It’s time to start slamming the reality of the Silicon Valley situation home to everyone. Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur lets seven employees go, he says, which is more than a third of the company. This comes on top of three employees let go a couple of weeks ago.
“We cut everything that wasn’t outsourceable, core or absolutely necessary for the company.”
Le Meur says the company isn’t in dire financial trouble yet, noting he raised a $6 million round just a few months ago. But he’s planning for a bleak fundraising future.
I am an investor in the company.
Truth not to knock seesmic but does anyone beside tech crunch uses them their alexa has been hovering around 300k plus. where is roi for their investors?
TC does use their video comments but I don’t remember last time I’ve seen anyone leave a video comment. And even when they do, they’re usually not worth watching because they’re left by some narcissist egomaniac.
I dont know mr loic. but i like seesmic. a powerful system a little ahead of its time. most commenters here are scared to put there lips where there mouth is and would rather be a “Phantom Hater”. commenters hiding in the shawdows and barking like junkyard dogs. I will debate anyone on seesmic in regards to my startup and its potential. so far no takers. just more whiney wimpy commenters trying to hate. I hope seesmic stays around so when the phantom haters get some balls they will have a place express themselves like men.
CommentLocator.com
lol.. I ａｇｒｅｅ ｗｈｏｌｅｈｅａｒｔｅｄｌｙ．．．
Ｉ＇ｖｅ ｏｎｌｙ ｗａｔｃｈ ｓｅｅｓｍｉｃ ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔ ｏｎｃｅ ｃｕｚ ｔｈｅ ｇｉｒｌ ｗａｓ ｒｅａｌｌｙ ｃｕｔｅ．．．ｌｏｌ
Loic is so full of crap. The seesmic platform has been 95% developed by outsourcing with a team of coders based in Romania. I can get you a clone of seesmic on rentacoder for $10,000 with coders from Ukraine or Romania.
The truth is Loic leaves totally in the bubble 2.0 and has no clue of what a profitable business should be. I think he should go back to the HEC business school he’s coming from (I wonder how he got his degree) and learn how to lay a business plan. Same attitude as Zuckerberg: money will flow later. Yeah, right.
Because Loic’s plan was clear: build a website around another of these crappy web 2.0 socially pointless ideas and sell it ASAP. Problem is no one will buy it in the current financial context. Not to mention the poor website’s traffic.
I mean, seriously, does he even know what a budget is? He’s got $12 million, right? And now, suddenly, he’s using the excuse of the financial crisis to lay off the very people who helped him marketing his crappy website. You should be ashamed of yourself, Loic.
Because guys, I tell you what: Loic burnt these $6 millions in expensive restaurants, parties, business class flights back and forth to Europe or even Asia to nurture his ego attending ‘conferences’, put his outrageously expensive SF apartment on the cost of the company and not to mention the out of this world hidden compensations and salaries for himself and his wife.
Mike, you paled with the wrong guy and that makes you a terrible investor. You should have known better, because Le Meur did the same back in Europe before he decided to screw american VCs. And the worse thing is that you helped a crook raising funds.
Anyway, Seesmic will be in the deadpool within 1 year max because it serves a wrong idea and a concept that yahoo has already tested. Damn it, can’t you send video responses in Youtube or what?
What were you thinking, Mike?
I’m leaving this up just because the stupidity of it makes it entertaining.
I totally agree with you Steven, M. Le Meur and his crappy ideas and arrogant ego was very welcome to leave France, and his use of outsourcing resources in Romania was just a shame.
Steven Dole takes me the words out of the mouth. Lol to see CVs invest in so stupid Web2.0 ideas ending with 0 revenue and 500k Alexa ranking!
would be nice to hear some stats on usage and growth for seesmic! How well, or bad, is it doing?
Sad to hear that some of the seesmic crew have to go. They are some of the nicest people I’ve met in SF (and online). I hope they’ll find jobs that are as exciting as building seesmic. All the best from the cold north.
I like the crash plan pro near this post ^^
i see that seemic logo below this comment box. makes me wonder.
silicon valley is full of itself. ’nuff said.
the raccoon seems to be saying: “oh oh”
They make money through advertising..? @Boris, I am also curious to see/hear some stats on usage and growth…
How is that DanceJam investment working out?
From now on, companies like Seesmic won’t get $12M anymore…
Why do you say “let go” instead of “fired” ?
Because “fired” usually means you f*cked up or were not qualified for the job.
Fired implies incompetence. Let go implies they were valuable and contributing members of the team, but other factors that were perhaps out of the control of the company (such as the economy) were the root of the decision.
Since when “fired” means anything different than “fired” ?
You are fired, not “let go”, when the company doesn’t want to pay for your services. You can be good, or not. You simply are not valuable enough for the company, since the company is firing you and not other people.
Actually there is a real distinction between being fired and being ‘let go’ or retrenched. Pity that you don’t appear to be clueful enough to understand the distinction. Perhaps it’s a linguistic thing.
Perhaps. Or perhaps it simply is an euphemism.
But glad to see that you are so clueful
Loic the Lemur, the ultimate Annie, “the sun’s gonna come out, tomorrow!!!!”. He was to the start up culture what Polly Anna was.
I guess that’s it then?
This is now:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008.....n-of-doom/
Funny that this happens the day after!
don’t be fooled. Loic’s just using that as an excuse, since he already raised the $12M. You can tell by how a bad actor he is on this video. Almost as good as McCain at bringing tears. I mean, come on…
Web 2.0 and its crappy videos can’t die fast enough.
Hey, but wait, I want to know what some spammer thinks about RockYou getting $15mm in funding!
Please?
All those qik cam videos with Calacanis, Feldman, Lemuer, Arrington. It was so…’white boy arrogant and decadent’, with ‘da boys’ stumbling through NYC looking for a Vencap party.
I think Keith Teare, veritably a character from a J.P. Donleavey novel, was in there as well.
I was wondering myself bout the Alexa ranking of seesmic. I know Alexa is totally unreliable but it is at best a good indiction of where a company is at. I am thinking it has to do with the fact that it is video and not a lot of pages get refreshed etc? I think seesmic is a good company but perhaps too early to market? If twitter can’t go mainstream what chance does seesmic have?
Compete.com is MUCH more reliable and shows a poor 140K unique monthly visitors. http://siteanalytics.compete.c.....?metric=uv
No increase since May ‘08, despite the constant push from TC and investor Arrington and the introduction of their blog embedding API feature and purchase of Thwirl.
Pathetic.
Is that a misquote? “Cut everything that wasn’t outsourceable…” would imply that the layoffs included people who were NOT replaceable via outsourcing
Yea he probably meant “[...] cut everything that was outsourceable [...]“
Michael - When will they lay off rest off the 2/3? I can’t wait - another silicon valley echo chamber shit will hit the crappers
Also, the stupid Mahalo Boy should start thinking about shutting that crapper down
Without sounding off too much…is there a week where we dont see an article about Seesmic and the common line “Note :I am an investor” ?
This article would have been good if it gathered information about many companies and how they were coping after the Seqioua and Benchmark meetings.
eyespot shuts down… who’s next?
Seesmic is such a mess. That company will be one of the first to fail.
Actually it’s a good time, you can tell “yeah, crisis is the cause, not our business model”
exactly…”the debt crisis has made video comments a shitty business! damn you wall street!”
their traffic is so low it never took off. good move loic stop everything and reinvent something else. the party is over.
this is seesmic in the virtual deadpool - who’s next
slide,rockyou and all those stupid widget makers
I’ve never really believed in businesses that launch with no view to generating revenue. I rather favor companies addressing real markets with real solutions, and guys who have sales chops alongside tech savvy.
Make a long list of companies that emerged from and were popularized inside the early adopter Bay area echo chamber and then climb on a rooftop tomorrow during the Blue Angels performance…and wave them a long goodbye.
I like the idea behind Seismic, but it kind of reminds me of John McCain trying to break through. Do we really see people doing this and paying to do it? Investors do and all power to everyone. I just don’t….right now.
Companies that will thrive are those addressing the needs of real people. If you’re one of those properties, get your assess in gear because you’ve got an incredible opportunity to drive marketing and PR in smart, strategic ways, and leave your competitors behind and watching your vapor trail. This is what needs to happen, and if you want to go there, free to ping me and lets talk.
If you’re leading an Internet property searching for market or seeking to leverage the potential of social media, take a break. Vast potential is not likely to fly right now. We’re back to real business.
What are you saying?
Another flash-in-the-pan operation cutting staff. What a shock. People starting tech companies are forgetting the key to survival: business plans. It’s basic business 101, generate more revenue than expense.
What’s with “Join Video the Conversation”? Sounds like Yoda-speak.
As usual, Loic is just being a bit smarter than everyone else:
- c.20 staff x $100k p.a. average wage = $2m wage bill p.a.
- hence no URGENT need to let go of a third of staff in a business which has raised $12m
- but a dynamic move to respond to perceived market changes
- and be seen/congratulated by investors for doing so
- while maintaining lots of money in the bank for bold strategic moves (perhaps buying other businesses)
- keeping a core of talented employees to develop new strategies
- and eliminating staff without it feeling like it’s their fault.
This is really smart management. Whether or not the current iteration of Seesmic will ever cross the chasm, this is how to run a business, and Loic has lots of time and money left to turn this into a great business while others fail.
I have to agree with you George, I wish more companies where run this way… even governments should be run this way… a lot of carnage would have been avoided!
Jon
http://WoodMarvels.com - Create Unique Memories
A smart management would have been to start with 33% less employees and stop goofing around the world
yea..it would have been even smarter if he did it before every vc in the valley sent out the direct orders.
this was, as he stated, a reaction.
“smart management” made these moves 9 months ago.
..you must be either Loic or his mother in disguise. the cuts he made are a direct result of mismanagement and burning through funding to fuel his ‘European, jet-setting ways.’ having been in over 6 startups, i have never encountered a founder as careless with startup capital as this guy. it looks like the days of Europeans living high on the hog while riding US coattails is over.
what is that saying…’you can put lipstick…’
12M! That’s quite a good amount for a new start-up. Must be nice to burn through it while the money is pouring in. But I don’t see the value proposition in what they’re doing. With enough exposure to so many amateur videos, why would I want to see some video instead of quickly skim through the response?
Good analysis George.
do they get to keep their options?
They’ve got enough cash to radically modify the proposition or build something new if it isn’t going to work. Burning through that cash on a product nobody wants would take some pretty poor management.
I honestly don’t get video comments or have any need to see some fugly’s recording when I could read their comment a lot quicker with no load time.
Saying that, their technology looks good and could probably be adapted to a more constructive use, perhaps as part of a larger offering.
Is this only news if you thought Seesmic had anything interesting or a half decent business model to start with? 7 Employees, seriously? It’s a side project with no more than three people ever needed that should have been nothing but “for fun” from the beginning.
http://phreadz.com/ has been built by just 1 guy and is better than Seesmic.
Exactly.. the vast majority of this stuff is a side project.. getting some VC money means nothing more than you know someone, and is no indicator of a business. How did these folks even make money? Isn’t that the point of business or had Silicon Valley once again forgotten?
if the business models were sound there would not be this meltdown in tech. people that follow tech knew the tech industry was in trouble. they played possum not wanting to talk themselves out of a job. there was fair warning. alot of clowns were not listening. they deserve to lose. “Startups” as we know them are Over in 5 years! “Startins” take over as established players integrate users and content. The internet is over for 97% of startups. Simplicity killed the internet. Inevitable efficiency and automation evolution will put 75% of tech out of work in less than 10 years. you did not believe my last warning, will you believe this one? my advice is learn a skilled trade.
http://seesmic.com/videos/Q7B9X13aTE
RealityLocator.com
21 people work(ed) there?
Doing what?
I’m sorry to hear about the layoffs. While I do not know Loic personally, I can only imagine that this was a very difficult decision for him to make.
I hope the model gets a foothold beyond T.C.
Best to all in this economy. Best to those let go. I hope you all find work.
Hey laidoff Seesmicers
Join my startup
I can’t pay you - but can give you equity
http://www.vloggingworld.com
Its always sad when companies need to let go of people. muvee created technologies to automatically personalize home movies about 7 years ago, and today, you can find our technology in Nikon cameras, Nokia and LG phones, and our PC software is preinstalled on HP and Fujitsu PCs globally, we became profitable in yr 3 and we only raised less than $5M. We self funded shwup.com recently (beta). It blows my mind how a 21 man company with $12M in funding needs to let go of a third of their team. They have either been hiring wantonly or just being fashionable. Your team’s job is not a fashion statement! To the seesmic engineers being let go: check out http://www.muvee.com and http://www.shwup.com We are hiring and are starting a team here in the Bay Area. (and Mike A wouldn’t even reply to my emails!)
http://www.shwup.com
Collaborative video creation.
I use muvee on my HP laptop. It’s a good product. I like the privacy feature of shwup. Have you started your team in the Bay Area already? I’m heading back into my beloved San Francisco to speak at the Web 3.0 Conference & Forum and would like to drop by to check shwup out if time permits.
@Terence Swee:
I’ve been told that muvee just laid off 20 of its own people recently and stopped development of AutoProducer. I don’t think it is in good taste to poke fun at another company when you are not much better yourself.
Seesmic should reinvent itself as a web based video voicemail service. Video does add something when sending messages between loved ones and people don’t have the anonymity block to contend with on a wholly private service. People would record messages, enter the recipients email and send. A message with the link and a password would be sent so that only the intended person saw the message. If you want to see the service in action go and watch Aliens or Starship Troopers.
I think people would pay for this. To make payment simple the user would open an account and credit funds into it, if the charge to send a message were low enough then people would not even think. Plus you have the pull on the recipient to sign up if they want to reply. To make it even more painless you could credit their account so they could have a few free goes before paying. If the coming recession makes startups think more seriously about what users actually want and would pay for then it will be the best thing that ever happened.
Robleh - that sounds a lot like Eyejot ( http://eyejot.com ) which started in 2007 and is operating profitably with a tiny staff. We have a free version but the real focus has been to drive people to two PRO versions which allow them to, among other features, extend their video recording durations, add their own logos for branding and add attachments. The two PRO versions are $30 and $100 per year respectively. Our traffic numbers are moderate but reflect an organically growing audience. No VC money taken in and there’s positive revenue being generated. Eyejot has proven popular with small to medium sized businesses.
With regard to Seesmic - it’s unfortunate they’ve had hiccups. No one likes to see other people experience misfortune. Loic seems like a nice guys (I’ve met him briefly once or twice) and people appear to naturally gravitate toward him and his ventures. But, I’ve always been critical (and jealous) of the path they took bringing in gobs of money and never quite understood why - or what the justifications for doing so were. Having built Eyejot I’m confident I understand the work required to build a platform like Seesmic and think they might have been (and still can be) more successful with a tiny dev team and a tuning of their business model (one that, for example, includes generating revenue). The one comment that struck me as odd was the fact that he (Loic) trimmed his marketing and PR staff. If the product is up and running now, wouldn’t it make more sense to keep the people that have the most chance of putting you toward a revenue producing path? Stop developing! Start making money.
Why does he have to make this message a public one? Who is he addressing to through his video ? This video should have been sent to his investors or should have been in his intranet?
He seems to be so democratic and transparent……Rather Can he talk about a value proposition of seesmic on a public video ?
Any business plan is dire when the interest from the funding if put in a normal savings account would make more money than the ad revenue.
Awfully telling that not a single person has used Seesmic to leave a comment on this thread about Seesmic.
One of the guys that got fired, Critter, TATTOOED the Seesmic logo on his leg… He’s showing it in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV6JXB94eOM
heh. I also have the twitter fail whale, a twhirl, coldfusion, and AIR logos.. it’s all part of a tech themed ’sleeve’
the seesmic tattoo was actually inked /before/ I was employed by the company.
You’re insane dude, but I still wish you the best for everything.
Has Arrington ever made an investment in a Web 2.0 company that was actually successful and profitable? Not counting TC, of course.
Loic should fire himself. really.
Seesmic has failed
Well I still say a company needs to have a way of making more money than sticking 12M into a savings account and living off the interest.
We thought that could be easy plan number 1, raise $20M stick it in the bank, go party. VC’s in the web 2.0 would probably pee themselves thinking you could actually give them a return in year 1
They had over 20 fulltime employees for a site that ranks 300k or so on Alexa? Seems like a bit of overkill to me.
Nevertheless, goodluck and hope it bounces back.
In earlier comment I meant lay off himself or step down, and hire a new CEO to run the company.
Best wishes.
How did Arrogantian fall for this deal… seesmic is exactly the kind of company that just does not deserve $6m… if my VC sidefund invested in this, I would be none the happy for it.
What VC sidefund?
I tried to us Seesmic once and had trouble.
Not to be negative on its prospects, but the only people I can think of who use or talk about Seesmic are its CEO and people associated with him, such as the company’s investors and the Web 2.0 blogger inner circle, both of whom are subject to conflicted interests and motivations (doesn’t mean they have to succumb to them, but they are subject to them).
Objectively, this apparent lack of use does not bode well, no? Or do people really use this? I think if this blog (TechCrunch) as THE reference customer (if it’s not, then who is?) and it doesn’t seem to be used by anyone worth watching/listening to (in my experience). That makes the cost/benefit of actually clicking to watch a video is negative. Time is too precious. A text comment can be skimmed in literally a second, not so with a video.
Last questions: How do they make money? What did they need $12 million for? I don’t understand (and I’m a former venture investor).
regarding your last question, one word: acquisition.
RE “acquisition”: Then you get to the “build vs. buy” question, which you use in price negotiations, which you drag out b/c the burn rate is a ticking time bomb. Either they take your pennies on the dollar bailout offer or you later just the technology in the bankruptcy sale. Maybe that’s going too far, but that exact scenario is going to play out dozens if not hundreds of times in next year or two.
Acquiring seesmic would be ridiculous for anybody!
I wonder if it’s good strategy to act so quickly - panicking, maybe.
It’s important that a company make shareholders, employees and users feel confidence in the product, and this kind of press doesn’t do that.
I like Seesmic and Loic Le Muer, what I now of him, and I hope the best for the company.
deadPool Mike ! DeadPool!