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BitTorrent: Most disruptive technology that has been squandered!

August 7, 2008

Back in 2005 I wrote a post titled, “BitTorrent = Disruptive Technology” where I reported that Dixon Doll lead an $8.75MM investment in BitTorrent.  I suggested, “This investment is a SURE THING!”  Of course there is never a sure thing. P2P (and others) is reporting that BitTorrent is laying off 12 of 55 employees (most in the sales department).

Om Malik called the company, ‘the Cisco of the digital content revolution’, but little did he know that BitTorrent would forgo their infrastructure/technology roots and go for retail by attempting to build an online media store called the Torrent Entertainment Network.  These guys have THE most distruptive technology solution (i.e. distributing content by having everyone share the burden, versus putting the data in a centralized place we all try to access at the same time), but they are NOT retail gurus like Apple (iTunes) or Amazon.  Maybe these layoffs are a good sign, a chance for the company to return to its core function - changing the way digital content is stored and delivered.

Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog, Startups 

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