HouseValues Lays Off 45, Was Active Rain The Big Bet To Save The Company?
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When HouseValues invested 2.75 Million in Active Rain my first reaction is that they were buying eyeballs for their product.
The announcement 2 days later that HomeValues is laying off 45 and ditched their CFO makes me worried that there is lots of rot in the organization. To invest in a company like Active Rain that is still growing and developing a vibrant community of real estate professionals makes sense and could be healthy if the balance sheet made sense.
But if HouseValues is in a death spiral then this could essentially pull act Active Rain into the vortex. Because no matter what is said, HouseValues is a marketing company. They have a lead product but they need to be constantly marketing to succeed.
The cultural differences between the two worlds will only work if the approach from HomeValues to the ActiveRain community is subtle. But when a company is fighting for it’s existance, how subtle can you be? And how quickly will the users leave the ActiveRain if HomeValues makes it a toxic place of constant pitches and come-ons?
If I had the money and inclination I would set up a competitor to ActiveRain today to provide a sanctuary to the community members that try to get out of the death spiral I see coming.
HouseValues, the struggling Kirkland online real estate company, has laid off 45 employees and announced that Chief Financial Officer R. Barry Allen has resigned.
HouseValues also said it expects a net loss for the fourth quarter and for the year.
“These cost-reduction measures are in recognition of real estate market trends and the effect they are having on the company’s business,” the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. John Cook at Seattle PI
John
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