Blab
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Blab was a group live-streaming video app from Monkey Inferno, the incubator of Bebo founders Michael and Xochi Birch. Up to four people could hold a live video conversation in virtual seats while viewers watched and chatted. It reached 3.9 million users within a year of launch.
02 / Blab FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
CEO Shaan Puri blamed churn: although Blab reached 3.9 million users, only 10% returned daily, and archived streams drew almost no viewership. Puri concluded the format would never be an everyday product for millions, noting that most live streams simply were not good enough to sustain attention. A split also emerged between users broadcasting to audiences and those using Blab to hang out with friends. In August 2016 the team shut the service down to rebuild around the hangout use case.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Product launch
Blab launches its group live-streaming app: up to four simultaneous video seats with a text-chat audience.
- Closure announced
CEO Shaan Puri announces Blab is shutting down, citing churn: only 10% of 3.9 million users returned daily.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Group live video: 4 seats plus chat audience
- 02
3.9M users in a year; only 10% daily
- 03
Streams not good enough; broadcast vs hangout split
- 04
Aug 2016: shutdown; team rebuilds as hangout app