Fleck Launch: a financial overview
In the Dutch press there were some comments on the ‘enormous‘ (update: the journalist meant it in a good way and I didn’t notice his sarcasm 
) amount of money we would have spend on the launch of Fleck. Some journalist thought we organized a party in a fancy club and paid all expenses for the attendees As we are a privately funded startup we try to keep the cost as low as possible (of course).
I’ve made a list with the total costs of the fleck launch trip in New York, so you can judge for yourself:
4 white suits (from the cheapest online shop in The Netherlands) € 201,46 (including shipping)
Suit customization € 81,35
Permanent markers € 12,-
4 white ties € 18,72
4 roundtrip tickets Amsterdam-New York (economy class Delta) € 1632,65
2 rooms, 4 nights at Stanford hotel € 1560,-
Hotel Wifi (4 accounts 3 days) € 78,- (Paid out of our own pockets).
Taxi costs € 238,-
Drinks, food (Burger King, American Burger, Cafe Muse, Soho Grand, Shime, 2nd 156 and A ave, Pastis, Starbucks, Gansefoort Hotel -oh no, the bachelorette party ladies from New Jersey paid that one-, Marriot Times Square -broadway lounge-, and the Lotus -thanks Thor!-) € 380,-
Hiring a PR firm (Well you could say that Heineken did our PR… so, about 200 dollars)
Sponsoring TechCrunch 8 Meetup (Next time Michael, we were short on budget)
The trip was € 4124,18 altogether. Is that outrageous for the launch of your company?
Norman said,
November 21, 2006 @ 12:56 pm
Well that was a rather cheap launch party for your company. The production costs of fleck will probably be higher.
Good luck on launching an enhancement for using the web, it looks promissing.
Btw I have stopped believing everything I read in the press. There are to often signals of journalists that are driven by ambition instead of truth.
But it is good to know that you are willing to be open about what others say about you.
Stuart Jones said,
November 21, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
If anyone wants to see money wasted visit the UK! This will give you a flavour
http://3ca.blogs.com/my_weblog/2006/11/more_wasted_mon.html
BTW Great product
boris said,
November 21, 2006 @ 10:51 pm
We should have slept in Central Park and rowed there…
Edo van Santen said,
November 22, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
Je hebt gewoon “value for money”, de marketing opbrengst is een veelvoud van je uitgaven aan die trip. Kortom, laat de boekhouders maar zeuren….