SocialURL

2014-07-14T12:13:00.005-07:00

A lot has happened since 2003 when I first joined a small online advertising startup in Irvine CA! Fast forward 10 years and we have seen a great maturity from online ad brokering to true innovation in technology in Orange County from the likes of Oculus VR to soon to come Payoff.com .

We've had a growth in the interest of creating entrepreneurs in Orange County CA for quite some time through the university systems and we're hoping to loop in full circle with the Founder Institute Orange County Chapter .

Irvine seems to still be taking the lead in having the best harvest of technologists and entrepreneurs. We'll have a select group of mentors and entrepreneurs gathered to kickoff Winter 2014 for the Founder Institute in OC - share the news and join us!

Bootstrapping 101

2013-07-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Over the last five years approximately 600,000 entrepreneurs pitched first tier venture capital firms in North America and about 15,000 received funding. Your chances of getting funded are 2.5%. This is a fact. Many of those that were funded became quite wealthy and many more failed. Venture capital firms are looking for home runs not base hits.

To begin, let's say you're having difficulties raising capital for one of a multitude of reasons. You lack an experienced management team with a track record of prior success, your product is still in development, the service you've created hasn't been market tested and you still haven't refined the sales process. Or, your company may simply not be a "VC deal" or a "home run", that is, something that will go public or be acquired for a bazillion dollars. Finally, your organization may be a non-profit with a cause like the environment or autism. Does this mean you should give up? Not at all.

I could build a case that too much money is worse than too little for most organizations, not that I wouldn't want to buy a NBA franchise one day to emulate Mark Cuban. Until that day comes, the key to success is bootstrapping. Bootstrapping refers to a group of metaphors that share a common meaning, a self-sustaining process that proceeds without external help.

The term is often attributed to Rudolf Erich Raspe's story The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen, where the main character pulls himself out of a swamp, though it's disputed whether it was done by his hair or by his bootstraps. Regardless bootstrapping sounds a lot more businesslike and appealing than hairstrapping. What follows is some practical advice for bootstrapping a start-up or small business.

First, focus on cash flow, not profitability. Generating revenue and profíts is the key to survival. If you could pay the bills with theories, this would be fine. The reality is that you pay bills with cash, so focus on cash flow. If you know you are going to bootstrap, you should start a business with a small up-front capital requirement, short sales cycles, short payment terms, and recurring revenue. Service oriented businesses or new products in hot market segments come to mind immediately.

Next, forecast from the bottom-up. Most entrepreneurs do a top-down forecast: "There are 150 million cars in America. It sure seems reasonable that we can get a mere 1% of car owners to install our satellite radio systems. That's 1.5 million systems in the first year." The bottom-up forecast goes like this: "We can open up ten installation facilities in the first year. On an average day, they can install ten systems. So our first year sales will be 10 facilities x 10 systems x 240 days = 24,000 satellite radio systems." 24,000 is a long way from the conservative 1.5 million systems in the top-down approach. Guess which number is more likely to happen. This is one of the most common mistakes I see entrepreneurs make. Stop dreaming and let's get real.

Hire an affordable mentor or small business coach to provide guidance based upon relevant experience. Most likely they've bootstrapped their own businesses in the past. They can provide you with valuable objective advice steering you around potential pitfalls and hopefully save you dollars, along with time, by keeping you from making the same mistakes as they did in the past. They also aren't going to want equity in your business just by having their name attached to it or request a seat on your board of directors.

Most start-up small business entrepreneurs don't have a "proven team" and you can't create experience out of thin air. Proven teams are often over-rated anyways. Especially when most people define proven teams as people who worked for a multibillion dollar company for the past ten years. These folks are accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and it's not the bootstrapping lifestyle. Hire young, cheap, and hungry people. Employees with passion and desire along with low overheads are going to be much more likely to stick beside you during the inevitable ups and downs your business will face. Once you achieve significant cash flow, you can hire experienced supervision. Until then, hire what you can afford and make them into great employees.

What type of business is best for bootstrapping you ask? One path to take is to start as a service business. Let's say that you ultimately want to be a software company: people download your software or you send them CDs, and they pay you. That's a nice, clean business with a proven business model. However, until you finish the software, you could provide consulting and services based on your work-in-process software. This has two advantages: immediate revenue and true customer testing of your software. Once the software is field-tested and battle-hardened, flip the switch and become a product company. You'll also have obtained a líst of satisfied clients and developed important industry connections which can be priceless.

During the start-up stage be prudent and focus on value. You don't need the fanciest office furniture, phone system or computers. Look for the best value, haggle and shop around for the best deals. There is no shame is negotiating pricing and terms on almost anything related to your business. Sometimes the best isn't always the best either; it's just the most expensive.

When it comes to employees make sure new hires have multiple skill sets and can handle stress because if they can't they're going to crack or go crazy lowering overall morale in the process. You are the visionary and leader of the company. Your employees need to believe and put their faith in you. Take your time; hire carefully. At times you'll be asking your employees to do three jobs at once, while learning a fourth, and eating lunch that day at their desk because there's so much work to be done. Your employees look to you for leadership so make sure to lead by example. YOU are the first one there and the last one to leave. Every day.

Go direct and sell, sell, sell. The optimal number of mouths (or hands) between a bootstrapper and customer should be zero. Sure, stores provide great customer reach, and wholesalers provide distribution. But ecommerce was invented so that you could sell direct and reap greater margins. By taking this route you'll also learn more about your customer's needs. Stores and wholesalers fill demand, they don't create it. If you create enough demand, you can always get other organizations to fill it later. Why would a store or a wholesaler put time, money and effort into selling your product or service if you can't? If you don't create demand, all the distribution in the world will get you nowhere fast. Sell, sell, sell and if you're not good at selling one of your first hires better be a superstar in that department.

In summary, focus on creating revenue, retain a qualified affordable mentor/business coach, forecast from the bottom up, pick the right business model for bootstrapping, focus on value when purchasing goods and services for your business, take your time to hire the right people and sell, sell, sell. For a small business or a start-up nothing happens until someone sells something to someone. Period.

About The Author
The author, Ellisa Brenneman, is the owner of Ethos Mentor. Ethos Mentor provides entrepreneurs with affordable one on one mentoring, business coaching and capital raising services so they can launch and grow their businesses. Visit www.ethosmentor.com for additional information or email info@ethosmentor.com to schedule a free consultatíon with a Mentor.

2011-03-28T11:40:00.000-07:00

Buffett Warns Of Bubble In Social-Networking IPOs

By Daya Baran at March 28, 2011 on Webguild

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s greatest investors, said investors should be wary of valuations in social networking websites as they prepare to sell shares to the public.
“Most of them will be overpriced… It’s extremely difficult to value social- networking-site companies… Some will be huge winners, which will make up for the rest”, said Buffett, speaking at a conference in New Delhi, India.
In January 2011, Facebook, was valued at $50 billion based on private stock purchase by Goldman Sachs. Since then the company is being valued at $80 billion based on shares trades on private-share sales site Sharepost. Twitter, is another such company with an astronomical valuation. Groupon, the daily deal site, has held talks about an initial public offering (IPO) that would value it at as much as $25 billion, two people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.
Bubbles happen when investors pay more for an asset than it is fundamentally worth. Eventually, the over paying becomes unsustainable and the bubble pops. It is a greater fool’s theory. This is what happened in the last dot com bubble and this is what’s happening with housing. Now it is starting to happen in social networking. Twitter founders Evan Williams and Jack Dorsey have already sold hundreds of millions worth of shares in the company to investors. They no longer work at the company either – they know at some point the piped piper will knocking on the door and they are getting out while the party is still hot.
Buffet is warning about just that – eventually the investors in these adventures (I prefer adventures) will want to see a return. In Twitter’s case it can only do this by going public and selling its shares to public – reinforcing the greater fools theory. When it does so, public investors will be on the hook while Twitter founders and venture capitalist investors will be long gone.
Here is a comparison of valuations of some adventures between the last dot com bubble and the current social networking bubble that Buffet is alluding to. In 1999, 24 adventures had a valuation of $71 billion by comparison in 2011, 5 adventures have a valuation exceeding $71 billion. The NYTimes also has a piece on the bubble in social networking that is worth reading.

ModelURL will get your attention with style

2010-02-16T13:26:00.000-08:00

Top Notch Model Networking Site Launches With Style

Los Angeles, CA – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The modeling industry just became more exciting with the official launch of ModelURL, an online network specially designed to connect aspiring & professional models, photographers and other creative artists. Presenting this high-paced industry what it needs, ModelURL introduces a fresh, interactive and innovative Web 2.0 site that focuses on the best user experience for its members, connecting them to resources that will benefit them.

The unveiling of ModelURL gives its competitors something to look out for. Shifting beyond the traditional Web 1.0 social media sites, ModelURL combines a sleek and professional design with a superb easy-to-navigate system for members. They can now efficiently manage their identity online and build relationships with people in the modeling world.

“Older model sites may help you make friends like in the Myspace/Web 1.0 era, but our site is positioned in a way to help you get what you really need in this tough industry: reputation, brand awareness, and strong connections,” says Son Le, ModelURL founder and CEO.

ModelURL recognizes the unique needs of both aspiring and professional models and the often-overlooked talents of their photographers, stylists, make-up artists and more. By allowing members to attribute the work of others on their portfolio with a “credit” and vice versa, ModelURL creates and reinforces an inherent reputation system of trust and portfolio quality. Anyone can then search this system.

Similar to Facebook and LinkedIn, members can efficiently manage their online identity by synching their social accounts into one place by importing existing model profiles and even linking their Twitter account.

“Being a professional model and now stylist, I have been a member of many other primitive modeling sites but have found them to be inefficient and ineffective. Our goal is to create a site that's not only comparable to other major successful networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, but also make it more resourceful and navigable for a community of people that helps each other,” says Lyndzi Trang, ModelURL’s Co-founder and Community Manager.

Only a small fraction of many exclusive features have been implemented on ModelURL. One notable feature is ModelURL’s directory of modeling agencies around the world. Members can now search for agencies and get in contact with them. Other highlighted features that set the modeling networking site apart from the competition include designating yourself with multiple creative trades under one account and import existing profiles from other sites. Reminiscent of Google’s limited release plans, only pillars of the modeling industry have been invited to join the site who are then given only 10 invitations to invite friends.

For additional information on ModelURL or to request an invitation to join, contact Hong Vo or visit http://www.ModelURL.com.

About ModelURL LLC:

ModelURL is the creation of Son Le, a former Yahoo engineer and serial entrepreneur who sold three of his companies, one that was acquired by Brad Greenspan, founder of MySpace. Other partners of ModelURL include Lyndzi Trang, former model and forensic accountant, Los Angeles celebrity and fashion stylist. Kennard Lilly, Los Angeles based creative interaction designer and co-founder of Dope Creative. Hong Vo, online search engine marketing guru from Inc. 500’s award-winning company, Wpromote.

Collaborating on all of their strengths, they make up the ultimate team for the emerging, model networking site.

Media Contact:

Hong Vo

ModelURL

720.341.4160

hong@modelurl.com

http://modelurl.com

###

Big News In WebGuild World!

2009-01-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

Skype Legend Bankrupt Trying To Save Newspaper

Posted: January 14, 2009

Morten Lund, the legendary investor behind Skype which was acquired by eBay for $2.6B has declared bankruptcy. Lund filed for bankruptcy in Denmark after losing $100 million in a Danish newspaper venture. The newspaper was distributed free daily and it was supported by advertising. Read more

Oprah Biggest User Of Skype Webcasts

Posted: January 14, 2009

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey is the world’s biggest user of Skype. The Oprah Winfrey Show uses Skype for webcasts, conference calls and interviews with big time celebrities and dignitaries. The show Read more

Steve Jobs Steps Down

Posted: January 14, 2009

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today sent the following email to all Apple employees: Team, I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with Read more

Google Cuts Engineers & Recruiters

Posted: January 15, 2009

Google has cut 100 full-time recruiters and has closed an engineering office in Austin, five months after it opened with a lavishly catered party, as well as others in Norway and Sweden. Google had hoped Read more

More Adults Joining Social Networks

Posted: January 14, 2009

BusinessWeek has a great write up on the growing number of adults using social networks. It is based on the information from the latest PEW Internet Research. The number of adults with at least one profile Read more

When Facebook Policy Goes Wrong

Posted: January 14, 2009

Earlier today Facebook shut down the highly successful Burger King Whopper Sacrifice application. The application that we previously wrote about, encourages users to remove ten of their friends in exchange Read more

New Yahoo CEO Wants Some ‘Friggin’ Breathing Room’

Posted: January 9, 2009

With Jerry stepping down some months ago after he turned down a $47.5 billion takeover offer from Microsoft and now relegated back to a more obscure Chief Yahoo!, the company has hired a new CEO. Gone Read more

Link re-working: this years SEO magic bullet?

Posted: January 14, 2009

Link re-working is something that keeps popping up on my radar and few recent events have prompted me to blog about it. Basically link re-working is the process of contacting people who already link to ... Read more

Eli Lilly On What's Next In Cloud Computing

Posted: January 14, 2009

Eli Lilly's Dave Powers talks compellingly about how the pharmaceuticals company is using cloud computing services to support its scientists with on-demand processing power and storage. What's even more Read more

Secret To Wooing Investors

2009-01-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

The Secret To Wooing Investors
Steven Berglas, Ph.D., 01.07.09, 01:30 PM EST Source: Forbes

A healthy dose of ingratiation can be as important as a great business plan.

Institutions may be tip-toeing back into the equity markets, but as far as entrepreneurs are concerned, lenders are hunkered down and investors have fled the scene. Only the safest, no-brainer ideas--if those--are attracting new money.

What does this Head Coach know about raising money? Only this one critical, if somewhat unsettling, fact: Financiers (venture capitalists, angel investors, commercial bankers and the like) are more likely to get behind a young company headed by an entrepreneur whose personality appeals to them than one run by someone with whom they don't connect.

While a spiffy M.B.A. can still carry the day in corporate America, entrepreneurs must rely on a host of intangibles to get their dreams funded--and that means doing something that goes against their grain: They must be learn how to be ingratiating.

Now, you might assume that because entrepreneurs have a penchant for breaking rules and thinking about the world in unconventional ways they should have little trouble fudging some of the more superficial aspects of their characters. Wrong.

Comment On This Story
Ingratiation is no cakewalk for entrepreneurs because they are so solidly wedded to their convictions. Indeed, the desire to prove them out runs as deep as the need for air and water.

Moreover, entrepreneurs' drive to prove they are smarter than everyone (particularly the critics they cannot forgive or forget) makes compromising their values and convictions seem not only wholly disingenuous but also threatening to their senses of self. Sometimes, that "I can do the job" confidence is so intense that investors run the other way.

I'm here to help entrepreneurs smooth those edges a bit while not feeling like they've compromised their values. What's worse, after all: a little harmless schmoozing, or not getting what you came for?

Ingratiation--the deliberate effort to create a good impression with others--gets a bad rap; far too many people confuse it with pandering, sucking-up, even conning. There is nothing deceitful about ingratiation--it is merely strategic self-presentation designed to veil (not deny) personality traits that might chafe or offend. In short: Don't sweat it.

How, exactly, to ingratiate yourself with investors (or anyone else in business, for that matter)? Having a winning demeanor is nice, but there's more to it than that. Here are four basic principles to keep in mind.

1. Enthusiasm over narcissism. Express yourself through your passion for your business. Talk about your dreams for changing the world and making money, not about how smart you think you are. (This isn't easy for ego-suffused entrepreneurs.) If a venture capitalist wanted to buy a brain, he'd go shopping at the appropriate university. Also, not all brainiacs make good leaders--and that's what professional investors are looking for.

2. Demonstrate that you are coachable. Nobody likes a pushover, but being able to take direction, or at least a suggestion or two, goes a long way. Don't be afraid to tell investors that you need their help and are hungry to learn. Remember: Investors have egos, too. They don't want to be mere moneybags--they want to be heard. They are also smart enough to know that entrepreneurs abhor structure and bureaucracy, so assuring them that you are open to a bit of direction will set you apart.

3. Project equanimity. Spouting state-of-the-art management techniques isn't nearly as impressive as demonstrating a high "emotional IQ"--specifically, the ability to think calmly and temper your emotions during crunchtime. Young, growing companies deal with plenty of turmoil--investors want to know that you won't cave under the pressure.

4. Let them know you will put the business first. Running your own business may well be your way of filling some psychological void, even cleansing yourself of failures past. Whatever you do, don't let investors in on all that. Make sure they know that you will always put what's right for the business ahead of your own emotional needs. The moment you come off as high-maintenance is the moment investors stow away their checkbooks.

Dr. Steven Berglas spent 25 years on the faculty of Harvard Medical School's Department of Psychiatry. Today, he coaches entrepreneurs, executives and other high-achievers. Direct questions or comments to: drb@berglas.com.

BuddyPress For All

2009-01-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

Playing around with Buddypress and helping a friend of mine host a blog platform check out the demo here http://urbantech.bluemonitor.com/demo/

Helping a web startup in downtown San Jose called Blue Monitor and truly believe in the vision it brings to an employee owned web consultancy business model.

The founder Toby Morning and I broke bread last night and had a wonderful dish of spaghetti marinated with a fresh pot of tomatoes, peppered bacon, and whatever else he threw in there that just made it wonderful. We both forgot the wine bottle opener so we got screwed there...but had lit up some very fresh kush before the meal and brainstormed on the services he was offering and a non-profit idea that i hope to revolutionize seed funding for startups.

Where are Mashup Sites Going?

2008-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

Recently received a ping from a Facebook friend (whom I don't think i have ever met in real life) saying that he too is one of the few that created a mashup site like SocialURL and was very intrigued and asked what i thought about the future of Mashups would be.

Its simple, Mashup sites will all soon disappear. The recent ID wars going on between Google Friend Connect, MyspaceID and Facebook are only the beginning and this will allow all sites to become mashups. Pete Cashmore and I had tea when he was in the states and we discussed how this idea of mashups will soon become integrated with more niche services such as locality based services, etc.

SocialURL will soon be transformed and we will turn this site into a social search portal. This was one original intent of the site and not a dating portal or another social network.

Channel 3 exclusive interview with Rubicon Project

2008-10-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

My friend blasted this over to me less than 1 minute ago...I have to give it to them for leverage LA for its ability to put together some very funny and creative content

Its as "Sleazy" as 1-2-3

2008-10-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

A New Way to Be Stalked

We don't want to alarm you or anything. But you might want to watch your back.

Starting today, it just got easier for you to be tailed.

The culprit: 123people.com, an Austrian-based search engine that officially launches in the US this week after months in beta.

Like Google if it focused solely on stalking people, 123 is going to be making it much more convenient for your exes, currents and potentials to find out everything you've ever gone public with. The site is just as simple to use as Google, but all the relevant info is displayed in easier-to-read categories. So, say an old flame types in your name. In seconds, the search engine aggregates everything from email addresses and phone numbers to ancient blog posts, regrettable YouTube videos, profiles from Facebook, LinkedIn, Friendster (remember that?) and MySpace. (Might be time to clean house.)

Of course, the upside is, thanks to those enterprising Austrians, it's now easier than ever to reconnect with people you've actually been wanting to hear from—even if you didn't know you had until a flirty email from them popped into your inbox.

Because every once in a while, an old flame just needs a new spark.

123people.com

Invest in the 401-Keg plan while economy is down

2008-10-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Delta Airlines one year ago, you will have $49.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in AIG one year ago, you will have $33.00 today. If you had purchased $1,000 of shares in Lehman Brothers one year ago, you will have $0.00 today. But, if you had purchased $1,000 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the aluminum cans for recycling refund, you would have received $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment plan is to drink heavily & recycle. It is called the 401-Keg.

FFWD is the new Pandora of Online Video

2008-10-09T01:49:00.000-07:00

FFWD.com just came out of private beta today. A few months ago i attended Under the Radar at the Microsoft campus and saw Patrick Koppula present his online video startup "FFWD.com" and I felt the fire for online video reignited in me. I was truly blown away at how he fully captured the idea i had for MyTV for ManiaTV a year ago.

Patrick and I have never met before that day but i had heard about his prior startup venture iLike.com which he co-founded. I can see how closely the layout looks to what I was working on at ManiaTV early last year! For my friends who are still at ManiaTV will know what i'm talking about:)

Some Positives on FFWD:

1. The User Experience execution is really dead on - lots of white background, short 4 line sign up, pick your interest with thumbnails (limited choices) and bam! start enjoying the pandora of online video!

2. I was able to invite all my 1850 contacts from my Gmail all at once:)

3. Non crowded video search experience, intuitive options to drill down on my interests

Other notes:

1. I can't rewind to prior video that i watched unless i save it

2. I tend to not scroll down to see who else was watching the same channel and wish I could

3. no place to comment or give instant feedback

Blogging badly

2008-07-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Hung out with a professional blogger today and the best advice I've heard regarding blogging is that you need to blog and blog badly for about a year before you get all the bad writing out of your system.

But how do you know when all the bad has gone out from you? He also mentioned about blogging about the simple things like..."That was an awesome $5 dollar footlong today at SubWays" or "We just got this cool white bean bag at the office and made our PR team jealous".

Do people really want to know that i owe a book to the Stanford Library? Or that I ran out of gas while I was only 2 miles from home the other night which made my wife furious and rightly so? Or that I recently cut my own hair with thinning scissors and that my hair looks like crap? Or that I am a horrible non-profit fundraiser for LiveStrong San Jose? Or that I never wanted or intended for SocialURL to be full of half naked people and that I truly wanted to solve the problem of presence on multiple social networks, reputation management and how to systematically spread your social profiles in one place for the best Social Media Optimization results?

By the way i have a new problem that I am solving...how to stop blogging badly:)

July 13th LiveStrong 5K run

2008-07-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

Lost my grandparents to cancer so this run is for those who are still fighting- join me in supporting this run.

Click Here to Donate My Run

Breaking into Madison Avenue

2008-06-06T09:26:00.000-07:00

Under the Radar in Mountain View yesterday was a much better turnout than I expected. I truly wish we spent time to present at this event. I don't believe you really have anything real in the startup world unless its somewhat validated.

Its also not validated if you don't get the buy in from advertisers.

Ellen Mcgirt, Fast Company/Moderated a fireside chat for the finale of Under the Radar in Mountain View.

Panelists included:

Scott Schiller, Glam Media (cofounder of IAB)
Jeff Stiers, JWT (project Sector64)
Chris Colbourn, R/GA
Tom Bedecarre, AKQA

Props given: Hubert founder at Curse.com- went to Intel asked who works in the food chain in marketing, persistence in getting one Marquee advertiser was key to his success

Target: Old world was on 60seconds (TV) to plug brand for toothless, Now its blogs etc.

What Madison Ave looks for: REACH, TARGETING & ENGAGEMENT - planner figures this out

Problem: REACH + TARGETING + ENGAGMENT = VALUE...what other revenue models will win? Relevance matters...PUSH /REACH MEDIA vs CONNECTING MEDIA...not about new revenue models. Not about search advertising.

Just because Facebook has a lot of people doesn't mean its valuable...utility mode is not same as consumption mode on TV

Blogging Ad Networks are still untapped market...

Comcast buys into Web3.0 with Plaxo...

2008-05-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

A Letter from the CEO and Founders

Dear Plaxo member,

We are excited to announce some of the biggest news in the history of Plaxo. Plaxo has signed a definitive agreement** to be acquired by Comcast, the nation's leading provider of entertainment, information and communications products and services. We've got at least a few months to go before the acquisition is completed, but we wanted to send you this note to let you know what's coming up and how it affects you and your account.

Plaxo will remain an independent brand, organization and entity. We've been busy at work on our networked address book service and our next-generation social network, Pulse (if it's been a while, please come back and check out all the new features). And, through additional projects with Comcast, we'll be able to take these services to a lot more users and places than we could on our own... including the TV, phone and more.

If you'd like to read more about some of the great new things we're planning, please read our official announcement.

So, what does this mean for current Plaxo members like you? The services you know and enjoy from Plaxo will not only continue to exist, but will also continue to evolve and improve. We will continue to make our basic services free, and we will continue to serve customers in multiple languages across the world. But, we'll now be able to invest even more in our services, and we will enhance them with more users and more content available across a wider array of devices.

We will also continue to protect your privacy and give you control of your information. We will continue to protect your data with one of the strongest privacy policies, which will remain in effect even after the transition. And, we'll continue to be a strong advocate for the open social web.

We've put together a quick Q&A about your privacy, account and your data.

Last, we'd like to extend an enormous thank you. Whether you've been a Plaxo user for a long time or just recently joined Pulse, we'd like to thank you for making Plaxo a vibrant network. We are excited to open a new chapter today and look forward to helping you keep in touch with the people you care about.

Sincerely,

Ben Golub, Chief Executive Officer
Cameron Ring, Founder and Chief Architect
Todd Masonis, Founder and Vice President of Products

Racing to Web3.0

2008-05-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Joe Marchese of SocialVibe wrote his latest entry via Mediapost regarding MySpace, Facebook and Google racing to Web3.0.

It is clear that things are bubbling up and I have been preaching about social aggregation for years now...Its not a matter of whether "MySpace and Facebook play nice" its a matter of what users want. The nice part about web3.0 ubiquity is that neither "MySpace or Facebook have to win" one over the other. Those sites are there to serve the users and their need to connect- sure there is overlap but at the end of the day there are very clear user experiences that set them apart.

I for one would love to have the convenience of signing up to all the new sites (Although I'm not a big fan of Myspace) that interest me on Mashable posts which seems to be about 1 new site every 5 minutes but simply for the purpose of profile casting and search engine optimization as a social media practitioner.

FriendConnect is going to do what ClaimID has tried to do over the last couple of years and quite frankly what I originally wanted for SocialURL from the beginning.

SocialURL App?

2008-04-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Met with Pete from Mashable last week and he announced that they have an API out similar to Facebook. Asked if I would create a SocialURL App so that he can plug. Often wonder how everything would be completely different if we partnered up. Its one of those rare occasions of "What If".

Guess If we do win that IdeaBlob contest it could come true!

IdealBlob Winner!...(almost)

2008-04-11T13:42:00.001-07:00

Got an email saying I'm just a vote away from winning the IdeaBlob contest for $10K- after that I'll go and collect my $950,000 from this other guy in Africa who just inherited the money from his family and is looking to invest in the US.

GrandCentral meeting at Google Campus

2008-03-31T14:23:00.000-07:00

Visited the Google Campus the other day and met with the GrandCentral product manager, what an awesome place. First when arriving you see the employees riding the Google baby blue beach cruisers. When you sign in there is a screen that asks for your name and who you are there to see and it prints out your nametag sticker...ahh...makes you feel official.

The campus is only a few minutes from Ipevo's office but it felt like being on the movie set of Toys (that corky 80's movie with Robin Williams). The culture that they've created is one that all startups envy. Before going into the meeting conference room my colleague Ed and I pass through the cafeteria which is fully stocked with all the beverages and snacks you'll ever need to work 24/7...

Meeting was very interesting and crossing fingers for future integrations with IPEVO and Google...needless to say- I am an official Grandcentral member call me to test it out anytime: (408) 922-9933

MySpace Cancelled...

2008-03-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

I cancelled my "MySpace" account today...It felt so liberating. I never used it so it was pretty easy to do so. I realized that it is a cause of a lot of drama in my domestic life and felt too much like high school with no end. I have kept in touch with my best friend since were were 12 and for the last 20 years we managed to keep in touch even without myspace.

Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is changing...it has gone from Self-Actualization as the pinnacle of needs to something needed as food and shelter. Many will deny it but it is a proven fact that people who are on social networks are spending more time on social networks than in real life networks replacing real friendships, family and/or even real sexual intimacy. It is a causing a false sense of "Self-actualization", a false sense of "Esteem" (reputation), a false sense of "Love/Belonging" and sadly a false sense of "Safety" to the ruin of many who are addicted to such websites like MySpace.

Facebook is also becoming much more like this and its initial purpose no longer exists. I will likely cancel that account soon too. Linkedin has provided me with support for my basic need- a network to help me find work in order to support my "Physiological" needs. Beyond that -most of the professionals that I am networked with I have met at functions or in business settings so it does not feel like another social network. Recruiters and Offshore engineers are starting to make it a bit concerning at times.

The Best Document Social Network Site

2008-03-04T08:40:00.001-08:00

So as of late I've been finding some great resources via the web (go figure). I was on google searching for key word terms: "Common Stock Option Agreements" and it came up with a few listings.

1. www.slideshare.net

and

2. www.docstoc.com

I am a member of Slideshare and enjoy their powerpoint presentations and PDF exchange forum, but last night i found myself downloading about 15 documents from docstoc.com and really enjoyed the search function on it which was very accurate, resourceful and fast.

I recommend any startup entrepreneur who is in need of documents to visit both of these sites to gather their needed templates for startup work.

I would totally invest in these sites if they were interested in taking investors.

Jason Calcanis on Affiliate Spam

2008-02-29T06:18:00.000-08:00

Jason Calcanis is in my direct connection on Linkedin and yesterday was the first time I have heard his voice via Webmasterworld radio. His passion for the web and the conviction in his tone reminds me of Christian evangelists on the radio. His speech at Affiliate Summit reads like the books out of the old testament to the new testament too.

"In the beginning...there was Usenet..."

It was very entertainning listening to his speech- don't take my word for it- just listen below:

Webmaster Radio

Jason Calacanis on Affiliate Spam

Jason Calacanis talks about affiliate spam, Seth Godins Squidoo service and remarking about the large amount of content on Squidoo that is stolen and is overpopulated with affiliate spam.

Show: Affiliate Summit

Channel: Conferences

Taxes, Debts and other fun things due by April 15th!

2008-02-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

So aside from having to deal with dissolution fees & taxes from my prior startup Viabuzz LLC. - I have to deal with other debts that are coming out of the woodworks...

When my wife and I moved to Denver we didn't have insurance kick in right away and our son got so sick due to weather changes that we incurred an emergency hospital bill because he needed an IV injection.

We got insurance for a few months and shortly after we decided to shop for another carrier- wouldn't you know it- our daughter falls on a corner of a side lamp table and receives 5 stitches over her eyebrow at 18 months of age- whammo another hospital bill...

Here I am trying to pull off being an entrepreneur, a consultant, a husband and a dad...cold harsh lesson that I'm learning is that things happen for a reason and often times it is not for any reason that you completely understand or are always immediately able to understand due to human nature or man's nature of fighting against nature and the laws that bind us (such as sleep, proper diet, socialization, etc.).

Next to worrying about taxes this year I had a project that went extremely sour in 2007- I was a consultant for one project called GenBB.com and I hired a team of guys in India called Wiantech to produce a php based social network for me. I had the wireframes all layed out and it was an extreme disaster for me personally and professionally. My client and I lost a total of $55,000 to this firm. Around the same time I was going to have develop my corp site which was amusingly done in less than one night and they wanted to bill me $400.

This happened around August last year and as of a few nights ago I receive this email from 2 guys in India threatening me to pay $300 or else...

"Or else what???"...needless to say- I would not recommend anyone working with this firm Wiantech ever if you are in the market to outsource your web development work or for anything.

I am working on a project now with a group called V2Solutions for another project that is Microsoft Windows based and the owner Vijay is in Silicon Valley and these guys I would recommend for all their professionalism, process and level of communication. You get exactly what you pay for and then more with this team.

Now I just need to find a good creative accountant:)

Not MiHoo! but NewsHoo!

2008-02-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

News Corp./Yahoo Combo Would Yield Display-Ad Powerhouse
$50 Billion Price Tag Puts Pressure on Microsoft to Up Its Bid for Portal
By Abbey Klaassen

Published: February 14, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Want to talk about massive display share? Forget Yahoo and Microsoft -- it's Yahoo and News Corp. that could shake up that world.

The two companies are discussing a deal that would make News Corp.'s Fox Interactive Media assets part of Yahoo in exchange for a 20% stake in the newly combined entity, according to a person familiar with discussions.

Right now the key for this deal is for management to test the idea with a few key shareholders to see how they would react to a potential merger -- and whether they would value the combination at $50 billion, which is the value News Corp. and Yahoo assign the deal. It's unclear at this point whether shareholders would share management's valuation estimate.

Best case, worst case
In the best case scenario, the market agrees that a Yahoo-Fox Interactive combination is worth $50 billion. In the worst case scenario, the talks put pressure on Microsoft to raise its bid to acquire Yahoo from $44.6 billion. News Corp.'s deal was first reported on blogs Silicon Alley Insider and TechCrunch and confirmed yesterday by The Wall Street Journal, which is part of News Corp.

What would such a combined entity look like? It would be a display-ad giant. According to ComScore, Yahoo has 18.8% of total display-ad impressions online, while News Corp.'s Fox Interactive, which includes MySpace, has 16.3%. Microsoft, meanwhile, serves up 6.7%. Yahoo-Fox Interactive would, however, lack the search scale of a Microsoft-Yahoo combo. According to ComScore, in December 2007, Microsoft sites accounted for 984 million U.S. searches while MySpace accounted for 342 million U.S. searches. Fox Interactive already has an ad deal with Google to provide search and other ads on MySpace; it's unclear whether a change of ownership would allow Google or Fox Interactive to end that partnership.

Yahoo desperately wants to stay independent and doing a deal with News Corp. could stave off the takeover proposed by Microsoft. Yahoo management believes it has not yet had time to prove out the strategy it has employed over the past year, as CEO Jerry Yang reiterated in a letter sent to shareholders today.

Grow its ad network
"We have a huge market opportunity -- and are uniquely positioned to capitalize on it," he wrote. "The global online advertising market is projected to grow from $45 billion in 2007 to $75 billion in 2010." He said Yahoo aims to grow its "starting points," such as e-mail and the home page, by 15% in 2007. He also emphasized the company's plans to grow its ad network, create a more friction-less marketplace through ad exchanges and open its platform to third-party developers.

On person familiar with the Yahoo-News Corp. discussions said the integration challenges that critics of a Microsoft-Yahoo merger have raised are less of a concern with a Yahoo-Fox Interactive combo. Whereas Microsoft and Yahoo have their own robust ad platforms -- and would likely fight over whose gets used if the two were combined -- Fox Interactive would be easier to plug into Yahoo's ad platform. This person said the combination of MySpace's targeting and Yahoo's behavioral data could be a huge boon.

The hand News Corp. is lending to Yahoo appears to be a reversal of CEO Rupert Murdoch's position on his Feb. 4 earnings call in which he said News Corp. is "definitely not going to make a bid for Yahoo." However, when asked of a possible linkup between the two companies, he added: "I think that has passed, but you never know."

Yahoo and News Corp. face challenges convincing shareholders that their combination is worth $50 billion. But Tim Hanlon, exec VP at Publicis Groupe's Denuo, is bullish: "For Yahoo, [it] would add a key component that Microsoft can't -- content," he said. "For News Corp., [it would add] immediate access to a wealth of web services that neither MySpace alone nor ten digital acquisitions could ever get them."