Even before I read the article in today’s New York Times (http://nyti.ms/aQ9oKV) I had some knowledge of Tumblr – http://www.tumblr.com. Yes I signed up. No I’m not exactly sure why.

A blogging service based in NYC, Tumblr claims to want to (in the words of journalist Mark Coatney) occupy ‘a space in between Twitter and Facebook’.

Personally I have difficulty seeing how big that space might be. The 24 year old founder David Karp notes that Tumblr is not all about followers (well that’s a relief). What I like about Tumblr is that it offers a like for publications to truly interact with their readers in a way that Facebook and Twitter do not. Tumblr requires publishers to add commentary in order to gain favor with its ‘community’.

Here’s what is even more interesting. Somehow Tumblr – which still does not have a business model, recently raised $ 5 million from Spark Capital and Union Square Ventures. This apparently (according to President John Maloney) offers some validation. Ya think?

As the American and world business climate today remains choppy and challenging it’s more than difficult for companies, even like ours, to obtain adequate financing for expansion, hiring and working capital. That VC firms would throw up a combined $ 5 million to a firm without a business revenue is evidence that despite all the talk of fiscal prudence, as long as there is the chance to make a fast buck, caution can and will be thrown to the wind and the speculators will continue to do what they have always done.

I am all for on the edge new ideas and new businesses. But Twitter still has not shown the ability to make any money (in contrast to Facebook) and much more money has gone into Twitter than $ 5 million. Maybe Twitter will get there but the jury is still way out as far as I am concerned.

Do you think you would get financing for coming up with an idea that had no decided revenue model?