February 28, 2008
It’s always fun and enlightening to meet with companies that really have there sh*t together and are on the ball, particularly when they’re not necessarily the companies you expect. Such is the case with NPR, who I met with yesterday here in DC. As a non-profit with a strong core mission of
"creating a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures"
they put many for-profit media companies to shame with their innovation and fresh approach to media. I was totally impressed by NPR’s innovative approach to media distribution – they are the uncontested leader in the podcast medium with 11M downloads per month and are way ahead of the game in mobile content distribution relative to others. Why are they able to get so much right as a non-profit, when others who allegedly have more incentive to innovate and produce profits, are slower to the plate? Maybe it has to do with a commitment to their core mission. I bet that a strong mission to which all employees subscribe is a more powerful form of motivation than any financial incentive, particularly when financial incentives are clustered at the top. Sergey and Larry have been quoted saying that their Google Foundation will pursue for-profit initiatives, which they believe are more efficient at innovating and producing desired results. I think that, for the most part, such is the belief in Silicon Valley, where missions are really masks for the real incentives, green. I’m not saying entrepreneurs aren’t passionate about building great products too (I fall into this camp at the moment because I’m certainly not working to save the world), but the prime motivation is different than when you’re building a great product to make a real difference in the world. They should check out NPR as an example of a non-profit model that outperforms its peers and achieves its goals – and I expect rewards its employees fairly well.
December 18, 2007
It’s taken me a little while to go public with the news, but I joined Sphere in November. I met this company in the most organic way possible….working from a Starbucks in Boston, I sat down next to Jeff Yolen, Sphere’s Chief Revenue Officer. I met Tony Conrad shortly thereafter, and while it took a solid 8 months to convince him to bring me on board, the rest is – as they say – history. Sphere is a most unique company for several reasons. First, we are completely virtual. Currently, 12 people in 10 cities across the country. No centralized office space, and while that brings with it certain challenges, it also minimized intra-office politics and some of the inefficiencies that end up slowing young companies down. Every member of the team is accountable for their sphere of responsibility (sorry, couldn’t resist) and inevitably, contributes in other areas too. Second, and most importantly, Sphere offers one of the strongest value propositions among similar companies competing for mindshare in the publishing universe. Our related content modules, which can be embedded in-line on article pages (Time, Reuters, WSJ) or through our ajax widget (TechCrunch, GigaOm, Bergen Carroll and 50,000 of others) offer equal value to all constituents involved. For the publisher, we offer recirculation of its content (much of which has become dormant and unlikely to continue monetizing) plus incremental revenue plus opportunity to generate new readers through our network. For the reader, we offer a valuable service aggregating related content and making it easier to grasp all the conversations happening around a given topic, thereby helping the reader learn more efficiently. And for Sphere, we like to think we’re democratizing the web, making it a bit flatter and more accessible by connecting conversations, while collecting a few ad dollars along the way. This is the win-win-win relationship that is Sphere and a big reason why I was attracted to the company right away. Okay, enough writing….time to get back to BizDev.
October 23, 2007
Two weeks ago, a project I began exploring in late 2006 launched. A partnership between Answers.com and WordPress, AnswerLinks is a tool that scans an article’s content prior to publishing and suggests words, terms and people, that may require additional detail, to link back to Answers.com definitions, explanations, bios, etc. It’s the first 3d party tool integrated into the WordPress publishing interface, which makes it somewhat innovative and exciting. It’s also the first distributed application of Answers.com auto-linking technology, an area that we believed has significant growth potential. From what I hear, response from WordPress bloggers has been positive so far and the partnership format has been noticed by others. AnswerLinks is also available as a plug-in for WordPress.org bloggers.
August 1, 2007
Last Wednesday, I visited Etsy Labs in Brooklyn for their Wednesday Tea. I was the only one who showed up so I got a lot of attention and some quality 1-v-1 time with a bunch of the Etsy staffers. Thanks to Michelle, Danielle and Sarah for showing me around. I had heard a lot about these guys and had to go check them out for myself. Etsy is a unique startup. They help crafts-workers promote and sell their goods – like a fixed price eBay tailored specifically for crafts. Artists setup unique online storefronts to sell their goods and Etsy helps promote the whole package. As Rob Kalin, Etsy’s founder and CEO, recently wrote in a long post on the company’s blog, their mission is to enable people to make a living making things. Check out their site at Etsy.com – there are all kinds of cool things for sale at very reasonable (cheap by NY standards) prices…this is an excellent place to buy a gift for a girlfriend, wife, mom, etc. Their offices are a perfect representation of the company…part-art studio, part-startup, part-commune. From what I gather, there is some solid core technology behind this operation, but you really wouldn’t know it from visiting. The office is adorned with all types of crafts – a recently constructed pillow in the shape of twin breasts, silk-screened clothes of all shapes and sizes and other assorted chatchkes. The mood is decidedly chill and laid back, one I imagine would be conducive to creativity. Union Square Ventures funded the company, which recently sold its one millionth product and is generating $1 million in profit on $12 million in revenue – a dollar in profit for each product sold at an early stage of development….that’s pretty nice. Check out Etsy’s full slate of workshops and classes held locally at Etsy Labs in Brooklyn as well as their national events calendar, or stop by their offices for one of their "teas". These guys are doing Brooklyn proud.
April 6, 2007
Yesterday, I posted the following question on Yahoo! Answers "Did we have any real proof that man landed on the moon?" In the past 24 hours, the question has solicited 10 responses and comments, provoking a compelling discussion on the subject. Some observations: (a) two sides were clearly established (which impeded totally objective and thoughtful inquiry), (b) several responses express anger or resentment which take away from the value of the content, (c) the ratings of the answers don’t seem objective – though these three qualities may be related to the political nature of the question – and (d) this level of discussion and debate makes my most provocative blog post look like child’s play. Also, when an answer is given "best answer" status, the question is locked to further updates. This seems counter-intuitive. At WikiAnswers – soon to relaunch (self-plug) – answers evolve and are perpetually open, as is the nature of a wiki. This is both good and bad. We also don’t currently have a rating system. Sometimes there is a satisfactory best answer and maybe the answer should be closed, sometimes not. I’m curious to hear your opinions on this. What’s the most valuable approach for the user?
March 26, 2007
The NY Post reported that the new head of the Brooklyn Public Library System, Dionne Mack-Harvin, has engaged Netflix in talks to provide a DVD delivery service to library customers. Wow!! Does this mean I could cancel my $12.99/month subscription and get similar service with my library membership for free? This is an example of the type of public-private partnership that provides a valuable service to it’s citizens and may drive significant growth for the enterprise involved. I imagine Netflix could lose a chunk of their Brooklyn customers, who would opt for the free option, but then again, the Brooklyn Public Library is the fifth largest system in the country and the increase in customers (who may be serviced at a slimmer margin) could certainly offset the loss. One thing this would accomplish is increased awareness and interest in the library system, which would be a great first notch on the new chief’s belt.
March 23, 2007
So a few hours after landing back in NYC from Australia on Sunday, I was asked to shift focus somewhat from business development to product management, with a primary focus on development and integration of WikiAnswers. I’m excited. I’ve been indirectly invested in product development over the past few months anyway and for the moment, it’s where I feel I can add the most value.
I’m not one to normally experience much jetlag, but I’ve been dragging all week. The 16-hour time difference between NYC and East Australia is kicking my butt. I’m hoping I’ll get back to normal over the weekend. Someone told me jetlag gets much worse after 30. Damn, I’m getting old.
February 24, 2007
I was testing out the new version of Skype yesterday, clicking around the "Live" tab and trying Skypecasts, still in beta mode, to see what they offered. I stumbled into music cafe, largely because it was the only venue with any significant crowd. The group was very international…Bianca from Honduras, Johan from S. Africa, Suzanne from Malaysia and Inbal from Israel among others. I envisioned myself in some far-off cafe with a group of travelers from distant corners of the world. Without warning, someone in Romania, presumably our host, started repeating "hello, hello, hello" at 4-second intervals which a severe echo. It reminded me of the scene in Independence Day after Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum save the world and then struggle to establish scratchy reception with headquarters back on Earth. Eventually our host explained that he was about to perform a concert with his guitar, "some blues and rock & roll," he told. Then, he played a few songs, and the sound quality thankfully improved. Unfortunately, most of the room’s inhabitants lost interest and left somewhere between the third and fourth ditty. Around this time, Laura from the UK, also in the cafe, contacted me directly asking to chat. After a few messages back and forth, she asked my age. "31" I told her, "how about you?" "14." "Oh, I better get back to work now, this is probably a bad idea [on many levels]." "Yeah, I know," she said. When I closed the window, Skype asked me if I wanted to add any of the group’s members as contacts. A nice twist on social networking, but I respectfully declined.
February 21, 2007
The Economist wrote an article in this week’s issue about the digitization of money over the next few years and how the U.S. presidents and British prime ministers assigned to new currency may have short-lived circulation (something perhaps well-deserved of our current leader). The EU estimates that it spends $65 billion a year to service cash transactions!! And I’m sure this doesn’t include the $20 bills that fall out of our pant pockets or disintegrate in the wash. This digitization may be one of the most
significant advancements enabled by the internet yet. With the added convenience,
however, also comes significantly increased tracking of our spending behavior and possibly less anonymity, something that cash provides. This is great for marketers, but not so good for Tony Soprano. Somewhat ironically, Citibank has been at the forefront of the movement from my perspective. I was impressed by the digital subway token called PayPass that automatically debits your bank account which they distributed to customers earlier this year (pictured here). A few months later, they sent me a radio frequency random password generator to login to my business account. I read this week that Paypal is following their lead. For a company that I generally associate with poor customer service and antiquated technology, this was a nice surprise.
Another area that is long overdue for digitization is immigration and specifically, passports. The concept of carrying a little book around with stamps from each country you visit seems completely ridiculous in this age. How much more efficient would it be to create a token or card that stores your personal information in a central database and tracks your every move? America, along with most countries, still issue paper visas that are glued into non-citizen passports. For my upcoming trip to Australia, I applied for a visa online. It was not only granted, but also applied to my passport electronically. When I recently called to confirm my seat assignments (its a long flight), the Kiwi on the other end (I’m flying Air NZ) checked and confirmed that the visa had been attached (virtually) to my passport. That’s efficiency!!
February 20, 2007
We released AnswerTips to the public today!! Its been live on CBS News and a few other sites (including this one) for several weeks, but this is the first time we are releasing it for public consumption by bloggers and other micro publishers. The neat thing about this tool is that it provides remote access to the 4+ million topics covered by Answers.com by making every word on your page live. Visitors can double-click any word to launch an Answer Bubble (or caption window…about 1/4 the size of an average browser window) that give definitions, explanations or general background info. We also think it keeps users on the page longer since they have less need to go search for info on a new topic that they come across. One of the challenges is educating the visitor that the tool exists and for this we are providing small icons that appear on the page. Mine is on the top of the sidebar. Enjoy it and please let me know what you think.
