6 ms·

I was recruited to a company maybe 6 years ago which did something similar to this site. For the life of me I couldn't understand what the business model was.

I was recruited to a company maybe 6 years ago which did something similar to this site. For the life of me I couldn't understand what the business model was. Thankfully I didn't accept their offer and I haven't heard of them since.

echelon 3y ago
Rooms.xyz is going to pitch - metaverse - creator marketplace and consumer flywheel - environment for learning agents, "we'll be first to AGI", "there's no better way to deploy a learning agent than a game" (so many game AI companies are doing this) Then they'll raise $20M from a16z or someone. I'm only being half sarcastic here, because I do see a way in which they could execute on that plan and build value. But it's also humorous to poke a little fun, because there is so much irony in the world around us right now. Platforms like VRChat and Roblox are no joke though. It'll be hard for these folks to match that level of success, but I wish them luck nonetheless. Edit: nailed it. They raised $10M, and I knew it would be a fit for a16z.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- rsp1984 3y ago
  > Edit: nailed it. They raised $10M, and I knew it would be a fit for a16z. Source?
  - celestialcheese 3y ago
    https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/#:~:text=The%20startup%2C%20backed%20by%20%2410,other%20interactive%20activities%20contained%20in https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...
    - mk_stjames 3y ago
      I'm a materials scientist and mechanical/aerospace engineer, and I've worked on projects and have colleagues still working on things like developing better sustainable urban transport systems, new recycling plant technologies, EV battery and powertrain research involving lower cost composite materials that use less energy to have less cradle-to-grave environmental impacts for various industries. Projects where people really want to build things to change things for the better, real physical things. And they struggle like hell to even get funding for the engineers/scientist salaries let alone money to keep the lights on in the labs or shops.... And I see this story, and these guys get 10 million dollars to make... some pixel art things that run in a browser and do... something, whatever... $10M. I think I might go jump off a bridge.
      - NickNaraghi 3y ago
        I understand how you feel. I tried to help academics commercialize inventions for a while. Investment isn’t based on technical merit or impact, it’s based on ROI. They might overlap sometimes but they are not the same thing.
        yunohn 3y ago
        > it’s based on ROI I’m pretty sure rooms.xyz will not have significantly more ROI than green-tech hardware R&D. The primary reason here is a16z idiocy.
      - iamapot 3y ago
        "It's time to build" NFT Chat Rooms powered by Solana.
  - echelon 3y ago
    I could have included a citation, but in general Crunchbase has the details you need on most startups. It's a great go to.
- white_dragon88 3y ago
  [dead]

echelon 3y ago

Rooms.xyz is going to pitch - metaverse - creator marketplace and consumer flywheel - environment for learning agents, "we'll be first to AGI", "there's no better way to deploy a learning agent than a game" (so many game AI companies are doing this) Then they'll raise $20M from a16z or someone. I'm only being half sarcastic here, because I do see a way in which they could execute on that plan and build value. But it's also humorous to poke a little fun, because there is so much irony in the world around us right now. Platforms like VRChat and Roblox are no joke though. It'll be hard for these folks to match that level of success, but I wish them luck nonetheless. Edit: nailed it. They raised $10M, and I knew it would be a fit for a16z.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
rsp1984 3y ago
> Edit: nailed it. They raised $10M, and I knew it would be a fit for a16z. Source?
- celestialcheese 3y ago
  https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets-you-build-interactive-3d-rooms-and-simple-games-in-your-browser/#:~:text=The%20startup%2C%20backed%20by%20%2410,other%20interactive%20activities%20contained%20in https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/16/a16z-backed-rooms-xyz-lets...
  - mk_stjames 3y ago
    I'm a materials scientist and mechanical/aerospace engineer, and I've worked on projects and have colleagues still working on things like developing better sustainable urban transport systems, new recycling plant technologies, EV battery and powertrain research involving lower cost composite materials that use less energy to have less cradle-to-grave environmental impacts for various industries. Projects where people really want to build things to change things for the better, real physical things. And they struggle like hell to even get funding for the engineers/scientist salaries let alone money to keep the lights on in the labs or shops.... And I see this story, and these guys get 10 million dollars to make... some pixel art things that run in a browser and do... something, whatever... $10M. I think I might go jump off a bridge.
    - NickNaraghi 3y ago
      I understand how you feel. I tried to help academics commercialize inventions for a while. Investment isn’t based on technical merit or impact, it’s based on ROI. They might overlap sometimes but they are not the same thing.
      - yunohn 3y ago
        > it’s based on ROI I’m pretty sure rooms.xyz will not have significantly more ROI than green-tech hardware R&D. The primary reason here is a16z idiocy.
    - iamapot 3y ago
      "It's time to build" NFT Chat Rooms powered by Solana.
- echelon 3y ago
  I could have included a citation, but in general Crunchbase has the details you need on most startups. It's a great go to.
white_dragon88 3y ago
[dead]