The European clone armies

"... Alexander, Marc, and Oliver Samwer are the three German brothers behind the infamous incubator Rocket Internet. They first found success by investing in startups like StudiVZ, also known as the German Facebook. They are also the minds behind German auction site Alando, sold to eBay in 1999 for $54 million, and mobile content platform Jamba!, which sold to Verisign in 2004 for $273 million.

All three hold graduate or business school diplomas and impressive scholarly backgrounds. They’ve also (to varying degrees) been involved in the Silicon Valley startup scene and profited handsomely from an early investment in Facebook. They are unarguably intelligent, business-minded, and tech-savvy, but many consider them to be nothing more than sleazy mimics that clone credible Web startups and rake in the millions. They are basically known as the house flippers of the Internet. ..."