SILICON VALLEY - I just saw an interesting story on Beet.TV about a new company called HowCast.com, which produces and distributes "how to videos" on a range of topics. The company was founded by two former Googlers, and they've already raised $8 million -- an amount equal to 32 months of opex at a steady burn rate of $250K per month (ignoring revenues, additional equity investments, and tax implications).
I'm no VC, but that seems like a bunch of money.
In any case, it's an interesting concept -- and some of HowCast's content is excellent. Of course, the challenge will be producing and updating enough credible content to keep the site relevant. And for whatever videos HowCast doesn't produce in-house, they'll need editors to determine which user-generated content is accurate and entertaining enough to air on the network's 1400 categories. Think "channels."
"It's a floor wax AND a desert topping!"
Imagine: The technology AND the content have to be remarkable -- or else viewers could simply seek "how to" content on YouTube, which is probably trying to subvert HowCast's concept even as you read this. It's like two business models rolled into one: Production/Editoral and Distribution. A hybrid. Their blog tells more.
After seeing a number of clips on HowCast.com, I'm not real sure that user-generated content will be differentiating enough. After all, user-generated content can be posted anywhere -- so by convention, it's undifferentiating. Not to mention spotty. And it's not like alternatives don't exist: Aside from YouTube and Google Video, there's already HowTo.TV and SoYouWanna.com. All of which ups the pressure on HowCast to create remarkable content in-house, or through a network of trusted third-party producers. Sounds expensive and altogether unproprietary, unless I'm missing something.
"Often wrong; Never in doubt ..."
Best case scenario: I'm guessing that HowCast becomes a garden variety "world class" programming business -- like HGTV or the Food Network. From a marketing standpoint, you can expect to see HowCast rely heavily on paid search, unless their content earns Wikipedia-like respect in the organic rankings on all "how to ..." search strings. PR, social media, and WOM will factor -- but those are unpredictable when you're trying to impress your VC's. Alliances will matter a lot, so I expect HowCast will add a top-flight VP of Corporate Development later this year.
How to Write a Resume
Anyhoo, check out this surprisingly accurate video "How to Write a Resume." I really like the bit about mapping your resume to what's on the job posting. Good advice, cleverly presented. If every HowCast video is this good, then you'll be hearing a lot more about these guys in the future.
Now, let's see: That's 1400 "How to" categories x 10 "How to" clips per category ...
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