Newgrounds.com — Everything, By Everyone.

Stay solo. Yes, money is nice and such and such, but I don't want this site changing for the worse, and in taking the money there's a large chance that could happen. It's called selling yourself out. So, though money is clearly going to win, I say stay solo. I would just hate this site to change anything beyond free.

Also on an unrelated side note, when is that Writer's Portal coming out!?

I don't know a hella lot about finance but I know that venture capital gives up sole ownership of your website. Unless you can control who the other owners are and have them be like minded individuals who understand the concept of Newgrounds, it's risky. USE YOUR BEST JUDGMENT.

I guess if you're looking to take venture capital and do dealings with bigger companies, I suggest contacting members of the Symphony of Specters, since they themselves do indeed deal with big companies.

At 4/13/12 04:27 PM, TehSlapHappy wrote: Didn't Tom from MySpace have this same decision to make?

Yeah, and as a result, it became a ghost town.

Also, I thought this thread would be about giving out free money to everyone. I'm a little disappointed Tom.

Venture Capital!

I fucking love this site with a passion. It's a haven for artists and holds the jewels of creativity for the internet. Newgrounds needs to be run by a bunch of 30-something-year-olds who make animations about dicks and prefer to promote creativity rather than money from repetitive blog videos ('sup YouTube).

I don't want it to change. Keep Newgrounds the way it is, but ultimately this is a choice for you, Tom.

I Would Say To Keep It The Same, Because Newgrounds Might Turn Into Something Else, If Newgrounds Became What It Is On Its Own, It Can Keep On Doing It.

Do choice 2
But you need to have marketing plan before doing so.

At 4/13/12 04:43 PM, FrozenFire wrote: Newgrounds is that place that everyone has heard of, but everyone is afraid to go because they think it's just a site for hentai.

That's the image you should try to push away... could help your case. :P

Couldn't agree more.

If you sell out this site is just going to become a cesspool of unwanted shit and you will lose a whole community of artists, musicians, and programmers.

good job tom

don't sell out, the big companies have enough money and power

I love NG, but let's face it: money makes the world go round!

Take the cash, do your best - I'm rather sure it will work out fine. I'll stay, no matter what will happen. semper fi.

I choose the 1st option, Mr. Fulp. Stay where you are unless you want to lose your reputations and properties such as this site. Also I do not mention bankruptcy here yet.

Money isn't plain papers, my friends.

At 4/13/12 04:18 PM, Eltro2kneo wrote: The bigger you are, the harder you'll fall. Nobody wants to fall.

You are right. Venture capital financing is like a set of 2 blade knives. You may grow to super richness or you may fall to bankruptcy. There are more businesses sink into failure than just a few rise up to success while playing the VC game.

I am setting the metaphor of failure as the bigger blade which it points at the player's stomach.

Starters such as small business and online services can be trap into the fantasy circle of dreams of making quick money. It is extremely dangerous. in business the range from 60/40 to 70/30 is common for play-by-rules venture capitalists. Many fails when tried to reach over 70/30 and even up to 90/10. Why is that? There is no free lunch on this world. You must spend most and if not all your power and resources into managing the property flows and venturing. The more props you get the more risks you take in the present and future.

Once you are in the VC game then you are strongly dependent on shared market or industry. If one group goes to failujre then the other bigger one might affect by it greatly. Venture capital is an utopian financing only for stable market and therefore you need a stable economy.

Look at world economy today; does it stable enough for starters to stick their noses in the big guns' game?

Please choose your first step wisely if you are making serious choice, Mr. Thomas C. Fulp.

- NorskeDrittsekk

At 4/13/12 04:48 PM, pouar wrote: don't sell out, the big companies have enough money and power

Exactly.

plus I like the site because of the community and not depending on some big company whose only goal is make as much $$$ as they possibly can while screwing everyone else.

I say keep NG going as is, change that will screw you over sucks :/

While I'm all for anything that helps out Newgrounds in the long haul, I can't help but be worried about Newgrounds losing it's identity. Large companies care about two things Money and making more Money. Nothing makes more money then mass appeal and I'd hate to see Newgrounds have to be censored. So far this is the only site that allows you to do whatever you want in terms of the content you can upload (so long as it's legal to do so and within Newgrounds "general rules") and not be a porn site. I can't make the choice for you about what to do, I just hope that Newgrounds can still have this level of freedom no matter what.

I say take the money because it's your website and not mine and if Newgrounds ever has to be censored then I'll just have to make my own site.

It would be a shame if I had to though, Newgrounds is such an awesome website.

What do you actually think the site would gain by going the VC route?

Clearly you would be able to sponsor more games and animation because you'd have the extra funds, but other than that, how do you think the site would improve? Through watching the site develop since 2006, I can tell how this site isn't really about making you or your employees money. You're just thrilled that you can make a living doing this. It seems that in order to make this site hugely profitable, you would be required to change some of the very foundations of the site.

If you can think of changes that you can make with the additional money that will improve the experiences of both site users and flash devs, then maybe VC would be worth it. But unless you have a specific vision in mind other than being able to sponsor more artists, there is no reason to sell out to VC.

Basically, the heart and soul of NG relies on its being autonomous. It is the fact that the site has everything and supports everyone from dudes doing stupid Sonic spoofs to people like Shadman who earn their reputation doing gruesome art. VC isn't going to like the fact that people like Shadman exist and are celebrated on this site, and that's a bad deal for NG. Part of the reason the site is so successful in the first place is because it filters very little content. And while it is true that no one really needs people like Shad, they are what keeps this site so different from most others.

If you lose your autonomy and become just another flash portal that sponsors a bunch of flash artists, I don't see how NG would be any different than Armour Games or Kongregate. That wouldn't be a bad thing necessarily, I like those sites, but there is something special about the heart of NG that keeps it much more interesting. I'm against selling out to VC. However, if you have a real plan on how the site can accept this money and turn the site into something way better than what it is now, I might be persuaded.

Also, this shouldn't be a popular vote thing. Honestly, most of the kids here don't seem to understand how much would be at stake going for VC. They just see dollars going to their favorite website and think that has to be positive.