Twilio ideas brainstorm: SMS, Voice, API
February 10, 2010 | Leave a Comment
If anyone is looking for some business/application ideas for using Twilio … I have had some SMS & VXML ideas in the past.
I think using SMS to send URLs to the user, so they can click and view things in their smartphone, is going to really come into play. Or calling a # in a job classified ad to hear a full description about the job & company [audio is more personal than text]. Ditto on calling a number on a product at a store that I’m looking at to walk me through the features.
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-26c-job-postings-details-by-voicemail-message/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-26b-auto-details-and-photos-to-your-cell/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-42-audio-ads-network-provider/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-10-in-person-social-networking-eventbar-mingling-via-cell/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-12-e-cards-with-your-voice-and-bonus-ideas/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-17-audio-chatting-by-phone/ [a dating or chatroulette idea for the phone]
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-36-social-audio-video-recommendations/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-5-video-audio-ratings-of-transactions-businessesproductspeople/
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-71-user-gen-opinionated-videos-photos-or-text-facebook-app/
M&A/IPO = Broken ROI Model for VCs?
November 23, 2009 | 1 Comment
Last week I was at the WNY Venture Association seminar on “Angel Investing in Western New York.” Not the sexiest market, in particular not for web technology. But some interesting tidbits came out of it — Ron Schreiber (Softbank Capital; Ingram-Micro co-founder) put some interesting nuggets out there. For VC firms, the 10-year annual return (avg) has been:
* 33%, June 2008
* 26%, January 2009
* 14%, June 2009
So why the huge discrepancy within a 1-year timeframe? Because the high returns of the late 90’s bubble drop-off the 10-year returns once 1999 kicked in.
The biggest take-away was him saying that if you’re going to be investing in start-ups, the plan should no longer be in selling the companies — that model is broken. He referenced the single-digit amount of IPO’s this year. He recommended the idea of ‘forced distributions’ as the new investing model — saying that there’s no reason why these companies can’t be funded and provide consistent returns, rather than waiting 5-10 years with your money tied up illiquid and then hoping for a return via merger/acquisition/IPO.
I’m curious what VC’s are currently thinking now, in 2009, when making their investments. Are they still investing with the idea of a merger/acquisition/IPO, or are they thinking of forced dividend returns by their portfolio companies? The number of VC firms is down, which is a reflection of the lack of returns.
Institutional investors backing these VC’s are generally looking for big returns off these high-risk investments, but given the lower VC portfolio returns now, I’d think the institutional investors would love the forced dividend returns to at least get their initial investments back. Maybe the better question is that if a VC were out raising a fund right now, would they still tout the merger/acquisition/IPO, despite the lack of those exits and the 14% 10-yr average return their industry has been providing?
Maybe Fred Wilson, Bijan Sabet, Brad Feld, or some other VCs will write a blog post with their thoughts on this.
Guest Post on TechCrunch: Twitter And Facebook Turn Everyone Into An Affiliate Marketer
November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment
You can read it, here. Enjoy!
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/15/twitter-facebook-amazon-affiliate-marketing/
FourSquare API Ideas
October 28, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I haven’t looked at the API, but I see crazy potential of apps being built on-top of FourSquare. The one thing I REALLY WANT [and have for years], is, when I go to a restaurant.. I want to see what everyone that’s ever been there rates as the best dishes; then what my friends rate as the best dishes; then what I’ve had there in the past [I was at a Thai place the other day, where I've been a lot, but there's 100 menu items, literally. I have no clue that last dish I had, which was AMAZING].
I detailed this idea out awhile ago — I think someone could make it happen with FourSquare: http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-76-the-greatest-menu-meals-fb-app-initially/
I’m in Buffalo, so I haven’t used FourSquare really at all, but I’d also love to see a “wall” for each bar/restaurant, where I could see everyone’s posts [within/at that bar/restaurant], or just my friend’s posts, or just my posts [w/replies of course]. It’d be another way for people to communicate and meet. If the music is way too loud, it could be said. If someone is puking in the 1st stall, it could be said. If a whif of reefer is going on, it could be said. If the blond in the red dress sitting at 7th seat at the bar is hot, it could be said.
I have some other ideas that I think could finally take off, if someone built them with FourSquare’s API…
This one is in regards to anyone at a sporting event, or concert, or happy hour, could post pics/videos from the event — and since everyone ‘checked in’ to foursquare is at same event, sending in a photo or video should be easy — something would check where you are, then it’d tag it for you without you worrying about it.
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-39-vyous-aggregated-event-photosvideos-everyones-views/
Actually, the following post is basically what FourSquare became [feb 2007 I wrote this]:
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-10-in-person-social-networking-eventbar-mingling-via-cell/
and
http://blog.stevepoland.com/idea-75-where-i-hang-out-facebook-app/
Best Live Concert I’ve Ever Been To: Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
September 30, 2009 | 1 Comment
This is saying a lot. If you know me, you know I likely have attended, on average, 2 concerts per month for the last 12 years of my life. Thus, nearly 300 concerts — that doesn’t really consider the nearly 50 acts that I see at various concert festivals (SXSW).
I’ve seen the new face of rock ‘n roll, and I was sober. This band lit up The Independent in San Francisco, CA, which is close to their homebase of Los Angeles.
I have described it as “happy hippie rock ‘n roll”.
I love these songs-
Home
Come In Please
Om Nashi Me
Ok I mean, those were the best damn songs played live.
I clapped with the crowd, intensely for 3 songs straight. I didn’t even feel any pain, and just kept clapping harder. And harder. Jumping in place. Couldn’t stop moving. Didn’t want it to end.
Expect lots of 2nd hand weed smoke. I want to become a groupie and follow them. The one chick’s vocals blow your mind considering how petite (and high on drugs) she is.
If you get a chance to see this band, you don’t even need to listen to the music beforehand — I assure you I had no clue what I was expecting, I just knew that my buddy Jonathan Strauss (of Awe.sm) had talked them up to me so much that when I was in SF earlier this month and he was, and he told me they were — I said, done, I’m in.
This band couldn’t be talked up enough — your expectations could be higher than a kite and they’ll still blow you away.
I just bought 4 tickets for their show in Toronto on November 24, 2009. Here’s their schedule and some songs to listen to.
Prepare to have the most fun you’ve ever known.
Any UX / UI / GUI / Graphic Designers out there?
August 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Specifically I’m seeking a contract UX designer — someone that can go through our app and make the usability better. As a quick task to see if you have the chops, how can you make the following ‘reports/stats’ page more usable? [This page basically breaks down stats for any plugin that the Publisher is using in their Extendy toolbar on their website].
If you are this UX someone, or know of someone, please drop me a quick note.
How to Startup! (not being a programmer)
May 5, 2009 | 3 Comments
I gave this presentation last night at our third BarCampBuffalo. Sorry there’s no audio (or some examples of my pencil mockups, or RFP spreadsheet):
Start-up Roadmap?
May 4, 2009 | 1 Comment
I received a question from someone that I thought was a good one:
After doing some research and a lot of googling I´ve a lot of resources in
different areas (customer development, project managment, agile development,
business plans, etc). I feel frustrated trying to glue all this together in
a practical order so that I can feel I have a horizon (a road map) to start
with. Is there such a thing ?
I sent this out to a few people to see what recommendations they’d give. Brad Feld said “If there is, it’s useless. There’s not a roadmap for starting a company – just a zillion little pieces to put together in unique ways each time.”
I agree with that, but having some kind of outline to help you consider those zillion little pieces, would be good — even though not every start-up will have to consider the parts.
Dave McClure said, “I agree with Brad that every journey is unique, but there are probably a few places that can help speed you along the path. You might try http://startupcompanylawyer.com as one resource, http://venturehacks.com as another.
Fred & Brad’s blogs are also great places to start. Don’t know how much of the old Garage site is still around, but Guy Kawasaki’s blog might also have some useful refs.”
David Cohen of TechStars chimed in and recommended Guy’s book The Art of the Start, which is “one book that seems fairly timeless. This will at least give you a good list of things to think about. Obviously, it will never be comprehensive to a particular startup.”
Here’s a link to some presentations by Guy’s Garage.com for building a company.
Any other good resources? Please list them in the comments.
Thanks Brad, David, and Dave for the input.
RE: The First Ten Things the New CEO of MySpace Should Do
April 22, 2009 | Leave a Comment
Response to Jason’s MySpace To-Do list:
Staffing Plan for a Widget Startup Company
April 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment
I’m interested in what a staffing plan typically looks like for a widget startup company, like: MyBlogLog, Lijit, IntenseDebate, Disqus, etc.
What’s needed initially til launch? After launch, at what # of installs do you need: community manager; relationship manager (someone proactively engaging Publishers to install the widget), etc?
Anyone have any info on this? Any links to some public staffing plans? [I'd love to see what MyBlogLog had planned for, then what it really looked like]
