Take Control over your destiny

I really enjoy reading Bijan's posts. They are very insightful, and, since there are mutual interests (consumer-facing tech, music and mobile) many times the advice or view given in his posts applies directly to me.

This morning's post is a good example: Take Control over your destiny. To summarize (I recommend reading the original post), try to control your dependencies on operators and OEMs on direct consumer plays, as much as you can.

Here's my thoughts on the topic:
I couldn't agree more, wouldn't that be terrific. However in some cases, the operators and OEMs control a critical piece to be worked around. I'm not suggesting employing a full-time BD guy to be in front of operators and OEMs, but you better be able to leverage the assets they own well. Let me give two examples: Mobile Payments and Mobile Enabling Technologies (from barcodes to speech-driven 'activities').

In the case of Mobile payments, the operators *own* the critical bits that allow for acceptable user experience. At least as it comes to mobile web (mobile apps are different). I hate to admit, but the Paypal/Amazon/Google checkout are simply not as friendly as the 1-click WAP checkout button that results in an on-bill transaction, that's been deployed and heavily used in the UK for years now. The UK operators realized the need and potential, and gathered to create a solution called PayForIt. I believe that every startup that wants to see mobile commerce on mobile web has a real problem exactly because of that.

Similarly, mobile enabling technologies have been proven to drive revenues through increased usage, device and plan sales. Enabling technologies, IMO, aren't best positioned on the device as a silo application. They really should be preloaded as an infrastructure background service with APIs to any application: then, let the user search the web using speech browser, play games and dictate. Use barcodes (or google goggles) to scan a real-world item and embed as recommendation to a friend in your FB app. Things like that. Getting preloaded, or embedded as infrastructure layer, as we know, is a pretty complex OEM play.

In some mobile consumer app plays you can provide a good service without heavy dependency on operators and OEMs, but not all. My 2 cents.

To DYI or not DYI. That is the question!

Yesterday at MusicHackDay, I was listening to the "Starting a Music Business" panel, and two topics ran in my head:

• DYI vs. centralized management service for artists: A discussion started about the value, and load that new 'DYI' tools provide for entertainers. Derek Sivers (whose truly an awesome dude) had a really great way of putting it: "DYI? great! and now there's this tool? oh great, and now 'more information'? oh boy...". He's spot-on, I think.
  We at Adva Mobile definitely see how artists check us out and some stay, some move on. There's just so many tools. That's why integrated serices like ArtistData are the right way to go, IMO.
  There's just way too many different offerings for artists right now, and consolidation of the really good ones is bound to happen, hopefully soon (Hopefully Adva Mobile will be one of them). The flip side, though, is that many artists who would never get heard or make any money (to make art) would never have been heard by anyone without those DYI tools. So definitely the DYI tools is not for those who aren't prepared to invest in the promotion bit to be successful, and it also depends on how big you are. Hopefully, those issues are handed over to a band manager of sorts when you grow big enough.
• The other topic in my head (that was not discussed) was triggered by the inevitable "Now's a great time to start a business in the music space". Sure, Duh. But seriously, without going pessimistic about it, what do you make of the recent iLike and iMeem fire sales? Or Spiral frog shutdown or Qtrax needing add'l $50MM? I mean, these are all players who've been alive for sometime and have been trying to figure "it" out. If iMeem is worth $1MM, I'm asking myself what are we worth? A Grand latte? 

Economy's turning?

Tough times these days. With Microsoft dropping 800 peeps, Nokia-Siemens dropping thousands etc. I have a sneaking suspicion that layoffs in the mobile location space are imminent, following Google's launch of the Android full featured free GPS app.

There's no good reason for rehashing all of that other than sharing my feelings about the recent one to bite the dust: Zeemote. To be honest, I was a bit cynical about the use case and liklihood for proliferation of their gadget. But, as we know, the gaming industry has gone places no-one has predicted. In any case, Zeemote was built by a true visionary, Beth Marcus. I cringe when I think of the people who put so much effort in, go home empty handed.


All those talking about the economy turning, and there's no better time like now to start something new, I'm not sure what you're smokin', it sure is great stuff!. Here's my advice to working people: if you have a day job, get some super-glue, and put a lot of it on your chair. And I mean, A LOT!

Mobile Location is here (now for real)

In the last couple weeks I've been playing around with new mobile technology. This time, I came across this nice piece that enables marketers to learn their audience location as they view their mobile web pages.

Mobile location, it seems, has been the talk of the industry forever. Devices that don't come out with GPS chips installed seem to be the minority these days. Many applications have some form of mobile location awareness to them. Even Google has stormed in with Google Latitude, although the availability of that database for commercial purposes remains unclear. Has the real time location awareness made a dent in how marketers think of entering the mobile playground? questionable, I think.

One reason for not making a dent is that the effort associated in creating a mobile application is not insignificant. You need to consider coverage, features, maintenance etc. There's not an obvious easy entry point for marketers to test the ('mobile') water if the options are limited to mobile applications. If users' location were available on the mobile web, then with the development of a small portal, marketers can get huge reach instantly, and figure out the next step.

It seems that the technology is becoming available to create location-aware websites, and more specifically, location-aware mobile websites. I am hoping that this will really open a new path for marketers that wasn't available before, it is certainly an exciting opportunity for innovation!

New England Mobile Sector

As I read XConomy's post on the top 10 NE Venture deals of Q3'09, all I can do is remember that only this last Monday, at Mobile Monday, I was inside a room full of mobile entrepreneurs, money people, business people and what not, everyone saying: Mobile in Boston is reality, look around you.

Well, maybe we can argue that there are people working in the mobile space in NE, trying to make a difference and make miracles happen, but at the bottom line, money talks:
NE ventures are about science projects, or late-stage successful businesses. Numerous NE VCs are uncomfortable about investing in mobile, as are the early stage angels and independents. They need infrastructure, health, IP, enterprise. That works.

Maybe it's a way to ensure mobile businesses in NE are stronger (whatever that means) because there are fewer who can survive w/o funding. Or otherwise, if you want mobile, go west.

Monetization in Mobile

Image: TextMovers

Yesterday night's great Boston Mobile Monday had an interesting panel of speakers who were talking about Monetization in Mobile. The panel included a developer, carrier, OEM and a VC, perfect.

Anyway, the question on the table is, to me, a critical question to ask: How to build a profitable business in mobile?

The panel, IMO, went down the obvious path of:

• Interesting content and services
• Compelling, yet simple engagement
• Powerful marketing, discoverability and distribution
• Advertising is not it

All true, but, duh.

Duh because the free business model, as successful as it may be (is it?), should be viewed as a pathway to an upsell. That's the critical point people seem to forget. Users have money, and they are willing to spend it. On tickets, goods, experience, less so content but some, etc.

Once we figured that out, we come to the real question of, ok, how do you charge the user

• In both scenarios: resident apps and mobile web
• In a highly user-friendly way, that does not require you to pre-sign up on the web. Yes, I'm talking about a one-click checkout on-bill transactions. Like they had for years now with PayForIt in the UK.

If developers could answer that question, then the way the US mobile space looks would have been very different. Suddenly the Mobile option would seem like a money generating, obvious decision for marketers, who are today sitting on the fence. It's not to say app stores don't allow charging, and Apple just recently approved on-app follow-on charges. But it's not anywhere near being readily available mainstream technology.

What are the available options to bill the user, in the US, today? (this is my knowledge, please correct me)

• Carrier billing
  Pros: very simple, user friendly and familiar checkout process. Does not require pre-signup on the user. Support for refunds etc.
  Cons: Expansive setup and recurring charges, to the degree that it is prohibitive for startups. Unimaginable transaction % left to the carriers. Service Guidelines (dictated by the carriers) change on a weekly basis (creating a massive engineering effort).
  
• SMS Billing
  Pros: Works (almost) cross carrier. Users are comfortable and familiar with the SMS.
  Cons: see above.
  
• WAP Billing
  Pros: Mobile web one-click Amazon-like experience, beautiful. Money savings (not sending premium SMSs).
  Cons: Definitely not cross carrier. Massive efforts required to maintain and add new services to conform with carrier guidelines.
  
• Off-Deck billing
  The reason off-deck billing is very interesting is because in the US it has huge potential: In many world countries (the Philippines is a a great example), esp. where people's access to cash and banks isn't as easy, carriers identified the potential and provided mobile solutions for financial transactions, money transfers etc. In the US, there is a growing need for mobile financial solution, but the carriers do not have the silver bullet solution today. That's the definition of a gap that entrepreneurs can fill.
  
  • Pre registration solutions:
    So yeah, Amazon, Paypal, Google and others provide great solutions, with great payout as well. The only downside is that you either need to
    
    • Be a pre-registered member of the service: an Amazon signed customer, Google checkout, Paypal mobile etc.
    • Own and be willing to enter your full credit card details (including address etc.) on your mobile phone (these days, with an increasing number of phones that have full keyboards, it's not as bad).
      
    Bottom line: Mobile is about immediacy. If we can't enable real time access to shopping for a first-time user, it's a real limitation.
    
  • On the fly: I'm actually not aware of these solutions (enlighten me). On-the-fly off-deck solutions, to me, is exactly what is needed.
    

To summarize this long post (sorry), I think there is a gap in the US as far as mobile solutions for recurring user billing transactions. It could come from the carriers in the form of financially and technically reasonable ubiquitous solution (like PayForIt), or it could come from entrepreneurs who can figure it out as a service that plugs into apps and mobile sites.

Y Combinator startup TipJoy shuts down

"Concurrent with shutting down the site, the two co-founders have moved to the west cost, Ivan Kirigin told Mass High Tech in an email. Early this year, Y Combinator announced plans to close its East Coast program, formerly headquartered in Boston, and focus on incubating West-Coast-based startups."

Read more here.

Say no more. Sigh.

our first partnership: ArtistData

I'm more than excited to announce our first partnership, with ArtistData. Not only because it's big news for Adva Mobile, but also because ArtistData's service is so spot-on: giving musicians a service that enables them to enter shows, news, blogs and other assets once, and automatically aggregate that information to other sites. It's the right approach for musicians, who are already sufferring from lack of time to deal with self-promotion on multiple sites.

This integration will allow musicians to bring their assets from ArtistData automatically to their mobile fan club on Adva Mobile. It will happen automatically daily (you need to set it up on both sites). 

I think it's very cool and hope a lot of musicians will benefit from it. Certainly a step in the right direction, for everyone.

You can read more details here.

Angel groups requiring entrepreneurs to pay to pitch

There's no doubt there are a lot of entrepreneurs with ideas that range from incredible to terrible, for the most part seeking seed funding with angel groups, who have to somehow accomodate them all.

Also, a lot can been said about northeastern investors being somewhat more conservative than their west-coast collegues, seeking more 'sciense projects' more than mashups.

Today I've heard of another northeastern angel group requiring startups to pay to pitch. It's not a 5-digit number, but it is a 3 digit number for one, and 4-digit for the other. I'm sure there's a very good reason for it, that I'm not aware of. I'm sure this is not an expense that the average investor group can not self-manage. Is it a tool to filter entrepreneurs? And if so, does this mean that investors think successful entrepreneurs are the ones who can afford handing money over to investors (which sounds to me somewhat reversed)?

It just strikes me that entrepreneurs need to focus on making progress at their business, and put every resource they can into it, including, or perhaps, especially money.

Angels asking entrepreneurs to pay to pitch is, well, beyond me. Sorry.

At the same breath I'd like to mention a highly popular recent thread that's talking about more focus into students who have great ideas (Here's one, two and there's more): (Scott Kirsner) "the biggest way to make Boston more competitive and innovative right now is to do a better job connecting students with our innovation economy"

I've nothing against that, given the incredible things that are coming out of the MIT's of the world. At the same breath, though, there is something to be said about experienced workers seeing something they could do better and pursuing it. One thing that stands for them, at least, is their experience and knowledge.

I don't think it's the one or the other, but the almost-exclusive focus on grads is slightly missing the point IMO.

mIndustry success, and failure announcements

Cleaning up my reader this morning, I've noticed a number of announcements...
Successes (in my mind):

• FlyScreen: Perhaps because I'm a bit close to them, this week's announcement of an available download (beta, I think) of FlyScreen to Symbian 3rd Ed. phones. This is a young, ambitious Israeli startup. If they play their cards right, they'll go far
  
• FlixWagon: As much as I'd like to think of them and Qik as simply good timing (I don't want to underplay the technology, but in truth, they grabbed the uplink streaming API of 3G, adding storage and smarts, and added big time marketing on it), they seem to be shooting up. I am still questioning the consumer adoption, but perhaps there is something there. they're now talking white labeled service for operators...$$$
• Blackberry: there's talks about the Bold device being expensive, not measurable to iPhone, being forced by AT&T, or the new flip Pearl. I think BBs kick ass, the new flip is a good move, and I bet it's going to be very popular especially with young female workers who will find the form factor appropriate

But perhaps a bit saddening, is the news of people shutting down:

• Tira Wirless: Once a mobile porting shop, somewhat didn't keep up with younger, more nimble competition. they're gone
• Action Engine's future is in question. An On-Device-Portal company. Too early in Time to market I think
• Wippit shuts down. Sigh
  

Boston's Mobile Tourist

Wondering around Boston this weekend with the family, came across this sign:

Reminded me of the Freedom Trail mCode project (Remember?)

I think I've done well putting that one behind me, but from time to time I can't help but thinking what an unbelivable opportunity we had in our hands. 

The work of a critic

Because I'm such a fan of Bijan Sabet's way of thinking, although I've seen this movie a while back, reading his blog this morning about the work of a critic and a truly great quote from Ratatouille (the movie), I'm reblogging.
I'm a sinner in attaching emotions to my professional achievements, and in the entrepreneurship space (maybe in all), it's a risky business. So I will take quotes that put things in perspective in a heartbeat:

“In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends” (via IMDB)

That line came from the fictional food critic character, Anton Ego, played by Peter O’Toole.

Bijan said:

"It’s a great quote and something that all of us in the startup world should remember."

I agree

Fundraising Survival Guide (Paul Graham from YC)

Catching up on some reading, I read this morning Paul Graham's must-read article on fund raising. He really nails it and pours the much-needed cold water on the entrepreneur's head. He deals well with the emotional side of it by presenting the numbers and strategies to deal with the downfalls.

If I read it right, entrepreneurs shouldn't assume funding will become available: they have 1 in 500 chances of getting funded. (BTW, I think I heard some statistics that post funding, 1 of 8 startups will live to "expectations"). And yes I do agree that there's a bit of herd mentality as far as the way the investment community acts (if you've been rejected by one, you have a good chance by being rejected by the other, cause a- naturally, they talk and b- your morale deteriorates with every rejection). That one, effectively, is yet another unfair advantage to the investment community: entrepreneurs, specifically first timers or younger ones (which the investment community naturally likes), are suspicious of one another. The innovation that's happening today is far more market and idea driven then IP or technology driven. So the entrepreneurs are less likely to collaborate at these early stages. And frankly, TheFunded may have been a nice little stunt, but I just can't see how other entrepreneurs on there would reveal the kind of sensitive and relevant information that'd be useful to me.

Maybe another peel of the onion, let's see:

• "Taking care of business"/"Being independent": bootstrapping isn't the strategy; Consulting is bad. (at least according to one VC who commented: "We try to avoid companies that got bootstrapped with consulting. It creates very bad behaviors/instincts that are hard to erase from a company’s culture." I must assume that they're not the only ones to think that)
• Keep expectations low, Don't take rejection personally, stay optimistic: So that's one of those correct, accurate, useful points to make, that probably distinguish outstanding entrepreneurs from others, and present a contradiction in themselves
• Keep Working: I really liked that one. There's a natural tendency to bring the "mob" to the meeting, and then the question is: does everyone need to be in every meeting? How does this affect your productivity and momentum?

Perhaps another relevant input from recent learning, is "where the money is" blurb (this may be relevant only to the market I'm looking at, mobile media):

• VC are well upstream, deep pockets, 1 of 2-3 thousend chance in getting funded etc. You need to be well established with product, revenues and very happy large set of customers
• Angels and their groups moved well upstream, too. This may be specific to this market, but they now seem to be after plays that have product, customers and revenues ("we usually come in to accelerate market and team growth, we don't like to invest in development, for example, because we can't contribute to it with our expertise"). "We don't really do seed". A side comment, the groups I've been dealing with like to see themselves as successful entrepreneurs themselves, execution guys. "Talk to us in operational terms". I think they LOVE to give advice on your product and some of them would just LOVE to see your MySql records, but would simply like to avoid the risk and hassle of the development stage
• Moving on...Friends & Family? sure..maybe. I've heard someone say: "would you take your mom's savings if you knew this wasn't enough and couldn't guarantee a follow up?"

Where I am today in my mind is that fund raising is a necessary evil that has to happen because bootstrapping is unlikely to happen or get you there even if you braved it. You're unlikely to get funded and even if you did, it's got so much risk attached to it.

Specifically, I find that investors and others see the mobile channel as highly unique and lucrative, however when it comes to figures or investment attractiveness, they attach web equivalents as far as ease of market entry, profitability and other measures. Perhaps because they are protecting their interests, perhaps because they have no experience to suggest otherwise, or perhaps they are well outside the demographics of users who will easily distinguish between mobile and web.

I wonder if the investment community is comfortable with that view. They probably are: there are so many of us and so few of them. must be very flattering.

Crazy week

Last week was probably one of the most intense weeks I ever had. I was on the top of the world on Monday and Tuesday, and even though I knew odds are low to get the response I was looking to hear on Tuesday, I wasn't prepared to hear anything else.
There's something weird about preparing to hear the answer you don't want to hear. I'm not sure you can ever really be prepared for it, and stay optimistic in the process.
Anyway, the second half went downhill. I didn't get quite the response I wanted to hear. Got me stressed. I then interpreted messages to be personal messages and in return hurt someone who is very dear to me.
Life in a startup is a roller coaster (or maybe New England weather). Perseverance, keep motivated and patience are the game. I hope I'll learn to see it through.

Here's some good reading on the team process that was new to me...

Mark is making it happen

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I'm a big fan of Mark Doerschlag and his unbelievable useful professional scene networking and event guide named Mark's Guide.
For someone who is constantly snowed under and doesn't have time to search for relevant events, and more specifically, is in need for networking in new fields (recently, mobile advertising), Mark's Guide has been the perfect tool for me. It's in my reader, I check it twice a week, add to my calendar with his great calendaring system and much more.
Mark's Guide has done well in the local Boston scene, but now it seems that Mark is taking it to the next level, and rightfully, getting the appropriate recognition for it. He's now launched in NY, Chicago, Philly, Washington (I bet Silicon Vally's next). He's also been interviewed in the BBJ (see the picture).
I couldn't be happier for Mark: he's really been chippin' away for a while and now seeing success. I'm sure there's much more behind the corner for him.
And I'm so lucky to be his friend!

Vision meets Practicality

Recently I've heard of quite a few mobile startups who decided to be practical about their strategy. Got me thinking of how far do you go believing in a future vision vs. solving a "today" problem.

More and more startups are saying client applications are difficult (dev, QA, distribute, make people aware and use), and so is mobile web. In that kind of environment, why bang your head against the wall? why not use existing well known channels (voice+SMS) to provide the offering? here are a couple of examples:

• Mobivox (BTW, Thanks Nitzan for the good talk you gave this W/E) are saying: mobile Skype is difficult. Let's create a mobile voice portal, where people can dial a number to call their friends, email or text, search, shop,...
• Kadoink are into experiencing music predominantly using a voice call?
• Padpaw are facilitating small social groups using SMS
  
• and Locamoda are saying location oriented interaction could be done in front of an electronic display over SMS

So I think its an interesting trend, which could very well take off and make these guys a lot of money (it better be given the $$ VC put into it). And it's very practical, can't argue with that.

My dilemma as a wireless geek, if you will, is where does that leave the technology, the industry and the consumer.
On one hand it can't be good. Take Mobivox solution for example. A voice portal vision begs the question why do we need WAP portals at all? If they figured out people would rather call a number to search then go to Google's WAP, then that's a very serious point to consider. If people rather make a local call to make a long distance call cheaper, then it begs the question what happened to the hyped "presence (your friend status change) will drive increased traffic"? Reality check: Presence did not take off, nor did IMS, and possibly will never take off. Especially if there's no more business drive behind it.
Why sweat IMS (as example) if nobody cares?

On the other hand it's not so bad news. The "workaround" (sorry if blunt) that uses existing known methods to achieve a functionality could in fact drive the awareness needed to make the case for the "appropriate" solution. For example, some will remember 4-5 years ago there was a discussion of IP vs. CS PoC and IM. Everybody was thinking IP was the way to go. heck, we're talking all-IP networks right? Kodiak's CS solution was treated as the black sheep. well guess whose solution is making strides today. But if users get hooked on PoC, this could eventually drive investment in IP-based PoC.

Anyway, interested in your thoughts re making the "visionary" vs. "practical" strategy direction isn't obvious.

How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips)

Check out this excellent post by Jason Calanis:

The reason I thought this was really good is b/c it promotes the human factor (and others affecting it), trims the rest.

Excellent post Jason.

Beautiful: 5min Receives $5 Million in Series A Financing from Spark Capital

I'm so happy to see that 5min got their series A funding. This is very exciting. A great startup with a really innovative idea to facilitate community 'how to' videos. this, to me, is exactly web 2.0. It's a bit disappointing that they're not saying anything about it in their Blog.

Their product is really well equipped to motivate video creation and uploading as well as repost the videos pretty much everywhere. Alongside with the almost-given community commenting/rating/...
You can send the video to your mobile via SMS (Free?) however I've not seen a mobile site or client where you can search content directly or maybe upload. I've not spent too much time searching I'll admit. I'm sure mobile's high on their radar, maybe not made it to the top just yet.

I was looking at them back when I was dealing with mobile code scanning, I was thinking about direct launch of a video from your mobile phone. Imagine you get home with an Ikea piece of furniture and there's a little code that launches the assembly video instructions on your cell (why on your cell? because your PC may not be next to you).

Anyway highly interesting innovative idea that's been picked up by Spark Capital. Good on Spark and congrats 5min team. Does that mean you'll spend more time in Boston? :-)

Here's a nice one: Cool Juggling Tricks with Devil Sticks. Enjoy!

Let's Get Rid of Non-Compete Agreements

Something healthy is happening in New England. Important people have been looking at key differences in the entrepreneurial scene between here and the west coast. The non-compete is absolutely one of those: the freedom for people to move about the scene with new ideas and ways to build better products, innovate and move forward.

I was in this situation myself, and although in both situations I wasn't signed on any employment letter (that would include a non-compete), I was extremely hesitant and in fact did not pursue the ideas I had. Not to say if this was removed I surely were to follow through, but in those two situations it played a big part.

Well now Bijan of Spark capital, Scott Kirsner and others are pushing it, and I am happy to support them in this.

Check out the new Alliance for Non-Compete Page, including the letter to Governor Patrick and the response.

Everyone should join and support this.

Kudos to Mark of MarksGuide

It's been a long while since I last blogged and I might even get some time to explain the changes that happened since, but as usual, when you get busy it's the reality around you that pushes you to get things done.

So I came across this interview coverage with Mark on XConomy. The title is already inviting: "Boost Your Karma: Check Out MarksGuide".

It's a good piece on the Boston professional networking scene and how it affects startups, entrepreneurship and innovation. Any ecosystem has interesting supporting channels and MarksGuide is part of it: "Doerschlag is the man to know if you want to get the word out about a local networking event in business, technology, finance, media, or the sciences. On any given weekday, his website lists six to a dozen events of interest to Boston-area professionals."

I've already recommended MarksGuide before but let me reiterate how resourceful is MarksGuide in being aware of relevant interesting professional events in the area and if you missed one, there would likely be good coverage somewhere.

Interesting quote on Mark: "Cross Craigslist founder Craig Newmark with Web-networker-par-excellence Joi Ito, add blond hair and blue eyes, and plunk the result down in Boston—and you’d have Mark Doerschlag." Made me smile :-). Mark's a good guy and I'm glad to say a good friend too.

Check out MarksGuide, you'll be sure to bookmark it.