Adam's Blog

Over the weekend, I got an invitation to join Ello. I’d heard about it previously after reading about it on my favourite tech blogs, but I always prefer to try something myself rather than simply believe what someone else is saying.

So anyway, I signed up for Ello. I managed to bag the username ‘adamowen’, which I was happy about (I was of course too late to get simply ‘adam’).

As soon as I logged in, I soon realised how basic the interface really is! Even more so than I’d expected. Now, whilst a basic UI backed by awesome features wouldn’t be a problem, it does seem that Ello is lacking in features. They do actually seem to have a features list, which has features in line with those of ‘competitors’ such as Twitter and Facebook.

One of my concerns is that they’ve received VC funding from FreshTracks Capital.

Now, from my basic understanding of how venture capital works, I was under the impression that you had to have an exit strategy formed (i.e. a plan to sell the company for a profit) before you even pitched your idea to a VC.

However, in Ello’s case, I find it hard to see how this will work..

With many asking the same question, the founder of Ello; Paul Butnitz, recently had an interview with Business Insider, where he explained how he plans to keep costs to a minimum. They’ll also be selling Ello-branded merchandise such as t-shirts.

Whatever happens, Ello seems fixated on offering an ad-free social network, which isn’t a bad thing, but I guess we just have to wait and see if it’s goodbye for Ello.