Philip's announcement in the Town Hall

Philip Linden: I have a really fun announcement that I think you will all enjoy
Philip Linden: maybe not as much as custom animations.
Philip Linden: But you'll like it, I think.
Philip Linden: Tommorow morning,
Philip Linden: we will be announcing
Philip Linden: the closing of an eight million dollar round of new financing
Philip Linden: no you get to hear now.
Philip Linden: Our new investment is led by Benchmark Capital,
Philip Linden: who is pretty much the most important VC in the world.
Philip Linden: For those who don't keep up with ALL the linden news...
Philip Linden: our board of directors is Mitch Kapor, Jed Smith, myself, and now Bill
Philip Linden: A guy from there named Bill Gurley is going to be joining our board.
Philip Linden: Another really cool part of this new investment,
Philip Linden: is that some of the money is coming personally from Pierre Omidyar,
Philip Linden: the founder of eBay.
Philip Linden: Pierre is one of us... an SL user...
Philip Linden: that is how I met him.
Philip Linden: So it is really special to have had Pierre want to invest as well.
Philip Linden: For those who have read the history of eBay... a really cool company,
Philip Linden: that started out with a lot of the same principles as SL...
Philip Linden: that the community would be running the show, and that the role of the company
Philip Linden: was to listen and amplify and focus that energy.
Philip Linden: Clearly if you look at eBay today...
Philip Linden: the idea of lots of crazy people running their own little stores...
Philip Linden: well that turned out to be a pretty big idea after all!
Philip Linden: So this is very very exciting.
Philip Linden: In terms of what we will use the money for...
Philip Linden: our focus will be what it has always been...
Philip Linden: fix the bugs, scale the system, and make SL into the thing we all dream about
Philip Linden: we will be able to hire more people, buy more equipment, and move more quickly than before
Philip Linden: If you think we were able to move fast so far... just wait.
Philip Linden: This is a really big investment for us,
Philip Linden: and we think we will be able to do a LOT with it.

I'm here in game. Really great discussion going on.

Neither of my two questions got answered. Bloody 'ell.

My biggest worry is that the new void sims are going to be parked next to Seacliff, and it'll ruin the look. We'll have to stare into Federal of all places.

The founder of ebay plays second life ?

I am stunned, phillip, you magnificent love child of me and devlin, you have made me proud! Nay, the world of SL proud!

Also, phil, spare 1K for a sim for tartarus ?

Hmm, so I am thinking, there was developed on 10 million, second life on 1 million (guestimate), now second life has an 8 million dollar investment.

Shit, I wish I had that much money

w00000000000000t!!!! YESSS!!!!! Go SL!!!!! =)

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this means we might see the Linux Client and Havok update a little sooner than previously speculated

-Meiyo

HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOYHAPPYHAPPY.....

wow. coolest thing i've heard in a while, CONGRATS LL!!!!!!!!!

The world, as we all know it, will change forever. This is extremely exciting news and I for one am going hysterical over it. To put this into some more perspective, check this article out.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-1314871,00.html

And for the record, 7Mill pounds = 12.8Mill USD. If an already established, extremely large corporation can get that kind of cash on an investment, kinda shows off how big Linden Lab is, eh? (Really big )

Eyes Wide Open

Bring me your stores, your malls your clubs and I shall give you the future of the web.

Gottcha

One part of me sort of hopes he wasn't one of the myriad of people I've done unspeakable things to... but the other half hopes he bought some of my 'adult toys'...

Ka Ching!... all that cash makes a succulent sound!

WOo! I guess this means we'll be adding more functionality to buying and selling in SL now?

Sorry I couldn't make the meeting... that's great!

Pierre... if you're reading this... IM me!

I knew all along that it was all about Uma!

Comeon Catherine... can you just for a moment set aside your wonderfully cynical self and enjoy the happiness that is $8M in funding?

Neither of the two of my often-ignored questions were answered either.

I asked one immediately when questions were solicited at the beginning, and another halfway through which was quite relevant to the announcement (and had not yet been asked yet).

The first question was about self-lit textures, and the second was about an island sandbox.

Both are questions which have been issues for a long time and have been long ignored.

Meanwhile, it seems the question "Will investors have influence over SL?" was asked at least 3 different times using different phrasings.

I give up.

Call me a pessimist, but I honestly don't see how all this investment can come without a price. I'll be impressed if it doesn't, but it seems the bigger SL gets, the smaller our concerns become, no matter how long they've been on the table waiting to even be acknowledged, let alone looked in to.

Second Life will eventually become a large, faceless, mediocre company used by millions but loved by none

or

it will remain a small company serving increasingly fewer fanatically loyal customers and eventually close its doors.

This is how companies work. This is what they do; they attempt to grow and to do so requires money. People tend not to give them the money that would be required unless it looks like they too can make money on the deal. It is the nature of the beast. You cannot fault it for doing what is its nature.

There appears to be some profit in allowing people setup 'businesses.' Sure, it is a shame that the masses want little more than stores and clubs but who are you or I to stand in their way? If you think that they actually want something more, little stops you from offering an alternative; you just have to be willing to put in the time and effort.

If you just want nothing to do with the current system, that is also possible. You just won't get out as much. And it might cost you a little more if you wan to be completely isolated and can't managed to get enough other people to work with you toward that end.

It really depends on the fine print. I doubt Philip would let someone in who would arm-wrestle the goal away from him and take us down another avenue. If LL was able to secure funding from this VC, I'm sure there are other 'lesser' VC's that would've coughed up the cash with fewer strings - but I'm betting it wasn't necessary.

There doesn't need to be an arm wrestle for things to change.

In the near term, this $8 million means little if anything to US as SL users/subscribers (except for some new void sims), a lot to LL employees in terms of job security, and a lot to Philip and the Board as far as continuing their experiment goes.

In the long term, it means growth. And growth most certainly means that individual concerns will have less weight - of course. There isn't much we can do about that.

SL will absolutely transform into what the masses want. When Philip said today, that they have no choice but to listen to their users, he meant it. And that doesn't mean someone asking about lighting bugs, it doesn't mean people crying about land barons.

It means LL has to listen to the THOUSANDS of people who want clubs/malls/casinos, in order for the company to be successful.

YAY they can upgrade the asset server! =D

Great stuff, cant wait to see what happens.

Congrats Lindens.

What if turns out to be... dare I say it... No, I can't speak the name..

I hope this means they can move to Havok2 (or 3) before I die

But it seems that Philip (nor Michi) still doesn't get that killing the bugs is the #1 priority, the #1 thing that will drive people away. No, Philip want's the glamor and fixing things is just not glamorous.

Would eBay be successful if it had as many bugs and lag as SL?

Would Microsoft be successful if Windows and Office had as many bugs and lag as SL?

Oh, wait...

it does. And more.

The hard business reality is that fixing bugs does not necessarily have to be a priority in order to grow a successful business. Nor does technology that actually solves problems or does something. It's all about marketing - how you sell it, how you position your company in the grand scheme of things.

Having said that, I don't know if you've read Philip's blog recently, but he has essentially announced a feature freeze and that LL will be focusing solely on scalability and bug-squashing.

Getting this investment, as well as the backing of the founder of eBay, lends LL and SL quite a bit more credibility to those who might be skeptical about the business model.

There will always be a small and vocal contingent of people who whine that <insert some corporate interest here> does not take the philanthropic route and do what is best for them, damn the fiscal consequences. Linden Lab is a business, first and foremost. If they cannot make money, they will cease to exist, and all the whining in the world won't get them back.


Chris

Great point Michi. You are right on target.

Every time I teleport anywhere lately, every telehub looks the same. It's all turning into one giant strip club/mall/casino substrate, and that's apparently what people want becuase they keep growing like weeds.

Surina,

<<What if turns out to be... dare I say it... No, I can't speak the name.. >>

The same thought had occurred to me.