Image via CrunchBase

Trying to catch up on the RSS feed from Building43. You can definitely see the huge amount of value for hearing thought leaders’ perspectives on the future of the web. And really the emerging importance of the web for small businesses. The power of the web is still predominately a “new frontier” for small businesses and there is going to be a lot of innovation taking place in the next couple of years to help businesses, large and small, harness the value that is out there for the taking.

Below is the video of Fred Wilson, partner at Union Square Ventures, discussing his perspective of the web now and where it is going. Not much discussion of small business in this one (perhaps Scoble felt a more FastCompany style interview was appropriate here).

But if you are going to watch a video to really get a good taste of where the web is headed, you can’t go wrong in watching this one.  Lot’s of good insights into USV’s investment philosophy as well as Fred weaves in a lot of their portfolio companies into the conversation.  And to echo on of Fred’s comments, this was a great video that I would have loved to bookmark, throw into a queue and watch on the TV…someone is going to innovate and build that company…maybe I should.

It’s been some time since I took the SATs but I always enjoyed the “analogy” section of the test.  Okay, as much as a standardized test can be enjoyable, it is up there with using a freshly-sharpened #2 pencil to fill in those little ovals.  If you don’t remember, here’s an example:

DALMATIAN : DOG ::

(A) oriole : bird

(B) horse : pony

(C) shark : great white

(D) ant : insect

(E) stock : savings

It seems with growing frequency, I’m pulled into conversations regarding Twitter with many who are just now learning about it.  Great Time article on Twitter by the way.  Yes, I get the often “I just don’t get Twitter.”  I used to think that too when I first heard about the service.  I quickly no longer thought that.  But, recently, I get “Why use Twitter when you can just update your status on Facebook?”  And this throws me right back into the 90’s:  “Do you use the internet?” “Oh yes, I use AOL all the time.”  So back to my SAT analogy:

web : AOL :: Twitter status : Facebook status

Remember the walled garden of AOL, how many users would think that was the web, never venturing out into the wild world of the wide web.  Times change but I see history repeating itself.  The struggle and growing awareness of open and closed systems.  There is a tremendous amount of value being generated off the openness of Twitter than is available within Facebook, where your status network can only be as big who you are willing to have in your personal friends’ list.  The same goes for status in LinkedIn and who you are willing to have in your professional connections’ list.  The situation is certainly more complex than AOL of the 90s but strikingly similar.

My wife handed me a full page ad today of Post cereal’s ad campaign that started I believe last month.  The headline:  ”Innovation is not your friend.”  The tag line:  ”We put the ‘no’ in innovation”

Certainly an attention grabber.  It certainly caught me off guard on first glance.  And I don’t think anyone will be clamoring to steal that tag line from them.

But there is certainly something to the campaign.  We live in a world of innovation, innovation is taking place everywhere around us:  genetics, new sources of energy, the web, sneakers that blink, sneakers that roll, beer that tastes like it has lime already in it…  While innovation is great and the right thing for many companies and products, is that always the case?

Too many times we see companies fall into the trap of innovating to create the next new thing that they lose sight of what got them where they are.  Worrying too much about what is next rather than concentrating on their core competency and ensuring that they maintain their competitive advantage  simply (or not so simply).  Sometimes, remaining the best in your space and at “what you do” needs to be the focus.  

I’ll always be a believer in being on the outlook for new markets, new features (that add value), new technology trends and understanding what could disrupt your business.  At the same time, focus must remain on the core, this campaign speaks volumes to how companies need to remain focused on the core knitting.  Just in the time its taken me to write this post, I like this ad more and more.  And it is just a bonus for Post that I don’t believe anyone is going to try to mimic this campaign.  How ironic. An innovative ad campaign saying ‘no’ to innovation.

In case you are interested, I wrote a guest blog post over at Slice of MIT on the Masdar Institute as a follow-up to my post on the Masdar Initiative taking place in Abu Dhabi.  The Masdar Institute is going to serve as the epicenter of learning, innovation and venture creation on green concepts, processes and technologies.

Slice of MIT is a new blog that is out discussing (or should I say “giving a small taste”) of MIT life, happenings and what is going on with MIT and alumni.  I’ve been an active reader for the past couple of weeks and it gives a good perspective on the things going on around campus.    Enjoy.

Reading the latest issue of the MIT Technology Review and there is a good article about the Masdar Initiative. I find it hard to not root for success of the project: A $15B investment in aims to create a zero emissions city, a green metropolis as they refer to it. If you haven’t read about the project, I recommend the article as it gives a good outline of how big they are thinking. Common sense says that it is hard to imagine the project achieving success but then curiosity and hope make you root for it. And the ancillary benefit I really am intrigued about this project is that there will be an immense amount of industrial and green environmental learning from not only the results but the planning and construction of such an initiative. Kevin Bullis wrote an editorial covering the project and echos this sentiment:

One of the best things about the project–which I’ll write about more in the coming days–is that it provides a much needed way to test ideas for renewable energy and efficiency at a large scale. The hope is that the technology tested here can be applied throughout the world.

Bullis is concerned about some of the applicability of learning due to the climate conditions of the region. This is true but I tend to believe if you can achieve a degree of success and learning in the harshest of conditions where energy consumption is necessary at high levels, surely one benefits where the challenges are less intense. Nonetheless, I love to see the “big bet” thinking here. I recently wrote about the renewable energy grid that has been discussed, another “big bet” project. This is what it is going to take to make huge strides in innovation, particularly in this market sector. It is great to see Dubai who has placed other big bets in a variety of other projects place such a bet on getting a project off the ground where the world can benefit from what it learns; it could be a big step in the right direction.

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Many have seen the video already but I think Slate’s video about Flutter is too good not to post. If you haven’t seen it, are a Twitter fan (or not!) and want something to make you smile on a Tuesday, take 3:44 of your life to watch this video.

People simply do not have time any more to read 140 characters. Classic good stuff.

Putting a business hat on for just a moment, I can’t believe Slate didn’t name the parody company on a URL that they own and could market around in some way. Re-direct to a betting site?

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Cover via Amazon

There is no doubt we are in a tough time economically. And in our world of technology, start-ups, entrepreneurship and innovation, we are feeling the pressure more each day. Today Google announced that they will have layoffs of 200 employees, no different than the layoff news that has come from other companies like Microsoft and Yahoo!  However, when it is Google, poster child for success in our space, it makes one take pause yet again.

Everyone is taking a more conservative approach in their outlooks, some classify it as being more thoughtful and prudent, others hunkering for the long haul to the more dramatic “just survive”.  So there are a lot of people trying trying to figure out how to approach the world we are in today.  Entrepreneurs are trying to figure out how to manage their burn rate so their ideas that were so promising just six months ago will find revenue earlier than planned. Investors are looking more closely at the investments they make.  And there are a number of talented people looking for next career opportunities as well.

Here’s the thing though:  Innovation continues to take place.  Investors are still investing in solid business models.  There are many people trying to do great things in their businesses and will hire individuals that will help them be successful.  This is the outlook I am taking in my own personal approach to the current marketplace.  In fact, my view is that you HAVE to.  What is the alternative?  A positive attitude is what is necessary to move us forward.

I was reading Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go!, to my daughter today.  Oddly, I’d never read this one before but as I was reading it, the story really resonated with me.  Dr. Seuss had it all figured out, before the first internet bubble burst and certainly before the current situation we find ourselves in.  If you are trying to find you way, pay attention to these words and heed the advice:

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

If you need to, read it again. Read the whole book. Whatever your situation, the message is spot on. Rely on yourself.  You know what you know (and you can learn what you need to).  You fully control where you want to go and how to get there.

I was watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk and Q&A session at SXSW.  Been following Gary’s growing online business for a while now and written about him several times.  At about 16:25 of the session, Gary talks briefly about his early days getting his video blog up and running.  He tells the audience to go back his first 50 episodes.  So, I hopped over and took a look at the very first episode of Wine Library TV.  It is a night and day experience from watching episodes of late and Gary as an online personality.  Here it is:

What struck me is something quite simple: It takes practice. If you are trying to build a serious social media oriented brand, personal or business, it doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve spoken to a number of people who have thought of starting their own blogs or even video blogging themselves. I’ve even thought about doing a few video posts myself. Often (I assume like people early in TV careers but who knows), there is apprehension of getting in front of and speaking into the camera. Writing for me was just easier to jump into, it feels more protected. But video blogging is very interesting and adds a whole different dynamic. It certainly makes it more personal.

Anyway, whether you are writing or using video as your medium, it takes practice. Just like everything else. Because the web makes everything easier, I think we fall into the trap that everything on the web is easy. Starting a blog, building a business, writing an iPhone application. If you want to be good (and gain a comfort) doing something, you have to practice and put in a good deal of effort. And for some, it comes naturally easy and they need less practice. For others, they need more. Just like everything else in life.

It’s been a while since my last post.  I’ve been doing some traveling (both business and pleasure) and its kept me from posting as much as I would like.  More importantly, at times I lacked total connectivity which I was beginning to think wasn’t possible and it stopped me from reading as much too.

These infrequent occassions of being sans connection without a mobile device pumping the zeros and ones out in the ether does give you pause to take stock of life (being on a ranch in the middle of Argentina can do it too).  Yes, the connections of Friendfeed, Twitter and Facebook are valuable, are changing the personal and business communication landscape and will continue to do so.   We are building life-long connections and friendships through the medium all the time.  That part I did miss when away.

But remember, there are so many other things just as important.  Like the Giants making a huge splash in free agency with fantastic defensive signings of LB Michael Boley, DT Rocky Bernard and DT/DE Chris Canty!  Okay, just kidding. (sort of)  Friends, family, enjoying a nice day outside, going to the gym and going on vacation when you can.  These are just as important.  If you don’t take the time to unplug, even for a bit, I highly recommend it.

So, anyway, now that I’m back and cycling up again, I feel I’m beginning to catch up on my feeds reading and wanted to drop a little note out here.  Flew threw countless number of feeds and postings today.  The one that struck a cord, the latest Kindle.  The Kindle device is vastly improved but that is not what is important.  The ecosystem shift is important, the Kindle iPhone app and deployment to other mobile phones is important.  To me, it has a similar footprint to the movement of apps on the iPhone itself and what that is doing in the mobile space.

Not going to go into it more here but it is clear that there is a movement taking place that could very well be another major shift in the digital media landscape and in “written” content consumption overall.  Media companies must pay attention.  Steve Rubel has a great post from a couple of days ago discussing this very topic.  If you read only one today, I would recommend that be it.  (Well, that would mean you read two today because you had to read this one just to get to that one.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Puneet Gupta, CEO of Connectbeam, and I were having a conversation earlier today regarding entrepreneurial thought and creativity of idea.  I love these types of discussions, taking a step back and assessing where “we” are in general.  They are always compelling and if nothing else, forces you to take a step back from your current position (if just for a moment) to reflect.

During our discussion, Puneet mentioned a great talk that Sir Ken Robinson gave at the TED conference a couple of years back.   I had not seen it so decided to take a look.  So as TED 2009 takes place here in California, I am watching videos of TED keynotes from prior years.

Sir Ken Robinson discusses the concept on how we need to re-assess how we approach education and educating our children.  That education normally goes towards the math and science disciplines rather than the arts.  His view is that we must think very hard about the arts and how developing these skills as well is fundental to creativity and thinking outside of the box.  Two things I find compelling about this line of thought:

1)  You hear more often than not that we need to invest more not less in the math and science educational system in order to continue to progress innovation forward.  Completely the opposite of the lens that Robinson takes.

2)  On merit, what Robinson says is true.  The education system simply by its nature is geared to teach students what is already learned and known by others who have determined it.  Makes sense.  It is not that math and sciences are bad but that it conforms everyone’s thinking to what has already been thought of.

So, where does that leave us?  How do we develop new ideas?  Very interesting discussion points particularly when you talk about entreprenuerial attitude, trying new things, creating new businesses and ways of looking at the world.  Robinson makes a statement in his talk that really rang true for me:

If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.

How true this statement is.

I don’t know quite yet where my thoughts land on where the right balance between the sciences and arts should be.  It is a complex topic.  Education is important.  Learning from the past is important.  Math and Science are important.  I’ve always slanted and been more interested in the sciences side of things.  But I appreciate Robinson’s perspective, there is certainly something to be said for the development of creative thought rather than learning disciplined sciences, thinking creatively rather than analytically.  Obviously both are needed, that leads to true innovation.

If you haven’t seen his talk, it is about 20 minutes and well worth it.

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