M&A and VC activity NBC Universal acquired iVillage, the most popular women’s site along with its other Internet properties for $600 million in 2006. Glam Media, the number one women’s property on the Net as per the latest comScore ranking raised $18.5 million in Series C funding from Duff Ackerman & Goodrich Ventures (DAG), Accel
SM: Let’s discuss your financial history, in the final segment of the conversation. Who financed the company at the very beginning? I assume it was some of Neal’s Capital IQ proceeds that went into Inform. JS: It was friends and family, yes. SM: Did you raise Venture money? How much? From whom?
SM: What is your personal background? JS: I have an undergraduate degree in computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence and natural language processing. I also have a graduate degree in business (an MBA). Both degrees are from Columbia University. Prior to joining Inform, I was the CEO and President of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin,
SM: If I were to publish books through Blurb based on my blog writings, I would need to be able to have a paperback that sells for $5-6. I would also need to have a customized storefront on my site that seamlessly ties into yours, so that you can fulfill the order. Can I do
SM: How did you penetrate the market and get early traction? EG: Word of mouth driven by a great and viral product and turbo charged with amazing PR. SM: What stage are you at now? Revenue? Profitability? Traffic? Titles? Any other metrics you track? EG: Blurb expects turnover between $5-10MM in 2007, its first full
SM: Describe the value proposition of Blurb, including differentiation versus the rest of the market. EG: Blurb is bringing book publishing to the masses by providing an affordable publishing platform that’s accessible to anyone with a broadband connection and modest computing skills. Every family, traveler, photographer, bride, cook, poet, teacher, blogger, and artist has a
SM: What was the market landscape like when you founded the company? EG: Well for one thing, Blurb was a very contrarian play at the time. VCs were funding blogging platforms and social networks and online plays – and here we were taking bits back into atoms. But fortunately I had good relationships in the
Rediff (Nasdaq: REDF) is reported to be in acquisition discussions with Google and Yahoo. The company’s stock moved up to an all-time high of $27.50 per share on July 12 from $17.94 on July 5. The trading volume increased to more than a million shares from an average of 50,000 share a day, and has