aljoschakaplan

What Makes a Web App Successful?

aljoschakaplan — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:00:49 +0000

Some great thoughts on web apps. By Fred Wilson.

via swissmiss.

Here’s a video of a talk Fred Wilson gave at Future Of Web Apps in Miami in late February of 2010 with the title: 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps. If you don’t want to watch the 30-minute talk, you can also read the transcript over on The Faster Times.

The 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps from Carsonified on Vimeo.

Android is #1!

aljoschakaplan — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:42:18 +0000

Just had to post this!

via Gabor’s Positive Thoughts
3. March 2011

Open, inexpensive products always win. Via ReadWriteWeb.

Good interview with Y Combinator’s Paul Graham

aljoschakaplan — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 23:39:00 +0000

Y Combinator
9. March 2011

via youtube.com

Top 10 Tech Investing Trends For 2011

aljoschakaplan — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 19:08:00 +0000

Here’s a post by Dave McClure on the top 10 tech investing trends in 2011. As a result of some of my upcoming projects, I’ve been thinking a lot about what this next year will look like, what kinds of firms will be funded and which wont. Dave makes some very good points. Enjoy the read!

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This post by 500 Overlord Dave McClure was originally published on Reuters. No apologies for shameless plugs and links on several of our 500 Startups we believe embody these trends.

Top 10 Tech Trends for 2011

1. (Way too many) Groupons, social games and photo-sharing appsUnimaginative VCs — which is to say, all of us — tend to start the new year off throwing good money after bad on last year’s tired and expired ideas. 2011 will be no exception for “innovation imitation” with more group-buying ecommerce plays, more social game startups, and even more ways to do photo-sharing on Facebook and Twitter, now new and improved with 37 shades of yellow-gray filters. Humbug. My first easy and obvious prediction is that VCs will waste a ton of money chasing hundreds of “me-too” startup ideas. Nothing new here Kmart shoppers… let’s move along.

2. Commerce and coupons for location-based services (LBS), aka “The $5 check-in”While there have been a bajillion startups pitching “check-ins” and location-based services in 2010, I really believe 2011 is the year we see this category finally get some legs and take off. Why? Because companies are finally starting to provide discounts and coupons to customers via mobile devices. And once the affiliate market develops for exchanging location and profile data, we should see more people adopting check-in behavior to qualify for discounts and loyalty programs for their favorite offline services. As I wrote earlier this year in a post called “Check-ins are Coupons”, once financial incentives are combined with existing game mechanics, we’ll start seeing mainstream usage for services like Foursquare and Facebook Places. Going forward we will see an explosion of LBS innovation after Google, Facebook, and other platforms begin pushing revenue incentives for apps that facilitate location data.

3. Crowdsourcing: The Web-enabled mass assembly lineThe Internet is a great platform for distribution, but now you can use it to reach not only customers, but also workers — it’s called crowdsourcing. While Amazon Mechanical Turk has been around for a few years enabling access to thousands of remote workers, new startups like Crowdflower (disclosure: I’m an investor) offer platforms for managing the distribution of small, specific tasks to a large and scalable workforce around the world. By combining the Web with an “on-demand” workforce companies can grow rapidly, remixing both digital and human to weave an entirely new fabric of business services.

4. URLs for IRL: enabling the Internet of “things”Yet another innovation around integration: the offline world is quickly becoming stapled into the future by combining physical representations with digital ones. Imagine if everything you touched, held, or viewed in real life became a separate online addressable entity… kind of like slapping a sticker with a URL onto anything and connecting it to the Web. Not quite cyberspace, rather this augmented reality is how we are building out the real world online, and subsequently can deliver benefits of identification, indexing, categorization, discovery, and location to the offline world. This new and enhanced Internet enables offline discovery and navigation of many previously hidden real-world resources. Our investment in Retailigence is also connected to this trend.

5. The Emergence of global languages and geographic arbitrageCurrent estimates suggest more that two billion people around the world use the Internet via PCs, and including mobile phones perhaps three billion people are online, or around half the entire population of the earth. As shown by this infographic, English and Mandarin dominate the online conversation with close to 500 million speakers online and more than a billion offline. Also growing in online influence: Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, and Portuguese. What’s interesting is that these languages also seem poised to drive cultural trends globally. Looking at average GDP and Internet penetration by language, we can map out a geographic playbook for any Internet startup to prioritize how they lay the online smackdown on the planet, and use geographic arbitrage to move the point of innovation, production, and transaction to optimal locations. For more info on this topic, see p.5 of this 2009 report on global language trends by MyGengo, a 500 Startups portfolio company.

6. YouTube killed the video star: Distribution and monetization of online videoAfter years of free online video via YouTube, you’d think it’s impossible for anyone to make money online. But on the contrary: Apple, Netflix, and Hulu are laughing all the way to the bank, and even YouTube itself is rumored to be close to break-even. Massive distribution and monetization platforms are now a reality for online video, which should translate into tremendous opportunities for startups. We’ve already invested in video monetization startup Brainient and education video site Udemy; and we have several other video distribution and promotion investments we will announce soon. Expect more innovation and development in video, as millions of iPad and other tablet devices become mainstream, and as YouTube continues to expand its influence on global culture and entertainment. Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.

7. More iPads, iPhones, iOs Apps and more Android on the wayApple continues to be an irresistible force of nature when it comes to consumer computing devices and application platforms. Bloggers are already arguing whether Apple will “only” ship 45 million iPads in 2011, or if they’ll exceed 50-60 million units. Nice problem to have for a product barely a year old, eh? At the same time Android devices are growing in popularity, and seem poised to compete effectively with Apple for mobile application dominance. Regardless, both platforms will drive huge amounts of user and developer activity, and the future couldn’t look brighter for startups focused on mobile apps and services. Our investments in mobile ads platform MediaLets and mobile analytics provider Apsalar reflect our strong belief in the growth of mobile infrastructure services.

8. Design is the new black: The growing importance of user experience and designAlong with Apple’s success — or perhaps because of it — design has become a critical skill for startups. Apple’s fanatic obsession with simplicity and user experience has also become a priority for consumer-focused startups in particular. The most notable example of this is one of my former portfolio companies, Mint.com, acquired by Intuit in 2009. As with Apple, the Mint team had a never-ending passion for design and UX (user experience), and many people attribute much of Mint’s successes to their unique and compelling Web design. I expect the design trend to continue and even accelerate; look for growing and continuing investment in design-driven and UX-driven products. Our investments in eye-tracking startup GazeHawk, foodie pic-porn startup Foodspotting, and in 955 Dreams and their new History of Jazz app for the iPad are great examples of where we see the industry heading with design and UX.

9. Family 2.0: Apps for kids and grandmasBetter design and better user experience has made it easier for new audiences to start using the Web, particularly the young and the old. My kids – now 3 and 5 – have become big fans of using the iPhone and iPad, and when I watch them their experience is so natural and easy. They never had to read a manual, they just started touching and swiping and pinching – it was magical. But while kids have become easy and eager adopters of these devices, there remains quite a large amount of education content and apps to deliver. And not just for kids, but also for older folks too — more and more seniors are comfortable with computers and computing devices, so expect a growing market for users of all ages.

10. Facebook is dead. Long live Facebook.Some folks continue to complain that Facebook is overvalued, or Facebook has jumped the shark, or Facebook app development is challenging and the rules change constantly. To these folks I say: stop whining, get over yourselves, and get to work. Facebook is an unstoppable global juggernaut 600 million users strong, and dominating our online experience. While Twitter has certainly grown leaps and bounds too, it’s impossible to ignore how significant Facebook has become as a familiar and frequent environment… for everyone. And generally, this is a good thing. While the idiosyncrasies of Facebook platform change all the time, it’s worth the effort. And regardless of whether you’re building games or productivity tools, there’s no question enabling access and distribution through the Facebook ecosystem is a huge benefit for both developers and users. Our investments in this area include social media marketing platform Wildfire Interactive, shopping cart and e-commerce solution Payvment, and AppBistro which offers fan page apps and utilities. Expect these startups and more Facebook Connect and “Like” buttons popping up in an online neighborhood near you.

Credit for the pic goes to EatMedia.

Shinya Kimura shows you what it feels like to ride a motorcycle (great!)

aljoschakaplan — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:07:00 +0000

As an avid motorcyclist, I just had to post this.

via GraphicHug™ – Everybody Needs a Hug by Patrick Corrigan on 9/10/10

This short video is unbelievably amazing for anyone who hasn’t ridden a motorcycle and wants to know what it feels like. It is filed by director Henrik Hansen and his team in 2010. Love the audio and filming of this. Hope to see more!

Don’t just jump on the latest craze -> listen to your customers instead!

aljoschakaplan — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:52:36 +0000

Here’s really good blog entry by Mark Hurst (Good Experience) that I read in the summer of 2010 and forgot to post. It’s a worthwhile and a good reminder of the one thing that really matters: The customer!

The missing piece – with thanks to The Onion

via Good Experience, Mai 2010

Last week I had the pleasure of coming across what is perhaps the best-written and most accurate technology article I’ve ever read. It happens to be from The Onion: New Social Networking Site Changing The Way Oh, Forget It: Let Someone Else Report On This. With the caveat that the R-rated language is a little spicy, the thrust of the article is spot-on. In short, it’s amusing to see article after article pumping up the latest, greatest “revolutionary” new online technology. Right now everything is centered on social media, but previous waves have been about Web 2.0, the long tail, APIs, crowdsourcing, wikis, disruption, content aggregation, portals, online community, dotcoms, and (reaching way back to 1996) the technology that was going to change everything, “push media.” That was a good one.

Now. Innovation is vitally important, and we can all be glad that sites have developed to make use of the buzzwords listed above. (Thanks, Wikipedia!) But there’s a certain obsessive quality in how these topics get promoted – in the press, at events, and (therefore) in conference rooms at companies worldwide. Many executives actually seem to believe that this latest thing, this one, this is the answer to their problems.

But something is missing. The obsession with the new thing obscures an essential item that most executives avoid or overlook for years – often throughout their entire career.

Example: I recently met with a VP of marketing who sat down and said, first thing, “We need to figure out how to leverage Twitter.” Meanwhile untold numbers of prospective customers were bouncing off the company’s website, confused and frustrated, never to return.

To be sure – yes, Twitter can be a help. And a “social media strategy,” to use the current hot phrase, can be a help. But there’s something missing. Simply put, most executives have never actually listened to their customer, really observed the real customer experience the company creates, warts and all, to understand what needs to improve.

To be provocative: how’s this for a social media strategy – watch your customers flail around on your site, or app, or whatever, listen to what they need, and then go and build that. Regardless of whether it fits the latest headlines.

This is the key piece I’ve advocated for over a decade, via my consulting work at Creative Good: listen to your customers. Not to take away from interest in the “latest and greatest,” but to add an essential ingredient in the decision-making process, which often goes missing.

Some companies get this. They tend to be the companies winning, succeeding, leaping forward by miles – excuse me, kilometers – even in a recession. Most other companies read the headlines and say, “Dunno what to do, certainly don’t want to listen to our customers, so let’s follow this trend.” Maybe they should read The Onion instead.

Quote of the day: Not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving

aljoschakaplan — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 11:20:00 +0000

“I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving: To reach the port of heaven, we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor”

-– Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. via Barack Obama via John F Kennedy

via Gabor’s Positive Thoughts

credit for the picture goes to http://www.4filmmaking.com/

Really interesting interview from AllThingsD with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo

aljoschakaplan — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 10:07:00 +0000

via Creative Is Not A Department

Really interesting interview from AllThingsD which was done with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2011. It’s only 17 minutes long, I suggest you watch (it will make you sound S-M-R-T!).

A friend was asking me where I saw Twitter going, and some of what Dick talks about is along those lines (some of it is also things I just didn’t think about). There’s a window closing fairly quickly on what people generally term the “plumbing” of the web. If you think about the Internet as a house, the plumbing or wiring is what makes it habitable and powers the laptop I’m writing this on.

A core set of services exist as the plumbing of the Internet, Google is certainly one of them. Dick talks about Twitter as a platform-agnostic communications tool, with a view to trying to ensure people can discover the content they’re interested in.

There’s potential for Twitter, under that guise, to join the small group of companies considered to be the Internet’s plumbing, but I’d argue its utility beyond the simply superfluous communication sent out into the ether still needs to be more obvious to the masses.

Watch the video (HERE), and then let me know what you think.

SimplySeven.net: The web-site beta version now live!

aljoschakaplan — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 20:00:00 +0000

As many of you know, I’ve been helping some good friends write a book on internet business models. The website (beta version) just went live (beginning of January 2011). Check it out, feel free to engage in the discussion (in fact please do!) and of course thoughts and feedback are very welcome.

Check it out here.

What is Simply Seven?

Simply Seven is a practical framework designed to help companies select the right internet business model for their web site. It is based on the idea that there are only seven internet business models – no more.

The framework was jointly developed by an entrepreneur, a consultant and a business school professor and is being used by them in their jobs every day. Simply Seven is being published now as a book.

24h of the world’s airline traffic

aljoschakaplan — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 20:13:00 +0000

WOW!

via Hipmunk