Maven conference call to investors. A lot of good info.

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   RonElFranposted 5 months ago

   This conference call addresses the synergy between Maven and Hubpages. Focus is on how the 35 million unique visitors HP contributes brings the scale needed to maximize ad revenue.
   
   The integration between the Maven and HP technical teams seems to already be well under way. Apparently there's going to be a big element of video in the new combined platform.
   
   Interestingly, Paul Edmondson is listed as "former HubPages CEO and new Maven Chief Growth Officer," and much is made of how Maven has already helped HP increase monetization.
   
   https://www.themaven.net/the-maven/inve … NyX0sL8jCQ

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      jackclee lmposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      In addition, recent collaboration with po.et, a block chain company will also help with security and ownership and copyright...

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   psycheskinnerposted 5 months ago

   Hmm.  I wish my broker offered MVEN, I might invest.....

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   Sue Adamsposted 5 months ago

   Interesting, although the very positive conversation is primarily a sales pitch full of promises to attract advertisers and investors.
   
   A few points I could make out from the business jargon:
   
   HubPages will join as a separate entity, keeping its current payment structure to authors. They call it "commission based".
   
   HubPages is apparently bringing 6000 authors to the Maven platform and increasing their currently 5 million unique visitors to 40 million.
   
   Any future payments from Maven to HubPages will come as shares in the company?
   
   The money Paul gets from Maven is to pay off his own original investors. Does that mean HP is in debt?
   
   Please Ron, correct me if I misunderstood some of it.

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      RonElFranposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      Sue, the way I understand it is that the only cash Maven put out was to pay off HubPages' debt to its investors. Otherwise, HP is being acquired for stock which won't vest for a year. That gives the HP management and technical teams incentive to stick around and work hard to make Maven/HP successful rather than immediately jumping ship. The stock goes to HP management and (I think) employees, but not to writers, who will continue to be paid on "commission" (as we are now).
      
      Heckman seems to be saying that HP has positive operating cash flow (it's profitable), though it did have debt to its original investors. He emphasizes that HP is standing on its own financially.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 months agoin reply to this

         I believe the full stock options don't "vest" for three years, not just one.  This was stated somewhere when all of this first started, but cannot remember if it was on the forums or in a magazine article or both.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      "Focus is on how the 35 million unique visitors HP contributes brings the scale needed to maximize ad revenue."
      
      That's what worries me about the Maven takeover.    It sounds as though the Maven network wasn't growing as fast as he hoped, so James Heckman looked around for something to give an immediate boost to the numbers for a fast fix.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Remember that Maven is a very new company.  There hasn't been a lot of time yet  for "growth".

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   Rochelle Frankposted 5 months ago

   Yes, change is always a little scary, and big change is even scarier, but we have to trudge forward and see what will be.

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   Bradley Robbinsposted 5 months ago

   Some great info in there. Even if growth seemed slow at the start for Maven, the combination of the two might see quite an uptick, which is probably what they're after. Interesting times.

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   HoneyBBposted 5 months ago

   I'm pretty sure, we the writer's are considered "publishers" when it comes to publishing our articles on Hubpages or Maven. We are also considered "content creators". So, I believe they have us covered in this.

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      Beth Eaglescliffeposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      @HoneyBB
      No, we are not publishers. We (the writers) are content creators. A few of us (very, very few) may be invited by Maven to create their own channel and become a Maven publisher.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 5 months ago

   Here's what I got.
   
   1. Longwinded recording that could have been over in 3 words or less.
   
   2. They attended the second biggest advertising market convention in order to get new advertising clients, and they were able to offer an excellent platform to advertisers because a) social networks have a lot of scams so advertisers were not getting good value for money b) Hubpages writers were world class and no writer was accepted on board without extensive interviewing, etc. They were all handpicked and there were 6000 of them. So advertisers have brilliant copy on which to post their adverts.
   
   3. None of hubpage writers were paid as they write on commission, and therefore there is no cost to the company. They get 'free' writers.
   
   4. Maven did not outlay any cash for Hubpages plus gave it goals that needed to be reached. So, hubpage staff did not jump ship and leave Maven without the expertise that hp has developed and Maven is not weaker financiallly.
   
   5. Forgotten another point. Will come back and insert it when I remember what it was!

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      makingamarkposted 5 months agoin reply to this

      [Thumbs up sign!]
      
      The other point they forgot to mention is that they don't own any of the content creators / copyright owners, any of whom can walk - with their content and their audience/traffic they generate - any time they like. 
      
      There again it's not customary to highlight the downsides to your business model to your investors or future income generators.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 5 months agoin reply to this

         +1   +1 

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 5 months agoin reply to this

         Sounds like Maven got a pretty good deal for themselves and Paul got relieved of debt, a lot of work and worry and a also got a new job.
         
         However, I thought the deal was not supposed to close for 90 days.  It hasn't been that long yet.
         
         Also, if monetization has already started, where's the money?  All I'm hearing from other writers is that CPMs are lower than ever even though page views are up.  Something is "off" here.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 5 months agoin reply to this

            My CPMs have been substantially up - between 200% and 600% ever since Paul announced that they were trying a new formula. That's been since December, I think.
            
            My traffic is way down since December, but that's normal for January.
            
            The only reason I'm hanging in there is because my CPMs are so good.

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            wildernessposted 5 months agoin reply to this

            I certainly don't see CPM's "lower than ever".  They dropped after the Xmas season, compared to the last quarter of '17, but remained well above January of last year, and are beginning to climb once more.

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