Quote Originally Posted by gnat23 View Post
Wow, interesting assumptions, but I fear you're putting too much drama into it.

Before they put out their first issue, they tried desperately to get ad sales. Most of the companies said "No, you'll never last." And then they couldn't last because they couldn't get ads, kind of a catch-22.

They dumped a bunch of their own money into it and moved back in with parents to get the first issue out. Not sure what happened after that.

But it wasn't because they didn't love cycling. I know both folks involved, and they tried *because* they loved cycling. I was bummed it didn't get the foothold it needed and make them both fabulously successful.

-- gnat!
So I got it partially right. It was ill concieved and thought out. I could of told them it won't fly for a few years until it stands on its own legs. Then investors or companies would get onboard gradually. For starters, they should of figured to have a lot more cash behind this project to take it at least through two years. Personally I wouldn't start a project with only enough cash to back it for one year. However, they could of dropped the Mag and still kept the website going, and maybe just turned it into an online mag like most sites are. I talked to a lot of people in women's cycling, people who work for major teams and they said a women's cycling mag would never fly unless you want to do it as a charity mag without proper returns. The numbers bear this out. The niche is very small indeed, but a fun one for those who can survive on their own. As for being sucessful, I never thought about it that way. I don't think you need to be successful if you enjoy doing this kind of work, but I would rather the sport move forward and being successful and not me. I never really thought I counted much personally, but as long as the sport gets attention, I guess I count that as success.