If there's nothing to justify this valuation, then it sounds like another product getting hyped by VCs and built to drive for an IPO or nothing, for what seems to be an exclusive private party for the tech elite, celebs, VCs, VIPs etc but not for us plebeians.
You are welcome to change my mind. Discuss.
If you go on clubhouse right now, there is a room where you can hear 1) Some of the VCs that in the potential deal 2) Some of the angels that already invested 3) the reporter that broke the story talking about this news and your exact question.
And on top of that, they're bringing random people up on the stage to give their opinion on the matter.
What other app allows for this kind of discourse to happen at the current time?
(Now regarding the actualy valuation formual/number, thats a different discussion. Valuations are high rn anyways so a 1B for a social app is frankly not surprising. Remember that companies can create new products/pivot, but not create smarter founders or this amount of organic hype)
I finally got an invite and observed the whole app and there is nothing that justifies its valuation other than having celebrity, VC and angel investor endorsement which of whom, have been professionally hyping up the app.
For example, this nonsense I keep seeing: https://mobile.twitter.com/jasonfried/status/135741388036900...
If they bothered to read the T&Cs, you will know that these rooms can also be recorded by others and by Clubhouse themselves for 'law enforcement'. Not so ephemeral.
> What other app allows for this kind of discourse to happen at the current time?
Zello. 150 Million users and has been around for 10 years and has the same concept. There isn't anything new about Clubhouse here other than its interface and its invite system. Once Twitter Spaces launches, then Clubhouse would really need to make money, remove the invite system sooner to open up the platform to more users and have an Android app for its missing Android users.
I am still not convinced that it is worthy of being valued at $1B when its competitors are everywhere.