Florida Venture Blog by Dan Rua

Human Powered Cause Discovery

2008-04-29T23:56:00.003-04:00

As I waited for its release, I've always felt SocialSpark held great potential for spreading the word about good causes. I just didn't realize how easy it would be.

I created a free Spark (organic post idea) about Human Powered Cause Discovery and asked bloggers to do 3 things:
1) Create a Spark about their favorite Cause;
2) Blog about their favorite Cause, pointing readers to the Spark they created; and
3) Point readers to the Spark I created so readers can continue the cycle of spreading the word about worthwhile Causes.

It hasn't even been a week and I've already learned about 4 new Causes. Include the Cause I also Spark'd, Tyler's Hope, and that's five Causes immediately benefiting from SocialSpark's growing community -- at no cost to anyone. Those four new Causes include:
1) The Vasculitis Foundation
2) CRY: Child Relief and You
3) Kiva.org: micro-lending in developing countries
4) MS: Multiple Sclerosis

However, it doesn't end there. Let's keep the cycle going. Please take the time, today, to pick a favorite Cause, blog about it, Spark it at SocialSpark, and point readers to my Human Powered Cause Discovery Spark.

I Knew Ted Murphy was Superman, but Geez

2008-04-25T09:43:00.007-04:00

I woke up this morning to messages that IZEA CEO and friend Ted Murphy got jumped in New Orleans by as many as 8 guys. It sounds like IZEA's Travis Andrews saw the commotion and jumped in to help -- resulting in a beat-down of his own. Wallets and camera stolen, bumps, bruises, blood and a hospital all-nighter.

Early this morning, Ted shared this twitter stream (read from bottom, up):

canceling all credit cards. about 1 hour ago

I would so stick my face in some cake right now. travis...... wake the F up!!!!! about 2 hours ago from web

nothing to do. just makes me sad. one minute I am having a great time. 5 minutes later I am strapped to a gurney bleeding all over. about 2 hours ago from web

26 hours of no sleep. beaten by 8 guys. Happy to be alive. http://tinyurl.com/6m3gbm about 2 hours ago from web

@john_reese this is my last trip here. great food. good atmosphere but the risk outweighs the reward. about 2 hours ago from web in reply to john_reese

@taralamberson I will. just need to keep us awake to make sure we are ok. both took lots of hits to the head; about 2 hours ago from web in reply to taralamberson

@Social_Citizen no. not at all. about 2 hours ago from web in reply to Social_Citizen

my eyes are so red and both are so tired but can not sleep. New Orleans hospital almost as scary as the robbery itself. about 2 hours ago from web

eyes and face bloody. but both are ok. i was kicked mostly in the head. travis mostly in the body. both alive and breathing. thank the lord. about 2 hours ago from web

http://tinyurl.com/6hnw2w My wallet after theft in new orleans about 2 hours ago from web

police. hah. they wanted to arrest travis for helping me. dragged out of urinal by 8 dudes. crazzzzzy stuff. i was like what!?!?!? about 2 hours ago from web

just realized they stole my camera too. about 2 hours ago from web

rolled over and beaten. both of us. bad. blood all over. about 2 hours ago from web

pocket that is. i hope we are ok. about 2 hours ago from web

OMG I got jumped in new orleans. Travis jacked too. went to the hospital. just released. both wallets stolen. staying up to make sure ok. about 2 hours ago from web

It made me sick. I've been on the bottom of a multi-booted kickfest before and it sucks. Even so, I wish I'd been there with Ted and Travis. We've fought a lot of battles together for PayPerPost/IZEA, but this is something different. These guys weren't after linkbait, subscribers or sponsored bloggers -- they just wanted somebody's stuff that wasn't theirs. If they got to dole out some physical punishment as well, all the better.

Ted has taken a lot of grief from a lot of people while building IZEA and always comes back swinging. As a result, he's pioneered an industry and helped a ton of people put food on the table, pay tuition and make house payments while doing what they love, blogging. I'm just glad he kept his head down this time.

Get well guys!

Related images: ted murphy, travis andrews, new orleans

VC FAQ: Venture Capital Valuation

2008-04-21T13:05:00.005-04:00

I received a couple more VC FAQ questions. This time from an entrepreneur and investment banker who saw Angie's List close a $35M round with Battery Ventures. That large funding, and others in the social media space, left her wondering how value is measured and created in online businesses.

Her site, roxiticusdh.blogspot.com, appears to be an early step towards a "Best of" site for various cities around New Jersey and elsewhere. I say "early step" with no details, because the name and domain are clearly ripe for improvement. Her questions were:

How do VC's value an online venture?
The "valuation question" is probably the most often asked question I hear directly from entrepreneurs or on venture capital panels. Entrepreneurs are either trying to understand how crazy high valuations in the news are justified or how crazy low valuations (in their eyes) offered by early-stage VCs are justified. I've been on the entrepreneur side of the table and now the VC side and I know the answer, but it's rarely satisfying for entrepreneurs to hear.

First, there is no one way to value a company. Different funds use different methods, and when you're talking about M&A time it's highly dependent upon the synergies a specific acquirer is trying to buy. Approaches also differ based upon the stage of a company. Because I focus on seed and early-stage companies, any suggestion by entrepreneurs of discounted cash flows makes me run the other way -- the future is way too uncertain for such calculations.

So, if there isn't one way, what can I expect on the fundraising trail? A mix of Art, Science and Voodoo. The Art of valuation takes into account your Market, Management, Magic and plenty of other soft factors to create a spectrum of investor excitement. The Science of valuation takes into account private and public comparables (what price are similar companies commanding in the marketplace), and some spreadsheet work with future revenue/income potentials. The Voodoo of valuation brings in such factors as fund size, typical/expected ownership % and the termsheet competition. At the end of the day, it comes down to getting multiple funding offers so you can actually reach a "market price" -- zero or one offer does not a market make.

I've even created a short presentation that reviews the Art, Science and Voodoo of Valuation and included it below:

Applying all of this to an online venture doesn't change the process much. One oddity in online ventures is the value placed on eyeballs (by some), with the potential of a freemium revenue model (most users are free, pro users pay). Because of these oddities, I'd put more weight on the Voodoo elements -- divide your round size by the typical ownership expectation of the fund you're speaking to, and you'll get pretty close to the valuation they will offer (if they offer anything).

Do you have any advice on short, medium, and long-term strategies to maximize the value of a blog or online business?
For a blog, I'd start with the First Commandment of blogging: frequent quality content = traffic. Frequent content isn't enough alone and quality content isn't enough alone. It may be heresy, but I'd suggest frequency is even more important than quality -- assuming some periodic quality a reader can expect. Readers aren't expecting every blogger to be a professional writer, but they are looking for unique access or unique perspectives on information.

I'd also say that pro blogging is a contact sport. It's hard to do it well if you don't live the blogosphere life of social networking, bookmarking and engaging your readers. Just reporting information isn't enough.

Then, assuming traffic comes, the question becomes how do you make a business from your efforts. There are thousands of get-rich-blogging pundits, but I'd focus on the networks or marketplaces that help you earn by doing what you already love. If your blogging has to change significantly for monetization then I'm not sure it's sustainable. Write the way you enjoy and find marketplaces that will bring advertisers to you, from a variety of topic/product areas so you and your readers don't tire of the sponsors.

Last, for blogs, I'd suggest setting your expectations appropriately. Getting rich blogging is unlikely. However, there are thousands of bloggers paying a mortgage, buying new cars or taking extra vacations with their earnings. Consider anything beyond that just icing on the cake.

For non-blog online businesses, it's hard for me to give one set of value-creating actions. It really depends upon the business. As an investor who has been around viral businesses since HotMail first pioneered the approach, I encourage every online business to 1) find ways for new customers to learn about your business specifically because current customers use it and 2) streamline your referral/signup process to remove every barrier to adoption.

So there you have it, valuation and value-creation in one handy-dandy blog post. I really only scratched the surface, but I hope you find a nugget of interest. If nothing else, I must have prompted another question...if so, blog me another VC FAQ.

My Reactions for Startup Reactor

2008-04-18T10:40:00.003-04:00

Steve Spalding from How To Split An Atom and History of Blogging has kicked off an interesting concept called the Startup Reactor. It focuses on very early companies (typically pre-launch), shares their story and kicks off a conversation about their businesses. It's an easy way to dive into some new ideas and a valuable resource for entrepreneurs who join the conversation. Steve asked if I would provide some thoughts on Startup Reactor's first batch of elevator pitches and he published my thoughts via the following guest post:

First, I want to thank Steve for inviting me to guest post for the Startup Reactor. I think the Reactor is an interesting concept with value for participating entrepreneurs and those that jump into Reactor conversations. The current conversation is a review of five elevator pitches, from Transpondr, LogoBids, Publicitr, Siphs and Zambino. I should note that I was already aware of Siphs. I felt like I knew of LogoBids (or was it one of the other logo sites?). I have no prior exposure to Transpondr, Publicitr or Zambino.

The 7 Ms

I typically apply Dan’s 7Ms to evaluating venture opportunities: Market, Management, Magic, Model, Money, Momentum & Match. That’s a subject for a whole post series later this year, and too in-depth for this exercise. Therefore, I’ll assume comparable management skills across these opportunities (the #1 factor for funding) and focus on Magic (the idea), Market (size/competition for opportunity) and Model (distribution/revenue). There’s not a lot to go on with elevator pitches, but my thoughts/questions are as follows:

Transpondr

Transpondr: Magic feels too simple. I think that’s probably because you are focused on a specific problem (counting) without highlighting the broader strategic opportunity. Therefore, the market also seems small. The reference to hosting offers a hint of potential, but you need to share more than a hint — don’t make investors “do the math”, do it for them.

The revenue model sounds like freemium (good), but I have no idea how the world will find about you. Most viral businesses don’t go viral by accident, entrepreneurs specifically build in ways that use of the product automatically drives distribution of the product.

Biggest Question: How big is this problem/market?

LogoBids

LogoBids: I like the general Magic — crowdsourcing is an interesting theme across a number of verticals. The attraction of crowdsourcing also means you have or will have tons of competitors. There are graphics design and logo-specific entrants, as well as broader crowdsourcing like Kluster which have logos as a subset. Therefore, I’d ask about overall Market potential, assuming you’ll have to slice it up with 5+ other players.

The barriers to entry are low, unless you can reach scale fast enough to get eBay-like network effects: size makes LogoBay the default marketplace for logos. Revenue model is pretty straightforward (similar to other marketplaces), but like Transpondr the service isn’t inherently viral — so what is your plan to get the word out?

Biggest question: Why you win versus the mass of competitors now/later?

Publicitr

Publicitr: Magic wasn’t clear. Elevator pitch needs refinement with less buzzwords and maybe a specific example. I think the idea of analytics on a piece of content (versus site analytics) is interesting as content gets more portable/syndicated/bookmarked/digg’d, but I can’t tell if that is your secret sauce — or is it some special distribution engine.

Market potential is high, generally speaking — small business continues to look for ways to engage online customers. The model really isn’t clear either. Is this a news submission site with revenue per submission, an email distribution service with revenue per email, or revenue for some broad PR goals?

Biggest question: What problem do you solve and how, specifically?

Siphs

Siphs: I like the overarching premise: email is more comfortable for the masses than whizbang RSS stuff. However, I was left a little short on Magic. I think chicklet businesses/services can be sold small, but I have a hard time seeing the big Market (from a dollars standpoint). I’d try to understand how the button can result in a more substantial business, possibly involving ongoing email newsletters (DISCLOSURE: I’m an investor in RSS-to-email provider Zookoda) or some unique news/social property based upon what articles are being shared.

I’m assuming a freemium revenue model, but again you’ll need to offer more substantial services before people pull out their credit card. This business is inherently viral, so I like the distribution model.

Biggest question: What specific problem are you trying to solve for bloggers? I’m not convinced that an share/email-this button is sufficient enough.

Zambino

Zambino: I like the Magic here: in-video marketing offers unique ROI potential. My investment in IZEA comes from a strong belief that advertising and content will grow more and more intertwined as the world moves to on-demand content consumption (e.g. skipping commercials and/or ignoring display ads). This also suggests a very large market and company potential, if done right. Revver is a close comparable and their difficulties of late are a bit of a puzzle to me.

I would ask, “why will Zambino succeed given some other video marketing stumbles?” This leads directly to your Model. How will you, the publishers and advertisers get ROI that keeps everyone happy? It sounds like you’re already dodging the hosting expense of a Revver model by leveraging YouTube. Like Siphs, the distribution model here (good vids = more publishers/advertisers) is inherently viral.

Biggest question: Do you have the cred or the early unique publisher relationships to get content early? Just as good content can drive viral goodwill, bad content can drive viral bad will.

Now Back To You

So, there you go. As I mentioned above, the entrepreneur plays a huge role in getting funded. A great idea still needs a passionate, visionary founder to sell it to employees, partners, investors and customers. Assuming that exists for all of these, what do you think? Did I miss something or prompt any questions?

VC FAQ: From Developer to VC and Back?

2008-04-17T16:15:00.010-04:00

As SocialSpark was in private alpha I wanted to try out their Spark feature. Even if you aren't looking to monetize your blog, Sparks allow you to highlight a hot topic, pose a question or share a good cause -- providing a true "marketplace of ideas" for bloggers to pickup and blog about. I don't blog nearly as often as most bloggers and yet I sometimes get writer's block. Combine that with the fact that more posts equals more traffic, and Sparks can be a valuable firehose for blogging ideas.

I created one Spark for Tyler's Hope and another for VC Frequently Asked Questions. The VC FAQ Spark also tested SocialSpark's BlogUBack feature -- whereby I asked for posts I could blog about. Specifically, I asked people to share some common questions for VCs and/or specific questions they have for me as a VC. I really appreciate the questions I've received and my thoughts on the first few from caseyjenks.com are below:

How and why did you transition from being a developer into a venture capitalist?
While working at IBM's Networking Labs, I convinced management to allow me to pursue a dual MBA/JD degree from UNC Chapel Hill during the day -- fulfilling my operating responsibilities at night. I focused on entrepreneurship and new media at UNC, dove into venture capital topics pretty heavily and helped found/build some local startups. Via the Kauffmann Fellowship program I got introduced to Draper Fisher Jurvetson and was invited to help launch their first east coast fund. After building two funds with DFJ, I founded Inflexion with my current partners and Village Ventures. Breaking into VC was a combination of unique Engineering/MBA/JD education, technology operating experience, passion for startups/VC and a boatload of luck.

How does your experience as a developer help you with your current career?
Being a passionated developer taught me a crazy work ethic, especially on things I enjoyed working on. My VC efforts benefit from that drive. I also believe my background provides a unique view into technology investments and future strategy -- especially when initial prototypes don't show all that's possible and I can riff with entrepreneurs about what's possible. Last, I think developers (or engineers generally) learn the benefits of fixing problems once with well-thought solutions rather than applying patches. You'd be surprised how many times that perspective pays dividends in company building -- when quick fixes feel so easy.

If you were to go back to programming, would you want to go back to doing the networking research type stuff you did at IBM, or something new?
I still dabble in programming and have a blast with open source offerings -- makes it so easy to build something substantial quickly. I've got a notebook full of ideas and no time to pursue them. If I jumped back to the operator side, I'd focus more on quick-to-prototype applications with minimal adoption friction, simple/clean design and maximum viral potential -- with the potential for changing the world (e.g. not another bookmarking service)

What emerging technology excites you the most?
There are tons, but a couple I've been spending cycles on lately are open-source search (e.g. Nutch, Hadoop) and wireless power (e.g. WiPower, Witricity). Search feels like something that will eventually be open-source supplied with a combination of solid search algos, grid storage/computing and self-perfecting AI (to improve algos based upon user/community feedback). Wireless power has been a long-term obsession of mine and we're getting closer.

I hope these answers were helpful. If anyone else has questions for my VC FAQ, try out my Spark and I'll answer any here that make sense for FVB readers!

SocialSpark Launches: Do You Smell What the Spark is Cooking?

2008-04-15T11:24:00.011-04:00

So, today's the day Sparky is let out of his private alpha chains...

IZEA's latest innovation is being unleashed today at Ad:Tech, San Francisco, and the stars of advertising and blogging are already lining up to meet Sparky and the world's first Social Marketing Network: SocialSpark.

I gave you a hint of what to expect when the site was being designed back in November, and as you can see, my tone has shifted from Ricky Bobby to The Rock. This is a seriously powerful platform for bloggers and advertisers, the likes of which hasn't been seen before. In fact, before I even describe it, go signup and come back, I'll wait...

OK, now that you've signed up and, possibly, reviewed the video above, what more can I share. There's so much in SocialSpark, I'll just focus on a few innovations that get me excited:

1st advertiser/brand/agency social network with direct publisher friending, blogrolls, street teams and a dashboard to manage diverse social media marketing efforts. Imagine: advertisers proactively identifying relevant bloggers and organizing vertical advertising networks for their brands.
1st face-based analytics: GOOG analytics plus MyBlogLog (faces for visitors, not just recent readers) plus visitor demographics in one end-to-end analytics, ranking, marketing and blog monetization platform. Imagine: understanding your visitors as people with faces and demographics, rather than pagevisits per unique, bounce-rates or IP addresses.
1st 100% automated, in-post human disclosure, including audit tools to help publishers and advertisers verify compliance with key corporate or industry guidelines such as WOMMA’s Code of Ethics. Imagine: a marketplace that provides the tools to maximize visibility for readers and 100% Code of Ethics compliance.
1st 100% automated, in-post machine disclosure via “nofollow”, including audit tools to help publishers and advertisers verify compliance with key search engine policies such as Google’s quality guidelines. Imagine: advertise and blog in the open with SocialSpark, without fear of GOOG penalties from SponsoredReviews, PayU2Blog, TLA or other paid-link companies that violate Google Quality Guidelines. Align yourself with SocialSpark sooner than later, I believe a fresh round of pagerank penalties are in process for those smaller networks and DIY link sellers.
1st one-click blog sponsorship ad unit requiring no blog design/template editing to position the ad unit and provides 100% publisher approval to match brands to readers. Imagine: brands you trust ask to sponsor you and it's done with one-click. Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Blog Welcome, but I believe that is being decoupled from the easy/valuable bottom sponsorship banner.
1st clearinghouse for blog writer’s-block remedies called Sparks, providing organic post ideas such as inspiring charities, hot topics, etc. Imagine: more posts = more traffic, but without backstage passes and exclusive press releases like the elites get, how do you ramp your organic post inspirations? Sparks. I particularly like the potential for spreading your favorite posts or charities via free Sparks.

What else?

Well, I can share that advertiser appetite from the private alpha is already gobbling up sponsorship of the best tech, mommy and daddy blogs. If you are a tech blogger, a mommy blogger or a daddy blogger -- the sooner you signup, the more likely you are to be added to relevant advertiser street teams. As the marketplace grows, competition will be tougher and getting noticed by your favorite brands could take more effort.

I've shared plenty here, but I probably also prompted some questions -- let me have 'em...

Oh, and given my post title, I'll leave you with a video montage of Method Man's tribute to The Rock -- "Do you Smell What the Rock is Cooking?" He reminds me of Ted Murphy, but with muscles, good looks and personality ;-)

Entrepreneurs Never Sleep...

2008-04-02T16:35:00.003-04:00

or do they:

It seems Ted got a little of his own medicine after abusing Travis once too often:

Am I the Key to a Secret CIA Conspiracy?

2008-03-31T23:51:00.005-04:00

This has to be an April Fool's Joke, but it got a chuckle nonetheless. It seems two of the companies I'm on the board of (PayPerPost & CallMiner) have a secret joint venture with the CIA to identify and undermine radical, dissident bloggers. Hey, I know some of those. Why didn't my entrepreneurs tell me so I could watch what I say here at FVB? Maybe I'm a spy and don't even realize it?

Connect the Dots for Your VCs and Board

2008-03-31T22:20:00.007-04:00

I've been lucky in my venture career to typically lead deals as the local VC. This has allowed me to be very close and active with the entrepreneurs I back -- some may even suggest 'too active'.

There are many benefits from such a relationship, but one I particular appreciate is the opportunity to see both sides of typical entrepreneur/VC misunderstandings. The large majority of misunderstandings are about communication and little more. In particular, remote VCs/Directors either specifically yearn for more communication or, more often, they take issue with key business decisions that they don't completely understand because of poor entrepreneur communication.

Here's why it happens:
1) Entrepreneur lives their business 24/7, developing an intuitive sense for their market, customers, products and competitors -- and blindspots to what others don't already understand about their business;
2) Remote VC/Director focuses on the business at best one week per month, and more likely 2-3 days per month.

Now, if I'm right about this, think about how easy it is for an entrepreneur to forget to communicate 90% of what he/she has learned to inform their decisions. Likewise, think about how skewed/narrow a remote VC's perspective can be on the details -- some of which are critical to significant strategic decisions.

Given the realities of startups and funds, you're not going to change the typical time commitment of a remote VC board member. A couple things you can do is:
1) Make sure you have a local VC who can help you and remote VCs see the same things; and
2) Over-communicate by 'Connecting the Dots' for your VCs. Don't just share your vision, but share why it's your vision, how you plan to reach that vision and how you plan to track your progress/forks on the plan.

There are reasons you make the big decisions you do, and you need to share those reasons with your VCs. They may not agree with your conclusions, but at least everyone will have the same key datapoints in front of them. If you've done this well, your VCs will be happier, your VCs will provide better guidance and you'll have even greater trust in the guidance you receive.

Jedi Entrepreneur Mind Trick: TheFunded and VC Persuasion

2008-03-21T14:59:00.011-04:00

According to Wikipedia:

"the Jedi mind trick is a Force power. Jedi who know the power can, by using the Force, influence the actions of other 'weak-minded' sentient beings."

Now, replace "the Force" with "TheFunded", "Jedi" with "Jedi Entrepreneur" and "other 'weak-minded' sentient beings" with "VCs" and you have:

"the Jedi Entrepreneur mind trick is a TheFunded power. Jedi Entrepreneurs who know the power can, by using TheFunded, influence the actions of VCs."

I've noticed a growing trend of entrepreneurs contacting me with an intro referencing Inflexion's good reputation at TheFunded. It's usually a tone of congratulations. I think this is brilliant yet subtle and leverages yet another Jedi Entrepreneur power gained from social media (one of the earliest being the LinkedIn-enhanced, you-and-I-know-the-same-person cold call heater).

Maybe the entrepreneur really is impressed by Inflexion's ratings, but, just maybe, he/she is using the Jedi Entrepreneur Mind Trick to influence the 'weak-minded' sentient beings, VCs. Such an email immediately puts the VC on notice that you are aware of TheFunded and you buy into the VC reputation-system it embodies. VCs who actually care about entrepreneur opinions are then susceptible to the Force persuasion.

Just as Obi-Wan Kenobi was able to say "These aren't the droids you're looking for" and make it so, the Entrepreneur is then able to say "Your fund has a great reputation for thorough review, thoughtful feedback and value-added intros". And guess what, chances of getting that thorough review, thoughtful feedback and value-added intros jump considerably. Just as the Force couldn't create matter from non-matter, I'm not sure this force can make checks appear -- but it could increase/speed your chances of changing the world.

Now, I'm not admitting to being in the "other 'weak-minded' sentient beings" category. But, I'd love to hear whether some real-world tests with various VCs can prove the power of TheFunded and the Jedi Entrepreneur Mind Trick. If it has no effect, only you can decide whether to cross over and use TheFunded for the dark side.

And, while I'm at it, I guess I'll try too: "Inflexion is the venture fund you're looking for." ;-)

Ad Spend Trends

2008-03-20T14:21:00.004-04:00

John Furrier posted some nice AdAge graphs, on automotive sector advertising spend trends. He also asked "Are Ad Agencies Dying?". I'm not sure about the latter, but a shift is clearly afoot:

Related images: john furrier, ad spending

Sched.org: Order from Chaos at SXSW

2008-03-18T22:45:00.004-04:00

Congrats to local AJAX cage-fighters Taylor McKnight and Chirag Mehta -- for mashing together the hot site of SXSW 2008: Sched.org. Last year's SXSW love child was Twitter, this year was Sched.

Sched's simplicity and on-the-fly find/group scheduling picked up a couple thousand members during the conference -- and coverage by Wired, TechCrunch, and Silicon Alley Insider along the way (see Techmeme). It didn't hurt Sched buzz that the site was developed in only 14 hours (after some early McKnight prototyping).

Sched isn't the first McKnight & Mehta joint -- Chime.TV is another, delivering TV-like usability for net video. Taylor also helped create PodBop with Daniel Westermann-Clark. Keep 'em coming guys!

UPDATE: A mobile version is in such high demand that Michael Galpert even kicked off SponsorSched.org to get McKnight & Mehta an iPhone via this widget -- I'll toss some change in that hat:

Related images: taylor mcknight, chirag mehta, sxsw

Best Video for Wii Internet Channel?

2008-03-14T17:31:00.003-04:00

What is the best HD video option for the Wii Internet Channel? The Wii is a great way to watch video on our HD flat-screen, but it feels like the category could be much better served by a Wii-optimized site. Right now we're surfing YouTube and Stumble's Wii-specific video channel -- but surfing remains clunky and quality is poor (e.g. YouTube low quality is magnified on large screens). Kudos to Stumble for a good first try.

If you know of a better solution, I'd like to know -- even if it involves Wii Hacks. If you're a video hosting site and want a new angle -- creating the best Wii HD Video Channel interface could be worthwhile. Particularly if Apple TV gets more buzz and all those Wii owners realize they already have it...

Beatbox, SXSW Style

2008-03-14T14:55:00.007-04:00

Most of the SXSW wrap-up posts have trickled in by now, but I noticed this when I was checking IZEA's latest video antics. It's a beatbox mashup from the SXSW Bloghaus, including beats from Guy Kawasaki (How to Change the World), Darren Rouse (Problogger), Stephanie Agresta (Internet Geek Girl), Wendy Piersall (eMom) and many others...plus an opening by Loren Feldman (1938 Media) and a closing Britney Spears move by Aaron Brazell (Technosailor).

There are a lot of great bloggers in this vid I didn't name, can you name them -- via comment here or post at your blog?

History of Blogging

2008-03-12T14:45:00.005-04:00

The human atom splitter, Steve Spalding, invited me to participate in his latest social media experiment: HistoryOfBlogging.com. Given the various ideas we've kicked around in the past, I wasn't sure how serious he was. Low and behold, he took action and has pulled together a diverse network of quality bloggers with common threads of technology and entrepreneurship. If you like what you read here, you should check them out and/or subscribe -- and if you haven't subscribed to FVB yet, what's the holdup?

HoB member blogs include:

How To Split An Atom

Author: Steve Spalding

How To Split An Atom is a weblog that explores the intersections of Social Media, Marketing and Culture all taken from the slant of the so called New Web.

On it we look at the entrepreneurs, memes, and other odds and ends that make up the digital economy.

[Subscribe via RSS]

The Geekette Speaketh

Author: Charo Nuguid

Hello! I’m the Head Geekette. At least, that’s how I’m known in cyberspace.

[Subscribe via RSS]

Broadcasting Brain

Author: Mark Dykeman

Exploring and broadcasting from the sweet spots at the intersections of:

* communication and perception
* popular culture, social media, and commerce
* creativity and content creation

Our brains are powerful assets as we broadcast our thoughts, opinions, ideas, and feelings into the blogosphere and across the Web.

[Subscribe via RSS]

Sellsius Real Estate Blog

Author: Joseph Ferrara

Sellsius covers all aspects of real estate, with a focus on marketing and new technology. The goal is to inform in an entertaining way. There are tips, new trends, consumer news and a heavy dose of humor. You may see something unusual from time to time because we like to color outside the lines.

[Subscribe via RSS]

Florida Venture Blog

Author: Dan Rua

A running perspective on Florida’s growing tech and venture community, with an occasional detour to the Southeast/national scene, venture capital FAQs and maybe a gadget or two….

[Subscribe via RSS]

Instigator Blog

Author: Benjamin Yoskovitz

Blogging provides me a way of expressing my thoughts on startups, entrepreneurship and business, as well as diving into social media, blogging and online communities. It’s a great way to build relationships and maintain contact with friends and colleagues all over the world.

I’m located in Montreal, Quebec Canada.

[Subscribe via RSS]

Thinking Serious

Author: Elmer Thomas

This blog provides programming, design, business and productivity content for tech entrepreneurs living in a 2.0 world.

[Subscribe via RSS]

Five Bulbs, One Pad: Real Magic from WiPower

2008-03-06T14:50:00.005-05:00

Real magic -- wireless power. Staying on my video post trend of late, here's a quick demo of WiPower's technology. I've met founder Ryan Tseng a few times and I come away more impressed each time.

Is it just me, or was that 6th bulb there just to tease us?

Two Million Minutes, One VC's Wakeup Call

2008-03-05T15:38:00.004-05:00

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately -

…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult.

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off -- will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.

Bob Compton has been on the investor and entrepreneur sides of the table. He has travelled the globe as a businessman, a tourist, and now as a documentary producer. His film, Two Million Minutes, contrasts the work/study practices (not just Math/Science) of high-schoolers in the USA, India and China and is getting attention by investors, educators and leaders.

One analogy Compton uses is that Indian and Chinese families apply the same passion and dedication to education that many US families reserve for sports -- but economic futures for our children and countries will not be determined on a football field, basketball court or baseball diamond.

Not having seen the full documentary, it's hard for me to comment too deeply. However, I've ordered the DVD and, with two young girls, the topic is near and dear to my heart. Check out the trailer, including interviews with VC, friend and edu-philanthropist Tim Draper, entrepreneur and globalization researcher Vivek Wadhwa and others...

Florida Venture Capital and Entrepreneur Interviews

2008-03-03T16:30:00.007-05:00

Phil Leigh of Inside Digital Media caught me at the Florida Venture Capital Conference and we sat down to discuss the state of Florida entrepreneurship and venture capital. While at the same conference, Phil also sat down with David Bayer, co-founder of Inflexion portfolio company Databanq Media. I've included both videos below.

I've been following Phil's broadcasts since we met and I'm impressed with the stream of interviews he puts together. His topics are timely and his videos feel more like talking to a colleague than a typical news/magazine interview. Enjoy!

Where is Jason Calacanis's Disclosure, to People AND Machines?

2008-02-29T18:14:00.016-05:00

It's a good thing February 29th doesn't come around that often. It's a day Jason Calacanis may want to sweep under a rug.

After yet another episode of Jason jumping up and down for the world to notice him and his company (this time with some affiliate marketer rants and techmeme coverage), a Feb 29 post by Allen Stern over at Center Networks focused on Jason's conflicted, undisclosed PageRank-passing link practices and his promotion of such practices to the rest of his employees. Jason's practices were particularly ironic given he just highlighted the FTC quote: "We wanted to make clear . . . if you're being paid, you should disclose that."

You can read Allen's direct affiliate, employee, paid link comparisons. My post just provides a bit more detail to Allen's dead-on observation. My post isn't about affiliate links. My post isn't about buzz marketing. My post isn't about Mahalo's business model (human scraping is worthy of a whole other post). It's simply about applying Google's standard for machine-readable disclosure to Jason's PageRank-passing links. In fact, it's even more narrow than all of Jason's violations (Andy Beard covers some others) -- I'll just focus on his deliberate PageRank juicing of Mahalo already alluded to by Allen. No rocket science here.

Google's standard:
1) Google's position on disclosure, via Matt Cutts, is that adequate disclosure on the web must be understood by people AND understood by machines. [next 3 images are directly from Cutts presentation]
2) Google has suggested a few ways to meet their standard of machine-readable disclosure; the most straightforward being the use of rel="nofollow".
3) Google has exacted severe penalties against sites failing to provide machine-readable disclosure.
Jason's PageRank-passing:
4) Jason Calacanis gets paid direct cash compensation from Mahalo, and significant equity compensation from Mahalo as a shareholder. [next 3 images are directly from calacanis.com posts]
5) More Mahalo pages in Google SERPs equals more money in Jason's pocket and equity -- orders of magnitude more than the typical affiliate or sponsored blogger that Jason has railed against in the past.
6) To get more Mahalo pages in Google SERPs, and higher in Google SERPs, Jason repeatedly creates PageRank-passing links to Mahalo, with SEO keywords stuffed into anchor text. One or more links are a daily occurrence, with many linkfarm-in-a-post posts.
7) None of Jason's PageRank-passing links provide machine-readable disclosure as required by Google (or human-readable for that matter) -- even though using nofollow would still retain any traffic/branding goals of linking.
The result:
8) Jason's undisclosed PageRank-passing links are working. Pages that no one has found interesting enough to link, reach Google #1 SERPs because of Jason's single PR6 keyword-stuffed link. See this Google SERP and this backlink check as just one example of many.
9) Neither the linker (Calacanis.com, PR6) nor his sponsor (Mahalo.com, PR6), have received any penalties as a result of these clear Google Guideline violations. There are times when I've heard Google say they focus on the most egregious examples, but I can't think of a blogger with more compensation at stake, doing more blatant, conflicted PageRank-passing without machine-readable disclosure.

Google, what are Allen and I missing?

Where's Dan Now? #3

2008-02-27T09:52:00.005-05:00

Well, just like WDN #1, you folks solved WDN #2 faster than I expected. Given the long time gap between those, I thought I'd toss you another one I snapped this morning. Where is this Papa John's commercial being shot? I gave plenty away in the picture so I need the exact address.

UPDATE, 02-29-08: Congrats to Brian who nailed it (I shoulda blurred the Cantina). Thanks for playing along!

As usual, I've created a pushpin on my WDN map AND I was able to solve embed this time. Enjoy!

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