The Firehouse

So eventually it failed. This screen cap of Mobuzz’s Technorati tag search says it all:

What is more interesting is the top spanish bloggers are reacting with, in some cases, great violence and insults against critics. They seem to believe that Spain is a land of non-believers, who simply are after bringing down the slightest show of entrepreneurship. While there is some truth to this, the general criticism against Mobuzz has been:

• Clear over-spending on unnecessary things, such as plush offices in the most expensive and posh area of Madrid, with swimming pool included. Anil, the founder, was also traveling around to plenty of events, which costs a LOT of money, and brings only self-patting in the back with other attendees who tend to be always the same ones.
• No sign of what they planned to do to make their company survive, in terms of cutting costs. Some suggested increasing sales & revenues (duh!), but in the short term, the only guaranteed measure you can take is cut costs – jobs, office space, show schedules, fixed costs such as bandwidth, etc.
• Mobuzz asked for donations as if it was an NGO, yet they denied it was all a move to bring in ‘viral’ traffic. This was then reversed by Enrique Dans, who said that they did look for the viral effect.
• Several of their investors and backers proclaimed the Mobuzz model to be viable, and called every critic an ignorant troll – it seems 15 days later they are even closing comments on their blogs to avoid facing shame.

It’s not that people in Spain are after killing every idea – but when an idea is defended above and beyond all reason, even insulting those who are critic, the people see through the bullshit, and call on it. You failed, just like anyone else can fail – it’s time to admit it and look at what you did wrong, rather than blame others.