Shiny Media loses its gilt edge

Shiny Media went bang yesterday, its one of the media businesses we tracked to understand what economics/technology/business model cocktails work, so the story as it unfolds should be interesting, lots of lessons I am sure. Best of luck for the future to those who sailed in her. All sorts of reasons for collapse are mooted, and there is some confusion as to whether they did or did not receive $4.5m in funding (If they did, there is a whole 'nother post to write....).

Anyway, TechCrunch covered it here, and there are loads of "what went wrong" comments, which the ever vigilant Simone Brummelhuis of TheNextWoman summarised:

Our learning curve goes up from this article, the lessons to be learned on “what can a blog (network) do well and what mistakes should it not make” are:

- make the design not too rough and ready for the casual browser
- be more than a superb, passionate, smart, and hard-working team
- don’t rely as editorial site to much on sales commission (such as from skimlinks)
- move away from a CPM model (only)
- do not to rely too much on traditional banner ads and try out some new revenue models
- Blended and diversified revenue models - including offline revenue streams like events - would tend to make a lot more sense instead.
- don’t use abysmal templates and horrific flash ads
- get a proper sales team together and sell some actual ads
- do audience research and interaction
- maybe try transactional widgets and sell products and collect real sales commission
- you can start with a semi-delusory idea of how to make revenue as long as, when markets turn against you, one is savvy enough to turn things around to survive.
- don’t use VC money for shiny offices [in expensive areas]
- invite the best of the Shiny team to your new venture as one learns from failure!

And I add: Even though online media and events are currently not the most disruptive business models around, and thus not fundable according to many, it seems that all those business and entrepreneurs that run a disruptive business model (and a lot of brands) do need the media and the events.

That point about events is well made, as Gartner notes, the early phase of The Hype Curve more money is made in events that in the actual business area.