OpenMarketing

With all the talk about what’s wrong with VC

Marcia Kadanoff — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:56:52 +0000

I can’t help but observe the following … after meeting with two different people who were laid off recently, from two different venture-backed start offs.

There’s a wealth of information on what’s wrong with a company available simply by listening when people talk … information that I suspect isn’t getting to the VCs. The problem maybe that the VCs in question are over boarded, meaning they sit on too many boards, and therefore don’t have the time required to listen to what rank and file employees are saying about what’s wrong with their portfolio companies. But after investing $15M and $60M in companies – as they did in these two instances – taking the time would seem like a good investment, no? And the folks I talked to were not at all bitter about getting laid off. I found their comments to be exceptionally telling about what’s wrong with the companies they just left and prescriptive about what was needed to fix them.

Twitter custom backgrounds aka themes

Marcia Kadanoff — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:14:53 +0000

A basic custom theme can be developed very easily – just create a graphic 250 pixels wide and 500 to 800 pixels tall. Pick a regular (non custom) Twitter theme that is close to the background color that you are using and then adjust the colors accordingly. Two examples can be found here:

http://twitter.com/openmk – my twitter page
http://twitter.com/coshrink- my friend Nancy Raulston’s page

Note that this background is optimized for people who use modern laptops and larger screen monitors, capable of browsing at resolutions better (higher) than 800 x 600. It’s been tested – for example – on a 13″ wide Macbook. It will look good on most Netbooks … since they use a high resolution to fit an entire page on a relatively small screen. Where it won’t look good is on older machines/monitors where 800 x 600 is the default resolution … but fewer and fewer people are using this resolution, IMHO.

For a more elaborate background theme, create a visual 1600 wide x 1200 wide. A background to use as a template exists at this location:

http://twitter.com/viewfromthebay

I had nothing to do with this background. It just provides a nice template you can use to get started. In most browsers you can right click to bring up a menu and then save background to save the background image.

Just finished an assignment up for a neat little start up

Marcia Kadanoff — Sun, 10 May 2009 20:33:30 +0000

In the virtual branded goods space called AdNectar. Most people don’t know that this is a vibrant market with Facebook alone making $75-$100M in revenues on virtual goods! To good resources on virtual branded goods are the blog Virtual Branded Goods and this article from October 2008 Business Week:

Links
Virtual Goods News
Lucrative Alternatives to Online Advertising Business Week, October 2008

Chumby launches – internet gizmo you can customize using widgets

Marcia Kadanoff — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:43:55 +0000

Chumby is cute, positioned as an internet device for your home, designed to sit on your desk and serve as an alarm clock and stream stuff from the internet that can vary based on your personal preferences based on the widgets you add to its dashboard. Chumby is small, doesn’t run on batteries and therefore isn’t exactly mobile (you have to plug it in), but does use WI FI to access the ‘Net. I’d classify this device with the Nokia N810 or the ASUS Eee PC. These are a dynamite way to get some but not all the features/functionality of a full-fledged computer and to access selective websites. Like them, this device runs on LINUX to keep costs down which means that it’s development environment is open.

Of the three devices mentioned Chumby is the lowest cost device available with – for now – the fewest number of widgets, but I’m sure this will change over time. After all, Chumby just started to ship. There’s a discussion of how they handled their beta program on their blog that is of interest to marketing types like myself, in terms of managing interest and excitement around the launch of a new hardware platform.

Note that the discussion of widget development seems to require skills at Flash to develop them. Too me, this is too bad … as developing in Flash requires “real programming skills” versus developing in PHP or Javascript where typically I can muddle through by copying somebody’s else’s code, so long as the task at hand is simple. Adobe’s Flash is one of those “virtual standards” … not exactly open … but so ubiquitous you can almost consider it to be an open standard. It will be interesting to see how the Chumby ecosystem fares and whether the need to develop widgets in Flash limits the number of widgets available or not.

A brief note on terminology. Chumby, Apple, and Opera calls the small, focused, single-purpose applications that plug into their dashboard or browser “widgets”, which is the term I prefer. Google calls them gadgets … for better alliteration I guess.

Relevant Links

Read/Write Web just declared the Open Source Movement the most promising for 2008

Marcia Kadanoff — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:16:34 +0000

Which is pretty cool for me personally since I just recently moved/consolidated my personal website to this new URL here at OpenMarketing – dedicated to new marketing models inspired by Open Source software. The URL was not new … I had to purchase it … and consequently I’m suffering a little from Google’s policies towards domain squatters. So its nice to see that this notion … that the Open Source software movement has inspired true change in how we think about the web and interactions between businesses and people … is one that others see as lasting as well as myself. Added benefit. I’m cautiously optimistic people will stop giving me blank looks when I hand them new business cards. Speaking of which – Moo cards – are hot. Simple idea, well executed. Who would have thunk it.

Relevant Links

Open Source is the Most Promising Meme (I guess) for 2008 declares Read/Write Web
Moo cards where to get ‘em

I've taken an interim CMO gig at Zannel

Marcia Kadanoff — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:34:17 +0000

Zannel is the mainstream alternative to Twitter. Far more graphic, no fail whale, optimized for mobile so people can post pictures and videos when they micro blog (we like to call it “nano blogging”) and lifecasting. Oh yes, and unlike Twitter, we actually have a business model that enables us to monetize our instant media network by selling targeted advertising opportunities, sponsored lifecasts, and other premium opportunities to reach the 16-34 years old who are addicted to Zannel and its snack size media updates. (Should we call these addicts “Zannelists?”)

In any event, you can catch up with what I’ve been posting on my nano blog using the widget (above) and with Zannel by going to the site or from your mobile phone simply text “join” to 58888

You’ll also find me blogging in log form here:

http://www.zannel.com/blog/

Where I've been lately

Marcia Kadanoff — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:39:13 +0000

Blogging over at MuseStorm, this neat widget company for professionals … meaning agencies and brand marketers. You can catch up on what I and the rest of the company have been up to by going here:

http://www.musestorm.com/blog

Also, traveling to the East Coast for my sister Betsy’s wedding. Catch up on family pictures here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=43537&l=f894c&id=508142645

Great discussion on crowdsourcing as the basis of a commercial company

Marcia Kadanoff — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:41:51 +0000

Over at Tech Crunch, talking about a company called Kluster which just launched in open beta.

Kluster, … is designed so that companies can offer cash rewards for each phase of a project. Participants who back the winning idea get to share the reward. Projects can range from creating logos and marketing campaigns to designing a product. Participants start off with points, or “Watts,” that they can invest in different projects. Explains Kaufman:

“Our Watt system is like a currency. You get a certain amount of Watts. As you do more things you get more Watts. Instead of voting on ideas, you invest your Watts in concepts you like.

So if a company decided to offer $5,000 for the best new logo to come out of Kluster, some graphically-inclined members might upload a few sketches. Other members could then invest Watts in the design they think is best suited for the company’s product, make suggestions for improvements, or upload their own variation of the logo. Whichever logo gets picked by the company at the end wins the $5,000, which is distributed to all the members who backed that particular logo based on how much they contributed to the idea, how early they got behind it, and what percentage of their total Watts they put at risk. Kluster computes what your stake is in any given project.”

Watts are never directly convertible into dollars, but they do influence how much of a cash reward each member is entitled to. At the end of each phase, all the Watts invested in the losing ideas are redistributed proportionately to the investors in the winning idea. As people collect more Watts, they gain standing in the community and have more to invest in subsequent projects.

What I Think
The problem with these and similar ideas is that the success of the underlying business depends on getting to critical mass. Kluster seems to have spent a great deal of time thinking through how to make their currency appealing to a mass market of creative types and also how to create an ecosystems around its site. It remains to be seen whether Kluster – which is launching at the TED Conference will attract enough followers to create a vibrant community as needed to make wattage take off as a currency. The site itself is very appealing and the founders have obviously spent a lot of time thinking through how to use great design to appeal to “connected creatives” as the target demographic.

Relevant Links

Now that I'm thinking about getting an iPhone

Marcia Kadanoff — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:44:53 +0000

I find this great guide to all things BlackBerry:

The Power User’s BlackBerry Guide: 121 CrackBerry Tips, Hacks and Resources
from the editors of Inside CRM of all people

Why the time is right to move to an iPhone? It has nothing to do with the fact that the iPhone is now available with 16GB of storage. While more storage is always nice, I was holding out for the 3G version on AT&T’s network. But now that the iPhone developers kit is about to ship there’s a wave of innovation coming in new mobile applications being developed exclusively for the iPhone.

Must read blogs for social marketers

Marcia Kadanoff — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:46:35 +0000

Came across this entry just updated based on an original entry published May 2008:

Source
Sempahore Software Blog