February 07, 2005
Ask Jeeves to Buy Bloglines
According to the blog rumor mill, Ask Jeeves will announce the acquisition of Bloglines tomorrow. Bloglines is the leading RSS aggregator and a god-send for internet nerds the world over. Let's hope Ask Jeeves keeps it free and keeps any advertising from being intrusive."Ask Jeeves...could build a system like this very quickly," Napsterization creator Mary Hodder wrote on the blog. "What they would have trouble doing is getting all the data, structured, organized and pulled, going back more than say, a month. That's because blog posts fall off the front pages...and go into archives."
I wonder how much Blogline was sold for since it doesn't have any discernible revenue sources. The founder, Mark Fletcher, also sold eGroups to Yahoo. He is one very smart and rich man. Here's some good excerpts from an interview with him, where he gives some quality advice on internet entreprenuership.
Q: Regarding Bloglines, did that start out of a need for yourself or your friends/colleagues, or did you just see it as a solution that had to be out there?
A: Like ONElist, I started Bloglines by creating tools for myself. I was personally struggling with managing tons of online information, and keeping up to date on all of my interests. I was trying to monitor over 100 web sites and having to revisit them time and again to determine if any new information had been posted or updated. I was investing a lot of time and felt like it was starting to run my life.
At the same time, some interesting web technologies like RSS and ATOM started to pop up, making it possible to create an umbrella service that helps people collect and manage lots of information from different sources at a single place.
Q: Any words of advice for the Internet entrepreneur in all of us?
A: Having started companies before, there are 3 key things I can recommend:
First, pick a problem that you have passion around. Starting a company is a 24x7 commitment and if you aren’t fully dedicated to the idea, it’s not going to work.
Second, listen to your users—they’re the experts. The power of an online venture is access to direct, real-time feedback from users. It’s a gift to an entrepreneur, and an incredible tool for building a business. They will tell you loud and clear what is working and what is not.
And third, stick with it and be tenacious. Just like you can’t turn the oven on higher in the hopes of making the cake bake faster, entrepreneurs have to understand that while a product or service can be created somewhat quickly, it takes a long time to build an actual company that delights its customers and generates revenues for its employees and investors.
