Techstartup DeathWatch: Jaxtr

source: http://www.fiercevoip.com/story/jaxtr-lays-employees/2008-10-19

Comments welcome Konstantine

VoIP service/social network Jaxtr laid off 13 employees Friday, belt-tightening it claims will let it stay in business for at least another 18 months.

After the personnel cuts, Jaxtr has 30 full time employees. Jaxtr was founded in 2005 and launched in 2007 with a widget to enable users to receive calls from their friends through a VoIP connection while keeping their personal phone numbers private. It later added low-cost long distance and international calling to the mix. 

Only a few weeks ago, Jaxtr added "premium memberships" - subscriptions -- to get a more consistent cash flow model than its previous model of a la carte purchases of phone call credits. There's also some ad revenue coming in.

Executive management at Jaxtr says it hasn't spent any of the $10 million VC money it raised in June and the company expects the cash, along with revenue streams and growth, to allow it to keep going for at least 18 months. 

Jaxtr's real problem may be lacking enough differentiation from TalkPlus, Jangl, Raketu and other "me too" VoIP plays that leaned heavily on cheap phone calls and free clients, without implementing many unique features."