[joshklein]

But they're already profitable and have a proven business model (gain attention, sell it to advertisers). I have serious doubts about their ability to make good use of $30MM, but I don't think it's vaporware, either. This could be a case of smart founders taking liquidity in an era of cheap money.

[notahacker]

We can't fault founders for building a profitable business and taking cheap money before the growth tails off. But shouldn't there be some evidence of a viable master plan to spend that $30m turning it into a $300 million business for it to be an investible opportunity? I can't help thinking the "ephemeral crap" market is looking highly competitive and that the competition is more sophisticated and addictive.

[ryanwaggoner]

But shouldn't there be some evidence of a viable master plan to spend that $30m turning it into a $300 million business for it to be an investible opportunity?

To the investors, yes. To the general public, no.

[alecco]

Their business model is steal content with proven attention quality and then publish it with dubious marketing and sell advertisement on this. This is the same business model Ebaumsworld had.

Also I'd be very wary of investing my money on people with such malleable ethics. But I guess with so many new VCs without a clue there's a lot of money to be made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EBaums_World