Saturday
Jun262010
Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 01:49AM This Week In Startups #59 All Ask Jason
00:01:30 TWiST Global Meetup will be July 20th 11am PST, 2pm EST, 7pm GMT
00:07:00 ASK JASON – Kevin Goldman – Goldman Design - His company has grown and he needs to bring in additional high level help, what is the best way to compensate and maintain incentives?
It's a very fluid situation because many are at different points in their lives, finding out that will be key. Come up with a couple packages, consider equity with a vesting period, that usually is the best fit unless someone is going through extenuating circumstances which is why you need to sit down and talk. Meet five or so people and ask their expectations to get inside their heads, if they won't offer expectations they may not be a good fit because things are not starting off with honesty. Finding the right fit will take time and more often than not your best team members will more than likely be full-time not part-time.
What is the typical percentage offered when someone brings in long-term clients? Over-servicing will be your best marketing in a service based business. For team members focus on an extra ordinary experience instead of 10%, share something special with them and their family that will build your relationship and give lasting memories.
00:27:00 ASK JASON – Fan Bi – Blank-Label – At what stage do you bring in professionals?
You have a high class problem and that's a good thing, turn your weakness into a strength, most would love to have your problem. While you learn the business and catch up, limit further sales to something like “500 shirts for 500 amazing individuals” for the next few months thus creating demand and scarcity. Which gives you time to learn how to scale your business, you don't need to bring in professionals.
00:41:00 ASK JASON – Ken Seville – Civi-Side – Business development is ahead of product development but I have a great PR opportunity should I wait till my product catches up?
This problem will persist your entire time as an entrepreneur no matter what company you run. There are two schools of thought: don't worry and just be crappy or release when you have a great product. Both will work and neither is better but the opportunity to learn from the market and pivot to make your product better is easier once released. It's a stylistic and personal decision you will have to make.
01:10:00 The Launch Conference will be Feb. 23rd and 24th.
01:11:30 SHARK TANK – Nouman Saleem – Enrolled.in - A social network for academics which looks to assist students with their studies. Great idea and with the proper execution and getting the proper professors onboard this has great potential. Jason offers an Angel Investment, which Nouman excepts and they plan to meet soon to work out the details.
One point of note, if you are working on a startup it is smart to get a waiver from your current employer so they don't try to take your idea down the road.
THE NEWS with Lon Harris
01:31:00 iPhone 4 Just Released – The iPhone 4 official release was yesterday, and hundreds of thousands of people lined up outside Apple Stores worldwide to get their hands on the new "magical" device. The phone was sold out in most major cities. Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart all reported having run out of phones due to excessive demand. Analysts suggest it may be as long as a month until stores are able to get their hands on a consistent stock.
So what's new in the iPhone 4? Front and back facing cameras, allowing for the video conferencing program "FaceTime," a high-resolution screen with over four times the pixel count of previous iPhones (which Apple is calling "retina display"), multitasking, a gyroscope for enhanced motion control, HD Video recording and editing, a 5-megapixel camera with LED Flash, and many many smaller upgrades to the iOS software package. All for $199 for a 16Gb model and $299 for the 32Gb version.
Thoughts on the new iPhone? Will you upgrade? Any new features you were hoping for that are missing?
Yes, all Apple products are made well, the price is great and the products have become status symbol like. The new phone is quick and the new chip will be a differentiator.
Green Job Spider sent in “Are You Not Entertained” t-shirts, two will be given away randomly to whoever thanks the sponsors.
Playdom Funding, acquisitions - It's been a big week for social gaming startup Playdom, which is currently the largest social gaming network on MySpace and is also making inroads into Facebook. (The company's games include Mobsters, Poker Palace, Sorority Life, Treetopia and Tiki Resort.) TechCrunch estimates the company currently has 28 million monthly gamers, though it's still nowhere near the size of its major competitor, FarmVille creators Zynga.
On Monday, the company closed a $33 million round of funding from investors including Disney's venture arm, Steamboat Ventures. This completed a Series A round for a whopping total of $76 million at a $260 million pre-money valuation.
Then on Thursday, Playdom announced its fifth acquisition of the year, social gaming startup Hive7. Hive7 was founded in 2005 and also develops games for Facebook and MySpace, including Knighthood, Youtopia and Sindicate. Previous acquisitions by Playdom included MMORPG developer Acclaim Games and FB game developer Offbeat Creations.
Is eating up other developers Playdom's fastest route to taking out Zynga? What would you do with $76 million if you were Playdom's CEO? Are games within social networks the future, or just a fad?
No, but there is a lot of market share to succeed. Often VCs will target a market and choose to invest in the number 2 or 3 player just to be in the space.
Open Graph Search Engine - Facebook confirmed this week that all Open Graph-enabled web pages will show up in searches performed on Facebook.com. Every time a Facebook user "likes" a page, this page is essentially being "crawled" by Facebook and will show up in Facebook search. In an example from AllFacebook.com, a Facebook search of Annapolis Marriott will now bring up a TripAdvisor.com page on the hotel that has been 'liked" by 3 users. The blog suggests that will likely give rise to a whole new kind of SEO, in which sites attempt to optimize for maximum likes and thus higher results in Facbeook searches (a practice they deem "like baiting.")
Is this a declaration of war on Google from Facebook? Do you think AllFacebook is right to suggest that sites will now have to focus not only on pleasing Google's spiders but also the Facebook community and "social semantic search engine"? Will websites optimize for Facebook?
Yes, they already are. The big players (Apple, Google, Facebook) will eventually all have their own search, ad network and branch out into many other products. The game has changed and it seems like it has become ok to steal others ideas.
01:48:30 YouTube vs. Viacom Thrown Out of Court - Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube was dismissed by a judge this week. Viacom initially filed suit against Google's video-sharing site in March of 2007 for what it called a "widespread and willful infringement" of Viacom's content. YouTube defended itself by arguing that it complied with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, removing copyright-infringing material upon request.
Judge Louis L. Stanton of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sided with Google, arguing that whiel the company knows that some copyrighted material appears on its site, it does not and can not know which clips have been uploaded with permission and which have not. Therefore, the company is shielded by the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA. Google's general counsel, Kent Walker, called the decision "a victory for the Internet and for the people who use it." Viacom has vowed to appeal the decision.
Was this a just decision? What are the long-term ramifications for content creators? Are there any? Do you agree with the decision?
Yes, it seems YouTube gave the tools to the media companies to shutdown improper use of their content. It showed YouTube was operating in good faith, actually doing probably more than they had to help the situation.
02:02:30 END
If I missed anything please include it in the comments and I'll integrate it into the post.
Please rate the show in the comments
Provides fully hosted / managed Microsoft Exchange and Google Apps e-mail
00:07:00 ASK JASON – Kevin Goldman – Goldman Design - His company has grown and he needs to bring in additional high level help, what is the best way to compensate and maintain incentives?
It's a very fluid situation because many are at different points in their lives, finding out that will be key. Come up with a couple packages, consider equity with a vesting period, that usually is the best fit unless someone is going through extenuating circumstances which is why you need to sit down and talk. Meet five or so people and ask their expectations to get inside their heads, if they won't offer expectations they may not be a good fit because things are not starting off with honesty. Finding the right fit will take time and more often than not your best team members will more than likely be full-time not part-time.
What is the typical percentage offered when someone brings in long-term clients? Over-servicing will be your best marketing in a service based business. For team members focus on an extra ordinary experience instead of 10%, share something special with them and their family that will build your relationship and give lasting memories.
Provides fully managed virtual private server hosting with great customer service and amazing pricing. Receive 25% off for life using the code: twist
00:27:00 ASK JASON – Fan Bi – Blank-Label – At what stage do you bring in professionals?
You have a high class problem and that's a good thing, turn your weakness into a strength, most would love to have your problem. While you learn the business and catch up, limit further sales to something like “500 shirts for 500 amazing individuals” for the next few months thus creating demand and scarcity. Which gives you time to learn how to scale your business, you don't need to bring in professionals.
00:41:00 ASK JASON – Ken Seville – Civi-Side – Business development is ahead of product development but I have a great PR opportunity should I wait till my product catches up?
This problem will persist your entire time as an entrepreneur no matter what company you run. There are two schools of thought: don't worry and just be crappy or release when you have a great product. Both will work and neither is better but the opportunity to learn from the market and pivot to make your product better is easier once released. It's a stylistic and personal decision you will have to make.
Soon launching WebSpy Soho - Easily monitor Home & Small Network bandwidth usage, Internet connection speed and much more - Test Alpha version
01:10:00 The Launch Conference will be Feb. 23rd and 24th.
01:11:30 SHARK TANK – Nouman Saleem – Enrolled.in - A social network for academics which looks to assist students with their studies. Great idea and with the proper execution and getting the proper professors onboard this has great potential. Jason offers an Angel Investment, which Nouman excepts and they plan to meet soon to work out the details.
One point of note, if you are working on a startup it is smart to get a waiver from your current employer so they don't try to take your idea down the road.
Ustream is the leader in live video with more than 75 million monthly viewers. The platform empowers any individual, public figure or brand to stream to a global audience of unlimited size. Ustream offers free broadcasting and viewing platforms for theWeb and mobile devices. Follow on Twitter or fan at Facebook.
THE NEWS with Lon Harris
01:31:00 iPhone 4 Just Released – The iPhone 4 official release was yesterday, and hundreds of thousands of people lined up outside Apple Stores worldwide to get their hands on the new "magical" device. The phone was sold out in most major cities. Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart all reported having run out of phones due to excessive demand. Analysts suggest it may be as long as a month until stores are able to get their hands on a consistent stock.
So what's new in the iPhone 4? Front and back facing cameras, allowing for the video conferencing program "FaceTime," a high-resolution screen with over four times the pixel count of previous iPhones (which Apple is calling "retina display"), multitasking, a gyroscope for enhanced motion control, HD Video recording and editing, a 5-megapixel camera with LED Flash, and many many smaller upgrades to the iOS software package. All for $199 for a 16Gb model and $299 for the 32Gb version.
Thoughts on the new iPhone? Will you upgrade? Any new features you were hoping for that are missing?
Yes, all Apple products are made well, the price is great and the products have become status symbol like. The new phone is quick and the new chip will be a differentiator.
Green Job Spider sent in “Are You Not Entertained” t-shirts, two will be given away randomly to whoever thanks the sponsors.
Playdom Funding, acquisitions - It's been a big week for social gaming startup Playdom, which is currently the largest social gaming network on MySpace and is also making inroads into Facebook. (The company's games include Mobsters, Poker Palace, Sorority Life, Treetopia and Tiki Resort.) TechCrunch estimates the company currently has 28 million monthly gamers, though it's still nowhere near the size of its major competitor, FarmVille creators Zynga.
On Monday, the company closed a $33 million round of funding from investors including Disney's venture arm, Steamboat Ventures. This completed a Series A round for a whopping total of $76 million at a $260 million pre-money valuation.
Then on Thursday, Playdom announced its fifth acquisition of the year, social gaming startup Hive7. Hive7 was founded in 2005 and also develops games for Facebook and MySpace, including Knighthood, Youtopia and Sindicate. Previous acquisitions by Playdom included MMORPG developer Acclaim Games and FB game developer Offbeat Creations.
Is eating up other developers Playdom's fastest route to taking out Zynga? What would you do with $76 million if you were Playdom's CEO? Are games within social networks the future, or just a fad?
No, but there is a lot of market share to succeed. Often VCs will target a market and choose to invest in the number 2 or 3 player just to be in the space.
Open Graph Search Engine - Facebook confirmed this week that all Open Graph-enabled web pages will show up in searches performed on Facebook.com. Every time a Facebook user "likes" a page, this page is essentially being "crawled" by Facebook and will show up in Facebook search. In an example from AllFacebook.com, a Facebook search of Annapolis Marriott will now bring up a TripAdvisor.com page on the hotel that has been 'liked" by 3 users. The blog suggests that will likely give rise to a whole new kind of SEO, in which sites attempt to optimize for maximum likes and thus higher results in Facbeook searches (a practice they deem "like baiting.")
Is this a declaration of war on Google from Facebook? Do you think AllFacebook is right to suggest that sites will now have to focus not only on pleasing Google's spiders but also the Facebook community and "social semantic search engine"? Will websites optimize for Facebook?
Yes, they already are. The big players (Apple, Google, Facebook) will eventually all have their own search, ad network and branch out into many other products. The game has changed and it seems like it has become ok to steal others ideas.
01:48:30 YouTube vs. Viacom Thrown Out of Court - Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube was dismissed by a judge this week. Viacom initially filed suit against Google's video-sharing site in March of 2007 for what it called a "widespread and willful infringement" of Viacom's content. YouTube defended itself by arguing that it complied with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, removing copyright-infringing material upon request.
Judge Louis L. Stanton of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York sided with Google, arguing that whiel the company knows that some copyrighted material appears on its site, it does not and can not know which clips have been uploaded with permission and which have not. Therefore, the company is shielded by the "safe harbor" provisions of the DMCA. Google's general counsel, Kent Walker, called the decision "a victory for the Internet and for the people who use it." Viacom has vowed to appeal the decision.
Was this a just decision? What are the long-term ramifications for content creators? Are there any? Do you agree with the decision?
Yes, it seems YouTube gave the tools to the media companies to shutdown improper use of their content. It showed YouTube was operating in good faith, actually doing probably more than they had to help the situation.
02:02:30 END
If I missed anything please include it in the comments and I'll integrate it into the post.
Please rate the show in the comments
Reader Comments (8)
another great show Jason. If you can make so college kids get a degree just by watching your show that would be awesome...lol