Yehey! Chief comments about IPO

Yehey! Chief Donald Lim left a comment on my blog about my earlier entry on their supposed plans to go IPO this year.

Actually, we are going IPO for many reasons: from gaining more cash for other investments, to becoming a global online media behemoth.

Yehey has undergone a transformation since last year, starting with its facelift and relaunch, and the introduction of Kaban (www.kaban.com.ph) which replaced Payplus, to becoming a formidable marketing tool for business.

For our users, we have introduced a rewards system called bretas. The more you search or navigate yehey, the more points you earn, and you can redeem it later for goodies.

I guess PinoyMoneyTalk is right in the sense that we have become too hybrid. What is our positioning anyway? For now, we are happy being home for Pinoys in and out of the Philippines. We deliver aggragated content, have a good message boards and chatroom activities, new channels and sections, and definitely, more interactive features. But we will see how it goes.

If you have ideas, please let us know. Thanks.

First, I have to give it to Yehey! for the bold move. Going public could make or break your company so it’s a huge risk to take. Second, I didn’t knew about this Kaban thing that’s replacing the half-decade old PayPlus so I’m surprised about the switch.

Lastly, and this one’s interesting, is the bretas system — looks like an attractive scheme to make the site sticky. But it also begs the question — are your eyeballs there because of the unique and useful value you’re offering or because of the rewards? How to monetize this traffic will be as challenging as Friendster trying to monetize its 5 million Filipino users. I can now imagine people gaming the system — from repeated manual punching of the F5 key to an automated 5-second page-reload browser extension.

From Donald’s comment, it would seem that Yehey will try to become an everything-for-everyone site.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

8 Comments

marketingmanila says:

17 years ago

I bet most of their traffic are generated by their partner websites
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alistair says:

17 years ago

Even more interesting is another Yehey! founder also chanced upon this post while (shamefully) egoogling.

Anyway – yeah, fun times. Haven’t been at the new office for years – and can’t remember the last time I even visited the site.

Kaban.com.ph? Never heard of it ’till now. I guess perhaps it’s cause that site isn’t targeted to Filipinos – the prominent, front page photo is even that of a Caucasian!

So where _is_ Yehey! headed for, really?

@Dave: “Web 2.0” is about as nebulous as Yehey’s direction, from where I’m standing.
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Dave Q says:

18 years ago

What’s more interesting is one of the Yehey! founder “stumbled upon” this post :)

Yes, Migs. Smells like 1999. I’m nudging Donald Lim to do something Web 2.0.

Oh by the way, Alistair & I are scrounging for VC money. Any takers?

Thanks, Abe. Cheers!
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TheAgency says:

18 years ago

a local Yahoo! hehe can’t get more original than that. peace!
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Minic says:

18 years ago

Should be interesting to see how they would prove that becoming a global behemoth.
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Miguel says:

18 years ago

feels like 1999 again.
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Mr GPS says:

18 years ago

Interesting comments for a CEO to make in a public forum before trying to float an IPO.

We’re going public to get more money and become a global behemoth. In the same statement he mentions one of their major properties and admits they don’t even know where they are positioned or should be positioned.

It’s as if this guy thinks going public is sort of like hooking your hose to a water faucet and turning on the tap, then figuring out where to spray it. Most people offering up IPO capital expect to see more of a plan and feel that the CEO has more situational awareness of his company.

Shall be interesting to watch.
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