How Have fbFund Winners Performed Over The Past Year?
The fbFund is Facebook’s investment program that provides entrepreneurs with the opportunity to receive funding for their Facebook application ideas on and off Facebook. This afternoon Dave McClure pointed out an article posted by the ChubbyBrain team which analyzes the performance of fbFund applications from the first and second fbFund classes.
The analysis isn’t complete though as there are a few applications not displayed. Also of interest is that one of the applications, Wedding book, was eventually acquired by the Knot, after winning the $250,000 round of funding. Of 29 applications that were in the fbFund only 7 of the applications have over 30,000 monthly active users.
One thing that’s obvious is that winning the fbFund does not guarantee that you’ll end up with a successful application. So far there haven’t been many breakthrough applications but then again it’s not easy to say what breakthrough is. The fbFund is changing their strategy this time around though with the help of Dave McClure and the Founder’s Fund and is now turning the program into more of an incubator rather than just handing out cash.
The new model is probably better because many of the applications don’t appear to be performing that well so far. Facebook has now taken the focus away from Facebook applications and is focusing on those applications that leverage Facebook Connect. In other words, any company can submit their idea as long as there is some social component. This expanded focus means that we may see numerous new applications submitted to the program that have a broader focus.
It also means that Founder’s Fund can take advantage of Facebook’s brand recognition to attract new entrepreneurs making this a win/win situation. Thousands of entrepreneurs apply to each fbFund but only a few make it. If you are interested in this year’s fbFund check out the fbFund page at Facebook. I’ve also included a copy of the chart that was posted on ChubbyBrain below.
