I enjoy reading Jason Calacanis. Sometimes he’s insightful. Sometimes he’s just giving everyone else the finger. The tricky part is figuring out which posts are which.
Is there enough money in advertising to sustain Web 2.0? Is Calacanis right, or is he just poking the Web 2.0 naysayers in the eye?
Many companies failed in the 2000-2002 period because advertising revenue didn’t materialize. My last internet startup, Abuzz, didn’t succeed because the advertising dollars in the business plan didn’t appear in reality. 2006 is different from 2000. I can’t decide if it’s different enough.
Costs are so much lower now that it’s much easier to sustain an actual business.
At Abuzz, we had 70 people. You can do the same site now (minus the adaptive filter secret sauce) with one person in two weeks.
If you’re smart at SEO, you can turn that into a nice little side business.