On 12/19/2009 02:17 PM, Stephen A. Lawrence wrote:
And, BTW, those VCs, who are not stupid, are also not going to ignore it
if a wide array of respectable journals say Steorn ain't got nuttin'.
This, too, makes me wonder about that ad -- your strongly held belief
that the folks at Steorn are brilliant schemers is hard to square with
what I *see* in that ad.
It strikes me that there's another possible explanation for the Steorn
TV spot.
It may be that it was not intended to be seen by potential investors.
Forget weird conspiracy theories which might explain the apparently
strange choice of Al Jazeera; maybe the real reason for choosing an
outlet which few potential investors watch was exactly that few
potential investors watch it.
If that's the case, then the ad was supposed to do something other than
advertise -- and one possibility is that it's an additional bit of CYA
material. Advertising reports of their failure that way makes it
impossible for anyone to claim Steorn tried to hide their lack of a
working device from anyone. At the same time, putting the ad on an out
of the way network reduces or negates its impact on investor cash flow.
* * *
Alternatively, Al Jazeera's advert rates are cheaper than other outlets,
and Steorn is a bit pinched right now...
