IZEA: Sponsored Social Media and so much more...

Seeing your babies grow up is bittersweet. Watching my daughters scare others at our haunted house this Halloween, instead of being scared, was both fun and sad.

I feel that same conflict with PayPerPost's evolution to IZEA, being formally announced tomorrow. PPP has gone from being an unknown upstart in the summer of 2006, to the largest sponsored social media marketplace on the planet with over 80,000 bloggers and over 11,000 advertisers. Ted and his team have launched multiple innovations beyond PPP such as Blogger's Choice Awards and have acquired others such as Zookoda.

They disrupted the status quo with PPP and their next innovation (code named Argus) will have an even larger and lasting impact for social media publishers and advertisers. As such, the master brand of IZEA makes a ton of sense as the umbrella for multiple synergistic innovations. That doesn't mean the change doesn't prompt a bit of sadness for me. I think I'll be OK.

Hello IZEA and viva la revolucion!

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PayPerPost, Inc. Changes Corporate Name To IZEA™

To Support Expanding Suite of Social Media Marketing Solutions

Original Consumer Generated Advertising Network PayPerPost.com

To Continue as Part of Broader Portfolio

ORLANDO, FL – (November 1, 2007) – Social media marketing pioneer PayPerPost, Inc. today announced it is changing its corporate name to organize the multiple properties its has developed within the fast-changing world of social media. Effective immediately, the company will operate under the parent name of IZEA™ Inc., incorporating consumer generated advertising network PayPerPost.com and other Web sites currently operating under the PayPerPost, Inc. umbrella.

Founded in June 2006, IZEA has raised over $10 million in venture capital from top venture firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Village Ventures and Inflexion Partners. The company initially launched flagship service PayPerPost.com and has since developed a diverse portfolio of online properties that enable content creators and advertisers to mutually benefit from social media.

In addition to PayPerPost.com, IZEA owns and operates Zookoda.com, BloggersChoiceAwards.com, RockStartup.com, RSSBrief.com, URLBrief.com and BlogInSpace.com, among others.

The name change comes just days before the scheduled unveiling of IZEA's highly anticipated new service, codenamed Argus. An alpha version of the offering will be revealed on Nov. 10 at PostieCon, the company’s annual user conference. It will provide both bloggers and advertisers more visibility into social media and allow them to interact with each other and the public in more immediate, transparent and accountable ways. Access to the alpha version will be by invitation only through the end of 2007.

“Argus is the kind of breakthrough marketers and bloggers have both been asking for. It will have broader appeal and set new standards for scalability in social media marketing,” said Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA Inc. “The combination of advanced reporting, open APIs, blog analytics, management tools and social networking features will be extremely attractive to marketers that want to actively engage in online conversations.”

The company is building on past success and looks to expand its core business value with the launch of Argus. “Our marketplace now includes more than 80,000 bloggers and 11,000 advertisers, making it the world’s largest consumer generated ad network,” said Murphy. “We believe Argus can leverage this growth to expand even further, and allow us to address our broader mission: to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence.”

The PayPerPost.com sponsored content marketplace will continue operating as it does today. Over the coming months, IZEA will continue to improve the user experience through tighter integration between offerings. By the end of Q1 2008, users will be able to utilize a single sign-on for all IZEA properties. Profiles and data will be shared across IZEA sites, making it easier and faster for users to navigate across platforms.

“I am extremely excited about the future of our company,” said Murphy. “Our new approach will provide more value, innovation and support for our ever-expanding user community.”

About IZEA:

IZEA is a next-generation, Web-based social media marketing company. Comprised of properties including PayPerPost, Zookoda, Bloggers Choice Awards and RockStartup, IZEA aims to empower everyone to value and exchange content, creativity and influence. IZEA’s current flagship product is PayPerPost, the leading marketplace for Consumer Generated Advertising that connects advertisers and consumer content creators to deliver compelling marketing messages. IZEA is venture funded by Inflexion Partners, Village Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and DFJ Gotham. Advertisers, consumer content creators and partners are encouraged to join the social media revolution at www.izea.com.

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Related posts:
http://www.simplekindoflife.com/2007/10/31/izeacom-the-future-of-payperpost-is-here/
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/11/01/payperpost-inc-changes-its-name-to-izea/
http://mashable.com/2007/10/31/payperpost-izea/
http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/payperpost-inc-parent-company-is-now-izea/
http://scobleizer.com/2007/10/31/payperpost-rebrands-and-goes-after-social-media-starfish-advertising/
http://www.midlifemusings.com/2007/10/31/payperpost-is-changing-the-face-of-the-internet-again/
http://www.jimkukral.com/payperpost-changes-its-name-to-izea/
http://www.techaddress.com/2007/10/31/payperpost-changes-name-to-izea-don%e2%80%99t-you-forget-it/
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ppp_becomes_izea.php
http://bloggingcents.com/2007/10/31/izea-to-launch/
http://community.izea.com/blog/2007/10/change-is-in-th.html

Related images: izea

Venture Capital Not Required

This post is for all those entrepreneurs who are building great businesses, but have no need or interest in venture capital. Given all the emphasis on venture capital from pundits, startup mags and regional entrepreneurship organizations, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that venture capital isn’t a requirement for building something great. In fact, many of the best entrepreneurs in the world never step foot on Sand Hill Road or similar VC hotspots across the globe.

I met with one such entrepreneur last week and was impressed with all he has accomplished with credit cards and cash flow. He has big plans for next year, probably doubling or tripling his business. I see plenty more opportunity with the addition of smart capital, but I tried to restrain myself. My focus on building $100 million+ to $1 billion+ businesses comes too natural/narrow from being a VC, and sometimes you have to sit back and appreciate the handywork of an entrepreneur who is content and proud of building his $10-20M vision.

Whether your business is in services, food, entertainment, real estate or any number of unlikely spaces for VC, take comfort in what you’ve built and don’t change your vision just to match what other people say you should do. Build what feels right, change some people’s lives along the way, and if the high growth nature of venture matches your goals then give me a ring…

Blog Ethics, Bias and Disclosure for Online Communicators

I've been reading Dave Taylor's writing for the past year+ and he garnered plenty more fans before me. He's an accomplished entrepreneur, techie and writer. For the past week over at iAOCblog.com (International Association of Online Communicators) he's been covering the topics of bias, conflicts, disclosure and ethics. I match his school of thought that almost all blogging contains elements of bias. In fact, part of what separates blogging from other media is that biases often define the long-tail niche where a blogger builds his/her audience.

This foundation can be seen in a quote from the first post of his series, "Quick, now, are YOU biased?"

"I'm going to start this week out by proposing that everyone is biased, everyone will tend to make allowances for their friends' behavior while castigating the same from someone they don't know or from a social or racial group they dislike. Everyone will review a restaurant owned by their parents differently from one owned by the annoying woman down the block with the loud Mercedes, and everyone will be less likely to use an online service whose director of marketing is a former lover who left for the arms of another."

Dave followed that post with "How disclosing does disclosure need to be?", including perspective like:

"What concerns me is that if we go too far with disclaimers, it becomes very difficult to know where to draw the line, to figure out where you don't have to disclaim what you write. For example, I've been a cinemaphile for as long as I can remember, have watched thousands of movies and read at least fifty different books on film theory and interpretation. Along the way, I have found certain directors who I believe are brilliant (Lean, Hitchcock, Kubrick) and others that I think can't direct their way out of a paper bag (Lynch, Tarantino). Clearly, I'm biased and, heck, you probably don't agree with my bias. So should I disclaim my bias before I write about film, review a movie or even talk about an actor or production?"

His third post of the series, "Are bloggers EXPECTED to me more ethical than everyone else?", also echoed my acceptance that the 'sphere contains a diverse population of participants and motivations:

"I have had conversations with many bloggers who believe that blogging is apparently a higher calling, that to be a successful blogger you must be hyper-ethical, completely transparent and a model, upstanding citizen who eschews all aspects of capitalism. After all, doesn't information want to be free?....I don't agree with them. A blog is a tool that makes publishing more convenient and like any tool, it's up to individuals to make it work for their own needs and requirements. While I applaud those people who put in 50-hour weeks gratis because they believe in what they're writing about and they're passionate about sharing their view, I also applaud those bloggers who are experimenting and trying to figure out how to make blogging work for them financially as well as professionally."

Dave's closing post of the week, "Psstt... wanna buy a link from my blog, buddy?", got to the bottom of what he teased all week: whether bloggers should accept payment for their blogging efforts. He makes some pretty bold statements, including support for one of my portfolio companies, PayPerPost, but instead of just quoting him here, I'll let you enjoy his post in its entirety.

On almost every topic he covered, I wish he'd gone deeper. He is right for plenty of reasons that he didn't bother including. At the same time, I think most of his points have already been proven out as the real world joined the blog world. The 'sphere is as diverse as the world is big, and each blogger will succeed or fail based upon pleasing their audience, biases and all.

BTW: I'm biased in a variety of ways about Dave and this topic (see FVB's Disclosure Policy, http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/ and any number of related prior posts here), so consider me conflicted, opinionated and generally shaped by a world-view that people have the right to live by their own choices, preferably influenced by reason, not mobs.

Related images: dave taylor (biz), dave taylor (techie), dave taylor (mountain man), dave taylor (professional wrestler? OK, different guy, but hard to pass up)

Startup on Other People's Servers (OPS)

A came across Peter Yared's Musings while looking for details on his latest startup, wdgtbldr. Peter previously built ActiveGrid and has some great nuggets to share the second time around.

His post, A Startup in the Cloud, captured an accelerating trend with big implications. We've heard plenty about all the web programming advances that allow 1-2 founders to launch a web 2.0 site quickly -- remember Jason Batiste, Frank Astor and Brian Breslin's $500, 2-week WeblogWire launch? The other exciting trend is the growth of inexpensive, hosted productivity apps allowing founders to go beyond launching a site, to truly running a business with a superior cost structure.

This reminds me of the entrepreneur/VC reference to building companies with Other People's Money (OPM). In this case, you're leveraging Other People's Servers (OPS) -- and you benefit from the economies of scale (not to mention cut-throat SaaS pricing). Securing OPS is a lot easier than OPM, and the benefits can be significant. Peter is building wdgtbldr with an OPS approach, leveraging CRM, conference calling, analytics, email, forwarding, fax, forums, wikis, accounting, calendar, code control, campaigns, and QA -- all for less than $400/month. Amazing.

Related images: peter yared, jason baptiste, frank astor, brian breslin, saas

BlogWorld & PostieCon: Will I see you there?

The last time a combo this good came along they named it PB&J. BlogWorld and PostieCon are just around the corner, taking over Vegas from Wednesday November 7th to late, late Saturday November 10th.

Just as Peanut Butter is the anchor of a great PB&J, chock full of goodness (and a few nuts); BlogWorld has a terrific lineup of sessions and speakers. To appreciate the breadth, there are 10+ tracks include Beginners, Advanced, Podcasting & New Media, Entrepreneurs, Monetization, Executives, Sports, Milblogging, Political, Special Interest and Pop Culture. To appreciate the depth, each track has 10+ panels -- including one on New Media Fundraising with me, Feld, and Arrington.

And, just as Jelly is the tangy, sweetness in a good PB&J, PostieCon layers on some great flavor with new media monetization talks by David Ponce, Michelle Madhok, Jim Kukral, Shirley Frazier, Sherry Heyl, Sean Jackson and others. There's even a session where the Fab 5 top earners of PayPerPost share their stories/secrets. The events culminate with the unveiling of PPP's Argus monster of a release (attendees get early-adopter keys) and the Blogger's Choice Awards Saturday night at Tao Las Vegas (invitation only). Rosie is the top overall BCA vote-getter so far, will Ross the Intern catch her as the final secret ballot votes are tallied? And don't forget FVB is nominated: vote FVB for Best Business Blog now!

If you're already planning to attend, please stop me to say Hi! If you haven't booked yet, get moving. There are still some great non-stop flights available (I just booked) if you can secure your spot at the conferences. If you attend just one blogging event this year, make it this one, er, two, plus the BCAs -- all in Vegas...

Related images: blogworld, postiecon, bloggers choice awards, argus, las vegas, payperpost, brad feld, mike arrington, david ponce, michelle madhok, jim kukral, shirley frazier, sherry heyl, rosie, ross the intern

Grooveshark = Legal P2P or Napsitunefacepedia

So I'm sitting here listening to "Don't Cry Out" by Shiny Toy Guns and it makes me want to buy. I discovered it via Grooveshark's Billboard of the top songs across their network -- and now I just bought with one click.

Now I'm checking out "Forest" by System of a Down and it reminded me I need to add a few SOAD songs to my collection. I was reminded of SOAD by Grooveshark's Recommendation engine -- and now I just bought with another click.

When I buy these or others, the copyright holders get their cut, the Grooveshark member that contributed the song gets a cut, I pay for a song I like legally and Grooveshark gets their cut and some happy members. I love crowdsourced capitalism done right, everybody wins.

I've been lucky enough to watch Grooveshark grow from a logo on a napkin (maybe it was an idea, but the smooth logo wasn't far behind). Sam, Josh, and Andres have grown a smart, talented team and a small army of developers -- in Gainesville's tech scene, Grooveshark exhibits many signs of a cult, in a good way.

I've seen part of this movie before -- when Shawn Fanning was programming/sleeping/programming in his uncle's office, Sean Parker was hustling money to pay for a second server and a smooth cat wearing headphones became the logo of the Napster revolution and RIAA enemy #1. My fund's investment paid for that second server. What happened from there disrupted an industry in the truest sense of the word, and the walls keep coming down.

That leads us to Grooveshark, the truest implementation so far of Napster's potential to leverage P2P and benefit all participants -- including copyright holders, consumer distributors and music lovers. There are plenty of hurdles ahead but the team is doing a lot of things right. They've gotten great underground coverage and just got a short/sweet TechCrunch review (at least my rare beta invite to Arrington wasn't wasted).

There remains an argument whether music will ultimately be free. I don't know that answer, but I hope not. I'm a strong believer in personal/intellectual property rights (e.g. the right to expect payment for something I create) and the trend I see toward expecting free worries me. Regardless of how that plays out, Grooveshark is well positioned as a blend of Napster (the original), Wikipedia, Facebook and iTunes. Kudos guys, for a good launch so far. I look forward to the day when every song on the planet, including hits, long-tail, remixes, concert recordings, indies and mashups, is available via Grooveshark and everybody gets paid...

Related images: grooveshark, grooveshark logo, sam tarantino, josh greenberg, andres barreto, napster, napster logo, shawn fanning, sean parker

Sometimes Bigger is Better

Round size is a topic that always makes me chuckle when entrepreneurs share the feedback they hear on the fundraising trail. Every fund has refined the story that fits their fund, regardless of the business: larger fund = raise more money, smaller fund = raise less money.

I don't think most VCs are being disingenuous, at least not consciously. They are sharing what has worked for them -- remember, most of the industry is about pattern-matching what has succeeded in the past.

Larger funds share the virtues of taking more money up-front, accelerating quickly and keeping yourself off the fundraising treadmill. Smaller funds share the wisdom of taking only the money necessary to hit key milestones, while keeping dilution to a minimum until raising more against value-creating events. There is value in both perspectives, but keep these tendencies in mind -- they have nothing to do with your business.

This blog post was sparked by an entrepreneur asking me today about the best round size for his business. Despite my fund's focus on $1-5M rounds and my excitement about the business, my advice was to pursue a $10M+ early round. Why? Because the company has some significant early risk that can only be reduced by closing some major/difficult deals or securing a large warchest. Thus, closing $3-6M funding could actually be harder than closing $10-15M, begging the question about life/death, not dilution. Sounds weird, huh? Well, for this company a bigger round could make sense.

Make sure the answers you get make sense for your company, not just the fund across the table...