Valleywag
Slide may indeed be "the largest independent widget maker" on the web, as Max Levchin, founder of the photo publishing service, tells Venture Beat. But why on earth would an ambitious entrepreneur want the title?
First, Slide is only the largest if one assumes that rival, Photobucket, is indeed being sold to Myspace. And an exit like Photobucket's, of $250m, would be a disappointment to Levchin, who already sold Paypal to Ebay, for $1.5bn, and was looking for a bigger return from his next venture. More importantly, widget maker will become a curse.
Photobucket was unlikely to establish itself as a sovereign company, because the bulk of its users came from Myspace, a fact of which it was reminded, when the News Corporation social network, during negotiations, blocked access by its users to videos on Photobucket. Once Myspace has a robust inhouse photo service, in Photobucket, the position of Slide — which has also grown because of the popularity of its photo slideshows among Myspace members — will be even more precarious.
The fact that Slide is the "largest" of the widget makers won't necessarily intimidate Myspace and other publishing systems on which Slide perches; and the fact that it's described as a widget maker at all is an advertisement of weakness, and a dependence on bigger consumer brands. Better to abandon the term, and deepen its own direct relationship with internet users.
Comments
You got that wrong, Nick.
Whatever Slide is describing itself publicly, you bet Max is thinking about deepening direct relationship with users. But "the largest whatever" is a bragging right that can get plenty of partners to the table, even though MySpace can see through this.
So call it a clever smokescreen.
I don't think it's so much of a smokescreen, as a misguided effort to have it both ways. He's obviously trying to reduce the dependence on Myspace, and build up Slide, and has had a measure of success. AND he wants to ride the widget bandwagon for a while. But I don't think it will be that easy to get off.
another good point, from a tipster...
"on slide - remember that max sees everything as a bait and switch process i.e. paypal was the orig widget - being dependent on ebay for its growth"
Valleywag. Hates. Widgets.
We get it already.
@Nick Denton: I think he may be able to get off as long as he is not drinking his own Kool-Aid. But we do not know what is going on inside his head, do we?
But yeah, trying to build an empire on someone else's land sets the stage for future fight and you better have a plan to win it. As Nick Machiavelli used to say:
"The Romans never allowed a trouble spot to remain simply to avoid going to war over it, because they knew that wars don't just go away, they are only postponed to someone else's advantage. Therefore, they made war with Philip and Antiochus in Greece, in order not to have to fight them in Italy... They never went by that saying which you constantly hear from the wiseacres of our day, that time heals all things. They trusted rather their own character and prudence- knowing perfectly well that time contains the seeds of all things, good as well as bad."
For now Slide is winning by grabbing MySpace real estate. Once Rupert wakes up we'll see if Slide will have more muscle than Photobucket.
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