In a down market, KillerStartups still trying to grow

Cyndy Aleo-Carreira — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:46:18 -0700

Most of the news hitting tech news sites recently involves layoffs, downsizing, and companies shutting down. KillerStartups, however, released news yesterday that appears opposite of industry trends. The site, launched in 2007, is known for its reviews of Internet startup companies, and has acquired the Startups.com domain name for a price reported to be in the mid six-figures, according to the press release.

The new domain name news comes with the announcement of the launch of a new company that will include the KillerStartups blog: Startups.com Network, which the release claims will offer "services and content for entrepreneurs and business executives." At launch, however, the site has nothing more than a basic splash page with graphic links to KillerStartups and the basic splash page for Startups.com.

While salmon are successful at swimming upstream, the Startups.com Network launch is coming at a curious time. IPOs for start-ups are at an all-time low, and the Web 2.0 sector has seen pushback over revenue models and cutbacks. A widely reported memo from Sequoia Capital seemed to be a or portent of doom for many Internet start-ups. The press announcement of the domain name acquisition without the content and services in place seems to be an attempt to gain some buzz for the new company, but heading into the current economic climate, Startups.com Network seems to be heading the wrong way.