TheUADA Launch Goes Unnoticed
Posted by Nick O'Neill on February 29th, 2008 10:49 AM
The much hyped UADA which has attracted a significant amount of buzz launched today with very little fanfare. So what happened with the UADA and who are the partners? As of now there are no partners that have been stated for this “alliance” and according to sources I have spoken with, most people have chosen not to join the alliance.
What is the UADA?
Since the announcement of the UADA, Lee has been contacting a number of developers and potential investors. To the developers he is offering an 80/20 revenue split and is asking for 10 percent of each application’s pageviews to be dedicated to him. In turn, The UADA will be leveraging an engine to optimize each application’s advertising. Each time a page is loaded, the UADA’s custom engine will determine which ad to display in order to maximize revenue.
This solution is a great proposal for a number of developers currently but unfortunately the largest networks won’t be signing on, at least not until The UADA can wrap up a large user base. In the long-run I think this is highly risky especially since the engine is based on unproven ad networks. The current statistic on the homepage of the UADA having the largest user base is completely inaccurate given that the massive inventory being claimed is a projected number if absolutely everything goes according to plan.
It’s a really nice position to be in: the owner of the company and the person placing a value on the company. Conflict of interest anybody?
Future of the UADA
From what it appears, Lee Lorenzen had hoped to attract a number of larger developers based on the buzz circulating about the UADA. So far, there have been no confirmed partners and all large application developers (top 40 companies) appear to be absent from the alliance. The concept of creating an engine that optimizes advertising for application developers makes a lot of sense but I disagree that this is the best environment for generating a long-term solution.
Following all of the negative buzz generated by Techcrunch, I have a feeling that this alliance may have been dead on arrival. Perhaps Lee Lorenzen can comment further on this.
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February 29th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Nick,
I’m happy to comment. As I’ve told you in the past, I’m always available to answer any of your questions in detail by e-mail or phone.
You are completely wrong to say that most people that I’ve contacted are saying that they don’t wish to join TheUADA. We are currently evaluating for membership 30+ companies with 100+ facebook apps that collectively have over 80+ million installs. Everyone who has agreed to be considered for membership in TheUADA is now under NDA and perhaps this explains why you aren’t getting any confirmations.
Since TheUADA page went up this morning we’ve been contacted by several Facebook developers of apps with sufficient traffic who also wish to be considered for membership.
Participation as Founding Members of TheUADA is a privilege that I believe those chosen for membership will appreciate. These folks will receive a significant equity stake in TheUADA as well as upfront cash for their agreement to be part of what we believe will be an organization that will be as effective as the CAA has been in promoting the interests of the stars that they represent.
We’ve designed TheUADA to be 100% upside for the developer. Membership offers developers higher RPM levels, access to lucrative sponsorship deals, the ability to efficiently cross-promote with other developers and ownership in an entity that gives them a second way to win big on the Facebook platform. In exchange for this, all we ask them to do is test our ad management system. Any of these developers can terminate this test at any time and remove their name from consideration for membership in TheUADA.
Finally, TheUADA is helping developers win by creating additional near term and long term revenue opportunities. Had eBay or PayPal done the same things with the power sellers who helped their businesses grow and become so successful prior to their IPOs, it would have been a much better deal for the individuals behind these companies.
So, TheUADA is not dead on arrival and I suggest you stay tuned.
Thanks,
Lee Lorenzen
CEO, Altura Ventures — The First Facebook-only VC
February 29th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Nick,
I’m happy to comment. As I’ve told you in the past, I’m always available to answer any of your questions in detail by e-mail or phone.
You are completely wrong to say that most people that I’ve contacted are saying that they don’t wish to join TheUADA. We are currently evaluating for membership 30+ companies with 100+ facebook apps that collectively have over 80+ million installs. Everyone who has agreed to be considered for membership in TheUADA is now under NDA and perhaps this explains why you aren’t getting any confirmations.
Since TheUADA page went up this morning we’ve been contacted by several Facebook developers of apps with sufficient traffic who also wish to be considered for membership.
Participation as Founding Members of TheUADA is a privilege that I believe those chosen for membership will appreciate. These folks will receive a significant equity stake in TheUADA as well as upfront cash for their agreement to be part of what we believe will be an organization that will be as effective as the CAA has been in promoting the interests of the stars that they represent.
We’ve designed TheUADA to be 100% upside for the developer. Membership offers developers higher RPM levels, access to lucrative sponsorship deals, the ability to efficiently cross-promote with other developers and ownership in an entity that gives them a second way to win big on the Facebook platform. In exchange for this, all we ask them to do is test our ad management system. Any of these developers can terminate this test at any time and remove their name from consideration for membership in TheUADA.
Finally, TheUADA is helping developers win by creating additional near term and long term revenue opportunities. Had eBay or PayPal done the same things with the power sellers who helped their businesses grow and become so successful prior to their IPOs, it would have been a much better deal for the individuals behind these companies.
So, TheUADA is not dead on arrival and I suggest you stay tuned.
Thanks,
Lee Lorenzen
CEO, Altura Ventures — The First Facebook-only VC