The Printed Blog’s End Speaks to Difficulty of Landing Venture Capital Funding

“Sixteen issues, 80,000 print copies distributed, another 100,000 or so copies downloaded, and countless new friends, fans, and collaborators all around the world later, I may still be nuts, but I have zero regrets.

“Creating a new breed of newsprint publication from scratch was an amazing experience, and it was humbling to have been so prominently included in the global discussion on the future of journalism and the print media.

“I’m disappointed, to be sure, but also looking forward to the future. I believe the next few years will be among the most exciting times in the history of journalism. The industry’s landscape is on the verge of major change, and when redefined, it will look a lot different than it does today. It will also function considerably better.”

Brandon Copple, Crain’s Chicago Business‘ managing editor, reported on the Chicago start-up shutting down and provided some related background, saying: “The Printed Blog was a simple idea: take blog posts from across the Internet, put them on glossy paper with edgy photos and give it away for free at el stops and other public gathering points. Mr. Karp figured he could create neighborhood-specific issues and sell local merchants on ads targeted at local residents.”

“It’s really important to strike a balance between product development, or available functions, and revenue generation. You want to develop the smallest amount of functionality you need to generate the maximum amount of initial revenue. We focused too much on the product, and not enough on proving that we could make money, and that was a big part of our downfall. It’s also critically important to stay focused on the fundamentals of your business.

“If you happen upon an idea that gets people’s attention, like we did, work like crazy to stay focused and not get distracted by the press. We made the decision to try to go big deliberately when the national and international press took an interest, but frankly, it was the wrong decision.”