Startup Review

Long Introduction

written by Nisan Gabbay, posted on July 15th, 2006

The last time I did anything journalistic was as sports editor of my eighth grade beginning journalism class. I emphasize beginning because I never made the cut to the advanced class. The one thing I do remember was that every story should cover the Who, What, Where, Why, and How. So here are the 4W’s & H on Startup Review:

What

Startup Review will be a blog that profiles successful Internet start-ups in a case study format. The case studies will be fairly detailed, analyzing the key factors that made the companies successful, with an emphasis on strategy and product decisions. Each case study will also have sections discussing launch strategy, exit analysis, and links to other good analysis on the company.

Why

I don’t think that there is a good forum where people can discuss what made certain companies successful, particularly the less publicized success stories. Sure there are whole books written on companies like Google and eBay, but what about the more modest success stories in the $20M - $2B range? My goal is to highlight lessons learned from companies like Rent.com, HotorNot.com, or Greenfield Online.

How

For each case study I will try to interview a few people involved with the company, most likely a member of the founding team, early employee, senior management, or early investor. I promise not to post any case study if I have not spoken with at least one of the above below.

It is my hope that each case study will provide a starting point for readers to contribute insightful comments. If this is only about my analysis, we are in trouble :)

My plan is to publish one case study per week, as I plan to devote about 10 hours to creating each case study. I am committed to staying the course, but nothing helps better with motivation than seeing my Feedburner stats climb – so tell your friends about this blog!

Who

The blog is targeted at all people with a serious interest in Internet entrepreneurship. It will be written with a slant towards the investor’s perspective, given my background. Who am I? My name is Nisan Gabbay and I am currently working at Sierra Ventures, an early stage VC firm. Please see the “About” section for more info.

Where

I will focus on US-based start-ups. Since I live in San Francisco there will be some Silicon Valley bias here.

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