Last 60 Days of Riya

Friends, sorry for not blogging that much over the last 60 days, it is only now that I have had a few spare minutes to write. Someone complained at how I hadn't read their emails or blogged in a while. I replied, "I haven't seen my son as much as I'd like over the last 60 days, you can imagine your email falls lower in my priorities than that." Yes I was testy...;-)
The last 60 days has been just a whirlwind. In the next eight/nine blog posts I'm going to recount the last sixty days of Riya in detail. Each blog post will cover a week.
I will recount the days following our launch, the cocaine like high and subsequent crash of the Techcrunch effect, the final analysis on whether Riya's technology worked, the feedback we recieved from users, the competitors we beat (at least in traffic), the flaw in the Riya business strategy we uncovered, the crisis it precipitated, the concern I developed for the entire Web 2.0 industry as the numbers rolled in, the search for a new strategy as Azhar, Burak, and I sat in a conference room for almost 10 days straight, the customer data that lead us to a counter-web 2.0 and counter intuitive strategy, the board meeting and debate about it, and the first execution around it.
They say consumer Internet companies are all about launching, getting feedback, and iterating. Well, welcome to Riya Iteration 1.

Would you say being TechCrunch-ed was worth it? Or, would a more incremental buzz have been better?
Ben
Posted by: Ben Carcio | May 30, 2006 at 03:30 PM
Wow. Looks like a lot has happened in the past couple of months.
Look forward to reading the details. There is a dearth of real entrepreneurial experiences in the blogosphere.
Posted by: Dharmesh Shah | May 30, 2006 at 07:45 PM
I'm subscribing to this blog feed just so that I can hear this story of the 60 days.
Posted by: Paul Mendoza | May 30, 2006 at 08:20 PM
Ben - In retrospect I would have preferred a slower start, but on the other hand we learned faster this way... this is probably the most important thing for a startup to do.
Posted by: Munjal Shah | May 30, 2006 at 10:00 PM
Illuminating...can be a roadmap ...
Posted by: Ved | May 30, 2006 at 10:53 PM
Very Illuminating Munjal...can be a roadmap
Posted by: Ved | May 30, 2006 at 10:55 PM
Congrats on your successful launch! RIYA is just unbelievable!
Posted by: Mika Lipponen | May 31, 2006 at 04:13 PM
http://www.firsteuropa.nl Uw online verzekeringsmakelaar Eerst Europa Doelstellingen: De Ci2i Verzekering (Ci2i) zal het nummer een gebrandmerkte pan Europese commoditized online verzekeringsmakelaar door 2010 zijn.
Posted by: webmaster | October 25, 2006 at 02:19 AM