JUNE 2011
STARTUP NO 1
STARTUP magazine for entrepreneurs & innovators
RAPID SUCCESS WHAT NOT TO DO SHOULD I BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
STARTING UP A
game company MARTIN DE RONDE
JUNE 2011
CONTENT / COLOFON
CONTENT 04 EDITOR’S LETTER
17 MINDREADER
40 RADIX
05 RAPIDSHARE
19 HELPDESK PILOT
42 SUSKYPE
08 NANOGENERATOR
21 GADGETS
44 HOW TO BE DIFFERENT
10 NEWS
25 WHAT NOT TO DO
47 SHOULD I BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
11 VLC PLAYER
27 1000 TRUE FANS
49 APPS ON THE RISE
13 ANTI SPAM
35 MAN BEHIND KILLZONE
52 FRED WILSON
COLOFON CONTENT
CAST
Editor in Chief Eylem Culculoglu Managing Editor Joris Kruse Editor Jordan Thomas Art Direction Emile Dekker Designer Lisanne ter Bille Designer Ayrton Spierts Web Editor Douwe Trippenzee
Contributing Writers
PUBLISHER
CONTACT
Innovation Industries The Netherlands
Mail Phone
Kevin Kelly, Jason Mendelson, Fred Wilson, Jeffrey Bussgang, Jona Derks, John Jantch
Photographs Marc Kruse
PR@STARTUPMAGAZINE.NET +31 (0) 365238480
WWW.STARTUPMAGAZINE.NET ///////////////////////////////////////////////// /////////////////////////////////////////////////
JUNE 2011
EYLEM CULCULOGLU / EDITOR’S LETTER
EYLEM CULCULOGLU
Summer brings new life to earth. After the long cold winter days, earth becomes fertile with sunshine and new life starts. We decided to launch our magazine in this summer. We believe summer is the best time for new starts. Startup Magazine will cover new startups, innovations and new visions. Every issue in the pages of startup you will find something new, something innovative. Internet changed our lifestyles. Internet changed the way we think, the way we act and also the way we make business. Before the internet to be successful in any business you needed capital. Big fish always ruled the world and there was no place for small fish. This totally has changed with internet. Now a young entrepreneur with good ideas and good wisdom can make millions even billions of dollars in a real short time. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Facebook are just examples. To become successful in business good ideas should meet with capital. Venture capital companies play a great role in today’s business. Every good startup needs professional management and capital to grow. In our magazine we aim to create a platform that allows entrepreneurs and venture capital companies get together. Startup Magazine will not only be a regular magazine on business and technology but it will be a platform for startups. Our pages are open for everyone with good ideas. Startup Magazine is an international magazine with writers all over the world. In this issue you will find a very interesting article from Kevin Kelly – cofounder of Wired magazine – about 1000 true fans. Kevin Kelly will contribute us with his articles in upcoming issues too. Famous entrepreneurs from USA, Jeffrey Bussgang and Jason Mendelson will be giving tips and tricks to new startups. Every issue we will cover success stories from all over the world. Also every issue will have a special country guide. With those country guides you will get detailed information about how to make business in foreign countries. We want to be interactive with our readers so please share your thoughts with us. We will be more than happy to hear from you.
See you at our next issue!
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / RAPIDSHARE
/ STARTUPS RAPIDSHARE
13 PETABYTE STORAGE SPACE ON RACKMOUNT SERVERS IN RAPIDSHARE DATA CENTER FRANKFURT
RAPID SUCCESS RAPIDSHARE STARTED AS AN ONE-MAN COMPANY AND ONLY IN 6 YEARS HAVE BECOME WORLD’S LARGEST FILE HOSTING SERVICE WITH 13 PETABYTE STORAGE SPACE
13 PETABYTE = 1.000.000.000.000.000 TIMES THE SIZE OF YOUR LAPTOP HARDISK...
one man show
JUNE 2011
Early last decade a young entrepreneur named Christian Schmid was running forum hosting services and was having difficulty transferring large files. He decided to create his own service for transferring files and RapidShare was born! The service was originally named Ezshare. but was subsequently changed to Rapidshare when Schmid discovered that Kodak owned rights to the former title. The service started small with very few users but is now one of the most known internet services in the world. RapidShare currently ranks 88th on the Alexa Traffic List and receives forty million visitors every day. When RapidShare went live in the year 2005, it was a one man company. Schmid handled everything, including support and sales. At this time, the web address was rapidshare.de and was aimed mainly at German customers. In the years to follow, RapidShare gained popularity internationally and was eventually changed to rapidshare.com to cater to a wider audience.
STARTUPS / RAPIDSHARE
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / RAPIDSHARE
War against piracy
Privacy MATTERS
RapidShare’s spokesman Daniel Raimer says [RapidShare] is known for file sharing but is actually a file hosting company. Raimer states that they operate in the ‘cloud’ and many btusiness customers use their services to transfer large files from one location to another. Rapidshare is concerned about copyright issues and want to keep copyrighted material off their servers. For that reason, the company employs a seventeen person team dedicated to DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) requests
RapidShare hosts a wide array of files, including sensitive business information. Daniel Raimer explains that “privacy is very important and no one in the company can access hosted files.” Also, he assures that they do not use any file monitoring software, offering the best privacy possible. RapidShare uses its own unique, home-built operating system ensuring additional security to its clients. In 2005 there was no competition; there are now several companies in the file hosting game, making things more difficult for RapidShare. Daniel Raimer says they differ from the c o mp e titio n by offering superior customer support
Rapidshare currently has more than 600 gbps bandwidth, which is more than many countries total bandwidth. at its Switzerland headquarters. During business hours the average response time to remove suspected copyrighted material is under an hour. RapidShare currently has sixty employees and are using several different data centres in Frankfurt, Germany. The company has a storage space of thirteen petabytes, (1 petabyte = approximately 1 million gigabytes) and every month, petabytes of data travel through the RapidShare servers. The company has more than 600 gbps bandwidth, which is more than the total bandwidth of many countries.
and the fastest service. RapidShare wants to remain in the file hosting business. Daniel Raimer says they know the business well and will continue to offer robust services to their customers and introduce new technologies, with future plans focusing on mobile tech. RapidShare is a Swiss-owned one-click hosting paid and free service (with certain restrictions and limitations) financed by the subscriptions of paying users. RapidShare is one of the world’s largest file-hosting sites, with 13 petabytes of files on its servers, handling up to 3 million users simultaneously.
JUNE 2011
NEWS / NANOGENERATOR
CHARGE YOUR IPHONE WITH YOUR BODY > NEWS / NANOGENERATOR
NO BATTERIES AND ELECTRICAL INPUTS ANYMORE!
HEARTBEAT BLOOD PASSING THROUGH THE BODY
JUNE 2011
NEWS / NANOGENERATOR
NANOGENERATOR CHIP UTILIZES
BODY MOVEMENTS TO PRODUCE ELECTRICITY
A
research team recently unveiled a nanogenerator at the 241st National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. It is a supple chip that utilizes body movements such as a finger pinch to produce electricity. They described boosting the device’s power output by 1000 times and its voltage by 150 times to finally move it out of the lab and toward everyday life. This discovery will help develop hand-held electronics fueled only by body movements, removing the need for batteries or electrical inputs, according to Zhong Lin Wang, who led the team. The development will lead to liquid-crystal displays, laser and light-emitting diodes. A capacitor will save the energy produced, so that the energy output can intermittently impel a sensor and relay the signals wirelessly. It could be applied in personal electronic devices fueled by footsteps triggering the nanogenerator within a shoe sole, embedded insulin pumps fueled by a heart beat, and eco sensors fueled by nanogenerators fluttering in the wind.
The team utilized the nanogenerator to fuel both an LED light and a liquid crystal display used in computers and calculators. The nano-generator was squeezed between two fingers to produce the energy. ZnO nanowires can produce an electric current when stretched. Any body movements like walking, heartbeat, or blood passing through the body could trigger the current. The nanowires can respond to wind or rolling tires to produce electricity. The team collected and combined the energy from millions of nanoscale zinc oxide wires and devised a technique to place the nanowires on polymer chips. Five nanogenerators together generate about 1 mA current at 3 V. Wang, a scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology, said that more nanowires and nanogenerators piled together could generate energy sufficient to fuel large electronics, including an iPod or a cell phone. The researchers received grants from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (U.S. Department of Defense), the U.S. Air Force. the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Source: http://portal.acs.org/
JUNE 2011
huge startup exit Israeli startup Conduit is on the verge of a huge exit: It is negotiating a sale estimated at over a billion dollars. Among the potential buyers mentioned are such giants as Microsoft and Google. Conduit, considered one of the most promising high tech companies in Israel, was founded in 2005 and creates platforms for browser toolbars and applications. If the deal comes off, it would be the biggest sale of an Internet firm in Israeli history. Conduit’s products allow anyone, including small firms, to create personalized toolbars, and clients range from small stores to the NBAand singer Rihanna. he company has raised only $9.5 million, in T 2005 and 2008, and is considered profitable. It had revenues of about $100 million in 2009 and $300 million in 2010. Conduit has 250 employees in its center in Nes Tziona, 100 of whom were hired in the last year.
STARTUP RAISES $30 MILLION
STARTUP / NEWS
/NEWS IPAD 2 SHIPPING PROBLEMS According to a report from Taiwan Economic News, Apple is trying to fix stock shortages of its recently released tablet, the iPad 2, with the Cupertino based company apparently tapping AU Optronics Corp (AUO) as a new supplier of iPad 2 LCD displays. It’s no secret that Apple is having a hard time keeping up with demand for the iPad 2. The Apple Store currently lists shipping dates for the iPad as 3-4 weeks and some customers who purchased their device on launch day are still waiting for their device to arrive. That’s where Apple’s contract with AUO comes in. AUO is the fourth largest LCD maker in the world and adding them as a supplier only means good things to come for those who want to get their hands on an iPad 2.
TidalTV, founded by Scott Ferber, who co-founded Advertising.com in 1998, announced that it raised $30 million in new financing from investors -- an amount that nearly doubles the $16 million the company raised in 2009. The investment round was led by New Enterprise Associates, with involvement from existing investors Comcast Interactive Capital and Valhalla Partners. TidalTV said in a statement today that it plans to use the increased funding to “support the aggressive expansion of TidalTV’s technology into new global markets throughout 2011 and the deployment of its proprietary ad decisioning solutions into new multi-screen applications for advertisers, media agencies and publishers.” TidalTV’s technology helps serve targeted advertising to mobile and online video watchers. The company cited industry estimates from eMarketer, which showed eMarketer estimates that “by 2015, 76% of internet users, or 195.5 million people will be watching online video each month. In the same period, it predicts online video advertising spending will surge from $1.97 billion to $5.71 billion.”
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / VLC PLAYER
A Global Success REACHED 500 MILLION PEOPLE
VLC MEDIA PLAYER YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TOO!!
>
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / VLC PLAYER
A global success: VLC Media Player Student project reached 500 million people! If you watch videos on your PC or Mac, you’ve probably heard of the VLC Media Player. It is one of the best open source video players on the market and with over 500 million downloads to date, it certainly is the king. The software started as a student project at the French École Centrale, Paris, in 1996, but following a complete rewrite in 1998, became open source thanks to the eventual agreement of the École in 2001.
DEVELOPERS FROM 20 COUNTRIES Upon becoming open source software, the project opened up to developers outside of the École. It is currently a worldwide venture featuring developers from twenty countries. The project has been completely separate from the École Centrale since 2009 thanks to financial support from an autonomous non-profit organisation. The project started on a Linux platform before Windows and Mac versions went live. Jean-Paul Saman of VideoLAN, the current producer of the VLC Player says that VLC is downloaded over 25 million times a month, confirming its status as the current market leader. The project team consists of a ten person core along with contributions from the open source community. VLC is non-profit software and is funded completely through donations. Fans of the service can donate using their Paypal accounts on the VideoLAN website. As the VLC player has 500 million users, it gets enough donations to survive. VideoLAN has plans to implement mobile functionality and the team is actively developing versions for the Android and iPhone operating systems. Blu-Ray support is also being developed.
YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TOO VideoLAN is always searching for contributors to the VLC project. Programming skills aren’t inherently necessary, as they need translation and graphic design aid too. They are open to new ideas and donations as well. You can contact VideoLAN at www.VideoLAN.org
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / ANTISPAM
ANTI SPAM PROTECT YOUR INBOX
success rate is better than Google especially when DEALING WITH false positives
>
INVADERS MUST DIE !!
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / ANTISPAM
JUNK FROM: Imaginaryperson@COLDMAIL.COM SUBJECT: You ARE A WINNER! 1000 dollar TO: Startupmagazine
more than 5000 customers in only 6 years Spam is one of the biggest nuisances in today’s world. Millions of spam emails are sent every day and are responsible for countless hours and dollars wasted. There are many different approaches for fighting spam. Using an outsourced anti-spam service has become very popular in recent years. According to current research and analysis, the share of companies that outsource their e-mail communication will increase to
50% in the near future. Experts expect the Managed E-Mail Security Services market to grow by 20% annually. Antispam Europe is one such service provider. The company was founded in 2005 and rapidly became one of the leading providers of e-mail security in Europe. Antispam Europe currently has 5,000 business customers ranging in size. Some of their clients have over 15,000 users.
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / ANTISPAM
INBOX FROM: iam@oliverdehning.com SUBJECT: Totally outsourced TO: Startupmagazine
TOTALLY OUTSOURCED Antispam Europe services provide safe email communication without investments into hardware or software and remains totally free of administration or maintenance efforts for IT managers and users. They have customers located throughout Europe with additional subsidiaries in all parts of the world. Antispam Europe sales activities currently cover the UK, Austria, Italy, Germany, Spain, France and
Switzerland with a network of 200 sales partners, system integrators, software houses, ISPs and hosting providers. Antispam Europe has a 99.99% success rate with deleting spam. Antispam Europe’s CEO Oliver Dehning claims their success rate is better than Google, especially when dealing with false positives. Dehning says they work based on SLA and guarantee less than 0.004% false positive emails.
LESS SPAM Oliver Dehling says the number of spam emails are lowering worldwide. The reason behind this is the rising cost of bandwidth and spammers having a hard time bypassing antispam filters. Antispam Europe plans to enhance its customer portfolio and want to reach other regions outside Europe.
FROM: Help@antispam.com SUBJECT: How does it work? TO: Startupmagazine
THIS IS HOW IT WORKS Antispam Europe offers a comprehensive “Managed Service”, which reroutes their clients’ e-mail through their own servers. They are then analyzed by numerous filters using a large variety of complex algorithms. E-mails then pass through an elaborate system of static, dynamic and self-learning filters including bayesian, heuristic, semantic and image filters, which effectively block potentially dangerous mail and spam.
JUNE 2011
EYLEM CULCULOGLU / MIND READER
mind reader If you are a science fiction fan, you have probably watched hundreds of movies featuring mind reading and mind control. Now, in 2011, science fiction is becoming ‘science reality’. NeuroSky, an American company has developed a device that can ‘read peoples’ minds’. The NeuroSky MindWave headset is the first product of its kind available for the consumer market.
TEXT EYLEM CULCULOGLU
JUNE 2011
EYLEM CULCULOGLU / MIND READER
HOW IT WORKS?
MIND GAMES
The last century of neuroscience research greatly increased understanding about the brain and the complex energy it emits. Brainwave patterns form faint electrical signals detectable on the scalp. Recording this Electroencephalogram (EEG) has historically required elaborate, intimidating and immovable equipment costing thousands of dollars, limiting the benefits to the medical research communities. NeuroSky have worked with the world’s leading universities such as Stanford, Carnegie Mellon, University of Washington, University of Wollongong, Trinity College and many others to take EEG out of the medical laboratory and into the home. Communication between the headset and PC o r Mac is done via a wireless USB plug-in.
Best of all, there are games that you can play using the MindWave headset. There are currently over 30 games and educational applications available for download on NeuroSkyAppStore. Included with the MindWave are ten applications bundled within the package: SpeedMath, Meditation Journal, ZombiePop, BlinkZone and others. Each of these apps integrate EEG in a special way. Speed Math monitors student attention level when learning earlygrade arithmetic lessons. MyndPlay is a movie viewing player that uses the mental state of th viewer to determine plot changes in the movie. It measures brainwave impulses from the forehead from a position neuroscientists call FP1 with medical grade precision.
NO GEL NeuroSky’s Vice President Jim Sullivan says they started to work on this project five years ago, focusing initial research on how to create an EEG device that doesn’t require gel. Regular EEG devices use a thick medical gel for conductivity, which is not convenient for consumer products. EEG devices that are used in the health industry must be as accurate as possible, which is why gel is used to prevent interference. NeuroSky invented a chip that lowers interference, allowing their device to work without gel. Sullivan says the success behind their technology lies with the chip. Furthermore, Sullivan says NeuroSky is actually a chip-design company and offers their chip solution to third parties as well.
SUCCES BEHIND NEUROSKY’S TECHNOLOGY IS THE CHIP
MENTAL STATES
NeuroSky’s EEG bio-sensor headsets digitize brainwave signals to power the user-interface of games, computers and medical applications. NeuroSky technology accurately measures mental states such as relaxation and attention, which are different to actual conscious thoughts. Sensing that a user is in a state of relaxation is different from sensing that the user likes the color blue. These mental states have powerful capabilities when integrated into video games, education, sports coaching, relaxation, and so on.
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / HELPDESK PILOT
HELP DESK PILOT Helpdesk Pilot is one of the most popular help desk software on the market.
Do you have a question?
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / HELPDESK PILOT
hether you are offering a service or W product, providing support is the most important part of the business. If you do not offer good support you will eventually fail. If you have a large customer database handling support can be a problem. There are many outsourced help desk solutions on the market but sometimes it can be a good idea to go for a dedicated solution. Owned help desk solutions offer better maintenance and they are cost effective. Helpdesk Pilot is one of the most popular help desk software on the market.
Helpdesk Pilot has enhanced reporting features. With these features you can analyze and benchmark the performance of your support personnel. Also you can predict the potential support request volume and make necessary planning. With Helpdesk Pilot your support team can give support through their mobile devices as well. Software is mobile friendly and it is very easy to response to support tickets on the move. One of the other good features is Smart Rules. With Smart Rules you can reduce the dependency on manual involvement and create rules that
HELPDESK PILOT They have more than 3000 business customers and they offer software starting at only 387 USD one time fee. If you compare this to monthlyoutsourced help desk prices you can get your investment back in just a year. Helpdesk Pilot allows you to manage your support services more efficiently, treating each and every incoming request as a unique, traceable ticket. You can collate support requests sent in via email, through the web or over the phone into a feature rich help desk solution that both empowers your support agents and reassures your end-users of quick, efficient and quality support.
Don’t pay monthly charges for helpdesk
automatically perform an action on a ticket when certain conditions are met. Also you can define any combination of conditions and actions to create smart rules specific to your needs. Helpdesk Pilot Business Development Manager Vikram Bhaskar says they started developing 6 years ago and rapidly achieved a great success in help desk platforms. Bhaskar says they have a team of 12 people in India working actively on the development of Helpdesk Pilot. Bhaskar states their main advantage is being easy to use and having a real simple interface. This bypasses the learning curve and enhanced productivity.
JUNE 2011
GADGETS / HUMANOID ROBOT
GAD GETS
HUMANOID ROBOT
QI-CERTIFED CHARGEPAD The KumoTek-X bipedal robot is the latest robot to emerge from the creative labs of KumoTek Robotics and Vstone Corporation.
The KT-X is the first l ow-cost bi-pendal robot platform of its kind to be o ffered in the U.S. t hat can be con t rolled using a standard wireless PS2 game pad c on-troller and it is easy to use. T his robot offers endless hours of entertainment.
The robot was designed to offer an entertaining, low-cost alternative to highend robotics, while stylishly combining the latest in sleek design and cuttingedge robotics e ngineering.
SPECIFICATIONS 1 3.5 Inches tall and has 19 servo actuated joints. P owerful 60MHz HV processor with 512kB ROM/ 64kB RAM
$1850
JUNE 2011
GADGETS / RUBIK TOUCH CUBE
GAD GAD GETS GETS
HUMANOID ROBOT
COMPLETELY ELECTRONIC! QI-CERTIFED CHARGEPAD The KumoTek-X bipedal robot is the latest robot to
The RUBIK’S emerge fromTOUCHCUBE the creative labs of KumoTek Robotics and To eliminate false seamlessly blends cutting i nputs or moves, the Vstone Corporation. edge technology with Rubik’s TouchCube uses world’s number one puzzle to a MOTION DETECTING create the FIRST COM A CCELEROMETER to PLETELY ELECTRONIC, determine which The KT-XRUBIK’S is the first robot was solvable CUBE! s ideThe is facing up l ow-cost bi-pendal designed ato an nd offer active. robot platform entertaining, low-cost of its kind to be alternative to high o ffered in the U.S. end robotics, while t hat can be constylishly combining t rolled using a the latest in sleek standard wireless design and cuttingPS2 game pad edge robotics c on-troller and e ngineering. it is easy to use. T his robot offers endless hours of entertainment. The Rubik’s TouchCube also includes a BUILT-IN SOLVER so now anyone can EASILY LEARN how to SPECIFICATIONS solve the Cube 1 3.5 Inches tall STEP BY STEP and has 19 servo actuated joints.
P owerful 60MHz The TouchCube features TOUCH SENSOR TECHNOLOGY on HVRubik’s processor all with 6 sides and lights in every square; slide the lights with a simple 512kB ROM / 64kBof RAM swipe your finger to mimic the moves of the original Rubik’s Cube.
$1850
JUNE 2011
GADGETS / GALAXY TAB
GAD GETS
10.1’’ DISPLAY Tablet arena gets hotter than ever. Samsung’s new tablet Galaxy Tab 10.1 sets the standards higher. A 10.1” (WXGA TFT LCD) display with crystal clear resolution (1280 x 8v00) makes the Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.very eye catchy. To compliment the amazing visual quality of the device, the GALAXY Tab 10.1 includes dual surround-sound speakers to immerse you even more fully.
1GHz Dual Core application processor T he Dual Core processor, low power DDR2 memory and 6860mAh battery, make it perfect for task management i n an energy efficient way.
8 MEGAPIXEL REAR-FACING CAMERA
The device also includes an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera with Auto Focus and a 2 megapixel front-facing camera which lets users capture experiences with the best-in-market full HD record and play as well as easily share them. With the Android browser and Flash 10.1, t he Samsung GALAXY Tab 10.1 is the perfect tool for consuming the world of the internet content wherever you are.
599g & 10.9 MM SLIMNESS
support rapid mobile download speeds and reduce data transfer times
JUNE 2011
GADGETS / CHARGE WIRELESS!
GAD GETS
CHARGE WIRELESS!
QI-CERTIFIED CHARGEPAD $61 Japanese company Panasonic has l aunched a new wireless Chargepad, w hich it has added to its product range, a nd enbles you to wirelessly charge your mobile charges. Just place your m obile charger over the Chargepad
Enabling you to effortlessly grab them whenever you leave the house or office and store your mobile handy just incase your main mobile phone battery dries up.
Shipping starts on June 24th in Japan. No information on pricing o r worldwide availability h as been released as yet.
Panasonic also unveiled: QE-PL201-W with 5400mAh $67 Q E-PL101-W with 2700mAh $49
JUNE 2011
JASON MENDELSON / WHAT NOT TO DO
WHAT NOT TO DO TEXT JASON MENDELSON
3
POOR BEHAVIORS
>
THAT FAIL WHEN LOOKING FOR A PARTNERSHIP
SO DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T TOLD YOU SO...
JUNE 2011
JASON MENDELSON / WHAT NOT TO DO
WHAT NOT TO DO
POOR BEHAVIOR
I’m asked all the time to play matchmaker between folks and companies that we’ve invested in. Sometimes it’s someone looking for a job, sometimes it’s one company looking to partner with one of our investments and other times it’s something completely different.
1 Expect me to do all the work. This is the person who wants an intro to a company, but it is like pulling teeth trying to get them to write something that I can send along to the company. First, the askee should have a better idea than I do why there is a good reason to connect. Second, if I’m going to take time to make an intro, then why would you want to wait for me to get around to writing an email? I could end up getting so busy that I never get around to it. And it’s just nice etiquette, too, I think.
2
Be overly aggressive to get directly connected to the company. This is the person who wants me to introduce them to an executive at a company, before I check in the with the company to see if they are inter- ested. Our companies arme really busy building businesses and if they don’t have an interest, I’m not going to force them (or guilt them, as an investor) to meet with someone. When I say that I’ll make the intro if the company is interested and the askee becomes aggressive wanting a direct intro, it really turns me off.
Remember, it takes me more time to check in with the company and then get back to the person than an instant intro, so it isn’t like I’m not trying. I’m just attempting to be respectful of our portfolio companies’ executives’ time
3 Insult my company in an attempt to show your worth. This is my favorite. This is the person who tells me that the reason our portfolio company needs to meet with them is because our company sucks in some capacity. Insults will get you nowhere. This isn’t the case where a person says “Hey, I can help your company do X better.” This is the person who says “I can fix your company’s debacle” or “Your company has no idea how to monetize. They suck at revenue.” (I am very lightly changing actual quotes sent to me). Every startup company has issues. Actually, every company has issues and can be better at some things, but acting as a know-it-all and being arrogant and thinking that an outsider is smarter than anyone inside one of our companies is probably a bad strategy. Okay, rant over. Am I missing any good ones?
1000
JUNE 2011
KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
TRUE FANS
The long tail is famously good news for two classes of people; a few lucky aggregators, such as Amazon and Netflix, and 6 billion consumers. Of those two, I think consumers earn the greater reward from the wealth hidden in infinite niches. But the long tail is a decidedly mixed blessing for creators. Individual artists, producers, inventors and makers are overlooked in the equation. The long tail does not raise the sales of creators much, but it does add massive competition and endless downward pressure on prices. Unless artists become a large aggregator of other artist’s works, the long tail offers no path out of the quiet doldrums of minuscule sales.
TEXT KEVIN KELLY
Other than aim for a blockbuster hit, what can an artist do to escape the long tail? One solution is to find 1,000 True Fans. The gist of 1,000 True Fans can be stated simply: A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, performer, animator, CRAFTSPERSON, designer, videomaker, or author - in other words, anyone producing works of art - needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
JUNE 2011
KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
True fans will drive 200 miles to see you sting. They will buy the super deluxe reissued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They follow you on social networks. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the tshirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can’t wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
To raise your sales out of the flatline of the long tail you need to connect with your True Fans directly. Another way to state this is, you need to convert a thousand Lesser Fans into a thousand True Fans. Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day’s wages per year in support of what you do. That “one-day-wage” is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that.
Let’s peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks. One thousand is a feasible number. You could count to 1,000. If you added one fan a day, it would take only three years. True Fanship is doable. Pleasing a True Fan is pleasurable, and invigorating. It rewards the artist to remain true, to focus on the unique aspects of their work, the qualities that True Fans appreciate.
JUNE 2011
NEED NO HIT TO SURVIVE
KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
The key challenge is that you have to maintain direct contact with your 1,000 True Fans. They are giving you their support directly. Maybe they come to your house concerts, or they are buying your DVDs from your website, or they order your prints from Pictopia. As much as possible you retain the full amount of their support. You also benefit from the direct feedback and love.
The technologies of connection and small-time manufacturing make this circle possible. Blogs and RSS feeds trickle out news, and upcoming appearances or new works. Web sites host galleries of your past work, archives of biographical information, and catalogs of paraphernalia. Diskmakers, Blurb, rapid prototyping shops, Myspace, Facebook, and the entire digital domain all conspire to make duplication and dissemination in small quantities fast, cheap and easy. You don’t need a million fans to justify producing something new. A mere one thousand is sufficient.
This small circle of diehard fans, which can provide you with a living, is surrounded by concentric circles of Lesser Fans. These folks will not purchase everything you do, and may not seek out direct contact, but they will buy much of what you produce. The processes you develop to feed your True Fans will also nurture Lesser Fans. As you acquire new True Fans, you can also add many more Lesser Fans. If you keep going, you may indeed end up with millions of fans and reach a hit. I don’t know of any creator who is not interested in having a million fans. But the point of this strategy is to say that you don’t need a hit to survive.
MAY 2011
KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
You don’t need to aim for the short head of best-sellerdom to escape the long tail. There is a place in the middle, that is not very far away from the tail, where you can at least make a living. That mid-way haven is called 1,000 True Fans. It is an alternate destination for an artist to aim for.
Young artists starting out in this digitally mediated world have another path other than stardom, a path made possible by the very technology that creates the long tail. Instead of trying to reach the narrow and unlikely peaks of platinum hits, bestseller blockbusters, and celebrity status, they can aim for direct connection with 1,000 True Fans. It’s a much saner destination to hope for. You make a living instead of a fortune. You are surrounded not by fad and fashionable infatuation, but by True Fans. And you are much more likely to actually arrive there.
> A few caveats. This formula - one thousand direct True Fans -- is crafted for one person, the solo artist. What happens in a duet, or quartet, or movie crew? Obviously, you’ll need more fans. But the additional fans you’ll need are in direct geometric proportion to the increase of your creative group. In other words, if you increase your group size by 33%, you need add only 33% more fans. This linear growth is in contrast to the exponential growth by which many things in the digital domain inflate. I would not be surprised to find that the value of your True Fans network follows the standard network effects rule, and increases as the square of the number of Fans. As your True Fans connect with each other, they will more readily increase their average spending on your works. So while increasing the numbers of artists involved in creation increases the number of True Fans needed, the increase does not explode, but rises gently and in proportion.
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KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
Managing fans A more important caution: Not every artist is cut out, or willing, to be a nurturer of fans. Many musicians just want to play music, or photographers just want to shoot, or painters paint, and they temperamentally don’t want to deal with fans, especially True Fans. For these creatives, they need a mediator, a manager, a handler, an agent, a galleryist -- someone to manage their fans. Nonetheless, they can still aim for the same middle destination of 1,000 True Fans. They are just working in a duet.
Third distinction. Direct fans are best. The number of True Fans needed to make a livingindirectly inflates fast, but not infinitely. Take blogging as an example. Because fan support for a blogger routes through advertising clicks (except in the occasional tip-jar), more fans are needed for a blogger to make a living. But while this moves the destination towards the left on the long tail curve, it is still far short of blockbuster territory. Same is true in book publishing. When you have corporations involved in taking the majority of the revenue for your work, then it takes many times more True Fans to support you. To the degree an author cultivates direct contact with his/her fans, the smaller the number needed.
JUNE 2011
KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
FAN NUMBER THAT WORKS Lastly, the actual number may vary depending on the media. Maybe it is 500 True Fans for a painter and 5,000 True Fans for a videomaker. The numbers must surely vary around the world. But in fact the actual number is not critical, because it cannot be determined except by attempting it. Once you are in that mode, the actual number will become evident. That will be the True Fan number that works for you. My formula may be off by an order of magnitude, but even so, its far less than a million.
I’ve been scouring the literature for any references to the True Fan number. Suck.com cofounder Carl Steadman had theory about microcelebrities. By his count, a microcelebrity was someone famous to 1,500 people. So those fifteen hundred would rave about you. As quoted by Danny O’Brien, “One person in every town in Britain likets your dumb online comic. That’s enough to keep you in beers (or T-shirt sales) all year.” Others call this microcelebrity support micro-patronage, or distributed patronage. In 1999 John Kelsey and Bruce Schneier published a model for this in First Monday, an online journal. They called it the Street Performer Protocol.
Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: “When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series. “Readers can go to the author’s Web site, see how much money has already been donated, and donate money to the cause of getting his novel out. Note that the author doesn’t care who pays to get the next chapter out;
nor does he care how many people read the book that didn’t pay for it. He just cares that his $100,000 pot gets filled. When it does, he publishes the next book. In this case “publish” simply means “make available,” not “bind and distribute through bookstores.” The book is made available, free of charge, to everyone: those who paid for it and those who did not.
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KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
In 2004 author Lawrence Watt-Evans used this model to publish his newest novel. He asked his True Fans to collectively pay $100 per month. When he got $100 he posted the next chapter of the novel. The entire book was published online for his True Fans, and then later in paper for all his fans. He is now writing a second novel this way. He gets by on an estimated 200 True Fans because he also publishes in the traditional manner - with advances from a publisher supported by thousands of Lesser Fans. Other authors who use fans to directly support their work are Diane Duane, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller, and Don Sakers. Game designer Greg Stolze employed a similar True Fan model to launch two pre-financed games. Fifty of his True Fans contributed seed money for his development costs. The genius of the True Fan model is that the fans are able to move an artist away from the edges of the long tail to a degree larger than their numbers indicate. They can do this in three ways: by purchasing more per person, by spending directly so the creator keeps more per sale, and by enabling new models of support.
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KEVIN KELLY / 1000 TRUE FANS
N ew models of support include micro-patronage. Another model is pre-financing the startup costs. Digital technology enables this fan support to take many shapes. Fundable is a web-based enterprise which allows anyone to raise a fixed amount of money for a project, while reassuring the backers the project will happen. Fundable withholds the money until the full amount is collected. They return the money if the minimum is not reached. Here’s an example from Fundable’s site; Amelia, a twentyyear-old classical soprano singer, pre-sold her first CD before entering a recording studio. “If I get $400 in pre-orders, I will be able to afford the rest [of the studio costs],” she told potential contributors. Fundable’s all-or-nothing model ensured that none of her customers would lose money if she fell short of her goal. Amelia sold over $940 in albums. A 1000 dollars won’t keep even a starving artist alive long, but with serious attention, a dedicated artist can do better with their True Fans. Jill Sobule, a musician who has nurtured a sizable following over many years of touring and recording, is doing well relying on her True Fans. Recently she decided to go to her fans to finance the $75,000 professional recording fees she needed for her next album. She has raised close to $50,000 so far. By directly supporting her via their patronage, the fans gain intimacy with their artist. According to the Associated Press: Contributors can choose a level of pledges ranging from the $10 “unpolished rock,” which earns them a free digital download of her disc when it’s made, to the $10,000 “weapons-grade plutonium level,” where she promises “you get to come and sing on my CD. Don’t worry if you can’t sing - we can fix that on our end.” For a $5,000 contribution, Sobule said she’ll perform a concert in the donor’s house. The lower levels are more popular, where donors can earn things like an advanced copy of the CD, a mention in the liner notes and a T-shirt identifying them as a “junior executive producer” of the CD. The usual alternative to making a living based on True Fans is poverty. A study as recently as 1995 showed that the accepted price of being an artist was large. Sociologist Ruth Towsesurveyed artists in Britian and determined that on average they earned below poverty subsistence levels. I am suggesting there is a home for creatives in between poverty and stardom. Somewhere lower than stratospheric bestsellerdom, but higher than the obscurity of the long tail. I don’t know the actual true number, but I think a dedicated artist could cultivate 1,000 True Fans, and by their direct support using new technology, make an honest living. I’d love to hear from anyone who might have settled on such a path.
JUNE 2011
MARTIN DE RONDE / KILLZONE
TEXT EYLEM CULCULOGLU
If you are over 30 years old you probably know Commodore 64. At 1980’s C64 was the dream machine. Many kids met with the magical world of computer games with C64. Martin de Ronde was one of those kids. Once he got his first C64 he was so excited. He was playing games for hours and hours and games were taking all of his time. In those years he would not know
KILLZONE 2 SOLD OVER 1 MILLION COPIES
that games would change his life. He played games at school he played games at home and his biggest ambition was to be a game maker in the future. Unlike millions of others who shared the same ambition, Martin turned his dream into a reality. Martin de Ronde is now a very well known person in gaming industry and he is one of the talents behind game hit Killzone.
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MARTIN DE RONDE / KILLZONE
SONY
Story of Killzone After being sacked by Sega, the the team chose to go to Sony with the same project as well as some other technology demos. Sony dismissed the SEGA project, but seeing some of the technology demos, asked if they could turn it into a First Person Shooter for the then-unreleased Playstation 2 [PS2] console. Although unfamiliar with the PS2 hardware, they took the risk and said ‘yes we can do it’! Sony provided them with the coveted PS2 test unit, complete with manuals straight from Japan! Within three months the team was able to produce the first PS2 demo under the working title Aliens vs.Colonial Marines, as the game was initially going to use a 20th Century Fox license. Sony however, lost the license rights and asked the team if they could produce the same game without the Aliens license.. Upon receiving this feedback the team decided to turn the ‘aliens’ into ‘zombie like colonial marines’ and give the game a darker tone with a civil war theme. This is how Killzone was born & evolved.
Halokiller Killzone was a huge success and became a PS2 phenomenon. Many fans labeled it the ‘Halo Killer’. The game sold over one million copies worldwide, earning Greatest Hits and Platinum status in North America and Europe respectively. Following this success Guerilla signed an exclusive agreement to develop only for Sony platforms and in December of 2005 the team was officially acquired by Sony.
During the acquisition process of Guerrilla Games, Martin de Ronde left the company, sold his shares and signed an exclusive agreement with Sony. Per the terms of this agreement, Martin would not develop commercial games for three years. Due to this agreement Martin was forced to leave the commercial gaming scene temporarily, but this did not deter him from the gaming world. In 2007 he started a non-commercial social game business called OneBigGame. Previously, during his Lost Boys years, de Ronde had already worked on charity games, including the Star Child Project. He was very passionate about creating something for children and this mandatory noncommercial period helped him accomplish this goal. Within the three years, One Big Game released two games and was able to raise over USD $100,000.
Agreement At the end of his three year hiatus, Martin de Ronde returned to the commercial gaming world, forming a new venture alongside his foundation: Vanguard Games,which specializes in the development of downloadable content for premium gaming platforms. Vanguard’s mission is to create new types of online games by combining the best elements of online gaming with the hallmarks of the high-end console world. Vanguard currently employs forty-five people who are working on ‘next generation’ games. Their first title, Gatling Gears, was released this spring in partnership with Electronic Arts. De Ronde says, “It is very exciting to be part of an indie studio again, and bringing [the] best practices from my experience at Guerrilla Games to the development of downloadable games. We feel Gatling Gears is a great representation of what our incredibly talented team is capable of”.
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MARTIN DE RONDE / KILLZONE
WHO IS MARTIN DE RONDE Martin de Ronde began his career in the games industry over 15 years ago as a PR manager and later as development manager in publishing. He founded his own development studio in 1998, which he sold to multimedia conglomerate Lost Boys a year later. De Ronde became co-founder and managing director of Lost Boys Games. The studio became independent in 2001 and was renamed Guerrilla Games and was subsequently sold to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe in 2005. As commercial director De Ronde witnessed the birth of PlayStation 2 hit Killzone. In 2006 he departed to founded charitable publisher OneBigGame. In 2009 he founded Karami together with Michiel Mol. He is currently -the Chief Commercial Officer of Vanguard Games. Martin studied general economics in college. After graduating, he applied for a job with The Netherlands’ Ministry of Finance but eventually quit, choosing to focus on his passion for gaming. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how to code or design leaving him very few opportunities in the gaming industry. He decided that the best course of action was to position himself in the marketing department of a game company. In 1996 he took an internship with UK developer Bullfrog Productions, where he was able to gain initial industry insight and experience. Following his internship, de Ronde joined Project 2 Interactive in 1997, a Dutch mid- sized game publisher. He enhanced his experience with Project 2 and eventually joined Lost Boys’ game division in 1999. Here, he initiated a merger between Lost Boys’games division and 2 separate Dutch-based developers, Orange Games, founded by Arjan Brussee, and Digital Infinity, founded by Arnout van der Kamp. The next three and a half years would see Lost Boys Games release four titles: two each for Nintendo’s Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance handheld gaming consoles. At this time, Lost Boys Games (the name of the new entity) was also working on a project for the ill fated Sega Dreamcast. Unfortunately, during production Sega cancelled the game and Lost Boys Games suddenly had an ‘inactive’ team with 30 employees!
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MARTIN DE RONDE / KILLZONE
10 advices from Martin de Ronde 1 2 3 4 5 6
There are many entry points for working in the gaming world, but there are so many players! So be unique. It costs several million dollars to develop a PS3 game demo, so you need to find a good investor if you want to enter the high end market. Digital life is no different to real life. Do not forget this. Consider online games and mobile games if you are tight on budget. Consider easy to develop casual game mechanics. A game should not necessarily be high-tech to be successful. Downloadable games will replace the traditional distribution model.
7
Gaming hasn’t changed since 1967. Basic mechanisms are the same. There was Pac-Man thirty years ago. Now, with augmented reality, there will be Pac-Man in New York City. Technology changes but how we play and what we like doesn’t. Do not forget this while developing. iPhone/iPad offers great opportunities for startups but there is huge competition If you have a good idea, do it and do it fast! Don’t be a perfectionist otherwise you will be late. Browser based games have great opportunities.
8 9 10
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STARTUPS / RADIX
IT Outsourcing company Radix started with only 5 people and now they have 200 employees and 500 international clients
>
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STARTUPS / RADIX
500 companies depend on them Internet removed the boundaries on making business. Outsourcing IT projects became very popular since 10 years. Especially companies in India provide great solutions for unmatchable prices. Radix is one of those companies in India that provides outsourcing services. Radix started at the year 2000 with only 5 people and now they have more than 200 people working. Company rapidly became one of the India’s most successful ICT outsourcing companies in a real short time. Headquartered at Ahmedabad, India, with a representative office in the US, Radix has established its development centers in 15,000 sqft facility with copious expansion capacity. Equipped with cutting edge technology infrastructure, SMART and latest workstations, Radix maintains a comprehensive intranet for project management, CRM and knowledge management. Radix Director Divyesh Patel sayts “At Radix, we hone the abilities of our people to map the project requirements and tailor them to scope and size. Periodic management review and alternative backup resources ensure project stability.”
ENGINEER TASK FORCE Radix can brag about a rich talent pool where more than 70 percent of their workforce is highly skilled software engineers and consultants having panoptic development experience spanning across various industry verticals. They are capable of creating solutions that can give some of the best names in the industry a run for their money. With their core team having more than a decade’s exposure in technical, management and financial areas and a considerable number of our people having more than 4 years of industry experience, they are open to synergy of fresh ideas, stability and reliability. Radix house experts in PHP development, Microsoft .NET, System Programming, Embedded Development and applications hosted on Cloud or SaaS platform. Those experts are aptly supported by their service staff in their endeavors. Their group of skilled engineers, developers and service personnel form a cohesive unit that
aspires to meet the unique demands of the customers. Radix is also offers mobile platform solutions. iPhone, iPad and Android applications are very popular nowadays and Radix fully support them.
10 PROJECTS EVERY MONTH Company currently has more than 500 customers. Unlike many Indian companies, Radix focuses on quality rather than price. On average Radix offers prices 40% cheaper than Europe. Divyesh Patel says in India there are many cheap solution companies but they fail to provide quality solutions. Radix is definitely not the cheapest provider in India but they have higher quality standards. Company gets approximately 10 new projects every month, 2-3 of them are large scale projects. Divyesh Patel says Europe market is not explored and it has a lot of potential. Radix wants to be more active in Europe in long run.
JUNE 2011
STARTUPS / SUSKYPE
SUSKYPE Video Conferencing REACH YOUR DOCTOR ONLINE USING SUSKYPE 20 years ago internet speeds were so slow that no one could even think about video conferencing. Today we have broadband speeds almost at every home. Video streaming is commonly used and videoconference is no issue at all. Besides entertainment purposes, broadband speeds brought new business models as well. One of the new business models that came with broadband speed is telemedicine. Using telemedicine solutions patients from all over the world can meet with doctors.
TELEMEDICINE
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STARTUPS / SUSKYPE
TELEMEDICINE Till now telemedicine solutions were very expensive and very complex to be used. A New York startup company named SU International wants to change this concept. They are working on a new telemedicine solution called ‘SUkype’ - a telemedicine software platform with video conferencing features, easy as Skype! SU International’s Chief Technology Officer Taner Topcu says, their solution requires no training and can be used by any patient. SUkype is a multi platform software and it will be first available on Windows. After the initial release Mac, iPhone and Android versions will follow.
SUSKYPE SUkype provides a platform that allows patients to reach doctors. SU International has contracts with more than 20 well known doctors in USA. Using SUkype, patients from all over the world will be able to get consultation from those doctors. Using SUkype doctors will be able to reach all patient data prior to video consultation. Taner Topcu says they target about 2000 wealthy patients especially from Middle East region. Most of wealthy middle eastern patients travel to USA to get healthcare services. SU international wants to cut the amount of travelling and they plan to match the best doctors with patients.
RELEASE BY SEPTEMBER SU International has its main office in New York. The startup company uses outsourcing as its main developing model. Software is designed in New York but is being developed in India. Taner Topcu says: ‘Outsourcing cuts our costs and gives us more flexibility’. SU International plans to release SUkype by September. After the release they plan to make one to one contacts with hospitals and patients.
JUST LIKE SKYPE BUT
HEALTHIER!
JUNE 2011
JOHN JANTCH / HOW TO BE DIFFERENT
H W T
HOW TO MAKE AN EFFECTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY BY BEING DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS
TEXT JOHN JANTCH
JUNE 2011
JOHN JANTCH / HOW TO BE DIFFERENT
BETTER IS ONLY BETTER IF IT’S DIFFERENT How to make an effective marketing strategy by being different than others
I believe that the most important marketing consideration is an effective marketing strategy. Now, I’m not talking about the empty academic exercise kind of strategy. I’m talking about the discovery and communication of a core point of differentiation that informs and drives every tactical aspect of marketing and, in many cases, the overall business strategy of the organization. And guess what, being better than your competition isn’t a strategy, it’s an expectation. There’s nothing wrong with striving to be the best at what you do, it certainly will make for happy customers, but it won’t attract that kind of easy buzz that being different generates. I’ve not done this scientifically, but over the years I’ve rarely encountered a firm that didn’t think their products or services were superior to those of the companies they directly competed with. In most cases, those same firms also believed that something along the lines of “we provide better service” was their core point of differentiation.
A remodeling contractor creates and promotes something they call the “One Week Bath” – an unheard of proposition A law firm provides the same legal services as their competitors, but packages them in fixed price bundles. – heresy with the bill by the minute set A screen printer crowdsources t-shirt designs and shares sales profits with the successful designers. – wow, incredible designs and rabid loyal community Now, being different for different sake isn’t enough. You’ve also got to uncover a way of being different that solves a current frustration, eliminates a problem, enhances an experience or dramatically alters a well worn industry given. The most powerful marketing strategies are therefore: Something that is both unique and beneficial Something you can actually pull off elegantly Something that your competition doesn’t or can’t do Where to look for differentiation Ways to differentiate lurk in every corner of a business and industry and your hunt for differentiating strategy start by answering the following questions:
While it may indeed be true that your service is better, striving to communicate this belief as a central marketing message is what keeps firms stuck in the rut of commodity with every other firm that is saying the same thing. Firms that build substantial marketing momentum through strategy don’t strive to do things better, they strive to do things that no one else in their market is doing or to do the same things that everyone else is doing in different ways.
What could we do that no one in our industry is doing? What is the greatest frustration of our ideal customers? Are there innovations in other industries we could adopt? Are there unique ways to package, price or deliver our products and services? How could we create a totally unique customer experience?
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Here’s the funny thing though. There’s a good chance you’re already doing something that is unique, but you just don’t know it. In working with small businesses over the years, I’ve uncovered stunning marketing strategies by simply going out and interviewing a handful of an organization’s loyal customers. Customers often appreciate the little things you do differently: clean up the job site each day, explain accounting in plain English, return phone calls promptly or provide recommendations of other service providers.
Human strategy Once you find your strategy of difference you must go to work on building it into everything you do. Use your strategy of difference as a filter for every marketing decision. Evolve your language internally and externally to communicate your core difference. Bring every member of your staff into the discussion and help them link their function to the delivery of your strategy of difference.
JOHN JANTCH / HOW TO BE DIFFERENT
The key is to find these differences and make them your core marketing strategy. Sometimes this takes guts – maybe nobody else in your industry is promoting those little things, maybe they don’t sound that sexy, but your best customers told you that they make a big difference to them and that should give you the confidence that it will make a big difference to others. You don’t have to revolutionize a product or service category to be different in ways that matter to your customers. You just have to innovate in ways that make sense to them and make your brand easy to talk about. Sometimes simplifying what you do can be the greatest innovation of all.
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JEFFREY BUSSGANG / SHOULD I BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
SHOULDI BECOMEAN EN TRE PRE NEUR? > Why not?
WHEN TO BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR IS A COMMON QUANDARY FOR MANY. DESPITE POPULAR WISDOM TO THE CONTRARY, AGE IS NOT A MAJOR FACTOR IN THE DECISION TO START A COMPANY. THE KAUFFMAN FOUNDATION REPORTS THAT THE MEDIAN AGE OF FOUNDERS IS 39 RIGHT AT THE MIDPOINT OF A TYPICAL PROFESSIONAL CAREER AND 69% ARE 35 OR OLDER. BY JEFFREY KEEP ON BUZZING IN THE BUSSGANG
HERE ARE THE KINDS OF QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK YOURSELF
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JEFFREY BUSSGANG / SHOULD I BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
SHOULD I BECOME AN ENTREPRENEUR?
1
Do you have an idea that no one can talk you out of?
2
Are you prepared to endure with modest or no salary for a few years?
3
Do you have a partner you trust with complimentary skills?
4
Are you bored with your current work environment/life situation?
When you bounce your start-up idea off your spouse, friends and trusted advisors, are they able to raise enough objections that you begin to doubt whether the idea has merit. Getting honest, objective advice can be hard because the people you are likely to go to care about you and may be afraid to tell you what they really think for fear of offending you. Thus, you need to get feedback from objective parties (e.g., advisors, experts, prospective angel or VC investors with whom you don’t have a deep personal relationship).
Founding a company often means making personal sacrifices and belowmarket cash compensation. All the talk about “lean start-ups” (which I’m a big fan of) sometimes obscures the practi- cal reality of what it means to eat through your personal savings.
Starting a company is a lonely adventure. Having a partner that you can trust and whose skillset and experience is complementary to yours can be a huge functional and emotional benefit.
There is nothing boring about being an entrepreneur. More apt adjectves might include stimulating, engross- ing, obsessive, exhilarating, nerve-racking - but not boring. If you are tired of viewing your work as a chore and if every day is a bit of a grind, then entrepreneurship is for you. I find that the intrinsic motivation behind an aspiring entre- preneur is sometimes the simplest - because it’s fun. Seeking fun can transcend all other factors.
5
Do you perform best in the absence of structure? In my book, Mastering the VC Game, I describe a metaphor for the three stages of a start-up: the jungle, the dirt road and the highway. In the earliest stages of a venture - the jungle - there are no clear paths available and the skills required are to thrive in the midst of the chaos. For those who possess that makeup, being a start-up executive is an excellent fit. But for those that like clear paths with little uncertainty and a great deal of struc- ture - the highway - an early-stage venture will feel like a very uncomfortable environment. Celebrating entrepreneurial success stories in our culture and putting folks like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Page and even more accessible, local heroes on magazine covers and in front of audiences is obviously a huge factor. Every college kid in America looks at Mark Zuckerburg and thinks, “Why not me?” Why not, indeed?
JUNE 2011
JONA DERKS / APPS ON THE RISE
APPS ON THE
RISE
The global smartphone market is prospected to grow by almost 50% in 2011 so the future looks bright for mobile apps. Apps are the small software programs running on smartphones, tablets and computers, enabling users to personalize their devices. These small portals offer users easy access to the internet and extra smartphone features. Instead of surfing from site to site using search engines like Google,
the applictations provide a direct and easy-to-use interface. The need for apps emerged when people started accessing the internet over their smartphones and found out the world wide web was simply not designed for the small screens. Whether somebody needs a personal fitness schedule, looks for the nearest Italian restaurant or wants to avoid a traffic jam; there is an app that solves the problem. TEXT JONA DERKS
JUNE 2011
JONA DERKS / APPS ON THE RISE
With the World Wide Web in decline, apps are becoming the new portal to the internet. Mobile communication evolved from bulky cellphones to advanced computers that fit in the palm of a hand. The next generation of smartphones will have dualcore processors making the small devices as fast as current PC’s. The cameras are already at the level of professional photo camera’s and the GPS functionalities rival that of upmarket car navigation systems.
Games are by far the most popular category in app stores. Since its release in December 2009, the popular game Angry Birds has been purchased over 12 million times. Although, it only sells for a meager €0,79 a download, the company behind it made millions. New versions of the game continue to captivate audiences around the world.
SUCCESSFUL APP ABC
A B C
Address a Need: The app should fulfill a need that is not addressed yet. Bump, an app that allows two smartphone users to share things like photos and contacts by bumping their phones together, is a good example of this. Business Model: It is important to think about the way the app will be profitable. Will the advertisers pick up the tab, or the consumers? Angry Birds became popular by launching a free Lite version that only contained a couple levels of the game. This was an instant hit and many users ended up downloading the paid version as well. Catchy Name: The name should embody the primary function of an app. The costumer must know what to expect within the blink of an eye. A brand name like Facebook is clear enough in some cases, but for the popular app Whatsapp Messenger it helped to include the functionality in the name.
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JONA DERKS / APPS ON THE RISE
APPS TO THE FUTURE Research firm Forrester forecasts ten mobile trends for this year:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
The mainstream audience will adopt the smartphone. Mobile spending will breach the $1 billion threshold. The combination of mobile, social and location-based services will become widespread Mobile audiences will stay fragmented by using different types of smartphones and operating systems People will use both apps and their web browser to go onto the internet Mobile users will interact more with their environment using Near Field Communication The next generation of 4G networks will not catch on as quickly as the operators hope Companies will focus on making the costumer experience more convenient Casual games like Farmville will become even more popular The mobile experience will span over several mobile devices.
MARKET SHARE 2011 Android 39.5 % SymbiaN 24.9 % iOS 15.7 % Blackberry 14.9 % Windows 7 5.5 % Others 3.5 %
Since Apple opened its App Store in July 2008, it has launched over 300,000 apps that were downloaded more than 10 billion times. The international Data Corporation projects that the 10,9 billion dollar industry will grow to 76,9 billion dollar by 2014 surpassing the combined revenues of the movie and music industry. Although Apple pioneered the app market, competitors have emerged to take a piece of the pie. The biggest competitor is Google with its Android, having managed to become the number one operating system on smartphones. Apple is still the number one operating system on tablets, though, with its iPad.
JUNE 2011
FRED WILSON / HOW TO GET YOUR EMAILS READ
HOW TO GET YOUR EMAILS READ Last night I did my annual “fireside chat” with the InSITE Fellows followed by beers at a local bar. This has become a tradition and one that I enjoy very much. We ended up at Amity Hall where we drank beer, hung out, watched the Knicks do a late game fade against Orlando, and talked a bit of shop. Nishta asked me how to get to her email read. We had some fun with that and turned it into an experiment (yes, she automatically got into my priority inbox) and then a test. I’ll let her tell the story: I mentioned something and he said, “send me an email”. I instantaneously and quite unconsciously replied, “oh come on, you don’t check your emails.” And he said, “I do”. After 2 mins of back and forth, he took out his [Android] and showed me his inbox — sorry, his priority inbox. He said, “see that email, now thats a nice subject, I will check it.” “But what if my email gets stuck in your regular inbox?” was my immediate question? “Then, nothing can happen. So you need to at least make it to my priority inbox, can you?” “I will find a subject interesting enough for you then” He smiled and said, “lets try”. I did and both of my emails eventually showed in his prioirity inbox few mins later! She’s right. First you need to get into my priority inbox. I am not entirely sure how you do that but Nishta and I have never exchanged emails before and she got into it on the first try. But second and way more important, you need to get me to open your email. Subject line matters! Use a name I am familiar with in your subject line. Or something else that will get my attention. Here are six subject lines from yesterday, along wtih comments. “Had lunch with Alexander Ljung” [that works.] Alex is the founder of our portfolio company Soundcloud “Two things” [that doesn’t work.] Two things is worse than one thing. And not descriptive. “Pleasure speaking with you” [that doesn’t work.] I speak to so many people ever day. Not descriptive. “Twitter board date change” [that double works.] Portfolio company name plus very descriptive. “I know you are a busy man” [that doesn’t work.] Not descriptive. “ECB violation” [sadly that works.] But please don’t send me emails with that subject line. The point is this. I scan all my mail many times a day and open and reply to all of it that I can. Senders matter. Subjects matter. And there is mail that gets opened that doesn’t get replied to. If the message is super long or the ask is not obvious, I will just sigh and move on. So be brief and specific with the message and the ask. I like to reply to your emails. But I get so many of them. Make your emails distinctive and easy for me to reply to. Let’s start a conversation and a relationship. Like I did with Nishta last night. She’s getting her emails replied to now.
TEXT FRED WILSON
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