Many Internet companies attending a Web-business conference here earlier this month described venture money as “almost superfluous,” says Jason Pressman, a principal at Shasta Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. Venture capitalists generally say their money and expertise are still needed to build large-scale businesses, and they don’t mind investing a little bit less in companies that have built businesses on the cheap but still want some venture money.
But some entrepreneurs believe the balance of power in Silicon Valley is shifting for at least a subset of Internet-focused start-ups. “There is magic in independence,” says Chris MacAskill, co-founder of online-photo site Smugmug Inc., which has no venture funding — and, according to Mr. MacAskill, doesn’t want any.
Category: Entrepreneurs
Dave Says Clone the Google API – I Agree
Dave Winer: “Let’s make the Google API an open standard”. I agree. Several months ago, I emailed the requisite Google email address seeking commercial use of their API. The following thread illustrates my unsuccessful petition:
Altavista, Google and MSN Search
Don Dodge, former Director of Engineering at Altavista, once king of the hill in the internet search game, sheds some light on what went wrong in the 1990’s:
The AltaVista experience is sad to remember. We should have been the “Google” of today. We were pure search, no frills, no consumer portal crap. DEC is guilty of neglect in its handling of AltaVista. Compaq put a bunch of PC guys in charge who relied on McKinsey consultants and copied AOL, Excite, Yahoo and Lycos into the consumer portal game. It should have been clear that being the 5th or 6th player in the consumer portal business wouldn’t work. AltaVista spent hundreds of millions on acquisitions that never worked, and spent $100M on a brand advertising campaign. They spent NOTHING to improve core search. That was the undoing of AltaVista.
You need to remember the context of the time. It seemed like every week AOL was announcing a $50M deal to sell traffic. Yahoo was doing it too. The game was build traffic with search, keep them on your site with content, and sell traffic and “screen real estate” to sponsors for $20-$40M a pop up front. There was no proven search business model other than annoying banner ads that were not really contextual.
7 Principles of Leadership
rganisations also need to select managers with the potential to become good leaders and fulfil the leadership skills required.
They need to give them the right training to help managers to gain skills and become good leaders.
There needs to be a clear career development policy in place, as leadership requirements will vary depending on the task and role.
Leadership development should be integrated closely with career development, it added.
The Next Battery?
The battery of the future, if a Berkeley startup gets its way, looks something like a fat stick of butter with metal grills stuck on the sides.
And it isn’t a battery, not technically at least. It’s a 4-inch-high fuel cell that should last 10 times longer than the batteries it was designed to replace.
Its inventors, founders of a firm called H2Volt, have joined the hunt for one of the technology industry’s Holy Grails — a new power source capable of running the portable electronics products that grow more complex every year
Silicon Valley, Where Brains Meet Bucks
A recent visit and discussions with a mentor friend of mine reinforce Alan T. Saracevic’s article: Silicon Valley, Where Brains Meet Bucks. My friend mentioned two ventures where he stuck with ideas through two bankruptcies until they were successful. That type of risk taking and stick to it attitude is generally not seen (there are exceptions) here.
What do you get when you mix two parts money, a healthy dose of brains and another three parts money? Why, Silicon Valley, of course. The most opportunistic place in the world.
The Madison area has plenty of cash. We simply must be willing to use it. Judy Newman notes that Wisconsin lags in high-tech jobs.
Part-Time Entrepreneurs: www.cmbsweets.com
Carolina Braunschweig, 28, worked as a reporter covering the venture-capital industry for Thomson Corp. in San Francisco. During that period, she also began contemplating the direction of her career and considering ways to supplement her modest reporter salary.
Ms. Braunschweig launched cmbsweets in June 2004, selling jams over the Internet at cmbsweets.com. Today her product line, which includes strawberry, boysenberry and olallieberry jams and apple-honey butter, is also sold in stores in New York, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Bob Iger and Apple Save Network TV?
On the ITunes Store, you can buy the latest episode to Lost and some other shows the day after they air on Network TV. in this case ABC, for $1.99. Sounds simple and reasonable. Not anything earth shattering right ?
I think this is correct – but – I’m not sure about the pricing. Some of it is not worth much, while other shows/documentaries (PBS?) are quite well done.
25 Ways to Distinguish Yourself
Yin and Yang: Gates & Jobs
While Bill Gates visited the UW Wednesday (more from the Badger Herald), Steve Jobs introduced new imacs, ipods (with video playback) and the ability to buy and download video online, via the iTunes music store (lookout Netflix). John Markoff and Laura Holson have more on Jobs introductions:
But Mr. Jobs, Apple Computer’s co-founder and chief executive, concluded a 90-minute presentation at a theater here by framing his plans in the broadest possible terms. “I think this is the start of something really big,” he said. “Sometimes the first step is the hardest one, and we’ve just taken it.”
Apple is not the first company to enter the market for digital video. A range of efforts are under way by consumer electronics companies and studios looking for ways to make high-quality digital video available on computers and hand-held players.
View the presentation here (Wynton Marsalis plays toward the end, which is simply wonderful).