Bright Things Share Discussion Threads

[22hoper] 31/7/2009 15:57

Iantc,the team who run Bright Things are ex Eidos executives (see the website)
Moreover Socialgo operates worldwide so the US could be their biggest market. If Mr Wheatley spends time in the US drumming up business good on him.

[iantc] 31/7/2009 15:09

ps guys love this bit (Wheatley, who has probably spent more time in Palo Alto, California, than in Wiltshire)thats his other little job

[iantc] 31/7/2009 15:08

22hoper - 31 Jul'09 - 11:51 - 4436 of 4440


Must admit do like the Eidos connection.People should see the website,beside the great potential of Socialgo they have dvd rights to Tiger Woods, Laura Croft etc

22 hoper you need to do a little research .bgt have been there done that with idvd it failed thats why there into sn ,if your going to ramp ,ramp the right product .

[22hoper] 31/7/2009 11:32

Love the Eidos connection this is one hell of a report.

Home > Features 31 July 2009 Subscriber login |
Subscribe to Growth Company Investor News feed Wheatley's Bright idea
09/03/2009 Robert Tyerman


Dominic Wheatley, the entrepreneur who founded the company that became video games publisher Eidos, of 'Tomb Raider' fame, is looking for £750,000 from investors to speed developments at his latest enthusiasm. This time, he wants to drum up support for AIM-quoted Bright Things, the bombed-out former interactive online children's toy company he is seeking to revive with 'SocialGO', an online 'social network maker' he argues is set to go 'like a tornado'.

A former director of Telecom PLUS and asset management software specialist StatPro (now steered by his brother Justin), Wheatley has already put £500,000 into Wiltshire-based Bright Things, which has since October persuaded 28,000 people, mostly in the USA, to sign up for SocialGO, which allows users to create their own online social networks. The overwhelming majority pay nothing, but more recently Bright Things has launched new subscription-based premium-rated features, for which punters each pay from $5 (£3.60) to $25 a month.

Wheatley, who has probably spent more time in Palo Alto, California, than in Wiltshire, says first responses are encouraging. He sees SocialGO as potentially pitching Bright Things into a similar league as Ning, the US social networking outfit founded by software entrepreneur Marc Andreessen, which has 750,000 networks, 22,500 of them fee-paying.

The original Bright Things model foundered, says Wheatley, because greedy distributors overcharged for the interactive toys and sold only 30,000 in Christmas 2005, instead of the projected 200,000.

As a result, Bright Things shares, floated by HB Corporate in 2004 at 90p, now languish at 1.62p.

Wheatley has already persuaded fund management luminary Katie Potts of Herald Investment Management and other heavy hitters to back Bright Things. 'We've got the tiger by the tail,' he proclaims. 'If it takes off, this could be an amazing money spinner.

[the analyst] 31/7/2009 11:29

More recruitment at SocialGO



"Technical Team Leader
Job Category: Architecture and Engineering
Career Level: Management (Manager/Director)
Job Type: Full Time/Permanent
Positions: 1
Company Name: SocialGO/Get On With IT

SocialGO.com is a fast growing start up based in funky Shoreditch in East London. We publicly launched last year and since then our team and staff have continued to grow. We are now looking for an experienced technical manager to come on board to help coordinate our development and net-opps teams going forward.

Our netopps and dev team has grown to 8 people and we are looking for someone to manage the planning and procedures within these departments. Day to day responsibilities include :

a) Planning out development team objectives in line with weekly/bi-weekly deploy cycle. This includes working out the development sequence with a mix of longer term objectives and short term fixes.

b) Working with the support team to diagnose and process second line support queries and fitting these into the development cycle.

c) Organizing the NetOpps team to plan, refine and improve our infrastructure.

d) Managing the deployment cycle including pre-release testing and QA.

e) Helping to coordinate our relationships with various third parties

f) Planning and managing our infrastructure requirements going forward

SocialGO uses a range of different technologies including PHP/mySQL,Memcache, Ubuntu Linux, nginx and range of other technologies which you should be familiar with. This will be a challenging and exciting role which will be perfect for the right person who enjoys a challenge and is looking to get their hands dirty in a fast paced startup like SocialGO.

We are looking for an immediate start and you must have had experiance managing technical web teams before including agile development methodologies.

Look forward to your application! Please include your salary expectations in your application."

[22hoper] 31/7/2009 11:08

Live-PR.com article


Computer & Technology




Let Us Build Your Social Network – SocialGO Concierge Service
SocialGO Builds Your Social Network Via The Concierge Plan


30.07.2009 22:27:22 With ongoing advice and customer support managers assigned to your account – SocialGO Concierge is ideal for those who just want to get their social network website up and running right away.

(live-PR.com) - With users, groups and businesses alike all looking to communicate online, social networks have become more and more popular. However, not everyone wants to get involved with the set up of their network and the work that designing and configuring one may involve. With many companies outside the digital world keen to communicate, social networking provides the ultimate




bridge to close the gap.

As a result, SocialGO – a social network service themselves, have launched a new plan for users. The "Concierge Service" is the latest offering from SocialGO, and is basically a hands on approach from the team at SocialGO. They will not only set up, configure and design the social network website for you, but include a priority support system.

Concierge networks include "white label" services, so that your business or personal branding can be fully represented without any advertising from SocialGO (you can however run your own advertising if you want), and it even includes member billing services, should you want to charge potential users to subscribe to your site. In addition to billings, we provide custom configuration for user access and privacy settings.

With up to 100GB of bandwidth space provided per month, the Conceirge Service should accommodate most business or personal websites with no problems. You can use your own domain to set up the site on (plan includes hosting, but you have to already own the domain), and some of the key features include forums, blogs, and live audio / video chat.

Our team will design your website on SocialGO, including your existing brand or logo if applicable. It can be done as an add-on to your existing website, or as a new site altogether. Our support team is available 7 days a week, and the offer comes with a one month free trial. Upon signing up, a member of our team contacts you within 24 hours to help you set up your social network. You can add things like third party widgets as the site builds, for which we'll be making an ongoing list of releases for, and you can create as many custom content pages as you like.

With ongoing advice and customer support managers assigned to your account – SocialGO Concierge is ideal for those who just want to get their social network website up and running right away.

Get more details on the SocialGO Concierge offering at www.socialgo.com/socialgo-concierge.html - including a video preview that details how the service can work for you.

More details at www.socialgo.com


Press Information:
SocialGO

93 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY

Contact Person:
Steve
PR
Phone: [phone]‎
eMail: eMail

Web:

[22hoper] 31/7/2009 11:03

Interesting article from live-PR.com


Computer & Technology


Let Us Build Your Social Network – SocialGO Concierge Service
SocialGO Builds Your Social Network Via The Concierge Plan


30.07.2009 22:27:22 With ongoing advice and customer support managers assigned to your account – SocialGO Concierge is ideal for those who just want to get their social network website up and running right away.

(live-PR.com) - With users, groups and businesses alike all looking to communicate online, social networks have become more and more popular. However, not everyone wants to get involved with the set up of their network and the work that designing and configuring one may involve. With many companies outside the digital world keen to communicate, social networking provides the ultimate




bridge to close the gap.

As a result, SocialGO – a social network service themselves, have launched a new plan for users. The "Concierge Service" is the latest offering from SocialGO, and is basically a hands on approach from the team at SocialGO. They will not only set up, configure and design the social network website for you, but include a priority support system.

Concierge networks include "white label" services, so that your business or personal branding can be fully represented without any advertising from SocialGO (you can however run your own advertising if you want), and it even includes member billing services, should you want to charge potential users to subscribe to your site. In addition to billings, we provide custom configuration for user access and privacy settings.

With up to 100GB of bandwidth space provided per month, the Conceirge Service should accommodate most business or personal websites with no problems. You can use your own domain to set up the site on (plan includes hosting, but you have to already own the domain), and some of the key features include forums, blogs, and live audio / video chat.

Our team will design your website on SocialGO, including your existing brand or logo if applicable. It can be done as an add-on to your existing website, or as a new site altogether. Our support team is available 7 days a week, and the offer comes with a one month free trial. Upon signing up, a member of our team contacts you within 24 hours to help you set up your social network. You can add things like third party widgets as the site builds, for which we'll be making an ongoing list of releases for, and you can create as many custom content pages as you like.

With ongoing advice and customer support managers assigned to your account – SocialGO Concierge is ideal for those who just want to get their social network website up and running right away.

Get more details on the SocialGO Concierge offering at www.socialgo.com/socialgo-concierge.html - including a video preview that details how the service can work for you.

More details at www.socialgo.com


Press Information:
SocialGO

93 Rivington Street, London, EC2A 3AY

Contact Person:
Steve
PR
Phone: [phone]‎
eMail: eMail

Web:

[22hoper] 31/7/2009 10:51

Must admit do like the Eidos connection.People should see the website,beside the great potential of Socialgo they have dvd rights to Tiger Woods, Laura Croft etc

[carl79] 29/7/2009 08:46

good stuff on here TA - Cheers!

[the analyst] 28/7/2009 15:29

So as promised, I've now been through the rns statements again to look at the money that has been raised in order to develop SocialGO

I may have missed things and got things wrong, so do your own research before accepting any of this as fact:



Historical business, April 2004 - Nov 2007
Prior to Nov 2007 BGT had a business based on asic/bubble/iDVD - the business survived from April 2004 until Nov 2007. During that time, Dom spent £80k on shares at 9p. That business basically went bust. Dom did badly on that share purchase and if he sold them today he would be down over 85%



So, on to the important bit, the money raised to develop the CURRENT business - SocialGO.com:

Nov 2007 - £955,000 raised at 4p per share in order to develop the product
The new business began in November 2007 with the acquisition of Commonworld with the aim of developing a 'social network' venture. Dom bought 2.5m shares at 4p per shares. What many people won't realise is that this was dilutive for Dom, as his shareholding went from 18.7% down to 13.6%, despite investing £100k. This indicates that he saw this new venture as very speculative and did not have a great deal of confidence at that time. The 4p price was at a huge discount to the previous price range of around 6-8p - not unexpected for a company going to the sword.
[nb at the time, I thought this new venture was doomed, given ning's domination, funding and that BGT said they were going to develop it as a boxed product, so did not consider investing)



Sept 2008 - £734,500 raised at 1.25p to take it to a fully working product
During this placing Dom took 16m shares at 1.25p for a total sum of £200k. Although this meant his previous purchases at 9p and 4p were diluted, his overall holding went up to 19.6%. At this stage, the purchase showed confidence in the product as it was a much bigger sum being invested and his percentage was raised
[note - investors had the opportunity to buy at well below 1p per share on the open market following this placing, so there was no need to be diluted, if they chose to buy in - I bought shares at below 1p]



April 2009 - £750,000 raised at 1.25p to continue product development, expand infrastructure
During this placing, Dom took 12.8m shares at 1.25p for £160k, which kept his shareholding at a similar level to before (18.9%). Again, the fact he bought so many shares shows confidence, but shareholders were diluted and did not get the opportunity to buy shares at the same price, but could have bought at 1.4p on occasions
[it may be worth detractors noting that this was historically one of the toughest times we have ever seen for a listed microcap technology company to attract funding. Many start-ups with insufficient funding were going bust, but BGT did not]



Sept 2009 - £940,000 raised at 1.25p to market the SocialGO product
During this placing Dom took 32m shares at 1.25p for a total sum of £400k. This raised his stake to 25.5%, which, given his warrants, is realistically the most he could possibly take without being in a position where he would have to offer to buy the company (should he take his options up). Again, there has not been an opportunity for investors to buy at the placing price (yet), so this is dilutive. You can currently buy at 1.39p



Summary
In total £3.4m have been raised by the company for developing the SocialGO product

Dominic has purchased a total of 63.3m shares at an average price of 1.36p per share

Currently you can buy shares at 1.39p

So, any investor wishing to purchase more shares, can do so at just about the same average price that Dom has bought into the socialGO product - therefore there is no need for any investor (that has funds) to be diluted in comparison to Dom

Overall, after looking back at these placings again, I still don't know what all the fuss has been about. I do agree that the previous business was badly run and a big failure. For that reason alone, it stands to reason that people should have a healthy scepticism of the management's ability to make SocialGO a success. However, I don't see any real evidence that the Board have taken investors for a ride during the SocialGO era (as has been suggested might be the case, by some). It's not as if we have seen them restructure share capital to issue shares at a discount to the nominal value, which would be bad (but has been very very common during the recession). All we have seen is investment from management in the company at prices similar to those that we could also buy at.


A good investment?
It's obviously a risky investment at this stage, albeit with outstanding potential returns should SocialGO become a major player in the social networking sector.

The management have a proven track record of success (with Eidos) and of Failure (with asic/bubble/iDVDs)

Only time will tell...

[carl79] 27/7/2009 12:00

Yes TA - I would not look kindly on mass dilution at 1.something pence - not if they are in fact doing well enough to justify a better deal. We are not in the middle of a credit crunch any more and investors are starting to spend again - so the right company with eh right product and right team should, you would think, be able to get investment at good levels - especially if on of their competitors did so recently at a premium!!

Now that BGT have revenue coming in and a model that indicates more will come as the weeks and months pass, i'd expect their bargaining position is better than when the product was unproven...so a dilution at this level is a bit of a smack in the chops and I would take it as a sign that the new investors were lining their pockets...unless it is existing holders that get first refusal on discount shares...

[the analyst] 27/7/2009 11:53

My buys have just been a few £k this year too

Just been topping up on the shares I bought late last year whenever I get the spare cash...

[carl79] 27/7/2009 11:50

I've not bought that many! Just a few £k... :-)

I think that there are some with deeper pockets starting to take an interest though so it could get interesting over the next few months...

[the analyst] 27/7/2009 11:44

I agree Carl, the course of action needs to be in the following order:

1) results and update on current trading with KPIs,

2) a new broker note

3) a few weeks for the market to absorb and digest the new data

4) a call for cash at a much higher level than today (that is, if the share price rises in response to 1-3 above)


It's all too easy for a listed company to forget the importance of private shareholders

It's the private shareholders that really move the price and they have a lot of power these days - (blogging, bulletin boards, general PR) - just as PIs can build a company's PR, they can also destroy it, if treated with disrespect

More dilution at low levels would demoralise investors as well as key staff that work so hard for their holdings - I wonder if we might see them talking the company up at some stage? :)

[bobbyn23] 27/7/2009 10:40

There is clearly sometihng deevelopin...just hope TA and Carl its not us doing a 3 man band of buying!!

[carl79] 27/7/2009 09:21

Quite simply, this company has the potential to grow in line with Ning. Lots of pit falls along the way and not having Andreessen and his contacts will no doubt limit the amount of contact we have with the players that can really catapult a company into the £100M valuations over night...but in essence we:

are taking market share (premium, ie paying) from Ning if the stories are to believed of the mass exodus depicted in WL blogs

are growing the free subscription base by over 1500 per week

are proving we can deliver as this base grows week on week

are growing as they recruit in the middle of recession...

Unless something is very wrong, I fully expect a very positive statement when we next hear from the team. My only fear is that they call for cash at depressed levels and give investors the willies yet again. It is hard to ignore comments saying that all this business does is dilute investors while they pay out salaries because for the past few years, that is what they've done and only traders have done well - anyone holding is most likely sitting on a significant loss...Thus, I hope they "sell" their achievements before making a cash call rather than diluting at a discount to the current level...

TA, I too have been buying of late - just too many signs out there that they are doing well to ignore...I hope i'm right on this one as I broke a promise to myself by buying more AIM!! :-)

[the analyst] 26/7/2009 17:01

Have updated my thread that was under the header 'socialgo stats' to include some more research and given it a new title:



Basically, it's just a place where I am aggregating some of the data we are collecting here on this thread, so if anybody has any more suggestions to add to it, let me know and I'll add it

Cheers

[the analyst] 26/7/2009 16:56

Moved to new ticker SGO

[olly94] 26/7/2009 12:56

Hi, I notice that to have the im working in SocialGO you need to have a paying package. I would think this is a big incentive to convert from the free package

[the analyst] 26/7/2009 11:21

Labads released by WL, looks very nice and simple to use, but also very useful. Adding banners to some other systems (like a wordpress blog) can be a nightmare, but this makes is easy and rotates the images too, if you like:



"Evil Genius walks you through the installation and use of LabAds...the ultimate monetization tool for your network!

LabAds provides you with a built-in capability to host, manage, and track all of your ads and rotating banner images using Google Analytics.

Simple enough for a beginner to use immediately, yet powerful enough to be used for commercial purposes. LabAds allows one to create an unlimited number of image or banner campaigns and display them natively using priority ranking or random sort order.

Images are uploaded directly into your data storage on SocialGO using the simple interface (.jpg, .gif, .png), then one selects the images to use for a particular horizontal or vertical display, selects the ranking or random display order, the destination URL for clicks, and the campaign name for tracking. Easy!

All campaigns and click-tracking can be viewed, managed, and monetized using Google Analytics so that advertiser results can be monitored and shared at all times."

[the analyst] 25/7/2009 21:33

Wonder what sort of candidates are going to apply with only £18k p.a up for grabs?

£18k won't get you far in London these days, but it is a tough market for graduates right now, so maybe they'll have applicants fighting for the position?

One thing for sure, if BGT can get good staff for only £18k pa, then that has to be good for investors!

[77monty] 25/7/2009 21:24

They are recruiting which I hope is a positive sign. The general wording of the add made me laugh but the bit unpleasant customers was priceless.

Social Network Support Executive (Shoreditch)
Posted by jobs-team
Job Description The primary job role involves providing general and technical support to thousands of social network websites that have been created using the SocialGO.com social networking platform. Additionally the successful candidate will be encouraged to take on secondary responsibilities in an area of their interest such as software code development graphic design and or marketing so they can establish longer term career paths. Personal requirements We are looking for someone that has a strong background in computing in particular digital media internet software development and social networking to join a rapidly growing team at a leading online social networking platform called SocialGO.com. Ideally the candidate will have tertiary qualifications in computing and or new media. They should also have a strong personal interest in the internet and social networking. Key attributes include Being very familiar with social networking sites and the internet in general The ability to communicate clearly both written and in speech Being able to handle complaints even when handling unpleasant customers An eye for detail A fun friendly and sociable personality A good problem solver An abundance of common sense Company SocialGO.com Business Online social networking platform Contact careers socialgo.com Applications Send Cv and cover letter to careers socialgo.com Salary £18000 p.a. Closing date 1st August 09 Start A.S.A.P.Social Network Support Executive (Shoreditch)
Posted by jobs-team

[the analyst] 25/7/2009 21:18

Just going back to that latest ning valuation of $750m...

With 1.3m networks having been creating using ning, it values each network at $580

The last Hoodless broker note drew comparisons between ning and socialgo based on that $/network figure. They noted that socialgo would be worth 10p+ on such a metric. However, they also acknowledged that socialgo do not have the scale of ning (29,000 networks and only 250 paying at that time) and so decided they needed a more prudent valuation applied.

So, they applied a 4p target instead

Well, now socialgo have 70,000 networks. I wonder if that is now considered as 'having scale'?

Socialgo are now getting very close to the 80k that ning had when they were valued at $170m. In fact, it's likely they socialgo will have surpassed that 80k figure by the time September comes. In addition, if what we think is true, then socialgo may also have a far higher percentage of networks converting to premium than ning have. That could really put the cat amongst the pigeons

So, what will the brokers some up with? if they apply that $580/network figure for socialgo, they would get a market cap of $46m come September, which would equate to around £28m - around 14p per share.

The next broker note will make interesting reading...