Finding the Right Localisation Problem
This is an Australian centric post, but I get alot of email from people outside US saying they agree that the Web 2.0 revolution hasnt hit their shores. For all overseas 2.0'ers btw if you want to register for a group we could set up with a blog page and email list, pls email me) So back to my localisation problem ! There is nothing worse than knowing there are 450,000 Australian blogs for example, but no way for consumers to get to them. Try and find more than 40 Australian Blogspot blogs at once, even though there is over 100,000. OK there probably are worse things, but just as the MySpace founders have ticked "international" as one of their 4 major growth planks for 2006 (as if 160,000 new members a day isnt enough) there is a large opportunity for localisation meets globalisation that hasnt been tapped since 1999.
You only have to look at the (financial) history of ebay and google between 1998 + 2003, to see how important non-US markets can become to a online business. Even today google can launch 16 product features in one week (that we dont hear about) the majority of which are globally related. And people wonder why they smash earnings estimates.
Ironically, the web 2.0 mentality of smaller financing rounds and "small is big" has meant not many, but the very best have yet ventured outside Mountain View, aside from the odd Chinese or Japanese hedge. Which means in this world of lack of enforceable patents for online concepts, that people can pick their space and go for it. (eg Launch the equivalent of MySpace in South America : btw I know the kids that hangout near my Melbourne office at the equivalent of starbucks are smack bang in the middle of the myspace craze - if not yet at the so crazy it must be true lohan/moss poledancing stage) Let me use Australia as an example, which Im guessing is similar in UK, parts of Europe and Asia.
BUSINESSES.AU SETUP STAGE : 1997-9
Portal : Yahoo Australia (Yahoo7)
Portal : msn Australia (ninemsn)
Search : Google Australia
Auctions : ebay Australia
Jobs : Seek.com.au
Cars : Carsales.com.au
Real Estate : Realestate.com.au
WEB 2.0 BUSINESSES NOT IN AUSTRALIA
Blogging eg Typepad, Blogspot - No
Blog Search eg Technorati - Not yet ;)
RSS Readers eg Newsgator - Not yet.
RSS Enterprise eg Feedburner - No
Image Community ala Flickr - No
Web Link Discovery ala delicious - No
Video Sharing ala Youtube - No
Lots of people with 6-figure jobs (as I used to enjoy, grass is always greener, not that id change path i'm on..) tell me "But why do I need a local... blog, feed, image, video, search website ?" My answer is the more global, the more local. Not either or, just more of both, hehe. Which is just how all western media works - You turn on your TV and there is local news, locally produced shows - some with unique formats, some copied, others licensed. Then there are straight imported global concepts. Lost, CSI, Desperate Housewives, OC, Laguna Beach (ok im slipping).. Australia's summer and US' Winter couldnt be more different. We get into cricket and tennis over summer, we take pics of Sydney Harbour, not the Golden Gate, heck we're on another continent 24 hours ago.
Ironically, many of the new Australian entrepreneurs, like Nik@Omnidrive, might go straight to compete in the Mountain View marketplace rather than locally. This is the Venture Capital story. It's how it's done. The businesses even more so than in the 90's can be run from anywhere, but of course, people facetime is always important in critical stages of a business, and dependent on others and their resources for success. Not to mention sales + Fortune 500 office locations. I personally like the Hitwise flank non-US countries with less competition, while extending product lines model. For me. I dont want to end up like SearchFox.
People in startups talk about "The Problem" - Often this is just a throwaway section in the business plan before the ad agency or marketing exec comes up with a 'brand insight' or 'marketing solution'. A problem by definition presents 'perplexity or difficulty' which is exactly what we've found in executing our plan : Luckily we found a starting problem, which was the right size to address : which was to make leading and active Australian blogs indexed and searchable. Now we just have to get from prototype to beta in the next 4-6 weeks. Nice article here on our plans.
You only have to look at the (financial) history of ebay and google between 1998 + 2003, to see how important non-US markets can become to a online business. Even today google can launch 16 product features in one week (that we dont hear about) the majority of which are globally related. And people wonder why they smash earnings estimates.
Ironically, the web 2.0 mentality of smaller financing rounds and "small is big" has meant not many, but the very best have yet ventured outside Mountain View, aside from the odd Chinese or Japanese hedge. Which means in this world of lack of enforceable patents for online concepts, that people can pick their space and go for it. (eg Launch the equivalent of MySpace in South America : btw I know the kids that hangout near my Melbourne office at the equivalent of starbucks are smack bang in the middle of the myspace craze - if not yet at the so crazy it must be true lohan/moss poledancing stage) Let me use Australia as an example, which Im guessing is similar in UK, parts of Europe and Asia.
BUSINESSES.AU SETUP STAGE : 1997-9
Portal : Yahoo Australia (Yahoo7)
Portal : msn Australia (ninemsn)
Search : Google Australia
Auctions : ebay Australia
Jobs : Seek.com.au
Cars : Carsales.com.au
Real Estate : Realestate.com.au
WEB 2.0 BUSINESSES NOT IN AUSTRALIA
Blogging eg Typepad, Blogspot - No
Blog Search eg Technorati - Not yet ;)
RSS Readers eg Newsgator - Not yet.
RSS Enterprise eg Feedburner - No
Image Community ala Flickr - No
Web Link Discovery ala delicious - No
Video Sharing ala Youtube - No
Lots of people with 6-figure jobs (as I used to enjoy, grass is always greener, not that id change path i'm on..) tell me "But why do I need a local... blog, feed, image, video, search website ?" My answer is the more global, the more local. Not either or, just more of both, hehe. Which is just how all western media works - You turn on your TV and there is local news, locally produced shows - some with unique formats, some copied, others licensed. Then there are straight imported global concepts. Lost, CSI, Desperate Housewives, OC, Laguna Beach (ok im slipping).. Australia's summer and US' Winter couldnt be more different. We get into cricket and tennis over summer, we take pics of Sydney Harbour, not the Golden Gate, heck we're on another continent 24 hours ago.
Ironically, many of the new Australian entrepreneurs, like Nik@Omnidrive, might go straight to compete in the Mountain View marketplace rather than locally. This is the Venture Capital story. It's how it's done. The businesses even more so than in the 90's can be run from anywhere, but of course, people facetime is always important in critical stages of a business, and dependent on others and their resources for success. Not to mention sales + Fortune 500 office locations. I personally like the Hitwise flank non-US countries with less competition, while extending product lines model. For me. I dont want to end up like SearchFox.
People in startups talk about "The Problem" - Often this is just a throwaway section in the business plan before the ad agency or marketing exec comes up with a 'brand insight' or 'marketing solution'. A problem by definition presents 'perplexity or difficulty' which is exactly what we've found in executing our plan : Luckily we found a starting problem, which was the right size to address : which was to make leading and active Australian blogs indexed and searchable. Now we just have to get from prototype to beta in the next 4-6 weeks. Nice article here on our plans.
posted by redbarren at 11:01 AM
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