 |
 | |
| Spring 2006 Newsletter | El Dorado Ventures website |  | |
 Targeting "Boomers" on the Web
By Ray Schuder, Senior Associate Much has been said about Gen X
and Gen Y Internet services such as social networks, blogs and photoblogs.
In short order, they've cultivated large user communities and audiences
with low cost of customer acquisition, seen progressive increases in
valuations, and recently, experienced some fast exits through acquisition
(e.g., MySpace by News Corp. and Flickr by Yahoo!).
While appealing to the
40-and-under crowd, these web communities have largely ignored a huge
demographic segment that includes the largest, wealthiest and
highest-online-spending age group: the Baby Boomers, roughly defined as
those who are now between the ages of 42 and 60.
This more mature generation has
been slow to adopt current social networking and web journaling services,
either because the medium doesn't feel right (e.g., Friendster), or the
web format is intimidating (blogs). Many entrepreneurs seem to have simply
forgotten about the Boomers and not bothered to tailor their services to
meet their needs.
But the failure to address this
market segment and develop Boomer-oriented online services leaves a huge
opportunity untapped. According to the 2000 Census, Boomers accounted for
29.4 percent of the U.S. population, compared to 20.9 percent for Gens X
& Y. A total of 73 million Americans were born during the post-war
"boom" between 1946 and 1964.
These Americans, already among
the most affluent in history, are also expected to be the beneficiaries of
a huge wealth transfer as their parents pass away, leaving them
inheritances expected to top $1 trillion or more.
And make no mistake: Boomers
are already very active online, and are likely to only become more so in
the coming years and decades. This generation may not have grown up with
the Internet, but it is the first generation to grow up watching TV and
has been plugged in ever since.
According to a recent report by
the Pew Internet & American Life Project, more than three-quarters of
Boomers are already online, compared to roughly 85 percent of Generations
X and Y. While younger Internet users are more likely to play games,
instant message and blog, all generations share an affinity for core
Internet functions such as emailing, reading online news, and researching
and making online purchases.
At El Dorado Ventures we have
developed an investment thesis around opportunities addressing this
"booming" market. Our somewhat contrarian search for Boomer-oriented web
services led us to invest in WisdomArk, a Los Altos-based company that
recently received $6.3 million in Series A funding from El Dorado
Ventures, Venrock Associates and Benhamou Global Ventures.
Teenagers today might use a
blog, IM, or social network without clear intent of keeping those
correspondences for posterity. Yet as we age, we tend to become more
interested in our life stories: where we came from, what decisions led to
where we are today and the events that shaped our lives. For younger
people, tracking these milestones may be tomorrow's concerns, but for many
Boomers, the future has arrived, and WisdomArk hopes to play a leading
role.
WisdomArk was founded to
develop a friends and family social network system for the collaborative
creation of a life chronicle. The service will provide structure and a
methodology for capturing life experience and observations gleaned from
life's lessons.
WisdomArk's service prompts and
guides the creation and sharing of multi-media stories focused on life's
important turning points and lessons. Collaborative correspondence on
these subjects is collected in personal chronicles in a process that
brings ease and clarity to what could otherwise be a challenging task. By
helping users capture and share life stories with privacy, WisdomArk
becomes the modern counterpart to the oral traditions that once conveyed
life lessons from one generation to the next.
WisdomArk is currently in
early-stage testing of its service, in anticipation of a beta launch later
this year. If you're interested in becoming one of the early adopters of
the WisdomArk service, please visit: www.wisdomark.com/signup.html and mention that you read
about the service in the El Dorado Ventures newsletter. El Dorado Ventures (EDV) is a
leading entrepreneur-focused, early-stage venture capital firm with a
20-year history of success. Entrepreneurs see EDV as a trusted investment
partner who shares their vision and helps them succeed by providing
ongoing strategic guidance and access to a wealth of industry contacts.
With $750 million in capital under management, the firm invests across the
information technology spectrum, from semiconductors and systems to
communications, software and services, targeting both consumers and the
enterprise. El Dorado's early-stage investments have included Cyras
Systems, EarthLink, Efficient Networks, Novellus and NuSpeed Internet
Systems. Numerous EDV portfolio companies have gone public or been
acquired by major technology companies including Ciena, Cisco Systems,
nVidia, Siemens, Texas Instruments and Yahoo. For more information, please
visit: http://www.eldorado.com/.
|
 |
El Dorado Ventures seeks to
invest in a select number of companies pursuing opportunities in the
following broad categories:
|
| Recent EDV Investments | ||
|
| ||
| Portfolio Company News | ||
|
EDV and Portfolio Companies Featured in Wall Street Journal Article
| ||
|
Please Note: This e-mail newsletter was sent to a list compiled from our internal contact database. If you would like to be removed from our database, you may opt-out by clicking here. | ||
Copyright © 2006, El Dorado Ventures. All rights reserved.