23 Musings

News out today that the founders of online travel site Lastminute.com are launching a new site. Mydeco.com aims to be the online hub for the budding decorators and diy'ers out there who currently don't have a home on the web to call their own.

Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane Fox are coming together to launch this new venture, it's the first thing they've worked on together since Lastminute. The site aims to be a one stop shop for people looking to improve their home, and as well as advice and tips it will sell items such as furniture.

Word is that £5m in seed capital has been raised which should see this venture take off!

I reckon it's a winner. If you get the social aspects of a niche site such as this right and do the right deals with third party suppliers then you will be on to a winner. Traffic shouldn't be a problem as relevant terms drive huge volume from SEO and the £5m will go a long way towards getting them an audience.

I say back to 1997 as a friend and I ran niche portals such as this (based around forums) for fun back in those days. Maybe it's time to dust off carmechanic.com...