Category: Technology Author : Duncan Riley Posted: October 14, 2008
Tags : disqus, Intense Debate, js-kit
Tags : disqus, Intense Debate, js-kit
JS-Kit gets $3.6 million, Chris Saad
Commenting 2.0 provider JS-Kit has taken $3.6 million Series B in a round led by Altos Ventures that included earlier investor TEF3.
JS-Kit said it would use the new round to expand its developer and executive team. The first hiring is Chris Saad, founder of Faraday Media (Particls) and the Co-Founder of the DataPortability Project.
Its money at the right time for JS-Kit, as the worst of the economic crisis is yet to fully understood in terms of direct impact on the sector. JS-Kit is well positioned compared to some competitors, offering a variety of site specific widgets on top of its commenting 2.0 service.
We’ve not been a huge fan of JS-Kit in the past. The company felt it necessary to trash talk their opponents when they acquired Haloscan in July, and a constant need to attack your competition in my books says more about the company making the attacks then it does about the target. Saad will add some charisma to the mix, and despite his young age, some reasonable street smarts in the PR 101 playbook.
On FriendFeed, this post was liked by 19 people and commented on 31 times hideLiked by
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Is anyone running a deadpool?
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"Saad will add some charisma to the mix, and despite his young age, some reasonable street smarts in the PR 101 playbook." What basis is there for this belief?
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deadpool... do you think they are going to be lighting their cigars with $100 bills? :)
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Scoble interviewed these guys awhile back. They deserve a chance. http://qik.com/video/149516
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Jason, I've met the guy lots of times. He's a charismatic kid. Beside, he couldn't possibly do worse in the PR department then what JS-Kit has already done.
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Sprague, they have accumulated so much bad blood in the space with their spammy and aggressive marketing techniques, that they could offer weeklong stays at a spa and I'd yawn.
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Re: deadpool: I'm not so sure. I don't like them as I've said in the post, and every player here as the same issue: is a feature really strong enough to be a stand alone company. Exit strategy is a buyout like IntenseDebate/ Automattic. If they've got enough users, and a decent product, no reason to think that someone won't buy them
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Does anyone actually use JS-Kit?
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@Rah I don't some of the things the company has done so I wouldn't be using them if I wasn't already using Disqus .. my second choice would have been IntenseDebate
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@Duncan what real job has he had that would give him useful business experience? I've officially become tired of these web 2.0 wantrepreneurs who ignore business basics. I've been through it before in Web 1.0 and it's tiresome to see the lack of learning from history.
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liked for the comments. this is funny.
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@Rahsheen See what I said and what Steven said. They are serious GITS when it comes to how to conduct yourself in marketing your product. One great example was the way they would stalk anyone who commented about Disqus and then leave a comment about how you were an idiot and JS-Kit was teh awesome.
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@Cyndy @Steven I actually saw instances of JS-Kit people commenting in this manner when I was comparing Disqus, ID, and SezWho. I guess my impressions of the company/service were correct as I never bothered to look into it.
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Is this the spammy stuff people are referring to? http://mashable.com/2008/08/08/is-it-spamming-or-savvy-marketing/
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the comments of the mashable post spell out the details that make most of these comments about aggressive marketing seem fairly exaggerated.
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I am sitting next to Chris right now.
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Rah: 550,000 sites are using JS-Kit including eVite, WorldNow, Experian, JetBlue, Sun, Etc.
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I'm sitting next to Chris too.
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I guess I have no idea what JS-Kit is, then. I wonder how they will do that...doesn't seem like they are very well liked...which is weird for a Web 2.0-type service/app
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Jason, two things going for Chris, hands on development experience with data intensive applications, and the ability to hold himself well in company and speak well. I can't vouch for his business skills, because I don't know the true state of Faraday Media. As Cyndy notes, JS-Kit can't do worse, and I'd think in terms of PR and message Chris is a positive influence.
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I am sitting next to Ryan. It is a social media fire pit.
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I'm with Ryan and scoble
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hold on... how can Robert be next to Chris AND Ryan... Chris is next to Ryan as well. *watches world implode*
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Rah--I use JS-Kit. And, as one of the largest advertisers and monetizers on the internet, I think that says something. But time will tell...And, no, Robert/Chris & Khris didn't invite me to the campfire! Argh.
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@David, considering that some of those comments were on things that I wrote? No, they most certainly were not exaggerated.
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@Cyndy i haven't seen an example of them actually rudly bagging competition - but happy to be pointed to some examples.
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@cyndy I hear your concerns about over zealous PR and I assure you things have already changed. please keep the feedback coming - I'm listening
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@Duncan thanks for having faith in my potential contribution - my main interest for is-kit is to listen to the community and help the company think big with the user as the first class citizen
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I was IM'ing with Chris at that time ;-)
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Chris, that's good to hear. David, I went back to one blog I know it happened on and it looks like the comments in the thread were removed. I know that JS-Kit employees were blocked on at least a couple of blogs and not allowed to comment at all after the repeated postings.
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Alan: I invited everyone on Twitter and FriendFeed to the campfire last night.
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