Today’s Oprah show will travel around the world using Skype’s video telecommunications technology. It’s a perfect opportunity to talk about why this is the best time to sell Skype. It’s no secret that eBay wants to sell Skype, and their partnership with Oprah provides all the fuel for the right kind of sales strategy for a startup like Skype.

Skype is in the Gestation Phase

Skype is almost certainly in the Gestation phase of its new media life cycle. The end of this phase is characterized by a ‘celebrity hit,’ meaning that someone figures out how to demonstrate the power of the new platform (in this case it happens to be Oprah), and just around the corner we’ll see massive media attention and a tremendous explosion in growth.

So, Skype is perfectly positioned to capitalize on the enthusiasm and energy that a celebrity hit like Oprah can provide to the platform for explosive growth. As you can see in the chart above, Skype has evolved nicely over the last two years. What they must do is sell the platform before it descends into the trough of disillusionment (per Gartner’s Hype Cylce).

Below, I’ve juxtaposed Gartner’s Hype Cycle (solid, red) with the New Media Life Cycle (with circles, gray):

Gartner's Hype Cycle and Tippingpoint Labs' New Media Life Cycle

As you can see, at the end of the Gestation phase (shown in gray) the platform is about to head into the Trough of Disillusionment (shown in red). At the top of the Escalation phase, the platform will be stuck in the trough, and it won’t be a long time until it pulls out into the plateau of productivity.

3 Reasons To Sell Today

So, why should eBay sell Skype as soon as they can?

1. Right now, by definition of its phase, Skype has unlimited potential (at the height of inflated expectations). This means that the valuation can be huge. Big Potential = Big Dollars.
2. The mass media is jumping on the bandwagon already. As this escalates and wider platform adoption occurs, product flaws, scaling issues, and the platform’s (in)ability to keep up with the inflated expectations will pose significant valuation issues. Sell before the audience’s inflated expectations are not met.
3. If you wait until the plateau of productivity, the use case for the platform will be really well defined. This means that all the things we thought Skype would revolutionize will be whittled down to the few, more realistic ideas that actually make sense. There’s no way Skype will ever again see the kind of promise they show today.

My Question to You

If you were Skype, would you sell?