What is Blue Mountain Cards? It all started back when ecards became big in the 1990s. It seemed like everyone thought somehow giving away ecards was going to be a business model. Business models based on advertising revenue were quite frequent back then. This is a difference with todays focus on real revenue. However, there are some painful similarities in web 2.0 to this idea of building big applications that will make money only from advertising.
The ecard space is a funny one. This is the space that is eating the lunch from the old paper greeting card space thats been around forever and a day. In some ways its a normal case study of technology advancement over a paper based product. But you should look deeper. eCards are not exactly the same product as paper greeting cards. You buy a paper card at a store and physically write on it. An ecard comes from a company like Blue Mountain Cards and is completely electronic. In this way, its a real product transition. So we are actually seeing technology change the wants and desires of the buyer here. This is not unique, just look at tvs, video games or any other electronic based market.
How exactly did blue mountain cards dig out of this hole? Im not entirely sure, but I think that Blue Mountain Cards had a serious lead going into the game. They planned well.. It seems like the executives at Blue Mountain Cards new they were onto something big, but that it wouldnt last. So the company was sold while things were still really really hot in the dot com sector. What a move that was.. Ill bet many people wish they had that type of timing.
So now its 2008 and what is a business model like Blue Mountain Cards still doing around? One view is that the original builders of the business picked an once-in-a-lifetime period to exit the business and made an unprecedented amount of money.. However, these were experience people who were also making a serious move in a serious industry. This is not a small business. Flawed business model or not, Blue Mountain Cards made a big dent in a market worth billions. I am betting that this is why they are still around today. They built a brand and have a name worth something. The part that is not text book is how Blue Mountain Cards got out at the top of the market. I guess thats where a little luck goes a long way.
See more Greeting card | Ecards | Send real card | Greeting cards online | Birthday card |

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by: al.sones
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