Failure Analysis
MySee's death was a textbook case of being first to market but last in execution capital in a winner-take-all category. The company burned through...
MySee \China
MySee was a pioneering peer-to-peer video streaming platform launched in China in 2004, attempting to become the 'YouTube of China' before YouTube itself gained global dominance. Founded by Gao Ran with $2M from SAIF Partners and Steamboat Ventures (Disney's VC arm), MySee leveraged P2P technology to distribute video content efficiently in an era of expensive bandwidth and limited CDN infrastructure in China. The timing seemed perfect: China's internet population was exploding (from 94M in 2004 to 210M by 2007), broadband penetration was accelerating, and user-generated content was emerging as a paradigm shift. MySee's value proposition was threefold: (1) Enable users to upload and share video content in a bandwidth-constrained environment using P2P distribution, (2) Provide live streaming capabilities for events and TV content, and (3) Build a community around video consumption before mobile became dominant. The 'why now' was compelling: Flash video was maturing, P2P technology (post-Napster/BitTorrent) could solve China's bandwidth cost problem, and there was a clear first-mover opportunity in Chinese video sharing before Western platforms entered. However, MySee faced the brutal reality of being too early with insufficient capital in a market that required massive scale, regulatory navigation, and content acquisition costs that P2P technology alone couldn't solve.
Discover the reason behind the shutdown and the market before & today
Market Analysis
The online video market that MySee pioneered in China became one of the most valuable digital sectors globally, but with a completely different structure...
Startup Learnings
Capital intensity determines competitive moat in infrastructure businesses. MySee's P2P technology was clever engineering but didn't create a defensible advantage because bandwidth costs dropped...
Market Potential
The market MySee targeted has proven to be one of the largest digital markets globally. China's online video market reached $43B by 2023, with...
Difficulty
In 2004-2007, building a video platform required solving hard infrastructure problems: P2P protocol development, Flash video encoding pipelines, custom CDN logic, and massive server...
Scalability
Video platforms have excellent scalability potential once product-market fit is achieved: near-zero marginal cost per additional viewer (especially with modern CDNs), viral sharing mechanics,...
Rebuild & monetization strategy: Resurrect the company
Execution Plan
Phase 2
Step 2 - Cross-Platform Publishing (Validation, 8-12 weeks): Add integrations with Douyin and Kuaishou APIs (or web automation where APIs don't exist) to enable one-click publishing across platforms. Creators upload once to StreamForge, and we distribute to all platforms with optimized metadata for each. Add basic AI features: auto-generate platform-specific titles and descriptions, suggest optimal posting times based on historical data. Launch paid tier at $99/month for creators with 100K+ followers across platforms. Goal: 50 paying customers at $99/month ($5K MRR) within 12 weeks. Validation metric: 60% of free users with 100K+ followers convert to paid, and churn is under 10% monthly. This proves willingness to pay for time savings and reach optimization.
Phase 3
Step 3 - Creator Monetization Suite (Growth, 12-20 weeks): Build direct fan monetization tools that bypass platform fees: membership tiers (like Patreon), digital product sales (courses, templates, presets), and one-on-one consulting booking. Integrate Stripe for international payments and partner with a Chinese payment processor (Alipay or WeChat Pay) for domestic transactions. Take 10% transaction fee on top of SaaS subscription. Add AI-powered sponsorship matching: analyze creator content and audience demographics, then match with relevant brands from a curated marketplace. Launch affiliate program where existing creators refer others for 20% recurring commission. Goal: 200 paying customers, $30K MRR, with 30% of revenue from transaction fees. Validation metric: Creators earning $500+ monthly through StreamForge tools have under 5% churn.
Phase 4
Step 4 - AI Content Studio (Moat, 20-30 weeks): Build the most advanced AI content creation suite for video creators: script generation from trending topics, AI voice-over in multiple Chinese dialects, automated video editing suggestions, thumbnail A/B testing with AI-generated variations, and predictive analytics on video performance before publishing. Partner with Replicate or Runway for video generation capabilities. This becomes the moat: creators can't leave because StreamForge's AI tools are trained on their historical performance data and improve over time. Launch enterprise tier at $499-999/month for MCNs (multi-channel networks) managing 10+ creators. Goal: 500 total customers, $100K MRR, with 20% on enterprise tier. Validation metric: Net revenue retention over 120% (existing customers expanding usage), and creators attribute 30%+ revenue increase to StreamForge tools in surveys.
Monetization Strategy
Three-tier SaaS pricing based on creator scale: (1) Starter tier at $99/month for solo creators with 100K-500K followers across platforms, includes cross-platform publishing, basic analytics, and AI content suggestions (limited to 20 AI-generated scripts/month). (2) Professional tier at $299/month for creators with 500K-2M followers, adds advanced AI features (unlimited scripts, thumbnail generation, sponsorship matching), priority support, and custom branding on fan monetization pages. (3) Enterprise tier at $999/month for MCNs or creators with 2M+ followers, includes multi-user accounts, API access, white-label options, and dedicated account management. Additionally, take 10% transaction fee on all fan monetization processed through the platform (memberships, digital products, consulting), with first $1K/month in transactions fee-free to encourage adoption. Affiliate program pays 20% recurring commission to creators who refer others, creating viral growth loop. Revenue model is capital-efficient: 70%+ gross margins (pure SaaS), payback period under 6 months (low CAC through creator referrals and content marketing), and strong expansion revenue as creators grow their audiences and upgrade tiers. Target $1M ARR within 18 months with 300-400 paying customers, achievable with $200K seed funding (mostly for team salaries, minimal infrastructure costs). Exit strategy: acquisition by a Chinese tech giant (Bytedance, Bilibili, Tencent) looking to improve creator retention, or by a Western creator economy company (Patreon, Kajabi) seeking China exposure. The key difference from MySee: we're selling picks and shovels to creators in the video gold rush, not competing to be the mine itself.
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