BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘New Media’
July 4 2011
by Todd Hixon
A Tale of Three Cities
In the past month I’ve been to venture conferences in three cities: New York, San Francisco, and Boston. (I rarely go to so many; events conspired this year.) This invites a comparison. The New York conference (TechCrunch/Disrupt) stropped its edge and trumpeted media, personalities, and disrupting everything, not least venture capital (more here). There were ...
June 10 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
GroupOn: Amazing biz model or “ponzi scheme”?
Does GroupOn have a sustainable business model? Not a day goes by when I don’t have that debate with another VC or entrepreneur. They went from $0 to $2.5BN annual revenue run rate in less than 4 years. Arguably the fastest growing company in history. It almost sounds too good to be true. Can it ...
June 7 2011
by Thanasis Delistathis
Pinch me: is it 1999?
I attended TechCrunch Disrupt a couple of weeks ago and the scene was abuzz with talk of a new tech bubble following the LinkedIn IPO, on the heels of privately traded Facebook shares at exorbitant valuations. The Groupon IPO filing last week helped reinforce the feeling that things are heating up. So, are we living ...
June 6 2011
by Todd Hixon
Tech = Media?
I attended TechCrunch Disrupt New York recently. A few observations: Web/mobile advertising and “flash commerce” were sliced and diced on several panels. Google and Facebook execs advocated for their new products. Most interesting comments: from Mark Walrath/RightMedia founder: “The Meeker Gap (% time versus ad dollars spent on web media) exists because web advertisers have ...
February 18 2011
by Todd Hixon
Positioning for On-Line Subscription Dollars
Apple’s announcement of its App Store Subscriptions revenue policy this week (link) has got a lot of people buzzing, tweeting, and thinking – usually not all at once ;-) – about the subscription part of the app economy. E.g., see my partner Scott’s thoughtful post about what it means for Android (link). The policy lays out Apple’s claim ...
February 8 2011
by Scott Johnson
Is The UnGoogle Economy Viable?
Is there enough market to sustain a startup that competes directly with Google? This is an increasingly frequent topic, as we find ourselves asking entrepreneurs and our CEOs “what if Google decided to do this?” Back in the mid nineties, we used to ask this same question about Microsoft, as the graveyard of companies ...
January 28 2011
by Scott Johnson
Mobile Clicks Are Garbage!
Most mobile advertisement banner clicks are accidental. The Harris group published a study yesterday saying this. Surprised? I’m not! Has anyone actually clicked a mobile banner on purpose? Really? I can’t imagine doing so – the experience is so bad. I think Shakespeare might have been thinking of mobile banner ads when he quipped “It is ...
January 18 2011
by Scott Johnson
Mobile Monetization 2.0
Mobile monetization 2.0 is going to happen in 2011. Marketing budgets against mobile are showing up in the hundreds of millions, some new monetization schemes (CPL and CPD) are paying good eCPMs, 4G is coming, and this is all really great news for entrepreneurs and mobile app publishers as everyone everywhere taps into mobile apps. ...
December 8 2010
by Todd Hixon
What Are You Packing?
The Wall Street Journal recently ran a reader survey that asks, how many gadgets do you carry around with you [link]? They found one man who carries 18 gadgets weighing 26 lbs. in a backpack, including a full size laptop, an iPad, and a camera. WSJ reports his name is Phil Libin, and I think ...
December 3 2010
by Scott Johnson
“Do Not Track” – Some Predictions to Guide Investment
Congress has proposed an opt-out capability for user tracking. Much has been written about Do Not Track, and I won’t rehash all of that. I will simply say I think it is a good idea, and in general expecting that any industry will effectively police itself is naive. What has not been widely discussed is: ...
