I was just commenting on Tom Hume of Future Platform's riposte to everyone's favourite pundit, Ajit, over the rapid and expensive demise of Trutap, when it struck me - Trutap has to be this bubble's version of Riot-E.
For those who don't know, Riot-E were the original mobile badboys/money wasters - these guys were so visionary, they signed up the rights to the Bridget Jones mobile game for a six figure sum back when mobile games were SMS-based (and tiny). They had giant dollops of Nokia cash and they spunked it left, right and centre with little to show for it at the end except some great stories - such as the time the CEO started naked wrestling in covered in olive oil in one of Helsinki's top restaurants, realised he couldn't buy his way out of it, and so led the whole company on a naked charge through the centre of town back to the office. But hey, they do that sort of thing in Scandinavia. The documentary is excellent and well worth a watch for anyone interested in either tips on how to invest VC cash for maximum fun, or an insight into the Finnish psyche (things get messy at the end).
The point being - you have to hope there are some amazing stories of champagne jacuzzis in private jets to explain how that $14.5m got spent, because there is no rational way a boring conventional company should spend that much to create what in the end is a <$1m fancy JavaME IM and social network aggregation client. Sadly I haven't heard any stories of this nature - so Trutap people, if they exist please share!
If this kinda thing happened, it was well hidden from us at FP ;)
ReplyDeleteLet's look at the figures tho... say there was $14.5m investment. The business has been running with a staff of about 30 (according to TechCrunch).
You can see they started hiring in the team at the end of 2006 (http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2006/11/hotxt_hires_ian_brayshaw_from_yahoo_and_alexis_johnson_from_shoppingcom.html)
So that's 2 years, say... though the company existing before then in the form of Hotxt and was presumably spending money, but let's (for the sake of simplicity) forget that period.
This works out as $241k per person per year, which is £160k at todays exchange rates (or £120k as the dollar stood back when the money came in).
Out of this comes PR & marketing costs, infrastructure, office spaces, salaries, etc etc - oh and that time before the team was hired in. I recently spoke to a chap from a Large Telecomms Business You Know who informed me they consider their average cost per staff member to be £100k considering salary, travel, training etc. £120-160k doesn't seem to be too much more considering all the additional expenses (marketing, infrastructure, etc.) it covers.
Not cheap, and you might wish to argue that they could have done things differently, but this is a long way from Riot-E-style excess.
(I'm familiar with Riot-E btw - met em when they were around London in 01/02 and spent ages tracking down a copy of the film ;))
So this Trutap thing is like fring, except not as popular?
ReplyDeletewhat i don't understand is what the 30+ people we're actually doing for the past 2 years. in the age of web 2.0 apps, it surely doesn't take a lot of people to develop an app that only works on one platform and had very few users. and they even outsourced their dev work, so what were the rest of the people actually doing?
ReplyDeleteso the cost calculation might be true (although i think £100k is also on the highside--perhaps that might be the cost at Nortel (look where they are today!), but certainly not for a start-up. what seems to be the problem is that the hiring side was, for some reason, out of control.
Anonymous: Trutap outsourced the client work to us, but had an in-house team working on all the back-end, operations, infrastructure, biz dev, web, product management, QA, marketing and PM.
ReplyDeleteMy point with the costs is that if £100k is reasonable for a corporate, then £120k doesn't allow much room for the Riot-E style excess Trutap are being accused of.
Please note that this £120k includes marketing, PR, infrastructure, and costs for the years before the team was built: so the true figure per staff member would be much lower.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI have 2 blogs based on UK mobile phones. The blogs are regularly updated and bith have page rank of "3". I found your blog quite useful for my blog's visitors. I want to exchange link with your blog, which will be fruitful for both of us.
My blogs are http://mobilephonedeal.wordpress.com/ and http://orangemobilesphoneshop.blogspot.com/ .
If you are interested, please contact me at tomhanks911@gmail.com
Regards
Tomy Hanks
tomhanks911@gmail.com
Hey - I think most of the money went on building the platform not on partying:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2008/12/trutap_-_mjelly_mobile_20_service_of_the_week.html
Have you ever considered about including a little bit more than just your articles?
ReplyDeleteI mean, what you say is important and all.
However think of if you added some great pictures
or video clips to give your posts more, "pop"!
Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips, this website could definitely be one of the most beneficial in its niche.
Awesome blog!
Here is my web-site ... drive traffic to a blog
Greetings from Florida! I'm bored to death at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you present here and can't wait
ReplyDeleteto take a look when I get home. I'm amazed at how fast your blog loaded on my phone .. I'm not even using WIFI, just 3G .
. Anyways, good blog!
Take a look at my homepage ; dental insurance course
This design is spectacular! You definitely know how to keep a reader entertained.
ReplyDeleteBetween your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost.
..HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really enjoyed what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented
it. Too cool!
Feel free to visit my homepage - shopping online
Having read this I believed it was very enlightening. I appreciate you taking the time
ReplyDeleteand energy to put this article together. I once again find
myself personally spending a lot of time both reading and posting comments.
But so what, it was still worth it!
Also visit my web page :: page seo
Thanks very interesting blog!
ReplyDeleteFeel free to visit my blog: make money from home
I think this is among the most significant information for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd i am glad reading your article. But wanna remark on some general things, The
web site style is great, the articles is really
nice : D. Good job, cheers
My web-site; product reviews
Good information. Lucky me I discovered your website by chance (stumbleupon).
ReplyDeleteI have saved it for later!
Visit my website - degrees of financial literacy
Way cool! Some very valid points! I appreciate you penning this post and the rest of the site
ReplyDeleteis very good.
My blog metallwiki.ch
What a stuff of un-ambiguity and preserveness of valuable experience regarding unexpected feelings.
ReplyDeletemy blog post - pod coffee makers
I'm extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it's rare to see a great blog like
ReplyDeletethis one these days.
My weblog; http://widyawisatabanten.com/
My brother recommended I might like this web site.
ReplyDeleteHe was entirely right. This post actually made my day.
You cann't imagine simply how much time I had spent for this info! Thanks!
Here is my website; http://www.hjcustomjewelry.com/effortless-modcloth-coupon-plans/
If some one wishes expert view about blogging then i propose him/her to go to see this blog, Keep up the good job.
ReplyDelete- Mobile Apps Development Company Ahmedabad | Logo Design Ahmedabad | Affordable Logo Design Ahmedabad
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it's time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you some interesting things or tips. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!
ReplyDeleteAlso visit my web-site; Http://dragopedia.com/index.php?title=Cool_Clothes_For_Women
Link exchange is nothing else except it is only placing
ReplyDeletethe other person's website link on your page at appropriate place and other person will also do same for you.
Feel free to surf to my webpage simply click for source
Hi this is kind of of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors
ReplyDeleteor if you have to manually code with HTML.
I'm starting a blog soon but have no coding knowledge so I wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be enormously appreciated!
my site; click through the up coming article
I am sure this post has touched all the internet users, its really really pleasant article on
ReplyDeletebuilding up new weblog.
my webpage :: http://mediawiki.ad737.com/index.php?title=Girls_Clothing_Related_Articles
I have to thank you for the efforts you've put in writing this website. I really hope to view the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own site now ;)
ReplyDeleteFeel free to surf to my homepage ... lovesmarket.com
Keep on writing, great job!
ReplyDeletemy page - thejuicyshop.com
Greate pieces. Keep writing such kind of info
ReplyDeleteon your page. Im really impressed by your site.
Hi there, You've performed a fantastic job. I will certainly digg it and for my part recommend to my friends. I'm confident they will be benefited from this
site.
Feel free to surf to my homepage: vintage clothing
I am actually happy to glance at this web site posts which carries tons of helpful information, thanks for providing these information.
ReplyDeleteAlso visit my homepage :: http://www.cosavista.net/new-fashion-dresses-online/
supreme clothing
ReplyDeletesupreme hoodie
jordan shoes
moncler jackets
yeezys
kd 12 shoes
supreme
nike shox for men
goyard
balenciaga trainers