Underpants gnomes
The second season of South Park contained a hilarious take on startup business models. I reference the clip all the time but some people have no idea what I am talking about. So here is a clip of the underpants gnomes.
Collect underpants
?
Profit
Many startups are currently in phase 1: the collect underpants mode. The companies have a business plan but to most users it seems like a big question mark.
I classify Technorati as still in phase 1 — collect posts and links — with phase 2 gradually coming into public view.