I think he gave up too easy.. Why not relaunch with the integration of FB and Twitter?

Low 6 figures is A LOT of money in my book. 100k is the lowest of six figures and that is BIG.

It’s a real shame that it couldn’t get traction. There were some fun times early on but it really seemed to struggle to grab new users or carve out a particular niche to call it’s own.

Most web comedy properties tend to be fairly tightly focussed in one way or another. Big shame that someone had to loose “low six figures” to find this out though. I wonder if it couldn’t have been done as a side project with outsourced development for a lot less money?

Wierdly we considered renting a few desks from them a while back. Somewhat glad we didn’t now.
Still god luck with the next project Alex.

Low six figure not bad? The start-up I’m involved with is looking to launch with less than six figures!!!

It’s sad that Techcrunch thinks it’s ok to crash with with six figures worth of investment.

Such a shame. Popjam had potential and I even had my name on the top 50 leaderboard at one point!

I’m surprised Alex doesn’t put the site up for auction and get a little return on it. Would also be interesting to see if someone could turn the site around as it probably still has a little bit of potential and ‘a cool name’.

Good luck with your next startup.

@Mike, I’ve started my last webservice without a six-figure pile of cash, even a four-number one would have been nice. I wonder how they burned that much in only a year.

“Popjam was angel-backed but though no numbers emerged we hear it was in the low six-figures, so not a hugely costly mistake.”

Do you have any idea how much six figures buys in the right hands?

Many business owners get three figures and they start successful businesses.

I think business angels and government officials share one common value: they know how to lose money.

Predictable … lame, run of the mill idea and execution, lack of twitter integration the least of this site’s problems.

Saddest aspect is that the angels who fell for the hype of Alex Tew, wunderkind “entrepreneur”, won’t be dipping their toes in the startup sector again anytime soon. Where exactly did the six figures go? Most people reading TC could knock up an identical site and still have change from £5k.

I couldn’t agree more

6 figures… guys appreciate that yes he is Alex Tew Million dollar dude but that was 4-5 years ago and a lot of that success was slick PR.

The site could probably be knocked out pretty quickly by some coders but think about the fact we all knew enough about it to actually comment on it even though it entered a crowded space.

The exposure he got for this idea can’t have been cheap especially with all the “funny/fail blogs” etc out there already.

It does rather depend on the scale of the task at hand. Popjam employed a small core team of people, but had Soho offices, and was going for a large mass audience. If anything it may have been underfunded to really go for that big play. I don’t think everyone needs 6 figures by any stretch, but it does rather depend on what you are trying to achieve.

That’s the guy with the million dollar homepage. Everything that does not make 1M in a month must seem useless to him. Time to grow up boy.

See my comment above.

perhaps they would have been hungrier and quicker without the 6 figure backing.

This guy Tew got VERY lucky (fair play to him) with MillionDollarHomepage, which was a gimic with no sustainability or even short term business model. The businesses that paid for pixels on there couldn’t of seen a return. Does anyone even go there now? Traffic figures for MDH are non- existant. He got tons of air time (TV,radio,press) to raise his personal stock and awareness and then decided to start up another business with no sustainability or short term business model…..and this time his been found out.
Entrepreneur, yes. But not a smart one.

On the one hand, you have to credit Alex Tew’s determination and entrepreneurial spirit for having the balls and appetite to realise his ideas and turn them into ventures. On the other more serious side, its story’s like this, where founders squander great opportunities and cash with bad strategy, business models and even worse execution, that prohibit investors from taking risks with seed/early stage ventures.
I hope he sits down and ensures his next venture has a robust business and revenue model and as someone above suggested, a sustainable one.

Even if you say Alex was luck with his first venture, what about this http://tinyurl.com/yke2hx4

“Alex Tew thought up Sock And Awe a week ago and within days 45 million shoes had been thrown by 4.5 million unique users.”

As Mike says, the amount of money you spend is determined mostly by what you’re trying to achieve. That’s not to say you can overspend – but it’s unfair to assume – especially when a company has gone under.

Alex will be back with another startup I’m sure.

It’s sad, but not all projects work out. Such is life. Real entrepreneurs get back out there and work on the next idea, not sit around whining about things in TechCrunch comments.

Alex is a great entrepreneur and those who know him personally will attest to that. Those who don’t know him, or anything about Popjam, should leave their ill-informed opinion at the door.

My $0.02.

Paul, Sock and Awe was hardly an example of a great success. It sold for £5k and didn’t manage to bring huge numbers of users to popjam despite getting 4.5m uniques. It was another idea that had a very short lifespan and had to be leveraged very quickly for short term returns.

I agree that the amount of money you need is dependant on what you want to achieve but I didn’t really see any huge plays from popjam. Maybe they were underfunded and that’s why I didn’t see them. I’m just not convinced that what I saw was worth the kind of money being hinted at.

Ohhh well Alex will be back with something new I’m sure.

Why do British people diss others’ failures as if it’s a personal affront to them? What’s with that? Nice way to make yourself a valuable part of the startup community – by telling your potential friends and future business partners they are crap for trying something that didn’t work out.

Best of luck with the next project Alex!

Fail Fast!

Good luck to Alex, I expect he’ll be back soon with something interesting.

However, I tend to agree with those who suggest that “low 6 figures” was a LOT of money to get to this stage with this concept. Surely the site itself could have been built for “low 4 figures” and then they could have adopted the approach of prove there is a market willing to part with their money before ramping up and spending 6 figure sums.

Point of order – SockandAwe came out prior to the launch of Popjam and was not really used to market Popjam. It was just a funny flash game Tew and friends knocked-up to take the piss out of Bush. Mind you, it got a lot of airplay as it was so well timed.

+1

Fair play Mike. I thought they were both launched at about the same time. In fact I’m sure that there were popjam logos on the page? Still you would know better than I.

Still think it was a timely, amusing flash game. Not the best example of a successful entrepreneur.

Does anyone know what the revenue plan was?
I’m guessing it was going to be banner advertising / sponsorship, but I never saw any attempts at revenue generation in my time using the site.

Look, it is simply human nature to re-use a pattern/ technique which has served you incredibly well in the past. The difficult part is understanding what’s still relevant when the world has moved on. The key for Alex will be what he has learned from the experience. In tough times like these, business models and cash-generation matter in a way they did not a year or two back.

Really cannot blame a guy for trying and I hope he come up with something more robust next time. That’s where real kudos lies.

WTF?? Million Dollar Homepage was years ago and to be honest, a complete fluke.

Love the way he’s pissed £100k+ up the wall and is now ‘off to plan his next start-up’ – such a complete joke!

If it was anyone else they would be heckled as a failure but oh no, the guy had one stupidly lucky success and thus can do what he wishes and move on like nothing happened.

This is such incestuous piffle – it was a small, irrelevant and uninventive idea that regurgitated other site’s content with the incredibly innovative and value-adding addition of a ‘LOL’ button.

The only reason stories like this make TechCrunch is because Mike Butcher is an associate of the likes of Acton-Smith and Tew.

“Co-founder and CEO Alex Tew” – this is so laughable – how you could call yourself a CEO of such a creation and keep a straight face I’m not quite sure. A better description would be “The kid who made the site – Alex Tew”.

This article serves only to highlight the woeful state of the UK / London startup scene in comparison with our boundary-pushing Silicon Valley equivalents.

Welcome to the small time.

It was a bit more than the one-man band that you suggest. But with the Django CMS they were using you could knock out something similar these days by yourself no problem.

I personally think i failed because there’s already other sites that do this better already, 4chan/b3ta/SA etc…
all of these grew by word of mouth and a seriously active community.

Twitter and facebook integration wasn’t the problem, it’s just the (substantial) media strings and publicity that this guy can pull arn’t going to attract the kind of audience/community that a site of this nature needs.

Most accurate comment I have EVER read on TechCruch. Ever. So on point it hurts!

The UK tech scene is a joke.

Guys thanks for the all comments, and I appreciate the support from those who gave it.

In reality we didn’t spend all the investment and we still have cash to launch new ideas in the future. We learnt a tonne of lessons and we’ll be back soon.

On the broader issue of success and failure, the brits do have a bad habit of character assasination if people have a “failure”, especially if preceded by an earlier “success”.

This is sad, but the upside is you develop a thick-skin.

I’m personally aligned with the view that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. And you only get feedback by trying.

So the key is to keep trying, keep learning and keep hungry.

Have a great 2010 everyone

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

It seemed like the site really stalled in the latter period of its life. Whilst it’s difficult to do, especially when there’s seemingly a fair amount of money behind it, the best and only thing imho is to kill a lame site. If it’s dwindling a bit with no real hope of recovery, just let it go asap and move on. Teh internet moves too quickly to keep things on life support…

My 0.02

+1
this quote couldn’t be any more relevant.

well put Mike..
Alex.. Well done on discovering what didn’t work.. It’ll bring you one step closer to finding your own formula for success.
forget about the criticisms that are just empty and noise… If you haven’t failed a few times then you can hardly learn and grow..
Besides.. Only you as the entrepreneur behind a startup can know what ur instincts and gut tells you.. And I’m sure this experience will help you understand better what works, what doesn’t, and what early signs to look out for… It’s not about ‘arriving’ at success, but knowing how to course correct the hundreds of times before you get there, and sometimes things like recessions will come along and help you figure out quicker what doesn’t work…

Just make sure to celebrate your learnings and grow from them! Good luck with the next one!

Whinging Poms as my Mother-in-Law (who is afraid of snow) would say, let’s show a little respect. Alex is rightly a wunderkid, with the sort of entrepreneurial drive we are derided for lacking in this country.

Frankly it’s not a fail but a lesson that leads to other things. That’s sounds a bit crypto religious, but you get my drift.

I wish him well in his next venture.

Some people have way too much bile, try taking those stomach cleansing yoghurts Martine McCutcheon is flogging on TV, you might just unwind a bit.

Hmmm. Maybe billiondollarhomepage.com could solve this problem.

top marks for whinging in the same post telling people that they whinge.
Bonus points for: “That’s sounds a bit crypto religious”

+1

It’s hard to let something go, I don’t know Alex personally but am surprised at the negativity here. We’ve got to support each other, it’s tough and getting it right all the time is never going to happen.

Fair play to Alex for knowing when to call it quits and to keep on trying. Sounds like he has the continued support of his investors, that says a lot about the man.

JJ – you’re one massive oxyMORON!

Wow, well done. If the UK startup scene is going to improve it’s not going to be through pointless bile and invective of this nature which has nothing constructive to say. Alex Tew is as much an ‘associate’ of mine as the next startup entrepreneur to turn up, frankly. I’ve met him a few times but he’s neither a friend, as such, nor an enemy. He’s just another guy who tried something. It patently didn’t work so we’re reporting on it. Hell, he’s even explained why he thinks it didn’t work in his comments here. Were the UK scene as normally as open as this, we’d all be better off. You don;t get any learning by being closed and when people get attacked for being open you can hardly complain about a scene that ‘lacks Silicon Valley’s openness’.

Silicon Valley succeeds because the open community picks over the ‘failures’ and learns from them. It doesn’t attack the people who tried (unless they are crooks, obviously, but that’s a different issue – it doesn’t personally attack entrepreneurs).

I think you could easily say “small, irrelevant and uninventive idea that regurgitated other site’s content with the incredibly innovative and value-adding addition of a Retweet button” about a certain site called Twitter.

Good luck when you try to do your own startup.

So many critics here.

I wonder how many of these people have actually tried to create a successfull startup. Very few a imagin.
Hope Alex does better on his next venture. Good luck to him.

I couldn’t agree more with @adammartin. Don’t bitch, show some support. I thought the MillionDollarHomepage was a frickin masterstroke – both viral and PR. Who cares if it was written in 5 minutes? You guys obsess about technology so much that you forget about ideas, commercialization and marketing. Good luck, Alex! I’m positive your next venture will be an amazing success.

That might have sounded a bit patronising. Not intended. Good luck with the next.

Ok, then do it.

That’s kind of what I’m doing. But a fair point

So, what have you got?

Onto the next thing. So many of these comments smack of jealousy. Bizarre.

Love what he did and continues to do – Ideas are 2 a penny – execution is where it is at .

Ignore nathsayers – They bring nothing to the world – Check Mortun Lund – Last year looking to buy a private Jet this year a bankrupt – but still an inspiration

Blimey. So much hatred and jealousy! If only these guys spent as much energy on their startups as they do on bitching about genuinely successful people, they might command the same kind of respect that Alex does – respect from people in London who know him personally, unlike (I’m guessing) any of those brave/stupid enough to put their names to the comments above.

Alex is the quintessential entrepreneur. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

The only laughable thing here is the negativity, which seems clearly a symptom of envy. Envy that Alex Tew made a million in the first place and envy that he raised six figures for Popjam.

I wonder whether the people suggesting Popjam could have been done for four figures, are the same people who moan about not being able to get their own projects off the ground for lack of funding.

Personally, I admire entrepreneurs who create something from nothing with virtually no money. And I admire entrepreneurs who can hustle for investment and think big.

I don’t admire moaners. Jeeez … I’m sounding like Lord Sugar now!

These posts don’t reflect a negative attitude to entrepreneurs in Britain… because these guys aren’t really entrepreneurs.

They are just guys who make websites with little thought given to attach any sort of business model.

What tends to happen in tech Britain is some kid starts a website and then they call themselves a CEO or CTO on their twitter accounts.

Then get together with other kids doing exactly the same and preach about what its like to be an entrepreneur…. despite the fact none of them really has a business.

Then they big each other up to such a delusionary extent that they completely misjudge their importance.

(n.b. this isn’t a shot at Alex, he actually seems kinda normal.)

If Britain’s tech scene is going to improve it has to be aware of it’s flaws. Healthy debates are constructive.

I think the majority of this blog’s readership are wise enough to see that the coverage Popjam received in its short lifetime had very little to do with the strength of the product. If you gave every “guy who tried something that didn’t work” as many column inches as Tew this blog would be a mockery of failed back-bedroom apps created on a whim, as opposed to news about technically innovative ventures.

Silicon Valley succeeds because it has better people and better ideas. Britain’s best tech minds end up in the US because of this, and I for one can’t see the cycle changing as things stand. We need wholesale changes in government and education, but that’s another topic.

I’m hesitant to respond to your Twitter comparison as I feel it must have been made in haste or in jest. The difference is that Twitter is creating data with huge value, whereas Popjam wasn’t even creating data and never would’ve been.

I don’t doubt that Tew is a talented, intelligent entrepreneur who will succeed again, and I sincerely hope he does. I merely object to the cliquey nature of some Techcrunch EU posts, and await news of real innovation from the UK to restore some faith in the scene.

Freedom to fail fast is a vital aspect of a growing high tech economy. Having been involved in both UK and US startups, I can safely say there are only two major differences:

1 – the US market is so much larger and easier to access (the $ per customer equation is always in their favour)

2 – they respect people who learn from failure, indeed often require you to explain your failures as a positive learning point

That is not a blanket mandate to throw VC or angel money away in the US, but a pragmatic, sensible and realistic understanding that entrepreneurs must be allowed to fail and come back if they are to add anything to a business. The only real place to learn about risk is through the pain of failure.

The UK VCs appear to have an ‘upward only’ mentality which harks back (in my opinion) to 1980′s banking promotions which were always ‘up or out’. Since most VCs are ex-bankers, they seem to have bought that false thinking with them into their investee judgment.

Regardless of the merits of PopJam, Alex and the team should be applauded for trying, and simply be held to explain what they learned when they plan their next business.

Fail fast, and learn. That should be a motto we all live by.

The mind boggles at how many people are being shitty about this on here. I haven’t met Alex, but wish him well with his next project.

More importantly, the cheapness of New Media means that the failure rate of startups *should* go up: the ecosystem can afford to learn from many more New Media failures along the way to each megasuccess than in other industries. So to those being shitty about I say: you don’t get it. And stop beating up on Alex.

The truth about all this tech stuff is that nobody – NOBODY – knows what’s going to work until they’ve tried it. So I say three cheers for those with the guts and the determination and the endurance to try things out, and three more cheers for those, like Alex, who try and fail and try again.

And to the little, little people who stand on the sidelines and jeer when people with guts and determination and endurance fail, I say: Who ARE you? Frankly, crawl back to your day-jobs, selling your gutless time.

Do you think entrepreneurs really care about such bitter comments? i think by definition they need a really thick skin to be able to stay focused on the idea they believe in.

Sorry Mike, maybe a bit harsh looking back. Spur of the moment comment … but it’s still possible to launch with a team and less than 6 figures (and revenue helps)

This is fair comment, yes. Its a shame the situation arises in the first place, however. Life I guess.

Credit the quote. It’s from a US President, Theodore Roosevelt.

Indeed. And I await the startup from Tom Cavill. No, seriously.

What is this obsession with business models? Some startups have business models and revenue streams from the word go for whatever reason. Others are built to scale and don’t want any “friction” (like trying to monetise their users too early) to impede that. That’s the kind of startup Popjam was. That’s the way people need to think about this kind of startup.

So you got funding but it wasn’t tied to this specific project? Smart move. Is this typical for Angel funding?

All the best for future projects!

To be fair Mike, every company has to have a business model of some description. If it doesn’t it’s just, well, a project.

There are a small, lucky handful of well-funded companies who can afford to look into the very long term for revenues for the vast majority of us can’t. Alex is bright enough to know this and I’m sure that there was a plan to monetise in the not-too-distant. Sadly, like so many small companies that folded in the last year, that not-too-distant was just a stretch too far.

And, echoing Nigel Shardlow, below: To the little, little people who stand on the sidelines and jeer when people with guts and determination and endurance fail, I say: Who ARE you? Frankly, crawl back to your day-jobs, selling your gutless time.

“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then give up. There’s no sense being a damn fool about it.” W C Fields

LOL !!! Hlarious! Zing !!

Yes, agreed. Everyone needs a business model. It’s a matter of timing about when you apply it – whether you are doing it at the outset or scaling to the point when it needs to kick in (e.g. attention based advertising etc).

Excellent post. Summed up a lot of what goes on in the UK, I think.

Mike, with respect, to ask “What’s this obsession with Business Models?” is a frightening question. I’m glad it was someone more credible that I (Andy McLoughlin) who gently put you right on that as I was choking on the thought of having to respond.

I just love the fact that every idiot makes a comment about a startup that fails, yet only a handful of people are around when it comes to supporting a new startup in the first place.

For some reason, and i experienced this especially in this country (sorry England), we love to see people fail, tell them what they did wrong, and are never too shy to give them a few words of “expert” advise for the future.

Jeez Mike, you replied while I was writing my last post so I have to reply again.

It’s NOT about timing when a Business model is deployed, it’s just critical to have it from Day 1. Otherwise, as Andy said, you’re just a “project”.

I’m all for encouraging entrepreneurs but a blind encouragement is just like the parents of those kids on the X-Factor who can’t sing but keep telling them they are going to be the next Robbie or Leona – you’re doing them a disservice in the long run.

If someone starts a project, seeks investment and doesn’t actually know how it’s going to be monetised, just that it’s “kinda cool” then the chances of it succeeding become increasingly remote (though not impossible). As an investor though, you’d have to be very brave (or stupid?) to touch it. The more “projects/businesses” like this out there, the more disillusioned investors will become with the sector and we all lose when they move elsewhere.

Let’s encourage our entrepreneurs for sure, but let’s encourage them with the right words.

You need a Business Model from Day 1. Period.

What about start-up from you Butcher? No, seriously.

I really appreciate the support, thank you everyone.

Onwards and upwards!

Good luck, Alex. I think you learn more from when things go wrong from when they go right.

Fair play to Alex for trying… shame things didn’t work out but sounds like you have a good deal with your investors and can continue onto the next business.

Have to agree to Andy though, in the UK (And Europe) you have to have a business model and plans for revenue at the start (Or very, very early). Maybe this is the biggest difference between European and US Angels/VCs – there can’t be many European angels or VCs that would look at something without a decent and viable business model planned.

Its a catch 21 situation for many types of Internet startups in Europe – start with the revenue model in place and you may not scale or try to scale without revenue and you won’t get the backing.

Hopefully I won’t get kicked to the ground by the increasingly angry mob for having an opinion, but here goes…

Million Dollar Homepage was brilliant. You can call it brainless or a fluke, it doesn’t matter – Alex had the idea and made it happen, regardless of how simple it might seem in hindsight. The comments pulling it apart are the result of jealousy, pure and simple. The people making them would chew their own arms off to enjoy such success.

As for Sock & Awe – that was another masterstroke, and the PR surrounding it added to the burden of expectation – that whatever Alex attempted next would succeed without question.

“…if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.”

Nope, not only is quoting Roosevelt pretentious in the extreme, but it presumes the original premise was daring greatly, that it was without fault. So many comments above are falling over themselves to champion the acceptance of failure – which is absolutely right – but is it so vile to suggest PopJam wasn’t a good enough idea to receive investment? Let’s give permission to take risks and falter, but let’s not use that to dismiss the possibility the idea wasn’t strong enough to begin with.

And I think that’s the issue for plenty of people in the comments above – did Alex receive six figures of funding because PopJam was a strong idea, or because MDH was?

I think Alex has proven he has plenty of great ideas, but that doesn’t mean all of them are worth backing by default – that’s the burden of getting it right first time. Investors will be wary in the future, as will Alex – but that’ll mean his chances of future success will be far higher. Best of luck to him.

Another rubbish post from Mike “The” Butcher

Another person here who can’t believe the negative attitude to an entrepreneur (and he most definitely is one) who’s tried yet, in this instance, failed.

The ‘got lucky’ criticism of MDH.com is even more laughable. Soo easy to point and say, ‘I could do that’, when you didn’t and haven’t…

Give a guy a break. The elitist, ageist and sanctimonious claptrap here is everything that’s wrong with the UK entrepreneur scene, let alone tech scene.

Of course let’s dissect why it went wrong, discuss the validity (or lack of) the business model, obvious mistakes that were made etc, but this should be a healthy process for all (including Alex) to learn from – not a public thrashing for the entertainment of the narrow-minded and bitter.

Alex will be back. I’m in no position to judge his tech skills, but he’s proven his ability to spot opportunity, move quick, make things happen and harness media attention – I’d say they’re attributes of an entrepreneur and why investors wanted to work with him over arguably more proficient coders who complain they can’t get funding; and why mostly likely they will entrust him with their money in the future.

What I love about being an entrepreneur is that the products, services and business models that I conceive of never finish off in the form I originally intended. Everything has to be tested, iterated, adapted and improved to find that magic ingredient that gives it a life of it’s own.

Sometimes you find that magic before it’s too late, other times you don’t.

Many, many companies, large and small, release many, many products that die without trace. I understand that the Japanese model for releasing new retail drinks products is to launch loads of variants and see what works.

If you liken an entrepreneur to a corporation then Alex Tew Plc has just tried a product that didn’t take hold. Just the same as Cadbury launching an ill-received chocolate bar.

It’s not failure, it’s business.

Business is testing, trying, innovating and seeing what sticks.

The joy and terror of being an entrepreneur is that it’s your rear on the line when it flies or dives.

To take that leap takes a lot more guts than required by a sector product manager in a multinational.

All hail pushing the boundaries and entrepreneurship.

Without us the economy would never stand a chance of escaping it’s current toilet-bound predicament.

But don’t you see..? Describing gimmicks like MPH.com and sockandawe as acts of brilliance and entrepreneurial genius just seems to highlight how terribly insipid the UK tech scene is.

Nicely put Adam

@sean i totally disagree. it definitely helps to have a good idea about how your site will generate revenue when you start, but it’s not vital.

remind me what google’s business model was when they launched?

an obsession with generating revenue too early can be as dangerous as leaving it too late.

Totally agree with Adam, well done to Alex for everything he’s achieved to date. At 24 he knows more about getting things done than most. I’m sure he’ll have no problem moving on to his next venture, I wish him all the best.

Oh you poor baby! Shame it’s induced one of the more fascinating discussions we had here for a while, eh.

Once again, Britain’s tech “community” completely misses the point. It’s not about dissing brave Alex for having a go and having the courage to fail. It’s about the fact that, whichever way you look at it, Popjam was a desperately weak proposition. Weak in concept, and weak in execution. You can’t pretend the complete absence of a revenue model has anything to do with “traction”, and please, dear god, don’t compare your business to Google.

Alex was able to gain his angel funding, his front-page splash on TC, and Mike’s ongoing (and bafflingly) militant defence as a consequence of having been the Million Dollar Homekid. Like Tila Tequila or the Keyboard Cat, he became briefly internet-famous. And good luck to him, milk it for what it’s worth.

Doesn’t make him an entrepreneur, though. As well as energy and enthusiasm, that job also requires insight, experience and the capacity to put together a cogent business plan. I’ll say it again – this is not about hating Alex, ad hominem. Rathermore, it’s about the structural failure of the British tech sector. And by tech sector, I mean the country’s WHOLE startup ecology – not the same two dozen London scenesters TC seems fixated with. Don’t waste time actually building a business – hang out at Open Soho long enough, and you’ll get the money and attention you crave! Although to be fair, these particular investors are just as culpable and deserve what they got for fronting up for such a half-baked project.

Popjam is not some noble failure – it was Other People’s Money torched on Soho offices and gross inefficiency. Every conspicuous dud like this weakens the startup sector as a credible place for investment. This is something that should deeply concern everyone reading this blog. We should collectively pursue, and encourage, excellence and innovation. Popjam was never it, and was never going to be – as long as we stroke egos and pretend otherwise, London will remain the world capital of tech mediocrity.

By the way, I’ve been running businesses for the last 15 years, not just in tech but in TV and in property. In that time I’ve had turnovers in the 8-figure bracket, and I’ve also had my mobile cut off when I couldn’t afford to pay the £30 bill – so I do have some idea of what it is to take entrepreneurial risk. And yes, Mike, I have created a technically superior site for <£5k – might still be up on archive.org somewhere. Will you splash it if I relaunch with Twitter integration?

I agree. Post of the day.

Marco, would you care to share some details about the businesses you have run?

The Million Dollar Homepage was a brilliant idea. The people bitching here are just jealous they didn’t think of it.

Good luck Alex.

It is sad that there is so much negativity towards those who fail. Possibly it is a symptom of the entrepreneurial atmosphere in the UK being so much more nascient than that in US?
People seem to incorrectly take their frustrations out by being haters on those who actually had the balls to make a go of it.
Way to go Alex – and kudos on taking the time to comment on here. Definitely a class act.

Fwiw, the above wasn’t at all meant to dis Alex. He’s a cool guy and milliondollarhomepage.com was brilliant. Just trying to do my thing for teh lulz in the spirit of Popjam. May it rest in peace.

No, sorry, on balance you’re incorrect my friend.

While I accept there are no absolutes in business, in the vast majority of cases you need a Business Model from Day 1. More importantly, I think it’s key to get that message out there rather than encouraging those who believe otherwise and end up where Popjam find themselves today.

Google? One swallow dosen’t make a Summer. I didn’t say it was impossible, I said it was less likely. For every Google there are 10,000 Popjams.

Let’s get the message straight: The statistics suggest that you (most likely) need a Business Plan from Day 1. Period.

I completely agree with Zuzanna. I am in shock so many of you can do nothing but knock someone when they at least tried. The mark of a true entrepreneur isn’t someone that bitches and moans, and isn’t someone that always succeeds. Its someone that gets up off their ass, takes a risk, puts themselves on the line, follows their convictions and *tries*… and generally tries often.

Alex is a fabulous entrepreneur because he is creative, resourceful, knows how to network and PR his endeavours (and that is as much a part of what makes a successful company than just good tech), and most importantly, keeps on trying.

I suspect not a single one of those negative comments came from a true entrepreneur.

Alex, its a shame, but I’m proud you worked as hard as you did, and you are now just primed to embark upon your next initiative. I know you’ll do really well.

Sean,

I agree with Michael here – having a locked down business model from day one is great, but not essential to building something meaningful. Google, Twitter, YouTube, FeedBurner, etc are examples. Sure, they’re exceptional businesses and it’s indeed very risky to operate without a revenue model in place, but sometimes for certain companies it’s the right strategy.

Popjam didn’t fail because they didn’t have a business model; they failed because they didn’t get to product/market fit.

Further reading:
http://startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/

No. Just no.

I give up. Do what you guys want to do. But as an Angel investor, I hold my view firmly (and have several years of experience to back it up).

I look forward to the next discussion about “why is it so hard to raise finance from investors” and will roll my eyes when I think of this discussion.

One of the best posts so far. I like it when people do not shy away from reality.

@sean out of interest, apart from ‘angel investor’ what is it that you do?

you seem to hold strong views on how startups should be run, but have you actually created any successful ones yourself? there’s a big difference between theory gleaned from books, and the knowledge that is absorbed from being in the trenches 16 hours a day over many years.

why are you commenting anonymously? what have you got to hide?

Sean, as an angel investor you above all will know that plenty of startups fail even when they have business plans.

Should we lay blame at the doors of investors? Or the entrepreneurs themselves? Execution is hard. Creating new businesses is hard. It’s the nature of the beast, I’m sure you’d agree.

The UK tech scene is no different to the rest of the startup world here. What it has in abundance is passion, energy and most often a sense of community.

It’s not perfect, but it should be nurtured, not slammed.

Interesting to read the comments here.

All the defenders are defending the man (who by and large isn’t being attacked), and then make ad hominem attacks about the detractors while not tackling the points being made about why the business failed.

How can you learn from your mistakes when you don’t address them and call anyone who does negative?

Bravo! Well said, Sir!

There’s a few people around here who needed to hear that and I had just about given up trying to get through to them.

You arrived just in time.

[...] we missing? We have the skill, the money, the ecosystem, the will, the ability and the dream. The Techcrunch article about the closing of Popjam a startup founded by the UK star entrepreneur Alex Tew (founder of [...]

I followed MDH and Alex with interest as I’m fascinated by business and entrepreneurs. Don’t underestimate the weight of MDH’s success on Alex’s shoulders, especially due to the large amount of publicity that surrounded it – PopJam was the web startup equivalent of the difficult second album. I didn’t know much about the background of the operation or the six-figure investment and Soho offices but if those things are true, it’s quite sad as it smacks of the thinking that caused the dotcom bust.
I hope Alex goes back to bootstrapping like he did with MDH and I wish him the very best of luck for the next venture. Failing that I can see him as a consultant/marketing guru with a sideline in information products.

I’ll happily splash it if it’s an interesting product and you actually bother to contact me. Twitter or no Twitter

(BTW – You’ll note that we didn’t give Popjam an easy ride – read our previous posts to add context. All you seem to have done is read this one post on it which appears to have skewed your view).

This is a really interesting thread and it’s fascinating how it has divided people into somewhat polarised opinions.

Just to add my 2 cents – I think the reason people are a bit ‘bitter’ with Alex is that – forgetting for a moment he is a nice guy – he’s bypassed the typical frustrations and challenges most businesses have had in getting VC funding and supported, simply because of what some might argue was an astonishing stroke of luck with MDH.

Of course, that’s not to say it was a good idea. But, let’s be honest – it could have tanked. Instead, it reached a tipping point and word caught on…it became talked about…companies like LM.com starting sponsoring pixels and he made a fortune. BUT: it could have tanked.

The issue for many here is not that it succeeded, but that the line between success or tanking was essential quite arbitrary. Luck was a major part. Alex was in the right place at the right time (had MDH not taken place, ask yourself whether launching it now would have the same effect? The answer: possibly, but its success isn’t as a result of the ability of the founder?)

I don’t think anyone is bitter about Alex making megabucks from MDH – good on him! He was a lucky guy and everyone’s pleased for him.

The issue really is that having struck it rich, doors are opening for him (would it have appeared on the techcrunch radar so readily had it been ‘Joe Bloggs’ rather than ‘the guy who created the MDH’?) that are otherwise closed for people with much better ideas. And that’s what people on here are taking issue with, I think. And you know what? I kind of agree, to an extent.

So, we’re not criticising Alex. I wish him the best. He’s a good guy. But VCs hover around success hoping further success will come – all whilst potentially successful ideas fall by the wayside because their founders don’t have the track record to open that door in the first place.

I think that’s what people take issue with.

Entrepreneurs create their own luck.

They do this by being persistent.

That’s all there is to it!

Thats kinda said given the fact that MDHP was a huge hit. I think what lacked over here was absense of social media marketing. I heard about popjam months ago but never saw anydiscussion on this startup anywhere. The idea was good but execution wasn’t. BTW – I’m not sure if you guys have come across Blogertizeworld??, It’s a startup which has raised money from bloggers worldwide in exchange of pixel adspace. Yes right – PIXEL ADSPACE… The company raised over $55K via pixel advertising and reinvested in tech development and created 5 services under its brands – WSJ covered it sometime ago in June

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124421448828589241.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
- 4th story
You might find some more media coverage on this startup. Just google around

This concept of pixel advertising made more sense I believe since the startup offers profit share to bloggers who purchased pixel adspace on their site. I’m not sure whether it’ll work or not but this is what I call smart execution of an overused concept such as pixel advertising

Kevin

[...] Singh Chhabra says that Europeans need to learn to fail, and TechCrunch journalist Mike Butcher weighs in on pointless criticism of others’ efforts instead of how Silicon Valley tries to learn from [...]

[...] only slightly) safer version just launched, which is in fact a re-animation of a site that went pop only recently, namely [...]

[...] only slightly) safer version just launched, which is in fact a re-animation of a site that went pop only recently, namely [...]

[...] only slightly) safer version just launched, which is in fact a re-animation of a site that went pop only recently, namely PopJam.By Mike Butcher Yaab « Oscar nominees share lunch, light and sober talk [...]

[...] an Article on Techcrunch on 7th January 2010 , Alex decided to call it a day on Popjam and now sets on his another [...]

Well Done Alex Tew….
Flying the flag for the uk i for one have set myself a Budget for my venture of just £100 not a lot for a site but its down to you i am trying it

There are too many thanks to go around among the editors, reporters and production staffers who make this operation work day to day, …

[...] to Alex Tew. The guy who came up with the MillionDollarHomePage to fund his university education, flamed out with another idea, and came back with another, still has a feel for the zeitgeist. I would not call [...]

[...] to Alex Tew. The guy who came up with theMillionDollarHomePage to fund his university education, flamed out with another idea, and cameback with another, still has a feel for the zeitgeist. I would not call [...]

[...] to Alex Tew. The guy who came up with the MillionDollarHomePage to fund his university education, flamed out with another idea, and came back with another, still has a feel for the zeitgeist. I would not call [...]

Excellent Info. Tweeted about it. I?l bookmark this post too.

regards
Ravi
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