How did Blue Mountain Cards survive the dot com
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by: al.sones
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Have you heard of Blue Mountain Cards? It all started back when ecards became big in the 1990s. It seemed like everyone thought somehow giving away ecards was going to be a business model. What you must remember is that advertising revenue models were seen as very acceptable back then. This is a difference with todays focus on real revenue. However, there are some painful similarities in web 2.0 to this idea of building big applications that will make money only from advertising.
The ecard space is a funny one. The business model is essentially one where you are killing another business model, the paper greeting cards space. In some ways its a normal case study of technology advancement over a paper based product. But I dont think its that simple. eCards are not exactly the same product as paper greeting cards. You buy a paper card at a store and physically write on it. An ecard comes from a company like Blue Mountain Cards and is completely electronic. In this way, its a real product transition. So in essence, the technology is really impacted the very product. You see this also in pcs, telephones, tvs and other electronic products.
So what exactly did blue mountain cards do that was so special? First, Blue Mountain Cards had a big lead going into the game. They planned well.. The top management at Blue Mountain Cards seemed to know that the ride would not last forever. So Blue Mountain Cards management decided to sell the company while everything was still red-hot. What a move that was.. Looking back, there are many things I wish I had done differently.
So now its 2008 and what is a business model like Blue Mountain Cards still doing around? One view is that the original builders of the business picked an once-in-a-lifetime period to exit the business and made an unprecedented amount of money.. I often wonder if management teams like that are really lucky or create luck due to their experience. This is not a small business. Regardless of their underlying financials, this business made a name for itself in a multi billion dollar business space. I think this accounts for why they are here today. Its a textbook case of building a brand in a new market. The part that is not text book is how Blue Mountain Cards got out at the top of the market. We should all be so lucky in our careers.
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