In a tragic and surprising turn of events, Brijit, one of the most interesting startups on the web, has announced that the company has run out of money and will cease operations until more funding is found. Brijit offered 100 word summaries of the best long-form content in print, on television and most recently on sites like Digg, Techmeme and YouTube. Review writers were paid $5 per approved review and the angel funded company planned to sell ads targeting high-end periodical readers.
I loved that site and am very sad to see it go. The service was a lot of fun to use. Given how recently the company has received substantial media attention and how loyal its small group of users was, this was a real surprise. Can high-end websites for thinking people ramp up and monetize quickly? This news makes you wonder.
Visitors to the site tonight were greeted with the following message:
You've reached this page because, at the moment, Brijit is out of money and can no longer afford to bring you the world in 100 words. We're working hard to find a way forward for our service and hope to relaunch in the not-too-distant future. Thanks to all our loyal readers and writers. And to our Brijit writers: payments in full for all abstracts published through May 15 will be made next week.
As you can see from the Compete graph below, traffic was trending up at Brijit after an initial media spike. The company has a really compelling system of "assignments" for review writers and the end result is a great crib-sheet for anyone headed to the periodicals section of a local bookstore on the weekend.
Brijit content is still available on the website here. You can read our previous coverage here. A great article about Brijit in the Washington Post is here. The Post reported in October that the company had raised $1 million in funding. Did it already burn through that, $5 at a time, or has something else happened?
I really hope that this isn't another signal that only lowest-common denominator content is able to monetize and scale online these days. It's hard not to think that Brijit's management must have drastically miscalculated somewhere. A million dollars aint what it used to be, though. Either way, the web will be a less wonderful place if Brijit goes belly up for good.
Comments
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I'm terribly sorry to hear this. I enjoyed Brijit as a reader and a writer, and I hope that they find a way to continue operations.
Posted by: Chris Anthony | May 15, 2008 12:10 AM
Looking at that chart, you would think investors would be calling Them...
I hope they can get it going again. Nice site.
Posted by: Jon | May 15, 2008 2:27 AM
The death of hundreds of thousands of people in Burma and China is tragic.
The death of a software company isn't.
Posted by: Andy C | May 15, 2008 2:44 AM
This is a real shame - I thought it was a clever idea with solid execution. Any innovation in the news space is welcome.
Brijit guys - we'll reach out to you offline. Perhaps there's a way NewsCred & Brijit can work together? We'd hate for this to be the end of the story for you guys.
Shafqat (cofounder NewsCred)
Posted by: Shafqat | May 15, 2008 2:58 AM
Sometime lack of strategic planning goes like this, but I think, they'll get back!
Posted by: Qurratulain | May 15, 2008 4:29 AM
Marshall, why is this surprising?
It is a great idea, but they're relying on advertising. That in itself is not bad, but it seemed that their expenses were through the roof, so there was no possibility of them bootstrapping themselves.
Any site with just "a small group of loyal users", and a compete graph that clearly shows media spikes instead of long term trending upwards of organic visitors, is bound to fail.
A big mistake was also getting funding, instead of trying to grow organically first and to see if there would be uptake on visitors.
Its a mistake that people with great ideas make all the time (including me).
I only hope the founders learn from this lesson and move on to other ideas that can make then some revenue from day one, or grow slow and steady.
Posted by: Ericson Smith | May 15, 2008 5:00 AM
Oh, this makes me really sad. I liked them!
Posted by: Sarah Perez
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May 15, 2008 6:14 AM
Thanks for the kind words, Marshall, and everyone else. I'll agree with AndyC that our situation at Brijit isn't tragic, but it is sad. I'm blogging to keep people up to date on our status at http://brijit.wordpress.com.
I wouldn't generalize about the fate of quality content based on Brijit's struggles. I'm still boldly optimistic about bridging the long-form short-form content gap, and I'm still sure there's a big consumer market for quality content online. Are there things I would do differently along the way if I could? You bet! But I'm confident that the mission is sound.
Shafqat, and anyone else who might be interested in a partnership or acquisition, you can reach me through the email on the splashpage at http://www.brijit.com. And Shafqat, I think what you guys are doing is pretty interesting, too.
Best,
Jeremy
Jeremy Brosowsky
Founder & CEO, Brijit
Posted by: JeremyB | May 15, 2008 7:25 AM
Yeah it is sad to see Brijit shelved.
There definitely is a market for something like this but as it is very hard to get viral growth for this type of product you need to be able to bootstrap it for the first 12-18 months or have very deep pockets.
Still, I'm sure you guys have learned a lot that will make your next venture a big success. Don't let it hold you back and good luck on the next one!
Posted by: Nigel Eccles | May 15, 2008 7:56 AM
Nigel, your analysis is dead-on. We're a classic example of undercapitalization or overspending, depending on how you look at it. And that middle ground is not a good place to be. For now, I'll be working hard to find us a soft(ish) landing. And if I can't, it'll be on to new adventures.
-Jeremy
Posted by: JeremyB | May 15, 2008 8:11 AM