"So How Long Would it Take for (Public Company X) to Replicate What You Have Built ?"

Enterprise Two
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Aint this the truth; Ask the Wizard - "I cannot tell you how many times since we first launched FeedBurner I have heard the following comments from senior executives at large companies, industry pundits, hobbyists, and my five year old son: "We could build FeedBurner in [a weekend, three months with three people, whenever we wanted]". When you have hidden barriers to entry, you don't get too worked up about these kinds of comments because you know there are lots of pitfalls and issues and challenges that you don't understand fully until you are far enough along in development that you stumble into them and think "oh wow, now what do we do".

I'm regularly asked similar questions, as do most entrepreneurs in these types of businesses. Having spent enough time in large online co's to know how new product development and tech platforms work, the real question is how long it takes LargeCo to go from A What They Have (ie nothing in designated space x) to B (what they perceive u have.) In LargeCo it's always hard to go from good .ppt idea to working live approved project. To get through the board, management, functional heads, politics, tech team and so on.

My experience of new product development in the majors (at least locally, which is underweight in engineers and new products) it takes 12 months usually more, with more time in planning and approval than in tech development hours. The best ideas also never make it. You also can't go back in time. So playing catchup is alot harder than starting out in front, but then you can be too early and prove that the opportunity is not big enough.

A standalone product also does not need to take into account legacy systems, billing, CRM, and a whole raft of issues startups don't even look at. (this is also often why acquisitions get run as standalone businesses for so long and integration often doesn't happen or when it does, it pretty much means everything was rebuilt)

In different acquisition cases, the technology is what is of interest, in others the audience, and then there is the management team. Often it's all three. (flickr would be a good example of this) The Pingdom survey of 7 major sites technology back-end was interesting in the commonality between sites and trends;

"As could have been guessed, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) is by far the most common setup of the surveyed websites. The dominance is far from total, though, and the elements of LAMP are all challenged by alternatives that are growing in popularity."

Penguin the most popular server animal
Apache serves the most pages
MySQL dominates the databases
PHP rules server-side scripting
Clustering for reliability and performance
Going against the grain
- Meebo with Lighttpd
- Alexaholic with Windows, IIS and MS SQL Server
Server-side Java with Apache Tomcat
Different needs = different setups
- TechCrunch has 2 servers
- YouSendIt has 170 file servers split between the U.S. east and west coast just to deliver files.
- Vimeo has 100 content delivery servers for the sole purpose of streaming video.
- Meebo has more than 40 web servers to handle their AJAX-based messaging application
- FeedBurner uses 70 web servers and 15 database servers to, pardon the pun, feed its feeds.

“The greatest challenge was finding the most efficient ways to locate hotspots and bottlenecks in the application,” says Joseph Kottke (FeedBurner.)

Realestate20.wordpress.com Blog.

eclassifieds vflyer
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I mentioned the (Australia) Real Estate 2.0 space yday, but it seems in the US, and I hope not globally, the term is trademarked to Redfin Corporation. I haven't yet received a cease and desist being in Australia (my blog has no advertising on it thus no commercial asset to go after) The pic I've flickrd from vFlyer also nicely summarises the RealEstate 2.0 value chain, which is just starting to infiltrate downunder.

Realestate20.wordpress.com Blog.
"Thanks for your quick response. You may have seen that we had a competition back in April for a new tagline: The winner got $500 and we got the rights to a new tagline, which we trademarked and have been using in commerce since June, 2006. The tagline, Real Estate 2.0, is now a registered trademark of the Redfin Corporation.. While we recognize the right for your blog to exist and look forward to many future posts from a long-overdue blog on new technology real estate sites, we’d like to respectfully ask that you change the name to a term that does not infringe on our mark. Thanks for your understanding and quick action on this.
Eric Heller, Director of Marketing, Redfin.com

I found this email a suitable footnote, while reading about the topical "upload your classifieds" tool vFlyer, profiled in VentureBeat. (which provides freemium tools to home/car/etc sellers wanting to upload their listings onto the major (free) classifieds sites. (which are just entering Australia now, with local vsns like findit.com.au...)

VentureBeat : "It is not competing with classifieds sites. It is forwarding them all traffic, wanting to avoid becoming an actual marketplace destination. (See the chart below for how vFlyer sees the market for classifieds.) Rather, it wants to serve people who want to post ads, and let them do it with as much freedom of expression as possible. With a house ad, you will always have to list the price, and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. But vFlyer lets you highlight it with different colors and additional photos and links. It makes money when people looking at the flyer, say at Craigslist or Oodle, click on the flyer link for more information. This takes them back to the flyer’s URL at the vFlyer site, where vFlyer presents the viewer with advertising relevant to the product being sold. VFlyer charges a fee for helping you advertise at sites with paid listings. So the question is whether a sufficient number of people adopt vFlyer to let it make money."

Whose Self Service Advertising Technology Can I Use to Build My Advertiser Base.

2011 Transam
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

A localised version of Quigo.com is the type of publisher driven, credit card taking, adserving integrated solution that is needed in Australia to monetise "The Rest" as Foad@BRW referred to The Tail. Localised white-label ad solutions are a key component to making this all happen. Kewl that they got google to disclose their site revenue splits.

NYT : "Quigo, by contrast, gives advertisers not only the list of specific sites where their ads have appeared but also the opportunity to buy only on specific Web sites or particular pages on those sites. It also allows media company sites like ESPN.com and FoxNews.com a chance to manage their own relationships with advertisers."

I'd say the Top 50 Social Media/Web 2.0 Sites/Blogs downunder would probably cover the cost and create some really nice upside ie revenue, to cover the quigo licensing/tech integration costs as well as labour overhead to go and sell enough targeted eyeballs to blue-chip advertisers. (there are already players that have a strategy like this in stealth dev btw minus the 2.0 focus) Not every advertiser wants to hear a sales pitch about your website with 20k uniques.... Now 2m uniques they might listen, alot :)

Property.com.au + MyHome.com.au vs Trulia.com + Zillow.com

So Australia's moving into the land of Realestate 2.0 - at least from a user interface point of view - now we have property.com.au from RealEstate and myhome.com.au from PBL. Neither offer the real killer features that have driven global uptake of Trulia and Zillow such as specific home price estimates, added value data about areas or API's to allow other publishers to create mashups. They do use maps awhole lot better, and there are some neat features such as Watchlists from MyHome.

More tapping into wisdom of the crowds about purchase prices and suburbs, trends would have been nice to see. And some of the design needs to be stripped down a few colours and font sizes. More tools to manage my property purchase would be useful. And if I'm selling a house, sorry. These services have nothing to offer other than some text about selecting a real estate agent. (ala edgeio.com and base.google.com)

The real game esp for myhome is listings, and they dont really have many. Would be nice to see pictures and slideshows done alot better too. (photos on Australian classifieds sites are really bad - in quality, quantity, viewability etc - the whole value chain needs to be fixed.. it's amazing when u have 2 similar properties or cars (or agents/dealers) that the one with better photos will more likely sell, and sell more.

Newbie warning : I'd also state the obvious that keyword only search boxes then huge mapping based busy search results pages could be worrying to use for the everyday middle market aussie home buyer. Anyway, here is my photographic essay of interesting realestate 2.0 downunder tidbits. I'm off to waste my evening in other ways.

1. HORIZONTAL NAVBARS.

Flickr. The essence of high utility horizontal font, icon, dropdown design






Myhome.com.au - Versus flickr, bloated text. Too much blue. Wrong layout of elements. Gets job done with ajaxy buy/rent tabs. Sell should be deleted (its not dynamic data : ie catalog text. "how to select an agent..." ick. check edgeio.com and google base for how it should be done or can only real estate agents sell on these sites ? what year is it again 1997 ? google will offer local free property listings within 6 months downunder. they already do so globally)




2. HOME PAGE SEARCH BOXES.

Trulia - High utility search box as primary activity with additional guides for newbies and search filters for those that know what they want and are used to such choices.










Property.com.au - Nice enter box google box with suburb clarification drop-down. While I have 100 filters/dropdowns on realestate.com.au search on property.com.au I have only one - keyword. Needs to meet in middle like Trulia and allow me to filter.









3. PROPERTY SEARCH RESULTS

MyHome - Page does not stretch like Trulia, Property hence its slightly limited. Watchlists a great feature even if a gimmick. Mapping blue navigation tool can get annoying, and you cant click on myhome logo to go home. Or any other way. Text search results at bottom too small and marginalised. Still a decent effort even if sneaking suspicion that live.com type ajax is underneath all this.











Trulia - The benchmark on property 2.0 search results pages.











Property.com.au - Nice Page but would prefer search results on left to be a bit wider to incorporate advertiser's icon and property details. Map is slightly too big and information under it, some of it is not contextual enough to search. Nice scrollover. This page to be used by newbies will need to be heavily explained.











Zillow - Zestimates feature which provides historical est value of properties in area. While such data is not currently used/available/created in Australia, it is an example of how to disrupt a market and get lots of traffic from it. (users could be asked to provide such content, as well as scraping it from blogs.. just because home data doesn't exist doesnt mean it cant... heck why not just ask another member)











4. PROPERTY PAGE

MyHome - Although you cant click on the icon on the map to view (you need to press view on search result) to view, the presentation of the property is fairly traditional/effective. Fairly standard page.











Property - Really like the mult-tab at top to navigate. No watchlists or other tools here I can use that MyHome has, and photos could be better.

The Most Effective Advertising Medium Since the Invention of the Television.

spider LLo
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I sometimes miss the traditional ad agency meetings, between new stealth technology company and traditional ad agency execs, acting hip. (most professional services companies, lawyers too, try and "dress/act for the client" which sees some really funny interepretations over time) I did start in an adagency after all. (my title was "new media development" : at 21yrs they didn't want to append it with "manager", "executive", "nobody"; New Media Development Nobody. That's Me, still hehe.)

So Seek is worth over $2b now because they stuck the vertical course of building brand. By spending the VC dough on acquiring customers and creating positive brand associations. Seek and ye shall find I now associate with a job website.

Fast fwd to Web 2.0 funding, they dont give you money to spend tens of millions to build brand. "We learnt our lesson last time, etc... blogs are so viral yadayada.." So I had to laugh when the global peer of seek - Careerbuilder, who spent and executed their way to number 1/top 2 job board has put their $50m ad account up for review, because their superbowl ad didnt get a good enough response in a newspaper poll. Classic.

AdRants : "CareerBuilder has placed its ($50m) account in review because its ads did not make a top ten appearance in USA Today's Super Bowl ad poll, a tiny survey based on just a few hundred people with absolutely nothing to do with whether or not an ad affected sales. Cramer-Krasselt President Peter Krikovich is pissed. Livid. Dumfounded. And steaming mad and tells Advertising Age he responded to CareeBuilder's opening a review based on the poll by asking, "You have to be fucking kidding me, right?" The agency has resigned the account and will not participate in the review. In an internal memo to agency staff, Krivkovich wrote, "To our amazement, to our total astonishment, all that astounding business success was less important than one poll. C-Kers, we have to tell you - in our entire history, hell in the history of this crazy thing called advertising, I'm not sure there has ever been any thing as baseless or as unbelievable as that. It's so ludicrous and they are so serious about that poll it's almost funny."

I don't know why the agency is so shocked. That is advertising - When you can't measure it, be ready for clients to love you one day, shaft you the next. Accounts have moved for far less quantifiable reasons. The ads in question are here.

While on advertising, Scott Karp writes an interesting piece on whether brands can be content-creators : "Now that every brand is jumping on the bandwagon to be a content creator to compete in the intensifying war over consumer attention, you have to wonder whether brands can really compete as content creators, lodged between traditional “professional” content creators and the newly empowered army of “users” generating content."

Scott mentions a Washington Post article re : how Lexus sponsored the creation of a book "Black Sapphire Pearl" from a Grey's Anatomy writer (Smith) about a stolen Lexus. "So Smith, who also writes for television and film, shaped his novel "to be really cool and different and literary." He says, "It doesn't read like an ad." More like this:

The Lexus loaner turned out to be a GS Hybrid. To say it was an upgrade from the battered Crown Vic I'd driven with the LAPD would be an understatement. For one, you don't need a key. You keep the remote control thing in your pocket and to start the car you just push a button on the dash. Like on a computer. In fact the car's more like a super-powered laptop on wheels than anything else."

Now I know what Careerbuilder should have done : They should have had a pseudoynmous faux blogger start a blog saying they have "lost their identity, and would like it back... 'does any1 know who i am ?' thx.. Then it would all go a bit Minority Report, with a video sequence at the superbowl. He gets a job, the girl, spin-off wedding planning reality TV show..

TimeMagazine : "So who will be the YouTube of video résumés? Jobster, an online job board, is teaming up with social-networking site Facebook to launch a career site featuring video résumés in March."

Avg 2.09 Founders for Successful Net Ventures

Joost Beta
Originally uploaded by factoryjoe.

Brad Feld discussed and linked to this piece looking at number of founders in successful internet businesses; The average is 2.09 founders. Brad said the average is between 2 and 4 founders. (where there is a sole founder, Brad mentions there is often a CEO brought in early to assist)

Aside from complementary skillsets and shared workload, the other benefit of multiple founders is ability to sustain far lower labour costs while still getting the necessary headcount into the business. This is one area where you learn by experience, but overall multiple founders is a good thing. Especially if one is the founding code writer. That is the gap that needs to be covered.

Testing, Testing 1-2-3 Blog : "So it looks like chance of success is definitely better with a team of two. I think two is a good number -- it's easy to collaborate and get things done. A single phone call would be sufficient to get both stakeholders in touch with each other. In addition, two-person team would not take up too much space as well, which makes either a single-car or two-car garage an ideal place to setup office, conference room, server racks, and so on. That's what I call flexibility."

"Human interface cognitive load is proportional to the number of clicks/keystrokes/gestures"

black24 YES
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

So it's Monday Oscars day. If there's one thing i've learnt in last 2 years it's the "consumer experience" (or navigation, UI, user precedenet etc) needs to be designed differently to the last generation of pro/top down 1.0 sites. Threading the needle between small being the new big, and big being the new big.

What do you want people to do on your home page pre-click, and then what do u want them to click on ? OK Monday morning, back to work. Listening to Cam's private equity gekko podcast, which seems a suitable audio start to week.

Tantek : "Hypothesis 1: Human interface cognitive load is proportional to the number of clicks/keystrokes/gestures : More specifically, all other things being equal, the cognitive load required to complete an action or task in a human computer interface is directly (probably linearly) proportional to the number of clicks and keystrokes required to complete that action or task. Cognitive load can be roughly defined as "how mentally easy/hard it feels to do something". "

The Consumer Generated AFL Website Opportunity

unofficial afl
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

So I just scouta'd (nice inside BRW cover feature pic rich) from the shoreham to rye residences :) to watch Melbourne give up a 30 point 3r qtr lead to Hawthorn : Subsequently losing + knocked out of what I think they call the NAB pre-season cup.

It's all about Telstra, Ch7, Toyota and NAB when it comes to AFL $840m programming rights to AFL incl online : The assumption being more advertising, subscription and other revenue/profit can be generated. (ala murdoch uppd the ante + programming prices in his early/mid 90's bids for NFL sports in the US and Soccer in the UK... i digress back to the dees)

Previous September AFL winners have not performed during the pre-season comp, and it was great to see Lance Franklin slot (was it) 4 goals for the Hawks from the forward flank Telstra Dome pockets. (Bell + Miller continue to pain MFC supporters) The young kids ala Franklin are taller 6'6 and faster eh. Melbourne lost twice to Carlton at TDome last year, and they cant play there. At all. Tonite was no different.

So with my life being ping pong between internal contributors to the biz, investors/advisors and enterprise clients (oh and wasting time on blogs/rss.. its work yeh ? although im currently blogging and 47% thru 2 series of HBO's Deadwood.. which is like the Clint Eastwood movie The Forgiven)... So it was good to meet the 3eep.com guys. "The Long Tail of Sports"; Founders ex Fairfax/Peakhour and Hothouse, who just launched their beta after 6 months of plunging "the" savings and deprogramming from Corporate life. It's all about shipping, to start with. So kudos dudez.

Talking Collins St Sport, 2.0, and Sponsorship reminded me of a life prior on afl.com.au (sensis mediasmart sell the display ads) and also advising (my) AFL club (then for a bit). (tinfinger sets the scene well on the latest round of afl deals.. as well as their riff on afl.com.au being a "beta" lol) Dejavu 2001-3 chatter around what was called The Unofficial AFL Dot Com Opportunity; Which very simply was a bottomup AFL website, generated largely thru content from fans (and some algorithmic scraping!)

As the AFL website is now a $60m telco funded rights play, this may sell more Bigpond, NextG + Foxtel, but what about the consumers who don't like flash or want more up to date content, to share fanaticisms with others, as well as advertisers that can't advertise on AFL.com.au due to exclusive arrangements (like all the car manufacturers other than Toyota; All the banks other than NAB; All the alcohol other than CUB etc) How do they reach the AFL consumer ? Or for that matter the NRL consumer ? (who is tied up the same way, just for not as much $$)

I'm a big MFC Demons AFL footy fan, hence I visit demonland.com, which is where other dees fans frequent. Nearly every major sports club has it's own equivalent forum website using same old boring software with google ads; If sports programming rights are worth so much and Web 2.0 is about cheap to build user generated content websites, isn't there a gap ?

There is no real consumer generated website or tools available from afl.com.au or any other website, whether it be foxsports.com.au etc. This is where companies like 3eep.com come in.. (not that i don't have my own ideas or discussions going on around sports, esp when it comes to major media mastheads jumping on the structured user generated content space.. but it's a big pie if shared properly)

So the 3eep guys have done the 2 hardest things : Give up income/status, and shipping their first 3eep site. I'll leave the violins for someone else's mashup. What I'm interested in is the %share the Sports 2.0 Category of websites will get vs club based forum sites, and professional media feeds/news ala realfooty.com.au, afl.com.au, baggygreen.com.au, cricinfo, nrl.com.au and so on. (eg Youtube, MySpace and Wikipedia are all Top 10 Australian visited websites, and AFL.com.au (historically #1 website even being a seasonal site) - so I wonder (overtime) how big Sports UGC will become ?)

The next step in the Vertical Local Web 2.0 space will be : How is it monetised ? Just using google won't be the answer, and hiring a salesperson is not economically effective until one has at least 500k-750k unique users per month. There needs to be a consolidated back end solution.

Back to Sports 2.0 : The smart strategy is to not compete directly against the majors, initially; Build up mass, then disrupt. (ie Google's overbloggd strategy against Microsoft last week) Will Sport 2.0 be won by redressing Pro Media's BIASED coverage of the "Hit" sports they have paid hundreds of millions for (or billions in US/UK case) ?

Or will consumer generated best of breed vertical web apps focused on sport aggregate the best of longtail along with scraping the majors feeds, html, licensing etc ? (just as fanfooty site has been very popular and could be expanded too within afl)

The oldest example of this debate is Netball being the most participated sport in Australia.. Just because a sport is played and popular, will consumers watch and interact with it, and advertisers follow ? Netball has had limited public Ch2 coverage over the years, and does not get even a sliver of the $680m in TV programming rights AFL does.

With AFL TV programming worth $680M (and online worth $60m), the maths should mean even larger AFL specific advertising budgets : Even if Ch7 and private equity invested because being #1 in 2007 helps drive more network advertising and marketing benefits.

Similarly, in AFR on weekend Kim Williams the artsy CEO talks about Foxtel having had their biggest subscriber uptake since launch (in January 07) because of the AFL deal they cut - which involved shutting down Fox Footy Channel, Sacking most staff until telling them at last moment they had a reduced job, and negotiating for 400 days (because AFL stoopidly wholesaled rights to Ch7/10)

It was very impressive negotiation by Foxtel even if I had to drive 25 minutes each way to watch Melbourne lost today to Hawthorn. Now if the 3eep/fanfooty's of this world can get themselves a seat at the table, of how sports are being used to sell broadband, cable TV and advertising - they will be very well placed. The only risk is that the long tail may not be as important the hits.

While I love the long tail, I'd prioritise consumer generated content related to the sports which have hundreds of millions of dollars of progamming and sponsorship attached. There are more people that dont play sport that are interested in their football team, that would also create content. They are the dollars to cannibalise. There are also many advertisers that can't advertise on afl.com.au and other sites which dont allow multiple advertisers in each category. (as big as finance, banking, fmcg, alcohol etc)

Even if enabling the longtail is good trojan horse marketing.. as long as it doesn't become another all in one Web 2.0 featureset focused on a vertical, which leads consumer-creators to wonder whether their first click should be to blog about their AFL footy team, or their kids basketball club.

Cutting up the Cake Before You've Baked it.

newGT fnHOT
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

This is one funny story because it's so true. And because it can almost happen to anyone. If you let it. Or it happens. Or almost. etc. Life is a sequence of line-ball plays and depends on that fusion of skill and luck.

Suffice to say, the one thing you want to do at point zero of a venture (and the 2 years after it when u bootstrap pre finance) is to dole out equity to smart friends, employees and specialist core contractors.

But it can lead you to the mess highlighted below where 0% or 100% of $0 is ZERO. I ain't doing no zero play this time. But the best want equity not bank cash. Well they want the bank cash too. "Make it ordinary shares, topped up with some series A, options and some 6 figure cash plssss."

Post Money Value : "VC lawyers offer up the shareholders agreement as one of the documents that needs to get signed off by all the shareholders. No problem. Well, almost no problem. Turns out that when the friends and family round was being done, lots of shares were handed out to lots of people for help. A little code help? Here, have some shares. Dropping a pizza by? Here, have some shares. Some cash? Bless you, here, have some shares. You get the point. All told, 42 shareholders which owned 22% of the company. 42 people spread out over three countries. 42 signatures required. And, as fate would have it 21 missing shareholders. Moved, not returning phone calls, no emails, etc. The VC refused to close without the signatures and, to make a long (painful) story short, the company died for lack of funding... The point I'm making here, folks, is don't go to the office supply store and buy those fill in the blank shareholder agreements and stock certificates. Make sure when you start, you start with the structure that will allow you to take professional money sometime in the future. "

Andrew Pascoe Goes Sputnik while Google Earth Enters Car Dealerships

jagXKR pls
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

So it appears google australia has overtaken sensis in online advertising; I wonder if this is because google participated ie was audited for the ABVS numbers or if it is an analyst estimate. I'm sure Mr Pascoe (congrats on new role) will know or some smart bunny. (i note he mentions PWC did numbers this time... previously the google number was a guess is my understanding....)

24 hours away at the centre of the digital universe, car dealers are being taken into the Revenge of the Nerds version of automotive 2.0 advertising; It's Second Life meets a Saturday sausage sizzle end of month sale at your local auto dealer. I have 2 buzzwords to summarise the google strategy : "Video" + "Behaviourial" (targeting) It's also why Fox just bought Strategic Data Corp to monetise MySpace better. "Driving up the effective yield" as the analysts call it, or how you phrase your business plan when presenting to accountant. (such has been my week..)

Their VP on PaidContent : “The place that we see the most success with brand ads is when it comes to integrating them with the entire search process. [The campaign by Goodby Silverstein for the Saturn Aura] was aimed at people who were in the auto genre of certain content sites, we placed ads that looked like a static video that when you clicked on it, it started playing. It then took them to a Google Earth Map and you had this notion that you flying over the globe and it ended up looking like you were flying into the Saturn dealership and you would be introduced to the showroom. It was a very useful way to get a brand message across. The ultimate thing with brand advertising is ‘Am I going to get more customers, am I going to get more information, is the customer going to have a better brand experience?’”

Blogpond quoting BRW quoting ABVS
1. Google: $206 million (20%, up 4%) revenue growth 108%
2. Sensis: $192 million (19%, down 4%) revenue growth 36%
3. Fairfax Digital: $115 million (11%, steady) revenue growth 77%
4. Seek: $104 million (10%, steady) revenue growth 65%
5. NineMSN: $92 million (9%, down 2%) revenue growth 39%
6. Realestate.com.au: $70 million (7%, up 1%) revenue growth 79%
7. Yahoo!7: $42 million (7%, steady) revenue growth 75%
8. Carsales.com.au: $37 million (4%, up 1%) revenue growth 85%
9. News Digital Media: $34 million (3%, down 1%) revenue growth 26%
10. The Rest: $128 million (13%, up 1%) revenue growth 80%

As an aside note : The bigger these markets get, history has shown the larger players get more share as growth continues. The longer the tail, the more the demand for hits. (the greater the media fragmentation, the higher the advertiser demand for mass market Sunday night Ch7 spots becomes....)

If you exclude publishers using google's self service technology, there are no independent/private players on the list other than those contained in "The Rest". Basically if you rely on general online advertising, aren't using google, this will make it increasingly harder to get into an online advertiser's mind, without large (probably vertical) reach. (or price undercutting for a given product eg directories : truelocal/dlook) Luckily what the major players lack (minus GooTube + FoxSpace) is new advertiser/consumer products. That's where the gap is. Even more so on the advertiser infrastructure side. ie "Increasing the effective yield" on The Rest ala The Ansearch model. Stating the obvious on a Friday night arent i. it's good the bets are raising tho..

Henry is always fun to read re Goog's $50 assault on Office : "At the same time, by targeting Microsoft's crown jewels, the folks in the Googleplex are also risking not only failure but their own monopolistic dominance of their core business--search. Selling and servicing technology solutions is a fundamentally different business than selling and providing advertising solutions, and will eventually require the creation of an entirely new sales and service organization. No company in history has dominated the hearts and minds of both marketers and IT buyers, although several have tried. Even with Google's awesome talents and power, therefore, success is far from guaranteed. Especially because the opponent in question, a sleeping giant that has so thoroughly dominated its industry for more than a decade that not one but two governments were forced to devote extraordinary resources to trying to stop it, won't likely give up without a fight."

For Those Still Watching Lost.

waiting waiting
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Wow, I should be doing some work (or go for a run) rather than reading about a Lost episode I havent seen as Australia is behind. It's word crack.

EW Doc Jensen : "We know that Lost is fond of anagrams and Easter egg clues. Well, check this out. We've been told that DHARMA is an acronym for ''Department of Heuristics And Research on Material Applications.'' (Yes, you sticklers: according to official sources, the ''And'' is part of the acronym, but ''of'' and ''on'' are not.) I haven't worked all of this out yet, but I'm thinking that full title is an anagram for something — a sentence that might reveal a big secret of Lost. A sentence that includes the words ''DESMOND HUME'' and ''PENELOPE.".. According to the mythology of The Dharma Initiative, the island is fluctuating with ''unique electromagnetic'' energy. We've also been told that Dharma was studying ''parapsychology.'' Big words and weird science, I know, but really, all you need to know is this: The Island is a place where mind over matter is possible. Got it?"

MyHome Could be Yours.

myhome-couldbe-yours
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

The long awaited new Australian property site myhome* goes live Monday, and their placeholder site (while not accepting beta signups) has a totally 2005 techcrunch/digg feel about it. Which in Australian terms is about the window to pitch/expect, but what about functionality ?

Update : Mr Pascoe with his free copy of AFR at work has the 2.0 juice - "The site is built almost 100% in AJAX (or so it appears to this un-technical eye) and has a lot of web2.0 characteristics."

Hopefully myhome has more than the standard browse/find property/dealers pay for listings model. Something which globally Trulia (with their very excellent API) and Zillow (with their equally excellent specific home price Zestimates) have done very well, actually kicked ass at. They've become huge businesses within 24-36 months. And dont think the leading aussie realestate online playaz are not unaware of this.

So will Australia move beyond 1.0 classifieds sites that we are so sick off ? The pay off is big bux. There were 11 jobs on seek for myhome. Packer. The big playaz. Will the share registry help the playaz or strengthen playa hataz ? (i guess there is a tv/online deluge campaign coming)

I'd like to think it, the innovation that is, will happen, but I sense 12 months of oligopolic evolution, large marketing and non-tech salary budgets, with very low technical innovation or even fast following. (which would be disappointing given the blueprints from the Trulias and Zillows of this world even Yahoo Local are sitting there to be fast followed.) BTW I'd love to know what percentage of Australian Online Media Businesses (the ones valued at multibillions by private equity) spend on R+D ? I'd say 1% with about 5% commercialised. New product development in this country is awful. Me and my 2 pals could do...

Hopefully some new features will be added to the Australian Online Real Estate World. We are Starved ! (it's not like u can do a phd on a topic that has been done before... there is a reason for that.. thats why microsoft called it "emulate and extend" not just "emulate" - this is the sensis search vs google lesson : you copy last year's featureset then your product is months/quarters/years out of date when u launch.. hopefully myhome won't copy the 1998 realestate.com.au home page when miffy coombes now coady was selling the site to real estate agents in rural victoria, i digress. hi miff - how's that best new site going ?)

MyHome Shareholders
PBL Media 48.75 %
Microsoft 48.75%
Elders Ltd 2.375%
Bell Potter Securities Pty Ltd. 0.125%

Isn't it interesting that Microsoft will own an equal amount to PBL Media, because of clauses in the ninemsn JV. Sometime clauses don't matter and sometimes they come back to b'te u.

Castless Stephs's Latest on MuchAdoAboutSumthin
".. Me- Yeah, it's good to have two working arms again.
Now picture this. To demonstrate my point, I make skiing motions. You know, like I'm using those poles to push off down a mountain. Only trouble was, I did it a bit too enthusiastically and it kinda looked like I was vigourously tossing off two imaginary men..."

*myhome - btw anyone that names a new website with the derivative to myspace "my" this.. local that; my home !!! my expnsve car. my fkn weddingplanning. my bootycall friends. mypunchbowl.com (new evite) my idlike U 2 use my service.. but i dont know what to call it coz im old.. and my ad agency told me my is all the rage (yeah so 5 years ago in LA), um what do u think ?
obvs suxage. barely a question. but i am not the u that u r targeting. maybe parents who have blocked their kids from myspace would use myhome as an intergenerational snark to their kids :
"look i've got my own my.. home... and u r in it, so obey the rules..."
"but u aint got no mehspace mah"
lay off the imitative myparent brand derivations...
(back in interactive agency land : "when we expand the brand we can use "my" this and "my" that for all the new verticals we (meaning paying client) go into".. nb even though seek never went into another vertical and that may well be why they succeeded/survived.")

Michelle one of the two other women although she goes out with Terminator2 Lokan Rodriguez : "So, long story short I finish my work over there in Hawaii, do my time, then I come to L.A. spend christmas and new years in rehab," cause it's the Right thing to do." I get get bitch slapped by uncle sam again in hollywood. I do my time in L.A., i get out in a couple of hours because they only have room for real criminals like killers, drug dealers, and rapists. I pay fines, do my community service, and I get a sentence to wear a bracelet for three months. The bracelet is to detect liquor content in your sweat every half hour it takes a reading using some split fuel cell type technology. I go to get this thing put on and I realize this thing is like a freaking VCR, and why do they care If I drink, what am I gonna do, drink and walk over someone, I have no license. Anyway I put this contraption on and the second day the guy calls me and says you've got an alcohol reading. I was like, I haven't had any liquor. He's like, well you can't use listerine, no shampoo, or soap, or lotion, or perfume, with alcohol in it. I tried to get them to put me in jail but they had their mind set on this bracelet. So I go away to new york a couple of months ago and I get another reading, I'm like are you kidding me Im f-cking Fasting... I was on the cayenne peeper lemon water cleanse for four days straight, all I had in my system was lemon, maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and water... After about three readings from this thing I started to feel a bit like a pawn, I didn't like the Idea that I could do possible jail time for using the wrong shampoo, fasting out toxins, or having vanilla in my tea. I felt like a guinea pig for a new technology. I think that level of vigilance is great for alcoholics, druggies, and heroin addicts. Yet I felt for someone like me, who loves her life too much to f*ck it up for a sip of a beverage, this level of control just isn't necessary. Thank God I got to take it off for a month or so to go work on "Battle in Seattle". It felt so good to be out of the country. Yet soon I was back in L.A. and Back to the bull Sh*t, a year and a half after Hawaii, I'm still hearing about this looming shed skin of the past. Pretty primal mentality to live in what happened as if it still is."

The Jason Jordan BBall Game of BlogAds Allure.

There are some street pickup blog basketball games going on among alpha inclined former and current blog network owners. Henry Copeland from the indie innovative blogads network, has $10k at 10-1 (if Jason accepted) that representing sites like Perez Hilton (which does millions of uniques a day) will trump owning (well before selling to AOL) the engadgets of this world.

"While WIN was peddling web 1.0 ad units, Blogads has pioneered genres of ad units designed for social media -- long before the concept of "social media" existed. More on the way, too. (WIN's "comments on ads" came 18 months after our experiment; like us, WIN discovered that mutating ad creative (at least from smart advertisers) fast obsoletes each comment).. But let's talk about the key performance metric. Does Jason want to put his big money where his bigger mouth is? I'll wager $10,000 that in 2006 Blogads earned more for bloggers than did WIN. After all, blogger earnings is the true measure of a blog business, right?"

With blog networks popping up downunder maybe Duncan Riley could play the role of Henry and Allure's Chris Janz that of Jason Jordan.

“Britney asked me and one of her nannies to come to her room to watch her try on outfits for a party one night – then she stripped down naked in front of us!”

This is the Consumer-Creator Reaction You Want in a Local App

backyard chic
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Mattl.nook.com.au : "I just hit 170 comments. Woohoo! How many does everyone else have? : I think I may be addicted to NOOK! I have told everyone at work it’s the place to go when you want to vent, or when you need to find out some local information. But I now realise you can find out just about anything from the hundreds of nookers out there. Anyone got a remedy for shaving rashes?"

"I'm doing what I believe God is calling me to do."

m i c k e y
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Mark Jones rox, seriously. Joining my mum in the ministry who also got The Call about 3 decades into being a Music Teacher, after having put her 3 kids thru the best schooling. Mark's outside godly hours will be highly sought by the next fullasagoog silicon beach startup. Hearty congrats. Interesting people do interesting things. Sometimes they go a step further.

Filtered : "I'm doing what I believe God is calling me to do. Happy to elaborate in person, but when you get The Call, and you're passionate about what you believe, it's not too hard to follow through. In fact, I'm really excited about the future and what lies ahead. I honestly can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing with my life. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't be making this sort of decision!"

2006 Uranium : 2007 Blogs.

percocet hollywood
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

"I have a 920am."
"They tell me I need Keyman."
"Insurance companies make me sick."

"Black tea please."
"18 minutes till a conference call."
"You need working cap for D+O."

"Latte please."
"I've got a lunch. Need valuation data. Code. Build Buy. RTD. Pipeline. Conversion %'s. DCF Luvn."

"Latte please."
"Long Tail of Sports. Two's a crowd, Three is Company."

Monday 2.0

birthday everyday
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Here's a Monday morning quote for all the world changers out there, from Rick Skrenta CEO of Topix.net : "We are, in fact, the most successful News 2.0 company, with over a million pageviews/day, 10M server/4.6M Comscore uniques, a million participants in our forums, a $60M exit, yada yada. But, we can face it, even we haven't yet burned down the world, or upended the news industry."

"I now have two verifications that Cisco got burned to the tune of $25M-$30M when they bought Five Across."

the encore
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

It's bloody hot here, and the Soccer Grand Final is on but not on FTA, neither is the Aus-NZ cricket which I'm "reading" on CricInfo. (Aussies made 336 NZ need 127 of 90 balls. So Marc Canter has some interesting goss about Cisco's purchase of Web 2 whitelabeller 5across;

"I now have two verifications that Cisco got burned to the tune of $25M-$30M when they bought Five Across. I wonder who did the deal - cause I got a bridge to sell him!"

Olsen Twins hit the Powerset Hot or Not Attention Radar Networks.

gangstaLLO
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

If you're like me and have 1k feeds in your greader, and fewer posts hit your "attention" radar (increasing twttrs of secret sydney business attention jammn club who will be having an unconference with only higher priority sources appearing) esp last week in middle of bi-annual tech problems.. there were three entries by entrepreneurs relating to their current business and technology position which I read/re-read/contemplated. (my big theme at moment is size matters. even if ur just local/solving a small problem relative to indexing all the world's infortmation!)

One, a "Web 3.0" stealth pre-launch leader - Radar Networks. Totally cutting edge tech protocols, and very nice use of language which from Australia makes you think maybe we are a decade behind, not 3 years like my business is based on where business and consumers have finally grokkd the whole blog thang.

NovaSpivack.com : "More recently a new Semantic Web technology called SPARQL has also started to emerge. SPARQL provides a common query language, like SQL, for querying data that is stored in RDF. Any site or database that has RDF data and that provides a SPARQL interface can be searched by any application that speaks SPARQL. This means that the dream of "deep web search" is finally going to become a reality. There is a huge amount of interest in SPARQL at the moment and there are already a growing number of SPARQL endpoints popping up around the Web. These new SPARQL endpoints are to data what websites were to documents. It's the beginning of what some call "The Data Web" -- which is the first step to the full-blown Semantic Web. SPARQL is also a big piece of what we are doing."

The other a Web 1.0 dating site HotOrNot (which youtube was inspired by yes ? ie YouTube is an admitted video vsn of hotornot : "One thing that they don't mention that hopefully was also a factor in why they didn't launch as an exact HOTorNOT clone is the fact that we are all friends.") This is one of those relative to vlow overheads websites where we're making a shiteload of money but we've decided to add some new features and offer equity to engineers, even though our business brings in millions of earnings to it's two founders/owners/employees. (so offering equity isn't some option in the future where you may get some triggering event, it's sharing in the dividend etc ie taking money out of pockets of current founders/owners unless pie is grown so much that more money is generated... etc)

James Hong : "Running a cash cow in Silicon Valley is a very hard thing to do. By mid 2003, HOTorNOT was doing about 4 million in revenue, and it was still just the two of us running the site. The problem you run into is that the types of people who build successful cash cows tend to get bored and tired of running their sites after 3-4 years. The best example I have of this is my friend Andrew Conru, who runs the FriendFinder Network. Andrew is rumored to make over 100 Million a year in earnings for himself, and is incorporated as an S corporation (meaning the money is only taxed by the government once, not twice as is the case for the more common C corporation shareholder). Over the course of the past 11 years, he has gone through various managers and taken time off from the company to be an engineering professor."

Working downunder, the challenges are still at the base level of building web 1.5 : (Structured) User Generated Content; Blogs, Image, Video Uploading, Searching and Sharing; Meta-Search; Folksonomy; Local Social Networks. It's hard to go to Web 3.0, when Web 1.5 hasn't been reached yet. Anyway 38C degrees here and the poem read by an investor (who followed Peter Thiel who had a stake in the restaurant, in between his hedge fund and web investments) from the Powerset launch (so last week i know)

BarneyPell.com - Powerset (the next google) Launch Party
Early web was directory. We'd drill down to stuff,
For finding anything was truly quite tough.
Then search came along, Inktomi and Magellan
powered the Web, we were all in heaven.
Jerry and Dave created Yahoo and harnessed the power
They created a portal, from whence the Web flowered.
Infoseek, Lycos, Excite were the "Me too"
But although they tried, they could not come through.
Then along came a promise of a butler named Jeeves,
When asked a quick question, he promised to please.
But the answers were lame, quite random, bizarre
When asked "who shot Lincoln?" he replied: "It's a car."
So Yahoo had won, hand out Superbowl rings
Till Larry and Sergey reminded
"the show's not over until the fat lady sings"
With better search using link graph analysis
Google gave the other search engines a sudden paralysis
We all got trained to speak keywordease
HBO, Sopranos, Bada bing, Strip tease
Once again pundits have proclaimed the search game is done
Then along comes Powerset with technology to stun
They've aimed their sights high, at the 800 pound giant
They are up to the challenge, Barney and team are defiant
The winner will be crowned when I ask Google a question
And it's only reply is "Go ask Powerset, that's my best suggestion."

MK+Ash - NYPost : "They were wearing heels bigger than their waists," said one sneaky spy. "They were just sitting there. Literally." The source said, "They weren't drinking, they weren't talking - not even to each other. They sat in silence for at least 20 minutes, staring at the floor." Photos of the twins smiling and laughing have been popping up lately, but our tipster said, "They looked like the saddest people you've ever seen.""

Infectious Greed : "Venture Capital : You have two cows. One is male, and one is female. Mike Moritz says he loves both cows and will buy 35% of the pair for $100. After the deal is signed he tells you to kill your female cow, and then says your male cow must produce a baby cow within three months or you're fired. Three months and one day later he fires you, takes your remaining cow, and transfers it into a milking machine company which then goes public on Nasdaq, earning him $10,000,000. Citing a lactation preference in the term sheet, however, he keeps all but $0.10 of the proceeds. "No hard feelings," he says, "and be sure to come back the next time you have cows.""

Dragging Me Along Softly.

997TT 287VIC
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Like Tim Wolters I'm finding these terms increasingly frequent/intriguing - my favourite is the "drag along" : a term I hadn't heard till XMAS lunch (well it was a bit before xmas lunch / early december, but i wanted to add pseudo-drama) esp after the TechCrunch/Filmloop conversation.

The Tim Wolters VC Snapshot of Interesting Clauses
* pre-money valuation
* option pool size
* liquidation preferences
* dividend
* seniority to previous round
* no shop clause
* redemption
* drag along rights
* anti-dilution

TechCrunch : "The FilmLoop founders made it clear that they thought they had a good chance at success and did not want to sell. However, ComVentures’ ownership percentage, plus certain rights they have (called “drag along rights”), can force the other investors and the company founders to sell."

David Cowan (comments on same TC post) : "Drag along rights do NOT entitle the VC to force a sale of the company. Control of a class of preferred stock does NOT entitle the VC to force a sale of the company. I cannot think of any term I’ve ever seen in a venture capital investment that would explain how a VC could have forced this sale."

“I am a bit messy,” Sienna admitted, “You’ll usually find a few cigarettes in there and dirty socks. I even stole someone’s dog for company.” (Source)

How Do You Score High in IQ Tests ?

997TT 05QLD
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

This is a very good list by Will Price of haves vs have nots, when it comes to enterprise startups that are getting closer to being businesses. Obvs the aim is to have more than 65% of the list (as reflected by paranoid entrepreneurs i empathise with in the comments)

Will Price : "Companies that are in healthy markets close enough business to" :
1. develop a clear value proposition
2. build repeatable marketing, sales, and delivery models around common uses cases
3. know their top 2-3 competitors cold and see them in every account
4. are solicited for business
5. have real, active partners engaged in common customer accounts
6. have highly energetic cultures where the changes month to month are signficant
7. can explain what they do so that almost anyone can understand
8. share a common mission that everyone in the company can articulate

BB : i remember a class in 1st year masters biz school where the prof asks us if we know how to score high in iq tests. answer "buy a book on how to score high in iq tests." (ie know the answers to the questions u r going to be asked.. "who r your competitors etc...")

Internet Banking You Are Perfect Just as You Are

mayers concubine
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Geez I couldn't imagine that consumers would want gmail/delicious like ajax to view, tag and organise their internet banking. It's Only Their Important Financial Information and Decisions.

It's not like Web 2.0 will help people manage or maximise their net positions after mortgage, car, education, grocery and telecommunications expenses. No biggee. Nor would I think your everyday-jo wants secure RSS to mash THEIR OWN data up into a googfree financial planning, investing and budgeting tool. You can use our interest rate calculator.

And forget about thinking I might want to connect into a smart network of other people that can help with my decisions without trying to sell me something I don't need. Someone may sue us, that would be giving advice, they can come visit us at the bank. We know that's where the brains trust is. ("new extended hours is the mantra." - damn they must be rocket scientists sans adult nappy)

Neither would employees in Australia's banks want to collaborate in real time across floors, offices and locations using jotspot like apps. Microsoft Outlook rox. Now who do I cc and bcc again ? And blogs are for Robert Scoble and he left Microsoft anyway. Banks have forgotten just have much internet banking sucks.

To Michael Harte, the CIO of Commonwealth Bank, the YouTube/Myspace generation and the Salesforce.com/Enterprise 2.0 movement has no implications for his business at all. Heck, we are all so happy with our internet banking experiences. Just like Microsoft, banks shouldn't be worried about those free productivity apps google keeps giving away, and companies it keeps buying. Shared Spreadsheets, Web CRM, that's different isn't it ? Slowly, slowly to sleep my children.

ZD-Net : "[The innovative] technologies out there look alluring or downright fancy but it's pretty hard to exploit those from an enterprise point of view. The customers want it because they see it on TV or they use it on their iPods.."

I do agree with Michael that Web 2.0 is not going to help me everytime I get charged $2 for getting money out of the atm.

"We have certainly seen instances with other properties where insiders have put reviews up for a particular hotel and it's not a legitimate review"

Selling enterprise user generated reviews solutions as one facet of my life, travel and accomodation is one category which has high consumer demand (what others are saying about specific accomodations) that needs glocal reviews.

From Reuters, this summarises a common concern of publishers often with strong customers who imagine their competitors writing a bad review. And sometimes it happens, even if it's a sub 1% problem; "We have certainly seen instances with other properties where insiders have put reviews up for a particular hotel or a particular thing and it's not a legitimate review.. " It's somebody who's in effect been paid to make the property look good." - Jeff Boyd, Priceline.com's CEO.

Anyone Know The Release Date of Blackberry 8800 in Australia ?

8800_03
Originally uploaded by PeterPandaNYC.

And the carrier ? (Telstra/Edge ? Vodafone/3G ?) I can't buy a 8707 now it's so out of date. Worldwide release for 8800 is Feb 21. I NEED to know local juice.

Web 2.0 is so Madchester 87.

duff downers
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Just watched Party Monster with the home alone kid, what an awful movie. When at the DVD store I couldn't remember if reviews were good or bad, as there had been pre-release buzz. Bad, very bad. IMDB.com reviews over wireless please. Ideally localised.. hello Blockbuster ?

Enterprise Web 2.0 Mashups are being riffd on over at MarketWatch (it's kinda stating the obvious, but it's probably also true - u find it especially true when the new breed of entrepreneurs is the age u were the first time around this dotcom thang.. u can probably see why i rented party monster not for the party.. for the obvious parallels between house scene/madchester/detroit/late 80's vs 90's techno kids.. anyway i digress) :

"On the radio Monday morning, I heard a college student talk about the blogosphere, and now Google's YouTube, as the way for his generation to disseminate information. For him, grass-roots campaigning means convincing bloggers to liberally and prolifically write stories, post comments, link and promote blogger friends with the same ideology while begging friends, family and acquaintances to contribute.. I imagine that this college student's future corporate life will be as Web 2.0 as his consumer life is now -- an egalitarian world in which everyone contributes, opines, votes, connects, shares and collaborates instantly."

(BB : I'm sure the studentface.com.au guys who are doing great would agree with this quote..)

Thankfully Tait is Selected for Fairfax World Cup.

We had to lose one day series, to warm up Hogg + Watson, but the real future of Aussies pace bowling the 2.0 Thommo, Shaun Tait is in World Cup Squad. With Haddin. Awesome Some players with performance and aggression. I know most are bored of the cricket, but for those of u not, what do u think of the World Cup Squad ? Or should we cut to the chase and talk AFL Go dees.

Fairfax's TradeMe acquisition has some very nice earnings btw : "Fairfax's Internet unit increased earnings by 42 percent to A$15.6 million in the half, from A$11 million a year earlier. Trade Me contributed NZ$23.3 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization in the half. Fairfax said the unit should meet its forecast NZ$45 million earnings for the year ending March 31." (Jeff Jarvis has written a very key post on newspaper vs online revenue and how to manage the transition... and linked to another one.. hot day here.. been in excel and powerpoint all day and need injection of energy)

Mayer: “You’re like the Anderson Cooper of E!”
[Yada, yada, yada...lots of boring crap about Grammy nominations]
Seacrest: I have to ask you—
Mayer: [interrupts] No you don't.Seacrest: Yes I do—
Mayer: —but whatever. No you don't "have to," say you "want to" ask me. Be a man, be a man!
Seacrest: “I want to ask you about Jessica Simpson. I want to ask if the two of you are dating? And, if so, when will we officially see you out together?”
Mayer: [Speaks in Japanese]
Seacrest: I think that's fantastic. And I'm happy for you.
Mayer: Take it to the room. Find a Japanese person and decode it. Subtitle it. And then you’ll have your answer. (reported as "“She is very beautiful �and you'll be the last to know.”)
Seacrest: Are you happy?
Mayer: I'm very happy...with what I just did to you.
Seacrest: Yeah, exactly. Thanks, buddy. [Mayer leaves] Good to see you Johnny, take care, have fun! Bye!

Picking and Poking Your Investors.

sports range
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Are you a Picker ("In other words, to the extent said biotech VCs are successful it is because they get behind the right technology/platform/people and ride it.") or Poker ("That is, they poke, and probe, and cajole, and generally try to push the company in a direction that they, in their wisdom, think is the right one for said company.") ?

Infectious Greed : "Don't tell anyone, but so long as you fire incompetent people, act impatient now and then at board meetings about progress and spending, and otherwise generally stay out of the way, you're probably better off following the medical dictum of "first, do no harm". Information tech venture investors see themselves as pokers, and look down their noses somewhat at biotech sorts as mere pickers."

PK also has a good post about Wordpress.com having similar traffic levels (or more) acc' to Alexa, which isn't exactly scientific - but does display numbers and pictures; "An apples and oranges comparison, some might think, but less so than you might imagine: I see that in the last few weeks Wordpress's reach (ed., all the usual Alexaholic disclaimers apply) has caught Digg's, passed it, and and stayed ahead."

"Eddie: Look, I just wanted to give you a buzz and say...(adopts threatening tone) I know where you live."

audition over
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

PBL Mafioso Media humour (where tvtalent, in this case the channel 9 ceo who is hosting a new game show) calls The Green Guide reviewer, AKA RYWHM blogger screenwriting Fitsee. (who for historical/security purposes documented the phone call unedited onto her blog) Now Eddie will have to track the blogs too. The Boy from Broadmeadows taking on the Bloggers from Fitzroy. Too funny.

RYWHM - "Not a Word of Lie"
Eddie: G'day, Eddie McGuire here.
Me: Hello, Mr. McGuire.
Eddie: Please, call me Eddie.
Me: Okay...Eddie.
Eddie: Look, I just wanted to give you a buzz and say...(adopts threatening tone) I know where you live.
*long pause*
Eddie: Just kidding, love the column. Read it every week, think it's fantastic. What about you, having fun with it? Enjoying yourself?

"Or maybe reddit really is a community of 12-year-olds... or for all we know, dogs... or 12-year-old dogs.."

RS spyder
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

So it's the start of another week and no-one could play any worse@cricket than Australia did yday. (at least Hodge made runs) They never looked in these finals at all; Awful forward looking World Cup selections. You dont replace Warne with Hogg, and Tait should have been in for Watson. Over on reddit they're talking about 12 year olds due to this whole WSJ social news reader-reporter user segmentations.

Reddit Blog : "Considering how impressive the quality and diversity of reddit's content [usually] is, maybe it's a 12-year-old wunderkind? Either way, it's the community that is ultimately responsible for promoting the best content. Or maybe reddit really is a community of 12-year-olds... or for all we know, dogs... or 12-year-old dogs..."

Kevin Rose Hearts Anglicans Heart David Hicks

golden shower
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

My folks being good Christians went to the David Hicks service today which their Anglican Church put on, opp' Federation Square. Neat way of church staying current, as digg is planning to do in a Wikia Search spin-off-esque way, skewed more to recommendations than search. Basically take all the domains submitted on digg, do some behaviourial profiling, spew them back as personalised recommendations algorithms i'm guessn. Wouldn't it rock to have the resources to experiment with such R+D meets new product offerings ?

BusinessWeek : "Rose has been paying particular attention to which Web sites, stories, and links are gobbled up by the 900,000 registered users who visit Digg—and which ones are cast aside. He plans to use what Digg knows of its members' tastes to help them find more media fare they might want to consume. Later this year, Digg will launch a recommendation tool able to expose members to fellow Diggers who appear to have similar interests, says Rose. "Digg will be smart enough to know what interests you," says Rose. The site will identify those with like interests in part by the previous stories they have dug and "buried"—the site's term for voting down a story. "Theoretically, over time, you provide useful information," says Digg Chief Executive Jay Adelson. "It makes a personal version of Digg more possible."

Frankee also jumped on some .aspx ex-TRL Melb' dudes doing some revver like video rev sharing (u set the price : keep net 90% Even if Viacom have other ideas...) Very neat, will need to catch up with these dudes !

SMH : "Geddes, Kelley and Govic run the business on a full-time basis, although Geddes admitted that revenue was "low at the moment", and did not match their previous incomes. Geddes and Kelley had been colleagues at the now-defunct Telstra Research Laboratories, while Govic is a former investment banker. ecent announcements suggest business at Si-Mi is picking up - it has just signed a deal with Adelaide production company Kojo, which has worked on films such as Wolf Creek."

"Does that mean that FOXSports, AmericanIdol and News Corp.’s entire portfolio of sites only generated $20M?"

sunscreen dabbing?
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

The MySpace-ization of professionally produced content aint going away, and the next target in the headlights is advertising (heck doritos are using $12 consumer generated quote unquote jumpcut tvcs.. which i just riffed on for b+t... the next stage of the internet is brand building, and the economics dont work to produce targeted pro-TVC's for each long tail producer... u need to outsource to the consumer... but dont expect the world to change overnight other than competition gimmicks)

Also, can anyone tell me why/how cisco is buying enterprise web2 software co's like 5across ? Wow, didnt pick that. With Jerry Maguire mission statements and all which Yoick mentions.. suddenly social media is in the loop.. And with all the latest Fox Interactive numbers, Internet Stock Blog is breaking down possible FIM quarterly revenues :

IGN Entertainment @ $25M
MySpace @ $60M
Google @ $20M
Rest @ 20M
TOTAL: $125M

"Does that mean that FOXSports, AmericanIdol and News Corp.’s entire portfolio of sites only generated $20M?" Anyway, I've gotta get over to Rye, havent had any caffeine yet and its past lunchtime...

How Much am I Worth ? and Get Me a House While You are There.

its hot
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

Real estate is one of those markets that's being sliced n diced by 2.0 : Some are using it to their advantage. Namely Zillow. (and Trulia) It's going to be very interesting the next 5 years as classified leaders upgrade their legacy search / houses for sale / suburb(s) / price model. Now what will happen locally... thats another question for the kav.

Fortune : "The two men behind Zillow, a pair of former Microsoft executives named Richard Barton and Lloyd Frink, don't exactly cut the image of moguls intent on upsetting a $2.27 trillion industry. On the day of my visit to Zillow's headquarters, Frink, who's 42 and president of the operation, is wearing a Seahawks jersey and seems most interested in talking about football. And Barton, the company's 39-year-old chairman and CEO, couldn't look less threatening - put a pool cue in his hand and he'd be perfect in a Dockers ad. But the two entrepreneurs know an industry in transition when they see it. They've placed $5 million of their own money, $1 million from early employees, and another $51 million in venture capital on a bet that real estate is ripe for some good old-fashioned Internet repositioning."

VC Ratings : "To change the game, Zillow must do one of two things. It could choose to facilitate the buying and selling of homes via a partnership or acquisition of a discount real estate brokerage like Redfin or Movoto. While that would completely change its business model from relying on real estate brokerage advertising dollars, the mortgage broker ad dollars in addition to the lucrative transaction fees would more than make up for the loss. "

Great Night at Cricket Even if Aussies Bring their B Game.

youtube selling shareholders
Originally uploaded by pkedrosky.

It was a game you thought inevitable Australia won, especially when Hayden and Ponting were piling on the runs, but Paul Collingwood had other ideas and the English won. It was a great evening though - mate and i had a good position - which involved many schooners of carlton, a chicken schnitzel roll during the dinner break, and some gin and tonics for good measure as the English just rolled over Australia with a few balls left.

Australia didnt bring their A-Team; Why they gave “World-Cup” training to Watson + Hogg.. and to have no White for hitting (Aussies collapsed) and no Tait (who was sorely missed at end with Bracken and Watson not at all effective) - these were very bad selection calls. Arrogant.

You should have heard the English outside after game at 1030pm.. were they happy or what ? You had to almost feel happy for the barmy crew… although there were almost some fights I think :) Not sure if any other nookers were there ? I was also really disappointed Brad Hodge gave his wicket away so easy, dammit. Was a great night… arriving home down peninsula (train to frankston) around 1230am !!!! (congrats to nick + janine who are due like anytime now/1 week ago/but were lucky and no baby run during game !!! go sofitel luvn)

Now Aussies better win 2nd and 3rd final and in the present tense. They keep talking about The World Cup. Hello Australia, we are down 0-1 in a best of 3 home final. Remember Ashes 2005 ?

Sydney is the New Melbourne +/- 8 Minutes.

peaches
Originally uploaded by cybele malinowski.

Boomerang trip to Sydney for 36 hours (missed Ad:tech, but stole an AFR on the plane back which Mark Jones covered ala MySpace exec junket soundbites) Back-Back meetings, continually 8 minutes late, but back now, cricket tomorrow after meetings and need a brain recongestant. So I'm greadering it with rss feeds :

Skype Journal on per-minute ultra-cheap wifi post skype phone plans, vschweet : "Nokia wants these phones to have real impact in the business market. SIP is business. They also know it is going to take some of these global travelers just like me to say... whoa... this hotspot / WiFi thing is better than Skype. No more headset, back to a handset. It feels good. Voice quality ok. almost as good. Still as we fall back to phones and handsets because the cost now lets us, it feels good and natural. Note I've made about three SkypeOut calls in the six weeks. I've made many many calls by comparison on Truphone and GizmoVoip.. Still in Nokia shoes I'd keep it tough for Skype now as long as I can. Every new purchaser of a Wi-Fi phone will soon know the benefits and think SIP or just VoIP.. Nokia buys Gizmo and SIPphone and launchs Nokia Stores in the US and becomes their own MVNO. I change my phone to packet centric from Cellular. Prepaid minute plans here we come."

6/2/7- 2300hrs: Go to sleep 2 hours early, I've gotta get up to Sydney and wakeup at 5am
7/2/7- 0100hrs: I can never get to sleep night before travel esp when i go to bed early and know i have to wake up early. Shift alarm to 520am.
7/2/7- 0520hrs: Farely smooth wakeup, get decent traffic on the Monash because i left at 6am from morn peninsula not 630am, so arrive at airport for 1015am flight 2 hours early
7/2/7- 0900hrs: Car Magazine on air freight airport is only available mag so dont buy it due to cost and read sun/age. Kill 2 hours, because i beat peak hour (last time i left at 630am and had to run for plane from long term parking, ugly)

Mr Jobs : "In 2006, under 2 billion DRM-protected songs were sold worldwide by online stores, while over 20 billion songs were sold completely DRM-free and unprotected on CDs by the music companies themselves. The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system."

7/2/7- 1145hrs: Picked up by lovely client et familie and am transported to interactive agency with suitably distressed flooring and great sandwiches if a bit sydney arty.
7/2/7- 1230hrs: Meeting commences. User Scenario planning session commences.
7/2/7- 1800hrs: Meeting finishes, in time to find taxi walking up Cleveland Street, and get to bar meeting to find margherita + coopers green.
7/2/7- 1930hrs: Half hour late, apologies. ninemsn home page and discussion of the attention economy ensues. freelance vs relocal'g to sf gulch vs bronte views. no ladies and gentlemen this is not a bubble, but there's some interesting people with some interesting views wandering around the corridors. they may be stalkrs.

Internet Stock Blog : "Google is reportedly the largest occupant of the current largest server farm in the Netherlands, Zernike, just up the road in Groningen. Looks like when planning for its future bandwidth and power demands, Google is a believer in the immortal words of Jerry Lee Lewis: "Enough is good, more is better, and too much is just about right."

7/2/7- 2330hrs: Hotel room finally. Erin Mcnaught poker tournament followed by Australian Parliament with Conroy or whatever the gits name is asking Mnr Coonan about whether foxtel getting 4 afl games is fair to the punter. i gotta agree. i was getting used to idea of all 8 afl games going onto fta. shame demetriou. shame. your $780m. private equity, bad. sleep good. 5 hours - more than normal in hotel as had a real window and could turn airco off and not choke.

Bekk's Blogspot : "It's brilliant. I must say though, the hotel this time was vastly inferior to the Shangri-La (which was full) in every aspect other than the fact that the Shangri-La NEVER get my morning paper right (despite having it in the computer that I want the SMH and not the Tele). The Amore Hotel Jamison got my paper right. There were some other things they got wrong though - like my dinner order. And the open safety pin sitting on the floor (which obviously had not been all that thoroughly vacuumed). And the sticker from someone's undies that they'd stuck on the side of the basin that the cleaners hadn't bothered to remove. And the slightly threadbare towels. The tea and coffee facilities were nice though, as was the bath. And I got stuck in a twin room cause all the doubles were full - which meant sleeping in A SINGLE BED. Migod. The Shangri-La has double beds in the twin rooms and king in the doubles. "

8/2/7- 0720hrs: Alarm. Find nova 96.9 merrick and rosso. nova in melbourne is 100.3, so u need to remember to look elsewhere when travelling. Leave packing too late and cant find stuff, leave hotel room too late, too much in bag, not enough caffeine, too far from alumni catchup in darlinghurst and am 8 minutes late.

TechCrunch : "Monster.com is a fat target. It has a market cap of nearly $7 billion and generates over $1 billion per year in revenue. All that revenue is largely generated on paid job listings, starting off at $475 for a single listing.. Seattle-based Jobster, which has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital, previously had a similar model - charging employers a lot of money to help them find qualified candidates. But late last year they made a decision to try something different..Their goal is to do what PlentyOfFish is doing to Match.com. PlentyOfFish is a dating site very much like Match, but doesn’t charge its users to hook them up. The company is doing quite well based solely on advertising revenue, and has been a serious thorn in the side of the for-pay dating sites. By reducing the cost of a job listing to zero, Jobster hopes to make a large dent in Monster’s billion dollar a year revenue stream."

8/2/7- 0938hrs:i keep running 8 minutes late to everything. and more. every taxi ends up costing $10 too. feels like tipping in america. here's $10 for u. and $10 for u. and here's $30 for parking. startups arent cheap people. smell of an oily rag. Have coffee, feel better, learn about new financial instruments which always rocks, more buzzwords to drop in other contexts. Allow 20 mins to get from city to pyrmont. (havent read email and hope possible 1045 wasnt happening)

RapidWebDesign : "This was a great session more for the fact that all the speakers spoke about their opinion of what web 2.0 meant to them, in my last post I asked the question what is web 2.0 and tried to clear up on all the different meanings for Web 2.0. By the way all 4 speakers gave a different view but all seemed to mention in the lines of social networking, but I think is more then just that!"

8/2/7- 1108hrs: back to sandwich place, but its too early for snadwiches which is unfortunate as i havent really had breakfast or much of a dinner. talk shop for 112 minutes then go to airport. get an indian taxi driver with rayban sunglasses who is talking about an interactive agency he knows that has done a rollup and they now have $200m in revenue and are public thru reverse listing. dejavu LAX 1999.

Perez quoting James Blunt on 'You're Beautiful' - "I wrote it in two and a half minutes. I saw an ex-girlfriend on the tube with a new boyfriend and lived a lifetime in those minutes."

8/2/7- 1415hrs: Plane leaves/arrives on time and get on road by 4pm. Home by dinner time. Read RSS feeds. Listen to podcasts. Chicken Salad. Sleep. Cricket 1st final Friday 130pm with Strawbs, preceeded by Collins Street meetings 1130 and pre callconfs for that in 9 hours. Outtee.

Listening to (megan gale's) : Hamish and Andy podcast highlights from today. SuperTags "nappies".

Brad Hodge You Are a Great Victorian

I just spent 7 hours on one slide for a meeting tomorrow, I kid not (and to think people are raising $12m for some Honest Tea - early grey + sencha mix pls), just wanted to say Brad Hodge you are a legend. After the duck and one run in last two innings, and an average of 11 in these matches for Australia, but having scored over 400 runs in his last 4 innings on the MCG (and 300 runs or so in the last week there) - And to win the match on 99 not out “Hodge leaves the ground to massive cheers.” (out there with another vic boy Cam White) what a great night. Except my TV had no Ch 9 reception down coast and I listened to ABC on the mac. Go Brad… World Cup spot please…

The Secret SAAS Spyder Move.

lambo spyder
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I'm off for breakfast after watching the (i've almost decoded it) Lost Highway. David Lynch seems to make a movie a decade, each getting stranger (and better !) While video bloggers need to hit a daily schedule, Tv runs to a more weekly package (filmed in eg 12 eps series so it's not 50 weeks a year although i did read in Sun today that each CSI episode costs $3m an episode)

Easy to see why videbloggers would take the production support infrastructure, passive audience, salary, and "a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder" like Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear (the one that didnt nearly kill himself or get brain damage) Irony being Top Gear is a magazine turned TV show. Either way cross media is here to stay. But TV margins and multiples for standalone TV will be far less than a properly convergent media parentco. (james packer did see this very early globally)

Top Gear : "Firstly, the Gallardo is a billion times better looking than the F430 and secondly, it's a billion times more fun. Yes, you can go round a corner two miles per hour faster in the Ferrari F430, but while doing so, you'll be wearing a rather serious, Autocar test driver face. In the Lambo, you'll be playing Vertigo, at full volume and grinning like a Halloween night pumpkin. At petrol stations, people always say to a Ferrari driver, "Ooh, I bet you don't get many miles to the gallon out of that" or "I can get more luggage in my Maestro". But if you have a Lambo, they'll say "My God, it's got orange seats" and "Can we have sex in it?"

Seems if one wants a Lambo though they will need to perfect a model highlighted by Brad Feld on Infectious Greed's blog. I'm thinking alot about how the sales function can connect and scale profitably along with excellent technical delivery.

Paul Kedrosky's Blog : "A rep gives you no productivity in the quarter after they are hired; they give you 1/2 productivity in Q2 and Q3; and they are fully productive in Q4. This allows you to lay out quota. To give the business some hedge and some "overlay" expect that you will get 70% productivity of this group. Therefore XXXX should be able to give the board and XXX exactly what is expected out of the investment that he/we made. For example if his ten reps have all been on board for >6 months and the annual quota is 1M Usd, then we should have 2.5M/quarter in quota laid off and we should expect 2.5M X .70 = 1.750M. I think XXX's quotas are higher than this but you can do the math. This takes out all the bs of the process - fact based is the investment paying off. I would do the same thing for Europe for every sales head we have out there - the answer on this one will be ugly, but facts are facts."

I Heart Hyperlinks Just as You Are.

harley ridn
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I'm totally fine with Snap creating visually value added stimuli as an opt-in offer for bloggers wanting to window dress the exit point to their site. I'm not sure how Wordpress is deploying it, but I hope it isn't as a default you need to optout solution.

Just as google was created on a search box and blue hyperlinks leaving their site - that model works quite fine. I'll have a 50 metre restraining order on any paparazzic popups thanku - whether they be a picture of the site I might want to go to ala Snap, or telling me I've won $1m then trying to hijack my osx device hoping it's xp.

My thoughts haven't changed since December 4 last year (about a week after bloggers started deploying) : Or years ago when I read suck.com daily and wondered what hidden connection the link I was clicking on would take me to. I trusted the author. And if I like the way they presented the link, and got me to click, like all forms of creativity, the surprise was the juice. Snap previews are like buying a book and reading the last page first. It doesn't work. (not by hijacking the hyperlink. it may work better as a separate blog sidebar plugin, in the same way 'latest comments' are also displayed on sidebars in some blog themes)

So I'm sorry Erik Wingren - whose totally sincere response is hyperlinked from MacDaddy Winer's Scripting.com Comments (sig file n'all) I don't need a picture to know what Dave is linking to or what he means. A thumbnail popup pic of a comments section of a blog really doesn't help me at all. The interwebs circa 2007 aint a Pathfinder 1993 interactive settop box display.

Erik - I totally respect the 2.0'widgetness of using someone else's traffic to drive usage to your service. But to help answer your question "What type of information would help You make more informed decisions about what links to click on?" I'd say focus on the back end algorithms of the hyperlink and display the previews not on top of the hyperlinks. Make it a sidebar plug-in that people can widgetise to their blog. Don't change the hyperlink itself. Heck these days, not even all hyperlinks are blue. They're orange, pink, black, have reversed out text, ajax, it's enough. I'm 33 and getting waay old fast.

The End of TV on Infinite Loop.

parisexposed dotcom
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

If you thought reality TV had extended as far as it could on a 42inch HDTV then u r mistaken. Real trends start on the edge eh of good and bad. Art and economics don't discriminate. Im off for bike ride now finally.

Big Brother with Hookers @ TVgasm : "The Golden Cage-- De Gouden Kooi- was the original working title for Big Brother when de Mol developed the show nearly a decade ago in Holland. The title finally got used for a show that premiered on Dutch TV in September. The concept is pretty simple: Ten people are placed in a luxury mansion, and live like millionaires, with servants, big parties, and-- in Holland at least-- prostitutes! NSFW Whoever lasts longest wins the house and cash. Sounds easy. And sounds like the show could last for years. But there's a catch: Everyone, of course, is under 24-hour surveillance, broadcast on TV and the web. And contestants have limited contact with family, friends and the outside world. So some wind up wanting out (The only way players leave the game is if they choose to, or during twice-monthly "firings," which require unanimous votes)."

325 Gold Street, 6th Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201

etsy labs
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

The worst thing about being a startup is lack of resources and working by yourself and in small teams of 1,2,3,4 people. So one of Union Square's Ventures investments - etsy.com (ebay for premium handmade folky goods) - is following the stage 2 of the dream by creating a commercial meets creative space, in Brooklyn. (i've heard of similar popping up downunder with all this interactive agency competition)

It's a neat comparo b/w 1.0 + 2.0 - When you think about the amount spent on infrastructure, logistics and warehouses for Kozmo and Webvan last time. It also shows SIZE MATTERS. And size created by funding too : i assume it's not being funded solely out of Etsy profits.

Any significant change can be created by and catalysed thru one or a handful of people, but to affect the change requires the participation of many more. Etsy Labs will envied by lots others who would like their own clock tower and 6th floor community. Unless it ends in tears :) Nothing ventured, nothing....

Etsy : "A couple of months ago, Etsy leased its first ever commercial space in Brooklyn, NY. Being the creative folks that we are, you know we would never be satisfied with some depressing, cubicle-strewn, scheisse box of an office in Midtown. Instead, we decided to find a space that will not only serve as Etsy HQ, but that will also be a communal creative space where we could offer resources, support, and classes to our users and the DIY community at large."

They really need to get Keith and the Girl (#1/#2 podcast on podcastalley) there soon (whose "podstudio"/Chemdas place is right near there) to do a podcast... now that would be something we could all enjoy...

Build it and they will create.

Web2.0 - extended mindcloudmap
Originally uploaded by kosmar.

So 2 years ago I thought Australia would be 2 years behind web2. Ended up being closer to 3 :) So in Australia, in terms of future mass market local 2.0 services it isn't a case of finding a post-gootube play, but rather looking back to what drove the US consumer web market 2004/5.

That's why local markets appear so open to me. Huge Gaping Hole I call it. Many of them. Local photo sharing ala flickr ? No. Local blogging ala vox ? No. Local video ala gootube ? No. Local every successful company on techcrunch ? No. The Local Aussie Web 2.0 Deadpool would not even be able to register any companies; Stillborn industry as entrepreneurs focus on global niches and thus relocate. It's also just a really slow market, same as UK - to get businesses and publishers to adopt trends that consumers are already "going offshore" for.

So let's say the major horizontal holes locally are plugged in 2007. You could search and find local blogs. Create them. Find + Interact with a high signal:noise to local people if you so wished. Images. Video. Social Networking. Audio. But what comes after ?

Jason Calacanis : "Frankly, the vertical is things that can make money from advertising. Finance, autos, tech, women, shopping, parenting, etc. I like to think I know all of top 20 right now. Just because i haven't done celeb stuff doesn't mean it's rocket science."

Vertical follows Horizontal. So I'm looking at how this (local) distributed platform of web2 services can be applied to high value verticals, and leaders/startups within. Usually #1, wanting to enforce leadership. To grow their uniques. Decrease their google spend. Offer consumers something new. Scare competitors. Or a new player wanting to kick start and change the lazy markets. Or fast follower, etc.

Local Business, Real Estate, Employment, Travel (Accomodation), Radio Programming, Movies, Home Improvements, Sport (AFL, Rugby, Soccer, Cricket) Financial Services (Stock Picks, Longer Term Planning) - should all be jumping on Web2.

Alot of these players have already started with basics like a corporate blog, a sponsored podcast series, some video on their site maybe. Crossing the line to get the real upside is providing the tools for their consumers to create in a structured sense, and then aggregate content to allow real interaction. You can see it happening O/S:

1. Flixster, a movie review community who just raised millions in VC (acc to VentureBeat) : "By November, after just ten months of operation, it said it had signed up 5 million registered users, who had posted 190 million movie recommendations. It drove this with aggressive policies, such as automating a way to invite friends on your contact list with messages that reportedly weren’t necessarily always true. Upon signing up, Flixster engages you immediately, asking you to rate 50 films to determine your preferences, and offers you a profile with spiffy movie-star avatars and backgrounds — and thereby gathering quite a bit of data about you."

2. MyDesignIn (a RRW Top 10 Demo Company) : "A social planning and design site that simplifies any remodeling project. "

These are two random examples in specific verticals (I'm also seeing first hand thru nook how "normal" people want to create, share, review and I'll say it "blog". it's not all going to happen at myspace :) Just like TV there will be different brands for different audiences with different content.

It's not like (even though bigger companies are starting to offer it) Web2 in a box for publishers around the world to implement to their community. There's still alot of hacking around all the different open source, commercial API's and custom built glue to get a custom solution for a specific vertical market. But many of the "use" cases as the engineers call them are similar.

Posting. Reviewing. Questioning. Uploading. Tagging. Friending. Reading. Commenting. Rating. Not that a publisher/business should throwing an "all in one" web2 toolkit at their vertical market. Or some hybrid legacy community bulletin board repurpose into a drupal like blog community platform. ick.

What publishers bring which is key is structured content and consumers. MySpace blogging is about music, geny life, etc. Basically unstructured. But vertical blogging needs structure. If you are reviewing a movie, the movie needs a common, accurate updated definition. Ditto stocks, accomodation, auto and local business.

My sales pitch would thus go (im off for a bike ride, its 23c Saturday morning - a nice day for a ride) : The disproportionate reward is going to go to market leaders and upstarts who decide to eat their own web 2.0 lunch, and start focusing on the local vertical opportunities that blogs, videos, images, video, audio and rss create. Build it and they will create. Sales pitch over. I'm very busy anyway, no really I'm busy. I'll try and schedule you, but can't promise anything. My people will call your people. Have a nice weekend btw.

Natalie Portman Considering Wordpress.

Here's a tidbit I got from Tony Schneider - the commercial wordpress biz dev dude @ automattic : "We just went down the list of the top 25 internet celebrities according to Forbes and found that an impressive 1/3 of them are using WordPress: #1 celebrity LonelyGirl15, Jeff Jarvis, Amanda Congden, Robert Scoble, Mike Arrington, Jimmy Wales, Merlin Mann and Om Malik." (It is kinda embarrassing Forbes connect "celebrity" with "internet business people", but heck if Natalie wants to use Wordpress, let her.)

---

Sam: We're not gonna make out or anything, okay?
Andrew Largeman: What?
Sam: Oh, I'm sorry. I just totally ruined that moment, didn't I?

Andrew Largeman: Let's just talk about good stuff.
Sam: Good stuff?
Andrew Largeman: Yeah. Glass half full shit. What do you got?
Sam: I got a little buzz. I got that. [laughs]
Sam: What you got?
Andrew Largeman: I got a little buzz going [pauses]
Andrew Largeman: and I like you. [Sam, embarassed, giggles]
Andrew Largeman: So there's that. I guess I have that.
Sam: I can tap-dance. You wanna see me tap-dance?
Andrew Largeman: I would love to see you tap-dance.

BB : Seems Australia is about to lose the cricket. I mourn Brad Hodge who has hit hundred after hundred at state level (better than NZ or ENG) in the last fortnight and he made 1 run to follow up his duck. Anyway, so I'm finally watching Inside Man (Spike Lee inverting his Clive Owen stereotype, Denzel.. supposedly the 2.0 version of Usual Suspects) and Miami Vice (get myself some Michael Mann - can never get sick of Heat.)

Update : Australia did lose.. Darren Rowse has a great little conversation going with his huge audience about which blog platform they are using... interesting to monitor.. remember days when had to spend $10k-$15k if you were a startup to do research...

"Research shows that for every deal a PE firm completes, it screens 40, appraises four, and actively pursues two."

micro future
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I'm reading this hbr garb to get to sleep, it's a variation on what you say no to. The precision and dedication of PE vs Corporate is interesting though. So I hear you say ? HBR : "PE firms create value in acquisitions by being very selective. Research shows that for every deal a PE firm completes, it screens 40, appraises four, and actively pursues two. Corporate buyers cast smaller nets: Whereas PE firms reject 39 deals for every one they complete, most corporations would struggle to come up with more than four or five targets in the M&A pipeline." OK back to sleep....

Surely more than "3 per cent of UK SMEs intend to start blogs."

lambo carcass
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I'm kinda guessing the UK market with it's multi-billion paid search market and famous newspapers has online media publishers with very similar problems to Australia when it comes to blogs, social networking and web 2.0. I can't wait to get over there, one step at a time though. I get to play very early morning golf tomorrow with my brother at Flinders, because I can !!!! Go the R7 !

But really it would be excellent to see some of the classic UK newspapers grok the structured blog/social networking thang. I'm so over your basic MSM blog that is embedded within a news site, that the "audience" can comment on. People are smarter than that. Maybe some of our smarter UK cricket followers can update us on the state of blog and web 2.0 strategies by UK newspapers.. I would be very interested to hear..

The Independent : "Recent research found only two FTSE 100 companies running blogs. This reluctance is backed-up by a survey published in September 2006 by web hosting company Fasthosts, which found only 3 per cent of UK SMEs intending to start blogs. This is despite there being 54 million blogs on the web, with another 75,000 created daily."

We also know future customers dont know what they will spend money on in the future and often when asked about future purchase intentions will not accurately describe the behaviour that does ensue. Some say the strength of the reaction (good or bad, often bad) is the key indicator. So maybe 3% means 97% ok UK SMEs will get a blog.

Who Will Write the First Definitive Book on Web 2.0 ? (and then make the movie)

Jeff Jarvis being taped on the user generated content HDTV sequel to The (govworks) Startup Movie is just too funny. And the PrayPerPost guy probably doesn't even know this guy took out Dell "it was so 3 years ago." Modernism battles Postmodernism. Suck.com vs Hotwired. Newspapers meets blogs. Youtube against TV. Tell me this isn't an Fn funny industry to be in. Certainly better than 2002-4.

The Buzzing BuzzMachine who I'm linking to far too much but he's where the action is circling the world in business class, kicking newspapers into the 21st century, web enabled reality tv n'all. 24C degrees here with slight offshore breeze @ 8pm.

"After it was all over, I saw a camera guy - with good HDTV rig and steadicam, even — who had been shooting the session. I thought he was Always On’s guy. But at the elevator bank, the camera was still following Murphy. ‘What, you have a reality show?’ I joked. No joke. They do. They call it Rock Startup and try to make themselves into rock stars (Murphy is “The Murphman“) and even say they’re trying to sell it to a network — though, of course, it’s really just a commercial. Here’s an episode about their brashly painted, branded monster truck and how they’re going to promote by taking a couple of “smokin’ ” promo “girls” to bars. The hubris of this organization is astounding. I asked Murphy whether he had seen Startup, the movie about the hubristic and failed startup GovWorks. No, he’d never heard of it. I suggested that he get the DVD. When I met with GovWorks in the bubble, I refused to allow them to tape it. Well, now perhaps I’ll end up in the sequel."

Setting : Hollywood, 2009
Pitch : "It's Scary Movie meets Bonfire of the Vanities with a Touch of Startup.com"
Jason Calacanis (now a HDTV distributed Hollywood Producer) : "What is Startup.com ?"
The Murphman : "You might have seen Jeff Jarvis in the sequel."

Sir Gerald Moore: "I was at dinner last evening, and halfway through the pudding, this four-year-old child came alone, dragging a little toy cart. And on the cart was a fresh turd. Her own, I suppose. The parents just shook their heads and smiled. I've made a big investment in you, Peter. Time and money, and it's not working. Now, I could just shake my head and smile. But in my house, when a turd appears, we throw it out. We dispose of it. We flush it away. We don't put it on the table and call it caviar."

Shorty: Yo, man. It's like I seen all this shit before.
Cindy Campbell: They had a killer at you high school, Shorty?
Shorty: No, it was in that movie- Scream. Same dialogue everything. That shit is ill!

"Turning to a favorite topic of ours, capital expenditures for the quarter totaled $367 million, bringing total for 2006 to $1.9b."

Geeks will be geeks, and so says Mr Schmidt, who sounds like a character out of Hogan's Heroes but is in fact CEO of a company called google, you might have heard of it, upncomingnall. They say it might even IPO one day.

Internet Stock Blog Transcript of Google's latest quarter : "Turning to a favorite topic of ours, capital expenditures for the quarter totaled $367 million, bringing total capital expenditures for 2006 to $1.9 billion. The majority of our CapEx is related to IT infrastructure investments, including data centers, servers and networking equipment. Our leadership in search and ads is a direct result of our relentless focus on building the most robust platforms for our users. As we scale, our business increasingly requires substantial computational power." (And to repeat my Local Matters Mantra : "International revenue was $1.4 billion, representing 44% of total revenue.")

Internet Outsider mentions : "Secondly, and more importantly, the peak quarters for CAPEX appear to be behind us. CAPEX for the quarter was $367 million, down from $492 million in Q3 and $699 million in Q2. The company's statement about future CAPEX, moreover, is that it will continue to be "significant"--a noteworthy change from mid- last year, when it said CAPEX would continue to grow "faster than revenue.""

BTW, Did I tell you my joke about the google hedge fund...

If You Like This, You'll Like That.

funeral crasher
Originally uploaded by benbarren.

I'm off to some client meetings which are accelerating at a fantastic pace. Alot of the enterprise projects I'm working on increasingly are using member based ratings, and ultimately aggregate scores for specific products/items (which can assist recommendations) so I'm always interested in what pros like Findory ex Amazon's Geeking with Greg say.

"Until Netflix released their movie ratings data for this contest, the largest data sets available for experimenting with and evaluating recommender systems were the Movie Lens and EachMovie data sets. Those data sets are two orders of magnitude smaller. Netflix made 100M ratings by 480k customers over 30k titles available to researchers. A data set of that size simply was not available until now. This opens up new opportunities for research on recommender algorithms. Not only are there considerable challenges in scaling recommender algorithms to big data, but also, as Googler Peter Norvig points out, we may have more to learn from improving our ability to work with massive training data than we do from twiddling algorithms running over small data."