Morgan mocks Trade Me rival
Plus: is Wheedle behind the mysterious Money is Good/Money is Bad campaign
Hot Topic
Hawke’s Bay
As two rivals line up for launch, Trade Me management has made polite noises about respecting any opposition.
Not so founder and director Sam Morgan.
One of the budding rivals, Wheedle, is backed by Mainfreight founder and Rich Lister Neil Graham, who as an estimated worth of $65 million.
Morgan tweeted a quote from Graham:
"We are not doing anything by halves. Our infrastructure is huge to run this."
... and accompanied it with a screenshot of Wheedle (which went live, or at least tried to, with a promo/registration page yesterday):
"Being rich clearly does not give you skills transferable to areas outside your domain of competence," quipped Morgan.
This morning, Morgan was in a more conciliatory mood, but still not predicting success. "Regretting my blunt comments about new Trade Me competitors. Brave souls - Can't think of a harder space for a start-up to crack!," he tweeted.
NBR also had trouble accessing Wheedle at times yesterday, and this morning around breakfast time it was down again. It's tricky stuff, this web serving lark:
(See a screen shot of its actual home page in NBR's initial story here)
Meanwhile, a Wheedle Twitter account has launched.
It immediately tweeted #MoneyIsGood and #MoneyIsBad - suggesting Wheedle is behind the mysterious Money is Good/Money is Bad teaser campaign that has included posters and billboards around town and a hoax $10,000 giveaway.
If it is, expect more lorks from Morgan [UPDATE: Disappointingly, it looks like @Wheedle_NZ is fake account, and @WheedleNZ the real one. The real account makes no mention of Money is Bad. Meanwhile, the Twitter handle @Wheedle - perchance registered by a rival - lies dormant.]
© All content copyright NBR. Do not reproduce in any form without permission, even if you have a paid subscription.
Morgan mocks Trade Me rival
24156