Advertising Technology, Today's VC Game?

Ken's Blog

Did someone start a newspaper fifty years ago specifically to sell advertising?

Did Brin and Page start Google to sell advertising?

The answer, in both cases, was no. They started from a passion to deliver the news and to provide better search (respectively). Google stumbled onto advertising after other monetization models had failed.

But startups today develop products specifically to attract folks/create advertising space. And then, presumably, they flip to Google (or other media giant of choice).

That's not business. That's a VC (Venture Capital) game. And not a particularly innovative one.

I saw the game in action at the Ad:Tech conference in New York.

What is Ad:Tech? Here's their Web site's opening paragraph...