We're Funded!
The day that many have long predicted has finally come to pass: Bonanzle is now a funded company! Commence Q&A.
Why get funded? And why now?
We couldn't be happier about finally having the resources to buy a Bonanzle rocket ship. Mark has already dibsed first trip to Mars.
For "normal" startups, raising money from investors is usually one of the first matters to get taken care of. If not for the strong support of our community and dear old Google search, we would have needed to do this a year ago. But because of Bonanzle's fast-spreading reputation (and thus sales), we have been able to bide our time and wait until we saw a deal that was simply too good to pass up.
This is that deal. Our group of investors is comprised of many of Seattle's most respected entrepeneurs and investors -- people who understand the significance of what we've built, what our community means to the site, and who agree with the service-first mantra that is going to help us continue to grow rapidly for years to come.
We feel like we owe this to our sellers. So many Bonanzle users have spent countless hours setting up their booths, marketing their items on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere, and have done all they can to build a successful business on Bonanzle. For the people who have stuck with us as we've grown, we want to prove our commitment to doing everything in our power to ensure that the time spent booth building is rewarded with a user experience that continues to improve, and continues to deliver an ever-growing number of buyers over time.
What changes?
The biggest change coming will be the increased speed at which we can fix bugs and create a more polished user experience. To this point, Bonanzle has been built with a very small development team. As our number of buyers continues to grow month after month, our obligation to tending the community grows, and the amount of time available to add meaningful improvements shrinks. If there's one thing we will never be OK with, it's stagnation. Though it will take some time to put the right team in place, within the next few months, we expect that our speed of evolution will become even faster than it had been back in the glory days of 2k9.
Another personal pet peeve of mine over the last year has been how little time we've had to focus test our buying and selling experiences. With our new resources, one of my first priorities will be to put in place a sustainable plan to ensure that stuff works the way that real users expect it to, not just the way we think it probably ought to work at the time its added.
What doesn't change?
This is probably the equally important, if not more important, question to many of our existing users.
First of all, Mark and I will continue to perform the same roles we have had. That is, Mark will continue to ensure that we provide the best support experience of any marketplace online, and I'll continue to work toward creating a fast and simple site that is fun to use.
Bonanzle will remain a product-driven company, as opposed to a marketing-driven company. It's true that we are treading toward more advertising through Adwords and otherwise, and we will continue to incrementally spend on a limited amount of advertising. But fundamentally, it is our belief that $1 spent on building a better site will provide more sustained value than $1 buying a single customer, and then sending that customer into a mediocre experience. During this crucial phase of our growth, it is imperative that we focus on what makes the Bonanzle experience unique, and polish it like crazy until it is so wonderful it makes new users weep in joyful triumph. (<-- use of hyperbole, but you get the idea).
Oh, and for all the paranoiacs in the crowd, I would be remiss not to state the obvious: that fees here are obviously not changing (they're locked in, remember?)
Just how damn long is this blog entry going to be?
Not too much longer hopefully, I can already feel readers' eyelids getting heavy.
What is Bonanzle doing next?
1. Hiring (say, you wouldn't happen to know any good programmers, designers, or product/ui specialists, would you?)
2. Everything else. Where "everything else" includes: working to get our sellers more detailed metrics about their item visitors and sales; making it easier to register and chat on the site if you don't have an account; investigating means by which to make it easier for new visitors to trust Bonanzle and our sellers; building ways to make category-specific shopping experience interesting; and countless other surprises of the pleasant sort.
What can I do?
Aw, isn't that sweet of you to ask? You imaginary questioners are the best.
There are probably going to be a handful of stories about this event on the blogosphere and various news sites throughout Thursday. If you have a chance to pop in and give your two cents on how and why you've used Bonanzle to date, it could serve to make the story more personal to casual readers who have yet to hear of the site.
We'll be continuing to follow up on this in the forums and etc. in the days to come, but we now conclude our bullet point version of this exciting development.
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114 responses to We're Funded!
Oh well hey lookie here, a first story that could have comments added:
http://www.xconomy.com/seattle/2010/04/29/bonanzle-raises-1m-from-angel-investors-plus-three-vc-firms-to-expand-its-online-marketplace/
Bravo! Bonanzle has been a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me as a seller, and I look forward to its continued growth.
Awesome!
Congratulations! The evolution of Bonanzle continues! I am proud to be a member and a witness to Bonanzle’s transformation into the best ecommerce site on the internet.
Congrats on getting the funding.
FANtastic news for all of you who have worked so hard to make Bonanzle #1 – CONgraTuLAtions – I love this place!! BB :-)
This is definitely something to get excited about!
The future looks so bright I have to cover my eyes!
Bravo Bill!
That’s awesome. I just was reading my google alerts before going off to work! Congratulations!
How’s that song go… money money money money – MONEY!
Yea money… yea fixes… yea team… Congratulations all round!
What wonderful news! Congrats! Bonanzle is a great site with great people!
How wonderful is this!
Another Great Milestone for Bonanzle! Congratulations Bill and everyone who worked hard to get to this great moment.
You’re simply the best, better than all the rest.
(yes it’s from a Tina Turner song, but it’s Perfect) lol
Bonanzle, I found one year ago while doing a search for selling online. I followed the link and here I am. Phenomenal is the word for Bonanzle. The support from the owners and community is fantastic!
Bonanzle is growing and I am proud that I can grow with it.
Congrats to Bonanzle and a great team. It is amazing to believe that in October of 08 when I joined there were only about 6000 members. Talk about a fast moving and growing venue! Rah Rah!
Here i am with 3 booths filled and just love it here. We were at about 4,000 members when i joined boy are we growing bigger and better everyday…..I’m proud to be part of Bonanzle and will continue to spread the word…I have 2,000 business cards left to hand out….And a big mouth to shout about it..lol
This is definitely big news- Congrats!
Congratulations on the funding. Have 2 booths here now and absolutely love Bonanzle!
Congratulations!! I’m so excited for all of us because we’re about to see Bonanzle explode into being one of the best and most popular places to buy and sell online.
VERY good and as a former National Operation Analyst for Comcast Cable Communications Corporate (Now Xfinity)
YES!!! I do know many programmers and user interface designers!!! I will pass the information on to them via my network on LinkedIn and Plaxo. I am also connected to Kelly Perdew (another Angel Investor) and winner of Donald Trump’s Apprentice (Season2) So I will put the word out to my connections about the new oppotunities at Bonanzle.
Wonderful news!
Yippie and Yay! Congrats Bill! You’ve earned it!
Congratulations! You have hit the big time. I’m so happy for you, the team and all of us little sellers! I’m also very happy that you have made the point that you’ll keep your committed approach to your business and us your sellers! It’s so refreshing and really makes us feel that we are important! But, then that’s always been the wonderful part of being here, the comraderie!
Woo Hoo! I can’t wait to shout it out to the world.
Well, that’s super!! Congratulations! Although I’m new to Bonanzle, I’ve been marketing hand crafts online since 1993. And on old BBS’s before then! LOL. Holler if you want some help in that region.
WOOOHOOOOOOOO Congrats!!! Totally Awesome for sure!!!
am shoutin to the world already!!!
Congratulations to everyone! We were always on our way to stardom, but now we’re in hyperspeed!
Best news I’ve heard today!
Just saw that on my facebook feed, and just tweeted it to my followers. Zoom!!
what a great way to wake up and hear such great news
I’m delighted to hear this wonderful news! CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE! You deserve it!
FANTASTIC! I’m so proud of Bonanzle and thrilled that others see and GET what is going on here!
Kim
I knew when I first boarded the Bonanzle train that it was heading somewhere! Way to go Bonz!!
Congratulations and Fantastic News! I agree a BIG Thumbs UP!!!
Congrats! Fantastic News!
Here are 2 more articles:
http://blog.auctionbytes.com/cgi-bin/blog/blog.pl?/pl/2010/4/1272546616.html
http://www.bonanzleboardroom.com/bonanzle-news/2010/4/29/bonanzle-raises-1-million-to-grow-marketplace.html
I came on board when Bonanzle was only 4 months old. We have so many tools. Listing is easy. Selling and Buying is easy. I’ve haven’t had very many issues at all. The final value fees are reasonable and no listing fees (hurray). More importantly my customers tell me that they were pleased with the site and had no issues. The social aspect was pure genius! It’s made buying and selling fun and put people back into the equation. Congratulations! and a big Thank You from Junk Mountain.
Bill … Congrats and you worked hard to get to this point.
I did leave my 2cents worth on Xconomy’s article… and of course did a post of my own:
http://rantsravesrenagade.blogspot.com/2010/04/bonanzle-raises-1m-from-angel-investors.html
Now .. I am getting ready to watch this place REALLY Rock and Roll!
Congratulations! And way to go. Bonanzle is moving on up. Hey, can I go along on the Mars trip, Mark? I’ve always wanted to go into space! LOL
Sporting an ear to ear grin! Congratulations and please don’t let your investors overly influence your well-considered and carefully executed business plan.
Bonanzlefully fantastic! Great job Bill, et al!
Congrats! I have HIGH hopes!!!
Congratulations!
Movin On Up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcggr_23WJU
Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen;
Beans don’t burn on the grill.
Took a whole lotta tryin’,
Just to get up that hill.
Now we’re up in the big leagues,
Gettin’ our turn at bat.
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby,
There ain’t nothin wrong with that.
Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up,
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
Glad I joined this fabulous site and am looking forward to more customer traffic coming my way. :0)
Good news, Bill and gang! I knew there was a reason you had been somewhat absent here lately. Good job, Seattle and its business moguls are really visionaries!
Congratulations! I’m excited about the coming year. You’re building a truly great site. Keep it rolling!
Well I must admit I was expecting to encounter a little more paranoia about how getting an investor influence would surely be our undoing.
Thanks for all of the positive comments. You have our commitment to remaining non-evil and to accelerated building of the best possible product.
I’ve left my comments out there where I could. I comment privately at Auction Bytes because we have a number of accounts and one private ID fits all! But my comments are positive and GOOD!
Paranoia? Who, ME? LOL. Me, I’m only worried that with all those new meetings to attend, you might get chubby on jelly donuts!
after testing the waters in other venues, some looked more promising than Bonanzle did in the begining, they fizzled out. When I came here it was with an open mind and looking objectively at the way it was set up. I thought well this place has promise, but the main thing that stood out was the Uncanned response members received from support.
That alone, made this place stand above all the rest of the new start ups, as well as those that have been around for years, it is even better than the one online auction site that is larger than all of them put together.
When you lose that down home feel, you start feeling like a large corperation, and the little man becomes lost in the shuffle. Bonanzle has not lost that down home feel, and I hope it never will.
Great Support is the backbone of any company, it keeps folks coming back because they know they will be speaking with a real human being which also makes them feel like they are important.
My money is on Bonanzle growing into the largest online venue in a few short years. Hold on folks we are just now at the starting gate and the whistle has sounded and the race is on. We are riding a winner !
Congrats!
Congratulations Bill and THANK YOU from iwtbam
CONGRATULATIONS, Bill and the Bonanzle Team!! This has been such an interesting and thrilling journey, from beta to now, and with this funding starts a brand-new phase! Thank you for the reassurance that you and Mark will continue to perform the same roles, cuz everything you’ve done so far is definitely Working!! Bravo!!
CONGRATULATIONS! My wife and I love this site and hope to help it grow as we grow too. We promote it every chance we get. Thanks for all you guys do.
Well, dammit! That’s absolutely terrific!
Do I love the sound of that!!
Congrats Bill, Mark and all you hard working ‘dudes’ – LOL
Bill, you will reach the sky I’m sure, and all members are helping like they did all the way.
BTW, I just LOVE your way to write and express yourself, Bill
Patience paid off. Great things ARE coming. I just know.
Good Luck.
Johanna
Nothing wrong with ‘investor influence’ I’ve been a plus member (aka investor) since membership started, so more investors mean more and better Bonanzle.. Go for it…
Congratulations I knew Bonanzle was going to grow.I’m glad to be here.
On August 25,2008,I opened my first booth here and by year end I had opened my 4th….I said then and I say now – Bonanzle is a great place to do business!….
…The investors know Bonanzle is a good thing and we thank them for recognizing….
Congratulations and best wishes. I am proud to be a Bonanzler. You guys deserve the best.
Bill, I will cherish the picture of you and me at Las Vegas! I am still waiting for your brilliance to rub off on me … well, I am a dreamer.
All the best to you and your crew. I am so honored to be a part of history with so many wonderful Bonanzlers. Congrats to you all!
Best wishes,very proud of all the bonanzle team.This is great news and even though you shine bright now you can shine BRIGHTER!:)
Best wishes,very proud of all the bonanzle team.This is great news and even though you shine bright now you can shine BRIGHTER!:)
Good news.
awwww, I wanna help…. what can I do… I wanna help… and GREAT JOB!!!
I just posted the story on my blog at www.eSalesPartner.com !
This is GREAT NEWS!
Cool! Rock on Bonanzle!
This is going to be a great year for Bonanzle!!!!
I Love Bonanzle!
Congrats Team Bonanzle!
Bonanzle is a refreshing way to sell, shop, and have fun all at the same time. Congrats, you guys are doing a great job. thanks to the team.
Wonderful news.
Excellent! Thank you for your hard work.
Just read the article in WebProNews. Congratulations! I’ve been selling here a little over a year and am not going anywhere else! Bonanzle is the best. Looking forward to even greater things down the road.
Awesome!! Congratulations, this is absolutely fantastic!
Congratulations!
Well done Bill, I hope things go well for you and Mark and the team.
I wish I had been in at the start to see it grow (I joined in January this year)
I just hope you can keep your original ideas and not become corporatised where making money is the main ideal.
I just wonder why you need two more programmers when you have got the site just about perfect imho.
Very nice! A good forward step!
This is so Great! Spinning with Happiness!
Joined last December. like the site….it has great potential
I came aboard in October of 2008 when there were very few members……needless to say, we have grown rapidly!!!
The potential for Bonanzle is virtually limitless!!
I like the prospects for a very viable future…………..
I’ve been a Bonanzle seller for less than a year yet have had every confidence that Bonanzle will stand ahead of the crowd and prosper. COngratulations on your funding! It’s awesome to see all the hard work paying off……..Deb
wonderful news …Gettting better and better
Plug our Live Auctions, skirt the patent (you know the one) and reap the spoils!
Great job guys
Now all we need is more people and more sales. Good news to hear
Congrats!
That is Great News! Congratulations on a great job and venture :-)
This is great news, I have not been able to log on the last 4 days or so my internet keeps going in and out, oh for direct cable in my area!
Great news – good for you!
All The Right Moves, it’s been great watching little baby Bonanzle grow. Thanks Boyz
Fantastic!! Found Bonanzle a little over a year ago by googling “best eB.. alternative” and up popped Bonanzle! I have 2 booths, HeavensTreasures and FromMe2You and have had some great sales over the past year. Everything promised in your About Us and other info has come true. I couldn’t be happier.
Besides being a great website (LOVE the Homepage), I have met the NICEST, MOST HELPFUL people in ’net land here at Bonanzle, both buyers and sellers. I absolutely love it and am soooo happy to be here!
Thanks to the Boyz!
This sounds like really good news! Applause, Applause!
I go away for a week, and all hell breaks loose!
Way to go, Bill – it sounds awesome!
Always had faith in the BOYZ since I joined in Oct 2008.
We’ve come a LONG WAY Baby and the trip has been fantastic.
Congrats on getting this site noticed by the Big Wheels.
Have been doing my best at that for quite a while along with the other “Oldies” here. Lets all keep up the good work and reach for the Stars !
Sher
I have hung with you guys this long will keep on hanging on. That’s great news Bill, we know of all the hard work you do in perfecting this site for us sellers and WE LOVE YOU!!!
Congrats! Will there be an option to buy stock in the company at some point?
Congratulations!
Very good news and good for all!
Huge Congrats!
Keep up the good work – Bonanzle continues to grow and we’re loving it!
Awesome!
Bonanzle has potential? Perhaps. Right now Bonanzle has a “dumb” feel to it.
Frankly, with the mass exodus from eBay and with the long festering disgust for eBay, Bonanzle should be more than it is today.
As a buyer I haven’t been able to locate one thing on Bonanzle. Unique items are not to be found. The listings are POLLUTED with commercial retail store inventory lists (just like eBay now).
Free listings are nice in concept, everybody likes free, but free listings are taken advantage of by commercial interests. Doesn’t make sense to encourage commercial entities to advertise for free.
A practical solution would be to charge for listings and deduct listing fee from final value fee when item sells.
eBay’s best days in the 2004-2005 time frame, fees were not the problem considering the market reach.
A flat fee of 2% from $50. to $1000.00 plus 1% over $1000.00 should generate enough funds to operate a world class website plus offer great profits.
Subjecting shipping costs to fees is a good idea because it stops the crazy shipping costs so prevalent on eBay.
There’s one thing Bonanzle can do to be number one in auctions — HONESTY! Walt Mossberg (Wall Street Journal Tech Writer) was asked why Google succeeded and all the other search engines failed — one word Mossberg said: HONESTY!
Ebay is failing because it is unfair, dishonest, greedy, overly controlling and most importantly contemptuous of its sellers.
Bonanzle should be determined to stay just a venue and avoid the crazy control that wrecked eBay.
The toughest part in operating a venue is to keep the site relatively free of the scammers, less than honest sellers and the 5% nutcase buyers. This is one area substantial money needs to be spent. Yet buyers need to know that this type venue involves risk and need to be aware (unlike the coddled Paypal protected eBay buyers).
I once paid eBay/Paypal fees in excess of $1000.00 per month, I quit in 2008 and opened my own website and employed other venues, it’s tougher than eBay to sell for sure but I feel better not dealing with naziBay. Would love to have an efficient honest site to sell on again.
Bonanzle has potential — but not as presently structured.
Go Bonanzle!
Nice…I think Bonanzle was designed as simple, user friendly and unordinary as can be…like with everything else…there is always room for improvement…I am glad Bonanzle got funded…not an easy task to accomplish…Victory is your Bonanzle – You made it! Exhale now…lol…
Way to go guys!! We have to get eBay OFF the proverbial map.Continued good luck and let’s keep the ball rolling until Bonanzle is the #1 selling site !!!
I am so happy for you all Thank You for this platform it’s been such a blessing
I just got a chill down my spine-ooooh. A chill of excitement for being in on the ground level of one fast moving, friendly and fun Family like company! That would be you Bonanzle!
I joined Bonanzle late last year, then put it on the back burner until just now, starting my listings up again. I have yet to make my first sale, but I already see some big changes in the site. ALL GOOD, too! Congrats on getting the funding and keep up the great work! You guys are tops in my book. I came hear when the bay became so rule-riddled and expensive that I could no longer afford it. They used to be a friendly family-type place where it was fun to sell. Bonanzle has taken over that spot and let’s keep it that way. Also, the old original auctions are being forced out, so maybe Bonanzle can take over that area? Auctions are FUN, both for the seller and the buyer. The help and support, the friendliness and the lower fees are ALL big winners, here on Bonanzle. Hooray for Bonanzle!
Great News! Bigger and better things to come!
Joined during Beta and I have watched the Little Bonanzle that could……grow and grow and grow! Great job, keep up the good work and congrats! Grow Bonanzle, grow
What a ride to be on!! Bonanzle has had very few speed bumps while growing ever so fast. Great news you just gave us and only good things can happen. Fantastic job and thanks for all the hard work and hours you put in to get here.
Bonanzle, what can I say, Its the best place to sell online by far, it has the most features, the best pictures,its easy to shop, easy to check out, so many things to find and buy, its just a fabulous place to shop and sell. Its truly like having a store with the ability to communicate with the customers in real time, its the next best thing to being face to face. I have been on bonanzle for over a year, I love it, I have sold about 30 items in the year which no doubt doesn’t sound like alot but with what I sell its fabulous and I expect as more and more people discover bonanzle that number will increase. Thanks so much to everyone involved with Bonanzle for making my first year a great one and I hope that every year it just gets better for all of us.
I am so very happy for everybody at Bonanzle.
One: The Boyz that created this great site, and of course everybody behind the scenes that are not out in front for all to see. Without you there would be no Bonanzle.
Two: Us the sellers that are trying to make our own business’s succeed. Without us there would be no Bonanzle.
Three: The customers that will have an even better buying experience as we grow. Without you there would be no Bonanzle.
Congratulations on your award and funding. How wonderful is that. Congratulations to those who tweeted and tweeted till there fingers were ready to fall off. The beginners that started right along with you in 2008. I am just sorry that I was not one of them. However when I joined in February 2009, all of those tweeters and worker bees made it infectious around here. It is now almost a year and a half that I have been on Bonanzle, and as my first experience in “online” sales I am going to congratulate myself for my great insight for picking the best place to have my business.
This is a family where everybody cares about each other. That is very hard to find in todays world. Never have I seen such a wonderful bunch of people that are open to helping everyone succeed. And that attitude will continue to grow bonanzle. Because that attitude is what is needed in any true TEAM. That is what Bonanzle is a great TEAM…and we must never loose that same attitude that has gotten us this far…CONGRATULATIONS TO US ALL.
And guys get yourself a good nights sleep, you deserve it.
Dee
Congrats Bonanzle Team! I just came aboard because I felt like a number working for someone else’s happiness. Bonanzle put my success first; the difference from other auction sites is a seller my lose money before they ever sell a thing. Thank you; Here’s too many more years of mutual success. Cheers!
Congrats Bonanzle have one booth here love it, good work.
Very good to hear. I occasionally teach an online selling class at the library I work at, and while I push for Bonanzle really hard, I also have to be honest about the detriments of each selling site I talk about. Any improvements makes my job of selling Bonanzle to people much easier.
I’m hongkong people, is really good to increase my English skills .
HOPE SUCCESS FOLLOWS! FOR ALL OF HERE AT BONANZLE!!
PLEASe get us a link to allow people to facebook us>
bonanzle feels right- facebook yourself- you tube yourself SO THE SELLERS CAN HOOK INTO THIS.
NETWORKING IS THE WAY- KEEPING FEES LOW AND NEVER ALLOW THE BAYERS TO PULL IN THAT SELLER TO SELLER DRAMA OR FAKE GOODS IN. GET A GOOGLE LINK – AND NEED TO GET ON MORNING SHOWS AND HOOK INTO THE EAST COAST WHERE BUYING ONLINE IS HOT.PLEASE DO NOT LET THE EAST COAST SLIP BY- CONTACT ME- A RETIRED BRANDER- I WILL HELP FOR FREE . CANT DISCLOSE WHO I HAVE BRANDED HERE- ETSY GOT ON TV- LETS GET INTO WOMENS MAGS AND MORNINGSHOWS- ALL ACROSS THE USA- PROMOTE USA – DONT LET THE SOUTH AND NORTH EAST SLIP AWAY!
Good morning ! Good luck everyone.
We must all let every one know about Bonanzle. I just made business cards this week and I included the Bonanzle link. I’m telling all my friends and inviting all my previous customers to join in and be part of this fast growing community of buyers and sellers. I’m very happy to be part of Bonanzle and look forward to making a living here for many years to come as I know many of you will as well.
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