Dogster – one million woof woof later

Ted Rheingold, founder and chief executive of Dogster (a social networking site for dogs), has raised a round of US$1 million from a group of accomplished angel investors. Before you scream and think we have another internet bubble on our hands, I recommend you read Matt’s blog and I quote the last paragraph here,

“It is making money through creative advertising packages. Disney paid for a campaign around Lady and the Tramp, and at first said it wanted to buy a $13,000 banner ad. Rheingold warned Disney it might not be happy with such an ad, because it didn’t mesh with other parts of the site’s main activities. For a banner to be appreciated, he suggested, Disney might want to advertise all over Dogster’s site, from newsletters, to the messages Dogster sends to new members — and also let members talk with Lady and with Tramp — all so that the Lady and the Tramp branding could be better understood in the overall context of the site. Disney agreed. There was even a flat-screen TV contest. After the experience, Disney pledged to make the Dogster site a preliminary campaign for all dog-related movies, Rheingold said.”

As Matt insightfully points out another “fun” thing that makes Dogster unique and successful,

“But more interestingly, owners are pretending they are the dogs, and writing little diaries, and the diaries are often becoming more about themselves, as seen through their dogs eyes.”

To me, a business owner that warns Disney (we are talking — Disney!) on spending $13,000 in the “wrong” way, deserves respect and a careful look of the company and business model. And I think Ted has something good going here. Will see.

Maybe I will start a “Foodster” site and let people post pictures of their favourite dishes and then let these “dishes” post their own diaries! Ah, unfortunately, this Foodster site (aka, a recipe site) may not be too much of a recipe for success (please, please laugh) because of the many existing recipe sites and blogs about food.