Mike Stopforth

Thanks to Neville’s Muti link I’ve just picked up on a very intriguing post by Y Combinator, the seed-funding venture firm built around Web 2.0 startups, talking about ideas they’d invest in.
Being a bit of an entrepreneur myself I was immediately drawn to the post, and a couple of things surprised me…

First of [...]

I don’t have an MBA but the little I do know about business tells me the ultimate goal for anyone starting or running a company is that it be profitable. Everything else - production, people management, marketing, accounting - is fashioned around that single purpose. I want Cerebra and Afrigator to make money. Sure, I want them to be fun, interesting and progressive - but they must make money.

I think it’s fair to say that websites like Facebook, YouTube, Zoopy, Twitter, Technorati, Digg and others aren’t meaningful and/or popular because of their technology (although good tech helps), but rather because of the vast networks of human beings using them. It’s humans that make Web 2.0 apps popular, not code. But looking at the significant list of apps and services I use daily, it’s hard to pick out any that are making money, never mind profitably so.