GetQuik Blog
Monday, July 30, 2007
A Little Too Much Caffeine
So what kind of person does it take to visit every Starbucks in the world?
So what kind of person does it take to visit every Starbucks in the world?Pretty much a boring, nerdy one who likes to finish what he starts. The guy who goes by Winter has acheived fame for his quixotic quest. There is a documentary about him called "Starbucking" and he has been featured in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Today Winter was interviewed on Live 105's "The Woody Show". Surprisingly, he is not a big fan of either Starbucks or coffee. He just happened to think that this would be a goal that would be tough to acheive, and thus began his journey.
He has been at this since 1997, and has visited 7047 Starbucks during this time period. You have to give Winter credit for his tenacity, but seriously question his game plan. Someone with Winter's drive could have figured out a goal that was difficult and actually had some positive socially impact. Read a little of his web-site, and you can tell that the guy is a little odd. I guess you have to be strange to devote a decade and counting to this effort.
Isn't 10 years enough? It reminds me of the scene in Forrest Gump where Forrest runs from coast to coast. Eventually, one day he just stopped running and got on with his life. Winter needs to move on as well. At the rate that Starbucks is expanding, the goal is not only silly, but also impossible.
If you were to look at Winter's project in terms of business venture, you could give him an "A" for execution, a "D" for vision, and an "F" for exit. Then again, if this is what makes him happy, then more power to him. His web-site is http://www.starbuckseverywhere.net/.
Labels: starbucking, starbuckseverywhere, winter
¶ 11:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Goal Setting
One of the great things about being an entrepreuner is that you get to be your own boss. Are you a tough enough boss? Vision and execution are key to your success. If you have the right vision, great. However, vision alone is not enough. Executing your vision in a timely manner is critical. So in addition to the everyday work and vision aspects of your job, make sure to carve out some time for goal setting. Better yet, find an advisor who can keep you accountable.
One of the great things about being an entrepreuner is that you get to be your own boss. Are you a tough enough boss? Vision and execution are key to your success. If you have the right vision, great. However, vision alone is not enough. Executing your vision in a timely manner is critical. So in addition to the everyday work and vision aspects of your job, make sure to carve out some time for goal setting. Better yet, find an advisor who can keep you accountable.One of the value-adds that VC and angel investors provide is this "accountability" service. Translation, they will hold your feet to the fire in order that you succeed and their investment returns. Prior to receiving external funding, find a person you trust and respect to play this role. This advisor should help you set priorities. They should also help determine realistic, but aggressive milestoes in order that you add value to your venture. As Bob Dylan wisely wrote "You Gotta Serve Somebody".
Labels: goal setting
¶ 9:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Your TV is Ringing
The battle for the triple play is heating up. Satellite, cable, and phone companies are fighting to win your home communications and entertainment. The triple play is TV, Internet, and phone services. Pretty much every player in the game provides a discount for getting a triple play bundle. The consolidated billing feature is now universally available from all the majors, and is not more table stakes than feature. So great introductory deals to get you to switch from the competition is the primary way to get a consumer to switch. The thought is that once you get hooked to their services, that the switching costs will deter you from leaving them. You learn how to navigate their TV channels, use their email accounts, and pretty much get too busy to keep switching. In the case of satellite, you have a huge dish on the top of your house that you have installed, and have to remove, store or ignore this eye-sore. However, frugal customers are tempted to switch when they see their monthly packages come off the intro prices and make a huge increase.
The battle for the triple play is heating up. Satellite, cable, and phone companies are fighting to win your home communications and entertainment. The triple play is TV, Internet, and phone services. Pretty much every player in the game provides a discount for getting a triple play bundle. The consolidated billing feature is now universally available from all the majors, and is not more table stakes than feature. So great introductory deals to get you to switch from the competition is the primary way to get a consumer to switch. The thought is that once you get hooked to their services, that the switching costs will deter you from leaving them. You learn how to navigate their TV channels, use their email accounts, and pretty much get too busy to keep switching. In the case of satellite, you have a huge dish on the top of your house that you have installed, and have to remove, store or ignore this eye-sore. However, frugal customers are tempted to switch when they see their monthly packages come off the intro prices and make a huge increase.So innovation, features, and lock in are critical for the triple play to succeed. Our household recently made the switch from Comcast to DirecTV. Although relearing a new channel navigation system and trying to get the TiVo to work has been a problem, there are some cool features that we did get. On one machine, we now have the DVR built into our satellite box. Any time you reduce the number of wires is a plus in my book. The coolest surprise feature we received with our package is the caller ID on TV feature. The phone rings, and a little popup on the TV shows the caller ID #. Serious WOW factor.
No matter which market your company serves, there is fierce competition. Getting a consumer to switch from a decent service is extremely difficult. When you do win your customers, your competitors will be working hard to get these customers to switch. Complacency is a path to a slow death. The key is to take a leadership position, maximize cash flow and continue to innovate like mad. Andy Grove is a key proponent of this method, and in a different but equally effective manner, Jeff Bezos has successfully managed this strategy.
Since all good things come to an end, I am not using any proprietary complementary email in case Comcast provides a compelling reason to come back to them. The fact that phone numbers are now portable also makes the switch less difficult. Hopefully DirecTV will continue to come up with WOW features like the caller ID on TV, or simply provide a great deal so future switching is unnecessary.
Labels: comcast, customer acquisition, directv, jeff bezos, triple play
¶ 8:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
The Acceptance of White Noise
Getting a group message from a friend that may not be relevant to you is becoming more common. Since the message is being sent from a friend, it would not be fair to call these messages spam. However, often these messages are what you could call white noise. Twitter has popularized this network-oriented communication system. A sender might need some help and will tweet out the request to their circle of friends. Some in the group may respond, but for the others, the message is ignored. This is the inherent nature of these one-to-many communication systems. The fact that Twitter and now Pownce are what the cool kids are using to stay in touch with their friends is interesting. Gen Y have been accustomed to instant accesss (mobile phones and IM). Twitter and Pownce have enhanced the always available communication expectations of this group. For better or worse, you are never out of sync with your posse.
We have been conditioned to throw away junk mail without opening it, let phone calls go to voice mail, and leave email unread unless they are urgent. Many using Twitter already opt to have the messages go to IM instead of their phones via text messaging. Sadly our last bastion of privacy, our mobile phones, are now begining to get clogged with spam text. Such is life.
Getting a group message from a friend that may not be relevant to you is becoming more common. Since the message is being sent from a friend, it would not be fair to call these messages spam. However, often these messages are what you could call white noise. Twitter has popularized this network-oriented communication system. A sender might need some help and will tweet out the request to their circle of friends. Some in the group may respond, but for the others, the message is ignored. This is the inherent nature of these one-to-many communication systems. The fact that Twitter and now Pownce are what the cool kids are using to stay in touch with their friends is interesting. Gen Y have been accustomed to instant accesss (mobile phones and IM). Twitter and Pownce have enhanced the always available communication expectations of this group. For better or worse, you are never out of sync with your posse.We have been conditioned to throw away junk mail without opening it, let phone calls go to voice mail, and leave email unread unless they are urgent. Many using Twitter already opt to have the messages go to IM instead of their phones via text messaging. Sadly our last bastion of privacy, our mobile phones, are now begining to get clogged with spam text. Such is life.
It used to be that when you only had 25MB of storage w/ Yahoo! Mail that managing spam was a frustrating and losing battle. Thanks to the storage wars Gmail started, storage space is no longer an issue. There are still some older folks who get insanely mad with all the spam, but mostly people just highlight and delete any such mail without much of a thought. Right now, a spam text message can cost a user money and can also eat up the microscopic storage capability of their phone. As our phones become more robust and data plans drop, a side effect will be a flood of spam and white noise messages. It may not be such a bad thing though. Case in point is the Blackberry. As is well documented, Blackberry users have to deal with spam, yet still are passionate and addicted to these mobile marvels.
Labels: blackberry, spam, twitter, white noise
¶ 7:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Offline Networking Gets Easier
Evite offers a simple way to setup an event. Add a few emails and you are good to go.
FaceBook is taking event coordination to the next level. You can easily create an event in FaceBook, and use it to invite friends inside and outside your network. Discovering who is attending the event is much easier as you can see their names, profiles and affiliations (their FaceBook profiles). The impact is profound. You can discover associations pre-party and take the opportunity to meet someone new through a friend (whether they are at the party or not). We need a new networking etiquette rule book, as MySpace, FaceBook and LinkedIn are changing the rules of the game. There will soon be a day when it will be expected that before a meeting each person has taken a few minutes to study the other party's FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles.
Evite offers a simple way to setup an event. Add a few emails and you are good to go. FaceBook is taking event coordination to the next level. You can easily create an event in FaceBook, and use it to invite friends inside and outside your network. Discovering who is attending the event is much easier as you can see their names, profiles and affiliations (their FaceBook profiles). The impact is profound. You can discover associations pre-party and take the opportunity to meet someone new through a friend (whether they are at the party or not). We need a new networking etiquette rule book, as MySpace, FaceBook and LinkedIn are changing the rules of the game. There will soon be a day when it will be expected that before a meeting each person has taken a few minutes to study the other party's FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles.
Evite has a loyal installed base, but the combination of social network and event management is powerful. I expect that Evite will introduce social networking features or partner up with one of the key players. Looks like FaceBook already has built their events engine, so the clock is ticking.
¶ 4:12 PM 0 Comments
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GetQuik June/July Sweepstakes Winners
Congratulations to:
Patricia Urban who won the June 4th - June 10th drawing. Patricia is the proud owner of a new pink iPod Shuffle.
H.L. who won the June 11th - June 17th drawing. H.L. choose an orange iPod Shuffle
Mary Gayle Thomas who won the June 18th - June 24th drawing. Mary Gayle choose a green iPod Shuffle.
Alberto Francisco who won the June 25th - July 1st drawing. Alberto choose a blue iPod Shuffle.
Rob Hunter who won the July 2nd - July 8th drawing. Rob choose a green iPod Shuffle.
Julie Phaviseth who won the July 9th - July 15th drawing. Julie choose a blue iPod Shuffle. ¶ 12:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Congratulations to:Patricia Urban who won the June 4th - June 10th drawing. Patricia is the proud owner of a new pink iPod Shuffle.
H.L. who won the June 11th - June 17th drawing. H.L. choose an orange iPod Shuffle
Mary Gayle Thomas who won the June 18th - June 24th drawing. Mary Gayle choose a green iPod Shuffle.
Alberto Francisco who won the June 25th - July 1st drawing. Alberto choose a blue iPod Shuffle.
Rob Hunter who won the July 2nd - July 8th drawing. Rob choose a green iPod Shuffle.
Julie Phaviseth who won the July 9th - July 15th drawing. Julie choose a blue iPod Shuffle. ¶ 12:59 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, July 23, 2007
So Easy a 6-Year Old Can Use It
A few months back, there was a report that showed that kids were becoming technically proficient at the age of 6. 6 years ago, the average age for this milestone was 8 years old.
Rather than the "so easy that your grandmother will use it" goal, perhaps a better measurement would be to see if a toddler can grasp how to use a new technology. NPR reports that kids can recognize marketing logos as early as 18 months old. Putting these two facts together, technology and electronics companies are working to get their devices and software into the tiny hands of this increasing technical adept young market. The potential for a craddle-to-grave relationship between consumers and technology companies continues to become more of a reality.
A few months back, there was a report that showed that kids were becoming technically proficient at the age of 6. 6 years ago, the average age for this milestone was 8 years old.Apple has proven time and again that a simple user interface can translate into a major advantage over a feature-rich, yet complex solution. The average consumer has a lower tolerance for confusing user-interfaces. In turn, innovation in providing a simple, intuitive interface has dramatically improved over the course of that last 5 years. The introduction of flash and AJAX technology has provided a superior user-experience over the hyperlink driven early web offerings.
Rather than the "so easy that your grandmother will use it" goal, perhaps a better measurement would be to see if a toddler can grasp how to use a new technology. NPR reports that kids can recognize marketing logos as early as 18 months old. Putting these two facts together, technology and electronics companies are working to get their devices and software into the tiny hands of this increasing technical adept young market. The potential for a craddle-to-grave relationship between consumers and technology companies continues to become more of a reality.
Labels: apple, youth market
¶ 4:48 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Our Tech-Savvy Government
It takes more than a great technology to "change the world". It takes widespread adoption and often standards. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology tooks years to break into the mainstream. The cooperation of the key industry leaders in wireless technology assured consumers and businesses that these technologies would be supported and would become the industry standard.
RFID technology has been fast-tracked due to the ultimatum set by Wal-Mart on its top suppliers to adopt the technology or lose the business of the biggest retailer in the world. There are only a handful of corporations that have the reach and influence to validate and provide the financial rewards or penalties to ignite a new technology single-handedly. One such customer is the US government.
When thinking of leading-edge technology adopters, the government is probably not the first organization that comes to mind. However, the US government has architected many technology successes through their many initiatives. Some examples include:
- RFID tags in US Passports,
- Electronic voting booths,
- Robotic soldiers and drones, and
- GPS technology in mobile phones (911 requirement).
Thanks in part to their ban on MySpace, the US military comprises the largest group in FaceBook.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the US government will be using a whopping $11.5 billion to conduct the 2010 census. They will be using PDA handheld computers from Harris Corporation. These PDA's will be enabled with GPS and fingerprint authentication. Such a huge project using emerging technologies will provide a high profile case study that will help bring fingerprint authentication and GPS to the forefront. As other large organizations adopt these technologies for various vertical applications, the technology will advance, the prices points will come down, and eventually will find widespread adoption to everyday consumers.
I expect that wireless carriers will eventually include GPS services as a nominal addition or a free feature for wireless plans. GPS applications will create a major shift in how we communicate, interact and transact with our friends, families, employers, retailers, and service providers. So when we reach the point in time when our cars automatically drives us to the closest In-N-Out burger while simultaneously placing an order for a double cheeseburger, onion rings and Coke, we can thank Uncle Sam for paving the way.
It takes more than a great technology to "change the world". It takes widespread adoption and often standards. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology tooks years to break into the mainstream. The cooperation of the key industry leaders in wireless technology assured consumers and businesses that these technologies would be supported and would become the industry standard.RFID technology has been fast-tracked due to the ultimatum set by Wal-Mart on its top suppliers to adopt the technology or lose the business of the biggest retailer in the world. There are only a handful of corporations that have the reach and influence to validate and provide the financial rewards or penalties to ignite a new technology single-handedly. One such customer is the US government.
When thinking of leading-edge technology adopters, the government is probably not the first organization that comes to mind. However, the US government has architected many technology successes through their many initiatives. Some examples include:
- RFID tags in US Passports,
- Electronic voting booths,
- Robotic soldiers and drones, and
- GPS technology in mobile phones (911 requirement).
Thanks in part to their ban on MySpace, the US military comprises the largest group in FaceBook.
The San Jose Mercury News reports that the US government will be using a whopping $11.5 billion to conduct the 2010 census. They will be using PDA handheld computers from Harris Corporation. These PDA's will be enabled with GPS and fingerprint authentication. Such a huge project using emerging technologies will provide a high profile case study that will help bring fingerprint authentication and GPS to the forefront. As other large organizations adopt these technologies for various vertical applications, the technology will advance, the prices points will come down, and eventually will find widespread adoption to everyday consumers.
I expect that wireless carriers will eventually include GPS services as a nominal addition or a free feature for wireless plans. GPS applications will create a major shift in how we communicate, interact and transact with our friends, families, employers, retailers, and service providers. So when we reach the point in time when our cars automatically drives us to the closest In-N-Out burger while simultaneously placing an order for a double cheeseburger, onion rings and Coke, we can thank Uncle Sam for paving the way.
Labels: census, fingerprint authentication, gps, harris, rfid
¶ 10:27 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, July 20, 2007
PayPal Prices Going ... Up
eBay/PayPal has a much publicized dust-up with Google in regards to Google Checkout. Google is providing Google Checkout at NO cost for 2007 in order to win share from PayPal.
eBay/PayPal has a much publicized dust-up with Google in regards to Google Checkout. Google is providing Google Checkout at NO cost for 2007 in order to win share from PayPal.To their credit PayPal has resisted the knee-jerk reaction of engaging in a pricing war to head off any potential mutiny from its merchant base. PayPal is far and away the on-line payment processing leader, and Google Checkout is still getting kinks out of the system.
When I received an email from PayPal today, the subject line was titled "Price Change..." Before I opened it up, I expected that I might be getting a discount due to the pressure that Google was putting on PayPal.
NOPE!!! My monthly fees are going up! What the f?
NOPE!!! My monthly fees are going up! What the f?
Funny way to try and retain your loyal merchants in the face of a new and hungry competitor.
I still believe that Google Checkout needs a little time to mature, but the temptation to switch has just gotten more compelling. Not only due to the price increase, but the message that PayPal is sending to its merchants. Maybe its just me, but what I am hearing is that Wall Street wants more from us (eBay/PayPal), and we can squeeze the little guy harder to get it done. :(
Labels: google checkout, paypal
¶ 8:35 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Cash is So Yesterday
Visa and Mastercard are at it again. With Mastercard's PayPass and Visa's Contactless payment programs, the virtualization of money is getting more virtual.
Visa and Mastercard are at it again. With Mastercard's PayPass and Visa's Contactless payment programs, the virtualization of money is getting more virtual.Visa and Mastercard have been working on the contactless payment solution for a number of years, and it looks like they are ready to step on the gas. The key indicator that they are getting serious? The commercials. Turn on the TV and watch your favorite show for 30 minutes. Good chance you will get a 30-second tutorial on the virtues of contactless payments.
Really it was just a matter of time. It is an obvious progression from swiping a piece of plastic. The logic being that making payments faster will translate into increased consumer spending. Good bet.
Top retailers have an opportunity to grab some PR and drive more revenues by taking advantage of contactless payments. Vending machines operators could greatly benefit from this technology.
Besides using smart credit cards to transact, contactless payments will be available by using a smartchip in your mobile phone as well. So as the physical plastic card becomes less important, the next question is when will Visa/Mastercard drop the name "credit card" in favor of a card-neutral name such as "credit account?" If and when that happens, we will know that we have reached the next step in payment processing.
¶ 4:09 PM 0 Comments
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Besides using smart credit cards to transact, contactless payments will be available by using a smartchip in your mobile phone as well. So as the physical plastic card becomes less important, the next question is when will Visa/Mastercard drop the name "credit card" in favor of a card-neutral name such as "credit account?" If and when that happens, we will know that we have reached the next step in payment processing.
Serve Yourself
Home Depot has revolutionized the home improvement/hardware store category. They have big-boxed this sector for one. CompUSA (computers), BestBuy (electronics) and Barnes & Nobles (books) are other examples of companies who have consolidated and become sector-killers.
One interesting thing about Home Depot is their embrace of self-service check-out technology. The percentage of people using self-checkout at Home Depot was listed at 80% according to IHL Consulting Group. Home Depot's biggest competitor Lowe's self-service check-out was listed at 60%. If you think of the home improvement demographics, you would think that a store like CompUSA or BestBuy would be more ideal to get tech-savvy customers to use a new technology. However, it comes down to the simply fact that Home Depot invested the resources, partners, and most importantly business processes to do it right.
Home Depot has revolutionized the home improvement/hardware store category. They have big-boxed this sector for one. CompUSA (computers), BestBuy (electronics) and Barnes & Nobles (books) are other examples of companies who have consolidated and become sector-killers.One interesting thing about Home Depot is their embrace of self-service check-out technology. The percentage of people using self-checkout at Home Depot was listed at 80% according to IHL Consulting Group. Home Depot's biggest competitor Lowe's self-service check-out was listed at 60%. If you think of the home improvement demographics, you would think that a store like CompUSA or BestBuy would be more ideal to get tech-savvy customers to use a new technology. However, it comes down to the simply fact that Home Depot invested the resources, partners, and most importantly business processes to do it right.
It takes an industry leader like Home Depot to lead the way before a new concept like self-service takes off. This will be a trend that will continue to pick up momentum. Self-service machines do not need breaks, health benefits, or training. As well, the service level is predictable from these machines. That being said, it would be wrong to eliminate the human touch from stores completely. However, these folks should be focused on customer satisfaction, assistance and market research. The low value aspect of scanning bar-codes and swiping credit cards is a good target for automation.
According to research firm IHL Consulting Group, self service is expected to be worth $1.2 trillion by 2009.
Labels: home depot, self-service
¶ 9:51 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, July 16, 2007
Avril's Borrowing Again
Avril Lavigne has gotten her fair share of negative publicity due to the similarity between her song "Girlfriend" and a song by 70's band The Rubinoos. There are millions of pop songs, and only so many good hooks and guitar chords. It is natural that many songs will sound like others. Where the line should be drawn in terms of being similar and flat out copying, I'll leave to legal experts in this field. The one thing that can be said about Avril is that her popularity has not yet suffered, although this is the not the first time she has been called a copycat. I doubt she is the only person helping to write her songs anyway.
Avril Lavigne has gotten her fair share of negative publicity due to the similarity between her song "Girlfriend" and a song by 70's band The Rubinoos. There are millions of pop songs, and only so many good hooks and guitar chords. It is natural that many songs will sound like others. Where the line should be drawn in terms of being similar and flat out copying, I'll leave to legal experts in this field. The one thing that can be said about Avril is that her popularity has not yet suffered, although this is the not the first time she has been called a copycat. I doubt she is the only person helping to write her songs anyway.There is an analogy here somewhere. In today's Web 2.0 world, a talented Ruby-on-Rails engineer can produce a site in weeks that is pretty cool and functional. So we are entering a stage in Internet technology where great ideas are being copied on a regular basis. Are we headed towards a world where technology cycles mirrors the fads and trends of the music industry? There will be perennial all-stars in music (Rolling Stones, U2, REM, Bruce Springsteen) and technology (Google, Yahoo!, eBay, MySpace). There will also be our fair share of one-hit wonders and trendy bands/tech companies that ride the latest wave and then fade away. Even the Greatful Dead had their disco period. One thing seems likely, the pace of change in a world where grabbing a consumer's attention is increasingly difficult and fickle will increase. Those who do break through will liberally borrow the best ideas while they have their moment in the spotlight - like Avril.
Labels: avril, lavigne, web2.0
¶ 3:51 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, July 13, 2007
Be an Early Adopter & Earn - Get an iPhone, Tiffany Diamonds
GetQuik is looking for early adopters. Make your food orders through GetQuik and earn towards great prizes. You can earn towards an iPhone, Tiffany Diamonds and more.
GetQuik is looking for early adopters. Make your food orders through GetQuik and earn towards great prizes. You can earn towards an iPhone, Tiffany Diamonds and more.For as little as $500 spent through the GetQuik service (http://www.getquik.com/), you can earn an iPod Shuffle. This is a limited time promotion running from July 1, 2007 - December 31, 2007.
GetQuik offers e-commerce and mobile-commerce for restaurant & cafe take-out and delivery orders. There are no service fees for using the GetQuik service. Program details.
For question on this program, email support@GetQuik.com.
Labels: Early Adopter, GetQuik, iPhone, ipod shuffle, Tifffany diamonds
¶ 10:03 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Spam.BlogSpot.com
Late last week, I started getting the calls. "I tried to send you an email, but the email bounced." Then this week, I received a few more saying the same thing. So some of my mail was coming to me, but not all of it. I started wondering how many emails I had been losing and for how long.
Late last week, I started getting the calls. "I tried to send you an email, but the email bounced." Then this week, I received a few more saying the same thing. So some of my mail was coming to me, but not all of it. I started wondering how many emails I had been losing and for how long.So I called my email provider GoDaddy to let them know that something was wrong with my email. During my hour long argument with GoDaddy tech support, who insisted that there was nothing wrong on their end, I got a better understanding of how email spam filters operate. The tech support contact insisted that either the people trying to send me mail were sending me emails with viruses attached or were targeted as spammers. The email did not make it through GoDaddy's virus/spam filter because either the sender had links that were listed as spam or phishing links, or there was a virus attached.
"So people that I have been working with or friends that I have been talking with for the last year all of a sudden have became spammers or contracted a virus all at the same time last week?"
The answer from GoDaddy - "yes".
"Even though they have no problems sending and receiving to anyone else but me, they are still being filtered properly?"
The answer from GoDaddy - "yes".
6 hours later, still no resolution. So I called GoDaddy back and talked to someone else. Thinking more about the fact that URL links could cause a spam filter to block messages, I had an idea. Since the people sending me email do not have any links in the email to me, could it be that my signature file (which has my website and blog links) could have been accidently registered as SPAM? So I send this guy my email with my signature file. A couple minutes later he is back on the line.
"Ok, that looks like the problem. You have your blog listed as http://www.getquik.blogspot.com/. BlogSpot has been registered as a spam host name. When you were sending your email out, and then people were replying, the BlogSpot URL was triggering our spam filter."
It's pretty crazy to think that one of the most popular blogging tools, BlogSpot could universally be listed as a spam domain, but most black list spam organizations do not have a good mechanism to handle a BlogSpot type scenario. I had moved this blog from BlogSpot to http://www.getquikblog.com/ a few months ago due to the fact that BlogSpot domains are notorious for being spam sites, but I had forgotten to correct my signature file. Since BlogSpot just got registered as a spam domain name with the service that GoDaddy uses to check for spammers/phishers, this just recently created the email debacle.
So the email has been updated to remove the BlogSpot URL and list the getquikblog domain name. A little yelling, tech support hell, and a waste of a few hours, but at least I got a good lesson in spam filters. The other lesson that I wish I had learned before starting with Blogger is that the Blog tool you use is important. Still debating whether to try and migrate to WordPress or TypePad, but I have a sinking feeling that the migration will be less than smooth. Although, tech support at GoDaddy expects BlogSpot to get off the black list, as there are too many legit BlogSpot URL users to blacklist everyone with that domain, I still recommend BlogSpot users to consider getting your own URL. Blogger does offer a migration tool, but it is not perfect. You can read my previous fiasco with this migration to see some of the issues you might run into. Part 1. Part 2.
By the way, if anyone knows a way to get my titles to hyperlink to each blog entry, I could use some help. This is one of the annoying inconveniences that occured in the migration process.
Labels: blogspot, godaddy, spam
¶ 9:49 PM 1 Comments Links to this post
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Ajax Trumps Pageviews
One of the leaders in Internet metrics Nielson Netratings has announce a switch from pageviews to time spent on a site to determine a site's popularity. Technology has evolved, and Ajax technology provides a user experience where more information can be presented to a user without having to redirect them to a new page. The page view metric was called into question when MySpace proclaimed the crown of most visited site last year over perenial leader Yahoo! After looking more carefully at the statistics, the reduction in pageviews was attributed to Yahoo's use of Ajax technologies.
YouTube is another major site which has huge popularity and time spent on network from its users, but does not have the pageviews due to the inherent nature of videos.
This fundamental shift, and reduction in importance of pageviews will accelerate the popular of Ajax and Flash as adoption of these tools will no longer serve as a pageview penalty. In turn, web product managers will focus on ways to keep a user on their site (nothing new here), but will not be driven to generate clicks without a compelling reason. This has interesting implications on Google's PPC (pay per click) model. As user's become less addicted to clicking, it could translate into lower click through rates.
Labels: ajax, flash, netratings
¶ 12:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Monday, July 9, 2007
So You Want to Be a Fortune 500 CEO?
I just finished reading Know-How. The 8 Skills that Separate People Who Perform From Those Who Don't by renouned management guru Ram Charan. Ram Charan advises some of the top Fortune 1000 executives including A.G. Lafley (Chairman & CEO, Proctor & Gamble) and Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon).
I just finished reading Know-How. The 8 Skills that Separate People Who Perform From Those Who Don't by renouned management guru Ram Charan. Ram Charan advises some of the top Fortune 1000 executives including A.G. Lafley (Chairman & CEO, Proctor & Gamble) and Ivan Seidenberg (Chairman & CEO, Verizon).Here are some of the key points of Charan's book:
- Cash is King. Make sure to find out how each dollar spent translates into revenues, profits and most importantly cash flow.
- Your People are your Business' Top Asset. Recognize who your A players are. Groom and challenge these people. Find out who your underperformers are. Should you reposition these folks to get more productivity, or do you need to part ways with these folks?
- Conflict Management. Deal with your conflicts and see if there is a root cause (culture issue) that needs to be fixed. If you need to fix your company's culture, make this your priority. Take an active role in the culture change, as it will not happen without the leader.
- Make the Right Decisions. Be able to analyze your business at a macro and micro level. Understand what the numbers are telling you, recognize the external factors (competition, Wall Street, globalization, regulation, technology) that are impacting your business, know your relative strength to execute (cash position and human resources) and then make the right decision.
Reading Charan's book gives you an insight on the many challenges that a Fortune 1000 CEO has to deal with. Although the business case studies and examples and scope are very different than the challenges facing a startup, some of the advise applies universally.
Startup Translations.
- Cash is King.
Positive Cash Flow
Fortune 1000 company:
Shares rise. Company has war chest to invest in R&D and expand into new markets.
Shares rise. Company has war chest to invest in R&D and expand into new markets.
Startup company:
Against considerable odds, you have proven your business model. Ability to raise funds to expand your business through VC or private equity and charge towards an IPO.
Negative cash flow
Fortune 1000 company: Shares fall. CEO loses job.
Startup company: To be expected initially. Excess negative cash flow - company dissolves.
- Your People are your Business' Top Asset.
Fortune 1000 company:
Having a leadership pipeline can assure your ability to tackle new markets, opportunities, and competition. Without having the ability to attract, identify, nurture and challenge top talent, your business will stagnate.
Startup company:
You are understaffed. Each member needs to wear multiple hats and have a strong learning curve of different business disciplines. Having the wrong team members when each is carrying excess importance and weight is often fatal.
- Conflict Management.
Fortune 1000 company:
Comes with the territory. With tens of thousands of employees and multi-billion dollar business units, dealing with conflicts is a huge part of the job. Some of the key conflict areas are listed above.
Startup company:
Need a small dedicated team, and a good working relationship with your investors. Successful startup will have a low degree of conflict in terms of internal issues. External issues such as building a viable business, gaining revenues, and competition should be the primary focus of conflict. If the business plan or core team needs to be changed, then conflict may ensue and can be a major blow to the startup's prospects. Missed milestones or business strategy disagreements with investors can also lead to conflicts.
- Make the Right Decisions.
Fortune 1000 comany:
Information overload. Huge number of reports and versions of how each business unit is doing. Massive level in complexity as a strategic business decisions may need years to realize and is difficult to undo.
Information overload. Huge number of reports and versions of how each business unit is doing. Massive level in complexity as a strategic business decisions may need years to realize and is difficult to undo.
Startup company:
Little to no information. Flying without a radar. You are tackling a new business area without much or any historical data. Business decisions are made by gut-decisions and hypothesis and perhaps some target market surveys and studies. Due to flexibility and small size, can quickly modify business plan to adjust business to deal with real-world business conditions. Too many wrong decisions can lead to lost time, opportunity and cash.
Summary: Well written and well thought out. However, as this book is addressed to huge corporate leaders, not the best book for startups.
Labels: know-how, ram charan
¶ 9:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, July 6, 2007
Google Acquisitions Through the Years
Year 2007 is already Google's most acquisitive year ever, and it is only the July 4th holiday week. They are on pace to do over 20 acquisitions this year. The size of their deals are also growing, starting with last year's $1.65 billion buyout of YouTube, and this year's $3.1 billion price for DoubleClick. It is reminiscent of Cisco's use of acquisition to fuel their massive growth in the late 90s. Similar to Cisco, Google has shown the ability to quickly absorb, resource, and grow their acquired targets.
Year 2007 is already Google's most acquisitive year ever, and it is only the July 4th holiday week. They are on pace to do over 20 acquisitions this year. The size of their deals are also growing, starting with last year's $1.65 billion buyout of YouTube, and this year's $3.1 billion price for DoubleClick. It is reminiscent of Cisco's use of acquisition to fuel their massive growth in the late 90s. Similar to Cisco, Google has shown the ability to quickly absorb, resource, and grow their acquired targets.Looking at the acquistion by year chart provides some interesting patterns in Google's acquisition strategy. As to be expected, Google grew organically for the formative years of the company. As the dot-com bust hit Silicon Valley in 2001, the availability of talent was high. Google being one of the few bright tech stars during this time was able to attract the best and brightest engineers. As well, the market for acquisitions was dead as technology companies were out of favor and previously sky-high valuations for speculative dot-com companies were crashing.
Largely due to Google's IPO, Silicon Valley was on the long path to recovery in 2004. The fact that Google had only 5 acquisitions in 2004 versus the 6 in 2003 may be attributed to the preparation and time required for their much anticipated, and complex IPO. Once the IPO was done, and Google's stock and earnings took off, the acquisition spree started kicking into high gear.
Now that Google has tons of cash, a $100 Billion plus market valuation, and huge earning expectations from Wall Street, it is likely that Google will continue to count on acquisitions to augment their growth and allow them to quickly enter new markets. The recent run up in the Nasdaq has created a new Web 2.0-fueled technology boom. Competition for exciting new companies and talented engineers is getting fierce. Even with Google's stock steadly increasing, some techies are joining start-ups to seek their fortunes rather than taking a Google, Yahoo! or eBay position. Many of these fortunes are coming by way of Google take outs.
Labels: google acquisitions
¶ 12:27 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Google Acquisitions by Location
It seems like every week, there is a new Google acquistion announcement. The latest being Grand Central. So what is the drive behind the acquisition spree? Seemingly, Google has the brain power, money and PR to compete organically.
Perhaps the short answer is because they can. The more thoughtful analysis is more complex.
More Money than Time
If you compare Orkut with YouTube, there is no question the YouTube path has worked out better for Google. Instead of trying to catch market leader YouTube with Google Video, they dipped into their enormously deep pockets and took them out early.
Instant Monetization of Traffic
As Google proved with search, they know how to turn traffic into cash with their not so secret weapons AdWords and AdSense. Now with DoubleClick, this dominance in monetization of traffic should increase. Google delivers on the oldest of Internet strategies. Drive traffic & monetize. By virtue of this ability to monetize better than any Internet competitor, Google can outspend their competitors for interesting properties. Their recent wins against Microsoft (DoubleClick) and Yahoo (take your pick) when competing for interesting acquisition targets is an illustration of this unfair advantage. Feedburner is one of the recent acquistions where the monetization potential should be significant.
Strategic
Google Maps is a strategic weapon in making Google the new Yellow Pages. Seems they are well on their way to realizing this vision. Google Docs & Spreadsheets is looking to pry the productive market from Microsoft. This is still a work in progress, but there have been a number of acquisitions to accelerate this initiative.
Talent Acquisition
This is the one that I was interested in studying more. Google is like the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. They want brains. So my thought was to study if there was a unusually large percentage of acquisition near Google University (Mt. View GooglePlex). As the employment and technology markets have heated up, the thought was that Google was using their acquisition strategy to acquire raw talent. The thought was that this strategy would not have been as necessary during the pre-IPO Internet bust years. So the verdict? Not sure. Google has grown so much during the last few years, it is only natural that their appetite for acquisitions would grow proportionally.
Here's a list of the acquired companies, and their previous HQ's. The information used to create this list was found on SEO by the Sea and Wikipedia. I found a total of 44 acquisitions from 2001 through July 2007. The SEO by the Sea information is extremely in depth and interesting to look at.
BAY AREA ACQUISITIONS
1) Outride (September 2001) - Spinoff of Parc Research (Search Technology) - Redwood City
2) Pyra Labs (February 2003) - Blogger - San Francisco
3) Neotonic Software (April 2003) - Email Customer Support - San Francisco
4) Kaltix (September 2003) - Search Technology - Palo Alto, CA
5) Ignite Logic (May 2004) - Web Templates - Sacramento, CA
6) Keyhole (October 2004) - Digital Mapping (Google Maps) - Mountain View, CA
7) Zipdash (December 2004) - Maps/Traffic Info for Mobile - Palo Alto, CA
8) Android (August 2005) - Software for Mobile Phones - Palo Alto, CA
9) Measure Maps (March 2006) - Blog Tracking Analytics (Google Analytics) - SF, CA
10) Writely (March 2006) - On-Line Word Processing (Google Docs & Spreadsheets) - Bay Area 11) YouTube (October 2006) - Videos - San Bruno, CA
12) JotSpot (October 2006) - Wiki/Spreadsheet Sharing - Bay Area
13) Adscape Media (Feb 2007) - In game advertising - San Francisco, CA
14) Tonic Systems* (April 2007) - Slideshows - San Francisco, CA/Austrialia
15) Green Border Technologies (May 2007) - Sandbox Environment/Security - Mt View, CA
16) Peakstream (June 2007) - 3D Technology - Redwood Shores, CA
17) Zenter (June 2007) - Slideshows - Bay Area
18) Grand Central (June 2007) - Portable Phone # - Fremont, CA
* though Tonic is listed as dual HQ, for the purpose of this report, they are listed as a Bay Area company.
CALIFORNIA ACQUISITIONS (OUTSIDE BAY AREA)
1) Applied Semantics (April 2003) - Santa Monica, CA
2) Picasa (July 2004) - Picture Sharing - Pasadena, CA
3) Urchin Software (March 2005) - Web Analytics - San Diego, CA
4) dMarc Broadcasting (March 2005) - Radio Ads - Newport Beach, CA
5) Neven Vision (August 2006) - Biometrics - Santa Monica, CA
US ACQUISITIONS (OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA)
1) Deja.com (Feb 2001) Google Groups - Austin, TX
2) Sprinks (October 2003) - Ad Placement System - NY, NY
3) Genius Labs (October 2003) - Blogging - Boston, MA
4) Phatbits (2005) - Widget Engine - Seattle, WA
5) Dodgeball (May 2005) - Mobile Social Network - NY, NY
6) Current Communications Group (July 2005) - Broadband Internet - Germantown, MD (partial investment)
7) Transformic, Inc (September 2005) - Deep Search - Seattle, WA
8) Skia (Nov 2005) - Graphics Software Engineering - Chapel Hill, NC
9) @Last Software (March 2006) - 3D - Google Earth - Boulder, CO
10) Doubleclick (February 2007) - Display Ads - NY, NY
11) Feedburner (June 2007) - RSS - Chicago, CA
EUROPE
1) Endoxon (Dec 2006) - Mapping Solutions - Swiss
2) Gapminder's Trendanalyzer Software (March 2007) - Visual Charts - Sweden
3) Marratech AB (April 2007) - Video Conferencing - Stockholm, Sweden
4) Panaramio (June 2007) - Photos & Google Earch - Spain
AUSTRAILIA
1) Where2 Technologies (October 2004) - Mapping Software - Austrailia
2) Orion (April 2006) - Advanced Search - New South Wales, Austrailia
CANADA
1) Reqwireless (March 2006) - Mobile Application Toolkit (Waterloo, Ontario)
LATIN AMERICA
1) Akwan Information Technologies (July 2005) - Search (Orkut) - Brazil
CHINA
1) Xunlei (January 2007) - Chinese Internet Video - China - partial acquisition
UNKNOWN
1) 2web Technologies - Web-Based Spreadsheet - Couldn't identify the HQ for 2Web.
Looking at all 44 Google acquisitions is interesting as you can see how some of these pieces have evolved to gel into the current Google empire.
Google Groups, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Analytics, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, YouTube, Google Search, Google AdWords/AdSense, Blogger, Picasa, Feedburner, DoubleClick are some of the pieces you can see from this list.
It seems like every week, there is a new Google acquistion announcement. The latest being Grand Central. So what is the drive behind the acquisition spree? Seemingly, Google has the brain power, money and PR to compete organically.Perhaps the short answer is because they can. The more thoughtful analysis is more complex.
More Money than Time
If you compare Orkut with YouTube, there is no question the YouTube path has worked out better for Google. Instead of trying to catch market leader YouTube with Google Video, they dipped into their enormously deep pockets and took them out early.
Instant Monetization of Traffic
As Google proved with search, they know how to turn traffic into cash with their not so secret weapons AdWords and AdSense. Now with DoubleClick, this dominance in monetization of traffic should increase. Google delivers on the oldest of Internet strategies. Drive traffic & monetize. By virtue of this ability to monetize better than any Internet competitor, Google can outspend their competitors for interesting properties. Their recent wins against Microsoft (DoubleClick) and Yahoo (take your pick) when competing for interesting acquisition targets is an illustration of this unfair advantage. Feedburner is one of the recent acquistions where the monetization potential should be significant.
Strategic
Google Maps is a strategic weapon in making Google the new Yellow Pages. Seems they are well on their way to realizing this vision. Google Docs & Spreadsheets is looking to pry the productive market from Microsoft. This is still a work in progress, but there have been a number of acquisitions to accelerate this initiative.
Talent Acquisition
This is the one that I was interested in studying more. Google is like the zombies in Night of the Living Dead. They want brains. So my thought was to study if there was a unusually large percentage of acquisition near Google University (Mt. View GooglePlex). As the employment and technology markets have heated up, the thought was that Google was using their acquisition strategy to acquire raw talent. The thought was that this strategy would not have been as necessary during the pre-IPO Internet bust years. So the verdict? Not sure. Google has grown so much during the last few years, it is only natural that their appetite for acquisitions would grow proportionally.
Here's a list of the acquired companies, and their previous HQ's. The information used to create this list was found on SEO by the Sea and Wikipedia. I found a total of 44 acquisitions from 2001 through July 2007. The SEO by the Sea information is extremely in depth and interesting to look at.
BAY AREA ACQUISITIONS
1) Outride (September 2001) - Spinoff of Parc Research (Search Technology) - Redwood City
2) Pyra Labs (February 2003) - Blogger - San Francisco
3) Neotonic Software (April 2003) - Email Customer Support - San Francisco
4) Kaltix (September 2003) - Search Technology - Palo Alto, CA
5) Ignite Logic (May 2004) - Web Templates - Sacramento, CA
6) Keyhole (October 2004) - Digital Mapping (Google Maps) - Mountain View, CA
7) Zipdash (December 2004) - Maps/Traffic Info for Mobile - Palo Alto, CA
8) Android (August 2005) - Software for Mobile Phones - Palo Alto, CA
9) Measure Maps (March 2006) - Blog Tracking Analytics (Google Analytics) - SF, CA
10) Writely (March 2006) - On-Line Word Processing (Google Docs & Spreadsheets) - Bay Area 11) YouTube (October 2006) - Videos - San Bruno, CA
12) JotSpot (October 2006) - Wiki/Spreadsheet Sharing - Bay Area
13) Adscape Media (Feb 2007) - In game advertising - San Francisco, CA
14) Tonic Systems* (April 2007) - Slideshows - San Francisco, CA/Austrialia
15) Green Border Technologies (May 2007) - Sandbox Environment/Security - Mt View, CA
16) Peakstream (June 2007) - 3D Technology - Redwood Shores, CA
17) Zenter (June 2007) - Slideshows - Bay Area
18) Grand Central (June 2007) - Portable Phone # - Fremont, CA
* though Tonic is listed as dual HQ, for the purpose of this report, they are listed as a Bay Area company.
CALIFORNIA ACQUISITIONS (OUTSIDE BAY AREA)
1) Applied Semantics (April 2003) - Santa Monica, CA
2) Picasa (July 2004) - Picture Sharing - Pasadena, CA
3) Urchin Software (March 2005) - Web Analytics - San Diego, CA
4) dMarc Broadcasting (March 2005) - Radio Ads - Newport Beach, CA
5) Neven Vision (August 2006) - Biometrics - Santa Monica, CA
US ACQUISITIONS (OUTSIDE CALIFORNIA)
1) Deja.com (Feb 2001) Google Groups - Austin, TX
2) Sprinks (October 2003) - Ad Placement System - NY, NY
3) Genius Labs (October 2003) - Blogging - Boston, MA
4) Phatbits (2005) - Widget Engine - Seattle, WA
5) Dodgeball (May 2005) - Mobile Social Network - NY, NY
6) Current Communications Group (July 2005) - Broadband Internet - Germantown, MD (partial investment)
7) Transformic, Inc (September 2005) - Deep Search - Seattle, WA
8) Skia (Nov 2005) - Graphics Software Engineering - Chapel Hill, NC
9) @Last Software (March 2006) - 3D - Google Earth - Boulder, CO
10) Doubleclick (February 2007) - Display Ads - NY, NY
11) Feedburner (June 2007) - RSS - Chicago, CA
EUROPE
1) Endoxon (Dec 2006) - Mapping Solutions - Swiss
2) Gapminder's Trendanalyzer Software (March 2007) - Visual Charts - Sweden
3) Marratech AB (April 2007) - Video Conferencing - Stockholm, Sweden
4) Panaramio (June 2007) - Photos & Google Earch - Spain
AUSTRAILIA
1) Where2 Technologies (October 2004) - Mapping Software - Austrailia
2) Orion (April 2006) - Advanced Search - New South Wales, Austrailia
CANADA
1) Reqwireless (March 2006) - Mobile Application Toolkit (Waterloo, Ontario)
LATIN AMERICA
1) Akwan Information Technologies (July 2005) - Search (Orkut) - Brazil
CHINA
1) Xunlei (January 2007) - Chinese Internet Video - China - partial acquisition
UNKNOWN
1) 2web Technologies - Web-Based Spreadsheet - Couldn't identify the HQ for 2Web.
Looking at all 44 Google acquisitions is interesting as you can see how some of these pieces have evolved to gel into the current Google empire.
Google Groups, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Analytics, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, YouTube, Google Search, Google AdWords/AdSense, Blogger, Picasa, Feedburner, DoubleClick are some of the pieces you can see from this list.
Labels: google acquisitions
¶ 4:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post
Where are the Green Containers?
Thanks to leading VC's like Vinod Khosla and John Doerr, there is much excitement around green technology. Alternative energy has garnered the lion's share of the funding and media attention. A green growth area that has not gotten much coverage is in the area of green containers and materials.
A leader in the space is Starbucks who has spent years trying to develop a more earth friendly coffee cup. Currently Starbucks uses cups that have 10% recycled paper. A good start, but still leaves room for further progress. In California, a ban has been made against styrofoam to-go containers. In the city of San Francisco, a ban on plastic grocery bags is taking effect. California is taking the lead in the green container/packaging movement. The downside is that it is serving as a cost burden to store and restaurant owners. The green materials movement needs help from those in D.C. and Sacramento to get faster traction.
Thanks to leading VC's like Vinod Khosla and John Doerr, there is much excitement around green technology. Alternative energy has garnered the lion's share of the funding and media attention. A green growth area that has not gotten much coverage is in the area of green containers and materials. A leader in the space is Starbucks who has spent years trying to develop a more earth friendly coffee cup. Currently Starbucks uses cups that have 10% recycled paper. A good start, but still leaves room for further progress. In California, a ban has been made against styrofoam to-go containers. In the city of San Francisco, a ban on plastic grocery bags is taking effect. California is taking the lead in the green container/packaging movement. The downside is that it is serving as a cost burden to store and restaurant owners. The green materials movement needs help from those in D.C. and Sacramento to get faster traction.
In order to level the playing field between the costs for green containers versus non-biodegradable containers, a tax on materials like styrofoam could reduce the current price advantage of non-biodegradable packaging over greener alternatives. The dollars collected on this toxic-tax could be used to fund R&D in green alternatives and/or to provide incentives for sales of green alternatives. It would be great if a break-through material emerges from increased funding in the green packaging that is not only environmentally friendly, but cost effective. The top innovative corporations have proven to step up to the challenge when new emerging markets are created by a change in consumer sentiment or regulatory environments. Dow Corporation came up with the amazingly cost-effective, light-weight and thermal insulating material polystyrene 50 years ago. Unfortunately, polystyrene is not easy to dispose. Hopefully somewhere there is a green version being developed that can replace this amazing material. We need our brightest minds working on solving such challenges, and perhaps regulation will be needed to provide the necessary incentive to make this happen sooner than later.
Labels: green technology
¶ 10:08 AM 0 Comments Links to this post
