Pinterest, Houzz, and build.com are all really interesting points on the same spectrum. Pinterest currently doesn't do a great job of monetizing it's various communities, but is the leader in terms of customer volume and is getting better at delivering advertising value to both its customers and advertisers. build.com started on the opposite side by creating the relationships with all the direct suppliers/middlemen, and then giving people a chance to create deal directly with them. Houzz is a great combination of both. I would call it a specific vertical unbundling of Pinterest with the supplier relationships of build.com.

It will be interesting to see Pinterest build these direct relationships with sellers rather than build their own affiliate or else advertising platform. The big open for me, but probably not investors valuing them at 10B+ is will they be able to capture all that purchase intent themselves, or will they ossify like craigslist unable to deliver on any of their vertical specific values while slowing being cut up by competitors like the Knot, Houzz, and others. From what I read in their press releases and articles about the company, the Pinterest team seems miles ahead of craigslist at the same point in their development.

The interesting dynamic here for me is what happens as purchase intent advertising shifts from Google and web-search to Pinterest and others. Seems obvious that pictures are more accessible and valuable than text but I'm sure there is an army of statisticians at Google who can argue otherwise with me.

Also, it's really validating to see Houzz raise so much money at such a good valuation. The team there has been working hard in the shadow of the bigger companies and has created a real competitor in their vertical. They are here to stay.