Conversation with KickApps SVP, Michael Chin

KickApps is a white-label ASP social networking provider. They claim over 5100 total sites (not sure how many are active) and with their 2.0 release in March include companies such as HBO, Scripps Networks and Vibe magazine on their client list. They closed an $11 million funding round earlier this month. I had the opportunity to meet with KickApps Marketing SVP, Michael Chin at their office in NYC. We went through a product demo and from my seat the product seemed well thought out. It is basically a plug-and-play social networking tool. Photos below along with my conversation notes:

General

• Customers range from small radio/tv stations to large entertainment companies
• They are trying to eliminate the barriers to entry in the social networking space
• Their platform creates the ability for a publisher to create incremental ad revenue by serving additional pages
• The app is made up of "building blocks" i.e. user generated content, social networking, video, content syndication widgets
• They advertise on CSS directory sites and so far it has worked well
• KickApps wants to win over the hearts of developers Vibe Magazine went from 10k video views a month to 50k a day when they switched to the KickApps platform

Business model - Two options are offered:

• Free - if you use their ad network which currently runs Google Adsense. KickApps controls the leaderboard slot, you control the left skyscraper slot.
• Pay for Performance - $2-5 CPM (lower with volume) allows you to control all ad slots

Team

• ~40 people in NYC split between business and development
• Additional team in India (though this team isn't listed on the locations page?)

NYC Office Photos

Competition

• Ning - Michael says they believe Ning is great for individual consumers
• KickApps - Better for existing brands

Future

• Looking at OpenID
• Raise product awareness
• Evolving platform and adding new features
• Working on new advertising deals with ad networks

My thoughts

• For KA to be taken seriously, they need to get off Google Adsense. I think this is a limiting factor because the revenue generated is click-based and for a social network to be monetized, typically it requires cpm or cpa. Michael said they are looking at options to best optimize their ad serving
• Are 40 people plus some undisclosed count in India really needed to manage this product? Lots of executives.
• Bottom line: If you are in the market for a plug-and-play social network, KickApps is a great option to look at.