Archive for the ‘Columns’ Category
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
 Joe Procopio So I dumped Netflix a couple days ago. It wasn’t much of a big deal. The woman on the other end of the line was very understanding, somewhat apologetic, and even a little cheerful throughout the entire ordeal, which lasted maybe 90 seconds.
Although I like to imagine she slammed the phone down and then went on her break to hatch an elaborate plan to stalk me and eventually win me back.
With poetry.
But it didn’t go down like that at all. There were no histrionics. And conversely, I didn’t go out in a blaze of rage. Deep in my heart-of-hearts, I still love Netflix, and I’m already going through withdrawal.
Maybe, once all this blows over, we’ll end up together again when I realize I can’t live without the comfort of having movies to come home to every night.
Sure, We Had Our Problems
Look, I’m not going to sit here and act like it wasn’t the price increase. It was definitely the price increase. But it wasn’t just that. I didn’t break up with Netflix to make a statement.
I did it because I realized that, ultimately, we’re doomed.
Well, Netflix is doomed. I’ll be fine.
Jumping the Shark
The price increase that went into effect on September 1 is a huge problem for Netflix, but not in the way you might think. Ultimately, the service is still worth the price, but a 50 prcent hike for people of my account status couldn’t have come at a worse time.
If the price bump was the cart, the selection of movies available for streaming was the horse. Netflix has always spoiled us by consistently delivering more than what we felt we deserved. So when they announced the price increase, and then the selection of movies available for streaming somehow got even worse, , including Starz announcing last week that they’re pulling their content in 2012, they ultimately triggered their own commoditization, thus opening up the door for whatever is next.
Oops.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or much research to realize exactly how fickle consumers of entertainment media are. Furthermore, nowhere is the tale more cautionary than that of home movie and television delivery.
This has all happened before…
First Love
I go all the way back to the 1980s on this. My Dad had the foresight to buy a VCR when they first hit the broad consumer market, so by the time the first Mom and Pop video rental store opened up a town away, I had already been waiting for something like it.
And much like the moment after a first date, suddenly all my behavior changed. The primary purpose of our VCR instantly went from recording television shows to watching rented movies. Thanks to our local video store, I could select from hundreds of titles, take them to the comfort of my own home, and eat and drink whatever I wanted while I watched.
I was in love. And with all that in hand, what more could I possibly want?
The Dating Game
Eventually, you could pretty much rent movies anywhere. The convenience store down the street from my apartment had shelves full of rentals. Grocery stores had them. Pharmacies had them. Bait and tackle shops had them. Everyone wanted my attention.
Now I didn’t have to bother making a special trip to the video store, and if I couldn’t find the movie I wanted in one place, there was a good chance they had it at the other. Competition drove rental prices down even further. Loyalty went out the window. Goodbye local video store, hello whatever happened to by close by.
I had options. So with all that in hand, what more could I possibly want?
The One That Got Away
I started going to Blockbuster because they guaranteed I could go home with a new release that night. Since it was also expensive, at first I only went to Blockbuster for said new releases.
But soon, everyone else became an afterthought. Blockbuster was the clear winner in the ensuing video rental wars, either out-pricing, out-selecting, or out-location-ing their competition. And make no mistake, Blockbuster, in its heyday, was ultra sexy.
So what if I now had to go back to making that special trip to the video store? This was the perfect video store. Blockbuster’s selection was broad and diverse, they almost always had the movie I wanted in stock (or I got it free), it was easy and painless, and they were everywhere.
It was perfection. So with all that in hand…
Long Term Commitment
 Netflix had been around for a while, always trying to get me to just give it a second look, but it took 24 long hours to get the movie I wanted. So at first, much like how I started with Blockbuster, I only went to Netflix for new releases.
But you know what happened? Blockbuster started getting all weird on me. The words “return it anytime” went straight to the heart of Blockbuster’s bottom line, and in a foolish attempt to try to replicate that ability, Blockbuster kept changing their rental periods, rental rates, and late fees several times over.
All of a sudden, 24 hours wasn’t such a long wait. When streaming was offered as part of the Netflix service, it just made Blockbuster’s attempts to be like Netflix look sad and pathetic.
Now I don’t even rent movies, I Netflix them, a branded term that means both receiving a DVD in the mail and viewing via the streaming service. Genius. Just about any movie I want at my door in 24 hours, and a whole bunch of second rate stuff I can check out right now. Why didn’t I notice all this before?
It was a partnership. So with all that…
The Rebound
Look, Redbox is not the answer. It is, to use another branded term, a Band-Aid. The same goes for Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, Walmart, and all of the other competitors springing up Netflix-like around Netflix.
Once Redbox started popping up everywhere and then launched a mobile app, I started trying them out. However, in the exact same way I started with both Blockbuster and Netflix, I’m only using them for new releases. Now I no longer have to wait 24 hours to see the movie I want to see.
Just like old times!
On Demand service has gotten more broad and a little less expensive. Unlike Netflix (and Redbox), On Demand movies are available the same day the DVD hits the stores. Now if there’s a movie I really want to see immediately, I no longer have to consider the long term commitment of buying it.
All the web-based services have different options for television shows and second rate movies. It’s not near as deep as Netflix, but …
What Am I Really Missing?
The only types of movies and television shows remaining are those I would watch out of nostalgia, curiosity, or discovery. In any of those cases, this is not stuff I would seek out. This is stuff I might queue up if I happen by it.
But I wouldn’t say I’m missing it, Bob.
I know what you’re thinking. That’s just me and my romantic tale, right? Your story is different. You can’t even dream of a world where you don’t have Netflix.
But look at Blockbuster. Before they created the market for watching exactly the movie I wanted to watch exactly when I wanted it for three bucks for two nights, that market didn’t exist. Once it went away, I didn’t miss it, thanks to a fledgling service that allowed me to use the Internets to send DVDs directly to my mailbox.
Even though I’ve had to change my habits a bit, I’m not missing Netflix. If that continues for, say, a couple weeks, then it’s safe to say that I just don’t need it anymore.
So why drag it out?
For the kids?
Yeah. Maybe. They’ve been screaming at me since I cancelled.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup StatSheet. He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco (www.twitter.com/jproco) and read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Blockbuster, Joe Procopio, Netflix, Netlfix price hike, on demand service, reasons to quit netflix, Redbox, streaming movies & TV
Posted in Columns, Internet/New Media, video, Viewpoint | 8 Comments »
Wednesday, August 24th, 2011
Joe Procopio A few months ago, I was sitting in John Austin’s office at gaming incubator Joystick Labs with Austin and John O’Neill, president of Spark Plug Games). I was mostly there trying to score free games, or at least cheat codes, and I also wound up accidentally writing about the North Carolina Gaming Roundtable they were about to take part in.
As we were killing time playing Dr. Mario, I nonchalantly asked if either of them had an exact figure on the number of gaming startups in the RTP.
While Austin reached into his desk and pulled out a stack of spreadsheets, lists, and what looked like a Simon, O’Neill whipped our his smartphone and started going through his contacts.
I give them huge credit for taking that random question so seriously, but the truth is no one really knows how many there are.
But we’re going to find out. Or at least Ben Moore is going to give us our best guess.
Gamers Unite!
Moore does marketing and PR for Mighty Rabbit Studios , an independent game development shop in Raleigh, currently working on the Saturday Morning RPG series, which is exactly what it sounds like and better have a Harlem Globetrotters mystery level. I sat down with Moore and Matte Wagner, founder of Pangolin as well as an audio engineer at Red Storm.
Moore is one of the drivers, along with Mighty Rabbit co-founder Alan Youngblood, of Raleigh Game On, a first-ever get together of local independent developers to show off their wares, celebrate independent gaming, and hopefully cement a community that has a lot of members, a lot of camaraderie, a lot of promise, but very little cohesion.
 Game On is Monday, August 29th at 7:00 p.m. at the Hive in downtown Raleigh. It’s free to attend, and I suggest you do. I’m telling you this because I know a little something about this kind of event.
They Stole My Idea!
About six months ago, I was at a reception that followed some kind of investor or tech startup conference, and I was half-joking that the reception, that’s the part at the end with beer and no Powerpoint, was what I most looked forward to.
Hey, I know a brewery owner, I thought. I should start an event and have it just be that part at the end where everyone is having fun. I made that joke in a column, someone read it and relayed it at a dinner a week later, whereupon someone else immediately said I should do it for real.
Fast forward to September 12th, which will be the fifth iteration of this event, now called ExitEvent, a free beer, loud music, no-nametags monthly social exclusive to RTP entrepreneurs and their employees. Within six months, it’s grown from a bad joke to 200 people from 85 startups.
Shameless Plug Over
Did you know there were 85 startups in the RTP?
Yeah, me neither, and I definitely should have. My point is the reason why ExitEvent blew up so quickly had nothing to do with me or the free beer. I just lit the match. It exploded because the entrepreneurs were out there and they wanted something like this.
So back to the question: How many gaming startups are there in the RTP?
Trick Question
The question is probably unanswerable, at least for now. A good guess is: Tons.
Thanks to mobile and social, there are lots of opportunities for smaller games, smaller budgets and smaller companies to be successful right out of the gate. Wagner says that these companies didn’t have the option of the mass mobile market until very recently, not 5 years ago, not really even two years ago.
Yes. In the world of mobile gaming, 2009 was like the dark ages.
Developers have also been taking notice of success stories like Rovio and the amount of reward achieved for the pittance of resources spent. Today, hobbyists are getting serious. Cogs at big companies are jumping ship to helm their own. It’s almost stupid that it’s not more of a gold rush than it already is.
But a lot of these little companies are working in a vacuum. When they get to a certain point, they all tend to run into the same obstacle: They can’t find the right person to join the team. They need a network, at least a central cortex, to bring about what Moore calls the “I know a guy” syndrome.
So, You Know, Game On
This is the purpose of Game On. Moore says that for the smaller developers, there really isn’t a central get together beyond the once-a-year East Coast Game Conference. I’ve been to that conference since its inaugural, and I’m always surprised by two things.
One. There is literally almost no connection between the RTP tech startup ecosystem and the RTP gaming ecosystem. It’s there, but it’s thin. I can count on one hand the number of people I run into at both the startup events and the gaming events. This should not be and I’ve sort of made it my goal to try to build that bridge.
Out of Legos, of course.
Two. The RTP startup ecosystem, as open and helpful as it is, could probably learn a few things from the RTP gaming ecosystem. These folks are tight, always helpful to each other and to outsiders like me. In this sense, the gaming ecosystem is a lot like the music ecosystem, where they’re willing to introduce, cross-promote, and even sit in on a project just because they love doing what they do.
They Want to Reach Your Grandmother
And it isn’t like the community has no structure at all. Alex Macris’ awesome Escapist magazine and Triangle Gaming Initiative (which also has a monthly social), is a very good start.
But the ECGC and the TGI are by developers for developers. In order to get the local gaming community to grow, they not only need to connect and reconnect with the developers, but also reach out to the developer wanna-bes and, ultimately, the gamers themselves.
This is more difficult than it was two years ago. Wagner points out that with that same mass mobile market as the distribution method, all sorts of people are now exposed to games and have an idea of how a game should play, casual vs. hardcore is dying down, if not almost irrelevant.
Plus smart phone penetration is still relatively small, compared to other delivery media – televisions, for example, or even PCs/Laptops. In other words, gamers are everywhere, they’re everyone. They’re pretty much you’re grandmother.
Well, they don’t want to reach your grandmother, but the point is the universe is expanding.
Here’s Your SETI
Moore hopes to at least diagram that expansion with Game On as a first attempt. He wants to grow Game On to be a central hub for the independent community of local developers to collaborate and trade ideas. If it works, they bring more people in, and the result is more ideas and more collaboration.
But there’s an added competition element to Game On. Companies will give a two minute intro on who they are and what they’re working on, and there will be stations set up for attendees to give the game a try. At the end of the evening, a Best in Show will be chosen and a trophy awarded, which the winner keeps until the next Game On (TBD).
Battle of the Bands!
The trophy is named the Ben G. Russell Cup, after a friend within the gaming community who passed away before he had the chance to take off. Again, this shows that the community is there, it just needs cohesion.
And this initial Game On is only the first step. Moore and Wagner don’t yet know what they don’t know, in terms of what’s out there that they’re not taking advantage of.
But while they’re counting new companies at the first Game On, they’ll figure this out too
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup StatSheet. He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco (http://www.twitter.com/jproco) and read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Events, game developers, Joe Procopio, Joystick Labs, Mighty Rabbit Studios, Raleigh Game On, Sparkplug Games, StatSheet
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Events, games, Internet/New Media, mobile games, North Carolina | 6 Comments »
Monday, August 15th, 2011
 Hezi Moore Raising capital is one of the most significant business challenges faced by entrepreneurs. The fundraising process for technology startups is typically a slow and painful one, especially for those raising a business from infancy. In many cases, fundraising efforts detract from the time that could or should be spent growing the business. Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs fail to raise capital because of easily avoidable mistakes made when approaching and meeting with potential investors.
The three most common mistakes include:
- Not ready for prime-time.
Some entrepreneurs might have a great idea for a business, but then try to pitch investors before the concept is fully developed. Before attempting to gain investment capital, the entrepreneur should create a mockup and develop a model of the screen interfaces. They should then talk to potential customers to validate the concept and ensure that product solves a problem. Entrepreneurs also need to develop the right business model for their company. By choosing and adapting the appropriate model, they can forecast product consumption and have the capability to scale the business during the growth phase.
In addition, there’s nothing worse than going to an investor’s meeting unprepared. If you haven’t put the time and energy into developing a strong presentation and writing complete business and financial plans, you are wasting your time as well as the investors. You only get one shot, so get it right the first time.
- Targeting the wrong investor audience.
Some entrepreneurs approach the wrong investors during their startup growth stage. Different types of investors target startups at varying levels of maturity. Angel investors, for example, typically provide early-stage funding, while venture capital firms often get involved during the later stages of the operation. Before launching the fundraising process, the entrepreneur should develop a comprehensive prospective investor list for their startup growth stage. The investors should be qualified based on the following criteria: track record, market sectors, size of fund and reputation. All of the investors on the list should also be accredited.
- Mistaking an investors value contribution.
Entrepreneurs usually select investors based on valuation rather than the investor’s market knowledge, long-term financial capability and reputation. Venture capitalists provide more than just money, so they should be evaluated and selected based on their overall value contribution to the company. The following is a list of values VCs can add to a startup: expertise, board of directors, credibility, financing, network, coaching, exit, recruitment, customers and public relations and marketing efforts. Selecting the right investor can prove the difference between a company’s failure and success.
By steering clear of these mistakes, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of successfully raising capital.
An Entrepreneur in Residence at the Advanced Technology Development Center in Atlanta, Hezi Moore has more than 20 years of experience in security, virtualization, cloud infrastructure and entrepreneurial expertise. Prior to joining the Georgia Tech incubator, Moore founded Reflex Systems (Reflex Security) and led the effort to develop the industry’s first Virtual Security Appliance (VSA), which provides visibility, management and security for virtual network infrastructure.
Tags: ATDC, Atlanta, avoiding entrepreneurial mistakes, Best Practices, businesses advice, entrepreneur in residence, financing, fund raising, Hezi Moore, mistaking an investors value contribution, not ready for prime time, Security, targeting the wrong investor audience, three common mistakes by entrepreneurs
Posted in Best Practices, Columns, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
 Dave M. Mastovich By Dave Mastovich
I’m all for creative problem solving and maximizing human resources. However, with those human resources being limited, we need to make sure the right person is doing the right work at the right time.
Far too often, when it comes to Marketing, PR, Communications and Selling, senior leaders, middle managers and entrepreneurs subscribe to the Do It Yourself (DIY) approach and their companies suffer because of it.
Some examples include:
- Having “creative” work attempted by in house staff who are not creative professionals.
- Failing to augment internal Sales Training & Coaching with outside expertise.
- Thinking that writing and sending a press release is doing PR.
- Lacking the confidence to have others involved in developing strategic goals and initiatives.
- Ignoring market research by thinking they already know what they need to know.
It seems decision makers often forget there’s a price for their time and that of their team members.
Many also either fail to realize or admit that the end result is often inferior due to the lack of experience and expertise of the in house DIY’er.
Your analysis has to include more than just the cost side. Consider the opportunity cost of lost time spent working in areas you or your team members lack experience in and probably struggle to complete.
You also have to have the confidence to realize that utilizing a person or company with more experience and expertise in a particular area is not a sign of weakness on your part. The opposite is true. If you work with and guide others both inside and outside the organization, you are that much stronger as a leader.
Outcomes will typically be better and the actual cost won’t be what you might have originally thought after accounting for the opportunity cost of time spent by you and others on your team.
The DIY approach can work in certain instances. But prior to going that route, make sure you have done a true analysis of the situation and be confident enough to make the right call.
Editor’s Note: We still see at lot of poorly written, ill-constructed and almost counter-productive news releases from DIYers daily at the TechJournal. Some appear to be written by non-English speakers or translation programs. Particularly at start-ups, we also frequently encounter entrepreneurs who have not refined their story for public consumption.
Tags: Best Practices, busienss advice, Dave Mastovich, Doi it yourself marketing perils, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Marketing, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, July 22nd, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio Seriously? Wait, how many bands?
When deja Mi founder Justin Miller first dropped hints to me back in May about what would become deja Fest, it sounded intriguing. He painted a picture of an old-school launch party, complete with bands, beverages, and big-shots.
Of course I was in. That’s sort of my thing.
And his strategy made perfect sense. See, deja Mi is a venue-based media sharing application, fancy-speak for an app that takes your pictures, video, audio, any kind of digital content from an event, and uploads and categorizes it in a single album for that venue. All real time.
Local. Music. Tonight.
So you go to a show, and immediately after — hell, even during, you can relive (or immerse yourself in) said show, minute by minute, snapshot by snapshot – or, if you can’t make the show, you can watch or hear the whole thing as it’s streamed to you.
Better yet, if you happen to be out in downtown Raleigh after dinner at any one of the awesome restaurants that have sprung up, deja Mi can give you a full audio/visual menu of what’s happening around you.
No friends, no followers, no privacy concerns.
Cool app. Good reason to throw a party.
But Wait, There’s More
Things got out of hand, in a good way.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Miller and his gang that there’s been a veritable boom in media-sharing apps, especially those launched in the last six months. deja Mi is unique in the sense that it uses location and media sharing in a very efficient manner and marries the two through individual events.
The app stands out, but in order to stand out in the marketing shuffle, they realized they needed to create a major footprint right out of the gate. They talked about it and, going back to the roots of how the company was conceived, decided to tie the launch to the music scene.
A planned one-off concert-style launch party quickly grew into a couple bands at a couple different venues and then evolved into a monster two-day festival bringing in big names while including local bands in the mix.
Thus, deja Fest
 That means you’ll see locals The Hell No and The Static Mind as well as Baltimore’s Wye Oak (, fresh off a stint on Jimmy Fallon, and Warner Bros.’ Surfer Blood.
All in all, it’s 26 acts at six different venues over two days plus an all-ages portion on a closed-off Cabarrus Street.
And it’s free.
So drop whatever it is you’re doing tonight and tomorrow (that’s Friday July 22nd and Saturday the 23rd if you ignored my tweets), and get to downtown Raleigh, because we haven’t seen anything like this in ten years, and probably won’t see anything like it again for a while.
The Return of the Lavish Launch?
I’m old enough to remember the bubble parties circa 1998-2001. And let’s get one thing straight. They were awesome.
Back in the day, technology was my ticket to front row seats at the Brian Setzer Orchestra (Thanks, Microsoft!), backstage badges at SXSW (Thanks, Vignette!), and all kinds of ridiculous, superfluous excuses for not having a revenue model.
Personally, I’m trying to revive that sense of fun in the technology world, especially in the startup ecosystem and deliberately in the RTP. Fun is healthy, and it can go a long way towards turning triples into home runs. Fun is necessary.
In moderation.
I’m also the first one to step up and say enough is enough when a Dave & Buster’s gets rented out and a Flock of Seagulls gets flown in for every point release. I’m just as wary of Groupon’s numbers as you are and right now, I’ll be honest, my portfolio is safely invested in mattress lint and Rosetta Stone for Mandarin.
This Is Not a Bubble Party
Miller came up with the idea for deja Mi, sensibly enough, at a show in October 2010. By November, he not only had the company underway but also, and this is key, the revenue model. The app was then built around that.
Going back to the glut of media sharing apps hitting the market between then and now, Miller took stock of the means to get his app to the top of the pile. He quickly realized there was one mean: The traditional way of breaking an app is the holy grail of TechCrunch, combined with several good write-ups and, of course, great reviews in the App Store and Android Market.
It wasn’t until April that the launch party idea was born. deja Mi is the official app of September’s Hopscotch Festival, so they have a partnership as well as a sponsorship with Hopscotch.
Miller realized that this roaming music festival could not only serve as a launch party, but also as the ultimate first impression and test-bed for the app. It would provide the backdrop not only for exposure, but also education and adoption.
If deja Mi is going to become ubiquitous with venue-based media capture, then festivals, even music shows, are just the first step. You might as well just jump right in. So deja Fest is not just a party, it’s a Petri dish where the app can quickly grow and evolve.
A Launch Party With a Purpose.
Certainly it’s going to be fun – but that’s just gravy.
It’s a risky move from a financial standpoint – as they’re putting most (not all) of their eggs in one basket in terms of marketing. It’s either going to work and work extremely well or it’s not, and then they go back to the drawing board.
What I like about it is that they’ve figured out there has to be more than one way to get your name out there. We can all complain about how the RTP is stuck in this plain, vanilla, boring rut, but in order for it to change, we have to make waves, take risks, and, well, bring the sexy back
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for tech media startup StatSheet. He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent (http://ExitEvent.com). Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco and read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: column, Dejafest, DejaMi, Events, Jimmy Fallon, Joe Procopio, Justin Miller, NC, Raleigh, Surfer Blood, The Hell No, The Static Mind, Wye Oak
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Events, Internet/New Media, North Carolina | Comments Off
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Joe Procopio Adzerk Founder and CEO James Avery is the kind of guy you just sort of immediately feel a kinship with. It’s not because he’s filthy rich, although he is, or because he’s quick to give you a sticker, he’s got tons of them, it’s the fact that he’s a straight talker who always happens to know exactly what he’s talking about.
Example: At the recent Tech Jobs Under the Big Top job fair, when a dozen RTP startups got up on stage to present to roughly 250 job seekers, Avery showed a minute or two of the Startup Guys video, which then faded to black with the caption:
“Not all startups are full of ****.”
What Did He Just Say?
Huge laugh from the crowd, but this is exactly what Avery is about. It’s a joke, right? Or is it? I dig that. Plus he hired someone from that event, so obviously at least one other person dug it as well.
I feel a kinship with Avery because we took a similar path. We both got out of the corporate technology world and started one-person consulting practices that grew over time into larger and more successful consulting practices. Neither of us were ultimately happy, no wait, neither of us were fulfilled. Something was missing.
It was the startup thing.
So while I started shifting the focus of my practice to the startup world, Avery went out and started another company.
Enter Adzerk
More specifically, he bought an ad network in 2007 which was bare bones, and he replaced it and built on top of it. In the beginning, he was only using it for himself, but then he started another vertical ad network and modified the software to run both of them, The Lounge and Ruby Row.
When he tried to start a third ad network, he realized that the software itself was a more compelling play than creating and running ad networks.
Now, there’s a long history of companies in the ad-tech industry trying to run networks and sell software at the same time, and usually the software part ends up becoming the ugly stepchild. You just can’t do both and have both be successful. So in December 2010, he sold off one of the ad networks and focused on the stepchild.
The RTP Startup Playbook
An office in American Underground came first. And when the Underground announced via Twitter that Adzerk was moving in, Avery got a tweet asking if he was hiring.
Now he had space, an engineer, and a little bit of runway. So when he saw how much of an impact those dollars made, he knew he needed more.
He ran the gamut of the RTP support structure, including the aforementioned job fair, the CED Venture Conference (although he knew everyone there), TechMedia’s Internet Summit (where he met the guys from Argyle, Spring Metrics, and JobKatch), Launch Durham (although he launched at Calacanis’ LAUNCH Conference), and even though he was too far along for Startup Stampede or Launchbox, he eventually hired three former Launchboxers.
Elevator Pitch
Most every ad server has two fundamental problems. It’s likely built on 90s technology and it’s probably run by a big media company.
Adzerk is independent and based on current generation technology. And they innovate. Right now they have what Avery calls an “incrementally better ad server.” It’s faster, the ads get served asynchronously, stats are real time, all cloud based, scales quickly.
Some publishers care a lot about this, others don’t. So Adzerk has carved out a market where those features are differentiators. But Avery knows that having an “incrementally better” mousetrap is not enough.
So Adzerk is going after bigger game. They’re bucking the traditional model – enterprise software, contracts, etc. Thus, the pitch becomes “let’s change the way ad-serving works.”
Good pitch!
Eight months go by. $650K seed round.
This is where the story gets a little funny, because out of that $650K Avery finished raising this month, exactly $25,000, or just a little under 4%, came from in-state.
Avery says he was naïve as every other first-time fundraiser, figuring he’d go to the people he knew, find the right ones at the right time, and get just what he needed to get to the next level. It took about a month before he realized he needed to talk to anyone and everyone who would pick up the phone. So he did.
That says two things. But neither of them is a soap-boxy “Local investors need to invest in more local companies!”
Santa Claus. What?
I’ve got a great analogy for this. This is like asking Santa Claus to quit bringing a bunch of presents every Christmas and instead just show up with one present on the 25th of each month.
I know. That one came to me in a traffic jam.
The frustrating thing about the RTP investment region is that we’ve got a bunch of investors and a bunch of startups but 95% of the time the goals of one do not match the intentions of the other, and vice versa.
When Avery and I discussed this, the lament wasn’t “Man, it would be cool if the local VCs would start investing their big bucks in early stage companies,” it was more like “Man, it would be cool if we had some apparatus here by which several early-stage companies could raise $100K on a standard term sheet.”
That’s the first thing. The second thing is a lot more hopeful.
Startup Investing Enters the 2000s
Adzerk’s path to funding is not unique. There have been a number of investments here lately that have involved money from the west coast, New York, pretty much everywhere, and it’s getting easier. During his fundraise, Avery left the area twice, and one of those trips was to shake hands with the lead before they signed the term sheet.
It’s a good tale, a no-BS founder product company with customers and revenue operates within a robustly-evolving support system to land seed-stage money and swing for the fences
Rinse and repeat, people.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company (http://IntrepidCompany.com) and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent (http://ExitEvent.com). Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco and read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Adzerk, Adzerk seed round, Amercian Underground, CED Venture Conference, Durham, Internet Summit, James Avery, Joe Procopio, NC, RTP, RTP Startup Playbook, Startup Guys, Startups, Tech Jobs Under the Big Top
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina, Tech Culture, TechLife | 2 Comments »
Monday, July 11th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio Microsoft, dammit, you had it right there in front of you. Your much-anticipated “for-real-this-time” entry into the mobile OS game that was going to make everyone forget about the Kin and go head-to-head with Droids and iPhones is now officially in the mainstream with Verizon’s entry, the HTC Trophy, and you never even once considered what could have been an enormous branding coup.
The MicroPhone.
You’re welcome.
Instead, we get Windows Phone 7. And this speaks directly to my problem with the Windows Mobile Strategy since they first figured out it’d be super sweet if the iPaq could make phone calls.
1) All they’re doing is playing catch-up.
2) They’re not sprinting.
Microsoft, I still love you. As a proud former Cassiopeia owner who still has a Windows laptop in a Mac shop even though it happens to have an untouched Vista partition because that was your advice to me when I couldn’t retrowrite it with XP – anyway, I had high hopes for the MicroPhone, and I’m desperately trying to avoid jumping on the bashwagon, but I’m not seeing the mobile strategy equivalent of Halo.
Xbox Live Integration!
In 2011, Microsoft has two things going strongly for it. One, Macs are still expensive. Two, the Xbox.
Everything about the Xbox is exponentially cooler than its competition. The Kinect is a terrible exercise in setup frustration that is rewarded with too few games, but it’s cool. I still can’t watch ESPN3 on my Time Warner Cable connected Xbox, but every time I see the logo on my dashboard, I can’t help but imagine how cool that’s going to be.
Work it out, jerks.
So it stands to reason that Xbox Live integration into the MicroPhone should be heralded as the coolest thing to happen to a phone since someone else’s voice came out of it.
But hold on. It’s Xbox Live.
When I do use Xbox Live on my console to play the occasional online game, it’s because I want to play a shooter or a sports game against someone other than the computer. I want to immerse myself in intricate playability, the unspeakably awesome graphics on my big-ass living room television, and the enhanced 6.1 Surround Sound cranking out of my speakers.
Online! Banking!
 HTC Trophy smartphone The mobile gaming experience is the polar opposite. If I want to play a game on my phone, it’s because I’m waiting in line at the bank. I don’t care about the graphics or the sound or even the depth of gameplay, as long as I can start and stop quickly and do it with one hand.
Which is pretty much the drill for everything you do with your mobile.
Microsoft brought the ages-old PC practice of cheap downloadable non-blockbuster games to the console, and in this they’ve had some hits. So instead of building around the Xbox Live brand to make the mobile gaming experience something unique, they just shoved Xbox Live games into the phone.
But in the mobile universe, WinMo7 is starting out already woefully behind iOS and Android in the app and gaming department, and the Xbox Live brand is just not enough to make Microsoft a mobile gaming contender out of the box.
I’m looking at my game selection right now, and I’m being steered towards Plants vs. Zombies and Angry at the Birds.
No, I typed that last one correctly.
It’s So Much More Than Games!
Every other aspect of the Xbox Live experience is pretty much the equivalent of what you’d expect from an iPhone or an Android phone. Or for that matter the MicroPhone itself. Xbox Live has Netflix. WinMo has a native Netflix app. Xbox Live has Facebook. WinMo has a native Facebook app.
Both have Zune, so there you go.
There’s the Xbox Live community, sure, but I’ll go ahead and admit that I have no friends. Wait. I have Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn and Google + and actual friends, but since those friends and I are rarely waiting in line at the bank at the same time, we’re probably not going to be mobile gaming together.
In fact, if we were in line at the bank at the same time, we’d probably just put our phones away and strike up a conversation.
Preemptive Comment Strike: I’m sure hardcore gamers can probably get a lot of use out of Xbox Live for MicroPhone, but are you guys really leaving your house that much? Aren’t you there right now?
MS Office in the Palm of Your Hand!
Well…
1) Google Docs: I’m barely running Office on my laptop anymore. In fact, if it weren’t for all the time I spend in bars and movie theaters during work hours and the fact that I’m too cheap to spring for mobile wireless, I wouldn’t use Office at all.
2) Tablets: It’s the size, not the software. A mobile phone is simply not an effective business device replacement. A tablet is.
3) RIM: The convergence of the business mobile device and the personal mobile device has happened. When? A quick glance at RIMM’s stock chart shows it was 2/18/11.
Business functionality requires a small subset of features compared to personal. RIM aced the former and blew the latter. Again, Office isn’t enough of a brand to force a change from iOS or Android for business reasons and give up all the apps.
When I showed my kids Angry at the Birds, they looked at me like I gave them a Payday candy bar. Like… thanks?
Even Without Xbox Live and Office, It’s a Perfectly Adequate Phone!
And that leaves all the things that a mobile device is supposed to do. Camera? Check. GPS? You betcha. Email? Of course.
The MicroPhone does all of these. The presentation is beautiful, the navigation is a little shaky in terms of relearning menus (“pivots” scroll across the top). It rings when people call you.
The HTC handset is phenomenal, by the way, once more boosting my admiration of HTC products. (Editor’s note: we recently tested an HTC Windows 7 phone as well and also found the HTC handset an excellent piece of equipment and the Windows 7 operating system the easiest and most intuitive to use of all those we’ve tried.)
Like I said, I had high hopes for MicroPhone™. I’ve gone so far as to ask around hoping my own ignorance had kept me from discovering that new new thing that way.
It may be there, but if it is, it’s down the road. Maybe with the Mango update later this year.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco and read joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Angry at the Birds, facebook, Google, HTC, Joe Procopio, LinkedIn, MicroPhone, Microsoft, mobile games, smartphones, twitter, Windows 7 phone review, X-box live, Zune
Posted in Columns, games, Internet/New Media, Microsoft, Mobile, mobile games, Reviewed, smartphones, social media | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
 Joelle Jay By Joelle Jay, Ph.D.
What if there are things you are doing – or not doing – that are sabotaging your success? What if there are few key things you’re missing that could help you get even better results? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s by getting feedback.
Unfortunately, feedback is sometimes given a bad rap. Poorly conducted performance reviews, harsh criticisms by thoughtless colleagues, and bad experiences with multi-rater feedback systems all contribute to the temptation to steer clear of feedback if you can help it.
But feedback is how we learn. Without feedback and reflection, you have no way to know how you’re doing. You don’t know what others think of you or how you might be holding yourself back. What you don’t know can hurt you. A lack of self-knowledge can limit your opportunities and even stall your career.
On the other hand, when you seek feedback, you open yourself up to reflection. You become much more thoughtful about what you’re doing and why, how you can improve, how you can maximize your efforts and get better, more predictable results.
When you get high quality feedback, you gain a tremendous advantage. By seeing yourself as others see you, suddenly you realize where, why and how you can improve. You understand where you’re holding yourself back and where you have the opportunity to surge ahead.
Asking for feedback can benefit you in the following ways:
· Identifying Your Strengths. Feedback helps you maximize your natural
strengths and reach your full potential. This is a good idea anytime, but
especially when you’re secure in your skills and competence and want to
truly excel.
· Seeing Into Your Blind Spots. You might want feedback because you want to
improve your leadership and see into your blind spots. This is particularly
important when you have been newly promoted or are in the throes of a new
endeavor.
· Meeting Your Goals. Feedback gives you specific direction on how to meet
your goals. This approach works best when you are already clear on what your
goals are. You don’t need information about what to do, but rather how you
are to do it.
· Preparing for Advancement. You might want feedback to prepare yourself for
advancement. This method is best when you are seeking less self-awareness
and more advice and direction.
· Becoming More Effectie. Feedback can help you become more effective in
your current job, which is helpful at any time and in fact is a strategy you
might want to use over and over. Feedback can even give you a sense of what
your clients want and need. By asking questions not just about yourself, but
about your clients and customers, you can better serve their needs and
therefore increase your value to them.
What are your reasons for seeking feedback? What results do you want to
achieve? Think about your reasons for feedback in advance to take the
fullest advantage of the learning it has to offer. Then, before you actually
get the feedback, give careful thought to what will happen when you receive
it.
Leaders all react to feedback differently. Reactions range from tears to
elation. Are you interpreting the feedback in the way that will be most
helpful to you?
Here are ten dos and don’ts that will help you make the most of the feedback
you receive.
1. Do choose one or two areas to work on.
Use your feedback as a jumping-off point for an action plan. Choose one most
impactful area to master. Make some decisions about what it will take to
improve in that area, and find a commitment you can get started on right
away. You can always come back for more later.
2. Do focus as much on your strengths as your weaknesses.
As you read your feedback, remember to focus on what’s right, not just
what’s wrong. It’s just as important to build on what’s working than it is
to improve what’s not.
3. Do save your feedback for a specific time set aside for review and
reflection.
Give yourself the chance to absorb the feedback. Take the time to get in the
right mindset to hear both good and bad news, and be sure you have enough
time to work with the information productively.
4. Do seek further detail and clarification as needed.
You may come across feedback you don’t really understand. Don’t just
speculate. Go find out. While you’re at it, thank the people who gave you
feedback for their time and thoughts. Giving feedback can be just as risky
as receiving it.
5. Do take notes and explore your observations.
Your feedback isn’t the final word on you. It’s just a place to start. Add
your own insights to what you learn in order to make sense of it and find
the real learning.
6. Don’t choose too many areas to work on.
Feedback can be overwhelming. Every comment, good or bad, can be a place to
look for improvement. Be careful not to get caught in “analysis paralysis.”
7. Don’t focus on the “bad stuff.”
It’s easy to get sidetracked by fixating on what’s not going well. Feedback
is important, but it’s not everything. Even when you get harsh feedback, you
can learn to put it in perspective.
8. Don’t just skim the feedback.
Slow down and analyze it well. You might even want to read or review your
feedback several times to really understand the message.
9. Don’t hold feedback against the people who gave it to you.
Every single person who gets feedback feels the same way: exposed. You might
feel a little defensive, or even angry. Learn to connect with others over
the experience for support. Don’t shoot the messenger.
10. Don’t put the feedback in a drawer.
Feedback is a message given to you by others who care enough to tell you the
truth. If all you do is throw it in a drawer and forget about it, it’s not
worth going through the process at all.
If you adhere to these suggestions, you will be in a much stronger place to
capitalize on the learning available in the feedback you receive.
Of course, feedback isn’t the only way to learn about yourself. It’s also
helpful to round out the feedback you get from others with the reflection
you do on your own, by taking psychological or scientific assessments, and
having good old-fashioned one-on-one conversations with people who can help
you be a better you.
But feedback is a powerful tool. Like all tools, it
serves a particular purpose. The more you learn about how to use feedback
for what it can and can’t do, the more productive the experience will be.
The process of receiving feedback is a vulnerable one, but ironically the
feedback can strengthen you as a leader. Follow these dos and don’ts to be
sure you make the most of the opportunity.
Joelle K. Jay, Ph.D. (joellekjay.com) is an executive coach
specializing in leadership development and the author of The Inner Edge: The
10 Practices of Personal Leadership, in which shows leaders how to improve
their effectiveness by learning to lead themselves. Her newsletter, The
Inner Edge Quarterly, offers articles, exercises, tips, quotes, and success
stories from real leaders to help you excel. SEE:
www.TheInnerEdge.com and click on Newsletter, or email
Info@TheInnerEdge.com.
Tags: 10 tips for getting feedback, Best Practices, Business advice, Joelle Jay
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Friday, May 20th, 2011
 Michael Levin By Michael Levin
The publishing world gathers next week in Manhattan at BookExpo America, its annual trade show, but the one subject attendees won’t be discussing is the coming collapse of publishing and the inevitable disappearance of books.
It’s not just that books are going to Kindles and iPads. It’s that books are going away, and the publishers have no one but themselves to blame.
The traditional New York publishing business model—publish a ton of books, fail to market most of them, and hope that somebody buys something—worked well when publishers had a hammerlock on the distribution and marketing of books. Publishers essentially faced no competition and enjoyed complete control of what books people could publish and sell.
Who needs New York?
In today’s world, however, anyone from John Grisham to John Doe can put up a book online with Smashwords, Lulu, or Kindle Direct, and bypass publishers—and bookstores—all together. Authors can use Google AdWords or social networking strategies to market their books far more effectively than publishers ever could. So who needs New York?
Yes, Kindle and iPad are game-changers. When you read books on a device, a few things change. You’re moving into an environment where you typically don’t pay for content—almost everything online is free. So publishers won’t be able to charge $10 or $12 for an entire book when people only want a chapter’s worth of information. So much for ebooks as a revenue stream for the publishing houses.
Blame Amazon for the colapse
Publishers can also blame Amazon for the collapse of their industry. When you went into a bookstore, you typically browsed and bought a handful of books, each from a different department. Amazon killed browsing. You go on, you find the book you wanted, you pay, and you leave. So instead of buying five books, you buy just one.
But the real reason why books are going to vanish is the remarkably un-businesslike business model of the publishers. Think of General Motors—decades of inefficiency, but without the federal bailouts.
In no other industry do producers actually wait passively to see what products are suggested to them, instead of doing market research to see what people really want to buy. Yet publishers seldom generate book ideas; instead they wait for literary agents to submit proposals. Houses decide which book to publish based on little more than a gut feeling that says, “I think we can make money selling this!”
Yet the books that publishers choose are almost entirely of zero interest to actual bookbuyers. After 9/11, there were a ton of books about 9/11, which nobody bought. Same thing with the Iraq War, the rise of Obama, the economic meltdown, and even, inexplicably, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Rehashed business lessons, motivational cliches
Or the books are rehashed business lessons, religious truths, sports clichés, motivational babble, exercise fads, weight loss techniques, or pandering to the political left or the right. Who wants these books? Almost no one.
Most of the major publishers today are owned by international conglomerates who, at some point, will awaken to the realization that English majors in their employ are spending millions of dollars on books that no one wants to read.
As a result, few trade books earn real money for the publisher (and certainly not for the author!). That’s because the publisher bears the entire risk of buying, editing, printing, and shipping copies of the book to bookstores all over the country on a 100% returnable basis. If your local Barnes & Noble doesn’t sell a particular book, it goes right back to the publisher, at the publisher’s shipping cost, for a full refund. Especially in the Internet era, you can’t make money putting books on trucks and hoping someone buys them.
At BEA next week, the attendees will solemnly discuss the latest trends, discuss how to get 70-year-old authors to use Twitter, and generally party like it’s 1989. But for traditional publishing, the party’s over. They just don’t want to realize that it’s time to turn out the lights.
Michael Levin is an eight-time best-selling author, a former member of the Authors Guild Council, and a prolific and highly admired business writer (www.BusinessGhost.com). He has written with Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield, football broadcasting legend Pat Summerall, FBI undercover agent Joaquin Garcia, and E-Myth creator Michael Gerber. He has written for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, and many other top outlets.
Tags: Amazon, Are books about to disappear?, Barnes & Noble, BookExpo America, books an endangered species, collapse of the book industry, ebooks, iPads, Kindle, Michael Levin, Nook, publishing, Twittter
Posted in Columns, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Mobile, social media | Comments Off
Friday, May 20th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio Starting a company in post-mobile, post-social 2011 is a little like enrolling in a notorious party school. It’s not that hard to get in, it’s a hell of a lot of fun, but at the end of ride, not too many graduate and those that do might find themselves with an end result a lot less valuable than they had imagined going in. Plus alcoholism.
Seriously though, it’s cake to start a startup these days, especially in technology. In fact, by the time you finish reading this column, three more startups will have emerged in Durham, and there’s a 17 precent chance that you’re the CTO of one of them.
What with frameworks and toolsets and SaaS and eCommerce and automated storefronts, all you really need is an Internet connection and a couple hours in a Starbucks.
Get the Venti, your beta will be live by noon.
Lean Funding?
As the options have expanded and the barriers to entry fallen for creating the company, the options for funding have evolved in a similar fashion. As we approach the inevitable (but still far off, in my opinion) social/mobile bubble, Venture Capitalists have revised their theses to include companies that are earlier and leaner and thus in need of less of an initial investment.
This is what used to be Angel and Super Angel territory, but an interesting phenomenon is happening, especially in the RTP. The Angels are disappearing, or at least aren’t as active as they used to be, and the Angel groups that were mainstay of the dot-com era are all but gone. So the VCs are now filling some of that gap at the higher end.
At the lower end, we’re seeing everything from an increase in friends-and-family and bootstrapping to new trends like Micro and Kickstarter-style donation investing. Let’s call this Lean Funding – enough to get the product out the door to see if it’s going to be successful.
The return for this kind of funding is terrible, but the risk is also usually pretty low (provided some due diligence is done) as many of these businesses turn out to be of the Chamber or lifestyle variety, with enough success to keep the company growing slowly over time and providing (hopefully), a return to the initial investors.
But no exit.
The Middle Ground
So with the high end going to the VCs (roughly the $1M to $4M range) and the low end going lean ($10K to $50K), there’s still a big fat niche in the middle, companies that are on solid footing, with a viable product, pre-customer, but not enough capital to take the next step.
This is where IMAF-RTP wants to play.
The Inception Micro Angel Fund
IMAF-RTP made some noise a week or so ago when they announced they’d opened their doors and were beginning the investment process. They benefit from being a part of a larger and established entity, with IMAF already having a presence in Winston-Salem (two funds), Eastern NC, Charlotte, and Western NC (where they’ve invested in Creative Allies, an outgrowth of Sean O’Connel’s Music Allies in Asheville).
The RTP franchise is run by Bill Warner and Rich Kramarik, both of whom have worked together on Angel investments and a previous Angel group. IMAF-RTP is backed by a number of accredited investors. The fund is actively involved with companies seeking $100K – $150K to get from idea to final proof-of-concept or to get sales and marketing in place.
IMAF-RTP, like the rest of the IMAF funds, operates independently and seeks preferred equity. They work with a term sheet and expect a board seat just like your everyday Angel or VC. In fact, the likely next step for these companies, after the IMAF-RTP investment, is an additional investment from Angels or perhaps VCs.
So it’s a stepping stone for an early-stage company that isn’t quite Angel or VC-ready.
But is it the kind of company you’d start in a Starbucks?
Maybe.
Expensive Money
The risk/reward ratio of the playground in which IMAF-RTP will set up shop is higher than possibly any other type of investment, although it correlates to Angel and VC. These companies are very early, and the risk is not only off the charts, it’s hard to determine, let alone due-diligence be done.
IMAF-RTP has a formula, and I bet it doesn’t have a lot of rainbows and smiley faces.
At the end of the day, it’s all guts.
They apply this formula where they find cost-effective, fair, and elegant solutions to very painful problems. They’re not exclusive to B2B or B2C, or product or service (although I’m thinking the service model has inherent margin and rate-of-return issues that makes it a less likely candidate).
Ideally these companies have not sold anything, but they should have some initial contact with customers to prove out their product. When the company does move into the market, it should move quickly, with no long sales cycles or high capital expenses. There should be a very low barrier to entry and a short runway to exit. The company has to be able to grow to $10M or more in revenue in less than 5 years.
I Know, Right?
That’s every startup and it’s no startup.
But while IMAF is looking for a very unique type of company and making a very unique type of investment, it has a few differentiators that can make the deal compelling, the most important of which may be the network.
The IMAF group can do deal flow sharing/syndication and add on investments. After or even along with the initial $100K – $150K, the members individually can make additional investments and write the check through the fund. They all use the same resources for due diligence and the investment is all IMAF.
Further, all the IMAFs are positioned the same way, looking for the same things. The industries they invest in are different mostly due to the makeup of the membership. This makes it easy to agree on terms across the syndicate.
So Is It For You?
To me, this seems like the kind of opportunity for a startup that’s perched and only needs a quick kick in the pants to be very successful. Those are few and far-between, and sometimes the issues preventing said success go beyond access to capital.
Again, it’s very high risk investment, and they tell me that the investors involved are risking no more than 5% of their overall portfolio in IMAF. They plan on investing in 15-18 companies with the RTP fund, some of which are already in due-diligence, and while they expect a home run every time they make an investment, they know they’re not going to bat a thousand. They expect a broad range of success, and I believe they’re looking for one or two homers and maybe a few triples.
Lean Angel?
So maybe it’s Lean Angel, the evolution of early Angel investment in post-mobile, post-social 2011. It all comes down to their model and the ability to do due diligence at that stage. If they can accomplish that, IMAF could be the impetus for a renaissance of seeding the Angels and VCs, which could open the doors for more startups. Which I like.
If it doesn’t? Well, I’ve played some poker in my time, and I can tell you, when you’re playing guts, you’re not thinking about losing, because that’s a sure sign that you will.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet (. He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media. He recently revived ExitEvent (ExitEvent.com) as a social/community outlet for startups. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco.
Tags: Funding syndication, IMAF high stakes funding approach, Inception Micro Angel Fund, Internet startups, Intrepid Media, Joe Procopio, NC, Research Triangle, Super Angel Funds, venture funding
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Internet/New Media, Money | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 29th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio Congratulations Research Triangle Park area of North Carolina! You’ve done it. You’re now an entrepreneurial hub rivaling that of any city in the nation, attracting talent and investment from all over the country while cranking out exit after ridiculously-valuated exit. You’ve got your heart in Downtown Durham, your brains in the Universities, your backbone in the infrastructure, a calcium-fortified support system, and a very big mouth of a media touting every kid who walks out of UNC or IBM and purports to start the next next next Twitter.
None of what you just read is true.
But it could be. It’s truish.
What If It Were True?
That’s a damn good question. And it’s what I had on my mind while walking the wide-aisled halls of the Raleigh Convention Center for this Year’s CED Venture. This year, the conference returned to Raleigh (good move) from Pinehurst (too far to commute and everything closes at 9:00 p.m.), and took on a new look to match CED’s recent re-imagining in September.
Like Tron.
This is also a good thing. The move into the American Underground along with fellow anchors Launchbox and Joystick meant there was a lot of new energy. There were hordes of entrepreneurs walking the halls when they weren’t manning demo booths.
Companies as young as Argyle, Adzerk, DejaMi, CityPockets, Jaargon, Appuware (which had been live for 12 hours) were all showing off. And when they weren’t, they were mingling, and when they weren’t, they were drinking.
I’m for that.
Four out of Four
Over the last 58 days, I’ve been to four major events involving startups from or related to the RTP, each completely different and each totally valuable.
In early March, there was the Southeast Venture Conference in Atlanta. Yes, this wasn’t in RTP, but that only goes to show you the regional strength we’ve created. In late March, Startup Madness provided a look at some of the earlier stage companies making their mark in the Triangle.
A few weeks back, the newly-expanded East Coast Game Conference highlighted the sheer awesomeness (is there a better word for a video game conference? I think not) of the local gaming ecosystem. And my tour was capped with CED Venture, which did a fine job of proving that after 28 years, it could still run with the youngsters (so to speak). I know this because it’s what I do every day.
Ouch. My back.
So I’m calling it. RTP, and Durham especially, has made its mark, established itself, slapped on a new coat of paint and done some amazing things to get that spark going that’s been eluding this area for years.
Now What?
Let’s imagine that we’ve taken that next step, and the RTP has moved beyond New York and Boston and is rivaling the Valley for the best talent, the most activity, prominent deal flow, and copious successful exits.
What would that next conference look like?
I walked around CED Venture and asked this question, and the answers from the attendees not only proved out my theory that we’re on the right track, but also confirmed some of the advancements we’ve made in the conferences themselves from slight innovations, tweaks in each.
In all of this pestering, there was one question asked of me, and that question kind of brought it all together. A particularly insightful out-of-town investor, while going over the pros and cons of the companies gathered in the demo room, asked me if there was another wave or two of upcoming entrepreneurs beyond these. Without hesitation, my answer was “Hell yeah.”
Then I thought about these four events, and figured out how to bring it all together.
The Lite Ticket
At these conferences, every once in a while I have a booth or I’m doing a pitch or I’m helping a company demo, but mostly I’m a stalkerpreneur, walking around the conference, sitting in on sessions, trying to learn and network. Stealing stressballs.
And the thing about the RTP entrepreneurs is they’re getting younger, they’re starting sooner, they’re more agile, lean and, well, hungry.
This year’s East Coast Game Conference had three levels of admission, including a $99 rate that got you in the Convention Center and some of the sessions. No frills, no free lunch, no fancy bag. I know these things need to make money, but your everyday unfunded entrepreneur has moxie, has get-up-and-go, has drive, and has passion.
You know what they don’t have?
Straight cash homey.
What the lite ticket does though is it fuels that next group, gets them involved, on the radar, and sets them up for bigger things. Almost every company from Startup Madness, including this year’s winner Rippple, had a presence at CED Venture. Beautiful. With a lite ticket, that math gets exponential.
The Pitch Thing
I’m starting to turn against the elevator-pitch-as-entertainment concept. Don’t get me wrong, I do believe everyone needs to get their story out, but it has to be handled with care. Having done it, I can tell you it’s hard enough condensing your life’s work and all your hopes and dreams down into two minutes. It’s harder still to do that on a stage trying to figure out which folks in the audience are taking notes and which ones are tweeting about where the happy hour might be.
For the record, I do both.
One of the highlights from CED Venture was the use of panels to showcase some of the startup talent, sometimes side-by-side with the investors. Sure, we need to hear about the state of the industry and trends and opportunities from the expert side, but putting the founders on a panel is a great way to get their story outside of the canned two-minute spiel.
Crossover Hit
But my answer to the out-of-town investor came from this concept: There was a just-as-large contingent of talent exuding a just-as-fever-pitched intensity at the very same location a few weeks back during the East Coast Game Conference.
In my blog, lamented the fact that there weren’t enough of us startup hacks at that conference, and the reverse is also true, but not to such a degree. I also noted that the camaraderie that exists in the gaming industry is top-notch, and that we could learn even more from them about helping each other and boosting the local image.
Talk about a best-kept secret. RTP is probably number two in the country in gaming. Who knew?
OK yeah, you probably knew.
Again, having Joystick as a co-anchor in the Underground with Launchbox and CED is a very good idea, and there were some gaming companies stalkerpreneuring and even demoing at Venture. Plus the first keynote at CED Venture was the incredible (I’m an unabashed fan) Dr. Michael Capps from Epic.
The first thing he said was there would be no talk of debt-to-equity ratios or anything of that nature because that wasn’t his area of expertise. He then proceeded to hold everyone’s attention for the next 60 minutes talking about video games, mistakes, and alternative ways of creating a multi-million dollar company.
In my mind, this is where that next wave is coming from, something I alluded to the first time I wrote about the inaugural Game Conference two years ago. That one also had Michael Capps as the keynote. I know. I just blew your mind.
So if CED Venture taught me anything, it was that the area has done the up-and-comer thing. We’ve started playing like we’re number two, even though we aren’t. Yet. And that’s the exact right move.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company (and creative network Intrepid Media (IntrepidMedia.com). Did you see where he hinted that he was the big mouth of media? Kind of pathetic, no? Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Adzerk, Appuware, Argyle, CED Venture 2011, CityPockets, DejaMi, East Coast Game Conference, Jaargon, Joe Procopio, Michael Capps, Rippple, Southeast Venture Conference, Starup Madness, StatSheet
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Events, North Carolina | Comments Off
Monday, April 11th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio It’s a little known fact that I developed my first video game in the 1980s.
I know. Shut up.
The source code is long gone – in fact, I believe the hardware and the language are long gone as well – but the game involved translating and then conjugating verbs in Spanish under top-secret orders from the mysterious and powerful Dr. Pedro (remember, this was the 1980s and you could get away with that kind of thing).
The kicker was if you conjugated too many verbs incorrectly, you would fail to stop the countdown of the accidental launch of both the US and Soviet Union’s entire nuclear arsenals.
Everyone you love, dead, and all because you forgot that the present indicative of saber (to know) is “yo sé.” It was a weird time in history, but everyone in my Spanish class got an A that semester.
Destrucción Mutua Asegurada
Like I said, this was a weird time, when video games were more about quarters and degenerates than mobile phones and sheep breeding.
When I look back on those days, I don’t get too nostalgic. Within the space of six months, I quickly figured out the looming social struggle of being the only kid from my grade in the “computer class.”
Not too long after that realization, I latched on to much cooler pursuits, like BMX bicycles for instance, and I ran away from the world of technology screaming “Thank God I got off this path that would most certainly lead me to a top-notch education, a stable and lucrative career, and the ability to wake up every day and enjoy what I do… PHEW!”
Back then, there was no support structure for someone who had an interest and passion for technology, let alone gaming. Gaming was the red-headed stepchild of corporate technology, something that required years of study (and social isolation), massive amounts of capital (and social rejection), and arcane knowledge (and social exclusion).
Back then there weren’t too many dudes like John Austin around.
Gaming for Everyone
 John Austin John Austin heads up two initiatives that exist mostly to bring both the creation and the consumption of gaming to the masses. He is the co-founder and conference chair of the East Coast Game Conference (April 13th and 14th at the Raleigh Convention Center) which, among other inclusion-sparking practices, is using extra sponsorship revenue to lower registration costs and also offers a student track at an even lower cost.
He’s also the new Managing Director of Joystick Labs, RTP’s gaming incubator. Joystick, along with LaunchBox Digital and CED, anchors American Underground, the hub of entrepreneurial Durham. Joystick is currently accepting applications for their second semester, and anyone with an idea and the drive to get their game polished and built can apply.
Both the ECGC and Joystick offer copious opportunities for your average everyday kid to create the next Dr. Pedro’s Global Thermonuclear Verbs or even the next Angry Birds. But it’s not just everyday kids – it’s twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings, and in fact it’s pretty much any-somethings.
Gaming is Not Cool, It’s Core
This will be my third (out of three) attendance at the ECGC. I’m not going because I want to build video games (I don’t). I’m not going because I’m a hardcore gamer (I’m not). Nor am I going because they’ll be handing out beta copies of Gears of War 3 (they won’t).
I’m going because we’ve reached the point in the history of video games when it has become more than apparent that gaming drives pretty much everything else in technology. And I’m not talking about Zynga and their over-ubiquitous presence in social networking.
What’s Your Game?
I’m actually talking about social networking (and everything else). The impetus of why you have a Facebook account and collect friends and publish status can be boiled down to the concepts of gaming. It’s fellowship, competition, and rank, and it’s this oddball sort of living the digitized and streamlined version of you while interacting in a digitized and streamlined manner with digitized and streamlined versions of your friends.
The insides of Facebook likely look a lot like the insides of Tron — 1982 Tron, not the recent forgivably cool one — and the discovery of this ugly secret would be a huge bringdown for 95 percent of Facebook users.
Let’s face it. Facebook is essentially a heavily disguised World of Warcraft.
So eat it, nerd.
But gaming is no longer a nerd’s world. And it’s a little more than coincidental that the only sector of gaming that’s really suffering is massively multiplayer online. According to Austin, it never really took off like it should have, and he agreed with my theory, smart-aleckly proven above, that these social networking games, and in fact social networking itself, has replaced MMO, but not so much the massive and not so much with elves.
Revenge of the Jock
The console, another step in bringing gaming to the masses, is not as dead as you might think, also according to Austin. Madden and the rest of the sports franchises brought in huge numbers of first-time gamers, who converted pretty quickly over to Halo, GTA, and Gears. These types of multi-million-dollar investments in the cutting edge of absorption, be it ridiculously life-like video or Kinect-style control, will always have it’s following.
Also, as the console becomes an entertainment hub with the addition of Netflix and ESPN3 and so on, it’ll maintain a place in the living room.
Small, Smaller, Smallest
 The rest of gaming is going micro: 99-cent titles on your iPhone or Android, low-footprint social games like Farmville, games that require a tiny investment and, if done right, can provide huge returns.
This is where Joystick comes in.
While Joystick still believes and will hopefully incubate at least one console-style title, the focus is on the mobile and social gaming sector. The fact that these games require less overhead allows for the democratization of the creation, thus keeping the vibe of inclusion alive.
Further, what they come out with on the other side of the semester is more than just a handful of viable titles, they could stumble upon that next great turbo booster in technology itself. Like I said, gaming drives pretty much everything.
If you’re in the technology field and you’re not going to the ECGC, you should. Whether you’re a developer, a designer, an executive, or a student. Whether you’re designing 3D-graphics for mobile handsets or creating accrual algorithms for insurance software, there’s something to this stuff that everyone can use.
And you never know, you might get inspired by ECGC, apply to Joystick, and come out of the other side with the next mobile social farming masterpiece.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet (StatSheet.com). He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company (IntrepidCompany.com) and creative network Intrepid Media (IntrepidMedia.com). You need cred? Friday night he was playing a networked game of Quake II Action Mod with former co-workers on both coasts. There’s your damn cred. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: American Underground, American Undersground, Android games, East Coast Game Conference, Farmville, IPhone games, Joe Procopio, John Austin, Joystick Labs, MMO, social games
Posted in Angry Birds, Carolinas, Columns, Events, Facebook, Farmville, Mafia Wars, mobile games, North Carolina, People, smartphones, social media, Tech Culture | Comments Off
Friday, April 8th, 2011
 By Tracy Eden
The statistics may say that the U.S. economy is out of recession, but many small and mid-sized business owners will tell you that they’re not seeing a particularly robust recovery, at least not yet.
There are various reasons for the slow pace of recovery among small businesses, but one is becoming increasingly apparent: A lack of cash flow caused by longer payment terms instituted by their vendors. Dealing with slow-paying customers is nothing new for many small businesses, but the problem is exacerbated in today’s sluggish economy and tight credit environment.
This is ironic given the fact that many big businesses have accumulated large cash reserves over the past couple of years by increasing their efficiencies and lowering their costs. In fact, several high-profile large corporations have announced recently that they are extending their payment terms to as long as four months, including Dell Computer, Cisco and AB InBev.
So here’s the picture: Many large corporations are sitting on huge piles of cash and, thus, are more capable of paying their vendors promptly than ever before. But instead, they’re stretching out their payment terms even farther. Meanwhile, many small businesses are struggling to stay afloat, much less grow, as they try to plug cash flow gaps while waiting for payments from their large customers.
How Alternative Financing Can Help
To help them cope with these kinds of cash flow challenges, more small and mid-sized businesses are turning to alternative financing vehicles. These are creative financing solutions for companies that don’t qualify for traditional bank loans, but need a financial boost to help manage their cash flow cycle.
Start-up businesses, companies experiencing rapid growth, and those with financial ratios that don’t meet a bank’s requirements are often especially good candidates for alternative financing, which usually takes one of three different forms:
Factoring: With factoring, businesses sell their outstanding accounts receivable to a commercial finance company (or factor) at a discount, usually between 1.5 and 5.5 percent, which becomes responsible for managing and collecting the receivable. The business usually receives from 70-90 percent of the value of the receivable when selling it to the factor, and the balance (less the discount, which represents the factor’s fee) when the factor collects the receivable.
There are two main types of factoring: full-service and spot factoring. With full-service factoring, the company sells all of its receivables to the factor, which performs many of the services of a credit manager, including credit checks, credit report analysis, and invoice and payment mailing and documentation.
With spot factoring, the business sells select invoices to the factor on a case-by-case basis, without any volume commitments. Since it requires more extensive controls, spot factoring tends to be more expensive than full-service factoring. Full recourse, non-recourse, notification and non-notification are other factoring variables.
Accounts Receivable (A/R) Financing: A/R financing is more similar to a bank loan than factoring is. Here, a business submits all of its invoices to the commercial finance company, which establishes a borrowing base against which the company can borrow money. The qualified receivables serve as collateral for the loan.
The borrowing base is usually 70-90 percent of the value of the qualified receivables. To be qualified, a receivable must be less than 90 days old and the underlying business must be deemed creditworthy by the finance company, among other criteria. The finance company will charge a collateral management fee (usually 1 to 2 percent of the outstanding amount) and assess interest on the amount of money borrowed.
Asset-Based Lending: This is similar to A/R financing except that the loan is secured by business assets other than A/R, such as equipment, real estate and inventory. Unlike factoring, the business manages and collects its own receivables, submitting a monthly aging report to the finance company. Interest is charged on the amount of money borrowed and certain fees are also assessed by the finance company.
Overcoming Fears and Objections
Some businesses shy away from alternative financing vehicles, due either to a lack of knowledge or understanding of them or because they believe such financing vehicles are too expensive.
However, alternative financing is not hard to understand—an experienced alternative lender can clearly explain how these techniques work and the pros and cons they may offer your company. As for cost, it’s really a matter of perspective: You have to ask whether alternative financing is too expensive compared to the alternatives?
If you’re in danger of running out of cash while you wait to get paid by large customers and you don’t qualify for a bank loan or line of credit, then the alternative could be bankruptcy. So while factoring does tend to be more expensive than bank financing, if this financing isn’t an option for you, then you must compare the cost to possibly going out of business.
Most business failures occur because the company lacked working capital, not because it didn’t have a good product or service. Unfortunately, this problem is currently magnified for many small businesses dealing with ever-longer payment terms from their large customers. Alternative financing is one possible solution to this common cash flow problem.
Tracy Eden is the National Marketing Director for Commercial Finance Group (CFG), which has offices throughout the U.S. CFG provides creative financing solutions to small and medium-sized businesses that may not qualify for traditional financing. Further information on the company and their services offered can be found at http://www.CFGroup.net and http://www.fvf.ca. Tracy’s direct email is tdeden@cfgroup.net.
Opinions expressed in guest columns on TechJournal South are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of TechMedia or TechJournalSouth.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: alternative financing to offset cashflow problems, Business advice, Tracy Eden, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
By Laurie Zuckerman
 Laurie Zuckerman When an editor agreed to give me a spot as a guest columnist, he requested a head shot, and it suddenly struck me that my photo was, gasp, at least 12 years old. Time for a new photo, a task which, as the editor pointed out, is no quite longer an onerous task. You just take a bunch of digital shots, pick out the best one, and fix it up. It may not be as good as a professional photographer, but it will usually do the job.
This conversation made me think about all that has changed in the past 12 years for technology marketers. For starters, there’s been the explosion of online media, social media, digital media, the blogosphere and search marketing along with the dragging down and decline of traditional media.
Then I started thinking about what hasn’t changed. Here’s my top five.
Know thy audience
A deep understanding of your customers’ wants and needs is, and always has been, the number one requirement for a solid marketing plan.
Hint: it usually doesn’t take a $20,000 focus group to find out if your value prop is on target. Need a quick reality check? Ask a few customers (the ones you want more of just like them) some direct, concrete questions. Then listen, really listen, even if you don’t like what they have to say.
Some companies are still struggling to tell their story
How many times have you gone to a web site and been left wondering what the company offers? It’s a challenge for technology companies everywhere to clearly and compellingly articulate (in writing and in person) what they’ve got and why anyone should care.
Hint: if you are asked about your company and you become mired in a lengthy description of features, you have some positioning/messaging work ahead of you.
Content is king
There are now innumerable platforms from which “experts” can pontificate: webinars, blogs, twitter, Linked in, etc. This is cool stuff. But in the race to “become part of the conversation,” marketers should not forget that at the heart of all this outreach must be rich, thought-provoking, original content.
Hint: the beauty of great content is that it can be used over and over in different ways (a white paper becomes fodder for a presentation which is posted on YouTube and then evolves into a webinar which, in turn, is broken into a series of blogs, pieces of which can be tweeted (and hopefully re-tweeted) … and then, well, you get the picture).
Industry analysts continue to top the influencer chain
Even (and perhaps especially) in a time when social media is giving everyone a platform, industry analysts, such as Gartner Group, Aberdeen, Forrester and others, are still leaned on for reporting on who’s who and what’s what. Bottom line, their opinions influence tech purchasing decisions.
Hint: You don’t necessarily need to sign on as a client to start building relationships with analysts. They realize they need to go beyond their client roster to keep on top of industry happenings. Most firms have online briefing request forms.
Ye old press releases live on
The old fashioned press release is still a typical component of most tech company’s PR/marketing plans (especially now that it’s known to be a great SEO booster).
Hint: While press releases have their place, many companies make the mistake of equating press releases with media relations. In truth, media relations, just like it sounds, is about building relationships with journalist and bloggers and is an effort that goes well beyond the press release.
Laurie Zuckerman is a writer and communications specialist based in Chapel Hill, NC. She can be reached at laurie@zuckermanink.com or through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/pub/laurie-zuckerman/2/174/425
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Business advice, Columns, five things that haven't changed in tech marketing, Laurie Zuckerman, tech marketing, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, Carolinas, Columns, Internet/New Media, Marketing, North Carolina, Tech Culture, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
Monday, April 4th, 2011
Joe Procopio By Joe Procopio
Ian Meyer is an iOS architect and consultant. He is an expert in all things Apple and a former genius (currently just “clever”). Ian be reached on Twitter @frijole
JP: First of all, why don’t you tell the readers a little bit about yourself, and how you came to be a religious zealot at the altar of Microsoft. Sorry, I mean Apple, I’ve been getting them confused lately.
IM: I’ve been having fun with Apple gadgets since Android was just a Blackberry-killer. Since then, the iPad came out and Android morphed into a fullscreen platform, but still can’t get over those button-loving roots.
JP: So we’re looking at the iPad2 and the Xoom today, side by side. I’ll let you go first. What’s the main reason the iPad won’t lose as much market share to the Android tablet as the iPhone has lost to the Android phone?
IM: Nobody who wants to get an iPhone is happy with an Android, and nobody who wants to get an iPad is going to be happy with anything else. I mean, have you noticed how all the iPad competitors look like iPads? What does the Xoom look like?
JP: An iPad.
IM: Exactly.
JP: But that’s on purpose.
IM: Right. Motorola knows people want the iPad, they’re just hoping they won’t notice they got something else instead.
 iPad2 JP: So you’re saying that when people notice that the Xoom outspecs the iPad2 in every entertainment aspect, including screen size, resolution, audio, and camera, they’ll weep with tears of sadness?
IM: Ultimately, what’s all that good for? How does it improve my life? I believe that if they spent less time worrying about hardware and more time worrying about software, the experience wouldn’t suck so much.
JP: So you’re saying it’s all about the apps. The device is immaterial? I guess the iPad could have just been the Newton 2 in that case.
IM: There are still things I can do on my Newton that you can’t do on your Xoom.
JP: You’re right. I didn’t get the model with the stylus. However, that kind of illustrates my point, if I have to have one. And that’s that Apple pretty much reinvented and thus saved the concept of the tablet by educating the user on what it was supposed to be used for.
IM: You’re welcome.
 Motorolla's Xoom JP: But that’s done. Now the race is on to make the better product. And here it is. The Xoom is more than a warning shot, it blew a big hole in the boat. Is Apple going to re-do the 90s and keep everything closed to the point where they lose market share and have to fire Steve Jobs again?
IM: You mean it blew a hole like the holes those Android Market apps created in your personal information when they were stealing it? I saw a post for an Android app that will fight back against apps that steal your data. That’s awesome for you guys. I like not having to worry about that.
JP: I like being able install what I want, not what Steve tells me to.
IM: In that sense, the Android model just emulates the PC model. Anyone can create and upload apps for the Xoom. Great. Where’s the pressure to make a great piece of software? That approval process is a black cloud, yeah, but if developers create something that gets past that process, the chances are better that it will succeed.
JP: I’ve got three responses to that. 1) Yes. I totally agree that there’s never been a terrible app released to iTunes. 2) I’ve got firsthand experience that the almighty process is just slightly more than arbitrary. 3) I was actually going to say that the process is “capricious,” but that sounds like something an Apple guy would say.
IM: In that, Android is doomed to be the NC State to Apple’s UNC.
JP: Step back, Ian.
IM: Android’s customers aren’t users. Their customers are the carriers, the manufacturers and most of all, the advertisers. That’s what Google optimizes for. Let’s face it. Your phone comes from the world’s biggest advertising company.
JP: And my coffee comes from Starbucks. In the end, it comes down to the viability of the product and the experience. What happens when all these developers are creating perfect apps for a device that got left behind like Kirk Cameron?
IM: Kirk who?
JP: The 1980s. Growing Pains. Bad movies. It doesn’t matter.
IM: There’s no question that the Xoom is competition, and probably the first serious competition. But there was competition with the iPhone and the Android phone too. And ultimately it was a good thing. I mean, you guys try so hard. It’s hard to root against you. But what are you competing for? Is it the user or is it the ad dollars?
JP: Why can’t it be both? And also, are iAds just little friendly reminders for those things you might need but aren’t thinking about right now?
IM: Well, we’re not morons, there’s a whole industry being built around these apps and advertising, and the ad side came out of the competition with Android.
JP: So wait, you know I’m not a huge fan of the term “iPhone/iPad killer.”
IM: And I actually went to NC State!
JP: Yeah. Android is the underdog in this fight in an odd Goliath versus Goliath way. The Xoom, more specifically the Xoom as the first successful instantiation of Android’s Honeycomb on the market, is the alternative. The battle lines are drawn, but maybe this kind of bullheaded pigfighting could actually be good for both platforms?
IM: No! Wait. Maybe. It might just be a mirror of the battle around the Mac. The PC was never intended to be a Mac killer, but it was supposed to be more useful.
JP: But… you can’t deny that the Mac was set up to be a PC killer. 1984. Superbowl. Hammers. Lemmings.
IM: Ouch.
JP: Yeah, and ultimately Apple lost that battle. But… it was lose/lose because the user also lost that battle some 15 or so years later. Exhibit A: Windows ME.
IM: (uncontrollable laughter)
JP: I’m not going to lie to you. That’s when I got off the bus. But the first battle didn’t force one company to innovate against the other, they wound up innovating in two totally different directions and were marketed to two totally segmented and opposite groups.
IM: I’m Justin Long. You’re John Hodgman.
JP: Step back, Ian! But couldn’t we learn from those mistakes?
IM: Yeah. I’ve been messing with the Xoom while we’ve been talking and there are a lot of things I like. Notifications are awesome. Search integration with the web. But it still feels like a 1.0 release. Honeycomb has some cool stuff, but it doesn’t feel… finished.
JP: I get that. And that’s what I want. I want openness and access, and frankly, that’s not hard to do and it was evident even with the first of the Samsung tablets. But I also want it to deliver the finished experience that Apple puts so much detail into. The Xoom feels like that.
IM: Somewhat.
JP: Morewhat. Look, as Android embraces the reinvention of the tablet, polishes it, adds sheer processing power, specs, app integration, and the open nature of the Android market, it raises the bar for Apple to innovate…
IM: And if that causes the iPad 3 to blow the doors off …
JP: The bar is RE-raised for Android. We, you and me, Apple and Android, Justin Long and… who could be the Google guy?
IM: Zach Galifianakis! He went to NC State!
JP: Long and Zach could be friends.
IM: We could stop all this mindless Android vs. iOS garbage.
JP: Everyone wins!
IM: We’re going to Disneyworld!
JP: Yes! Can I borrow your iPad?
IM: No.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media . Joe and Ian just proved that any, ANY disagreement can be solved over good IPA. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Android, Apple Inc., Blackberry, Ian Meyer, iPad2, Joe Procopio, Microsfott, twitter, Xoom
Posted in Columns, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Reviewed, Tech Culture, Telecommunications | 9 Comments »
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
 By Scott Klososky
Social media/networking and the collection of tools they have spawned have moved solidly into the strategy toolbox for organizations. If you want to be the Zen master of social tools, then first understand the need to implement elements of social that will both drive revenues, and cut back office costs.
Too many people think of social tools as only being for sales and marketing when in reality, there are valuable uses in the back office. With that thought firmly implanted, there are a handful of social tech concepts that are mandatory for every organization today:
1. Building Rivers of Information – One of the least talked about dynamics of social technologies is the massive amount of real time information flying around the Web – on any subject. If you are a CPA, doctor, lawyer, baseball player, or basket weaver for example, there are megabytes of data that could be critical to your performance uploaded each day.
The reality is that you will harness maybe 3 percent of what could be valuable to you. Social tools give us the ability to aggregate and filter this explosion of information so that it can be funneled into your brain. Every organization can institutionalize this process by teaching employees which information sources are valuable, and what tools can be used to aggregate and filter them to a manageable state.
It is a knowledge economy after all, so the smarter teams win. Ergo, use social tools to harness relevant and timely industry information, and you will be smarter.
PS. Don’t use the excuse that you do not have time to digest this information. That is like saying you don’t have time to be relevant.
2. Organizational Voice – Every organization can benefit from building a powerful Web-delivered organizational voice. There are many channels through which this voice can be delivered, Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, text messages. The organizational voice gives entities a way to create a conversation with constituents so that they can earn the right to grab their mindshare. The only way to earn that right is by providing a valuable flow of content through the voice. The three biggest mistake companies are making when using tools like blogging, Twitter and Facebook to connect with customers/prospects/clients are these:
1. Lack of a specific and human sounding tone. Every communication through whatever channel you use must sound human, and have a tone that is interesting, intriguing, or unusual. You don’t want to read boring things so why would you think your constituents will?
2. Mistakes with the frequency of delivery. If you deliver content too often, you annoy people and they begin to tune you out.
Even if your content is great, it becomes overwhelming and people just stop paying attention. If you deliver content too infrequently, they lower the perceived value in their minds. What is the perfect frequency? It depends totally on the audience, and the type of content, there are no hard and fast rules.
3. The mix of content is all wrong. As you send content through the organizational voice, you must be mindful of delivering nuggets that are valuable. For example, if you fill 80 percent of your content with sales related information it appears to be spam If you do nothing but deliver your opinions, people might get tired of the editorial.
A valuable stream of content includes a mix of stories, facts and figures, and links to valuable resources, opinions, and product or company information. Get the recipe wrong and it is akin to dumping too much cayenne pepper in the soup.
3. Online Reputation Management (ORM) – Regardless the size, or type of business you are involved in, an online reputation is forming – like it or not. Internet users (which now number nearly two billion) are increasingly sharing their opinions about service providers and retailers through conversations and comments online. Every time they mention your company, or your products names, these comments become searchable. That means that when any prospective customer searches to find information on you, they will find these comments. For this reason, organizations must have today a formal ORM program. The steps are simple, build a listening process, document and engagement policy, and then implement a measuring system.
4. Crowdsourcing – Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to get work done cheaper, faster and with more innovation! That is the promise of crowdsourcing. There are somewhere north of 75 sites on the Web that now assist people with the crowdsourcing process (CrowdSPRING, 99designs, logo tournament, Innocentive, mturk, etc.) Learning to tap into the Internet herd to get work done that traditionally was sourced in house, or by local vendors is a strategic advantage. The quick way to learn how to use this tool is simply to dive in and start experimenting. The risk is low and the rewards are tremendous. The crowdsource market is growing quickly, now is the time to give it a try.
For extra credit, go back and examine these social tech concepts and note that two can directly help the front end revenue generation, and two will help with the back office operation, thus fulfilling the promise mentioned at the beginning of this article. There are too many leaders that still believe that social technologies equal Facebook and Twitter. The reality is that every company can use the four concepts listed above to get a fast return on the investment of their time. You might see them as a luxury right now, but they will soon be mandatory if you want to stay in business.
Scott Klososky, a former CEO and author of the new books, Enterprise Social Technology and The Velocity Manifesto, specializes in having the vision and ability to see trends in emerging technologies, which allow him to be a thought leader who applies his skills to help organizations thrive, leaders prosper, and entire industries move forward. His unique perspectives on technology, business culture, and the future allows him to travel the globe as a speaker and consultant, working with senior executives in organizations ranging from Fortune 500 corporations to universities and nonprofits.
Website: www.EnterpriseSocialTechnology.com, www.TheVelocityManifesto.com, Blog: www.TechnologyStory.com, Twitter: @sklososky
Tags: Business advice, making social technologies relevant to business, Scott Klosoky, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Internet/New Media, Marketing, social media, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
By David M. Mastovich
 David M. Mastovich Facebook accounts for 25% of all U.S. page views online.
Awareness of Twitter has exploded from 5% of Americans in 2008 to 87% now.
LinkedIn has more than 85 million users including employees from every company in the Fortune 500.
These statistics show how integral social media has become in our lives.
Do you remember when having a website was optional? If you think about it, that wasn’t too long ago. Now we take it for granted that an organization would not only have a website, but that we would be able to find what we are looking for in a few clicks. Yet right now, many organizations still think having a Social Media Strategy and presence is optional.
Why?
It could be because just about everyone defines “Social Media” in a different, and often narrow, way. Instead of thinking of just Facebook or Twitter, consider the entire medium. There really is something for everyone and that means plenty of opportunities to communicate with potential or existing customers.
Organizations could also be wary of the informality of the medium—inappropriate content, posting of pictures, obscenities, etc. Yes, questionable content is on the internet. But so are opportunities to engage customers and prospects and to carry on meaningful conversations. And you have more control of your Social Media presence than you might think.
Business leaders, marketers, communicators and managers should work to maximize the opportunity and make Social Media part of their marketing and messaging strategy.
Begin by developing a Social Media Plan integrated into your current Marketing, PR and Communications efforts.
Start telling your story
Then start telling your story. While Social Media is the “new, big thing,” the basic tenets of messaging still apply. Less is still more. Authenticity is still key. And making it about them—your target audiences—is still what it is all about. Tailor your Social Media message to each target audience and what they are interested in.
You can avoid Social Media and hope it goes away or you can embrace it. Just know that while you’re debating which path to choose, your competition might be tweeting to your soon to be former customers.
David Matovich’s previous piece for us: Does your business really need an app for that?
David M. Mastovich, MBA is President of MASSolutions, Inc. With a core philosophy of integrated marketing, MASSolutions focuses on improving the bottom line for clients through creative selling, messaging and PR solutions. In his recent book, “Get Where You Want To Go: How to Achieve Personal and Professional Growth Through Marketing, Selling and Story Telling,” Mastovich offers strategies to improve sales and generate new customers; management and leadership approaches; and creative marketing, PR and communications ideas. For more information, see: massolutions.biz.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Business advice, Columns, David Mastovich, facebook, social media, twitter, Viewpoint
Posted in Business advice, Columns, Facebook, Internet/New Media, IT, social media, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Monday, March 28th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio You might know about the Startup Madness event coming up Thursday, 3/31, at Bay 7 in American Tobacco. You may have even attended the event in its former incarnations, Launch Days I and Launch Days II: The Launchening. You probably aren’t aware of the Launch Days Organization, or that it’s bootstrapped, but if you are, you’ve possibly heard of or may even have met its one-man-band, Scott Kelly.
If you’re familiar with any of this, you likely have questions.
Who is this guy?
What is Startup Madness?
What is his company and what does it do?
What’s the plan?
What’s the endgame?
Does Joe still have a beard?
I’ve Got Answers
I’ve known Kelly for about a year, back when I was doing ExitEvent and he was trying to get his mind around the concept of what Launch Days should be. I’ve never worked with him directly, but I’ve been impressed with his sheer relentlessness if confused about the why.
He successfully pulled off Launch Days I in May 2010, getting over 100 people to pay admission for a networking event that celebrated early stage companies. The first batch of companies included Ruzuku, NeoBudget, BuzzBox, and Argyle Social.
Getting people to pay for anything, especially startup related, especially early-stage startup, is a Rubik’s Cube. And the admission fee also raised the question of Launch Day’s mission. Some light sponsoring of the event, including that from Kelly’s employer, KeySource Bank, added another question mark.
But look, you can’t put on an event without recouping the costs. It’s a for-profit organization and decidedly and unabashedly so.
See? Answers.
The Sequel
Launch Days II had more of an agenda, including a voting portion for a prize package consisting mostly of advice and introductions from known entities and experts, and this raised a few more questions. Was Launch Days trying to be an accelerator like LaunchBox? And the similarity between the names of the two orgs caused even more confusion.
The answer to the first question is maybe then, but not now. Launch Days had been churning on its focus and reason for being. It could have been an accelerator of sorts, or a network, but has since settled to focus solely on the event.
As for the second item, no, the two organizations have no relationship at all, thus the name change to Startup Madness (which, unluckily enough, is also being used by Brad Feld and TechStars).
Kelly has a list of new names under consideration. I suggested LaunchJournal South.
The companies presenting at the second event were Group Story, JobKatch, Loyalese, SpotPulse, School House, 31 Projects, and WeGeo. School House won the vote handily, and they’re currently rocking along.
Method to the Madness
This time the point of the program is to open up the startup community to the early-stage entrepreneurs and vice versa. The prize is the open rolodex, introductions to various parties, but mostly it’s the opportunity to demo a product or idea to a room full of people who might be able to help.
And that answers a couple more questions
The goal of the Startup Madness event and Kelly’s soon-to-be-renamed company is to create a valuable experience for the entrepreneurial community, and that includes the early-stage companies who present, the audience who wants to help – that could be talent, investment, connections, customers, as well as those invested in the RTP startup ecosystem at large.
Kelly has no intentions of competing with TechMedia’s Southeast Venture, CED’s Venture, or any other investor event. In fact, the point of Startup Madness isn’t to raise money. It’s more to raise awareness.
It’s his hope that these companies eventually graduate to the larger investor events, and overall the ecosystem here grows larger, receives more recognition, and ultimately deal flow is improved.
How?
Kelly seems to be settled on the events, and also settled on the connection and networking principles of those events. You won’t get a monster windfall from winning Startup Madness, but it will open some doors.
And in the spirit of networking and connection, this time around there’s an afternoon session that includes a spot for students from UNC, Duke, and NC State to compete and receive feedback from a panel with Preation’s Aaron Houghton, Palmer Labs’ Miles Palmer, and EvoApp’s Joe Davy. There’s also an entrepreneur-only lunch and Q&A with Appia’s Jud Bowman.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s time dedicated to public introductions and updates from LaunchBox, NC Idea, and Bandwidth’s Henry Kaestner.
The companies are broken down into two groups this time, Windsor Circle, gokit, and Rippple (with three Ps) are ready to release a product while Adzerk, Obsidian Solutions, Fitsistant (obviously my favorite name), and Motive Logic are existing early-stagers looking to add customers.
What’s the Endgame?
That’s the final question. Beyond pulling off a successful third event in Durham, next on Kelly’s to-do list is to change the name and then replicate what he’s done here in Raleigh, Charlotte, and Greensboro, tweaking and expanding as he goes.
So you see, it’s not crazy.
Well, no more so than any other early stage venture.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet (StatSheet.com). He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media. Joe also suggested InterLaunch Partners, LaunchStick, and C-E-Launch before realizing it had stopped being funny. Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco.
Tags: 32 Projects, Aaron Houghton, American Tobacco Campus, Appia, Bandwith, Columns, Events, EvoApp, Exit Event, Group Story, Henry Kaestner, JobKactch, Joe Davy, Joe Procopio, Jud Bowman, Launch Days, LaunchBox, Loyalese, Miles Palmer, NC IDEA, Palmer Labs, Preattion, School HOuse, Scott Kelly, SpotPulse, Startup Madness, WeGeo
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, North Carolina, Viewpoint | Comments Off
Monday, March 21st, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio This year’s Final Four was as heated and satisfying as all the hype built it up to be. And when it was over, cheers erupted not only for the champion, but for the three other finalists as well. In the true spirit of competition, backs were patted, hands were shook, and only a small fraction grumbled about the seeding and the venue selection.
I know what you’re thinking. And while my StatSheet robot-enabled picks are currently crushing brackets throughout the country in my own “Bringing Down the House” moment (I’m thinking Ben Mezrich, David Fincher, and Bradley Cooper), what I’m talking about today, a full two weeks before the end of the NCAA Tournament, is Pongageddon.
Pong I
Late last year, the crew at StatSheet hosted a day of pizza, soda, T-shirts, and ping-pong to celebrate… something. And that’s the point. It wasn’t an award or a demo, there were no high-profile speakers (we tried to get Bob Young, but apparently in Canada they play ping-pong outdoors on ice with regulation mittens and it’s called Ice Mittens). There were no slide decks, no sponsors or booths.
It was just a way for friends and friends of friends to get together, blow off a little steam, and possibly win a trophy with a Buick on top that said “2nd Place” by beating everyone in the room, bracket style, at ping-pong.
That feat was accomplished by iContact and Preation’s Aaron Houghton who, while seeming very nonchalant in a dress shirt and khakis, trumped everyone with his own equipment bag, gold-plated paddle, and grizzled old coach who stood in the corner and glared at everyone, occasionally shooting Aaron a nod when it was time to take out someone’s knee.
Kidding, the paddle wasn’t gold plated.
But as Aaron’s name was duct-taped to the bottom of the Buick trophy, it was obvious that this would not be the only instance of this event.
Pong II
So this past Friday, just because, StatSheet opened the doors again. No Eventbrite, not a lot of promotion, just email to everyone anyone knew plus some light Twittering and Facebooking.
This time, building-mates and fellow startuppers NetSertive played co-hosts, offering up a second table, a refrigerator full of beer, and a break room full of food, essentially doubling down on the entire experience.
Around 50 hardworking entrepreneurs showed up, as well as a few investors and advisors. Pleasantries were exchanged and then the mayhem got underway.
The brackets included representatives from StatSheet and NetSertive and also, let’s go alphabetical:
Adzerk, Appia, Argyle Social, DejaMi, DigitalSmiths, HireNetworks, Intersouth, Loyalese, Idea Fund Partners, Plotwatt, Preation, Robinson Bradshaw & Hinton, Southern Capitol, Square One Bank, and WeGeo – and I’m sure I’m leaving more than one out, this is just all I could remember off of the top of my head.
Play By (Mobile/Web/Social) Play
Needless to say, the competition on the table matched the nature of the players. Whether the talent level was lacking (names withheld), passable (I lost a nail biter to Square 1’s Zack Mansfield after being up 9-7 in the final game), or Gumpesque, everyone brought their A game.
The Final Four matchups were ridiculous to watch, and before long almost everyone had turned away from the basketball games being projected onto one wall and took a spot around the table.
The first best-of-three, 21-point match featured StatSheet’s own Ganesh Karthik Bonala against Argyle’s Danny Olinsky. While Ganesh handily took the first game, Danny fought hard and picked up the last two for the win.
The second semifinal was brutal. Appia CTO Slawek Pruchnik and defending champion Aaron Houghton put on was can only be described as a violent forehand smash clinic that injured more than one bystander. I’ve never seen two people sweat harder playing a sport that you usually play in street clothes (you know, bowling, darts, poker).
But that’s the nature of this crowd.
In the end, Argyle’s Olinsky finessed a visually spent Pruchnik for the Buick trophy.
Names Dropped, Column Almost Over
While this was an awesome event to host and even more fun to write about (let’s face it, entrepreneurism is really mostly a lot of boring hard work), my point is that this is more of what we need as we boldly move forward. Non-sponsored, topic-free, open-invite events like this foster a huge amount of community, which is exactly why StatSheet CEO Robbie Allen set it up in the first place.
It’s something I tried to create with ExitEvent while we were still trying to figure out what ExitEvent was. A lot of the people who were at Pongageddon were at the first ExitEvent meetup, and we didn’t do much more than drink a few beers and chat about what was going on in our world.
Now I know that that’s what it could and should have been. It’s not that we’re any less open and sharing than any other regional startup ecosystem, this is just the result of the fragmentation that we all know exists. I know I want to undo that, I know I’m inspired by what I saw, and I know I’m not alone.
There are other events that fit this mold. Deck Party (full disclosure, the brainchild of this very online property) is already another great example of a party just for the party’s sake, even though it looks more like a networking event until you actually attend.
The point is there’s something valuable here and these folks have tapped into it nicely. If we can keep the fun factor at the level where people will attend, the value will take care of itself.
So as Danny Olinsky’s name was duct-taped to the Buick trophy, it was obvious that this would not only not be the last instance of this event, but it would likely no longer be the only event of its kind.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media . Next outing won’t be so personal, he’s got a Xoom coming. Joe can be reached via Twitter: twitter.com/jproco.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Aaron Houghton, Adzerk, Appia, Argyle Social, Columns, Danny Olinsky, DejaMi, Digitalsmiths, ExitEvent, Ganesh Karthik Bonala, HireNetworks, icontact, Idea Fund Partners, Intersouth, Joe Procopio, Loyalese, Netsertive, Plotwatt, Pongageddon, Preation, Robbie Allen, Robinson Bradshaw & Hinton, Slawek Pruchnik, Southern Capitol, Square One Bank, StatSheet, Viewpoint
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, North Carolina, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 11th, 2011
By Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio
I’m sorry this took so long to write. Atlanta is kind of far away.
But I left behind the palatial confines of the Ritz Carlton Atlanta, an ironically trashed hotel room, and the remnants of Southeast Venture Conference 2011 with two key pieces of information.
The good news is, the long tail effects of the Great Recession are finally starting to wane, meaning venture investment is undergoing its first spring-like thaw. The bad news is there’s a bubble forming.
The clouds have parted, and now the sky is falling.
Coincidentally enough, it appears that the two days over which SEVC11 was held (March 2nd and 3rd) were the total sum of the post-recession-pre-bubble era. I hope that you enjoyed them as much as I did, although I’ll probably forever regret the fact that I spent close to 50% of the new-new-new-Internet-boom kind of drunk and/or asleep.
At least I was in the right place at the right time.
Bubbludicrous
Before anyone panics and sells all their tech stocks, again, let me tell you a little something about the physics of bubbles. Wait. Stay with me. I’m not going to get into actual physics, and I can already see your eyes glazing over and I’m only thinking about typing the words “dot com.”
(Which, by the way, is the only context in which you hear that term used anymore. Have you noticed? Nobody ever says, “I’m going to work for a dot com,” and phrases like “dot com opportunity” and “dot com play” have pretty much vanished, even though the industry is still growing and you can’t say the name of most web addresses without saying the words “dot com.” It literally went Hasselhoff.)
It’s a common misconception that bubbles occur when too many people start doing too many things in whatever industry the bubble is in. For example, the conventional wisdom is that the dot com bubble formed when too many websites went up and the real estate bubble formed when too many people bought houses.
This is not true.
Radical Bubblism
The truth is, bubbles form when too many people start doing stupid things in whatever industry the bubble is in.
The dot com bubble formed when too many websites with no discernable way to make money started raising astronomical amounts of capital at batshit crazy valuations.
The real estate bubble formed when too many people bought houses using loans with interest rates that were set to explode like a pipe bomb.
They’re called “balloon payments” and nobody put two and two together?
The Salad Days of Bubble
I was too young to attend any sort of venture conference between 1996 and 1999, but I can imagine what those presentations were like. A bunch of former Fortune 500 executives mid-life-crisising by pimping the magic attributes of cyberspace and its uncanny and totally provable ability to turn web pages into dollar bills.
“And in conclusion, we’re asking for $1,000,000 to $300,000,000 in order to discombobulate our paradigms and timeshift our synergies. If you take another look at our hockey stick, I’m sure you’ll agree that our estimate of $600 per eyeball is actually quite conservative. And now, enjoy the comedy stylings of Andrew Dice Clay.”
Did I nail it?
That Was So Then
At SEVC this year, the early-stage companies looked nothing like those early stage companies. In fact, they didn’t even resemble the companies we were talking about two years ago. Back in 2009, it was all guts. And by “guts,” I mean tons of bio and medical on one end and energy and telecom on the other.
Tell me that doesn’t feel unsexy like 1995.
And that might be part of the problem. The period from 1996 to 1999, thanks to mass acceptance of the Interwebs, was marked by unprecedented acceleration from solid consumer ideas built on a new technology (search engines) to entire industries built to look like they were built on new technology but really could have been mail-order companies.
So since 2009 looked so much like 1995, it’s sort of natural to expect that 2011 might play out like 2000, and that we’re on the verge of sprouting our next jillion-dollar dot com play from these promising early stage seeds.
Two Things Wrong With That
First of all, most of the people involved with the original bubble, the ones who in 1999 were jumping up and down screaming about how stupid all this was, we’re still here. And we aren’t jumping up and down yet.
The most egregious offense so far is Groupon, but it doesn’t take a degree in astro-physics or a the ability to suspend a massive amount of disbelief to understand how they make money.
So There’s Time
And second, these early stage companies not only don’t look anything like those bubble companies, they don’t act like them either.
At SEVC11, I overheard more than one investor make the assessment that these early-stage companies were solid, impressive, and ahead of the curve. The vast majority were already generating revenue, in some cases in the tens of millions per year.
The asks were also low, usually in the $3 to $4 million dollar range, and the reasoning was sound. Buy equipment. Hire sales staff. Expand into X vertical.
Nobody was up on stage presenting a deck full of dreams and rainbows. Nobody was wearing an expensive suit and waving around a business plan. Nobody had that look in their eyes, you know that one, the Easy Money look.
Maybe I’m Half-Browser
We know what mobile and social are, there’s no funky magic this time around. And we’re treating them for what they are: technical tools, not destinations. That’s the main difference
But be diligent. If I report back from SEVC12 yammering on about one-stop mobile apps for all your pool-cleaning-supply needs or building the world’s premiere social snorkeling network, then it might be time to back up and get out of the way.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet. He also owns startup consulting firm Intrepid Company and creative network Intrepid Media (Intrepid Media.com). Yeah, he just referenced Rodney Dangerfield’s worst movie from the 80s. What? Joe can be reached via Twitter: twitter.com/jproco.
TechMedia, which presents the SEVC, is holding its next event, the Digital Summit, in Atlanta May 16-17 at the Cobb Galleria.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Atlanta, bubble, column, dot com opportunity, dot com play, Groupon, Intrepid Co., Intrepid Media, Joe Procopio, SEVC, Southeast Venture Conference, StatSheet
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina, Viewpoint | 1 Comment »
|
|
|
