In the world of Online - Why does anyone care about offline

In the world of online everything, there are still many companies receiving funding for providing access to their non-unique services offline. My victim today is SocialText, which in the course of the last five years received $15 million worth in funding, with the latest round of $6 million occurring in recent weeks.

SocialText makes a wiki, but not just any kind of wiki. They may a wiki that supports offline editing of its pages. What does offline editing really mean? Does it refer to the ability of working on something when not connected to the network/internet saving the work and uploading it to the main app once connected, or could it refer to the ability to edit something on a desktop application, instead of the browser. If we pick the first explanation, the most likely one, the absurdity of SocialText's product becomes quite apparent. In the world where a connection to the internet (wired or wireless) is become ubiquitous do we really need the ability to be able to edit our wiki pages when offline. Since we are moving towards having the connectivity everywhere, the only place that the offline editing of the wiki pages might be useful would be in a remote cave somewhere high up in the mountains. And I am sure if you find yourself in that position, the last thing on your mind is "editing wiki pages offline".

So why do investors throw money away on companies with such unbelievably stultifying ideas. Wasting more and more cash on these startups, no FinishUps, is money well wasted not well spent. Because, in the case of SocialText, 5 years down the road with growth expectations being anything but unachievable, why would you pour in more funds in the long dead, poorly run, un-innovative company.

Note: Finish Up - a startup that has burned through its VC money and has been around for too long, and should finish up and close up shop.

"More millions wasted today on Web 2.0 than was spent on [insert your favorite world problem here]"

Today's favorite world problem: providing security and food to the war ravished zones around the world.

Take Care