MeetUp's sales spike
 Remember MeetUp.com, the web tool that put Howard Dean on the map during the 2004 Presidential elections? Well, if you haven't been paying attention, you might be forgiven for thinking they were somewhat of a flash in the pan. Not so. In fact, guess who's revenues spiked 30% in January over December? Yup, the data point comes direct from CEO Scott Heiferman who shared it with the crowd at his monthly, eat-your-own-dogfood NYC Tech MeetUp last week. In a follow up email to The Browser, Heiferman offered his explanation: "Seems related to New Year's resolutions; not just fitness related. People resolve to get involved in a cause, to connect with some passion/interest/hobby or whatnot." All this fresh resolve is clearly good news for the syndicate of blue chip VCs, including eBay (EBAY), Pierre Omidyar, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, who collectively bought 10% of the company last spring. Just to crunch the numbers a bit: MeetUp.com "facilitated" 33,848 meetings in January, and its primary revenue stream comes from meeting organizers, who pay a $12-$19 monthly fee for the service. Based on our very rough, unscientific estimate of total meetup groups and possible ad dollars, we figure the company might be grossing as much as $500,000 a month, which puts them at $6 million in annual sales. We welcome better estimates, but, regardless, this is not exactly Google (GOOG). Still, with double digit month-over-month growth, a $6 million revenue run rate can quickly become a much more serious number. We're just saying. And Obama and Hillary have barely gotten started. 
CNNMoney.com Comment Policy: CNNMoney.com encourages you to add a comment to this discussion. You may not post any unlawful, threatening, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic or other material that would violate the law. Please note that CNNMoney.com makes reasonable efforts to review all comments prior to posting and CNNMoney.com may edit comments for clarity or to keep out questionable or off-topic material. All comments should be relevant to the post and remain respectful of other authors and commenters. By submitting your comment, you hereby give CNNMoney.com the right, but not the obligation, to post, air, edit, exhibit, telecast, cablecast, webcast, re-use, publish, reproduce, use, license, print, distribute or otherwise use your comment(s) and accompanying personal identifying information via all forms of media now known or hereafter devised, worldwide, in perpetuity. CNNMoney.com Privacy Statement.
|
|
| 
