If John Doerr and Ram Shriram jumped off a cliff, would you do it too?
You might if you knew Doerr and Shriram are the venture capitalists who got a stake in Google during the search engine’s early days and are now worth over $3.1 billion combined.
Now the pair may have discovered what may be their next gold mine. It’s called “Zazzle” and it’s a Palo Alto-based company that allows you to put custom digital artwork on t-shirts, posters, postage stamps and more. Doerr and Shriram are investing $16 million in Zazzle and are joining the company’s board of directors, a title both men held at Google.
How is this company different, than say – CafePress? According to this article in The Mercury News, Zazzle has a few key differentiators that set it apart from the competition (not to mention fuel its profit-making potential):
- Content: The company has a database of hundreds of thousands of digital images. Contributors get royalties when their images are purchased.
- Partners: Walt Disney has given Zazzle access to over 3,500 images of everything from Chip & Dale to Donald Duck. Printing mogul Pitney Bowes (they make those postage machines) is also in on the game.
- Community: Users can access profiles and interviews of images artists, fostering a spirit of social networking (eBay is said to be an inspiration).
The Seattle Times has more, including what may be prophetic words from Doerr on why he believes in Zazzle:
“They are Googlesque in their energy and their ability to think big.”
