7 ms·

Here's what I think happened: a) Xhibit has built a solid digital agency team on the back of nutraceutical affiliate marketing offers, and enough revenue to su

by aresant 13y ago

Here's what I think happened: a) Xhibit has built a solid digital agency team on the back of nutraceutical affiliate marketing offers, and enough revenue to support a trailing $300 - 500m valuation. But they realize their business isn't sustainable, and want to unlock the value of their team & experience with a larger play. They have failed at doing this with their own projects. b) Najafi Companies, that originally owned Skymall, recognizes that the continued move to digital will eventually, and probably quite rapidly, decimate what is effectively a print advertising business in Skymall. They need a forward looking strategy, and a team that can execute said strategy ASAP. c) Given that both companies are in Phoenix, a fit is recognized, and Skymall's recently appointed CEO Kevin Weiss is named CEO of the merged organizations. They sign him to a 5-year agreement to develop the digital strategy for Skymall and, given his background at "Author Solutions" which shows his experience in transitioning print-to-digital, this makes sense. d) They hatched this plan when Xhibit's CEO met Skymall's CEO standing in line to use the restroom at a Phoenix Sun's game (a team that Najafi Companies has an investment in). (1) http://biz.yahoo.com/e/130621/xbtc8-k.html http://biz.yahoo.com/e/130621/xbtc8-k.html

rohin 13y ago
I'd suggest listening to this interview with the the CEO of Xhibit for even a few minutes to get a sense of the kind of "value" their team is bringing to the table. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfA165MFcBI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfA165MFcBI
- acchow 13y ago
  His meandering string of banal platitudes and buzzwords is seriously next level: "I personally refer to Xhibit as a multi-dimensional digital ad agency. Our gaol was to build a company with combined strengths of design, development, and distribution, to be a one stop shop for a clients digital marketing and advertising needs. Our synergistic array of software suites, tools, and offerings have been engineered from the ground up to help companies maximize results from digital strategies. I really want to emphasize results, Nick. Since we build our concepts from the ground up to help businesses maximize revenue, I always have the belief that if a client made money from a marketing campaign, they will in turn spend more money. This is why we have integrated some performance result models into our work today. The long term success any business or product relies on monetization."
  - tortilla 13y ago
    Sounds like he's a living bullshit generator: http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
    - acchow 13y ago
      I can't help shake the feeling that Chris Richarde started Xhibit as a parody and accidentally found himself swimming in real money.
      - jordanthoms 13y ago
        AKA the LMFAO effect
  - luke-stanley 13y ago
    This isn't that bad. Joel Spolsky points out how bad Steve Ballmer's recent memo was: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11memo.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11m...
    - ams6110 13y ago
      Link to Spolsky's critique?
      - taspeotis 13y ago
        This is the best I could find: https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/355358776280363008 https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/355358776280363008
    - throwaway9848 13y ago
      The difference is that that Ballmer is talking about a company with real products that makes billions of dollars, and this guy is talking about a company with no real products and no revenue to speak of.
    - 13y ago
- foobarqux 13y ago
  Even the photographer couldn't point out that he should fix his tie?
- dictum 13y ago
  It's just so charming when an interviewee answers by reading pre-written responses in an style that would never be used in a real (even somewhat formal) conversation.
larrys 13y ago
"recognizes that the continued move to digital will eventually, and probably quite rapidly, decimate what is effectively a print advertising business in Skymall." Skymall has distribution and provides entertainment. (See my comment below about finding a porn magazine in a hotel room vs. online)
lvs 13y ago
Here's what I think happened in your post: a) You made a lot of speculative statements that are based on no facts of any kind.
- smoyer 13y ago
  But it was both fun to read and plausible. I want to know which part the reference at the bottom is attached to.
jleader 13y ago
My impression was that "Author Solutions" wasn't about "transitioning print-to-digital", it was about scamming people with aspirations to be authors, by charging them ridiculously large up-front fees for various "services" (often presented as independent providers, but actually usually kicking the money back to Author Solutions) and promising unrealistic results, then walking away with the money after those results fail to materialize.
lawnchair_larry 13y ago
You lost me at "built a solid digital agency team", and you're using euphemisms instead of just saying "spam". There's nothing solid or legitimate about what they were doing.
- zem 13y ago
  hacker news in general seems to have an uneasy relationship with the line between "digital marketing" and "spam". possibly because aggressive email marketing campaigns really do pay off for startups, regardless of how many people they annoy in the process.
  - ericd 13y ago
    They do in the short term, but in the much harder to measure long term, I'm guessing that they do more damage than good. I know many people who absolutely abhor and refuse to ever use LinkedIn thanks to their incredibly aggressive email team, for example, but I'm sure the engagement numbers looked real good when they sent out each of those email blasts.
- AJ007 13y ago
  If "weight loss product, colon cleanser and green coffee supplement" are what they are marketing, a better "harsh" word would be deceptive. Not only are they marketing deceptive products, they were too stupid to do it successfully and now their merchant accounts are frozen. I choose the word stupid because there is a strong history of the FTC going after other companies selling these exact same products in this manner since about 2009. (The biggest being Jesse Willms, $359m http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/willms.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/willms.shtm) So, yes, Skymall & its original owners got scammed.
throwaway9848 13y ago
"enough revenue to support a trailing $300 - 500m valuation" Did you even take a look at Xhibit's SEC Filings? http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XBTC http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XBTC - their quarterly finances are a mess. Skymall may be in a rough place, but the idea this should have been a merger of equals is ... no words. So stupid. EDIT: Read the executive bios and ask yourself if you'd hire a single one of them to do anything: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=XBTC.OB http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol...
- CamperBob2 13y ago
  I'd hire their Chief Photography Officer, I'll admit that much.
stmartin 13y ago
...since americans will buy ice while on their arctic trip, this CEO's biggest problem in my opinion is securing free wi-fi, onboard internet access for the next digital-centric Skymall.... so that he is able to convert as many people as possible of those 70% that browse the Skymall catalog nowadays. Given that Skymall is on just about every US-bound or intra-US flight, if this Weiss character can't insure the impulse buy of these passengers, he should be fired as soon as he can't deliver on this. If Internet access cannot be secured on the airplanes because of whatever, then he should serve the catalog from a local server onboard the aircraft through an existing wifi or worst case, invest in onboard wifi w/the air co's.
SiVal 13y ago
Maybe it's simpler than all this. Maybe it's just a front for organized crime. The front of a mob operation won't seem to make much financial sense if looked at too closely, because what's really going on isn't in the reports, and what's in the reports is just for show.
- MacsHeadroom 13y ago
  Organized crime? Like financial fraud...

by aresant 13y ago

rohin 13y ago

I'd suggest listening to this interview with the the CEO of Xhibit for even a few minutes to get a sense of the kind of "value" their team is bringing to the table. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfA165MFcBI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfA165MFcBI

acchow 13y ago
His meandering string of banal platitudes and buzzwords is seriously next level: "I personally refer to Xhibit as a multi-dimensional digital ad agency. Our gaol was to build a company with combined strengths of design, development, and distribution, to be a one stop shop for a clients digital marketing and advertising needs. Our synergistic array of software suites, tools, and offerings have been engineered from the ground up to help companies maximize results from digital strategies. I really want to emphasize results, Nick. Since we build our concepts from the ground up to help businesses maximize revenue, I always have the belief that if a client made money from a marketing campaign, they will in turn spend more money. This is why we have integrated some performance result models into our work today. The long term success any business or product relies on monetization."
- tortilla 13y ago
  Sounds like he's a living bullshit generator: http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
  - acchow 13y ago
    I can't help shake the feeling that Chris Richarde started Xhibit as a parody and accidentally found himself swimming in real money.
    - jordanthoms 13y ago
      AKA the LMFAO effect
- luke-stanley 13y ago
  This isn't that bad. Joel Spolsky points out how bad Steve Ballmer's recent memo was: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11memo.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/Press/2013/Jul13/07-11m...
  - ams6110 13y ago
    Link to Spolsky's critique?
    - taspeotis 13y ago
      This is the best I could find: https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/355358776280363008 https://twitter.com/spolsky/status/355358776280363008
  - throwaway9848 13y ago
    The difference is that that Ballmer is talking about a company with real products that makes billions of dollars, and this guy is talking about a company with no real products and no revenue to speak of.
  - 13y ago
foobarqux 13y ago
Even the photographer couldn't point out that he should fix his tie?
dictum 13y ago
It's just so charming when an interviewee answers by reading pre-written responses in an style that would never be used in a real (even somewhat formal) conversation.

larrys 13y ago

"recognizes that the continued move to digital will eventually, and probably quite rapidly, decimate what is effectively a print advertising business in Skymall." Skymall has distribution and provides entertainment. (See my comment below about finding a porn magazine in a hotel room vs. online)

lvs 13y ago

Here's what I think happened in your post: a) You made a lot of speculative statements that are based on no facts of any kind.

smoyer 13y ago
But it was both fun to read and plausible. I want to know which part the reference at the bottom is attached to.

jleader 13y ago

My impression was that "Author Solutions" wasn't about "transitioning print-to-digital", it was about scamming people with aspirations to be authors, by charging them ridiculously large up-front fees for various "services" (often presented as independent providers, but actually usually kicking the money back to Author Solutions) and promising unrealistic results, then walking away with the money after those results fail to materialize.

lawnchair_larry 13y ago

You lost me at "built a solid digital agency team", and you're using euphemisms instead of just saying "spam". There's nothing solid or legitimate about what they were doing.

zem 13y ago
hacker news in general seems to have an uneasy relationship with the line between "digital marketing" and "spam". possibly because aggressive email marketing campaigns really do pay off for startups, regardless of how many people they annoy in the process.
- ericd 13y ago
  They do in the short term, but in the much harder to measure long term, I'm guessing that they do more damage than good. I know many people who absolutely abhor and refuse to ever use LinkedIn thanks to their incredibly aggressive email team, for example, but I'm sure the engagement numbers looked real good when they sent out each of those email blasts.
AJ007 13y ago
If "weight loss product, colon cleanser and green coffee supplement" are what they are marketing, a better "harsh" word would be deceptive. Not only are they marketing deceptive products, they were too stupid to do it successfully and now their merchant accounts are frozen. I choose the word stupid because there is a strong history of the FTC going after other companies selling these exact same products in this manner since about 2009. (The biggest being Jesse Willms, $359m http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/willms.shtm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/02/willms.shtm) So, yes, Skymall & its original owners got scammed.

throwaway9848 13y ago

"enough revenue to support a trailing $300 - 500m valuation" Did you even take a look at Xhibit's SEC Filings? http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XBTC http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=XBTC - their quarterly finances are a mess. Skymall may be in a rough place, but the idea this should have been a merger of equals is ... no words. So stupid. EDIT: Read the executive bios and ask yourself if you'd hire a single one of them to do anything: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol=XBTC.OB http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/companyOfficers?symbol...

CamperBob2 13y ago
I'd hire their Chief Photography Officer, I'll admit that much.

stmartin 13y ago

...since americans will buy ice while on their arctic trip, this CEO's biggest problem in my opinion is securing free wi-fi, onboard internet access for the next digital-centric Skymall.... so that he is able to convert as many people as possible of those 70% that browse the Skymall catalog nowadays. Given that Skymall is on just about every US-bound or intra-US flight, if this Weiss character can't insure the impulse buy of these passengers, he should be fired as soon as he can't deliver on this. If Internet access cannot be secured on the airplanes because of whatever, then he should serve the catalog from a local server onboard the aircraft through an existing wifi or worst case, invest in onboard wifi w/the air co's.

SiVal 13y ago

Maybe it's simpler than all this. Maybe it's just a front for organized crime. The front of a mob operation won't seem to make much financial sense if looked at too closely, because what's really going on isn't in the reports, and what's in the reports is just for show.

MacsHeadroom 13y ago
Organized crime? Like financial fraud...