$2m VC Funding for b5media
It’s been announced today that b5media has secured US$2m from Toronto VC Rick Segal and Brightspark Ventures.
Well, they were never going to fail, were they? They had too much talent at the top and too much energy to sink slowly into the quicksands of the blogosphere.
Although I must say, when I read this on the b5 blog, my first thoughts were : two mill will quickly be spent, especially if salaries are to be paid for the first time and new high-powered staff taken on.
We hear that Rick will become Chairman, Brightspark will have a member on the board, a new Head of Sales will be taken on, and that Shel Israel has been advising them since the beginning of the funding project. He will join the business in an advisory capacity. Aaron and few other b5 stalwarts are going fulltime in the business. Darren is to be VP for Training and Development, eventually in a fulltime capacity.
According to the press release, b5 has now badged itself as a “new media network” targeting the mainstream via vertical-specific content. So they too are dropping the “blog network” tag and looking beyond the blogosphere to mainstream commercial publishing in sector-specific areas. If the endgame is creating a serious business, this is the first step to make. Well done them.
I would personally like to congratulate Jeremy on his coup, and wish the other three founders — Darren Rowse, Duncan Riley and Shai Coggins — a fair wind on their new ocean voyage of discovery.
Actually no John, that’s just marketing speak, we’re still a blog network..I promise, but thanks for the thanks. Also I’m too conservative with money to allow us to spend it all at once, the key hiring for us is naturally the sales person, not only is it (as you can imagine) not a cheap hire, but it is, for my way of thinking anyway, investing money to make money. The rest of the salaries are fairly conservative all told, suffice to say no 6 figures for me here or close to it for that matter…and indeed, you’d be surprised with some of the other costs if I could share them, they are far from being outrageous. Again, there is obviously some upfront costs involved, but all told we don’t plan on running out of money, and indeed we’ve got the whole thing planned out for the next 5 years as well….and on what I’d consider to be fairly conservative projections as well. I don’t do hype well, even if I do occasionally get excited with some of this stuff
By Duncan on October 5th, 2006 at 11:01 am
The sales person is an absolutely necessary hire, Duncan, as you say. Someone who has real experience in shifting ad pixels is worth their weight in Helium 3.
Like you, I don’t count that as expenditure at all, but vital investment.
As for the brand, in my ‘umble opinion, “blog network” should be a term only used in the boiler room. All public-facing statements should use “New Media Network”. It’s a lesson I’ve learned recently while talking to professionals outside the echo-chamber.
Anyway, I’m delighted you’ve made the breakthough. Reading Scoble this morning, I wonder if there’s a tie-up for you there. Podcasting isn’t my cup of tea, but you’re going to need some “new media” now … oh, and YouTube might be going cheap too.
Best of luck, Cobber.
By John Evans on October 5th, 2006 at 11:17 am
[...] Syntagma Media compares b5media being branded “a global media network” as being synonomous with his network distancing themselves from the phrase “blog network” in favor of “online magazine”. Pffft. As if that were close. [...]
By b5media VC Roundup » Technology, Blogging and New Media on October 6th, 2006 at 12:08 am
Hi John,
I’m just some random newbie blogger who’s been following this ‘blog network’ vs ‘network magazine’ thing.
Just thought I’d copy and paste some comments I made somewhere else about the above post:
“I don’t agree that b5media are ‘dropping the blog network tag’. They still mention blogs, bloggers, and on the main site(and other places) they are still a ‘blog network by bloggers…’. That’s quite different from John’s ‘network magazine’ and ‘authors’.”
I can understand where you’re coming from (especially since my blog gets lots of hits from google, and I know most of those people haven’t even seen a blog before!), but I still don’t think it’s necessary to not call it a blog (or blog network), it’ll just confuse people more (ihmo), since it looks like a blog and acts like a blog! I think ‘blog’ has become a standard of sorts(or whatever that’s called), it’s to late to switch to something else!
If it was in a different type of format (like not last post on top, etc), it would be a bit more logical to call it an ‘online magazine’.
Anyway, I’m starting to ramble again as usual(that’s why I don’t comment on much!), and I think I’ve covered my main points!
Good luck with everything, what ever it’s called!
By Simone on October 6th, 2006 at 5:15 am
Simone,
The important point is that when blogs (single or networked) morph into a business, they have to address the market they’re pointing at. Most of the people we are now aiming at are not bloggers. Those who know what a blog is think it’s an online diary for teenagers. As someone from the print world, I see the power of blog technology — which we use — but I also see the incoherence of not being one thing or the other. Ultimately you have to choose whether to address a wider audience or continue playing the Blogosphere Game.
A “new media network” is a much better description for b5, especially as they are targeting “the mainstream via vertical-specific content”. Whether they have been influenced by what I’ve been writing here for months, only they will know, but it does sail very close to our trajectory as a “50-site network magazine” targeting, in the first instance, the retail vertical sector. Being influential doesn’t necessarily require folk to kow-tow at your feet. I’m happy to remain an anonymous boffin.
By John Evans on October 6th, 2006 at 9:34 am
Just to clarify the above : there is a big difference between a “new-media network” and a “global media network”. A new-media network can be a blog network, but a global media network sounds too close to the Murdoch empire for comfort, especially if you’re still a small business.
By John Evans on October 7th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
[...] No sooner does b5media obtain VC funding (see here and here), than a full-scale crisis breaks out in the venture capital industry. [...]
By » SYNTAGMA - 50-Site Network Magazine on October 7th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Hi John,
Most of the time they’ve got in their press release ‘global new media network’. Which I think sounds just perfect… it’s global, it’s new media, and it’s a network. If they’d left out the ‘new’ bit I’d agree with you, but for a ‘new media’ company I think they’re quite big, and quite global!
Anyway, I really do think it’s too late to change from being blogs or blog networks. I am also often faced with people thinking it’s an online diary (like myspace), BUT, that is changing. For example, most major newspapers now have blogs. And for people who don’t know much about blogs, ‘new media’ and ‘network magazine’ would be just as vague and confusing!
As I said, I get most of my traffic from google. Thing is, I think they’re going to be confused by the format, what ever it’s called. So I think the format will actually confuse them more than the name (the word blog is not featured in the title anyway, and isn’t on most people’s blogs).
I don’t think the audience you’re addressing (people not familiar with blogs) will care what lable you stick on your blogs/network, it’s about what is being written, and the titles of the individual blogs are more important.
Then there’s the blogosphere (who is that? Bloggers and people who read blogs, because that would be just about everyone these days, what with newspapers launching blogs etc), they’ll just be confused that you’re calling something that very much seems like a blog network, something else! And the name would be fine (I think), if there wasn’t a name for it already that is being widely used.
Yeah, I think what my point comes down to, is: it’s too late!
Instead of trying to adopt a new term, I’d rather spend my energy on showing that blogs are not limited to personal diaries.
Anyway, I also think it won’t harm you, not being a blog network (the ugly headers would be doing more harm than the title web magazine. (Sorry had to get that in there, I’m lucky, my husband is a designer!) And I do agree with others that some of the b5 blogs need a bit of design work too!).
I just don’t see that it will benefit you at all, and it will just create confusion, when more and more people come across blogs.
The word ‘blog’ has been ‘decided upon’ by the whole web, it’s not just the tech/geek people anymore.
Ok, so this comment has taken me about an hour (I blame being bilingual, me being very new to all this (commenting and the blogosphere really!) and it being 1.30am) and it’s not going to be getting any more clear or less rambling, so I’ll just post it. Argh, I have so much to learn, it’s a bit overwhelming! But exciting too!
By Simone on October 7th, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Hi Simone,
Everyone remembers our “ugly” headers. Fame at last!
The point is (and how many times have I said this?) that blog means amateur prattler to most sane (non-blogging) people. Those who come online to buy things, want something more distinguished than a “blog” to deal with. Therefore, a commercial network — call it what you will — has to be very professional to attract big-time advertising.
I think b5media could be turned into a very profitable outfit — that’s all that matters really, whatever they call themselves — but it will have to get some publishing skills in there and focus really hard on what matters.
It’s not rocket science, but it does need more than just tech and marketing hype.
By John Evans on October 7th, 2006 at 6:04 pm