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Did Loic LeMeur Just Commit a Kevin Rose?
When Pownce announced their "all sales final" closing sale, I wondered if the service would have fared better if Internet celebrity co-founder Kevin Rose had pushed the service instead of pushing everyone into their competitor, Twitter. Today I have the same question about LeWeb organizer and Seesmic CEO Loic LeMeur.
I interviewed Loic back in September and since then he’s fired a bunch of the Seesmic staff. I think there have been a lot of questions about how Seesmic will generate real revenue and growth past their loyal users, like Freida, who clearly make up the majority of the videos on Seesmic.
LeWeb is a major tech conference currently going on in Paris, France. The conference costs 1500 Euros for the two-days of discussions and startup presentations. You can check out the instant conversations about LeWeb via Twitter Search (leweb and leweb08).
My beef is that Loic selected Ustream to run live coverage of the conference. There is absolutely no reason that this conference needed to be broadcast live. First, if I paid $2,000 to attend, I’d be pissed that my sister could sit at home and watch it for free. Second and even more importantly, Loic runs a video platform! These two days could have provided an amazing opportunity for Seesmic to gain trial users, awareness, and general system usage.
Loic could have easily recorded each session, uploaded it to Seesmic and generated a masive amount of video discussion inside his platform — instead he "left the money on the table" by allowing the conversation to take place on Twitter. Certainly there would be conversation on Twitter anyway, but Seesmic could have offered a way for people to interact via video about the conference from anywhere in the world. Speakers could have been required to participate in the video conversation via Seesmic stations setup at LeWeb. Had he used Seesmic, the videos would have been available minutes after each session concluded. I understand that there are logistics issues to deal with regarding bandwidth and connections on Seesmic but there was plenty of time to handle these issues.
Loic missed a golden opportunity to introduce thousands of people (both in Paris and watching from home) to his video platform Seesmic. From what I can tell, there’s been nearly no conversation about LeWeb on Seesmic. Bottom line: If you don’t use your own system, it’s hard to get others to do so.
This page is wholly depressing. Alan Stern, money is not everything.
This appears goes against your point of view (telling a reader that his opinion really doesn’t matter if he wasn’t there and paying proves this), but make room for a Good Experience, even when that means utilizing a fellow human’s service rather than your own, and see how your fan base grows. This post does not provide a Good Experience, and judging by the comments, that’s costing you already.
They could have also used Phreadz. Which supports posts from Seesmic AND Ustream to create a multimedia discussion forum. It also supports photos, audio and videos from mobiles and Flickr, audio podcast mp3s, Slideshare presentations, Blip.tv, Vimeo, Viddler, YouTube, 12seconds, etc, etc. (to name but a few) – it will also automatically post multimedia to your blog and your Twitter accounts.
Just about everything you’d want to grok a show and talk about it before, during and after the event. I pulled together a similar test ‘channel’ for the Future Of Web Apps conference in London a few months ago. See http://fowa.phreadz.com
I built it myself in my spare time on about two thousand pounds in about 6 months. I am just about to announce the second major client and have a few more in the pipeline. I’m pretty pleased with it and it saddens me somewhat when I see so much money spent on something which isn’t doing what it could do.
I suggested the idea of ‘Seesmikiosks’ for events quite a while ago, which would be pretty cheap to set up.
I would have loved to have gone to LeWeb, but it was way, way too expensive for me. One day, maybe I’d like to go to it, as Loic and the LeWeb team have done a great job at getting some great people there. it would be really cool to do a Phreadz-based channel for it to add the extra value it deserves.
(ps: this isn’t a snarky comment at all – just open and honest)
You can check out http://blog.phreadz.com/ for more deets on Phreadz :)
Cheers!
kosso
Perhaps Seesmic wasn’t ideally suited to do video for LeWeb but the broader issue is that LeWeb demonstrates how LeMeur isn’t focused on Seesmic.
He recently laid off employees yet he has the time to organize LeWeb? Is LeMeur the CEO of Seesmic or has he resigned his role to become an event promoter?
The lessons here:
1. Investors: don’t invest money in startups founded by people who are focused on anything other than building that company. Obviously Seesmic is just one of LeMeur’s activities.
2. Employees: don’t go to work for a startup whose founder who is a self-centered egotist working more for his personal brand than the company.
Bottom line: you can’t build a successful startup with a part-time CEO.
Any startup CEO who isn’t hustling every day for his company but who has no problem taking money from investors and hiring employees is a scumbag. Period.
I’m glad Loic chose ustream instead of seesmic, cause seesmic simple isn’t a livestreaming platform. It’s a video comment platform. That’s different.
And I hate it if organizers of events force me into using tool XY, just because they are affiliated with it.
Also, seesmic probably wouldn’t scale to 2000+ concurrent users.
Allen, you miss every point in this article. You should sit back, think a bit and publish something smarter later.
I agree with some of the comments here. Can you please explain what has Seesmec have to do with LeWeb! I hate when i spent any amount of cash for an event I get sales people or sales pitches at the panels or the speakers!
Why on earth would Loic ruin the business image of the event by pushing a service offered by one of his other ventures?
(I am deliberately leaving the fact that seesmic is not for live streaming not is it used to deliver large video materials for the public – its purpose is different)
Seesmic is listed as a sponsor of leweb – therefore the stations would be considered the same sort of sponsorship as any other. Heck at tc50 i believe he had an interview setup (these are the people he fired the next week).
True on the point of having Seesmic stations, though I have no idea if they had them or not. It could have also been a conscious effort to not have Seesmic take a center stage at LeWeb… missed opportunity or not, LeWeb isn’t Seesmic and vice versa. Even though both orgs do share key organizers.
If that was the reason, then that’s a good enough reason for me. I know I would be a little miffed if I showed up at LeWeb and saw Seesmic stations everywhere. We all know that Loic, his wife, Cathy Brooks, and probably others share work on both companies and don’t need to be pushed into knowing that to that extent.
Either way, I don’t think the Loic/Rose comparison really works. If only because Loic does not use a direct competing service in lieu of Seesmic like Rose used Twitter.
The bottom line should have been: Allen Stern doesn’t like the fact that everybody could watch the live stream for free and he is bashing Seesmic, because it’s the closest thing he could do to punching Loic in the face.
Did I get that one right? ,)
Seriously, I’m not a fan of Seesmic. Not at all. But I really don’t get how you, Allen, did jump from LeWeb to Seesmic bashing. Seesmic is about short videos, not conference coverage and even if they would have wanted to put some content from the conference on to their platform, it would eat up a lot of resources. Why? Because of all the video editing that would be needed for that.
I don’t see any “not believing in Seesmic” from Loic’s point of view, because Ustream and Seesmic aren’t even real competitors.
I have no idea if Ustream paid or not. Either way it doesn’t matter – while I agree that Seesmic isn’t setup by default for longform videos, it could have been used. Secondarily, Loic could have setup stations where people could have left messages abou questions surrounding leweb – would have made for great interaction.
I think you’ve missed the mark on this one. Seesmic is not about watching longform videos (like a 45min panel), its about discussion. I talk and ask your opinion, you give feedback and continue conversation. Simple, easy.
Ustream is made for events. Why change that? (espcially if they pay to be the streaming company… which I have no idea if they did or not, but I’ve had some great experiences using Ustream for conferences and they are amazing to work with.. Did Netroots Nation with them).
Anyway, lord knows Loic loves Seesmic. He uses it all the time.
If Ustream paid to provide the coverage, that would explain that. I have never seen Seesmic used for livestreaming.
Also, anyone who is comparing Twitter updates of the conference with video comments/updates, has never sat through video commenting. Nothing is faster and more mobile than skimming through hashtag comments on Twitter. Humans have a tendency to ‘um, uh, well, uh’ too much for brevity’s sake. I go to Seesmic/Phreadz/12seconds when I want to interact, not when I want quick info on an event happening live. Even watching something live isn’t as fast as someone breaking down the main points on Twitter.
Because Ustream paid for privilege of streaming. If it goes to show your faith in your business, it’s to opt for cash from others instead of pushing your own. Keep it up, Loic.
youtube says 10 minutes but they take longer
this was a perfect use case that loic missed the chance for – he could have done other conferences as well.
even at a minimum, seesmic could have been used for general conference fun coverage.
Chris – this is going to sound bad/odd but what you want isn’t really that important when you aren’t there and paying. There really is very little twitter conversation overall and it could have been followed just the same on seesmic.
The coverage would be the same no matter the platform.
True – but these are different platforms with different features. I agree that more could be done with Seesmic at the event, especially creating video discussions around the sessions, but it still doesn’t mean that the guy doesn’t believe in his product.
@Andrew Terry
At last a voice of reason on this article.
Seesmic is a completely different platform to UStream (Conversation Vs Broadcast).
I want to watch Le Web LIVE ( I am in Europe) I want to follow the Twitter conversation at the same time.
I think the coverage of the event has been great – I’ve dipped in and out and I will probably pay the $2000 to attend next years event, too. Maybe Allen is not the target market for this conference?
The coverage I watched from Life Stream had UStream embedded and also Seesmic and Qik Videos from the event as well as Twitter and a text chat back channel.
Maybe it was a conflict of interest.
- Seesmic does not upload until post-record
- Seesmic caps videos at 4 minutes
- Seesmic is similar to 12seconds.tv – Good for discussion, bad for long original uploads
- Seesmic could have been used, but the context of its purpose would not be to replace ustream, it would be to supplement the ustream feed with a video discussion platform, something ustream does not offer
it’s unethical enough when 80% of the speakers already stayed the night in your wine cellar
post event won’t work as well as during-event.
Re your sister – she is obviously not into getting deals done, or meeting the right people. Watching the event on uStream is just like reading a blog post about a panel – do you have a problem that your sister can read posts about an event?
uStream is for live events, while Seesmic is for video comments and discussions. you have a point that Seesmic could be a part of the video arsenal of this event, but it cannot replace live streaming.
Also, assuming that Loic doesn’t believe in the platform, just because he is not pimping it all around is way too general to be a true argument. He might see it as unethical as he has sponsors, or might use it in post event online activities.
the nice thing about the live stream and being able to mute scoble’s laughter is that i can spend the second day at a nice paris starbucks where wifi, food and heating are actually provided. tanking half the [strike]jetset[/strike] entry fee is still cheaper than flying home deathly sick.
i don’t think it’s egotistical to pimp your service – you need to do it smoothly but it should be done – you need to hustle – and there’s a difference between pimping your service and pimping you – if you pimp you then its egotistical as you say!
As egotistical as it may sound, no business will succeed if it’s owner doesn’t shake the “pom-poms” the most! As Allen stated, it’s a VIDEO Platform! Using Ustream shows he doesn’t really have any plans for seesmic imho. I’m not found of the website because it doesn’t scale for smaller screens. Has it visually changed at all since inception? Where’s the progress? He should be hiring Devs not firing people…
I think Loic’s community “base” has done the most damage to the service. Seesmic would have been much more powerful as a stand alone application. Instead, you’ve got a lot of loudmouths who confuse ownership of a macbook pro with talent for podcasting. ditch the windbags and you’ve got a great service.
wow checking the twitter search shows a lot of cold people with no wifi and no food
Eat your down dog food, indeed.
Anyone else wants seconds?
We call it drinking your own champagne – seems nicer than eating dog food. :D
So use twitter search and Ustream to follow the conference I organize and don’t use my company seesmic at all! what that makes no sense. He could have done some special contests and events on seesmic as part of le web and generated a bunch of new users. I agree. Allen, I think he missed the boat here. Nice work by you to point it out.
Kipp
No one can ever accuse LeMeur of doing what’s best for his company vs. what’s easier for him. That sounds a lot more mean than I intend it to be, but in my short time using the service, one of the reasons I stopped visiting there was Loic’s business practices. I’m not a tech person or care about the strokefest that happens in the tech blog world, but I guess he figured since there were other Seesmic users in attendance they could generate the content for his site. After all, that was the brilliant thinking that lead to the firing of Rachael Joy and Sukhjit, right? Still doesn’t explain why he would livestream a conference that costs such a ridiculous amount to get into in the first place. Even though my industry’s conferences run $500 – $1500, there are rules that limit livestreaming without a content creator license with costs about $5K.
You make some good points but this how I see it.
ustream was used because it was a tested platform at scale (it was used TC50 etc)
I doubt Seesmic could be made to work like a streaming platform that easily.
The seesmic interface does not upload videos I might be wrong on this.
However I doubt it would have been difficult for them to make a special player and add videos to the backend of seesmic with individual videos.
But there is another thing and thats bandwidth costs and would there be a ROI.
seesmic can take uploaded videos just fine
bandwith costs? i dont see whats different about streaming it live vs. uploading it once?
You bring up some very good points. I wonder why Loic didn’t use Seesmic? Perhaps he knew that Seesmic was not able to handle the coverage on Le Web.
I believe one is able to upload if not record AV events on Seesmic, and since that is the case the blunder using UStream can be avoided – surely there are servers that can accomodate the content upload needless to say, if the sessions were recorded earlier and then streamed at a stipulated date/time.
Another way is to look into the collaboration with 3rd party bandwidth providers either in the US, or Europe whichever way we look at could have been initiated prior LeWeb08 – a contingency plan that needed to be looked into ‘just in case’ Seesmic could not serve the interest of the industry.
Could this be a major PR/Branding blunder for Seesmic? Maybe, and maybe not – Whichever way its seen, its a learning curve for Loic – there are ways to earn ROI on Seesmic, and esp. so where advertising is concerned on the platform itself.
Amazing. Not that he didn’t use his own company, but the fact that you, and the first comments, don’t realize how low you’ve come. In this “Ethics 2.0″ the web scene has created, a CEO of a web company can organize a conference, appear on the panels, and be expected to use this also to show off his company’s technology. web journalists are investing in web start ups and writing about their market, you can’t really find a truly objective opinion on these websites (i.e TechCrunch, GigaOM, etc) because almost any writer there has an interest in a company or a market, and I don’t really care if they disclose it or not, its still wrong), and now, maybe realizing that using his own company in his own conference for his own promotion was just too much for Loic, you go ahead and say it is a mistake.
You people are nuts. You can talk all you want about the death of traditional media, but I shudder to think how much more commercial interest can you inject to the web media.
Isn’t Loic just using the right tool for the job? I understand Seesmic to a be video-commenting platform, so not ideally suited to long-form broadcasting, whereas UStream seems to fit that bill.
The comment about being pissed that your sister can watch the streams for free after you’ve stumped up the cash for a ticket is a little off, too. Those sessions are, in reality, not why most people choose to attend – instead, most attendees (and, probably, speakers) will get greater value from the face-to-face networking and connection building that takes place *outside* of the keynotes/sessions.