fbFund Rejectees Are Not Happy
Posted by Nick O'Neill on January 29th, 2008 10:15 AMIt appears that over the course of the past week, many of the fbFund applicants have been receiving their rejection letters from the Facebook team. Ami Vora sent out letters to the rejected applicants:
Hi XXX,
Thanks much for coming to present to the fbFund advisory board two weeks ago. We really appreciated your flexibility and dedication. Unfortunately, your application wasn’t deemed an immediate fit with the focus for fbFund at the moment.
I want to stress that this doesn’t mean that we don’t believe in your application nor that it can’t be successful. As your application evolves, we encourage you to reapply for a grant – there is no limit on how many times you can apply for a grant, and each funding cycle represents a new opportunity to receive a grant.
The advisory committee had some feedback on your application which you might find helpful, some of which we covered during the presentation itself. They suggested that:
- XXXXXX
- XXXXXX
I hope this feedback is useful to you as you continue to build your application. Of course (as our lawyers asked us to make clear), all feedback is provided on an “as is” basis, and your incorporation of feedback doesn’t in any way guarantee that your application will receive a grant from fbFund in the future.
We’re planning on posting more information on fbFund and the funding process shortly, and I’ll let you know when those resources are posted.
I wish you the best of luck as you build your business, and hope to hear from you again in the future.
Cheers, and thanks again,
Ami Vora
One developer in the Facebook forum ranted about the process stating, “While I do believe that many applications could have had stronger business plan than us, I think that the way they handled the entire grant offer reflects poorly on Facebook and how they treat dev community. It is also a meaningful coincidence that FB decided to revamp their fbGrant program a week after myspace announced that they will be offering grant to developers.”
One developer that emailed me said that they had previous experience with raising money and were not treated fairly. “Now, I’ve pitched a lot before and raised 2.5MM for my last company in 2000. In my experience, VC’s usually say ‘Hello, we invest in ____ and we like you because ____.’ at the beginning and ‘Thank you’ at the end. We got ‘Ok, go.’ and ‘Next.’
Many of the developers had similar tone to those that receive rejection letters to their college applications. I’m sure after investing a significant amount of time in pitching a venture capitalist about your application and receiving the first round approval letter and a surge of excitement, the follow-up rejection notification can be painful. One person’s idea that I heard was actually a really great idea and I think it’s funny that Facebook decided not to go with their company.
I have no idea what the decisions were based on but it appears that we will soon begin to see those applications that received funding! Have you had a similar experience?
(4.64 out of 5)
(4.22 out of 5)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am
hey Nick and all —
I'm sorry if this process has felt at all dismissive to any developers. Like everything else at Facebook, the fbFund grant program is an iterative process, and we're working hard to make it better. I'm particularly sorry about the delay on this initial round — we wanted to make sure that every proposal got the consideration it deserved, and reviewed each proposal closely. We're constantly fine-tuning the process to make it better, and I know you'll see improvements as we learn more about what helps our developers.
For more information on how the process works and what we're looking for, please check out http://developers.facebook.com/fbFund.php
We value our developers immensely, and are trying to figure out how to efficiently scale out a program that will support them. If you have specific feedback, we'd love to hear it at fbFund at facebook.com.
thanks,
Ami Vora
the fbFund team
January 29th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
hey Nick and all —
I’m sorry if this process has felt at all dismissive to any developers. Like everything else at Facebook, the fbFund grant program is an iterative process, and we’re working hard to make it better. I’m particularly sorry about the delay on this initial round — we wanted to make sure that every proposal got the consideration it deserved, and reviewed each proposal closely. We’re constantly fine-tuning the process to make it better, and I know you’ll see improvements as we learn more about what helps our developers.
For more information on how the process works and what we’re looking for, please check out http://developers.facebook.com/fbFund.php
We value our developers immensely, and are trying to figure out how to efficiently scale out a program that will support them. If you have specific feedback, we’d love to hear it at fbFund at facebook.com.
thanks,
Ami Vora
the fbFund team
January 29th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
The fbFund was never anything more then a shrewd marketing ploy. The fund was first announced early Sept to “…help grow the Facebook application ecosystem. By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will followâ€. They stated that their goal was to “get decisions to potential grantees within the month that they applyâ€.
It is now 4 1/2 months later. Most people who submitted applications have not even gotten a reply from Facebook yet, let alone a final decision within 30 days. Facebook finally just invited a dozen or so people to present their ideas early this month. Now a bunch of those get rejected! Just how many people will get funding, and when will this funding happen? At this rate, they will distribute their $10M grant fund in what, 5 years! By that time Facebook will be a fairly well trafficked widget on iGoogle! The truth of the matter is that they never intended to really give out the money in the first place. Look at the facts: Facebook opens it’s API and thousands of programmers rush in to build apps. Much hype drives the value of Facebook through the roof. By the end of the summer, the hype is starting to dissipate, and there are serious questions about the value of the application platform and its ability to be monetized. Facebook then announces a $10M giveaway to app developers to help them create interesting apps, just in time to produce a bunch more hype and re-motivate the army of developers out there trying to strike it rich creating FB apps. Is it a big coincidence that FB had a funding round with Microsoft shortly after fbFund was announced?
It is time to face the music- this was all just a brilliant marketing ploy designed to make Facebook very very valuable. Facebook applications are only good for two things; virtually poking each other, and making the owners of Facebook extremely rich. If they seriously believed any different, they would be dispersing their third round of $10M right now and already have an army of seed-funded programmers desperately trying to come up with some new applications that actually did something. It is time for you all to stop working for Zukerberg for free and put your talents to some useful purpose.
January 29th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
The fbFund was never anything more then a shrewd marketing ploy. The fund was first announced early Sept to “…help grow the Facebook application ecosystem. By decreasing the barrier to start a company, we hope to entice an even larger group of people to become entrepreneurs and build a compelling business on Facebook Platform. We hope this is also a funding model that other venture capitalists will followâ€. They stated that their goal was to “get decisions to potential grantees within the month that they applyâ€.
It is now 4 1/2 months later. Most people who submitted applications have not even gotten a reply from Facebook yet, let alone a final decision within 30 days. Facebook finally just invited a dozen or so people to present their ideas early this month. Now a bunch of those get rejected! Just how many people will get funding, and when will this funding happen? At this rate, they will distribute their $10M grant fund in what, 5 years! By that time Facebook will be a fairly well trafficked widget on iGoogle! The truth of the matter is that they never intended to really give out the money in the first place. Look at the facts: Facebook opens it’s API and thousands of programmers rush in to build apps. Much hype drives the value of Facebook through the roof. By the end of the summer, the hype is starting to dissipate, and there are serious questions about the value of the application platform and its ability to be monetized. Facebook then announces a $10M giveaway to app developers to help them create interesting apps, just in time to produce a bunch more hype and re-motivate the army of developers out there trying to strike it rich creating FB apps. Is it a big coincidence that FB had a funding round with Microsoft shortly after fbFund was announced?
It is time to face the music- this was all just a brilliant marketing ploy designed to make Facebook very very valuable. Facebook applications are only good for two things; virtually poking each other, and making the owners of Facebook extremely rich. If they seriously believed any different, they would be dispersing their third round of $10M right now and already have an army of seed-funded programmers desperately trying to come up with some new applications that actually did something. It is time for you all to stop working for Zukerberg for free and put your talents to some useful purpose.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
We got our rejection letter this week too. I had almost forgot about the whole thing entirely considering initial claims for reviewing apps quickly (like a month or so). I actually applied to the AppFactory as well, which is another group looking to invest in Facebook applications. I have not heard anything from them at all (not even a thanks for sending) — it feels terrible to know that great ideas have been sent to these “people” investing in facebook applications and they could easily steal the ideas now without consequence (and in fact they make you waive those rights when you apply).
I've been very successful writing business plans and pursued entrepreneurship as part of my MBA. I have no doubt that our submission along with many of the others rejected were perfectly great business ideas. VCs and other investor types are still testing the water with the Facebook Application stuff and my guess is they can't afford the normal risk even though they really want to jump in on the hype. My opinion is that it is a terrible idea to bank on Facebook existing in the future to sustain monetization for developers anyway — I'm saying that EVEN AFTER jumping on the long tail from hell (too confusing to deal with right now).
January 29th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
We got our rejection letter this week too. I had almost forgot about the whole thing entirely considering initial claims for reviewing apps quickly (like a month or so). I actually applied to the AppFactory as well, which is another group looking to invest in Facebook applications. I have not heard anything from them at all (not even a thanks for sending) — it feels terrible to know that great ideas have been sent to these “people” investing in facebook applications and they could easily steal the ideas now without consequence (and in fact they make you waive those rights when you apply).
I’ve been very successful writing business plans and pursued entrepreneurship as part of my MBA. I have no doubt that our submission along with many of the others rejected were perfectly great business ideas. VCs and other investor types are still testing the water with the Facebook Application stuff and my guess is they can’t afford the normal risk even though they really want to jump in on the hype. My opinion is that it is a terrible idea to bank on Facebook existing in the future to sustain monetization for developers anyway — I’m saying that EVEN AFTER jumping on the long tail from hell (too confusing to deal with right now).
January 29th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I read in Mashable that fbFund doesnt sign an NDA with the applicant. WOW! The Intellectual Property of these rejected applicants just got compromised. Nothing stops facebook from implementing the idea internally.
Now why would someone take a risk like this, I honestly dont know.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:06 pm
I read in Mashable that fbFund doesnt sign an NDA with the applicant. WOW! The Intellectual Property of these rejected applicants just got compromised. Nothing stops facebook from implementing the idea internally.
Now why would someone take a risk like this, I honestly dont know.
January 30th, 2008 at 6:28 am
[...] a lot of bloggers response, I didn’t see anybody being accepted. A lot of bloggers cover the stories about being got rejected. It includes in a Facebook Developer Discussion [...]
January 30th, 2008 at 8:20 am
Ami,
I am glad that Facebook “…value(s) our developers immensely, … If you have specific feedback, we’d love to hear it…â€
I do have some specific feedback: Prior to May of last year, when an army of developers started writing free code for you, Facebook was conservatively valued at under $2B (Yahoo offered $1B not long before, so $2B must be generous). In Nov, Microsoft invested in FB at a rate putting the value at $15B! That is an increase in value of $13B- in other words, the owners of FB got $13B richer in a 6 month period, following the scramble by outside developers to make applications for your platform! There are now 300,000 people who have joined the developers group on your site.
The link you provided above states that the average grant will be around $50,000. Given a $10M initial fund announced in Sept, this will allow you to fund approximately 200 developers. Can you tell us, now 4 ½ months later, how many developers you are close to funding?
Let’s take this a step further. Let’s say that, just out of kindness, FB was to share 1% of that $13B you all just made, with some of those 300,000 developers who basically made it for you. 1% of $13B is $130M. If the average Grant is going to be for $50K, you could give out 2,600 such grants, and still have only given back to the developers 1% of the money that their efforts have made you over the last 9 months. Once again I ask you, how much money have you given out and how many developers are you close to funding?
To get to the point, here is my specific feedback: START GIVING SOME OF THE GRANTS YOU HAVE PROMISED TO THE DEVELOPERS WHO HAVE MADE FACEBOOK ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE INVESTMENTS IN HISTORY, MOST OF WHOM WILL NEVER MAKE A DIME ON YOUR INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO MONITIZE PLATFORM!
January 30th, 2008 at 8:59 am
I am wondering about how many proposals have been submitted and how many representatives fbFund has to review them. Can each of them really stands for the same to decide what would “fit with the focus of fbFund at the moment”?
From the past 4 months, the number of applications written for Facebook platform raised by 10.000. I can assume that the submitted proposals are far more than that, say at least 50.000. If I calculate with 100 workdays, it gives 500 proposals a day. How many business proposals can somebody review a day? 1? 5? 10? Even if I assume that the processing speed is 10 proposals per representative per day it needs 50 representatives. I think in real the number of proposals are much higher and a number of review processed a day is lower.
Even if you have a good idea, it can be rejected by a tired representative or rejected because of the short time spent on reviewing and thinking over the proposal.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Ami,
I am glad that Facebook “…value(s) our developers immensely, … If you have specific feedback, we’d love to hear it…â€
I do have some specific feedback: Prior to May of last year, when an army of developers started writing free code for you, Facebook was conservatively valued at under $2B (Yahoo offered $1B not long before, so $2B must be generous). In Nov, Microsoft invested in FB at a rate putting the value at $15B! That is an increase in value of $13B- in other words, the owners of FB got $13B richer in a 6 month period, following the scramble by outside developers to make applications for your platform! There are now 300,000 people who have joined the developers group on your site.
The link you provided above states that the average grant will be around $50,000. Given a $10M initial fund announced in Sept, this will allow you to fund approximately 200 developers. Can you tell us, now 4 ½ months later, how many developers you are close to funding?
Let’s take this a step further. Let’s say that, just out of kindness, FB was to share 1% of that $13B you all just made, with some of those 300,000 developers who basically made it for you. 1% of $13B is $130M. If the average Grant is going to be for $50K, you could give out 2,600 such grants, and still have only given back to the developers 1% of the money that their efforts have made you over the last 9 months. Once again I ask you, how much money have you given out and how many developers are you close to funding?
To get to the point, here is my specific feedback: START GIVING SOME OF THE GRANTS YOU HAVE PROMISED TO THE DEVELOPERS WHO HAVE MADE FACEBOOK ONE OF THE MOST PROFITABLE INVESTMENTS IN HISTORY, MOST OF WHOM WILL NEVER MAKE A DIME ON YOUR INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO MONITIZE PLATFORM!
January 30th, 2008 at 9:59 am
I am wondering about how many proposals have been submitted and how many representatives fbFund has to review them. Can each of them really stands for the same to decide what would “fit with the focus of fbFund at the moment”?
From the past 4 months, the number of applications written for Facebook platform raised by 10.000. I can assume that the submitted proposals are far more than that, say at least 50.000. If I calculate with 100 workdays, it gives 500 proposals a day. How many business proposals can somebody review a day? 1? 5? 10? Even if I assume that the processing speed is 10 proposals per representative per day it needs 50 representatives. I think in real the number of proposals are much higher and a number of review processed a day is lower.
Even if you have a good idea, it can be rejected by a tired representative or rejected because of the short time spent on reviewing and thinking over the proposal.