How-To Video Site MindBites Raises $1 Million First Round
Mindbites, a startup in the crowded area of how-to videos, has raised a $1 million first round from True Ventures. Unlike some of the others in this space, the Austin, TX-based company is adopting a paid content model, whereby people with skills in a particular area can upload tutorials and charge people to view them. As such, explained CEO Jason Reneau, it’s trying to be more of an eBay (NSDQ: EBAY), rather than another “YouTube-for (fill in the blank).” It also sees an opportunity to eat into the large instruction media industry. While it may do ad-supported content at some point, for the time being, transactional revenue forms the core of its business model.
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Comments (5)
Mar 21, 2008 2:55 PM
Thanks for the writeup Joseph. Everyone here at the MindBites team is excited to be building our social marketplace and publishing platform for video instructional content. One of the fundamental reasons we decided to build MindBites, was that we simply believed that there needed to be a platform and marketplace to enable the millions of talented people out there who have something to teach. A paid content model is the most direct way for users to compensate authors for their knowledge, innovation and creativity. We are also (unsurprisingly perhaps) big fans of PaidContent, and proud to be joining the fray in the belief that there is a place for paid content models on the Web. Thanks again, and we look forward to keeping the PC community informed of our progress and learnings.
Jason
Mar 21, 2008 6:03 PM
Good luck with your business. You face a daunting challenge by your current competitors of MonkeySee, VideoJug, Howcast, ExpertVillage and 5Min.
Mar 24, 2008 10:15 AM
Heh. You forgot WonderHowTo, Graspr, Sutree, Sclipo, Zippidee… :) Yeah, it’s true there are a lot of smart people doing really cool stuff in the space. But, the reality is we are not really fighting each other but in fact the bigger enemy of the Status Quo. People seek knowledge every day and the traditional instructional publishing industry is well over $10b, as well as the market for in-person instruction which is well over $10b as well. The noble challenge all of our organizations have taken up is to create something new that helps people in new ways, adds value to customers and to create a real business over time.
Mar 24, 2008 6:47 PM
Perused the site, and I can’t get past the similarities to http://www.clipgarden.com. They’ve been around for some time - have you signed up and participated on with their beta?
Apr 1, 2008 11:07 PM
Good to see others agree that not every business should be based on an advertising model. While Zipidee is much, much, much more than instructional content, we do have the largest pay for library in the area, so it’s interesting we always get lumped in to other folks in this space. Zipidee (spelled with only one “p” - btw) serves health and fitness, action sports, anime, and all special interest pay for content. good luck to mindbites.
check out http://www.zipidee.com to experience our digital marketplace
Henry Wong, CEO Zipidee.com