-as-an-irc-
protocol-h...](http://informationisart.com/stas/mibbit-as-an-irc-protocol-
handler-in-firefox-31-in-your-locale)

Good work mibbit, axod.

------
cpg
congrats axod!

getting into firefox is huge.

we (<http://www.amahi.org>) use it to help our user community better and we
saw a bump in the number of people using our channel for support, questions or
just plain cheering us up, when we started using mibbit.

while i am here, a suggestion: we do very consistently see that sending PMs to
users (most of them are fairly new to irc) that use mibbit is nearly
impossible for them to see in the default skin. not enough visual variation or
attention to catch their eye. liven it up a little :)

kudos otherwise!

------
toisanji
Wow, congrats, that is a lot of extra advertising dollars that will be coming
in.

------
Jem
Congratulations axod! Mibbit is easy to use, and I rely on it when I'm out and
about with no irc client. It's a credit to you - keep up the great work :)

------
jawngee
Congrats axod!

------
boulderdash
how does mibbit make money?

~~~
truebosko
I recall axod saying he made revenue from the contextual text ads above irc
rooms. They change depending on what the room is about/talking about so they
are actually pretty relevant.

~~~
boulderdash
I am in the advertising biz, and I have a really hard time believing this.

~~~
axod
What part do you not believe? :/

~~~
boulderdash
Hi - text ads are about end user conversion. Otherwise it is just click fraud.
People clicking have to buy something in the end. I have a hard time believing
that IRC channels have a good enough conversion to pay for bandwidth and
salaries.

I'm seeing that this is a longer conversation, but consider this simple
example. Facebook ad rates have dropped significantly from their early days.
When people are communicating in an application (which is all Facebook really
is), they are not in the mood to buy/convert. So, if you are receiving income,
great, but I doubt it will be sustainable. Take a look at the ads you get and
see if you get re-buys.

Anyways, please don't take this as harsh. This is probably one of the hardest
problems for a publisher to solve. Twitter is just trying to figure it out
right now.

~~~
axod
I think Twitter has larger problems. They have an open API which leaves little
room to monetize.

"People clicking have to buy something in the end"

That's never been true. You have ads for brand awareness, signups, ad
arbitrage, etc etc.

I believe the ads above GMail are pretty lucrative... also people on webchat
are often trying to buy something.

    
    
      >> "Hey, what book should I get to learn javascript"
      >> "Hi what's a good webhost"

And that's not including the massive areas of non-tech IRC communities.

"Anyways, please don't take this as harsh."

hehe it's ok, I've been making money off online advertising since 1999. I'm
90% sure I know what I'm doing ;)

~~~
boulderdash
Ah - twitter raised $30+ million.. Is that is what you mean by larger problems
:-)

Regarding CPC. People have to buy something is the VAST majority of the txt ad
market. There is near ZERO brand awareness in that market. If an advertiser is
buying txt ads on IRC and hoping for conversion, I would be really, really
surprised that they re-buy. (aka - you are getting filled by a network)

Your example text tells me how you are really getting revenue. You are using
context for affiliate deals. That _actually_ might be viable.

Re: since 1999... cool, what sites were you involved with before?

~~~
axod
>> "Ah - twitter raised $30+ million.. Is that is what you mean by larger
problems :-)"

Sure, that's a pretty risky position to be in IMHO. Now they either have to
suddenly be insanely profitable, or get bought for a _lot_ , or raise more
money. You have to have balls of steel to play that game.

