Silicon Moon

LaunchHouse Accelerator Invites Entrepreneurs from Around the World

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 30 May 2012 15:06:00 +0000

LaunchHouse, an Ohio-based seed capital investment fund and has recently announced its Accelerator Program in which it is offering $25,000 to 10 technology-based entrepreneurial-teams from around the world. Their deadline is July 1st, 2012 and you can apply here. More from their release...

The LaunchHouse Accelerator is bringing innovation to Ohio by inviting the world’s brightest entrepreneurs to participate in a 12-week Accelerator program. Selected teams will receive $25,000 in funding and will be surrounded with experience-based lab sessions, world-class mentors from their specific industry, an innovative work environment, dinners with successful entrepreneurs, and networking with mentors.

The deadline to apply is July 1, 2012 and the program begins September 3, 2012. The Accelerator is modeled after the nation’s best incubators, like Y Combinator and TechStars. To apply, entrepreneurs need to be in a tech-related field with a team of two or three co-founders. Ten teams will be selected for the 12-week program in September.

Teams will relocate to Cleveland, OH for 12 weeks to work in LaunchHouse’s 23,000 square foot Silicon Valley-esque space. Its furniture and colorful, collaborative work space promotes genius and impromptu brainstorming sessions, day or night, with awesome, like-minded people. Accommodations will also be sponsored by LaunchHouse.

The LaunchHouse Accelerator program aims to help entrepreneurs take their ideas to validation during the length of the program. LaunchHouse’s development methods are customer-centric, meaning that from the very beginning you are engaging your market. At the end of 12 weeks, each team will present to local and national Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors on our Showcase Day on November 28.

Udemy's Lean Startup Courses: Build. Measure. Learn. Lean Startup SXSW 2012.

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 30 May 2012 08:06:00 +0000

Udemy has a good series of Lean Startup Courses featuring Eric Ries, Dave McClure, Steve Blank and others. Insightful, informative and helpful for any entrepreneur.

Pepsi MAX & Kyrie Irving Present: "Uncle Drew"

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:01:00 +0000

Introducing the Knowledge Graph From Google

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:53:00 +0000

FreeConferenceCall Launches in Korea

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:47:00 +0000

HatTip to Carl W. I assume the response will be good. More from the wires, but the last line is amusing and wonder if they specifically put that in because it's Korea...

FreeConferenceCall.com Launches Service in South Korea

FreeConferenceCall.com announced today that the company's free conference calling services are now available in South Korea. FreeConferenceCall.com, which has revolutionized the way domestic and international teleconferences are organized, offers a high-quality, reservation-less conferencing service that is currently used by approximately 15-20 million callers around the world every month.

"Free conference calls are gaining popularity globally because of the millions of dollars businesses and consumers are saving every year," said David Erickson, Founder and CEO of FreeConferenceCall.com. "We are very excited about expanding our services to Asia and are looking forward to showing businesses and consumers how simple and cost-efficient it is to improve their communications within South Korea and around the globe."

South Korea, which is the seventh largest trading partner for the United States, is the second Asian partner of FreeConferenceCall.com.

Features of FreeConferenceCall.com include:

-- International conference calling for the price of a domestic call within South Korea or to other countries in the FreeConferenceCall.com network (currently 19 countries plus the United States)

-- Ability to conference with up to 96 callers for up to 6 hours on one call at no additional cost

-- Conference call recording, playback and download features -- all for free

-- The ability to distribute, archive or send recordings for free to listeners via RSS and podcast

-- Free international access numbers to every country in the network, including the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan

-- A free call detail report sent via email after every call

Free international conference calls are simple and easy to use, requiring only a name and an e-mail address to receive an instant account. Once a user signs up, FreeConferenceCall.com provides a dedicated dial-in number (domestic and international) and an access code for the free teleconferencing service, which is available 24/7 with no need to make reservations. Users can access their account online at anytime to invite participants, download, listen or podcast recordings and view conference instructions. Each FreeConferenceCall.com account remains safe and secure and personal data is never shared or sold.

Around the world, FreeConferenceCall.com customers use the service for:

-- Regional / National Sales Meetings

-- Training / New Product or Service Launches

-- Project Management Team Meetings

-- Teaching / Educational Seminars

-- Motivational Seminars

-- School Group / Organizational Meetings

-- Sports Team / Fan Meetings

-- Family Reunions

-- Religious / Bible Study Groups

Biz Dev Positions at Korea's Coupang

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:25:00 +0000

Posting for Kevin Chung, who I've known for years:

Coupang is one of the fastest growing e-Commerce companies in Korea. With over 11 million users, they have already achieved an annual revenue run rate of $700 million to date.

Opportunity
Coupang is looking to build a team of top talents and provide them with an unparalleled experience in eCommerce with the longer-term objective of creating the next generation of leaders for Coupang’s future businesses. For more detailed information on Coupang, please visit our website at www.coupang.com

Job Description
Business Development Team will be responsible for developing and executing strategic initiatives for Coupang. Tasks will include:

• Take responsibility and drive all activities required to launch a new businesses, including:
o Verify business case and conduct market analysis
o Develop and implement organizational structure
o Develop and execute on marketing and PR strategy
o Implement IT setup
• Key accounts management
• Other company-wide strategic initiatives

Skills/Qualifications
- Self motivation and multitask capabilities
- Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills
- Strong ability to prioritize and organize
- Strong ability to analyze market trends and business models
- Quantitative skills to interpret business data and draw conclusions / implementation plans
- More than 5 years of experience in business development / management consulting, overseeing major projects and leading teams or working with senior executives
- Strong written and verbal communication/presentation skills in both Korean and English

Contact information
For more details please contact Kevin Chung at kevin@coupang.com

Best Job | P&G London 2012 Olympic Games Film

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:14:00 +0000

HopeMob & Shaun King on CNN

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 06:50:00 +0000

Shaun King's, HopeMob CEO, Interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:47:00 +0000

Before the meeting at Google Christine and I are hosting on Thursday, Shaun King will be interviewed by Soledad O'Brien in the morning. Check it out if you can!

More from Shaun...

"It's Official! We're going to be on CNN @ 8am EST w/ Soledad O'Brien CNN THIS THURSDAY (Launch Day) to discuss HopeMob!! Share this & Get Ready!!!"

The launch of HopeMob is open to the public this Thursday, but please get there ahead of time to go through the security check in. You can learn more about HopeMob and meet three of the co-founders (Shaun, Dave and Sam).

The Voice - Jermaine Paul - Against All Odds

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:04:00 +0000

He did Phil well.

Why Mobile Video Startups are Driving Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:10:00 +0000

My second "expert comment" piece for StrategyEye, UK based digital media intelligence firm...

EXPERT COMMENT: Vidquik CEO on why mobile video startups are driving changes

As Vidquik CEO I have my biases of how the ubiquity of video communications will affect current consumer habits. As a trend watcher, it's interesting to see how new video services affect and create new user behaviours and how it will eventually affect enterprises (a.k.a. the consumerization of enterprise software).

Two startups to watch in the mobile video space are Tango and Tout. Tango, a video communication service for mobile, is a peer-to-peer service similar to Apple's FaceTime, but it is cross-platform and not limited to just iOS. Its service has grown faster than Skype's initial growth rate. Two months after launch late last year, it hit over 4m users and now boasts over 23m users. Tango handles 2.5m call minutes everyday and the average call is four minutes in length.

Tout is a real-time video messaging service. It provides an easy-to-use video messaging service with a 15 second limit for each video clip. Over 13m visitors since it launched 11 months ago and over 3.7m in the last 30 days. Between 2-3m ‘Touts' shared across the social stream every week.

I recently spoke with Michael Downing, co-founder and CEO of Tout, to gain some further insights about his company and his thoughts on the mobile video space. The thesis and founding behind Tout was fascinating. Michael explained that Tout is a technology spin-out from SRI (Stanford Research Institute) and was based on SRI's long-standing thesis on the evolution of the web experience. They believe the next stage of the web will move beyond print concepts - dominated by text, flat and primarily a virtual experience - to a more "human, real and visual experience closer to a TV metaphor."

Michael explained that two products came from this general thesis, which was very interesting to learn. The first was Siri, a new voice interface that empowers users to "talk to the web." This is the primary differentiator in Apple's iPhone 4s and what some people called the greatest threat to Google.

Then there is Tout, which easily allows people to capture short 15-second videos through your smartphone. It was encouraging to hear from Michael how SRI's thesis runs similar to my viewpoint that video will become the de-facto form of communication versus text in the coming decade. He didn't go as far as my belief that video would replace SMS-based communication or even tweeting, but his response was insightful:

"I am not so sure that simple video messaging replaces SMS/texting anytime soon - but we do believe that overall the ‘social stream' is becoming more visual in nature... Pinterest is actually a great example of this. We believe there are specific kinds of applications that will help spearhead this more visual form of engagement on the web, these are applications wherein it's easier to look at your smartphone and talk directly to it as opposed to type something out on your keypad - and where the visual nature of your response/comment adds unique value."

I agree with Michael that there is an important trend to take notice of is that the web and our interactions with it are becoming more visual. This is important not only for startups, but Fortune 500 companies to begin incorporating into their online products, services and communications effort because online consumer preferences and behaviours eventually enter the workplace whether companies are ready for it or not.

Scaling Instagram

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 05:48:00 +0000

Scaling Instagram

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"Introducing AdbyMe" Video

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:23:00 +0000

A new social media ad platform that simulates word-of-mouth marketing through Twitter activity.

HopeMob @ Google HQ! April 19th Event!

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:20:00 +0000

HopeMob (www.hopemob.org) is a new nonprofit that brings generous strangers together to take action and help those in need. It's a new social media platform helping mobs of people to bring hope to others!

Christine and I are assisting in their outreach in the Bay Area, and Christine is hosting them at Google on April 19th at 12:00pm-1:00pm:

Google HQ, Asilomar Conference Room, B1900 (building)
1900 Charleston Road, Mountain View, CA

Come and learn more about HopeMob! Shaun King, co-founder & CEO, will be presenting what HopeMob is, how you can help their cause, and submit stories to their platform. Shaun King, was the founder of TwitChange, which won the Mashable Award for Most Creative Social Good Campaign. His social media projects have raised over $5,000,000 for charity and over 100 million web hits.

Meet the other founders, Dave Gibbons and Sam Oh. David Gibbons is an activist for cultural innovation and has traveled the world as a leadership coach and social entrepreneur. He's served on the board of several award-winning nonprofits - including World Vision. Sam Oh was VP of IT for Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market, a subsidiary of Tesco, the third largest retailer in the world.

Prelaunch they already have over 350,000 Twitter followers, over 90,000 Facebook followers and support from numerous celebrities, such as Eva Longoria.

If you have any questions, email me at bernard.moon@gmail.com. Look forward to seeing you at this event!

Android Vs iOS: The Truth about Apple and Google's OS Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:32:00 +0000

Project Glass: One day...

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:29:00 +0000

Very cool Google Glasses... an Iron Man-like vison of the world.

Chrome Multitask Mode

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:41:00 +0000

Google Maps 8-bit for NES

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:41:00 +0000

Elephant Plays with a Galaxy Note!

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:29:00 +0000

Apple Customers Try to Tell the Difference Between the New iPad & iPad2

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:35:00 +0000

Jeremy Lin & Landry Fields "Secret" Handshake

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:47:00 +0000

Interviewed by Andrew Keen at TechCrunch TV

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 21:02:00 +0000

I was recently interviewed by TechCrunch's Andrew Keen discussing my startup, Vidquik. I didn't sound too bad for having two plastic tubes up my nose and on painkillers (two days after my septoplasty). Just a mix of Kermit and Darth Vader :)

"Keen On… Vidquik: Why Real-Time Online Video Is Now Ready For Prime-Time"

Mobile Industry Snapshots

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:16:00 +0000

With the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain last week along with TED in Long Beach, CA, it is timely that I just completed a wireless industry report for Pegasus Strategies LLC, an advisory firm that I work with occasionally. It is fitting with the TED conference since Pegasus Strategies was founded by Adrian Hong, who is a TED Senior Fellow.

Pegasus Strategies LLC is a strategic advisory firm that advises corporations government and NGOs, with a particular focus on emerging markets and areas in transition. It has a wide range of expertise in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia regions in particular.

Anyway, I hope you find this mobile industry “cheat sheet” useful. It provides a quick overview of the wireless world along with detailed profiles of public companies to trending startups.

Pegasus Strategies Wireless Overview 2012

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"992", A Tribute to Steve Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 08:38:00 +0000

"'992' is a short film by Wonsuk Chin about a man's search for a pair of New Balance 992. A tribute to Steve Jobs and shot entirely on the iPhone 4S. It stars the newcomer Danny Park, beautiful Korean star Yoonji Lee."

Venture Funding Secrets Venture Funding Secrets Venture Funding Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Bernard Moon) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0000

"Author Tarang Shah, a venture capital professional himself, interviews rising VC stars, Internet and software investment pioneers, and venture investment thought leaders. You’ll learn firsthand what criteria venture capitalists use to make investments, how they structure deals, the many ways they help the companies they fund, avoidable mistakes they see all too often, the role of luck in a success, and why so many startups fail."

Venture Funding Secrets

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