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Color Gets Dumber
This is my third post I've done about Color.com, the "company" into which mentally-challenged venture capitalists poured $41 million. Good luck on seeing any of that back, fellas.
In my first post, written eleven months ago, I introduced you to the firm and its, errr, product. In a follow-up post, I wrote about how the company - - which I guess found that no one wanted to use their crappy creation, $41 million in the bank notwithstanding - - repositioned themselves with a product that struck me as even less useful.
So why am I bothering with a third post? Two reasons, I guess. First is that I pass by their headquarters at least several times a week, and although one half of their huge office is completely empty, the other half is covered with butcher paper (for privacy? out of shame? Who knows). So I'm reminded of it.
The other reasons is that it really chafes my hide that I started a successful, profitable company for $3,000 (and sold for millions to the benefit of all our investors) and these kids get an enormous eight-figure check dropped in their laps for something which, in my opinion, is destined to produce a return of approximately negative 100%.
Anyway, as Color.com continues to be A Solution In Search Of a Problem, they have outdone themselves. Now all their product seems to be able to do is update your Facebook status with a short video (which they bizarrely seem to brag lacks "audio" and "editing", which I figure most people would sort of want). Here in the Valley, this is what we call "A feature, not a product." And certainly not a company.
All the same, if you want to do a feature story on this bubble-funded enterprise, feel free to hop onto their press page. I think they've still got room.
- advertisements -
These yuppie companies are nothing but the scam from the movie "The Producers".
Instead of "Springtime For Hitler", a play designed to fail, we have Solyndra or Color or Pets.com or Webvan.
Internet startups? The Chinese build factories & make stuff. That's smarter.
...is destined to produce a return of approximately negative 100%.
So, "Color" stock is converted into US Treasuries?
Or, Greek bonds?
I love starting the day with humor... Thanks!!
Tim Knight with great thought provoking posts like these you may have a future as a seeking alpha contributor.
A zombie company. This seems to be venture capitalist momentum investing chasing the internet and social media markets. Makes for a good living if you can sell your vision to the VCs.
Unless they convert it to gold, they're going to be broke.
Dumb & Dumber -- Empty Suitcase of Money
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GSXbgfKFWg
So some self-approving dickweed "in the Valley" (hopefully "of the shadow of Death") is upset enough to write three posts on some other probably self-approving dickweeds that got more upfront money than he did? ZH may need to re-think their editorial policies. I thought this kind of crap only made on Yahoo contributor bylines.
It's a free country...Did I say that?
To the author, look at it this way. At least you don't have to worry about PAYING THESE INVESTORS BACK. The investment is a LOAN.
I don't think they spent $41 million on THAT project. If they were smart, they put the rest of that money into silver, Australian mining companies, a movie tied to a well known director, etc. Maybe use that loan with a cheap margin to buy naked shorts on crude, then using that money with a loan to acquire a growing, more successful start up than Color. There's a lot you can do with $41 million, as long as you can meet the investors' demands.That's what I would do with it.
Bay area people are not always that good with cash, dot com millionaires end up in homeless shelters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/01/silicon-valley-poverty-homeless_n_1302348.html
Not that they can be.
But knowing how the start up trendies op in the Bay Area, I would say that some of that money was spent on things like this. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/09/22/WP-Solyndra-went-on-a-spending-spree-after-getting-loan.aspx#page1
Or this. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/09/price-solyndra-execs-pay-pleading-fifth/42880/
Or even this. http://yesbuthowever.com/solyndra-founder-received-millions-stock-loan-5001052/
BTW, if anyone was ever exposed to the post dot com start up environment, lavish spending on borrowed dollars is not unheard of. This is behavior that is common in the bay area, not necessarily Obama.
Be grateful that "Color" is losing investor money instead of tax dollars. Investors have every right to cry bloody murder at this, that's what investors are supposed to do.
So why am I bothering with a third post?
1.) You drive by their offices every day.
2.) You are irritated by their access to startup capital.
This one had all the substance of a rice cake induced fart.
Rice cake induced fart ?..LMFAO. Can I use that ?
color and facebook is not stupid.
It is the users who are stupid.
What Chinese/Russian communist big brother and FBI/CIA couldn't do, these guys pulled it off.....give up your privacy and post your location, conversations, faces, friends online in public forum.
Internet or the virtual world is the last frontier and US is funding virtual world colonialists via VC funding. FORCED socialization coming soon near you. IRS will soon going to tax that painting hanging on your wall as seen in color.com photos.
You bet the elites aren't using any of this shit. Just hire someone to manage their PR.
I never joined Facebook, MySpace , or any of those "social networks". My worst offense is probably having a Google email addy and using Google.
Stuff I searched for using Google now shows up in ads on pages like Fox News and many others. Google is just a proxy of sorts for the CIA NSA, et al
sad but true
This is getting redundant. TK - your posts are drivel, your self promotion is absolutely disgusting, and your subject matter is not interesting, in the least bit. At least you are consistent - consistently bad. Too bad you are polluting ZH with your meaniingless posts. I wonder why you don't post one of your truly stupendous top calling charts, take a pick from any of the ones from your silly site today alone - is it because here on ZH, you cannot ban anybody, and you have to deal with real critcism? Methinks you have extremely thin skin.
Every once in awhile it's good to see marketing stupidity in action, these guys deserve an award. 1/2 the building is empty and the other 1/2 covered in butcher paper... I think they're both empty.
Silly Valley is the country's most active VC center and they're jacking it up. Arrogance amongst the useless Stanford MBAs (no offense to you if you are one) is going to ruin everything that Silicon Valley WAS. A bunch of boneheaded democrats who are out to prove that any investment outside of Uncle Sam's venture is a "failure", it's a conspiracy I swear. And it's a stupid stupid attempt, especially since many of us are still alive to remember what tax cuts to encourage private sector investments did to grow Reagan's economy. Yes Reagan had the highest employment to population growth in the history of the world. Stanford elitists KNOW this, but they won't admit this to you. Reagan's tax cuts created more jobs than the Gore Act. Without all of the Gore fairy tales about global warming and such.
It is a dumb idea and it just goes to show what connections can do for you. While they get the big bucks, others with marketable ideas get exploited through some "sell your idea" scam.
I have a marketable idea, but I've helped to start up a company and I KNOW what it takes to run a business. I went to start ups offering to create a strategy where VC investments open up to non-accredited investors. There's quite a bit of valuable human capital that is not already worth $15 million. Why not let them aid with the right incentive motive? Right?
I'm not a Stanford pedigree, not one of them responded or took the time to shoo me away.
Fine.
Later on, I read a Forbes article on young entrepreneurs and saw that this young, Asian engineering student at Stanford was making a whole $35,000/year salary for collecting millions for a VC company while Wall Street dummies take home 6 figures for killing value.
For those who are not familiar with Silicon Valley, $35,000 gets you nothing in the Bay Area. Not even a million dollar workingman's cottage.
This country has the incentive motive all wrong.
Although connections are important, nothing is more important or vital than already having a stream of demand. And you absolutely have to market to where the money is.
I'm really quite disgusted. I specifically chose finance for a career because I wanted to fund companies and expansion. Yes I like money, however you need a project or a goal to make your career worthwhile and i strongly felt that this was it.
The other grievance I have with the ARROGANT Stanford PIGGIES is that they p*$$ away so much investor money to bluff.
Many of them are Stanford grads or MBAs from Stanford and they waste so much money on hype-then "balance their books" by outsourcing accounting jobs to India when the unemployment rate in the Bay Area is like 15%.
Start ups are fun and engaging when you work with the right people, but I've seen ARROGANT CONNECTED borrowers p*$$ away investor monies on overpriced decor for the office, they've p*$$ed it away on some overpriced subleased office space that is 10 times what the company needs (you don't need an entire floor in the building for 5 employees.). I've seen that money p*$$ed away at "networking"-aka. lavish outings. That money is used to sponsor the lifestyles for over-paid employees who got these fancy titles THROUGH CONNECTION-only for a sneaky one not to work and the other to embezzle, I mean "borrow" it from the company.
I used to be an office manager at a start up and through connections I was able to see a few others.
It's bad up there and these ARROGANT people with no social scene outside of Standford academia won't cut anyone a break on prices. These are the same catty freaks calling Zuckerberg the "Toddler CEO", wondering why they haven't reaped his success after so many years of hoarding investor money to be "trendy" (and "trendy" is so 1998 now, meaning this ecstatic wannabe "trend" has been stale since 98 unless it was Apple-sorry Yelp!).
And who the heck agreed to pay the "bay area prices" for nothing? What is a loaf of bread up there? $5./loaf? Bay Area people are that arrogant. The Asian community saved my hide and my sanity in the Bay Area, they often provide better products/service at a reasonable price. These people want so much money for nothing of value in return because a few people were successful dot com billionaires. Not everyone there is a dot com billionaire and the parasites destroys the incubator for value creation. Especially when the unemployment rate there is so high.
I don't like our trade deficit either but this is exactly why business minded people buy from China.
Retained earnings and a constant stream of demand means A LOT- actually it's everything when you need to survive in an economic downturn.
I'm with the author on this one. It's an epic disgusting disappointment.
The investors will lose their own money. But recessions are the best times to get a business or a project going if you can so keep fighting the good fight and bring back good news!
Dear combatsnoopy,
I would take the time to shoo you away. You're a fucking asshole loser.
I actually had to log into my account here for the first time in months just to tell you what a delusional fuckwad you are.
And likely you always will be.
Suck a dick you revisionist piece of shit.
for the kids,
Reagan's 'job creating tax cuts'...
federal debt 1981- $997 billion
federal debt 1989- $2,8 trillion
Wow, it's like fucking magic, ain't it? Just print that shit, everyone gets paid!
Let that trickle down the back of your throat like the jizz that you love to swallow from the cocks of your nation-raping faggot buddies for whom there is not now nor will there ever be a defensible plea.
Fucking douchebag psycho loser.
you should go to stanford; lots of asians. $5 bread, but organic, chem free. Most investors in start-ups expect to loose their money, they use it as a tax write-off; thats how much money they make/have.
Color? Do they get to pull the race card when they go under?
All Kim Tight seems to do nowadays is express his bitterness and envy of others who achieve success. Its too bad that Prophet Charts, along with ThinkorSwim, is complete shit. Go back to soliciting your followers for more charity donations, Timmay.
Sour Valley grapes.
Yes any venture capital that wants to get return and not loose itself in office rent contact me lol.
what a story, 41 million for that is a LOL.
I don't see where they could have spent $100,000. It has a crapy looking front end and maybe a few hundered man hours of back end work. Where can I find one of these venture capitalists? Even if what I did for them did not take off, they would at least get the work they paid for...
So why am I bothering with a third post?
You da man Mr. Knight and now we all know
Tim not to be a dick, but so far your posts on ZH have been complete dog shit.
ik who gives a fuck?
Agreed. Besides, I have seen stupider sites do IPOs in the millions.
I mean shit Apple pukes close to 20 intraday, nasdaq has its worst day of the year, super tuesday tomorrow and I log onto zerohedge to read about some fucking fart in the thunderstorm color.com shit story. I think I would find reading about the pimple on snooki's ass on tmz.com than this drivel.
http://www.hockeyforum.com/photopost/data/500/mcdonaldlannyCOL001.jpg
Come onTyler----
diss
So, you have not figured out how the American Dream actually works yet? If you are the kid of someone connected to the 13 families or to a well connected parent then you can be any kind of shroom and be given free money for you pet project such as color.com, your useless artwork, a political carreer, your hedge fund, your social web site or in the case of Bill Gates for Microsoft ... and look at the kind of useless shroom he has turned out to be. Money is free for those who create it and their connected useless relatives.
... all because his daddy was connected.
Gratz from you on your start-up. Hopefully you are not the brat of a connected daddy.
You are 100 percent dead on, spot on. If it was you or me, we wouldn't have been able to get close to the amount of money they got for a startup that really didn't have anything and still don't (would love to have been at the presentation to the investors, if they had one). They got this money because their parents or their relatives talked investors into it. Essentially they invested in the idea of the relatives and not color.com succeding and it failed.
Insane...and their logo is a freakin pale copy of the Colorado Rockies hockey team... http://www.hockeyforum.com/photopost/data/500/mcdonaldlannyCOL001.jpg
If it's connected to Facebook it must be worth something, eh. That seems to be all the logic needed to warrant a valuation in the millions or even billions these days.
I saw a spot on the news tonight about AOL which reminded me of the time it was the darling internet company of the future. It was probably the first time I'd seen anything reported about AOL in a year.
It's amazing to see this happening all over again. Oh well, at least something's happening. Yahoo.
Every once in awhile someone mentions AOL; and I'm always kind of startled to realize, it still exists. Kind of a ghost, actually.
AOL just announced they are no longer sponsoring Rush Limbaugh.
"The other reasons is that it really chafes my hide that I started a successful, profitable company for $3,000 (and sold for millions to the benefit of all our investors) and these kids get an enormous eight-figure check dropped in their laps for something which, in my opinion, is destined to produce a return of approximately negative 100%."
Maybe some d_bags thought that your company was a piece of shiite when you starterd out also...thats why they didn't give you a 8 figure funding.
So what if they go broke...you don't sound like an investor. You were successful Congrats...Live you own life...be happy.
Or if you want to bitch...bitch at all those cockfosters in the Fed and Treasury that are pissing away out liberties while stuffing thei own pockets. Oh yeh thats right you live "in the valley"...you arse holes don't give a shiite about that stuff.
Bahahaha....! So sad.. but so very true. Seriously, what were the VCs thinking? Its like 1998 all over again.
What my little start up wouldn't give for just $500k.. and we've already got customers lining up.
Thanks for giving me something to chuckle about... even if it is schadenfreude :)
but how does Apple and Facebook fit in your business plan?
I guess I have to be first. Timmah K is a delusional twat!
You're either working for them or unbelievably bored.