March 2007

The Archives

03.15.07

IDEA WARS 2007: Who wants in?
Campus Chatter, Entrepreneurship, Social Media
Since it’s March Madness I thought a cool idea would be to pit eight internet entrepreneurs against each other for a showdown over web innovation. We would need eight volunteer entrepreneurs who we would then randomly pair off on the bracket. For each game (four rounds total) the entrepreneurs would be give three categories: 1) Demographic 2) Industry 3) For Profit or Non Profit From there competing entrepreneurs would have 48 hours to come up with a new website, social tool, application or widget that meets the needs of those three requirements. We then let the audience vote on ...
03.14.07

Idea: buyMYdrink
My Experiences, Pop Culture
I've had a series of ideas recently that I will share over the next few days. First up... Widget/Site: ’Buy My Drink’ How many times a week does someone help you out with something, commit a selfless act or hook-you up with a really helpful resource? Wouldn’t it be great if you could simply go a widget (or website) and buy that person a drink in advance? First, you would get to pick the bar from a list of participants (great for encouraging a friend to come visit, or to try a new hot spot) and then fill out the recipient’s name as ...
03.14.07

Want to Know What’s Wrong with Friendster?
Business Models, Social Networking
I received this email from Friendster.com today: Hi Friendster User, We noticed you haven't logged into Friendster in a while. Please take a few minutes to fill out this short survey to tell us about your experience with Friendster and what we can do to improve our service. We value your feedback and appreciate your help in improving Friendster. Please click on this link below to take the short survey: http://websurveyor.net/l.dll/JGs50C7A5F972lRbD9U1136483J.htm Thanks, The Friendster Team The thing is, I have logged into Friendster twice in the last week! How does this make me feel as a member of the community? Also, now that I am regularly ...
03.13.07

Enterprise 2.0: Where Online Meets Offline
Tech'nomics
So a thought occurred to me today. Web 2.0 is still very much about the individual. For example, I may use a ’social’ bookmarking system, but the only thing truly social about it is the aggregation and dissemination of the information. Likewise on a social networking site I can have relationships with people that exist entirely within the confines of technology boundaries. Twitter is a great example. I may follow John Edwards, but have I ever met John? Will I ever meet John? No. The same goes for Second Life. The same goes for MyBlogLog. As we move toward an understanding of Enterprise ...
03.13.07

Stay on Top of Your Game
My Experiences, Social Media
Here are links to free newsletters I subscribe to and find to be very insightful: McKinsey Quarterly Harvard Business School Working Knowledge Knowledge @ Wharton Emerging Technologies Updates (MIT) Techwire Newsletters (Multiple Regions) Social Innovation Review Stanford Fast Company Newsletters Good Experience Newsletter Venture Capital Magazine TrendWatching USA Today Tech Briefing Middle East Biz News and Info (MEED) The Economist Newsletters Do you have other favorite newsletters that other readers should know about? If so, leave a comment with the links! Like this blog? Subscribe by RSS
03.10.07

The Law of 10,000 Hours for Expertise
Entrepreneurship, My Experiences
We had a great entrepreneurship conference today at Hopkins, although competing with the 68 degree weather was tough. I thought the web 2.0 panel was terrific and I really appreciate Stowe Boyd, Clarence Wooten and Brian Balfour taking part. � If anyone is interested, be sure to check out the conference website (created by my soon to launch company) and take part in conversations and networking. I wanted to talk about a neat concept Stowe Boyd shared with me today. The law of 10,000 hours is a scientifically researched and documented benchmark for the minimum amount of time needed to establish expertise ...
03.08.07

Matrixes vs. Metrics
My Experiences, Social Networking
I attended the event ’Leveraging Social Networks for Progressive Organizing’ this afternoon in DC. In my opinion the greatest thing to come out of this entire web 2.0 bubble is the empowerment of a younger generation. For example, the panel speakers were for the most part probably under 25 years of age. In what other context would you see so many 50 year old CEO’s listening so intently to a bunch of kids? Overall I didn’t hear anything groundbreaking, but that comes from someone who spends a whole lot of time following this stuff. The most interesting conversations centered on the conversion ...
03.06.07

Free Social Networking Event in DC on Thursday
Pop Culture, Social Networking
Leveraging Social Networks for Progressive Organizing Featured Participants: Chris Hughes, Co-founder, Facebook Scott Goodstein, Founder, Catalyst Campaigns Ivan Boothe, Director of Communications, Genocide Intervention Network Lauren Miller, Strategist, Blue State Digital Moderator: Stephen Geer, Manager of Online Advocacy, Center for American Progress Action Fund Thursday, March 8, 2006 12:30pm to 2:00pm Admission is free. Lunch will be served at noon American Institute for Architects 1735 New York Ave NW Washington, DC 20006 Map & Directions Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center RSVP for this Event ***I'll be there but don't know anyone else attending. ...
03.06.07

I Just Don’t Get It: Do You?
Business Models, Social Networking, Venture Capital
Eons, a social networking site for old people has raised $22M in a second round of financing (they raised $10 million on the first round!). Who invested? Charles River Ventures in addition to Sequoia. It just makes no sense to me. First if this firm has raised $32M it implies that the pre-money valuation was at least that, but more likely something higher like $40+. No way! Any entrepreneur with a social network and no innovative advertising strategy should immediately sell at price like that (IMO). Looking at the site I was not impressed. They own a search engine called Cranky.com ...
03.05.07

Interview with Steli Efti from Supercool School
Campus Chatter, Entrepreneurship
I recently had the honor of interviewing Steli Efti, the founder of Supercool School. Steli is 24, born and raised in Germany. He left school at 18 to pursue his passion: to become an entrepreneur. I really like the concept behind Supercool School and I love the design of the site. I think we will be seeing great things from Steli and his crew in the very near future. Me: So tell me about Supercool School’ in three sentences: Steli: Think Wikipedia for live & interactive education. Supercool School is a learning community where people can educate people for free; anyone can offer ...

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