Comments on: Prosper.com and peer-to-peer lending in the economic downturn http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/ Essays on viral marketing, freemium, and social gaming Sun, 07 Mar 2010 15:07:14 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: manhigut http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-2289 manhigut Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:58:21 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-2289 is this still related to current situation? is this still related to current situation?

]]> By: manhigut http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-1500 manhigut Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:58:21 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-1500 is this still related to current situation? is this still related to current situation?

]]> By: UltraRasberry http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-998 UltraRasberry Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:46:05 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-998 <a href="http://Prosper.com">Prosper.com</a> is a very interesting study in light of our current economic crisis'. I was actually on the inside there, and I found the User Experience of <a href="http://Prosper.com">Prosper.com</a> to be deeply flawed. If you are lending money you make the best returns on your investment by lending to people with a lower credit score. You make more money in interest by lending to somebody with a "C" credit score than somebody with an "A". Even more still lending to a "D" or and "E". If you're a borrower you get to go through the rather humiliating process of publicly begging a bunch of strangers for a loan. I was there a year ago, so I'm not sure if they still have the auction mechanism in the site. That whole mechanism just created a barrier-to-entry for users which is unnecessary in the whole context of what they were trying to do. I feel like the whole concept of <a href="http://Prosper.com">Prosper.com</a> is good but their implementation of it from a UXD standpoint is bad. Bad enough to create user loss. Andrew, I kinda wish you could tie together your traffic analysis to the actual User Experience. Perhaps in a follow-up post? <br><br>What am I doing with my start-up in this down economy? I'm in stealth mode right now but I'm creating a business and and audience around something very new but very OLD-school, non tech. Using the web as a platform to promote a practice which goes on every day, right under everyone's noses. Prosper.com is a very interesting study in light of our current economic crisis'. I was actually on the inside there, and I found the User Experience of Prosper.com to be deeply flawed. If you are lending money you make the best returns on your investment by lending to people with a lower credit score. You make more money in interest by lending to somebody with a “C” credit score than somebody with an “A”. Even more still lending to a “D” or and “E”. If you're a borrower you get to go through the rather humiliating process of publicly begging a bunch of strangers for a loan. I was there a year ago, so I'm not sure if they still have the auction mechanism in the site. That whole mechanism just created a barrier-to-entry for users which is unnecessary in the whole context of what they were trying to do. I feel like the whole concept of Prosper.com is good but their implementation of it from a UXD standpoint is bad. Bad enough to create user loss. Andrew, I kinda wish you could tie together your traffic analysis to the actual User Experience. Perhaps in a follow-up post?

What am I doing with my start-up in this down economy? I'm in stealth mode right now but I'm creating a business and and audience around something very new but very OLD-school, non tech. Using the web as a platform to promote a practice which goes on every day, right under everyone's noses.

]]> By: Andrew Chen http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-934 Andrew Chen Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:54:08 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-934 Yep, great points. I had considered that it was just an intra-month thing, but give the fact that previous months seem to be affected also, it strikes me that the macro-economic situation is affecting Prosper. We'll see how this all shakes out though. Yep, great points. I had considered that it was just an intra-month thing, but give the fact that previous months seem to be affected also, it strikes me that the macro-economic situation is affecting Prosper. We'll see how this all shakes out though.

]]> By: Andrew Chen http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-933 Andrew Chen Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:53:53 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-933 Yep, great points. I had considered that it was just an intra-month thing, but give the fact that previous months seem to be affected also, it strikes me that the macro-economic situation is affecting Prosper. We'll see how this all shakes out though. Yep, great points. I had considered that it was just an intra-month thing, but give the fact that previous months seem to be affected also, it strikes me that the macro-economic situation is affecting Prosper. We'll see how this all shakes out though.

]]> By: Humphrey Bogus http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-932 Humphrey Bogus Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:50:42 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-932 If you look closely at the lending stats page (all the way at the bottom right), it notes that the data is as of 8/19/2008. Which means August is a stub, not a full month. While this wouldn't affect the drop in membership growth over the past few months, it does explain the others.<br><br>As opposed to membership, a better indicator of actual transaction activity on the site over time would be here: <a href="http://www.lendingstats.com/loansFunded">http://www.lendingstats.com/loansFunded</a>. While this doesn't indicate fast growth, it doesn't show the site falling off a cliff either (especially when taking into account 20 days in August, a traditionally slow month). If you look closely at the lending stats page (all the way at the bottom right), it notes that the data is as of 8/19/2008. Which means August is a stub, not a full month. While this wouldn't affect the drop in membership growth over the past few months, it does explain the others.

As opposed to membership, a better indicator of actual transaction activity on the site over time would be here: http://www.lendingstats.com/loansFunded. While this doesn't indicate fast growth, it doesn't show the site falling off a cliff either (especially when taking into account 20 days in August, a traditionally slow month).

]]> By: via fCh http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-931 via fCh Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:31:01 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-931 Hmm, the undoing of capitalism; Welcome to Adam Smith's free market! Hmm, the undoing of capitalism; Welcome to Adam Smith's free market!

]]> By: Andrew Chen http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-925 Andrew Chen Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:10:46 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-925 ah, good point. I think it just depends on where you are in the credit market? The fed rates are lower, but you're right that the banks are more stingy with their loans. Wonder if one cancels out the other. ah, good point. I think it just depends on where you are in the credit market? The fed rates are lower, but you're right that the banks are more stingy with their loans. Wonder if one cancels out the other.

]]> By: Marketing Productivity Blog » Blog Archive » Repeating the Past http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-916 Marketing Productivity Blog » Blog Archive » Repeating the Past Tue, 02 Sep 2008 15:20:29 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-916 [...] What you really want to know is how many accounts are active (say, any activity past 3 months), and whether the percent active is rising or falling.  This one simple metric is a fabulous predictor of the health of an online business - from the very earliest days of interactivity right up until now (example). [...] [...] What you really want to know is how many accounts are active (say, any activity past 3 months), and whether the percent active is rising or falling.  This one simple metric is a fabulous predictor of the health of an online business – from the very earliest days of interactivity right up until now (example). [...]

]]> By: Gopi http://andrewchenblog.com/2008/09/02/prospercom-and-peer-to-peer-lending-in-the-economic-downturn/comment-page-1/#comment-920 Gopi Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:38:58 +0000 http://andrewchenblog.com/?p=511#comment-920 >> Borrowers now have cheaper sources of credit <br><br>I think the fact is the opposite - the subprime saga tightened the creteria for lending ...But i am not sure why borrowers are not flocking to the site. >> Borrowers now have cheaper sources of credit

I think the fact is the opposite – the subprime saga tightened the creteria for lending …But i am not sure why borrowers are not flocking to the site.

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