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Nonetheless, thanks to the VC enthusiasm, Web 2.0 start-ups are attracting decent funding. Buzznet, a community site that no one seems to be aware of, has attracted $6 Mn of funding. CA-based start-up Clupedia has raised $1.3 million in funding from Tech Coast Angels.
Naturally Curly, the online community for people with curly hair (!!), has raised $600,000 in a round of funding. mTraks, the online music community and digital music marketplace, announced $550,000 it has raised in angel funding recently.

2. There is only a finite market for Flickr clones, De.li.co.us clones.

I looked at several of the currently popular Web 2.0 start-ups to analyze their differentiated offerings, and value they offer to the end-user. Surprisingly, there is not much out there, which is earth shattering and really-really new.

Pocket is just another del.icio.us clone. Pixpo is just another Flickr. (In May they managed to raise a cool $6.5 Mn funding). Dapper allows you to create web services out of a web-page. (What!! Come again! Why on earth would anyone want that?). eHub is a resource focused on web 2.0 apps. Putting it simply, it's a 2.0 app just meant to promote other 2.0 apps. Its claim to fame, as mentioned in the eHub About pages is, "eHub has exploded in popularity and has been featured on Digg.com's popular links". Digg being just another web 2.0 app. What's happening here by the way?

SolutionWatch surveys various products and services and ReadWriteWeb is just another blog. Why on earth would the user want yet another website surveying products and services? MindMeister claims to allow truly global brainstorming sessions through creating, managing and sharing mind maps online. Pray, what is a mind map, and who will actually pay to use such a service? Did I mention that all of it is free? Talk about business plans! StumbleUpon is meant to discover new sites. Did Google shut shop since I checked last?

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* Contributed by: -
Narendar Lokwani,
Alumni of IIM Bangalore,
Currently working as Business Development Manager at Aztecsoft, Bangalore.