August 2, 2007
Every month that we publish the Seattle Startup Index I get a few emails asking why do we use Alexa and not Compete, or not Comscore, why do we do this if the data is unreliable, that this list is worthless, yada, yada, yada.
Here is a deep philosophical question that I believe Plato asked 2,000 years ago: Which food is more healthy: McDonald's or KFC?
Ok, maybe Plato didn't ask that, and maybe McDonald's is better than KFC or vice-verse, the point is both are pretty bad to your health and people that go to those fast-food chains are not looking for healthy.
Alexa or Compete? Neither. This list is for fun purpose. It has no value for investors, for customers or for their business itself (excepting for bragging rights). Take a look at the list. We compare media, with real estate, with social media, with e-commerce -- Nonsense.
If each company on the list would provide me with their full monthly logs, we could create a serious and valuable result, but I don't think they are willing to do that (and I don't have the terabytes of space to store all that). Or they can give me their Google Analytics data.
Now, don't miss next month's list -- we'll be taking it seriously and we will start accepting bets.