Startup Florida

HuB Quote of the Day

2011-08-03T13:35:00.002-05:00

When great companies fail, they’re gone forever. When great people fail, they learn from their experiences and go on to pursue new ventures with greater chance of success. While we value powerful ideas and innovative startups, the lifeblood of any community is the individuals involved.

Does Social Media have a soul?

2011-07-31T10:53:00.002-05:00

I spend a lot of time online reading tech blogs (e.g. TechCrunch, Mashable) - trying to keep up with the latest and hottest apps and web 2.0 companies... and I always have the same feeling when I am done reading the posts --- it's a feeling of emptiness. It's like when your starving and you eat a whole bag of potato chips, and realize the empty calories didn't satisfy you. Or is it worse??? I don't know... but I feel like we have sold our soul to "click economy".

What is the "Click Economy"??? It's what drives Silicon Valley. It's what motivates entrepreneurs. It's driven by the collective ego of the Internet - where the one who dies with the most clicks...wins.

Does anyone find this ironic??? Social Media is making us less human? Don't get me wrong, I am not arguing that Social Media makes us less social (I do believe it helps bring people together like no other medium in history)..... I am talking about being "human". I am talking about what makes us unique - our ability to devote our lives to improve the lives of everyone. I am talking about compassion. I am talking about making the world a better place.

It seems every new company I read about is turning us into mice ... clicking for cheese. The applications help us book tickets easier, or help us find where we parked, or helps us "shop better".... really??? Is this what the greatest minds coming out of Stanford working on??? Shopping?

Are the Einsteins of our generation focused on creating the next best App for the IPhone??? or are they working on projects that will change our world for the better?

Unfortunately I think the bright minds are sucked into the Click Economy - lured by the collective conscious of Silicon Valley all chanting in unison "How many clicks can you get us?"

And when I say "change the world".... I am talking about simple things that improve the way we live as a society. I am not expecting anyone to spend their life trying to cure a disease or map the human genome.... I am talking about apps that actually help humanity. Applications that make us better people... make us human.

Instead of building applications that help us get the "best deals".... perhaps we could launch companies that help us find community projects that we can participate or support. Instead of "group buying" perhaps we can find ways of getting people to gather in groups to help get out the vote. Instead of "checking in" to get a badge - maybe we could "check-in" and the business would donate a dollar to charity. I realize there are a few companies out there that are doing good things... but it's too few.

Why can't social media be socially responsible? Why has our "value" as people been reduced to a click. Why can't every company give something back to the universe - if not out of good will - at least out of the interest of self-preservation. If the "click economy" continues without a soul - it will die. And we will all be left with nothing.

Are we mice? or are we human?

Friend vs. Follow

2011-07-30T10:40:00.002-05:00

Now that we are getting to the end of the honeymoon stage with Google+ .... and we have a few weeks under our belt using the service.... I wanted to talk a little about how G+ will be different from Facebook.

First and foremost.... G+ is nothing like Facebook. This is not a good or a bad statement - I am just trying to get any notion out of your head that the two services will have any similarity. Or if you are asking "Do I use Facebook or G+???" - the answer is most likely both.

When people ask me "How is it different?" - the answer is actually is simple - Friend vs. Follow.

On Facebook, the currency is "Friends". You have the ability to ask someone to be your friend, ability to invite friends, and you have the ability to deny friends. It is a pro-active system that connects people based on both agreeing to be connected.

Example:

1. John sends a friend request to Mary
2. Mary receives friend request. Decides to "accept" or "ignore"
3. Mary accepts friend request
4. John and Mary are now friends (connected on FB)

On Google+ ... is it different. There is no "friend request" - there is only "follow". On G+ it is driven more by who you want to follow (or put in your circles). Instead of having a double opt-in friend request transaction - the concept of "following" someone is a one-way relationship.

Example:

1. John finds Mary on Google+
2. John adds Mary to his circle "Friends"
3. John now gets updates on Mary
4. Mary will be notified John is "following" her - but no further action is needed.

This may not seem like a huge difference (especially if on Google+ John follows Mary, and Mary follows John) - but it actually is a HUGE difference because this is the context in how the network will grow and form to be completely different than Facebook.

Here are some reasons:

1. Abuse. There is really no way to abuse G+ like you can with Facebook. People send me friend requests all the time (even though they may not be my friends) - and in most cases I accept their request, because I am open to meeting new people and also because it adds to my social influence on Facebook (you see, even I am abusing Facebook). So why is this abuse??? Because it goes against the basic fundamentals of Facebook's origin - which is "Only accept Friend requests from real Friends" --- this principle is what keeps the value of the network high, and reduces the noise (e.g. SPAM) from your feed. And simply having the ability to blindly invite hundreds of people to be your friend, and getting most of them to blindly accept creates an environment of abuse, spam and clutter - which ultimately reduces the value and fun of the Facebook experience.

2. More Real (and Real-Time). There is something about the context of G+ that makes it seem more real. It could be that we are early in it's life cycle and there are fewer users - but I am not sure that is a factor anyway. Don't get me wrong I think Facebook has a lot of "real" going on.... but it's different. I think the Message is the Medium when it comes to Facebook. More and more messages (posts) I see on Facebook strike me like "shouts" and not really anchored in any personal thought or intelligence. On Google+ - the posts seem much more thought out, reflective and real. Even from the "celebrities of Google+" like Tom from MySpace, or Robert Scoble, Guy Kawasaki, etc --- their posts are more personal - and a little quirky (which is a true sign of real).

Here is a good example. Arianna Huffington (founder of Huffington Post). She has a Page on Facebook, and a profile on G+. I can follow both. But look at how different they are:

This is her Facebook Page. It looks "corporate" and the feed (although it may be her posting, but I doubt it) - seems more forced... than real (and more importantly real-time).

Here is her latest post on G+

As you can see - its from her phone - you feel like your seeing news through her eyes, and it is more real-time.

This is the result of G+ choosing to be more like TWITTER in how they setup relationships - but leveraging a social graph to help people organize their relationships better than TWITTER.

3. Because it's Google. The third major reason I think G+ will be completely different than Facebook, is because it's Google who is doing it. There is a huge advantage when you innovate new products, if you don't have to "sell out" to pay the bills. Google already has a money-making machine, and doesn't need to force their social network to be something it's not - just to find sources of revenue. Everything beautiful in this world is created where money is not a driver. This is a huge advantage as they continue to build out the service, and something Facebook does not have the luxury for too much longer.

Let me know how you guys use G+ different than Facebook.

FOLLOW ME ON G+

I got my G+ Profile back... but I lost a little something in the Process

2011-07-26T08:47:00.001-05:00

Well, good news... My Google+ Profile was turned back on.... after 4 days of sitting at home staring at my computer screen... waiting for any sign of hope... .... it finally came early Monday....

I had mixed feelings after reading this email.... on one hand, I was excited to get back on Google+ so I could comment on "Tom from MySpaces" posts reassuring him it wasn't his fault MySpace sucked... and more importantly back to my quarrel with Robert Scoble (who innocently claims he had nothing to do with me getting shut down, but I think we all know the truth)......where was I??? Oh yeah... YES! I was excited to be back on the "cool people's network".... but then I read the LAST LINE on the email......

Sincerely, Ricky.

Are you F***ing kidding me??? I got shut down by a guy named "Ricky" with no last name.... ISN'T THAT THE REASON THEY ARE SHUTTING PEOPLE DOWN???? Because they are not using their real and full name???? And the hatchet man, the terminator of accounts, the angel of google death is named RICKY???

Do you know what image came into my head after reading this???

Thanks a lot "Ricky"..... I am now forever living in fear of you..... and this image will haunt me everytime I log into Google+ ..... wondering if I got shut down again.....

Sincerely,

Rich

Google+ Deleted my Profile.... Here are best guesses why?

2011-07-25T07:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I logged into my Google+ account this weekend, only to be greeted by this nice "welcome to our new social network that we are desperately wanting everyone to love"

"Your Profile is suspended"

Apparently I violated their Community Standards (which by the way - when you click on the link it goes to a blank page). So after looking through their short list of standards, nothing really popped out at me as something I did... so I decided to list a few things I did do on Google+ - that may have triggered my suspension.

Here are my best guesses at why I have been kicked out of Google+

1. I called Mark Zuckerberg an asshole. This was the first thing that I thought... ok, maybe Google+ doesn't like free speech.... and although I was criticizing their competitor - perhaps they felt it was too harsh. Maybe they are following the FCC guidelines on censorship??? Or maybe Mark Zuckerberg sent a nice letter on Facebook letterhead to Google+ management -

"To whom it may concern, My name is Mark Zuckerberg, and I am not an asshole. Please cease and desist all references to me as Asshole, Prick, Douche-bag or otherwise."

2. I disagreed with Robert Scoble. For those of you who don't know Robert Scoble, he is a technofiliac who dominates discussion on Google+ constantly voicing his opinions on features and functionality... bordering on whining.... I like him, but he can be annoying at times (and by "times" I mean all the time). Anyway, we got into a little "comment disagreement".... so perhaps that is what did me in. I can see the email from Robert to Google now.

"Larry and Sergey, This is Robert. We need to do something about this guy Rich Swier... I am sure you heard by now, but he disagreed with one of my posts... and so I expect his profile to be eliminated immediately. Also, can you please add more emoticons to G+... like :) and ;) ... it would really make the service more user-friendly..."

3. I have the same name as my father. As some of you know, I share the same name as my father, who is a political blogger and happens to effectively piss of every man, woman, child I know.... so I can only assume he posted a blog on how Google+ causes gayness, or how it is run by radical Jihadists (which I actually might agree with)..... either way... I am sure one of his blogs was place in front of the G+ folks....and they deleted all profiles with the word "Swier" in it....

4. I posted a blog asking for more features. Another potential reason, could have been my blog post "Five Things I would like to see in Google+ (an open letter to Vic @ Google)" where I asked the head of G+ to consider adding some features..... which apparently is a "no-no".... I can only assume this was what hap penned when a google employee put this blog in front of Vic

"What the F*** is this piece of SHIT????? Do you know who I am ... I am the man who created Google+ ... and you bring me some blog article from a nobody who wants GMAIL INTEGRATION (sarcastic tone)... this isn't Burger King asshole....is their a F***ing sign on my door that says "Whoppers 99 cents???"....

Oh, well... these are my best guesses... I guess until Google tells me why, I will fill out this form, piss in a cup to verify my identity... and hope for the best

Five Things I would like to see in Google+ (an open letter to Vic @ Google)

2011-07-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

Ok, Vic... I am a big fan of G+.... but here are small things I would like to submit as feature requests for G+ 2.0.

1. Integration into GMail. I love Gmail. But one thing I am not good at is keeping my contacts updated. I know the guy from Plaxo is sitting right behind you - so I assume this feature is done, and your just teasing us... but if it's not - please make it happen. I would like my friends in G+ be automatically available in my Contacts (and their info be automatically updated if they update their profile). And even better, would be to automatically categorize them in my contacts by the circles I create. So if I have a FRIENDS circle in G+ - you create a category in my GMail Contacts called Friends (and put the contacts there).

I'll even you give you a buzz word "Social Mail" - make sure you give me a shout out on Techcrunch next time.

2. Allow me to Share my Circles. It would be cool to be able to use Circles as "groups"... for example if I create a circle called "My Softball Team".... to be able to share my circle (e.g. ask people in the circle to join - like a group). This would automatically create a circle on their account, and allow them to post to the same people. I feel this could be a cool way create "relevant streams".... instead of just having general circles (like Friends, People at Work, etc).... streams that have relevance to more than one person (e.g. softball team) - will have more relevance to those people in the group.

3. Ability to increase or decrease posts from people in my circle. I realize this may be done in the algorhythm - but it would be cool to manually tell you which friends I want to hear more from, and which ones I don't want to hear from so much. Much like the "Mute this post" function, just simply put something that says "I want more" and "I want less" ---- and then my streams will be more enjoyable. Some people in my circle I like, but if they post a hundred times a day - I start to look for the "remove from circle" button.

4. Vanity Link to my Profile. It would be nice to have a simple URL to point people to my Profile... instead of plus.google.com/797987987969687685 ... something like plus.google.com/richswier would be nice.

5. Create a Follow Me button - I am sure this is coming with the G+ API...but it would be nice to have a "Follow Me" button to embed on a website or blog - so people can easily add you to their following circle.

Great Video on Google+

2011-07-22T16:21:00.002-05:00

Why Google should not let businesses on Google+

2011-07-21T19:41:00.002-05:00

In a few weeks Google is planning to open up Google+ to businesses to setup their own accounts. On Facebook these are called Pages. Essentially differentiating between a person and a business. Unless those guys have thought of something that defies the laws of social media degradation and has had Tom from MySpace on speed dial during development ... I think this is a big mistake to let business ruin Google+.

Please Google....don't let businesses on Google+.

Based on my experience with facebook, most businesses do not understand that over-posting doesn't make people want to trade in their gold..it only makes people hate you. I am not sure what makes businesses think that posting impersonal shout outs on everyone's wall is a sure fire way to get people to pile into your store. Unfortunately there are some businesses that do follow netiquette and try to engage their followers with meaningful messages that suffer because of all the noise created by spammers.

Facebook tries to minimize the abuse and noise by making businesses create pages and not profiles. Of course people abuse that too....but for the most part Facebook can manage your stream and of course you can always stop following a page. But this is really not what I am afraid of....it's more the tone it sets. If google allows businesses to be on google+ then it sets an impersonal tone to users saying "ok...the fun personal talk is over...now come the commercials". To me it has the potential of ruining a very vibrant and interesting conversation happening right now....and turning it into a faceless exchange of digital business cards with no souls.

It will make people think their boss is watching even though he is not in their circle. It will make people fear losing their job because they can be linked back to a business page. The party will be over. And we will all have to get back to work.

No matter what happens....stay gold pony boy.

Seven Things I Love about Google+ ...

2011-07-21T16:36:00.000-05:00

Here are some of the things I love about Google+ (or more to the point - hate about Facebook).....

1. No poking. Seriously... why on earth would anyone poke you??? This feature was probably created by Mark Z. in version 1 of FB, and that is the reason it's still there.... I can see the developers now - "accidentally" deleting the code for "POKE" each time they upgrade.... and Mark throwing a fit in the meeting --- (in my best Mark Zuckerberg impression) - "ummm, guys... I logged in this morning... and didn't see the POKE button... can someone please tell me who the %&$ is CEO here??? MEEEEEE....%$*#($*%% .... that's who...."

2. Better News Feed. I think the News Feed in Facebook is useless. It is probably because I have more (facebook) friends than I should... but I also think it could do a lot better finding out what posts I like. It forces me to basically kick someone out of my feed forever, which may not be what I want. With G+ I have my circles, and if I am in the mood to see what my close friends are doing I can click on that circle, and if I want to read random ramblings of people I barely know - I have a circle for that too....

3. No Farms. If I get another request to join someone's farm - I am going to kill someone. Starting with Last names that start with Z. Watch your back Mark - Mafia Wars is not just a game.

4. Privacy. This of course is the big thing everyone talks about - but very few people really understand. Facebook's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy is a joke. They change it whenever they want, and whether you know it or not - they own everything you have done there, everything you will do there. I am not saying Google is any better - but based on their track record and so far their approach/concern for privacy - my guess is they will be better (because it is their competitive advantage to be better).

5. Simplicity. I enjoy innovation and new applications... but I am also a realist - and know if it is not "simple" - then no one will use it - especially me. Facebook started off simple, but then they went on this bi-polar development rage that took something elegant and useful, and made it into Social-Sausage. Google has the advantage of their platform being more spread out (they can have other applications like Gmail, Picasa (photos), Blogger, Calendar, etc without screwing up G+1). To me that is what Google is best at - taking a relatively cumbersome, slow process and making it simple and fast. Just like they did with search... they are now doing with social networking.

6. Photos. Let's face it... photos is a big part of social networking. Everyone wants to share photos. Facebook's photo interface sucks. Google not only made it slicker - they also streamlined it by allowing you automatically upload your photos on the phone to your Google Photos account - and then give you the option to share. I love this, because it brings together my personal Photo albums (which I want to save forever) and allows me to share what I want. Facebook doesn't.

7. I hate Mark Zuckerberg. "Hate" is a strong word, but let's face it - the guy is kind of a douche. (just kidding Mark, I'll poke you later)

Why Google+ is the beginning of the end for Traditional Media....

2011-07-19T07:06:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest things about Google+ is that you are able to follow people that you may not know (much like Twitter, but better)..... I realize this sounds creepy, and slightly like stalking.... but it's actually ok, because you only see the posts they want the public to see... and the people I follow for the most part are bloggers, entrepreneurs, editors, etc (people who want to be followed).

Why is it cool??? Because you get to hear the "news" straight from them. When a write of the popular tech-blog Techcrunch posts something on G+ he is unfiltered and not hindered by the constraints of an editing staff. Another example, is following the CEO of Google... you get to see first hand what he is thinking as well, or simply see the human side of him when he posts pictures of himself wind surfing.

I realize this sounds like a new "paparazzi" following celebrities around hoping to catch a glimpse of something absurd... but that is really not why I feel this is cool.... the reason why this is so powerful, is that it is the beginning of the breakdown of tradition media (which I hate btw).

I know what your thinking - "Yeah, but Twitter does the same thing - so why is this so different???".

Twitter was never really a social network - it is micro-blogging. And as weird as it sounds... the message is the medium. Because Twitter launched as a micro-blogging platform which is a one-to-the-world communication - people use it only for that purpose. It's too late to change. Much like how Facebook chose to be a "uber-social" network being launched out of the colleges - it also is stuck in it's path it chose.

With Google+ - they have built something that not only allows people to be themselves, be personal and also be a voice to the public - it creates an attitude among the users (including the CEO's, editors, Industry leaders, and John Doe) that it's ok to be "real" and to speak your mind..... and if you feel like you want a few people to hear it, or the whole world... you have the ability to determine that for the first time.

The power of this medium, is that the messages are different. You can already see that if you use the service... the posts are not the same as Twitter or Facebook. The Posts seem to be more thoughtful, more real (in some cases) and less trivial.

So why is Google+ going to end Traditional Media???

Simple... why wait to read the news tomorrow, when you can read it directly from the writer when they post on Google+?

Why not follow Arianna Huffinton on G+ (https://plus.google.com/103233967921245494760/posts) instead of visiting her blog? Or follow Robert Scoble (https://plus.google.com/111091089527727420853/posts) if you want to know what is happening in the valley?

Want to know what Michael Dell is thinking??? Follow him - https://plus.google.com/100523784851251213675/posts

Why wait for the traditional media, if you can see pictures of what really is happening being posted by people on the street (e.g. Citizen Journalists). We have already seen this happen on Twitter... but because Twitter is so difficult to navigate and lacked the multimedia (until now) to really create a more visual and expressive medium it has only been effective in a handful of major events (Hudson crash, Egypt, Weinergate, etc)

If you want to see who is "most followed" on G+ - or if you want to search for someone you would like to follow this is a cool website just launched - http://www.findpeopleonplus.com

Don't be afraid to follow, it just may help us kill traditional media as we know it - and that would be a very good thing.....

Google+ Video (Very basic introduction)

2011-07-17T07:43:00.000-05:00

I have watched a lot of videos on G+ ... but this one seemed to break it down the best in a very simple explanation of what G+ is.... for those of you who have no idea (or are new)... definitely watch this video

My first (random) Hang Out on Google+

2011-07-16T10:35:00.000-05:00

This morning I decided to check out the Google+ Hang Out Feature in more detail. I had tried it once already to chat with some co-workers on my trip - and it worked great. It is definitely more convenient than skype or other video chat services, because 1) It's integrated with G+ - so its easy to find friends and 2) You can run it anywhere without having to install software, etc.

BUT.... what I really wanted to see is how people would use Hang Out in a more public setting. Where people open up video conference chats and allow anyone to join. My initial fear.... Chatroulette on steroids. I am not sure I could handle 9 people with their pants off at the same time.

Lucky for me, the first experience was very tame. This popped up on my feed, and it seemed interesting.

Mohamed is one of the great tech minds I have met...he does a lot of amazing Google Chrome work.. anyway... I joined in on the chat. There were people logged in from all over the world - one guy from India, another from Africa. It was entertaining to listen in to the conversation, because of the wide range of interests. For the first few minutes, the conversation focused mostly on Google+ and how to best use the Hang Out feature.

This was the first time I saw Google Hang Out work in an "unorganized" chat - where everyone is talking, and having fluid conversation. Occasionally it would get clunky because the picture changes to whomever is dominating the conversation (which is cool in a controlled environment, but a little hectic when everyone is talking)..... but I quickly found you have the option to click on the video thumbnail of the person you want to watch.

So what did I learn about Google+ Hang Out

1. It is definitely a tool that can be used for work or personal use to easily video chat with your friends. To me it is better than skype because you can have more than one person (for free) on the chat, and you don't have to deal with everyone having a skype account. It will be more likely someone will be on G+.

2. The second thing I learned is that people are truly using video as part of the social networking experience. Once I got involved in the conversation, it quickly because more social than tech. I even forgot for a moment I was on a computer... it really felt like I was hanging out with these guys talking about technology, Google, etc. For the first time - I saw the power of social networking using video chat. Pretty cool.

Google+ and SEO

2011-07-15T08:00:00.001-05:00

(Note: Only waste your time reading this if you care about better rankings for your website in Google.)

In my last post I mentioned how GOOGLE+ can help Your rankings in Google search. I want to give a more in depth look into this....

You will notice Google has implented the +1 button in its search engine...and also allows people to embed on their websites as well (much like the facebook like button).

They are using the +1 to not only improve their search results for Everyone but also using this to personalize results for You. This is the real reason why Google+ is so valuable to Google (and you) . They will learn what you like and build a better search engine and deliver better ads. Thus making their ecosystem more powerful and relevant.

So how does this effect SEO and your rankings. The more people who +1 Your site the better rankings you will have.

Tip #1 - Get people to +1 your website.
You can embed the +1 on. Your site to make it easier for people as well. Go to http://code.google.com/apis/+1button/ to learn how.

Next thing that will help boost your SEO will be links from posts on Google+1. The posts have to be public in order for Google search to index them. You can start by posting links on Your own profile. Don't spam or post too much - this can hurt you.

Tip #2 - Public posts on G+ to Your site will help your rankings.

This includes any links to your website from a post, but also more importantly how many people +1 or share your link. This data will become part of Google's algorithm on how they rank the importance of your website. Much like how they look at the "number of links" to your site... now they will also factor in "number of shares and +1s". So, find creative ways to include your website into comments (for example, blogs, new articles, videos, etc)

Example Post: "Hey everyone, I just took a trip to New York, check out the great restaurants I visited on my blog at http://startupflorida.blogspot.com." (and attache a couple photos).

(note: make sure you post to "PUBLIC" or else Google won't index in the search results)

Tip #3 - Optimize your Profile with relevant keywords

One of the things Google will also look at is the content within your profile. This is how they will determine some of the basic keywords they will attach to content you post. If the word "actor" shows up a lot in your profile, then Google will consider this in how they place your links. The more "social" content becomes, the social profile is the anchor to all the content your post. If your profile is empty or inactive, then this will be a negative in Google's eyes.... so complete your profile and make sure you include information that is relevant to who you are and how you want to rank.

If you find any other tricks let me know - follow me on G+ here.

GOOGLE +1 for Beginners (Step 1: Create Circles)

2011-07-14T09:36:00.001-05:00

I have been getting a few comments, emails from friends asking me about the basics of Google+1. I thought it would be good to write down some basic points on what I have learned using the service.

First let me give you a good analogy.

Google+1 is more like a dinner party - where you were invited, and you know most the people there, and the few you don't you quickly get to know through your "circle" of friends.

Facebook is more like a crowded bar - where you come with a few friends, and recognize a lot of people by face (but don't really know their name) - and most the people in the bar you just want to ignore.

(don't forget to add me to your following circle - http://goo.gl/5MYD1)

CIRCLES

The main reason why they are so different is because Google+ gives you the ability to create CIRCLES. In basic terms, a Circle is simply a grouping of people. You may have a family circle, a friends circle, a work circle... or go even more specific and have a "Friends at Gym Circle" or a "Softball Team Circle". This is how you keep your posts relevant to people in your network.

For example, if you post pictures of the Softball Game last night and only select the CIRCLE = "Softball Friends"... then they will only see it. It makes the post more relevant to the people who see it... and more importantly it doesn't clutter up what other people may see (which eventually if you post a lot, they will remove you).

You can direct your POSTS to who WANTS to see them, and who you WANT to see. This makes the content on Google+ MUCH MORE RELEVANT and valuable to both the sender and reader.

CIRCLES is what will keep Google+ from becoming an overwhelming flood of messages that are difficult to prioritize (e.g. Facebook)..... into a very elegant way to view posts.

SUGGESTIONS:

Create a Circle for work, for friends and for family (atleast). If you are involved in other groups (like clubs, sports, etc) then form circles for those as well. Remember you can add a friend into multiple circles. So for example, you can add your friend John into your FRIENDS CIRCLE and your SOFTBALL CIRCLE.
Remember you can always share with EVERYONE (Google calls this PUBLIC) which means if you share a post with the PUBLIC than everyone in the world can see it. They also have the ability to share with YOUR CIRCLES which would be sharing with everyone in your circles. (So there is no need to create a circle with everyone in it)
The smaller the Circle the better. Google+ ranks posts higher if they are shared with a smaller circle versus a larger circle (this also reduces the SPAM effect you see on Facebook). For example, if I have 4 friends in one circle (BEST FRIENDS) and 150 friends in another circle (ALL FRIENDS)... and I share the same post to BEST FRIENDS it will show up higher in their stream versus if I share it with ALL FRIENDS.
When creating circles - don't think just SOCIAL.... think of how you communicate in real life to people. There are some things you only want to share with Family... and some things you may only find relevant to people at Work. Use Circles to increase your engagement with Google+1. Think about posts, articles you share, photos you post, videos you think are funny, videos you think are educational, etc..... sharing is now secure and focused. Use it.

More to come......

GOOGLE+ (10 cool ways to use it) --- Final Installment

2011-07-13T19:38:00.000-05:00

I am finishing off my post with the final four things that are cool uses for Google+. The last two posts are here and here.

(follow me on Google+ here)

I already hit all the key features... so here are some things that are a little more obscure and some things that I would like to see happen (which I am sure Google is +1 ahead of me)

7.) Gmail and +1. If you are like me - you never really liked the way email works. It just feels like someone throws 100 envelopes at you in the morning and you spend all day picking them up and reading them - in not particular order or priority. It really doesn't make sense. If I get an email telling me I am the lucky winner of 10,000,000 euros - I want that to be the first one I open :)

Enter +1 ---- I have a gut feeling that we will soon be able to integrate G+ Circles and our messaging. This may be the best thing since PB&J. If I could sort my emails by circles in an easy way... and automatically set priorities on which ones are important, personal vs. work - and most importantly which ones are from people I don't even know (e.g. blocking spam).... that would be great.

Integrating social networking and email. Could be very cool. (also, it would be nice to have my Contact Database on my Gmail and my Google Phone be always up to date - synced with G+ accounts).

8.) Sparks. What is a spark? First, It's weird Google would use such an obtuse name. Usually Google branding defaults to literal terms like Mail, Docs, Photos... and suddenly they start using fancy branding like "sparks" and "huddle". Anyway... what is a spark? Apparently it is simply information you get excited about. If you want to follow the latest news on a topic... you setup a spark.

Essentially, it creates a very personal news feed within +1... which can be very cool. I am using it to track news about businesses I follow, but also to track things that I am interested in. For example: I happen to be in NYC this week, and I tracked "New York Restaurants" --- and it gave me some cool things to read about openings, reviews.

I am not sure how "sparks" fits into the whole strategy of Google+1 - - - but I think it can be a cool feature if you just put some thought around relevant feeds you want to follow. I would use it more for "real time" stuff... and I think you will see more value.

9.) SEO. If you are in the "biz"... and trying to get your website higher rankings on Google. Well guess what... Google is using +1 in their search and also favoring websites that are linked from within the +1 network..... so start making it a habit to post links to your website when relevant (don't spam because that will hurt you).

10.) Viewing Profile as.... in case you didn't see this feature - it is the best thing for people who are nervous that the picture they just uploaded of them drunk at the Holiday party won't be seen by their boss... they can easily double check by using this feature.... what a great idea (once again making it clear that Google wants you to use it for personal and business....)

GOOGLE+ (10 cool ways to use it) --- continued....

2011-07-12T23:52:00.000-05:00

Here is the 2nd installment of GOOGLE+ (10 cool ways to use it)

For the first article go here.

4.) Share your Location. One of the big issues with "geo-location" features in social media applications is privacy. Nobody wants to be tracked all the time, so anyone can see their location... and many times "checking in" (ala Foursquare) is hard to remember too... but with G+ you can include your location (optionally) when you post. Its a great way to trigger a meetup.... (and you can share only with the people you want to using circles, which makes it great for people who have hundreds of stalkers).

At some point, I am sure they will add Google Places, and essentially be another Foursquare-like app.

5.) Huddle. Group messaging is an absolute must if you want to truly have a powerful social networking platform. For some reason, Facebook missed the boat on this one (they bought Beluga but haven't done anything yet). Huddle allows you to easily send a text message to numerous people, and begin a group chat. This can be an amazing tool for quick "mobile" meetings with select co-workers or if your traveling with a bunch of people on a trip and want to keep track of everyone. The uses are endless and by Google putting this feature in release 1 of G+ means they are serious about mobility.

6.) Group Chat. With Google Hangout... they really create a whole new layer of awesomeness on +1. The fact you can easily bring numerous people to a video-chat window is so cool, you will want to do it, just to do it. I may even use this in the office, instead of walking down the hall.

more to come later....

GOOGLE+ (10 cool ways to use it)

2011-07-12T12:01:00.002-05:00

"let me count the ways...." - Shakespeare

Follow me on Google+

As I continue to work thru Google+1 I find myself seeing all the possibilities of using G+ in my daily life (including work of all things - which doesn't make sense??? I thought social networking was about not HAVING to do work).

If you read my last article, I touched on some key differences between G+ and Facebook... I'll touch on some more here as well.

But first lets talk about what cool things you can do with G+ that you maybe didn't think of:

1. Social Bookmarking - This may be the most basic function within Google+ but it may go unnoticed to some people who never got into Delicious, Technorati, etc. Essentially, when you +1 a link its not just about sharing the link, but it also bookmarks the link in your Google+ profile. (click on your profile, and then click on "+1s".).

I use this as a way to bookmark links I want to revisit later in the day, or blogs I want to read in the future. It allows you to easily delete the link when your done as well.

2. A Better Twitter - I often get asked "Why do people use Twitter?". My answer usually discusses the value of having a real-time news feed and ability to follow people who have influence in your industry or access to information you are interested in. In short, I only found Twitter useful as a "read-only" medium. Primarily because I rarely feel people read my "tweets". So it's always been a one-way medium for me, and probably for most people. With G+1 it makes "tweeting" or micro-blogging more of a two-way, because it is built on a more natural social network.

I can "follow" people (just like twitter), but the content is displayed much more like Facebook (with embedded pictures, comments, etc). It just feels more powerful and interactive then Twitter.

So, something you may not do - but should - is find some people you want to "follow" and see what they post. For example, I follow the CEO of Google, a few Venture Capitalists in the Valley, and other people (that I don't know, but interested in what they post). FOLLOW on G+ by adding people to your Following circle... its a BETTER TWITTER.

3. A Professional Image - One of the biggest weaknesses of Facebook is that it was born as a pure social network for college kids. Thus, there was never any real consideration for people who have jobs, that don't want their friend to share photo of them doing tequila shots at the local bar with no shirt on. Thus, most people avoid "friending" their coworkers or anyone in their professional "circle". (which is why networks like LinkedIn, FastPitch even exist).

But now with Google+ ... you are given more freedom and ability to build professional circles, and keep your personal life and professional life separate online. Although it doesn't come close to replacing the features native in LinkedIn, FastPitch - it does introduce another network where sharing with co-workers is "ok".

So I suggest taking baby-steps in building an online relationship with your co-workers.... ultimately this will help business-oriented social networks - because people will become more disciplined and take the time to learn how to be "professional" online.

These are three cool things you can begin to use G+ for.... more to come later.

Follow me on Google+

GOOGLE+ vs. Facebook

2011-07-11T11:09:00.002-05:00

I just got my invite to Google+ and I have had some time to poke around. Here is my take on G+ versus Facebook.

1. Google circles is really the key differentiation. Allowing people to select who they want to share content to makes social networking more pertinent. In facebook its too difficult to set this up and too cumbersome to go back and make lists work. Google starts off right by making people build circles thus making there experience more relevant and giving you a sense of content control.

2. Google allows for you to follow too. Like twitter you may want to follow someone in your industry. You don't HAVE to be friends. This is powerful for professional use. And because of circles the content is more relevant. I don't have to hear about the personal habits of people I follow....just the broadcast worthy posts

3. Google was playing chess while facebook was playing checkers. It is clear with G+ that it is going to be a layer over all applications within Google. The most important one is android. By owning its own mobile OS it is positioned to dominate social applications on the phone. Facebook has no such path. Over time more social traffic will be mobile due to photos, at-work browsing, etc. I don't see facebook gaining ground here. It is clear Google sees mobile as the future - you can see it in the user experience. Simple and mobile driven.

4. The big advantage G+ has is being able to learn from facebooks mistakes. Being new and fresh is an advantage too. Everyone likes the new car smell...and because Google has the ability to generate viral sharing with its massive distribution it is one of the few companies that can have millions signup in less than a week. Facebooks key competitive advantage was the network itself. People won't switch because their friends are only on facebook. Google puts a major dent in this advantage. Facebook made the mistake of allowing their users to get bored. And Google took advantage of it. The last few facebook announcements were underwhelming and zuckerbergs greed keeps users from feeling a part of facebook.

5. Google+ has no ads. Atleaat not yet. Which is really nice.

6. Google huddle is a game changer. Facebook was slow to innovate in the collaborative communication space. Facebook chat was weak and until now with Skype ignored video chat. But with huddle Google brings functionality for professional and social use. Plus the group texting functionality ( Ala Beluga which Facebook bought) is icing on the cake.

There are many other aspects I would love to discuss later. I think the scariest aspect of G+ Is that It feels like Google is holding back. Almost like the Best is yet to come. And if that is the case....facebook is in trouble.

Time for zuckerberg to learn a lesson he would have learned if he finished Harvard business school ----

Why the HuB works (part II)....

2011-06-23T22:16:00.000-05:00

If you read my last article, you learned about the genesis of the HuB, and how important it was for us to embrace the creative process. The HuB was a simple concept when we started -

"what if we just create a place where creative entrepreneurs can come together to work, connect and ultimately create whatever they wanted to".

It sounds simple.... but it required more than just getting a building and opening the door. It required a few key pieces that weren't easy pulling together.

The FIRST piece was the commitment to invest in the community. We knew in order to grow the HuB, we needed to build and support the creative community around us. Some people call this a "Social Enterprise" - where a business is driven by doing good.... but I think the HuB is more than that - because we not only strive to do "good", but we also actively promote a platform of change that builds a more progressive and creative community. The HuB effects not just the economic development of Sarasota, but also the social and political dynamics Some of our major community campaigns include "I Love Downtown" (which brought new business to our struggling downtown in the recession), Google Island (which promoted broadband in our community and received national attention), Vote/SRQ (to improve voter turnout in local elections) and many more. These campaigns not only make our community more attractive to the Creative Class, but it also brings attention to our mission and what we are doing at the HuB. The HuB is not just an incubator, or community workspace, or studio.... its a movement... its a catalyst.

The SECOND piece was our commitment to find ways to attract Creative people (e.g. the Creative Class). Its not easy to find young creative entrepreneurs in our community. Sarasota is one of the oldest communities in the U.S. and our primary industry is tourism and real estate. One could argue that this is the most difficult place in the entire Country to start a project like the HuB. Despite this challenge, we knew that we needed to become a "beacon". We knew traditional methods wouldn't work. Creatives don't like networking events and they certainly don't respond to advertisements. So how do you attract young talented entrepreneurs and creative minds within a 60 mile radius???? Answer: Throw parties. We knew that in order to rebuild our local economy, we needed to start to build a more dynamic social life. We went as far to even create a Music Festival. We knew in order to attract Creative People, we needed to give them a reason to come to us. Who knew beer, music and old couches would attract so many amazing creative individuals.

The THIRD piece was having an Open Door Policy.... we have invested hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours in talking with entrepreneurs and creatives who visit the HuB. Most of the time, they are simple conversations about what they want to do, and how we could help. It can be overwhelming to make a commitment to open a "Free Help Clinic" (especially in a recession with 10%+ un-employment). But we knew in order for us to find the entrepreneurs willing to invest time and take the risk to start the next venture at the HuB we needed to talk to everyone. (Everytime someone walks in, we think "this person may have the next best idea").... and this is what drives the growth behind the HuB.

If you really think about these three things... you have to ask the question "How the hell can you get anything done???" You probably won't ever find in a business plan or learn while getting your Masters in Business.....

1) Do Good in your Community

2) Party

3) Help Others Succeed

I admit - it sounds counter-intuitive ..... but then again, that's the point. Embracing creativity.

Why the HuB works...

2011-06-14T22:56:00.000-05:00

A little over two years ago I came up with the idea of the HuB. At the time - it was more of a philosophy than an idea. I certainly did not have a plan - in fact that was the "plan" - NOT to have one. For years, as an entrepreneur and also as an angel investor it seemed like I spent 80% of my time writing a plan or reviewing a plan. And as much I would like to believe you can plan your way to success... I am almost certain that the time we spend on planning is not just overrated, but completely a waste of time.

Before I go into the basic principles of my argument, let me give you some background into the HuB. Before I started the HuB, I spent a lot of time with entrepreneurs developing their ideas, businesses and eventually watching them succeed or fail. I started to see a trend forming over the years. The trend is not scientific, but it is certainly recognizable (perhaps more in a gut feeling) when working with entrepreneurs. I use the word "momentum" a lot when describing why a venture is successful, but more important than momentum is the creativity of the entrepreneur. It was this aspect that I decided to focus on when starting the HuB - CREATIVITY.

I wanted to build a community that embraced creativity over and above any other aspect to building businesses (or for that matter building communities). In order to do this - I knew we have to embrace the creative process when developing the HuB - which meant embracing these basic principles:

1. GROW ORGANICALLY - This principal is a difficult one to explain to an entrepreneur (and especially an investor). Essentially, what we demand is that a business grow organically without the assistance of unnecessary (manufactured) capital. We realize every venture requires capital to start and grow, but we believe it can destroy a business quicker than any other factor. It is critical for anything to grow at it's own natural pace, and only leverage capital when it is based on demand (e.g. new customers, need new product designs, etc) and NOT on some manufactured plan and spreadsheet projecting growth on no real factual data. Many people call this bootstrapping or starting out of your "garage", which I tend to agree with - but its also speaks to the idea that "plans are useless".

2. BE CREATIVE - This is the core principal of the HuB. Too many entrepreneurs focus on the wrong aspects of their business, and instead of being creative on how they can get a product to market - they tend to find themselves in a holding pattern waiting on an investor or taking too long to develop the perfect version of their product. Anytime we look at a business opportunity, we ask the question - "How can we make this idea happen with the resources we have right now?". If the answer is "We can't" - then it forces us to be creative. We find new paths to make the idea happen. Sometimes we can't and we abandon the idea... but many times we do find alternate paths. Entrepreneurs who are creative will succeed. Unfortunately when we demand entrepreneurs spend countless hours developing a plan - they feel like they can't be creative once the plan is written down - and thus - this typically leads to failure. Don't plan. Be Creative.

3. EVERYONE IS AN ENTREPRENEUR - What makes the HuB different than a tech-incubator, a university or even a start up company - is that we want to create entrepreneurs. We don't want employees. This is a challenge, because most people are programmed to look for a "job" - not to create one. Every person who works at the HuB is an entrepreneur. This is not an easy thing to accept if they have had a job all their life. There is a big difference between having a paycheck and manager - to being 100% responsible for the success of your venture each and every day.

It is these three principles that have been the reason I feel the HuB has been so successful. We embrace the chaos knowing that it is part of the process. Everytime a new creative entrepreneur joins the HuB we expect things to change and we hope it adds another element of energy and excitement for everyone else.

The great thing about NOT having a plan.... is every day is unexpected. And that is the way it should be for an entrepreneur.

My (Crazy) Predictions for 2011

2010-12-11T12:59:00.001-05:00

I like to think I can predict the future.... I guess if you believe in early meta-physics or in an estranged religion you can argue that you make your future through each subtle action, thus by definition (unconsciously) you are predicting the future.... but for this blog I am going to stick to voodoo and a little ole' fashioned guessin'.

So, here are my (tech) predictions for 2011

1. Google will buy MySpace. This seems like a weird move... but I have a feeling in my gut, that MySpace is a GOOD buy for them... it's losing value rapidly under its current ownership, and at some point they will wake up and figure out nobody wants to be part of a social network that is run by FOX... and I think they could get a nice premium by putting on auction block. Google needs to make a serious commitment in the space, and their "home grown" stuff won't get traction - because they need everyone to "opt-in" to their network - whereas, MySpace already has the opt-in userbase, and a good footprint that is salvageable by someone like Google. It also makes sense to get Google into the Music space as well (where they need to compete with ITunes/Ping).

2. Open-Source 2.0. Remember when Open-source was king? The rise of Linux, Firefox, etc.... and then it kind of faded away back into it's sub-culture cave... why? My opinion - it's because it never reached out to the masses. Open Source is a brilliant idea, but it needs to enable the masses to participate. It can't just be for hackers who dive into the code - it needs to include the "user" community (for example - Wordpress). So - my prediction - is that Open Source makes a major comeback this year, but with a new twist. Instead of focusing on Operating Systems and Browsers - it will focus on social aspects of the web. In fact, I will make a "pre"-prediction - The company that will overtake Facebook - will be an Open Source network where users (and developers) can have control and input over the entire social-web experience. (Diaspora is a nice step in that direction, but they need to engage the Users and empower them to participate in the creation of the next social network)

3. Facebook will raise 1B and buy every Social Network in the World. Sounds like a World-Domination plan doesn't it? Well guess what - that's their business plan. Bill Gates wanted a computer on every desk - and Facebook wants every single human being to have a profile. BUT, one problem - it's becoming harder and harder to convert people onto Facebook in other countries. (It's kind of like having a party where all your friends are, and you try to get one person to leave - but they won't leave unless ALL their friends leave). In the early days, it was easy. Now, they need to look to acquisitions. There are about 10 social networks that have dominance in their respective countries. Look for Facebook to start buying them up.

4. Yahoo (or Microsoft or Oracle or SAP or...) will buy LinkedIn. Here comes another bidding war. LinkedIn is one of those interesting social networks that seems to grow and continue to be a useful tool on the web but because it's not "social" in content - it doesn't have the explosive growth and use like a Facebook. However, what it does have is a Professional user base that makes buying decisions for businesses they own or work for. The pressure will be on them to find liquidity soon. They have been talking about going public, but nobody believes the revenue scale is there. Also, it just makes sense to sell for a couple billion and call it a day. Any massive company looking to move quickly into the SAAS world and inherit a nice network of users should buy LinkedIn now.

So there you have it.... now we just sit back and watch it all happen :)

Happy New Year. (Try not to spend so much time on Facebook next year.... there are other websites you know)

Why you need to transform your website into a Blog.

2010-10-12T20:01:00.002-05:00

If I looked back at my blog posts I am quite certain I had a blog that talked about the "death of websites" primarily because of the rise of social media. Nobody surfs the web anymore... They visit a few different sites for the most part, and don't feel the need to discover new sites.

Partially this is because the "newness" of web has faded. When we all first got onto the web, everything was exciting. We used to freak out that we could track our packages on ups.com. Not anymore. The typical web user has higher expectations. Not just for quality of content, but quality of conversation. Thus, the challenge. How do you engage users in quality conversation thru your website?

Here are a few steps I recommend:

1. Reduce text. Increase images and video. Nobody reads. We live in a 140 character world now. If you can't say it in 140 chars then don't say it. Remember it's a conversation, if you talk too much it's rude. Let your user be part of the conversation.

2. Be more like a blog. Your homepage of your website needs to engage. It needs to be recent and relevant. Create a voice. A voice that your user relates to. In the dawn of the social web, treat your user like a friend. Be funny. Be honest. Be real. Nobody wants to be a friend to a website. Make it human.

3. Less logo, more love. There is something dysfunctional in brand marketing online. It comes across egotistical. This is why corporate marketing doesn't work on the social web. It comes across like the jerk who loves talking about himself. Don't be a jerk. Give your friends love. Engage them, ask them what they want. Let them talk. Just force feeding corporate marketing and branding down their throat will guarantee they never visit your site again.

4. Be social, but not too social. It's cool to have facebook Twitter, etc linked on your website, but don't go overboard. Keep some good stuff on your website and website only to keep your friends coming back. If you give it all to fb and Twitter, you may lose your friend entirely. For example, capture email or cell phone to keep in contact. Do promotions or clever communications to keep the conversation going. Remember, the user doesn't have to be on your website to engage in conversation. It can happen anywhere.

5. Make website mobile. This seems obvious, but many websites aren't ready for the mobile device. You don't have to go crazy and build an iPhone app, but you do need to simplify the interface for smart phones. The fact is that half the time they get your email or txt message they will get it on their phone. And when they click the link, it will be on the phone.

6. Link, embed and share. Somewhere along the line, the web became a very unfriendly place. When it all started people shared content and linked to each others websites. Then corporate branding got involved, and frowned upon links. Insisting it would cause users to leave. It's time to go back to the roots of the web. Link, share and add value to the network. Blogs brought this spirit of the web back, and it's time your website does the same.

7. Be raw. Be real. Everything on the web is digested in context. Videos on YouTube aren't expected to be million dollar productions, because YouTube has branded the experience as user generated content. The same can be true with your site, if you be more like a blog. You can upload corny videos shot with a flip cam, if in context. You can upload behind the scenes pictures in the context of building your relationship with users. It's not amateurish, it's real. And friends want reality.

8. Entertain. It's what you do when friends come over to visit, and it's what your should do on your website. It doesn't have to be a huge production....something subtle is fine. Remember the small things in life is what connect us. Expose your personality, and people will be entertained.

9. Speak to first time users, but focus on users who visit more than a few times month. Like a blog, you need to speak to your friends and fans. Most website, treat you like it's the first time visiting. Quite frankly it's awkward. It would be like visiting your friend over and over, and him asking your name every time. It's cold and impersonal. Treat users like friends. People want to go to websites where everyone knows their name.

10. Finally.... Be a good friend. Say thanks. Invites them over for dinner. Send them a birthday card.

The 21 Measurable Objectives for Economic Development from the City of Sarasota

2010-08-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

A few people have asked me what exactly are the "priorities" of the City of Sarasota. I am going to post them here on my blog.

I am not going to criticize any of the objectives, but I thought it was interesting how many time the word "explore" was being used for any objective that was focused on entrepreneurship, technology or any kind of new economic development. I highlighted the objectives that are based on real estate development or retail in red.

RED = Real Estate / Tourism
YELLOW = I have no idea what these mean? They seem obtuse and "immeasurable"
GREEN = Explorations that need to be strong commitments

This why we need to email our commissioners and ask them to make Broadband, Innovation and Entrepreneurship a priority.

Measurable Objectives:

1. Palm Avenue Mixed Use Retail Space: Provide the Commission with a Staff analysis of different options for successful development of the retail space component of the Palm Avenue mixed use project. (2010)

2. Baseball Spring Training: Continue to work with Sarasota County and the Baltimore Orioles to facilitate a successful 2010 Spring Training. (2010)

3. Robert L. Taylor Community Center: Commence construction of the new Robert Taylor Center utilizing local labor force. (2010)

4. Newtown Intergovernmental Partnering: Encourage opportunities for intergovernmental cooperation in the Greater Newtown Area (including Sarasota School Board, Sarasota County and the Sarasota Housing Authority). (2010)

5. Pursue Soundstage: Explore opportunities to partner with local educational institutions and government agencies to locate a soundstage (motion picture and television theatrical production space) within the City, with emphasis along North Tamiami Trail or in North Sarasota. (2010)

6. Ad Valorem Tax Exemption: Explore the possibility of preparing a referendum with Sarasota County allowing for an acceptable level of Ad Valorem Tax Exemption for new and expanding businesses that meet an established set of criteria. (2010)

7. Relieve Developmental Impediments: Create a business friendly City Hall by identifying impediments within any of the City Departments that inhibit successful and timely development and, if found, address and improve where possible. (2010)

8. Explore Economic Development Coordinator Position: Explore the possibility of hiring an economic development coordinator to be jointly funded by the City, DID, Downtown Sarasota Alliance, and the Downtown Council of the Chamber of Commerce. Identify existing efforts being made by the City and County towards economic development. (2010)

9. Improve Administration and Community Interaction: Increase administrative interactions with the following organizations: DID, Downtown Sarasota Alliance, St. Armand‟s BID, Coalition of City Neighborhoods and the Downtown Council of the Chamber of Commerce. (2010)

10. Improved E.D.C. Outcomes: Review the role of the Sarasota County E.D.C. in terms of measurable outcomes for the City of Sarasota. (2010)

11. Public Parking: Prepare materials for the Commission to determine the future of public parking; determine if public parking should be sustained by user fees or Ad Valorem Taxes. (2010)

12. Newtown Community Partnering: Develop methods similar to the East Tampa CRA to advance leadership/ownership in greater Newtown area. (2010, 2011)

13. North Trail Improvements: Continue planning efforts of the North Trail Redevelopment Partnership using local resources to stimulate development of commercial nodes. (2010, 2011)

14. Business Incubator Program: Develop a small business incubator program to support and strengthen the small business initiatives in the Greater Newtown Community. The incubator will work in conjunction with the existing Community Entrepreneur Opportunity (CEO) program and Newtown Business and Merchant Association. (2010, 2011)

15. The Institutes for the Ages: Work with S.C.O.P.E. to encourage location of the new Institutes for the Ages within the City of Sarasota limits. (2010, 2011)

16. Wayfinding: Begin implementation of Phase 1 of the Wayfinding SRQ project. (2010, 2011)

17. Downtown Master Plan 2020: Provide suggested changes to the Downtown Master Plan Green Space Policy and make zoning code changes to strengthen Master Plan as needed. (2010, 2011)

18. Marion Anderson Site Environmental Cleanup: Complete a Brownfield Site Rehabilitation Agreement (BSRA) and remediation plan with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to commence an environmental cleanup of the site (extent of cleanup depends on future anticipated use). (2011)

19. Marion Anderson Site Redevelopment Plan: Develop a written process with timelines for the development of the Marion Anderson Site that include an appreciation of current market conditions and economic challenges. (2011)

20. Sell Palm Avenue Parcel: Issue an RFP for the sale of the City‟s remaining Palm Avenue parcel. Sale might be subject to the condition that buyer builds a mid to high-end market hotel. (2011)

21. Water Tower Technology Park: Explore possibility of creating a Technology Park near Water Tower Park to stimulate North Trail development. (2011)

Email our commissioners asking for them to make BROADBAND A PRIORITY!

Kelly.Kirschner@sarasotagov.com

Fredd.Atkins@sarasotagov.com

Richard.Clapp@sarasotagov.com

Suzanne.Atwell@sarasotagov.com

Terry.Turner@sarasotagov.com

Broadband = Economic Development

2010-08-04T07:53:00.000-05:00

Have you ever felt like you are in an episode of the Twilight Zone? Occasionally, I find myself in conversations where I truly believe I am being "punked" by Rod Sterling. Usually, it happens when the topic of "Economic Development" comes up.... perhaps this doesn't happen at your dinner table - but somehow the topic manages to come up often in my world.

For those who know our efforts around the Google Fiber campaign (http://www.googleisland.net/) you will already know how passionate we are about broadband, but beyond that campaign we are also working hard on convincing our public and private leadership how important it is to make broadband a priority in our community. Right now, the city has over 50 priorities set for this fiscal year, and broadband isn't one of them.

So, lets take a step back - and redefine what "broadband" is - specifically in the context of things we care about creating jobs, health, schools, safety and the environment. When I say "broadband" in meetings, I think most people have a picture of a cable pop in their head. This is probably why they are so quick to dismiss the concept of "broadband saving our city" is a "dream". So perhaps this is the challenge we are faced with in educating our leadership exactly what broadband really is....

1. Broadband is the number one asset to any business. If you take away bandwidth, the business will die. If you restrict bandwidth the business will lose to its competition.

2. Broadband is the number one asset in education. Without connectivity to information, to tele-learning, to connect classrooms around the world - our education system will fail to keep up with our work force standards.

3. Broadband is the number one asset of healthcare. Communication, data gathering and collaboration are critical to 21st century healthcare. Tele-medicine, remote monitoring, and mobile devices for managing health care operations are critical to providing state-of-the-art cost-effective health care.

4. Broadband is the number one asset in our environment. Preserving our environment requires research, collecting data, monitoring energy use - all of which requires broadband. Our use of energy is directly related to our ability to monitor date and improve operations leveraging broadband.

Almost every challenge we face as a community you can assume that broadband is part of the answer. We are not simply talking about improving connectivity to the home so we can all download movies faster - we are talking about the lifeline to our community.

Observations from an Outsider....

2010-06-27T19:34:00.000-05:00

For those who know me - you know that I don't really like meetings, committees, board rooms and for that matter pants (I wear shorts). However, when we decided to look at economic development as one of the core principals of the HuB - we knew we would have to engage with the community on a more active basis. And for the last six months we have been interacting much more and going to meetings, and being part of committees (but still wearing shorts).

The three "groups" I am part of are 1) The "Design Platform" for Economic Development sponsored by the county and EDC 2) The Regional Incubator group and 3) The Task force for Better Broadband in Sarasota County.

Although all three are organized and sponsored by the local government - they are very different in how they were formed, and also how they operate.

The first one - Design Platform was created as part of a long term economic development strategy by some consultants and community leaders. I am not sure how everyone was picked to be in the group (most are private sector, a couple of government people)... and I am not sure how many of them are really taking an active role in executing the mission. I have gone to a few meetings, and they are getting progressively worse and unorganized. Ironically of the three groups I am part of - there is an actual coordinator and real money being spent on this effort.

The second one was started, because we have four incubator projects going on in the county, and they wanted to have some way to share ideas, work and perhaps leverage experience. Everyone in the group is linked in some way to an incubator project, so they do take an active role in the group since it has relevance to their day-to-day objectives. I volunteered to help orchestrate the group, and help the collaboration process since I was the only one who has actually started and operated an incubator. I want to see this group succeed, because I do believe a healthy economy starts with the entrepreneurs in the community - but I am not sure there is much funding or real economic investment from the city or county on this one.

The third is one I started with the CIO of the city after the Google Island initiative. It is made up of the "tech" leaders from the county, city, school board, hospital. This is definitely an active group or people who understand broadband and play a key role in our future broadband plans. I enjoy this group because it is truly a Task force - we are doing the work - and executing the plan.

There seems to be two key factors that I believe are related to the success or failure of each one of these groups. 1) Expertise and 2) Investment. As I look at each person around the table at these meetings, I ask myself - How much expertise does this person have in what we are talking about - and how much (time/money) are they willing to invest?

To me - that is the Elephant in the room....

I just want to go around the table and simply ask "What is your expertise you bring to the table and how much are you willing to invest?"

Is that too much to ask??? Am I being rude or politically incorrect?

In my opinion, it would make a group stronger - and more effective... but I fear that the truth may also be exposed, and perhaps that is why we never ask the hard questions. We don't want to know that we lack the expertise for some of these difficult problems, or that the people that should be at the table are not - probably because they don't have the time to waste. And if we truly ask everyone at the table to make an investment of time and money - perhaps we fear the table would be empty before you could say the word - "accountability".

Oil and Water...

2010-06-09T18:17:00.000-05:00

It has been a confusing few weeks - almost surreal. Even after reading the reports, and following the news - its hard for me to understand what exactly is happening and why it is so difficult to solve. Unfortunately, we can't control what happened and we can only hope a bunch of smart people have a plan to fix what we have broken. So my focus on this blog, is to try to take a 30,000 foot perspective because the 20 foot perspective is too depressing.

So, here is what we know as fact:

1. Oil is underground.
2. Oil Company drills for Oil.
3. People buy Oil.

So, this may seem a little uncomfortable - but perhaps we need to look at #3 ... instead of focusing on #2. Can we really live in a free market system with a straight face and protest Oil companies and then drive our Gas-powered car to the movies on Friday night? I am not completely unrealistic and expect everyone to stop buying oil or oil based products (because that would be about 80% of the stuff in your house) - but what I am advocating is reducing our waste of oil. There is a big difference in using oil to build products that we use effectively, and driving around town and burning gas just for the heck of it. (Florida is the 3rd biggest consumer of oil in the United States.)

Ironically, it seems we are arguing over POWER... how much POWER the Oil companies have and how they abuse it, and how little POWER the government has to stop this mess... but in reality neither of these entities have any power. We hold all the POWER. We make the decision whether to use oil or not. We make the decision on the future of energy. We hold all the POWER.

HuB Fund to support local economy during Oil crisis in the Gulf of Mexico

2010-06-03T13:59:00.000-05:00

The HuB Fund, a 501c3 fund launched in partnership with the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, is working on a plan to help local businesses address concerns that the local economy will be affected by the current oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Although we don't know if the oil will hit our beaches in Sarasota, we still need to take action to help educate out-of-state tourists that our beaches are currently unaffected." says Rich Swier, co-founder of the HuB. "Our goal is to leverage social meda and our production studio to drive a positive message and hopefully this will help educate people but also give encouragement to our local merchants that working together we can get through this challenging time."

The HuB has launched similar campaigns to help the local economy including "Google Fiber" and "I Love Downtown". Both campaigns were funded by the HuB with the goal of bringing awareness to Sarasota, Florida and also helping local merchants survive during the economic downturn.

"Our approach to bringing a community together is unique," comments Joey Panek, head of Social Media at the HuB, "we build a campaign primarily on the web using social media and interact with the community through video and conversation. Once we have engaged the community, it typically takes on a life of its own, and we no longer control or drive it - the community does. Which is exactly what we want."

More information on the HuB Fund is available at http://www.hubsarasota.com. Donations are accepted online. Donations are tax-deductible.

Why we shouldn't measure success in Profit - and other wacky ideas...

2010-06-02T19:02:00.000-05:00

I may get burned at the stake for saying this - but I believe we shouldn't meaure success of a business by looking at a Profit and Loss statement. Matter of fact, that goes for the whole system. It's what is breaking the entire spirit of the free market system, and its killing the entrepreneurial blood line that built our country from nothing.

The entrepreneurs that built America, and for that matter the world - didn't care about financial risk, or financial projections... they set their mind on changing the world. And many of them died broke doing so. Profit was not how they measured success, but rather the ability to make the world a better place - whether it was curing a disease, exploring new horizons or opening our eyes to new technology - the mission wasn't money - it was discovery.

The free market system works if the power is in the hands of the entrepreneur who can create new markets, build new revenue and grow our economy through innovation.... but it does not work when the free markets are dominated and controlled by banks, lawyers and brokers. And the only thing the financial system cares about is profit... and not only do they measure it - they manipulate it and distort it - to the point where is an abstract measurement of the future - and tells us nothing of the present.

The irony here - is that entrepreneurs create the future, and the financial "horde" sell the future. But what happens when the entrepreneur is no longer empowered.... what exactly is the "horde" selling?? ... nothing.

There is a clarity of judgement in an entrepreneur that few people understand. It is the idealism within an entrepreneur that allows them to risk everything for a vision - not based on financial gain, but of something greater. A purpose.

Lost inside the HuB?

2010-05-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

I can't tell you how often get the question "what exactly is the hub?". Actually i can... About 10 times a day. I guess I should take full blame (or credit depending on your perspective).

It dawned on me last night while watching the final episode of LOST on tv (btw, if you are Matt Orr stop reading here, because I will reveal too much and ruin your week).

The television show Lost is about life and death, but it takes a less obtuse view that has been the cornerstone of religion, and actually puts a little science and interpersonal discovery into the mix. And for those who have watched the show I will do my best to explain what the HuB is by using analogies from Lost.

Ok... So first I look at the HuB much like the island....where we thought originally a bunch of random strangers were stranded after an airplane crash.... But as the show went on we realized that it was not randomness that brought them together but instead a very powerful connection between each one of the characters. Although I cant prove there is a dynamic force at play I have to believe that the HuB has a very similar power to the island - a magnetic force that draws creative people.

And although at first it seems highly random when I meet each of the new people that come into the hub....in hindsight it's obvious it is more than chance....a creative energy is present and seems to be growing stronger as we have a new member come onto our "island".

The other similarity is that there is a magical mix of trust, companionship and science. The show Lost does an amazing job touching some very powerful concepts like the effect of electromagnetic fields on time travel, and the power of human persuasion over nature. Although I don't think we will be building bunkers anytime soon... I feel like our quest to bring technology together with creativity follows the same path of discovery that we watched episode after episode trying to understand what the point of this damn show was??

So if you can explain the power of island... You can explain the hub. It is a place where people are drawn and find themselves challenged but also destined to build something new and redefine their community but also discover their ability to be creative and innovative beyond what they may have experienced outside the HuB.

I am not sure we all feel "lost".... But if we do... It's in the good way...we are looking at the world from a completely different perspective, and if by being stranded on an island at first may make you feel like you are lost.... I can assure you that once inside the HuB you will never want to leave.

Oh yeah.... I haven't decided whether I am Jack or John Locke yet....but I know for a fact Matt is the swarthy guy with glasses. :)

Top 5 Reasons why we should brand Sarasota as "Creative Paradise"

2010-05-19T20:53:00.000-05:00

Its not a new idea - just an idea that never seems to make it past committee. Sarasota needs a brand. (by definition a brand is what defines us and represents why we are unique). We can't just be "Your Beach Destination" or "Good Life. Good Business" (some of the more famous tag lines of Sarasota).

A brand is real, honest and embraced. Its not a tag line formed by committee. Of course everyone has their unique experience in Sarasota - and if you ask 100 people I am sure you would get 100 different descriptions... so by default a brand is inclusive and exclusive at the same time. But most importantly a brand needs equity - so you can sell whatever your selling. If its a weak brand, its a tough sell.

So I am going to make my case of why we should brand Sarasota as "Creative Paradise".

1. John Ringling - one of our founding fathers - and perhaps one of the most creative men in history. He was the original Walt Disney - the real Cirque du Soleil.... the first Creative Entrepreneur.

2. Arts Community - one of the most dynamic arts community for any city (much less a small city). Our Opera, Orchestra, Theatre and sub-culture of rising artists is bar none the best I have seen per capita in the world.

3. Beaches - There are many beaches in the world, but few beaches offer such a dynamic view of city scape, islands, beautiful architecture and the calm horizon of the Gulf. Sarasota is a true paradise.

4. Entrepreneurial Culture - We have a wide-range of entrepreneurs - different from the valley (where the typical entrepreneur is a Stanford grad - 28 years old, who worked at Google or Yahoo, and is spinning off a .com business). Sarasota's entrepreneurs are more art than science. They range from ages of 18 to 88 and their ideas are ambitious. Our unique advantage of having some of the smartest people in the world buy winter homes or retire to our coast gives us a rising class of entrepreneurs that has the potential to drive a new economy.

5. Education Institutions - Although we don't have the likes of an M.I.T in our backyard - we have two of the most heralded creative institutions in the world - Ringling College of Art and Design and New College. Both are recognized as producers of amazing talent that bring some of the most creative ideas to life. And beyond college, we also have Pine View and new Technical Institute - which redefine high school education for the 21st century.

Well that's my pitch...

Whether my brand is liked by many or few - I hope at least we can agree that we need to have all stakeholders in our community come to the table and agree on the message. We are competing with cities all across the world, and we have less capital and in many cases much less incentives to offer. So we better put together one hell of a sales pitch if we want the next generation to move here and help us build the Sarasota of the future..... or we may just end up like Detroit - 25 years too late and dead.

Five things we need to focus on... to build a Creative Class

2010-05-06T07:33:00.000-05:00

I always used to believe if you write something down, it makes it real. I must have a million thoughts that go through my head each day, but unless it is written down, it never seems to get attention. So, here I am writing down what I believe we need to focus on to build a strong creative class in Sarasota, Florida.

1. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT. Any city looking to attract and retain creative minds, needs to offer a dynamic social environment. Entrepreneurs live where they want to, and rarely does economics come into play when choosing the place to start a company. Since a startup doesn't need much office space, tax incentives are meaningless, and funding is far and few between - the one thing that matters most is quality of life. Everything from a strong arts and culture base to a dynamic night life come into play - but more importantly they need to connect with social circles of other creative minds to truly feel at home.

2. A SALES PITCH. Building a city is not much different than building a business. You have a product, a budget and you need to find a market to sell. Sarasota is unique, because it has an awesome product - the beach. But it also has a bunch of secondary products that have tremendous value - strong arts community, economic assets like Mote, Ringling College, etc... and also has a rising "startup culture". However, we don't have a strong sales pitch. Our messaging is fragmented and for the most part very weak. We need to have a cohesive pitch and target the creative class... otherwise we can't close the deal.

3. INFRASTRUCTURE. Such a broad term, so let me be more specific. We need to build the 21st century highway - Fiber and Wireless networks. If we want to attract tech entrepreneurs, we need to give them the one thing they need more than anything - BANDWIDTH. Our city currently has two providers but they focus mostly on connecting homes, not businesses. And the current offering to businesses is not enough. We need to have 1GIG+ connectivity in designated zones to attract entrepreneurs.

4. LEADERSHIP. Our current leadership was spawned from an economy based on tourism and real estate development. If we want to attract the creative class, we need to represent the creative class in leadership positions related to economic development. What if roles were reversed??? Would we have 10 artists on the EDC Board - if we wanted to attract Real Estate developers?

5. LEVERAGE EXISTING ASSETS. It seems like every time the topic of Economic Development comes up - the conversation quickly becomes a "We need X, and We need Y" argument. Instead of taking an honest look at what assets we have, and thinking "creatively" - we are always coming up with excuses what we can't. For example - "We need a convention center if we want to attract conferences." - NO, we don't. We have the ability to host conferences with existing assets - we just need to be creative and re-invent how a conference can be done. We need to stop trying to be like other cities, and just be ourselves, and work with what we got.

I always believe its more important to walk-the-walk...to prove a point... so here are three projects I have been involved in that have been highly effective and demonstrate some of the points above.

1. I LOVE DOWNTOWN (http://www.ilovedowntownsrq.com/) - a campaign to unite downtown merchants and to market to locals and tourists the great experiences we have in downtown Sarasota. The campaign included posters around the city, a strong social media campaign, and promotions. It's an example, of how a strong sales pitch and marketing campaign can help hundreds of businesses.

2. GOOGLE ISLAND (http://www.googleisland.net/) - a campaign to compete for Google Fiber network. Thousands of cities applied to be considered for the Google Fiber Network rollout, and Sarasota was able to grab national attention through a very powerful campaign. The goal was to market Sarasota as an innovative city, but also fight for better broadband.

3. VINYL FESTIVAL (http://www.vinylfestival.com/) - a music festival launched in 2009 for social development. The primary goal is to attract young entrepreneurs and the creative class. The music festival brings talented artists to the area, helps local businesses during the slow season (Summer) and puts Sarasota on the map as a hip/cool location for music lovers.

In summary - If we want to attract Creative people, we need to be Creative.

LOCAL BUSINESSES COME TOGETHER TO BUILD ELECTRIC CAR

2010-04-02T15:10:00.000-05:00

BEACH BOYS WILL TAKE A SPIN AT VAN WEZEL BEFORE THEIR PERFORMANCE

SARASOTA –Apr 2…Mike Love of The Beach Boys, the No. 1-selling American band of all time (Billboard) will take a spin in Sarasota’s first retro-fitted Electric Car to help raise awareness of “Project Green Machine”. The inaugural drive will happen on Tuesday, April 6th at 4:30pm at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall prior to the performance which begins at 8pm and Burgers on the Bay which begins at 5:30 pm on the Bayfront.

The Electric Car was built in a coordinated effort lead by Forrest Shaw, owner of Pastry Art and the HuB, lead by engineer Pete Hansen. Appropriately called “Project Green Machine”, Forrest and Pete want to demonstrate how local businesses can begin to embrace technology and position Sarasota, Florida as a leader in green initiatives.

The project has been documented on the website www.projectgreenmachine.com where the reconstruction of a 1969 Volkswagen Squareback begins and is retro-fitted with a state-of-the-art electric motor to bring the classic car to the 21st century.

“What we are doing here is demonstrating how easy it is to embrace green technology,” remarks Forrest Shaw. “As a local business, I want to show other businesses how they can take steps to reduce their emissions and preserve our environment”. Pastry Art is planning to use the converted VW Squareback to make deliveries to customers in the downtown area.

Rich Swier Jr, founder of the HuB explains the reason why they invested in Project Green Machine. “At the HuB, we support creative ideas that can really change our community, and this is exactly the type of project we want to support. Bringing together a group of entrepreneurs and executing a vision is what Sarasota is all about. We hope other businesses will get behind this initiative to preserve our beautiful city.”

For more information on the HuB, please visit www.hubsarasota.com or Project Green Machine at www.projectgreenmachine.com. For more information and to buy tickets to the Beach Boys performance, contact the Van Wezel Box Office at 941- 953-3368 or log onto www.vanwezel.org.

A Letter to Sergey and Larry (founders of Google)

2010-03-20T22:08:00.001-05:00

Sergey and Larry,

As you may know, everyone here in Sarasota, Florida is excited about the prospects of Google Fiber. Over the past few weeks, we have renamed an island, threw our mayor in a tank with sharks, and almost every business in town is called Google. If these seem like stunts to simply get your attention...(well)... then you would be right.

You see, Sarasota probably wouldn't even have been considered in your search for the best city. Probably because we are mostly known for our sunshine and beautiful beaches (like most of Florida). But now that we got your attention, our hope is you take the time to learn more about us.

So let me start off by giving you a little history... in the early 1900's, a man named John Ringling setup shop here and saw a bright future for his enterprise. He was one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs in American history, and he laid the foundation for our unique town by combining the bravado of entrepreneurship with the love or arts and culture. And to this day, we can see the evolution of his spirit in the fabric of our community and great institutions like the Ringling College of Art and Design - which is known nationally as the top producer of digital animation talent in the world.

Another one of our founders was Bertha Honore Palmer, who also was a lover of the arts and nature. Married to a successful entrepreneur in Chicago, they moved down to Sarasota to develop a new life. Much like her life, the legacy of nature conservation is seen through institutions like Mote Marine Laboratory which leads the world in marine research or projects like Florida's Power and Light largest Solar Plant is located here in Sarasota, Florida. Our appreciation for nature and quality of life is seen in how we apply technology.

I realize there are many factors that go into your decision. Clearly, if it was solely based on community support and outreach - we would definately be on the short list. So I took the liberty in putting together a few thoughts for you to consider as you go through your checklist:

1. Weather - You mentioned weather was a important to allow for a speedy deployment. Well, Sarasota weather is unbeatable. It is one of the reasons, Comcast used Sarasota as a test-market for its broadband rollout in the late '90s.

2. Market Diversity - Sarasota has a diverse population, specifically by the age demographic. If you are looking to get accurate adoption statistics, and understand conversion from dial-up or old broadband to the new fiber service, Sarasota will give you market research that accuraely reflects the age demographics of the country (which is the most important demongraphic for broadband adoption.)

3. Local Government Support - (come'on our mayor jumped into a shark tank...'nuff said)

4. Community Support - We currently rank top 5 cities in community support. Our Facebook Fans have gone through the roof, and through the support of the entire community we were able to coverage in over 100 newspapers and on all major TV stations. Not bad, for a small town :)

5. Infrastructure - We got everything you need - a little dark fiber, poles, right-a-ways and we have two providers (Verizon and Comcast) that could be great partners in building out your test network.

So in summary... I know there are so many choices, and I am sure you may even already made up your mind on a few. But I know (deep down) there was a reason why you asked for community support. This is more than a business decision based on data... this is a decision that could use momentum. You are entering a new market, and no matter how well you plan it out... there will be road blocks. And the last thing you want to do is fight battles on territories that didn't even take the time to submit an application (much less name an island after you).

Maybe you didn't expect the overwhelming fervor over Google Fiber. Certainly you didn't expect cities doing crazy things... but guess what.... they did. And despite the nay-sayers on those Silcon Valley blogs saying "the antics don't matter"... I think both of us know they do. Because whether it was intended or not - you created a ground swell in certain parts of the country - and those "crazy" antics are now part of the conversation....

So all I ask.... is to take in consideration -- that there is a direct correlation to the buzz and support we have shown in nominating Sarasota - and the ultimate success you will have if you choose our community.

(anytime you want to visit, let me know... we would love to have you)

Regards,

Rich

If I were Google, what would I be thinking right now??

2010-03-13T10:56:00.002-05:00

We all know Google is brilliant. They have cities renaming themselves, mayors jumping into freezing cold water, and yes (guilty as charged) - you can find me this weekend on Google Island, Sarasota Florida with a Google Daquiri in my hand....

Their aggressive announcement that they will be putting ultra-broadband in a few cities has created quite a stir in the telecom industry. What does this mean? Are they going to compete with existing providers? Work with them? Are they crazy? Nope. They are brilliant.

In a few days, the Federal Government and FCC will lay out their National Broadband Strategy. And guess what - its not good for the telecoms. It is putting pressure on them to build bigger and better networks, and its also pushing them to play nice in the sandbox. Is this a good thing? I am not sure anyone (except lobbyists) can say whether its good or bad.... but it is good for Google.

There is a shift happening - and I think Google sees it (or perhaps they are driving it). The Internet is currently a very closed network. It is owned and operated by a few players that have spent the money to build our the fiber, and bring us broadband. But the writing is on the wall, to start looking at "opening" it up a bit. Perhaps its because we are ranked 27th in the world in broadband? Or it could be that some people feel the existing providers have just gotten lazy, and are not keeping up with Jones's.

And maybe Google isn't the only brilliant company out there. Maybe Verizon sees a window of opportunity. (marriage made in heaven). Verizon is deploying FIOS (fiber to the home)... and Comcast although they were first to market, they don't have fiber to the home (its Coax). Verizon is having a tough time penetrating a lot of the market, because they were late to market with FiOS. But now... imagine a lunch with the two CEO's of Google and Verizon... and as they order their chicken salad, Lowell (Verizon CEO) leans over and asks Eric (Google CEO) and says "Hey - want to be in the Telecom business?"

So what does this all mean??? Let's review:

1. FCC is pushing for telco's to open their networks
2. Google is looking to boost fiber to the home.
3. Verizon has fiber to the home, but needs capital/help gaining market share
4. Comcast has marketshare, but not fiber to the home.

This may be a perfect storm..... .

And guess what - Sarasota may be the perfect place to see how everyone plays nice in the sandbox.... and if things get a little tense... we can all go have a Google Daquiri, and sing "Don't worry, be happy"

Mercury News covering Google Island

2010-03-11T22:33:00.003-05:00

I love this...

A "Serious" Note on Google Fiber

2010-03-11T19:32:00.000-05:00

I have received a lot of emails recommending we focus on the true assets of Sarasota, and not focus too much on the "sideshow tactics"... so I want to reassure everyone we are focused on the important stuff - but we also feel that the fun stuff gets people's attention a lot easier. For those who want to enter the discussion on a serious note, here is a list of things we believe needs to happen:

1. We need 10,000+ people from our city go to http://www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and fill out this form. Bottom line, Facebook Fan won't be enough (but it helps). We need to show overwhelming response from the community. My best guess on how many people have done it is around 500.

2. We need to form a "BROADBAND STRATEGY" for our community. The process we have gone through in the last few weeks has shown us that we need to have a plan in place. With our Without Google, it would be wise for us to have a well-thought thru plan constructed with input from business leaders that see broadband as a key to economic development.

3. We need to highlight "applications" that can demonstrate the value and power of a ultra-broadband network. Here are some organizations we are working with:

Ringling College or Art and Design - Pre-Post Production, Digital Design
Mote Marine - Collaborative Research, Video Conf, Webcasting
Sarasota Memorial - Remote Care, Data Sharing
The HuB - Data Centers, Tele-Commuting, Tech incubator
Multiple Tech/Creative Businesses - Communications, Vertical Applications

4. We need our leaders to fight for us. The National Broadband Strategy is being announced next week, and I am sure many States will follow suit with broadband strategies as well. There is a lot of stimulus money going toward broadband infrastructure, and many companies are deploying fiber networks throughout the State of Florida. We need to have representation or we will lose out.

5. We need to continue to be Leaders in Technology and Creative industry. The Google Fiber campaign put us on a "map" of cities that understand the need for technology. We were the first and loudest city in the State of Florida. We need to maintain this brand, as an innovative community. Although we have a long way to go to claim our economy as "tech and creative"... we clearly have the capability, the assets and the desire to make the necessary change to move our community in the right direction. WE NEED to continue to build this brand.

So in summary... we are taking this serious, but there is a lot of work yet to be done, and we are depending on your (our) community support. Without a community with focus and purpose, noone will pay attention and nothing will be done.

Send letters to our leadership, asking them to form a Broadband Strategy, and help us improve our local economy... we can do this with or without Google (but don't tell them that yet)

My interview on CNBC

2010-03-11T19:10:00.002-05:00

Why we love Google Island?

2010-03-09T21:45:00.012-05:00

Last month Google announced an initiative to brings ultra-broadband to a few cities in order to demonstrate 1-Gig connectivity to the home. Ofcourse the details are still unknown, but here is my take on how I think things will rollout.

First, broadband is a complex business to begin with. There are many providers, and they share fiber, buy fiber, lease fiber. Some cities (municipalities) own fiber. And after the telecom boom a while ago, a lot of companies put fiber in the ground, but ended up never deploying networks.

Companies like Comcast, Verizon has spent billions laying fiber down to bring broadband to the home (ranging from 5mb to 50mb)... which for most of us in our home is plenty of bandwidth. For business applications, there may be more desired.

So what if Google Fiber comes to Sarasota? Ofcourse, it would be a tremendous boost to our local economy and our brand as a city. But what about existing providers (Comcast/Verizon) - don't they already have fiber here? And ofcourse there are other providers like Level3 and FPL who have fiber coming through our city s well. My gut tells me that Google wants to work with these providers. Much like when Comcast was first deploying their network in 1997, Microsoft invested a billion dollars into Comcast to help them speed up the deployment. I think Google is trying to do the same. Light a fire under Internet providers to bring more bandwidth to the home. But in order to do this, they need to find a model that works in a couple of cities.

So what kind of issues will Google face?

1. Working with the goverment - they want to see how much hassle it is to work with cities/counties/towns. The application they are having cities submit will give them a good idea on who is willing to work with Google. They will also be looking at States, and their existing projects going on regarding fiber deployment, stimulus money, capital projects.

2. Working with existing Providers - Google doesn't want to dig and lay new fiber, so they are going to look for cities that may have available fiber... or have providers willing to work with Google in upgrading the network. Google has already shown their ability to work with internet providers over the past years signing peer agreements. Nobody knows what Google will bring to the table, and what the incumbent providers will bring to the table - but one thing is for sure they have a ton of cash - lots of motive for broadband - and they have a lot of experience in building ultra-broadband networks.

3. Working with Business Community - Google may be talking about bringing fiber to the home but they may be looking for a big win in the business community first. For example, connecting university, hospitals, schools, and business districts. This is referred to as the "middle-mile" - which actually will be a lot easier for Google to make happen.

Ultimately, I think Google realizes there are a lot of unknowns - and there is no better way to find out than to just do it. They understand the basics of building broadband networks (they have one of the biggest and baddest networks in the world between their data centers) - but they have yet to dive into the last-mile (with exception of some wifi projects).

There is also an interesting marketing angle here as well... by talking about deploying 1-gig to the home and getting millions of people excited, puts pressure on existing providers to start looking at potential competition. So, this could all be a head-fake (to some degree)... Google deploys a really awesome gigabit network in a city or two, and the nation becomes insanely jealous and starts demanding their providers make it happen. Either way it is a win-win for the consumer, but there are a lot of dominos that need to fall.

So, as we wait for Google to decide on where they deploy their first network - its important to take a step back and look at the big picture. First - there is a lot of fiber out there ready to be lit up - especially middle-mile - so whether Google does it or not... they may motivate someone else to do it instead. Secondly, it may not be too critical for us to have a gigabit network to our house right now (seriously, how much youtube do we need to download) - but what is more important is getting fiber to our schools, businesses, centers of innovation, labs and hospitals. So let's focus and start there first.... and not sweat it too much.

Social Media Fatigue

2010-02-21T20:15:00.004-05:00

I am not sure if its a medical condition (yet)... but there is an epidemic of Social Media Fatigue (SMF) spreading quickly throughout the country as we speak. Carriers are bringing the virus into our communities - and there is nothing we can do.

What are the symptoms?

1. Do you find yourself logging into Twitter less and less? Have you given up on MySpace completely?

2. Are you losing control of your Facebook Friendships? Did you break the promise to yourself to only ACCEPT people who are actually your friends? Do you occasionally look at your profile and wonder how the hell you have 673 friends?

3. Does your LinkedIn profile still have you working at a job you quit 2 years ago?

If you have these or similar symptoms... you are experiencing the early signs of SMF.

Social Media Fatigue is going to change the world as we know it...why? Because social media is expecting you continue to login 5 times a day, check your latest tweets, update your fan page, and share your photos with the entire network. If you stop - they begin to fade. And who is to blame for SMF - we are - the Users. We lost our way.... the second we looked at Social Media as a way to make money, the minute we accepted a friend request that wasn't a friend and the day we decided to stop logging every day.

How do we stop it? I am not sure we can... but...if there is an "antidote"... it is simple. We (as users) need to make social media applicable. We need to make it useful in making our lives easier and our world a better place. If we are going to fight SMF we need to be cautious of how we use social media....and more importantly if we do use it - let's not abuse it. Make relationships count. Make communications meaningful. Make the network a better place.

If nothing else ---- Give to the network more than you take....

How everything on the web is quickly becoming useless...

2010-01-29T21:50:00.004-05:00

Sometimes things move so fast, you don't even feel yourself spinning.. kind of like standing on the earth...or moving in a fast car.... you are moving - but you just don't feel it.

Well guess what - the Internet right now is moving faster than ever - and I am not sure its going the right direction (or atleast if it is - its leaving everything else behind).

People refer to the current web as "Web 2.0" - but I think that may have been a premature name - assuming you believe 2.0 has some reminense of 1.0. Sure we still have millions of 1.0 websites out there - but they are quickly becoming obsolete.

Nobody goes to websites anymore. We are not in Web 2.0 - we are in new dimension of the Web (lets call it WebOS - kind of catchy old name, for new Web).

So what does this mean? The Web is a platform for utilities (e.g. Applications). User behavior has changed.

BEFORE: Web Marketing = Lets launch a website. Register a cool domain.
NOW: Don't bother, noone will go there - and domains don't matter anymore.

BEFORE: Lets link to other websites, and get links back to our website
NOW: Nobody clicks on links anymore - the web is becoming homogeneus.

BEFORE: Hmmm, this banner ad looks interesting.
NOW: I hate any ad, and for spite I refuse to click.

BEFORE: Let's "surf" the web - click around and explore
NOW: I don't have time to surf or learn new sites - I know where to go to get what I need.

BEFORE: I want to Blog.
NOW: Noone is reading my Blog - I have no audience... I WANT TO POST!

BEFORE: Let me email my friends to see what is going on.
NOW: Why bother emailing, I'll just look at their Wall.

BEFORE: Let me search the web, and see how I can do that
NOW: There is an app for that.

As you can see my point is simple. User behavior has changed, and I am not sure its good for the web. The average number of websites a user hits per day is decreasing NOT increasing. The average user spends more time on a few sites (e.g. facebook), and doing less discovery.

This new phase of the Web, is less about the Internet (the magical tubes that connect us) and more about the Humans behind the device. And you don't need thousands of websites to connect humans. You only really need a few. (Is that good or bad?)

We are molding the Internet into a Human media, and building form factors and tools around specific functions (applications), and ignoring the old "websites". We don't realize it, but with every Tweet or Poke - we are killing a website. Our window to the web is shifting to mobile devices (which have never been web friendly). Take the Iphone. Do you use the IPhone to surf old websites? Probably not. You download an app, and run the app. Going to the browser becomes more of a hassle.

Why are websites dying? Its actually pretty logical if you think about it. A website isn't human. It doesn't talk. It's doesn't communicate. It doesn't show emotion. It's not real-time.

If you think about it - we should be surprised they lasted as long as they did.

Why Social Media is Local

2010-01-10T14:51:00.002-05:00

It seems like every conversation I have with people (especially marketing folks) about Social Media - they always talk in terms of Global.... and I am not sure that is the right way to measure social media.

A popular tidbit everyone throws out is "Facebook has over 350M users!!!". Which I admit is impressive - but in reality its a similar stat to "There are 25,000 McDonalds in the world". Which is another impressive stat. But the reality is I have only been to maybe 10 different McDonalds in the last few years - and for the most part I go to one or two close by (e.g. locally).

I am sure everyone I know has eaten at McDonalds at least once or twice - and some people every week. Probably a lot like Facebook. Some of my friends update their status daily or even hourly, and some still have "RIP Michael" as their status.

So is McDonalds a Global Company? Sure, but we don't really think of it that way... we think of it as a local fast food restaurant. We know its everywhere - but we really only care about the one closest to where we live.

I think Social Media is more like McDonalds than we think.

Sure, we all have friends in other states (or even other countries) - but do we really see them that often or even comment on their wall a lot? Or do we really connect more with friends who live closeby or work with us on a daily basis?

What percentage of your Friends live nearby? Probably 80% at least? So doesn't that make Social Media LOCAL?

What events and pictures do you see come across your wall or news feed? Are they nearby? probably... so doesn't that make it LOCAL?

Social Media should be defined from the user perspective NOT by the perspective of the entire network (top down).

FACEBOOK is not 350 Million networked users, just as much as the world is not 5 Billion connected humans. Facebook is a network of 130 friends (see stats) (average number of friends a user has on Facebook). Facebook is not a network of millions of fans - most pages have less than 1,000 fans and are regional in focus.

So if you are looking to engage with Social Media, and looking to market your business - you need to not forget that social media marketing is more like local media marketing than you may think.

10 Ways we can improve Economic Development in Sarasota

2009-06-28T22:19:00.010-05:00

I have been (somewhat) involved in the economic development efforts of our city - Sarasota, Florida. I love this town, and plan to live here a long time. However, our city (like most) lacks the economic diversity to sustain a healthy economy during tough times. Like most Florida towns, Sarasota has depended heavily on tourism and real estate.

When I first began writing this article I was going to complain and whine about how this city isn't doing the right things to help strengthen our economy - but instead I figured I should take a more positive road, and lay out ten things I would do:

1. FOCUS ON OUR ASSETS - I think sometimes we try to be what we really are not. We try to convince people we have a robust work force, or that we have an awesome tech infrastructure. We need to focus on what we have that is real, strong and what can attract a new economy. For example, Ringling Art School as one of the strongest schools in country around interactive design, animation, gaming, etc. Other assets we have is a vibrant Arts community, Mote Marine and our Film Festival. We need to leverage these assets to become nationally recognized as a destination for entrepreneurs.

2. FOCUS ON ENTREPRENEURS - Focus our Economic Development efforts on recruiting and retaining entrepreneurs. We waste time and money on trying to get "big companies" to relocate. We need to bring creative and tech professionals to our city, to build a new economy.

3. BUILD INCENTIVES - We need to have incentives to attract young, emerging companies to move here while they are able to decide where they want to grow their new company. We need to have money and programs that are aggressive in bringing them here. For example - Free Office Space - leveraging programs like the HuB Incubator is doing, or expanding on this concept into a Tech/Creative Park - where companies can apply and qualify for free rent for 2-3 years.

4. HIRE A LIASON - We need someone who is dynamic and energetic and knows how to get entrepreneurs excited about Sarasota. We need someone to visit Venture Capitalists, and other cities and incubators/colleges around the State. Constantly trying to get new startups, emerging growth companies to move here.

5. GET SERIOUS ABOUT TECH - A City needs to walk the walk... and we are not leading the way on being a "green/tech city". We need to invest in more tech infrastructure, broadband downtown. We need to show the world, that Sarasota can be innovative as a city.

6. BUILD A YOUNGER CULTURE - In order to retain and attract young professionals we need to build a younger culture in Sarasota. Projects like the VINYL FESTIVAL launched by the HuB do exactly this - it reaches out to the entrepreneur, artist, young professional and shows them this city acknowledges them, and has created a social side to our lifestyle.

7. BUILD PARTNERSHIPS - Start leveraging Assets in our city and build strong partnerships with other organizations along the I-4 corridor and around the State. Build relationships with UCF, UF and Disney. Extend research and development from these colleges and others into Sarasota. For example, create programs between - UF and MOTE or RINGLING and DISNEY... setup commercialization offices, and take IP to Products - create companies.

8. BRIDGE TECH AND TOURISM - Leverage our huge influx of tourists, and bombard them with tech/creative influence. Make them believe Sarasota is a tech-city and then they spread the word, or perhaps make a decision to move here. Make them want to start their next venture here - and not just vacation here.

9. EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA/NETWORKING - Expand on programs like EnergizeMyBiz.com which is a social network for Sarasota. Give all professionals the tools and ability to become more connected. Leverage online tools to enhance the local school system, government and other organizations to make the city more engaged, connected and efficient.

10. LAUNCH A GLOBAL MARKETING / PR CAMPAIGN - Take some money out of budget and launch an aggressive campaign to attract entrepreneurs and creative professionals to the area. Focus on areas where there is high entrepreneurial activity, and make it known to them that Sarasota wants to be their next home.

Hope someone is listening :)

A New Incubator

2009-04-18T19:31:00.003-05:00

Some of you may know we had an incubator a few years ago, and unfortunately despite its success we had to let go of the space for a local school.... but now we are back again picking up where we left off... launching a new Incubator.

We chose the same location (Rosemary District just north of Downtown Sarasota) because we believe it is a perfect place to build a tech/creative cluster. The building is bigger than before, and we have bigger plans for the space.

Most people define an Incubator as a place you provide office space to startups, and maybe give some advice here and there. This is not our model.

Sure, we want to help entrepreneurs and yes, startups will work out of the space - but this is really not the mission of our incubator.

Our mission is to change the landscape and perception of our city on multiple levels - social, economic and political.

Video Distribution - a New Market

2009-03-19T14:01:00.001-05:00

I have been involved in a company (ThisWeekInc.com) for a while, and I believe there is a lot of potential in creating and distributing content on the web - specifically video. We have decided to focus on the local market and getting info out to tourists (afar and visiting).

Here is a sample of what we have done:

This text will be replaced

The Florida Opportunity Fund as I see it....

2009-03-11T22:44:00.005-05:00

Okay... I finally was able to get the info on the Florida Opportunity Fund. (This is the 30M dollars given by the State to help fill the funding gap for startups to VC's, and also attract more capital to the State by investing with VC funds, Angel funds (inside and outside the State).

I am not sure what the best use of the funds would be - but let me start by saying 30M is a tough number to work with. Its not enough to really attract big V.C.s who manage 250M+ funds and its not enough to really spark new angel funds... (e.g. make some good people get off the couch and start raising money with the potential to get matching funds).

So where will this money go? It seems like most of it will go to V.C.s who really don't make investments in Florida - but now "suddenly" see the opportunity because they can take some of the State's money. Maybe some of it will go to local funds - but who? There is only one true VC Fund in Florida (Inflexion) and only 3 organized Angel funds (Startup Florida, Emergent and Springboard). Of course there may be more out there - but I haven't run across them, and certainly haven't seen them actively sharing deals.... but who knows?

Even if there are other Angel funds, I don't expect a lot of the 30M going to them, because the fund can only invest up to 50% of the total fund. So I would estimate (maybe) 3M will go to Angel funds (each fund getting 250k-500k?).

So does this solve the problem of Florida? No.

Will this help startups and early-stage companies get funded? No.

Will this make out-of-state VCs look at Florida? Sure. Only because they have to. But they will claim there are no "mature deals" and sit on the money.

So what will this Florida Opportunity Fund do? It will go to VC's (mostly out of state) who will sit on the money - wait for deals that meet their criteria - and find their are none.... because (surprise) we lack the angel capital to bridge (see cartoon above) these deals to be VC ready.

Think about it....here are the scenerios

1. Scenerio A: I am a managing partner of a 200M fund in Boston. I get 1.5M from Florida to look at Florida deals. Do you think I am going to really care about Florida? Maybe I open a 200 sq.ft office in Orlando, and have a MBA student look at Plans, and every once in a while, hear a pitch....

2. Scenerio B: I am an Angel Fund in Florida, and I raise 1-2M amongst angels, and I get 300k from the Florida Opportunity Fund. Whooopee! Where am I going to invest all this new money?

3. Scenerio C: I am a VC Fund in Florida and get 2M from the Florida Opportunity Fund - GREAT!!! but how do I raise the rest of the money to close my next fund? Who the hell in this environment is going to invest in a VC fund in Florida?

(excuse my rant)

Maybe I am not seeing the big picture.... but I think I have "some" experience in funding companies, growing startups and building businesses in the State of Florida. So I only can offer my opinion.

(If anyone cares.... here is what I would do with the 30M)

1. I would fund all Angel Funds associated with Universities (e.g. Emergent). I would invest 1-2M into each Angel Fund, with a requirement they invest 100% in Florida Companies. I would formalize a link between the Tech Licensing offices to these funds, and close the gap between Research (in Universities) and Commercialization. This would be around 10M of the 30M (if we did 5 major universities)

2. I would pick 2 to 3 Major Venture Funds and invest 5M into each one but require them to open and staff an office in Florida. I would require them to have a Managing Partner in Florida full-time. I would require them to invest 10% of this money annually at a minimum. If these funds are big funds, they will draw other smaller funds to move to Florida. They would also be able to lead big rounds of investment and draw from other out-of-state funds, and give other funds a high comfort level to invest in Florida if the "big" fund has smart people here watching the deal. You don't need 10 big funds in Florida... you just need a few to start to show a presence. (BTW, this is not unlike what the past Governor did with Scripts)

This would cost 10 to 15M (5M in each fund)

3. With the rest of the money - I would create a Micro-Loan that issues loans to startups / emerging companies that need up to 50k and don't need 1M-2M to launch. This would be secured by assets/stocks/personal guarantees - but be more flexible than traditional SBA loans. I would use the Angel Funds and VC funds as channels to refer deals for the micro-loan program... This way if an entrepreneur needs 20k to buy equipment, they can get started, and potentially later raise money from the Angel funds (100k-250k) or from VCs (1M+).

I believe this approach solves a bigger problem in Florida which is 1) There is no gap funding 2) There is no name brand VCs to validate the State and 3) There is no seed funding.

(sigh)

I said my piece. I will go back to my garage.... and work on the next startup.

Why isn't the Florida Venture Forum online to watch?

2009-02-08T08:37:00.002-05:00

I guess it's probably my fault - but I missed the Florida Venture Forum again this year. Primarily because most presenters are later stage companies, it doesn't really match my investment criteria - however - I should have gone.

If you did go, I would like to get your feedback on how it went (leave a comment) - I wish they would webcast the presentations - what a great way to get more exposure, and let lazy bums like me see the presentations....

Top 5 Reasons why Tech Incubators Fail

2009-01-18T08:42:00.011-05:00

I have read a lot of articles and reports about how Incubators help local economies and drive innovation - but I rarely come across anyone talking about why they fail. We have been running a "quasi" incubator for 6 years and so I thought I would share some of our thoughts from our experience.

1. People. I would say that the people running the incubator is the most critical element. I visit incubators where they are managed by an administrator or college professor - and they struggle to find ways to relate to entrepreneurs in the incubator. Also, there needs to be some level of respect between the management of the incubator and the tenants - they need to feel like the people helping them have 'been there and done that'.

2. Lack of Services. Many incubators feel their primary value is giving real estate, Internet access and a printer. This of course makes no sense. Why does this help anyone start a successful company? Sure, it may help keep costs low - but many entrepreneurs (especially successful ones who have had ventures in the past) can work from home or knows someone with a little extra office space. The key to incubation is providing high-value services like technology development, operations, sales and marketing and even temp-management.

3. Location. The location of the incubator matters because it is supposed to draw in a variety of people (investors, service providers, entrepreneurs, etc). Sometimes they put an incubator in an area way outside town that needs economic impact - but is not convenient for people to visit, and entrepreneurs don't really want to be in the middle of nowhere. Entrepreneurs want to be near the action, in a vibrant location where they can connect with other people easily. Downtown locations in my opinion are the best locations. Of course most incubators are located in a University because its convenient for students - but if you are doing an incubator to attract entrepreneurs who are not in college - a city location is a must. Any other location, will drastically reduce the value.

4. Funding. Incubators can help with a lot of aspects of starting a company, but the most important need in many cases is funding. Obviously most incubators are not set up to write an investment check, but it should have relationships with local investors and venture capitalists. It also should be able to help refine the business plan and make sure it is ready to present to investors (go back to #1 People). If there is no link to funding, incubators have a hard time creating sustainable businesses.

5. Politics. This may be the killer for a lot of incubators (typically before they even get started). Since most incubators are tied somehow into public funding (usually a University, City or County) there is always politics in play. Politics can play a role in who runs the incubator, where it is and how its managed. These decisions can be made to please the powers that be, but can completely ignore the needs of the entrepreneur.

In summary, I think an incubator is actually a lot like a startup itself. It needs good management, good product and good execution. And for the most part - Incubators succeed because they address the needs of the entrepreneur. This is what is sometimes lost in the discussion.

What is the economic impact of a Tech Startup? (Part I)

2008-12-26T08:42:00.010-05:00

I thought it would be interesting to take a high level look at what the "economic impact" of a Tech Startup is on average. A lot of local economies are suffering because they either depend too much on tourism or real estate - or perhaps their core industries are dying (e.g. manufacturing, etc). Every local economy wants to diversify, but the big challenge is finding the best way to grow new businesses or convince other businesses to move to the area. Many times they shy away from "startups" because they are too risky, or don't present an immediate opportunity for hundreds or thousands of jobs - but in my opinion investing in startups is the best and ultimately the quickest way to creating the right kind of jobs, and boosting a local or State economy.

Here is my logic:

Lets start with the micro-economics of an average Startup. Most tech startup acquire venture funding. On average I would say 80% or so raise around 500k to 1M in funding (even the bad ideas get money in the beginning). The other 20% usually go on to raise more money - up to 5M or more. In States with concentrated Venture Capital, these stats change quite a bit - but I am being conservative in my estimates because my experience is in Florida (which is not strong in later stage Venture Capital).

So where does this money go? Well it goes to people, services, rent and marketing. And it is spent quickly. This is what makes a Startup an interesting catalyst for economic growth. Even though they don't have a lot of money in the bank - they spend it quickly (unlike larger more established companies).

So for example. compare an established 10M revenue 'non-tech' company, and a startup that has 1M in the bank for growth. I would argue these two companies have a similar economic impact in non-payroll type investments - e.g. Marketing, Outsourced Services, etc. Ofcourse the 10M company has a bigger payroll, but they most likely are not spending a large of money locally in new development, marketing or other services. So the startup may spend 250k-500k in these services in the first year or two, while the more established company has reduced its "growth spending" and is simply trying to find ways to cut costs, and maintain profitability.

So, then the natural discussion next is about jobs? Does a company with 30 employees (low-paid manufacturing, etc) have a bigger impact then a tech startup with 4 (high-paid employees)? Of course the amount of payroll is bigger with 30 employees - but my argument is that they make less of an impact, because they have less of an economic impact, because they are not spending outside the basic living expenses (house, food, clothing, etc). The higher paid employees are going out for dinner, buying big screen T.V.s and paying for dry cleaning. So although the non-tech established company is spending 100k per month on payroll, most of it is going to mortgages, groceries and gas.

So by now, you should see my position clearly - Size doesn't matter - Spending does.

POINT: Tech Startups and their employees' money has more impact on a local economy.

Now, lets look at long term impact. Obviously, the Non-Tech company will start to face more competition, and their product margins will shrink, and ultimately they will either need to move most jobs overseas or downsize. So now, the 30M revenue company is spending much less in the local economy. On the flip side - the Tech Startups will continue to grow (and yes, a few will die - but not until they spent all their money). Those that do survive, will grow quickly and become 5-10M revenue companies, with 10 times the economic impact of the 30M non-tech company.

So now you have a 10M revenue tech company - who needs to hire more high-paying jobs, and is spending more on local economic services - and ultimately will also spin off new companies as employees leave with their ideas and start new companies.

Final Breakdown

Take any local economy that wants to grow, diversify and make a real investment in building a strong business community - I would argue that putting 50 Tech Startups in that city, versus trying to get 10 established "non-tech' companies each having 20-30M in revenue to move to the area is the better choice.

At first glance, you would think its a no-brainer to choose the established companies. 50 Tech Startups = less than 100 jobs, no revenue versus 10 companies with 30M in revenue each = 300M in new revenue and probably 1,000 jobs.

For me, I would take the 50 Tech Startups - anyday. Even if they all fail, the economic impact over the short term will be greater than the established companies - and all the "jobs lost" if they did fail, would be entrepreneurs that would turn-around and startup something else.... and the cycle would be never ending as long as the local community supported them.

POINT: Failed Tech Startups does not mean jobs are lost - they just start something else and continue the cycle.

What does it take for local community to build a Startup Community. Simple.

1) Incubator run by entrepreneurs

2) Angel Investment Fund

3) Supportive Business Community

4) Strong Entrepreneurial community

5) Local Government support

(I'll save the details for next blog post)

If I were going to start a company...

2008-12-17T20:47:00.004-05:00

I spend a lot of time talking with entrepreneurs online and offline, and many times the conversation ends up being about what types of companies would be good to start during these rough "economic" times (where investors and customers are hard to come by).

So, I decided to through some ideas into this blog -

First lets talk at a high level about what "type" of company would do well (before we actually throw out some business ideas).

First, the startup costs need to be low. It's a hard environment to raise money, especially around an idea with no product. So your best bet is to stick with Internet-based businesses. Second, the overhead needs to be close to zero. You can't have fixed costs killing you every month. Third, no inventory or big cost of sales. Fourth, the price point needs to be low (both business and consumer products).

So now, that we have a framework to work with, here are some ideas that I think have some potential (but still need some fine tuning):

1. WEBCASTING - This is the future of video on the web, and there is something intriguing about live video over the web. Companies like Stickam and UStream launched platforms that allow your to stream - but this is just the beginning. There is money to be made here in both consumer and business markets.

2. SOCIAL MARKETING - This to me is a no brainer. Anyone with some basic internet skills can build a nice business offering services to businesses by managing and marketing their social networking profiles. This includes mySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Every company should have an active presence on all these social networks, but they don't have the time or know-how to effectively build networks, communicate news and events and turn connections into profit.

3. PHONE APPS - If you have the technical know-how (or a friend who does) get working on building apps for the new generation of phones like the IPhone and G1 (Android) Google phone. This is a new frontier with limitless possibility. There are so many application ideas yet to be had. There may be a hurdle making money (unless your app takes off) - but eventually the model will mature and there will be "gold in them hills".

4. GPS (Where are you?) - GPS is now everywhere (phones, cars, etc). The idea of "location" is big and has a lot of potential in being the base for millions of application. Anything from "where's my kid" to "where was this picture taken" will be killer apps of the future. Everything will tie into GPS - and location will be a new piece of data we come to expect with anything and everything we see on the web.

5. IPTV - Youtube is just the beginning. Start thinking more about the content than the delivery of content. Just like industries of past, you need to learn that content is king, and platforms become commodities. Find ways of creating or getting your users to create dynamic content. Build a brand, and launch a media company that is 100% Internet. TV over the Web ("IPTV") will change the way all of us think about television in the future.

There you go... Five reasonably good ideas (or at least directions) where I could see real potential, and they are all somewhat market-proof. You can provide a lot of value for little cost, and ultimately scale the business as much as you can in this climate.

We are entering into a new phase on the web - and it is shifting from one side of the brain to the other... the "Creative Web" is rearing its head - and I think we will see the next set of millionaires and billionaires spawned from the Creative Side, and not the Plumbing side.

Why "Bailouts" don't work - D.C. is not a V.C.

2008-12-13T09:48:00.007-05:00

I find it somewhat entertaining watching CEO's of billion dollar companies like GM and Ford sit in front of Congress pitching their "business plan" and asking for money. This scene is all too familiar to me (and probably most startup entrepreneurs). The moment of clarity (and to some degree irony) for me was when the CEO's were asked if they could produce 3 year Pro-Forma financials for their business.

WHAT?

Are you kidding me? They flew to D.C. to ask for 35 Billion dollars and they didn't even bring a business plan that gave detailed financials? Are you ******* kidding me?

When any startup looks to raise capital and is asking investors to put in 25k or 50k, they show 3-year financials - and they don't even have any historical data to base it on.... so why on Earth didn't these guys bring it with them when pitching their "deal" to D.C.?

This is an absolute joke.

This is why Bailouts don't work

(believe me, as an early stage investor who has invested in many different companies that face bankruptcy often - I know a few things about bailouts)

1. Bailouts prolong Change. I have seen many startups continue to raise capital because they can't seem to reach profitability and they can't seem to gain traction on their business plan. Guess what. 99% of these companies fail (even after they get more money) because they refuse to change their business model. If you keep giving them money, they won't change.

2. Bailouts keep them Fat. Many times a business is gaining traction and closing sales, but their expenses are too high. They either hired too many people because they didn't run efficient, or they just don't know how to manage expenses. If you give companies more money to make ends meet - they won't ever make the hard choices to cut staff, improve efficiencies and reach profitability.

3. Bailouts reward Failure. Anytime you write a check to a company that is failing - you have to wonder why you aren't writing checks to those companies that are succeeding. This is a classic problem venture capitalists face when they look at their portfolio and consider follow on investments in their companies. They may have 3 companies dying and 3 companies are succeeding. Do you give your money to the ones failing (so you can hopefully turn them around) or do you give the money to the 3 that are growing (even though they may not need it - but you know it would help them grow bigger and stronger?)

4. Bailouts make Customers, Employees and Shareholders nervous. Anytime a business needs more money to survive, everyone starts to question the future. When you have employees nervous, then customers get nervous. When you have the CEO nervous, shareholders get nervous. The end result - you may have some money in the bank, but the company's brand is bankrupt. It becomes harder to convince shareholders to invest, customers to buy more product and good employees to stay.

5. Bailouts don't solve the problem. It is funny to me, that the Congress can question the CEO's of the car companies for days, but no one seems to address the real problem - Why are you going bankrupt? They dance around the question, but ultimately focus on why they should get the money. I believe the problem is that the car companies don't make a competitive product and they have fallen behind in technology and innovation. So does giving them billions to make payroll solve the problem? No. Does showing pictures of an electric car solve the problem? No. What will solve the problem? I have one idea - maybe we should try to get Americans to buy American made cars? Maybe that would help their business? If the Federal Government wants to see the car companies succeed - maybe they should focus on giving us (the consumer) reasons to buy American - like tax incentives when you own an American automobile. For example for businesses - allow any US corporation to write off any American vehicle. (I don't claim to have all the answers, but this would be a lot cheaper of a bill to pass - and it actually may sell a few cars).

Overall, we live and die in the Free Market system, and whether you are a 2 man startup or a billion dollar car manufacturer - I believe you live and die by the same principles. You have to make a competitive product, meet a market demand, and listen to your customers. If your business fails, then someone else will pick up the pieces, grab the marketshare and deliver product to those customers. This will happen in the car industry as well.

Millions of people may lose their job, and that is probably the hardest part about dealing with this crisis - but at the end of the day - they were going to lose their job eventually because they worked for a company that had shareholders that ignored poor management, outdated products and an inefficient operations. Why should I have to pay for some guys job in Detroit, when I could use that money to support my successful business?

I hope we learned at least one lesson in all of this - Management matters. The people we choose to run this country, run our corporations, run our schools, hospitals and military matter. Perhaps we will make better choices as voters and shareholders going forward. There are people to blame on both sides of aisle when it comes to our economic downturn - and my only hope is that this pain turns into action - and we make the changes we need to build a stronger future.

Why Community Matters...

2008-11-07T15:36:00.006-05:00

It is easy to forget how important a community is to an entrepreneur, when you are heads down in a project and trying to launch a company. Most entrepreneurs (especially ones in the Internet business) may not consider their community an asset at all.

Just like the old days, when communities were built around the local steel plant and everyone supported local businesses because the knew that it would benefit their neighbor - the 21st century community needs to embrace some of the basic principals in building strong cities. Our businesses may be evolving - becoming global and selling to customers thousands of miles away - but I think there are some key principles that we need to continue to embrace in order to build strong communities and thus stronger businesses.

First lets talk about the basics - what does a startup business need?

Simple - 1) Help and 2) Customers.

Help can come in different forms - perhaps a local incubator or small business guidance program to help entrepreneurs find the right resources to solve their problems. Help can also be other entrepreneurs in the local community providing their services, or a local newspaper giving the new business some exposure by writing an article. Sometimes, an entrepreneur just needs a couple of breaks to get their business on track. Who better to offer this help, but the local community who has a vested interest in their success (e.g. economic development).

What if a business needs a few hands to help them do some work? How about a more aggressive internship program with local high schools or colleges as a way to help businesses.

And customers? Every business (and consumer) can be a potential customer for a new business in their community. If a company is spending the money on a product or service anyway - why not buy from a local company instead? Why not promote business-to-business transactions in local communities. Perhaps they will get better service - and even if its the same - they are supporting a local business which in turn can support them.

If any community wants to prosper in the 21st century, when the global economy allows for a worker in India to compete with a worker in Sarasota, Florida for a job - and when a product built in Orlando competes with a similar product built for half the money in China - then we need to go back to what made the American economy strong - the local community.

By supporting local businesses, you support your own business. By buying products and services from your community - you strengthen the local economy and more importantly you strengthen your community.

Here are my final thoughts:

1. If you are a business and buy technology or services from outside your community - reconsider buying from local businesses that offer the same service. Try them out. If they are the same or better - than why not buy local?

2. If you are a media company (newspaper, cable, etc) and you survive on advertising dollars - then perhaps take more time in talking about local businesses that are new - give them a boost when they need it the most. Perhaps down the road, when they have the money they will become an advertiser.

3. If you are a local school (college or high school) - integrate with the local business community. Provide internship credits to your students and give help to new businesses in the area. This helps startups grow when they don't have money to hire full time staff. The best lesson any student could learn is what it is like starting a new business.

4. If you are a local entrepreneur - take time to help other entrepreneurs by offering advice, resources or open your network of professionals to them to help connect them to the right people. Perhaps you can introduce them to their first big customer, or the key investor they need to launch their company.

In summary, the Community Matters. This idea that businesses can grow in a silo, and that the "global economy" eliminates the need to be local is wrong. Never in the history of our economy, has it been more important for businesses to find strength locally so that they can compete and prosper globally.

A Business Plan for achieving Energy Independence

2008-10-18T11:46:00.014-05:00

As an entrepreneur I am always looking at the world through my experiences and how I would approach different problems. And sometimes I even attempt to look at some pretty big problems, and wonder "how would an entrepreneur solve this problem?"

So, I spent a few minutes to analyze where we are in ENERGY, and put together a basic Three (3) Point Plan on where I see a potential Business Plan for our country.

If we assume the three major forces behind achieving Energy Independence are:

1) Cost of Energy
2) National Security
3) Environment

- then we can start putting together a plan to achieve these goals.

So lets look at the Cost of Energy first - and see where there is potential for innovation.

Here are the breakdown of costs for Energy:

OIL = 4.0 cents to 6.0 cents per kilowatt hour for oil.
NUCLEAR = 1.1 cents and 3.3 cents per kilowatt hour for nuclear electricity.
COAL = 3.7 cents to 4.8 cents per kilowatt hour for energy produced by coal.
NATURAL GAS = 3.5 cents to 4.8 cents per kilowatt hour for natural gas
SOLAR = 20.2 cents to 30.8 cents per kilowatt hour for solar.
WIND = 5.5 cents and 7.7 cents per kilowatt hour for wind.

Before we get into the details, I want to make clear that energy is complex... for example, take these two graphs.

Here is a graph showing what People pay for energy around the country

This map shows where our existing Nuclear Power Plants are in the U.S.

(footnote.... ) Notice if you overlap these maps, you can see how "Cost of Energy" and "Residential Average Price" are not directly correlated. There is a high concentration of nuclear power (cheapest energy) in areas where our residential costs are the highest. Also, if you notice Alaska has one of the highest residential costs for energy, even though they supply a lot of oil to the U.S. So you can see that we also may have some other factors at play that we need to consider in the long run (regulation, taxes, etc) - but for now, I am going to stay focused on the simple economics of cost, and how we put forth a plan to shift our energy sources to meet our goals.

So now, we understand that there are other factors involved that we may need to address - lets focus on some basic principles we can set forth now - and shift momentum in the right direction.

1. First, we need to look at why Solar, Wind and others are expensive. (My research shows its mostly due to the equipment (panels, etc) and the inconsistency of the source). So I would invest in innovation focused on building more efficient and cost effective equipment to capture, store and transport these high-cost energy sources. This may take 20 years, but I think in the long term using solar and wind may be the ultimate energy source in 2050.

2. Second, we look at the low cost alternates like Nuclear, Natural Gas and Coal. Each one of these have pros and cons (environmental effects, safety, etc). In my research, there needs to be investment in making these sources clean, safe and ensure proper transport and protection. There are costs that need to be considered as well (It can cost $15 Billion to build a nuclear power plant and ten years to build). I think a logical approach to leveraging these technologies is to focus our efforts on Natural Gas and Coal for the short-term, and begin to build Nuclear Power Plants in areas where we need economic boost with the goal to double our Nuclear capacity from 20% of our energy use to 40%. This costs us about 100B in subsidies in the past, and I think we can easily justify the investment today.

3., Third, we need to look increasing our domestic production of oil immediately and reducing our exports of oil. This is not a long term solution for reducing our addiction to oil, but I believe it is the right direction for transitioning into a energy independent nation. I would offer subsidies to oil companies that commit to ramping up domestic production BUT also include in their expansion plans to also build the ability for new facilities to offer alternative energy. This way, we are encouraging a more diverse long term plan, and accelerating our independence at the same time.

The second goal is National Security. It is clear from the political side of the argument, we believe our leverage in the Middle East for keeping the peace is to reduce the amount of Oil we purchase from the region. If this assumption is true, then we need to have a plan to reduce our imports from these sources.

First, let me break down the Energy trend (political and economic) so there is a clear backdrop to my plan. Here are some basic facts you may or may not know - so its important we are on the same page. (Source: Department of Energy and Energy Information Administration)

COUNTRY %
Canada 18%
Saudi Arabia 13%
Venezuela 10%
Mexico 10%
Nigeria 6%
Iraq 5%
Angola 5%
Russia 4%
Algeria 3%

So, as of today we are importing about 30% of our oil from countries or regions that negatively effect our national security.

So how do we reduce our dependence on these suppliers?

1) Increase imports from other nations. Start to work closely with Canada and Mexico (our neighbors) on increasing production and increasing our supply from these friendly nations. I believe if we structure a new plan based on Energy in North America, we can increase our imports from Canada and Mexico by 10% over the next 10 years, and meanwhile reduce our imports from the Middle East by 10% (eliminating the need to import from Venezuela for example) .

2) Increase domestic production. Although it may take longer to increase domestic production and may not help in reducing our addiction to oil, it is a path of transition that will allow us to break free of the Middle East. We currently product 5M Barrels a day and import 10M Barrels a day. If we can ramp our domestic production to 10M Barrels a day in 10 years, we can completely eliminate our need to import oil from Saudi Arabia and Iraq (Assuming we also have an aggressive alternative energy plan beginning to produce).

The third aspect to a plan is the Environment. When looking at all the sources of energy, it is clear which ones are considered bad for the environment and which ones are clean. Clearly, we need some major advances in technology to help us clean coal and make nuclear safe. But the bottom line, is that technology takes time - and although the Environment is a major concern for all of us - we need to be realistic on the timeline. It will not be possible to have 100% clean energy in the next 30-50 years. However, I do believe if we follow a plan to transition toward clean energy, we will reduce carbon emissions, and we will have a net-positive effect on the environment.

One issue I think we need to understand as well, is that the US is NOT the only country on the planet earth, and we don't control the environmental laws in countries like Russia and China which surely will continue to use oil, coal (dirty) and other fuels and have a much larger footprint on the atmosphere than we will. So, truly the ONLY way to make major moves in protecting the environment is for the US to invest in new / clean technologies and offer competitive products to these countries so that the obvious choice is to adopt. Only the Market can drive environmental protections that we believe are responsible for the Earth. We can't enforce our laws, but we can change the market dynamics and strive to become the largest exporter of energy in the 21st Century.

Overall, the more I researched the market, and understood the problem, and the potential for technology - I have become increasingly more optimistic about our ability to become Energy independent and diversify our energy to make for a cleaner world.

It is not a perfect solution (there never is a perfect solution) - we all need to embrace the reality that we need to sacrifice and work hard - but like any startup you put in the long hours, the sweat equity and against all odds build something great - and one day - your hard work is rewarded 100 times over....

Save the Entrepreneur - Save the World

2008-10-10T12:58:00.007-05:00

As we sit and watch stock market plunge - and financial experts are scrambling to find words to explain why overnight our country has lost 30% of its value - I remain calm.

No, I am not in denial. Actually, for me none of this is new. As a tech entrepreneur I has seen the bubble of the Internet age, and I could see the housing bubble coming from a mile away. However, my point is not that I am a "financial oracle" - but rather - as an entrepreneur this is nothing new. Nothing here is new. The state of panic you see businesses in today - is what an entrepreneur wakes up with every morning whether the market is good or bad. Entrepreneurs live in an environment where this is always a "credit freeze" or "no lenders". Even when the market was at 14,000 -no bank would loan me money for my new startup. No bank would give me credit to make payroll.

In some odd way - I am amused by this chaos. Not just because I have lived in a microcosm of this type of chaos my entire career - but more importantly how people react to the challenges. As an entrepreneur - there is a certain acceptance of risk when starting a new venture. In fact, losing your entire investment in a startup is a standard disclosure to our niche economy.

Of the twenty-something ventures I have been involved in one way or another - I personally have never heard the words "BAIL OUT". In my 15 years of growing businesses, meeting payrolls, using credit cards to buy inventory and spending days and nights servicing customers and building value - I have never blamed a banker, politician or president for my failure.

I believe in a free market system. And I believe businesses should be left alone to succeed or fail. I believe the heart and soul of our economy is the entrepreneurial spirit that drives innovation and invention. I don't blame our current economy on deregulation, greed or politicians - I blame our economy on the mental shift away from what makes America competitive - the entrepreneur.

We have created an economy of perception. We have built value in our economy on transactions and not on assets. We have ignored innovation and expected our policies and products of 30 years ago can carry us into the 21st century. We have lowered the pressure on businesses and markets to innovate and scale - and simply allowed them to rest on their laurels of the past, and take home profit. Like a horse leading a race, suddenly breaking its leg - the jockey continues to whip - but we have fallen fast into last place in Global innovation.

What we are witnessing right now - is not just banks foreclosing on homes - but a foreclosure on entrepreneurship. As a nation, we have not kept our promise and payment on supporting innovation in technology and launching new ventures to diversify our economy.

I don't claim to have all the answers - but I do have the answer on how we save our economy.

SAVE THE ENTREPRENEUR - SAVE THE WORLD.

Instead of pumping 700 Billion into buying bad assets and over-valued mortgages... why don't we pump 700 Billion (or a fraction) into innovation and development of new companies?

Here is a simple plan that I believe makes as much sense (if not more) than a 700B bailout of wall street:

1. Energy Independence - Not only does energy off the most promise for new jobs in America, it also allows plays a big role in foreign policy. There are multiple paths to developing alternative energy, but we need entrepreneurs and heavy investment in science to make this a reality. Safe nuclear, clean coal, affordable solar, stable wind are all viable paths - but we need to invest in technology and entrepreneurs. Simply by investing 10-20 Billion a year into energy could create hundreds-of-thousands of jobs, create thousands of companies and re-instate our position in the global economy at the #1 supplier of energy.

2. Health Care - Want to find a way to offer more health care to more people, and at the same time not increase taxes and make policies cheaper? There is only one answer - technology. You can cut 20-30% off operations, and another 15% off the cost of processing if you build a digital backbone to the health care industry. Every other market has become digital - yet we still operate health care like we did in the 1980's. The problem is not that there isn't any technology or lack of interest - the problem is that the government has not put the pressure on the industry to raise the standards. In order to force a mass adoption of digital standards and to incur the cost of going digital - there needs to be a forceful entity to pressure hospitals, insurance carriers and even the patients and doctors.

I would estimate a government assistance program for this type of project would cost around $50 Billion to invest in innovation, infrastructure and tax breaks to corporations who meet the standards set forth by the project. I think we could achieve 80% transfer of data off paper in five years - if we were able to provide incentives and advance HIPAA to force all parties to make it happen.

3. Jobs - See #1 and #2. Not only are these major undertakings but they are catalysts for hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs. All the workers looking for work after the auto-plant shut its doors, can easily be trained and hired to manufacture solar panels. All the workers who can't build buildings due to the real estate market crashing - can begin to build nuclear power plants, clean coal plants and wind/solar plants. All the jobs lost in middle-management and operations can be put to work helping health care companies make the shift from paper to electronic business. There are natural shifts in our workforce that have to happen in order to create new jobs. We can't "save jobs of the past". We need to look toward the future.

Also, I would suggest we invest heavily into startups to tackle major problems, and fund them similar to the SBA was formed to do - but managed by Venture Capitalists with a mission to transfer our economy. This itself would create jobs due to the investments made into these startups.

I would launch a Global Innovation Fund where we segment into 5 key areas 1) Energy 2) Health 3) Poverty 4) Security 5) Communications. This fund would allocate 10 Billion dollars per year (2 Billion in each category) that would invest in existing and new companies and technologies that focus on these areas, and specifically the goals set forth in each category.

For example, under ENERGY would be goals like 1) Reduce carbon emission of coal by 80% (Clean Coal). Much like we fund universities to innovate by providing grants - we would invest into these companies and facilitate solutions. The big difference between giving a professor a million dollars - is that he/she is not driven by a timeline or market demand. They use that million dollars to experiment and to discover - with no clear mission to deliver a product to the market. This major change in purpose would make the investment make more effective and deliver results to the market.

Not only would the Global fund invest in technology here in the U.S. but also in other countries. We could lure the best minds and inventors from other countries like China, Russia, Japan to move their operations and companies to the US, by leveraging this fund as a way to monopolize innovation for the next ten years. The requirement of the fund would be to only invest in U.S. company, but not limited to importing technologies from around the world and force them to move.

If we truly want to be a leader, we need to invest. Not in mortgages, not in banks, and not in securities - but in entrepreneurs.

SAVE THE ENTREPRENEUR - SAVE THE WORLD.

A New Venture - ThisWeekIn.TV

2008-10-06T13:41:00.002-05:00

Startup Florida launched a new venture - ThisWeekIn.TV.

The company focuses on bringing targeted advertising to tourists through the televisions located in hotel rooms.

Leveraging Internet-enabled Digital Sign technology, ThisWeekIn.TV is a dedicated channel for tourists to view upcoming events, travel information, information on the local community and of course advertising.

The power of the medium, is that for the first time is connects real-time content from the Internet (e.g. RSS feeds from local event websites, videos from online video sources like Youtube) and the traditional outlet of Television sets in hotel rooms across the community.

The dynamic of real-time content coming from an unlimited source (Internet) has great potential, and we expect to see a lot more innovation coming in this area.

The Funding Flow Chart

2008-07-19T09:34:00.007-05:00

Are you an entrepreneur looking for capital? If so, I hope this blog post gives you some level of advice that you will find useful. Raising capital is one of the most difficult things to do as an entrepreneur - but if you follow this basic flow chart - you may be able to make it a little easier.

1. Do you have a working product with a price and a customer?

If yes, continue to next question.

If No, please stop looking for funding and build a product and sell it to a customer. If you need money to build the product, then get a job or dig into your savings and fund the development yourself. If you can't afford it - dump your idea - and find a product you can build. Or find someone who can build the product and figure out how to compensate them (money / equity).

2. Do you have any experience building a company and taking a product to market?

If yes, continue to next question.

If No, then this is your chance to get experience. Find a way to turn one customer into 10, 20, 100 customers. If you don't know how to do that - ask someone who has. Find a mentor to help guide you.

3. Do you still (absolutely) need capital? Even though you are growing revenue and have a clear path to profitability?

If yes, continue to the next question.

If No then, congratulations - you now are in control - and Investors would love to give you money (although I suggest you not take it).

4. Do you want to trade off your freedom, absolute control and ability to run the company the way you want to for a little cash?

If yes, continue to the next question.

If No then, continue the grow the company until you are in a better position to either loan the money or fund growth through profit. (It may take a little longer to grow revenue, but it beats losing control of your company)

5. Do you need the capital to help fund your salary?

If yes, continue to the next question.

If No, then - return to #3.

6. Are you really an entrepreneur?

A New Direction (for Startup Florida)

2008-07-03T23:09:00.002-05:00

It has been six years since we started Startup Florida. We have accomplished a great deal, and have learned much more than we ever thought possible about Venture Capital, starting ventures and ofcourse the entrepreneurial community in Florida.

I am very proud of what we were able to accomplish (despite the failures). We broke new ground in the angel investment community, and we were able to put together a nice portfolio of companies for our investors. Overall, we executed the model we set out to explore.

Now, with any business - we will adjust how we operate based on our past experience. We re-evaluated the market, looked at our successes and failures and hope to refine our model.

As of today, we are launching a "new" Startup Florida. If I was to describe the change in one word it would be "simplification". Our goal is to simplify our model, and ultimately try to recapture the "raw" entrepreneurial spirit of launching new ventures.

The first step we took was to analyze each venture we started or invested in, and look for obvious mistakes we made. The second step was to list what we did right in those ventures that have done very well, in hopes we can duplicate the recipe. And the final step, is to really dig into the numbers and see which deals will ultimately reward us with dividends.

Here are some conclusions we made:

1. The startups that did the best were ones we came up with the idea. Ironically, as a "venture firm" we ultimately read the market, and formulated better business ideas than most entrepreneurs who came in off the street.

2. The startups that did the best raised the LEAST amount of money. This is probably the most disappointing statistics. I am not sure if it is because the "good ideas" took off quicker, thus required less money - or perhaps it is more fundamental than that - and the companies that had less money focused on building a business, and not becoming a "road show" wasting time and energy on raising capital instead of building a business.

3. The startups that did the best kept costs modest and didn't hire anyone (until they were profitable). Another crazy stat - but very relevant. Again perhaps the product they built didn't require a lot of resources, but it is a very key point of reflection.

Overall, you can see where our conclusion become obvious on where we needed to take our business.

1. We needed to focus on what we know. (Internet technologies)
2. We needed to focus on smaller investments. (Seed Round)
3. We needed to be part of the "idea" phase. (Co-Founder)
4. We needed to be involved.

So now we are doing just that - simplifying our model, and looking to duplicate the success we have had following the rules above.

Please check out our new Website - http://www.startupflorida.com

It goes into more details of our new model

Florida Venture Forum has Arrived.... Finally!

2008-05-08T13:41:00.002-05:00

I have been a critic of the Florida Venture Forum since its inception... mostly because of the lack of really national quality deals, and also the absence of any really active venture capitalists or angel investors.

BUT, this year, I have to say that the FVF has brought it's A Game. After reviewing all the companies presenting this year, I have to say this is one of the best group of presenters I have seen anywhere (much less Florida).

Also, I am excited about the Early Stage Presenters - http://www.floridaventureforum.org/subpage.asp?navid=0&id=38

The presenters are diverse, and the technology is impressive.

One company (spawned from UF) WiPower, Inc. (http://www.wipowerinc.com/) has wireless electricity as a core technology, and has constructed a plate where you can put your cell phone and other chargable devices on the platform to charge (sans any wires).

Another company turns Air into Water, for applications where clean water is scarce.

I highly suggest checking out this years presenters and going to the show. It looks like Florida is finally bringing great ideas and technology to the Forum, and will begin to shine as a place of innvovation.

A New Market for Tech Entrepreneurs - User Content.

2008-02-04T10:18:00.000-05:00

(User) Content is King

With all the buzz about Microsoft's mission to own Yahoo! and their recent investment in Facebook (for a ridiculous valuation) - it shows a clear sign that we are entering a new era for the entrepreneur and the tech economy. Not only are the big tech companies re-defining their 10-year vision, but the "users" are truly in control of the market for the first time.

Here is why the "users" are in control:

1. Software is Free. Whether you download freeware or make your own, software is no longer being purchased by the masses. In fact, users have taken the initiative to build their own. "Open Source" has been a buzz word for a long time, but it was too complex to implement and build market share. What needed to happen was the "cycle" of users to get sick of paying top dollar for software, and for the Open Source and Shareware market to spawn "market-driven" companies that upholds the spirit of sharing and "free use", but can build a solid product. In the next five years, users won't pay for software - and they shouldn't because most of the crap on the shelves is way over-priced and not meeting the needs of the average user. There is an adjustment happening right now, that is forcing software companies to adapt to a web-based model, and be more aggressive on pricing.

2. Social Networks and Blogs are dominating traffic. For the first time, Users are truly making the decision on where they go on the web. I know it sounds weird - but for a long time, users were driven to websites by the advertisers. Five years ago, a user would hit a website because they saw an ad, and rarely because of "word-of-mouth" or through smarter search engines. Now, with better search engines, social networks and an Internet where users determine what is good content (ala Digg, Social Bookmarking, etc) - the advertisers don't have enough money to move users to where they want them to go. Now users are driving most of the content, and also driving the trends of traffic. This poses a major problem for media and anyone that intends on selling traffic - because the user is now in control of the wheel and (by the way) can skip the middle man and make money from their own content and traffic.

3. Users are the economy. The shift that is happening is actually very scary. The web economy has always been based on some of the same basic elements of any media - users, clicks, impressions and transactions. And for the most part, there was a middle-man to broker all these products. The is no better example than Google, who is essentially brokering the users time on the web to advertisers. Every page you visit, they display ads... you click on the ad.. they make money. BUT! there is a problem in this model. Google is assuming that users will continue to "aimlessly" browse the web, and not learn and become a "smarter" user. This is the flaw in their model, and ultimately I believe will effect their business. Just like the banner ad business in the late 90's... people at first would click on banners - but then would naturally start ignoring the banners because they typically did not go to a content-rich website, but instead tried to sell them product they didn't want. The "Google Ads" will fall victim to this as well, and when users stop clicking Google Ads.... the Content owners will start to look for other options. The entire "Google Economy" is dependant on user behavior. Why would people stop clicking on ads? Simply... because they no longer use the web to simply search aimlessly - but not have "stuff to do" - the rise of blogs, social networks and other web-based applications takes away time from surfing and thus aimless ad clicking. Don't believe me - read about why Google is reporting a poor performing quarter. They claim users on social networks aren't clicking ads. People aren't searching anymore... they are using the web - and the "ad-based" economy will suffer.

So my point is this - if you are looking for the next killer app? Focus on this trend. If you are building a product that you are licensing (software), or selling advertising (PPC, etc) - then you may want to reconsider your model.

If you want to make money - you will need to provide real value to the user and allow them to share or dominate your profits - and embrace the new economy on the Internet, where it is completely based on one thing - "User Content". The days of clicks, impressions and licenses are over.

10 SIMPLE STEPS TO CHANGING AMERICA

2008-01-27T11:44:00.000-05:00

Before you read my "rant" - I would like to first admit that I do NOT pretend to know more about politics, government or economic theory than the average person. However, I always feel like a different perspective than what is offered in talking points by the two parties is always refreshing.

The following is an entrepreneurs take on the big issues facing the country. I am not for making the government more powerful - but I am for making the government more focused and efficient.

Here we go. 10 simple ways the government can change the course of America.

#1 - Term Limits - Eliminate "career" politicians. Only allow any elected official to have a maximum of 8 consecutive years in office.

#2 - Flat Employment Tax + Consumption Tax - I realize the Tax code is complex. But at the end of the day - why is it so difficult to implement a tax code that can be based on simple concepts like "The more you use, the more you pay" and "The more you invest, the more you get back".... We always talk hear "this reform hurts the poor" or "this will over-tax the rich".... what I am looking for is a tax reform that taxes people that take and do not give back. For example, if a millionaire invests money into the US economy or jobs - he gets the benefit that outweighs the tax he gets hit with on his beach-front home. However, if a millionaire is not investing in charity, the economy - but simply taking and not giving back - he should be taxed. The best way to save our economy and support entrepreneurship is to recognize those people who help our economy and our community - and penalize those who don't.

#3 - Take Guns off the Street - I know, I know - The Constitution says we have the right to bear arms. Ok, I get it. However, I think the spirit of this was to protect our homes in defense. So here is my proposition - no concealed permits. No carrying firearms in public. If you want to protect your home, or go kill some deer - fine. But no guns on the streets. Also, no automatic weapons. We have a major problem with violence in this country... and Government can't change the way we raise our kids - but the least it could do is stop allowing the sale of semi-automatic weapons. (If you are thinking "Screw you - I need my guns" - wait until your 13 year-old son is shot at school... then tell me if the 2nd Ammendment can bring back your boy)

#4 - Stop Credit Card Companies from becoming Loan Sharks - To many people are given too much credit by banks. Many times with outrageous interest. This country is too dependant on credit. It has become an addiction. I don't see why abusing credit is not too different than gambling. The credit card company is the loan-shark, giving you points on money you know you can't pay back. Don't get me wrong - I think Credit is a powerful tool for people to buy homes, cars and other necessities in life - but I think the credit companies need to stop abusing their license to loan. I think the government needs to regulate banks and how they issues credit cards (not all loans). The first step is make it illegal to solicit business through mail. They make it too easy for people to fall victim to their "scams". (Personally, I think all junk mail should be illegal... but this is one that would make a difference)

#5 - Make All Utilities (including Gas) Tax deductable - What a great way to create a check and balance system for "Big Oil" and Government. Not only does it motivate Government to find ways of keeping our energy costs low, but it also makes them feel the pain and focus on smarter energy. This also helps the poor guy who makes minimum wage who drives 60 miles to go to work - and at the same time helps the rich guy who has a yacht and needs to gas it up every weekend. Its a win-win-win.

#6 - Mandate Insurance Rebates - One of the big issues facing many people is the rising rates of insurance (home, risk) and even professionals like doctors are getting killed on insurance for mal-practice. Yes, insurance is necessary - and I realize the system is very complex. But here is a simple way we can help (again, using my simple philosphy of those who do good, receive the benefit). Create Insurance Rebate system where those people who DON'T get sick, or DON'T wreck their car, or DON'T get sued for mal-practice receive a rebate on their insurance. So for example, if I pay $3,000 a year in health insurance, and I don't go to the doctor that much - then I get a rebat of X% that is applied to next years bill. Perhaps its $600 I get back and then I only pay $2,400 next year. Again - this mirrors my thoughts on how taxes should work - based on consumption and abuse. (Also, I look at this like a win-win - because the insurance companies will retain their customers, and motivate them to think twice before driving fast or reporting a false claim - this is clearly a WIN-WIN).

#7 - BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE FOR 2050 - I know this may sound weird - but call me a futurist. Let's look at the basics of why economies flourish, and some die. One of the basic components of having a thriving economy is "access". Remember the old days - before railroads, before the steam engine - not much economy was there? It's not different today. We need to invest billions in our infrastructure. We need to make every major highway bigger. We need to build more high-speed trains, and improve our cities core infrastructure. Congested traffic means less people leave their home to spend money. More traffic means more wasted energy. The more difficult for people to get to and from work - makes it hard for the average american to make a living. We need better infrastructure, new highways, and a new vision for transportation. We need to plan for the next 50 years.

#8 - Pay Kids for attending and accelling in school - Simple. Back to the core concept of "do good, and you will be rewarded" - this is the basic of the American Dream. Work hard, and good things will come. Why not teach this to our youth? For kids to maintain certain grades - we should reward them. Not with stickers and smiley faces. We should reward them with money. Why? because they deserve it. They probably deserve it more than the millions of people on welfare that could get a job, and decide its not worth the effort. I can't think of a better place to invest than Education. How do we pay for it?? Simple - State lotteries, tax rebates to large corporations in the short term - and in the long term it will pay for itself - because we will have more tax payers, less dropouts, less crime and less welfare to pay out.

Another reason why this is a great idea - the money will go directly back into our economy. The money we pay out to kids will go right into our service and retail economy. Maybe (just maybe) some of it will go to a savings account.

Here is some perspective. There are about 50 million kids in high-school and elementary school. Lets say we paid those kids who stay in school (based on attendance) $100 per semester ($400 per year). And for those kids who maintain a 3.0 GPA we pay $200 per semester ($800 per year). Assume we paid out 80% (probably way too high) of kids with good attendance. It would be about 40 Million kids with good attendance = $16 Billion and for good GPA (20% of kids) = $8 Billion. So call it roughly - $25 Billion dollar program per year. Sounds like a lot??? Not really - we have spent $500 Billion on the War in Iraq (that is basically 20 years of my Education Incentive program)

#9 - Tax E-Mail - Don't call me a liberal. I hate taxes as much as you do. But this is actually something that makes sense to me as a taxpayer and someone who hates "Spam" :).

Here are the staggering stats - Over 90 billion messages a day are sent over email. Of which 90% is spam. So lets call it 80 Billion unwanted emails.

I don't think "spam filters" are the solution. If you want to kill something - tax it. So this is actually one of the few times I agree with a tax. Let's say we said "For every email sent we taxed it a penny" (maybe we have an exception that reads "each person is allotted 1,000 emails per month) - this avoids for individuals from the freedom of using the web. The target here are the companies that send millions of "spam" messages a day.

One of two things will happen - Spam will stop - or the government makes money on its new tax. 80 Billion messages per day will result in over $300B a year in tax income. Guess what - I just paid for half my suggested programs above AND reduced annoying emails in your inbox.

#10 - Reward the Family - In my opinion the long-term solution to all the social challenges the country faces - is getting back to supporting the basics - the family. Specifically, there are simple things we can do to rebuild confidence in the american family and show that the government rewards those who work hard. One of the biggest changes I believe could help build stronger support for the family is giving single-income homes and small business owners (entrepreneurs) tax advantages. Today we penalize people for "going on their own to start a business" and we penalize "parents who stay home and choose to raise their children". Maybe I am confused - but aren't these the very things we need to encourage - or atleast support? I am not trying to tell women (or men) to stay at home and not chase their dreams... instead, I am saying "for those who stay at home to focus on family - or for those who are creating businesses and jobs - we want to support you."

I am sure I can think of a few more - but I think 10 is nice round number. If I think of something, I will make sure I add it. Of course my goal was to outline some very simple ways government can re-align with American values, and without over-taxing or being "big-government" - ways that it truly could change the course of America for the better. (atleast I think so).

A New Market Crash

2007-12-13T11:38:00.000-05:00

I don't pretend to be a financial wizard, or someone who follows the market on a daily basis. I rarely watch C-Span and occasionally login to my Ameritrade account.

However, I do have a point to make about markets and how it relates to the small (new) business of entrepreneurs.

About six years ago, when the technology market crashed, it was a tough time for a lot of entrepreneurs, and in looking back a lot of good things came out of the boom that changed the world (Google, eBay, etc), but a lot of entrepreneurs sufferred tremendously and many lost everything.

Now we are looking at the same type of impact on the economy with the recent Real Estate crash, but for some reason it feels different to me.

When innovative (small) businesses die - the best an entrepreneur / Investor can hope for is a write-off on their taxes. When the real-estate values drop the entire government mobilizes and tries to find ways to reduce the burden on banks and the overall market by lowering interest rates, writing off loans and shifting policies. It seems a little odd, that our "innovation" economy doesn't get the same type of attention when markets dip?

I know what you are thinking "Its different... because starting a new business is part of capitalism and there is assumed risk - the government should not be there to bail you out"

I agree - starting a new business is risky, and the governement shouldn't bail out the entrerpreneur - but in the same breath - realize most of the real estate crash is due to "investors buying over-valued real estate". How is this different? It is still buying stock in an asset, and trying to profit from the sale. Sounds like a business to me.

Don't get me wrong, I am not asking the government to bail failing businesses out - but what I am asking is for entrepreneurs and early-stage investors to be given the same level of relief that we are seeing in the Real Estate aftermath.

What about finding ways to encourage more early-stage investment in companies and ways to offer "relief" through taxes for entrepreneurs who risked their money and lost it in a new venture.

What about lowering the tax burdens of entrepreneurs who provide a sole income to their family, or invest in new companies to grow the economy?

I am not claiming to have all the answers - but I find it a little odd that when the real estate market crashes the President and Congress get out of bed the next day and scramble to find a way to lessen the burden on Corporate America - but when the Innovation Market crashes - they let the entrepreneur and small business owner take the hit.

Here is the Committee for the Opportunity Fund???

2007-08-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

First, let me say - that all of these guys chosen for the Florida Opportunity Fund are very successful, and I am sure very bright. However (with all due respect) - are they the right people to make decisions about where "Early Stage Venture Capital" should go in Florida?

Here is the committee:

Jeff Lyash - Energy Executive
Jeff is an executive at Progress Energy, and has worked with Nuclear Power Plants his entire career according to his bio. No clear Startup or Entrepreneurial experience. http://www.progress-energy.com/aboutus/executive/lyash.asp

Alan Becker - Lawyer
Alan is a very successful lawyer - with expertise in International Law. Lawyer his entire life. No clear Startup or Entrepreneurial experience. http://www.becker-poliakoff.com/attorneys/bios/becker_a.html

Cyrus M. Jollivette - Health Care Executive
Cyrus' entire career is in Public Relations with Government and Universities. No clear Startup or Entrepreneurial Experience. http://www.flchamber.com/mx/hm.asp?id=bd_jollivette

Tim Edmond - Real Estate
Tim has developed real estate for 27 years. No clear Startup or Entrepreneurial Experience.
http://www.cnl.com/teamprofile.asp?exec=42

Medhi Ghomeshi - Banker
Medhi is a banker. No clear Startup or Entrepreneurial Experience.

So basically, no one that has run a VC firm, no one that has started and grown a successful startup, and no one who has embraced innovation and risk.

One could argue that Energy, Real Estate, Law, Banking and Health Care are "high risk" ventures. But that person would be wrong. Dead wrong.

Five members to pick decision makers for VC Fund

2007-08-18T10:49:00.000-05:00

This is an article just released by Tampa Bay Biz Journal. You can see my comments below.

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/08/13/daily70.html

Five members to pick decision makers for VC Fund

Tampa Bay Business Journal - 5:23 PM EDT Friday, August 17, 2007
by Danielle Randall

The first state-backed venture capital fund has adopted a committee.
Enterprise Florida Inc., the state's economic development and retention organization, is in the midst of creating a Florida Opportunity Fund. The fund will invest $30 million of its total of $35 million to invest seed capital and early stage venture capital funds.

Tom Kuntz, vice chairman of Enterprise Florida's board and chairman, president and CEO of SunTrust Bank Inc. (NYSE: STI) in Florida, appointed five existing EFI board members to serve on the committee during this week's board meeting.

The committee members are Jeff Lyash, president and CEO, Progress Energy Florida Inc., Raleigh, N.C.; Alan Becker, senior partner for Becker & Poliakoff, PA Fort Lauderdale; Russ Jollivette, senior vice president of public affairs, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Florida, Jacksonville; Tim Edmond, president of CNL Realty & Development Corp., Orlando; and Medhi Ghomeshi, president and chief executive officer of Great Florida Bank, Coral Gables.

These committee members do not exactly seem like entrepreneurial businessmen, considering each of them work for large companies that do not likely work with startups, said Rich Swier, founder of Sarasota-based StartupFlorida, which has an investment concentration in the Tampa Bay region.

"They're executives and bankers, and I don't believe any of these people are rubbing elbows, or working closely with early-stage venture capitalists," Swier said.

During the next three months, the committee will cherry pick a list of potential decision makers for the Florida Opportunity Fund. Its short list of candidates will be voted on at Enterprise Florida's board meeting Nov. 15.

The Florida Formation Act was enacted July 1 in an effort to fuel the economic development of startups and venture capital investments in Florida. As part of the legislation, the Florida Opportunity Fund will be established as part of the legislation and will earmark $30 million of its $35 million to in invest in seed capital and early stage venture capital funds. These investments would not go directly to individual businesses but would be comprised of a partnership with private venture capital funding, or through a fund-of-funds investment approach. Fund-of-funds is a vehicle designed to invest in a diversified group of funds.

Update on the Florida Opportunity Fund

2007-07-20T06:30:00.000-05:00

See a recent article in Red Herring -

Florida Woos Venture Capital
$35M bill seeds university spin-offs, sets up VC “one-stop shop,” matches VC dollars in new fund. By Ken Schachter

It looks like the Governor passed the bill, and now Florida has 35M to help entrepreneurs.

After reading this article, and the quotes from the people involved - I am a little confused.

EXCERPT 1: "Use of Funds"

"The new law allocates $30 million for a fund of funds. The state will match VC funding dollar for dollar as long as it’s directed toward Florida companies. VCs are free to invest in out-of-state companies, but they won’t get matching dollars. "

My Comment: Are they serious??? They are going to use most of the money to "co-invest" with Florida VC's? What good will this do? 30 Million dollars is NO MONEY to the VC community - and (by the way) we don't have any VC's in Florida. Makes no sense?

EXCERPT 2: "GAP FUNDING"

"About $4 million will go toward early stage gap funding to turn research at public universities into spin-off companies. "

My Comment: I have personally launched 10+ companies (Some from universities and some from entrepreneurs) - and 4 Million will get you 4-5 companies maximum. So essentially, each university can count on 1M of this fund, which may help 1-2 companies. My Angel fund invested more money in companies in Florida.

EXCERPT 3: "ONE-STOP SHOP"

"Roughly $1 million will go toward creating a “one-stop shop” where venture capitalists can go to survey potential portfolio companies"

My Comment: I hope this is a joke. This proves to me they really have no clue of what is going on in Florida. The problem is "We have no potential portfolio companies". Why will it cost $1 Million dollars to rent an empty room?

Florida is ignoring the Entrepreneur

2007-07-07T10:32:00.000-05:00

Over the past years, I have been pushing my agenda to build a more entrepreneurial spirit in Florida (specifically Sarasota and neighboring communities). My investment of time and money in starting an incubator and angel fund was partly motivated by diversifying our economy and trying to build momentum that the local governments and universities could follow.

When my efforts began, I thought Florida had all the elements of an pre-70's California (before it became the center of universe for entrepreneurial activity). We have great weather, a friendly business environment, a growing base of wealthy investors and three or four universities that are transforming into true research centers.

Case in point here is a recent study by Money Magazine

Florida - Entrepreneurs per 100,000 people: 280
South Dakota - Entrepreneurs per 100,000 people: 310

New Mexico - Entrepreneurs per 100,000 people: 450

How on earth does South Dakota have a more entrepreneurial economy?

See whole study - http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fsb/0702/gallery.smallbiz_nation/7.html

So what is lacking? Why can't Florida become a leader of the next generation of great companies?

Here are my thoughts:

1. Our government is being run like we are still in the 80's. We focus on tourism, real estate and thinking "big industry". And what is ironic - is that we invest millions (if not billions) in these three pillars of economic development, and we have very little to show for it. Our real estate is in shambles, with inflated taxes, insurance and bordering a real estate crash. Our tourism industry has been flat and slowly declining over the past few years due to hurricanes and other unfortunate events. And "big industry" has always been a blue bird mentality, trying to get big companies to relocate to Florida is unreasonable - we don't have a strong (Technical) resource pool and "big industries" are dying and not aggressive anymore. Big Industry is down-sizing and trying to find new business models to grow into. The last thing they are thinking is relocating to save a little money on taxes. If anything they are relocating to India, China and Mexico to reduce their burden, not Florida.

2. Our government doesn't show leadership. We expect Venture Capitalists, entrepreneurs and other key people to just migrate to Florida because we have no state income tax and nice beaches. We show no leadership of taking the "risk" ourselves, so why would anyone assume 100% of the risk of transforming Florida into an Entrepreneurial State? We ask VC's to open offices and invest in Florida companies, but Florida itself invests most of its money in VC's out of state and in investments out of state? Is that really consistent?

3. Our Universities are not fueling our economy. Over 3 Billion dollars goes into Florida universities for research, yet the output of quality companies that are being launched from this research you can count on your two hands. It is not the responsibility of our education system to launch companies, but it is the responsibility of our education system to adapt to market demands, and researchers should be producing intellectual property that has relevance to improving our society, and driving their research toward commercialization. Research universities like Standford are a prime example on how they drive research toward the market. Universities need to support the process of commercialization as part of their research and development efforts. For so many years Universities just assume their research would be licensed by the big companies, and that trend is dying. Big companies are no longer willing to buy half-baked technology - they want market-proof.

4. Our Local Economic Development efforts are not investing in the future. It seems every project I read about being launched by Economic Development organizations around the state are very reactionary and short-sited. Nothing seems to be tied to a long-term plan. Even when they hire consulting firms to come to the region and put together a 300-page report on how to improve the local economy - they don't put in place the necessary resources and capital to make it happen.

I hope that over the next five years, our leadership in government (state and local) and our university system realize that ignoring the entrepreneur is the absolute worst thing that you can do to an economy. Everything around us exists because of entrepreneurs, and 90% of our economy is driven by the fruits of labor of entrepreneurs in the past.

The State of Florida needs to shift away from basing its economy on its sunshine and land - and become a creation-based economy. If we do not start supporting the creation of new ideas, new products and new companies - this State will continue suffer from economic paralysis.

What is Venture Creation?

2007-06-08T20:03:00.000-05:00

"Venture Creation" is a model for starting ventures and bridging the gap between an "idea" and a "capitalized business". Since most Venture Capitalists will not invest in a venture unless it has great management, great market, great product and revenue, it is difficult for great ideas and great technologies to get to market.

Over the past 20 years, Venture Capital has slowly shifted to the right (becoming more conservative). The primary driver has been the exponential increase of density and volume of venture capital in the 90's. Venture Capital firms went from raising 250M to raising 2B in funds to invest (so now they are forced to invest more money per deal - thus later stage is the only option). The number of Venture Capital firms has grown exponentially, but the footprint of their location didn't change much. Most of the VC's are still in California and Boston. This shift to the right has widened the "GAP".

In the late '90's due to the widened GAP - Angel Investors (individuals that invest in early-stage ventures) started to fill the void that Venture Capital left behind. Over the past few years, Angel Investors have formalized their activity into Angel Funds, and now act and invest like early-stage VC's. Although Angel Investors have helped entrepreneurs survive the GAP and ultimately position for institutional investment from a VC - they have limited capacity in both time and money to really make qualified decisions and also assist their portfolio in operations and extended funding requirements. Angel Funds are typically run by one administrator or a volunteer angel investor who orchestrates the meetings.

On the other side of the GAP, Universities are struggling to get their technologies to market, and entrepreneurs are lacking guidance on how to get their idea to market. In order to help bridge the GAP, Universities formed Licensing Departments to help organize their IP and enable the professors to streamline licensing their IP to 3rd parties. Some Universities invested capital into building "incubators" and had dedicated staff to help qualify technologies, write business plans and offer some basic infrastructure for companies to hand their hat.

As you can see in the diagram above, the GAP has some awkward holes even with angel capital and incubation. The bottom line, is that money and infrastructure support companies, they do not create companies.

Thus, you need Venture Creation.

Venture Creation is a process. Much like a manufacturing process, Venture Creation turns raw material (e.g. technology) into finished product (e.g. fundable venture).

The value of Venture Creation is not just creating ventures, but more importantly qualifying ventures through a process that will determine whether a venture has a viable product, growing market and a plan that is achievable with existing resources and capital.

In order for the billions of dollars in research and development to bridge into the billions of dollars in institutional Venture Capital - there needs to a be a strong bridge in the form of a Venture Creation company to accelerate ideas into ventures, and build value.

The most important aspect of a Venture Creation company is the management. The people that work day-to-day with the portfolio of companies needs to be highly qualified, entrepreneurial people. The core principal is based on finding very valuable resources and sharing them across multiple ventures being launched.

The second most important aspect is the ability to invest capital. A Venture Creation company can have a small seed fund, or an affiliation with an Angel Group. Either way, having funds available from seed investors is needed.

The final component of a Venture Creation company is that is must have equity in ventures it helps build. Most of the motivation for helping businesses start and become successful is having an equity stake in the venture.

When looking at the funding cycles of any new venture, you need to be creative on how the funding will occur from Seed to 1st Stage.

State of Florida is considering funding Venture Capital

2007-05-27T21:38:00.000-05:00

The State of Florida is putting together a bill that would put together a substantial amount of funding to distribute as fund of funds to local VCs and funds.

Here is a snippet from the proposal

"This bill creates the Florida Capital Formation Act, which is designed to increase the amount of venture capital investment in Florida. The bill creates the Florida Opportunity Fund (fund), to invest in seed capital and early stage venture capital funds. The investments may not be direct investments with individual businesses, but must consist of partnerships with private venture capital funds (the “funds-of-funds” approach). Enterprise Florida, Inc. shall facilitate the creation of the fund. The fund shall be organized as a private, not-for-profit corporation under chapter 617. Enterprise Florida shall select a five-person appointment committee; this committee will select a board of directors for the Florida Opportunity Fund. The board shall select a Florida Opportunity Fund investment manager. The bill requires one dollar in private match for every one dollar the state invests; in addition, investments must be made in Florida-based businesses in life sciences, information technology, advanced manufacturing processes, aviation and aerospace, and homeland security and defense."

I personally hope we get the right bill passed. There is clearly a need for the State to help with economic development - especially new technology startups.

However, I am not sure these funds will end up in the right hands. The State of Florida has tried a few times in the past to fuel venture investments and it failed. One of the reasons I feel that past efforts were not successful is because they gave money to Venture Capital firms who had no experience in early stage investing, no experience in commercialization and no experience in building companies from the ground up.

If the State of Florida wants to ensure it's money is going to make an impact - they need to focus their attention on creating a "gap" fund. In Florida, there is a gap between the funding of research and development of technologies and actually raising a venture capital round of capital. Typically this gap is filled by angel investors because venture capitalists avoid early stage investing.

Let me put some perspective on the issue in the State of Florida. The major universities in the State of Florida receive over 2 Billion in research grants to develop new and innovative technologies. There are only 4 active angel funds in the State of Florida (one of which I founded) that make 2-3 investments per year. There is only 1 early stage VC in the State that I would classify as early-stage (Inflexion). Do you see the problem?

Here is a slide from a presentation I did at the Tech Transfer seminar for Florida.

To download the whole presentation click here.

So the question is where can the State make the biggest impact? I don't believe it can recruit outside VC's to open offices and look at Florida as a legitimate source for good deals - because we don't have a consistent flow of mature deals for VC's to consider. We have lots of interesting technologies floating in the halls of the licensing departments in our universities, but no real system for commercializing the technologies and creating companies.

I call this "Venture Creation". A colleague of mine was one of the father's of venture creation. Mike Buffa stated Milcom in the early nineties as a Venture Creation company that focused on taking raw technologies out of major corporations and spinning them out to create companies. The process of venture creation is complicated, but with the right people in place and the right funding in place it can be a powerful tool for economic development.

I modeled Startup Florida after Milcom, and started my own version of a Venture Creation company. Instead of licensing technologies, we had a team of people who looked for interesting markets and technologies and we launched our own ventures. For example - Movo Mobile was created after I met with a couple guys who had some experience in mobile marketing space and wanted to launch their own venture. We "incubated" the idea, created the technology, accelerated the idea through our Venture Creation process, and had launched a company in less than six months.

Why does Venture Creation work?
Simple. The people. A Venture Creation company is essentially a group of experienced entrepreneurs and investors who can work together to help launch new ventures. Unlike a venture capitalist, a venture creationist gets hands on in a venture, brings their expertise and helps accelerate the launch. After a venture is launched, management is brought on board to run the company and funding is brought in from angel investors or potentially venture capitalists. Many times ventures fail because they lack resources, knowledge and the network to grow a business. Venture Creation brings all those elements to the table on day one, and you can focus on building the business.

How does it work?
Simple. A Venture Creation company looks for innovating technology and experienced entrepreneurs. Once a technology or entrepreneur is located, it analyzes the market opportunity for the idea and decides whether or not to proceed to create a company (I am over-simplifying the process, but essentially this is a big step). The Venture Creation company licenses the technology (which already may have millions invested through R&D grants, etc) and creates a company. The company is accelerated through a venture creation process, business plan is executed, management team is formed, application is built and the company is launched.
Essentially, the venture creation process bridges the "gap" and brings real investment opportunities to the table - for Venture Capitalists to consider (both from Florida and outside the State of Florida). For example, most of Milcom's ventures were located in Florida, but received funding from top tier Venture Capital firms from all over the US and World.

What about the lack of Venture Capital?
The obvious question is "great, you helped create companies, but they still need money - what can we do about the lack of venture capital?"

Venture Capitalists will find good deals. Deal Flow is the life blood of venture capital, and most VC's starve for good deal flow. The reason VC's are not setting up shop in Florida (which by the way is one of the top green fields for technology innovation in the country) is because it lacks deal flow. A Venture Creation company would create deal flow, and leverage the massive amounts of R&D investments our Universities are making, and bring to the surface a vibrant entrepreneurial community. No matter how much money the State pumps into a fund, or gives to outside Venture Capital funds - they will not pay attention to Florida - until there is a consistent, high-quality influx of investment opportunities.

Even if they don't setup shop... a good company can raise capital from Funds outside of Florida.

I am excited about the future of Florida - because it has all the potential California did in the late seventies. Beautiful climate, influx of wealthy, retiring executives and innovative, growing Universities. We have a lot of essential assets to make a great place for entrepreneurs to live and create the next generation of companies.

MOVO could do more then just market product

2007-04-19T09:48:00.000-05:00

Anytime I am involved with a company, part of me would always like to see the company offer something "good" back to the community. There is always a humanitarian aspect to entrepreneurship, and here is one aspect I did not see when I co-founded Movo Mobile.

With the current events on everyone's mind - we look at the tragedy of the murders happening on high school and college campuses. The most recent ofcourse being Virginia Tech. And we all ask ourselves - "could have we prevented the tragedy". I think it is clear, that it wasn't obvious that this kid was going to become a mass-murderer - but one area that we can always improve on is communication.

Enter Movo. Movo (http://www.movomobile.com) has been working with universities over the past year to improve communication (mostly marketing) between the college and the students using SMS on cell phones. Although the original intent was to share information about classes, upcoming events and administrative alerts - clearly it can also become the next emergency broadcast system.

If Virginia Tech had the ability to send a SMS message to all their students. after the morning murders - would this have effected the murders later that day? Email was sent, but very few students were at their computers.

I am not questioning so much how the past was handled - but I am addressing how the future can be managed, and perhaps we can help prevent these types of tragedies through technology and innovative products like Movo.

I am proud to see one of the companies we started could play a role in saving lives - its nice to provide a service that extends beyond dollars and cents.

Read the Herald Tribune Article

Visit Movo Mobile

Fast Pitch! brings Social Networking to Businesses

2007-04-05T13:16:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that a small company in Sarasota, Florida could potentially be the next gorilla in one of the most dynamic markets on the web today - Social Networking.

For the first time companies like FaceBook and mySpace are adding substance to the hype of the Internet, and creating powerful communities of people who share content and build connections based on social highlights. mySpace was sold to News Corp for just under a billion, and the valuation of FaceBook exceeds 1B (turned down Yahoo's bid to buy them for 1.4B). Oh, by the way - this isn't a bubble either. These companies are driving serious revenue, serious growth and have the most valuable user base on the web today. Not only do they know who their users are, they know what they like, don't like, and more importantly what they want to buy.

Now, turn the page - moving from college to work, and focus on business. Enter Fast Pitch!. Fast Pitch has a community of users as well, but focused on building relationships based on business (however, their is always a social element). Business Networking has been around since the first dollar was exchanged, but more importantly networking is the life-blood of any business or professional's career. What a novel idea - network and market your business online, and bring people together based on simple criteria (e.g. where they went to college, what they are looking to buy, what city do they live in). Proof is in the stats - Fast Pitch! is ranked one of the top 4,000 websites in traffic in the United States, and 15,000 in the world.

After all, this is what the Internet was meant to be - a network of people, not computers.

So why is the future of Fast Pitch! so bright? They have a rapidly growing user base, customers that pay for the service (which is not easy to do - FaceBook and mySpace are free), and more importantly a network of business professionals that are actively buying and selling products and services, building relationships and adding content to Fast Pitch! every second of every day .... world wide.

One to watch.

www.fastpitchnetworking.com

Proposed legislation would give a tax break to early investors in small businesses

2007-03-20T08:41:00.000-05:00

On Angels' Wings
Proposed legislation would give a tax break to early investors in small businesses
By COLLEEN DEBAISE, WSJ. March 19, 2007; Page R6

Proposed legislation winding its way through Congress could give angel investors a new incentive to fund start-ups -- and a more visible profile in the small-business community.
The Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs Act would provide a 25% tax credit to investors with a net worth of at least $1 million who make equity investments in early-stage small businesses -- the first time an investor would get a break for investing at the front end.

Angel investors -- traditionally, wealthy individuals willing to invest in a nascent business before anyone else wants to -- could use the proposed federal tax credit to offset as much as $500,000 of investments a year. But investments eligible for the credit would be limited to $250,000 per business to encourage angels to invest in at least two companies a year to get the full credit.

A Break at the Start

The proposal, introduced in late January by Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a Democrat from North Dakota, and Rep. Don Manzullo, an Illinois Republican, has gotten bipartisan support and an enthusiastic response from small-business groups, who say it will motivate high-net-worth individuals to invest in companies at the earliest stages. That's traditionally the most difficult time to obtain money, as start-ups don't yet have a track record to obtain a bank loan or enough viability to get access to venture capital. It's also the riskiest time for an investor, as the new enterprise could easily go belly up.

GIVE AND GET BACK

The Situation: Proposed legislation would give angel investors a 25% tax credit on investments of as much as $500,000 in start-ups.

What's at Stake: Small- business owners and others say the tax break will spur investment at the time firms need it most. But some people wonder if it also could lead to reckless investing.
What's Next: Proponents will spend the next few months lobbying for the measure in the House and Senate.

Proponents say the early-stage break would be a more effective tax incentive than a reduction in the capital-gains tax, which benefits an angel only at the back end, when a company is eventually sold or goes public and the investor records a gain on his or her initial investment. Currently, investors receive a partial exclusion of capital gains for investing in certain small businesses if stock in the business is held for more than five years.

"We do truly think that it will help spur investments," says Susan Preston, who researches angel investing at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City, Mo., nonprofit that supports entrepreneurship, and has consulted with members of Congress on the bill. "I've had angel group leaders tell me it will double their numbers."

But some do question the risks. The tax credit "may be fabulous, or it may have some unintended consequences," says Marianne Hudson, executive director of the Angel Capital Association in Vienna, Va., which officially has a neutral position on the federal tax credit. For instance, does a tax credit "really lead to investments? Does it make an investor invest in bad deals? Does it make people who shouldn't be investing invest?" The group, which was formed in 2004, represents 200 angel organizations in the U.S. and Canada and was formed to share practices, network and develop data about the field of angel investing.

Ms. Preston, who has provided angel capital to start-ups, says when investing in a small business at its earliest stage, "the risk is whether anything comes out of your investment, and that's a big risk." But the tax credit on the investment itself -- whether or not it eventually produces a return -- helps offset that gamble.

"You have to do your own analysis and make a determination that this company has a better chance at success than others," she says. But the tax credit "certainly provides that piece of incentive, 'I am going to do this investment because I can somewhat reduce the risk.' "
Underutilized Resource

Angels are the largest and oldest source of start-up capital for entrepreneurs, according to Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. But because the angel market consists largely of individuals who make investments quietly, little is known or understood about their practices -- making them one of the nation's most underutilized economic resources, he says.

According to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, there were about 25.8 million small businesses in the U.S. in 2005. (The SBA defines a small business as one with 500 or fewer employees.) And 671,800 of those were enterprises started that year.
According to the Center for Venture Research, in 2005, U.S. angels invested $23.1 billion in just 49,500 ventures, or about $470,000 a deal. Venture capitalists invested $22.1 billion in 3,008 deals, or about $7.4 million a deal, in the same period.

Investing in an early-stage company can be a lucrative proposition. There's little data on the subject since transactions are private, but the center's research indicates that angels typically look for businesses with the potential for a 20% to 40% annual return. For some investors, there's also a personal benefit: Many angels are successful entrepreneurs who have cashed out and now want to help others just starting out.

The investment is not without its risks, however, since many start-ups don't make it. Angels need to do due diligence to make sure the investment meets their investment criteria. Angels need to make sure the venture has a solid business plan, strong management team and viable exit strategy.

Sometimes, angels will take equity in the firm but require the entrepreneur to retain a larger stake, thereby making sure the entrepreneur has a vested interest in seeing the company succeed. In some cases, angels pool resources with other angels, forming angel groups or networks to mitigate risk.

Just a Start?

Mr. Sohl says that while a federal tax credit could provide some incentive to boost the number of angel investors, more needs to be done. European governments are "light years" ahead of the U.S., he says, often providing matching funds to angels willing to make an investment in entrepreneurs. Also beneficial would be educational programs that groom potential angels or raise awareness in the small-business community about existing angels.

"I don't want anyone to think [the tax credit] is the silver bullet that will increase angel investments," he says.

A tax credit for angels already exists in 21 states -- and both abuse and success have been reported.

In Hawaii, a tax credit for high-tech investment sparked controversy when taxpayers learned that investors got generous tax breaks for financing one-shot movie deals, such as the 2002 surfer-girl movie "Blue Crush," that didn't create postproduction jobs. The state ultimately tightened its rules for qualifying for the credit, known as Act 221.

In Wisconsin, however, where a 25% tax credit for angels who invest in early-stage Wisconsin technology businesses became effective in 2005, "our experience has been very positive," says Lorrie Keating Heinemann, secretary of the state Department of Financial Institutions. In 2004, before the tax credit, angels invested $2 million in nine companies, she says; in 2005, after the credit took effect, angels invested $19.5 million in 40 companies.

The state also helped create the Wisconsin Angel Network, a public-private initiative, to raise awareness of investment opportunities. Angels, for instance, can now get a tax credit for investing in state-certified stem-cell research companies.

"When we talked about angel investing a few years ago in our state, people didn't know what it was -- even the banks," Ms. Heinemann says.

Lobbying Efforts

Back in Washington, small-business groups that want the federal tax credit signed into law will spend the coming months lobbying for their cause. The fact that the measure was introduced so early in the new Congress could help their efforts. A similar measure was introduced in the Senate and House late in the last Congressional session -- by the same representatives and by Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine -- but wasn't acted upon before the session ended.

A mix of small-business groups -- including Women Impacting Public Policy, the National Association for the Self-Employed and the American Nursery and Landscape Association -- has formed a coalition to support the bill. Barbara Kasoff, president of Women Impacting Public Policy, says an informal poll of the group's members, primarily women business owners, found that 30% might become angels if the tax credit passed.

She sees the credit as "opening the door for many other angel investors in this country who are not angels now."

MOVO takes the NBA mobile

2007-02-20T09:34:00.000-05:00

Movo Mobile hits Vegas: Sarasota-based Movo Mobile, which was acquired in October by Naples-based Neighborhood America, handled Adidas’ mobile advertising campaign at this years NBA All-Star Weekend event in Las Vegas, Nev. Adidas’ ads were placed on more than 200 digital billboards throughout the city and subscribers were able to register through their cell phones to get ringtones, wallpapers, promotions and NBA venue information from the Movo. To see how it in action text "vegas" to 234327 or check out http://www.movomobile.com/.

Software is Dead. Long live the Web

2007-02-06T22:03:00.000-05:00

Yes, its official - Software is dead (albeit dying a slow death) - but still dead. The shift from "double-clicking on an install CD" to loading up a web page has crossed over from simply a techno-shift to a economic-shift. What does the mean? It means there is no turning back. Let me explain.

A few years ago, you could see the rise of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) as a new way to deliver high-powered applications over the web... but it lacked a lot of the "must-haves" a typical IT guy would want - whether its the "I like the GUI to be quick and responsive" type of IT guy, or the "I don't trust the security on the web" type of IT Guy - there was always apprehension in making a full transition to SaaS over your Classic .EXE.

But guess what. Nobody cares what the IT guy wants anymore... in the 90's budgets were high, and the IT guys were pumped-up superstars - cutting costs, improving operations and streamlining business - but now - the promises of yesteryear are looking bleak - and IT didn't deliver on the $150,000 Siebel install, and the $1.5M SAP Install, and the $500,000 Reporting software. Now business is business and IT is a service - which means no more big checks.

So what does this mean? It means there is an economic shift. "Pay-as-you-go" has become the mantra - and "License" is a four-letter word.

Risk is not an option. Companies don't want to pay up front, for a 2 year implementation, hoping the software works. Also, if your a startup - forget it. Nobody buys from a startup anymore. But I think the most important factor in the past few years has been the fact the "cycle of innovation" has grown shorter then the "budget cycle". Let me dive into this nugget. Essentially, 10 years ago - software vendors (especially startups) where innovating quickly and the big guys were having trouble keeping up. And due to the urgency to be competitive in the Information Age - the buy cycle for new technology was short. So - basically, only startups could keep up with demand, and building new/cool stuff. Well now, with the conservative nature of the economy, the "hype" sold by IT coming to light, and the budget cycle becoming longer (3 months to 3 years) - now the big guys don't have to innovate as quickly - because nobody buys new technology anymore - they want to see it baked. So it is nearly impossible for a startup to compete - because even though they have something unique - its not marketable. And by the time it is marketable - everyone has it.

This is why SaaS has won. Companies can implement "new" technologies with very little risk, because there is no heavy upfront license fee - they can pay-as-they-go.

So is this a bold prediction? Probably not. So what is my point? Don't invest in EXE companies. Long live .COM.

SaaS and Web 3.0

2007-01-31T00:26:00.000-05:00

Check out what Kim Kobza (CEO of Neighborhood America) says about the next phase of the web

Broadly speaking, we think of Web 2.0 as including a second generation of Internet-based services likr social networking sites, wikis, and communications tools that allow individuals to collaborate and share information online in ways previously unavailable. Media, government, and business are quickly learning that Web 2.0 is creating an expectation of being able to interact with brands and issues that are most important to customers.

Web 3.0 will enable business to quickly embrace scalable, repeatable, and consistent methods of building social networks with customers and to manage those networks. By using SaaS businesses can meet the rising demands for customer interaction in a way that delivers immediate and tangible business value. SaaS is a simple solution to the universal problem of how to bridge the gap between traditional CRM and the demand for social networks created by Web 2.0 technologies in a way that honors the needs of business processes.

Read the whole article on CNET

PumpMedia Teams with Real Digital Media and Avocent to Offer Digital Signage Solution for Gas Station Retailers

2007-01-31T00:17:00.000-05:00

PumpMedia, an outdoor media company, today announced the availability of a fully integrated digital signage solution for gas station environments. In partnership with Real Digital Media, a leading provider of next generation digital signage products for establishing point-of-purchase marketing, promotions and corporate communication networks, and Avocent® Corporation (NASDAQ: AVCT), a leading provider of IT infrastructure management solutions, the new offering enables digital signage networks to be seamlessly integrated at the fuel pump dispenser.

View the entire Press Release here

Yokel in Wall Street Journal

2006-12-21T09:52:00.000-05:00

Search Engines Help Shoppers To Buy Locally
By JAMES COVERT
December 21, 2006; Page B1

Now that shoppers are accustomed to scouring the Web for the best prices on everything from TV sets to handbags, a new breed of search engine aims to help them figure out which local stores have the goods in stock.

Last week, a company called NearbyNow began offering shoppers at three malls in California and one in Arizona a chance to check merchandise availability at most of the malls' stores by sending text messages from their cellphones. A similar service called Slifter, from GPShopper Inc., focuses on the availability of electronics and toys at big chains like Best Buy Co. and Staples Inc. Other companies, including Google Inc., are building networks to help shoppers figure out what's at local stores before they get there.

For some shoppers, the services have come in handy. Kharlo Barcenas, a 24-year-old construction-project engineer, says he used NearbyNow's service to quickly locate an Oakland As baseball cap at the Eastridge mall in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday. Since hearing about Slifter at a party in the spring, Jacob Silberstein, a 33-year-old legal recruiter from Queens, N.Y., has used it to buy a router at Circuit City and an iPod armband and a "Lord of the Rings" DVD set at Best Buy. "Some people see it and immediately get it," he says, noting that he has introduced the service to a half-dozen friends.

Online local searches have been around for a while, but they have been hit or miss, largely because inventory information at the store level is hard to get. A site called Yokel.com, for example, does a far better job of finding merchandise in its hometown of Boston than elsewhere around the country. Yokel Inc. Chief Executive Scott Randall says it will take a year for the company to cover the nation's 25 top metropolitan areas as well as the service covers Boston. And Shoplocal.com, one of the largest local shopping sites, plans to overhaul its site early next year to better highlight the local offerings it gathers from newspaper advertising circulars. Right now, those offerings are often mixed in with online deals.

It's been especially hard to collect information about designer clothes. In January, a site called BrandHabit.com plans to launch such a service. The hitch: It will focus on small designers and boutiques that are willing to participate because they need the exposure.

Some major retail chains that let customers check inventories at local stores on their own Web sites are also starting to share that information with search engines. And Google is working with Best Buy, Barnes & Noble Inc., Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to make those chains' inventories more accessible online. Over the past year, its Google Base and Froogle Local programs have also amassed local inventory feeds from smaller businesses. Best Buy is involved because "it's really a convenience factor" for shoppers, says Rose Hamilton, the company's director of online marketing.

But a number of retailers, including some luxury stores, apparel chains, jewelers and supermarkets, aren't enthusiastic about making the information available. One reason is that the searches list prices, sometimes side by side with lower prices available online. Gap Inc. has "no immediate plans to implement it for a variety of reasons," says spokesman Alex Clark, adding that "there are some logistical difficulties to say the least."

NearbyNow was able to persuade retailers at the four malls it covers to participate in part because it shows only local results, says Scott Dunlap, founder and CEO of the Mountain View, Calif., company. By this time next year, he expects the service, which is free to shoppers, to be available for at least 100 malls. "It's a big hit with the teen 'mall rat' demographic" and chains like American Eagle Outfitters Inc. and Hot Topic Inc., Mr. Dunlap says. He adds that NearbyNow plans to offer information about new merchandise and markdowns starting this spring. "These kids do everything on their phones," he notes. American Eagle had no comment. Hot Topic didn't return phone calls seeing comment.

Companies eager to win more Web exposure for their products are helping to nudge the process along. Microsoft Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and Intel Corp., which track inventories at some smaller retailers, are feeding the data to Channel Intelligence Inc., Channel says. The Celebration, Fla., company says it also collects local inventory information from chains like RadioShack Corp. and CompUSA. Channel then passes the data on to companies like CNET Networks Inc., a tech-oriented shopping-comparison site, and GPShopper.

GPShopper's Slifter service, which is aimed at techies and videogame enthusiasts, covers about 50 million products at 15,000 retail locations, GPShopper CEO Alex Muller says. He aims to expand into sporting goods, apparel and cosmetics. Other companies see an opportunity to publish data from smaller mom-and-pop stores. Over the past three years, StepUp Commerce Inc., based in San Francisco, has built a roster of about 5,000 small retailers that mainly sell appliances, furniture, high-end electronics and other items that aren't easily shipped. StepUp was recently acquired by Intuit Inc., which in October began including the local search service as an option in its Quickbook accounting packages.

At Leland Fly Fishing Outfitters LLC in San Francisco, year-over-year sales of rods, reels, waders and other gear have jumped nearly 50% since the shop began using the new service, says owner Josh Frazier.

But even Google hasn't always had an easy time collecting data. "It's evangelism and education more than trying to sell them anything," says Shailesh Rao, the director of local search for the Mountain View, Calif., company.

Business Networking is EXPLODING!

2006-12-05T23:19:00.000-05:00

As you all know, our friends at Fast Pitch! www.fastpitchonline have become a premiere destination for business professionals looking to market and network their business.

Over the past month, they have climbed the charts, and are now one of the top 20,000 websites (based on last month's traffic). This is an amazing milestone, even if business networking is the hottest thing on the web today. Check out Fast Pitch! traffic exploding on the right - Courtesy of Alexa Rankings.

Another light was casted on this new market by Business 2.0 this week, when they featured LinkedIn (one of the leaders in business networking) - and wrote a very informative article about the expected growth in this space.

A great quote by Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn and infamous founder of Paypal which was sold to eBay for 1.5B) talks about the difference between social networking and business networking on the web - "Once we get them, we can keep them from the age of 25 to 65, the time when people are most valuable, when they are out changing the world," Hoffman says. "I want to be the service for them."

Hoffman refers to the massive trend of Social Networking sites like FaceBook and mySpace, and why business networking should reach a higher plane on the web.

Were are excited to see whats around the corner for Fast Pitch! and this market.

FastPitch kicks into High Gear

2006-11-03T14:19:00.000-05:00

FastPitch (www.fastpitchnetworking.com) kicked into high gear this week. They launched a new marketing service for their customer base, and is being featured in a variety of publications and websites.

Check out this PODCAST interview with PR Web Download Podcast

Web 2.0 - Where is the Business model?

2006-10-28T09:48:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, there is a second generation of web-based businesses that are making the dreams of .com boom a reality. What is different? Well actually... not much. Many of the concepts that are proven to be successful in capturing buzz today, were available in the late '90s. For example, Skype (an internet-based VOIP service) is not the first to market. There were a series of Internet Phone products prior to Skype. Companies like FaceBook, mySpace and other social networking companies are not exactly "new" either. There were many websites that allowed you to join communities and post your thoughts. But again, they weren't able to capture the attention of the mass market. I am sure some of it is due to timing, and the lessons learned from Web 1.0... but I question whether we have actually followed through with the most important lesson of Web 1.0 - where is the revenue coming from?

When I look at the overwhelming success UGC (user generated content) sites over the past few years (Digg with news, FaceBook with college kids, mySpace with ???) - I see the classic paradigm of the Internet. You can deploy a great service to lure the masses, but once you try to monetize the user base - you put at risk the user experience that made you popular in the first place. The idea of the "Free Internet" has been the limiting factor for many great ideas. Once something isn't free, it becomes yesterday's news. We saw this phenomenon happen in browser wars, P2P file sharing and of course to web-sites today.

So the question is - Can you monetize the masses? The lazy entrepreneur would quickly shout out "Advertising". But I question the viability of this as a revenue model. Sure, you can make money throwing up some banners and pay-per-click ads on the right side (ala Google). But in reality - even websites with thousands of visitors find it hard to turn traffic into real money. Why? Two reasons. First, the top 100 sites on the web dominate the ad budgets. 90% of the money being spent on "premium advertising" is going to a very small percentage of web publishers. Second, the mass market is not advertising yet. Much like only the top websites get the big as dollars, only the big advertisers are making massive ad buys. So even though you seen billions of dollars being spent on internet advertising, the money is going back and forth between the people who live at the top of the mountain.

So that leaves the other option - Pay-Per-Click advertising. Forget trying to tap into the budgets of the big advertisers and leverage a channel like Google Ad Words or Yahoo Overture. Unfortunately, the picture becomes more bleak. First of all, these guys pay out a very small percentage to their publishers. The model is completely in their favor. They are selling an over-priced ad to an ad buyer, and delivering the ad to a new channel at no cost... and when someone clicks on the ad they take a small percentage and pay for the right to show ads on your site. In my opinion, the cost/value proposition is inverted, and some degree mis-represented to both the advertiser and web publisher. Without digressing into a rant against these guys, I just summarize in saying "Pay Per Click" as a revenue model is a nice way to get beer money from your popular blog, but it is not a revenue model.

So - how are all these Web 2.0 companies going to make money? In my mind - there are only two paths. The first path is to build a large enough base of users and either partner with one of the big guys. For example, YouTube became the dominating force in online video - but I question they could ever monetize their traffic on ads alone. When Google bought them, it gives them the foundation to build a revenue model. If YouTube stayed independent, they would be forced to insert ads into videos (which would destroy the user experience) or charge a ridiculous amount of money for those 2 or 3 banner ads (which would barely cover their bandwidth costs). As part of the Google family, they are simply another block of content that will be distributed through their heavily traffic ad-supported network.

The second path to money for these companies - is to build a community of buyers and sellers. What do I mean? Well, look at some of the examples we have talked about. FaceBook and mySpace - clear leaders in the online community space, but not a community of buyers and seller (yet). Today, its a bunch of kids building content, and sharing thoughts and ideas (and of course pictures of them getting wasted at the football game). They are not selling anything, and no one is really looking to buy. It is simply a social community. Look at YouTube, same thing.

So what do I mean by community of buyers and sellers? It is a business network. Where people become part of the community with the desire to do business (either act as a buyer or seller). A classic example of this - is eBay. eBay was the first example of how you can build a community that has mass appeal, and attract users who are looking to transact, and not just post content or chat.

Another example (which I have a personal bias for since I am an investor) is FastPitch. FastPitch is a destination for small businesses to share leads, market their business and network within their own communities. FastPitch drives revenue through premium membership services that allow small businesses to extend their web marketing and highlight their business in the online community. There is a clear value proposition for a fair price.

So its time to conclude this blog into a point. My point is this - I think we have learned many lessons, and thus Web 2.0 is definitely a stronger, faster, better Internet - but I still feel it has some "bugs" - so I encourage everyone to avoid buying into the "vision" of Pay-Per-Click Internet - because it will eventually be revealed as what it is - high-cost, low value web-based version of classified ads. I am not saying PPC ads will die - but I hope for everyone's sake that the web publishers take back the wheel - and not let the Google's and Yahoo's of the world monopolize the advertising dollar.

Whatever happens... we can all rest assure that Web 3.0 is right around the corner.

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trials Network Announces Partnership with Clinipace

2006-10-27T08:42:00.000-05:00

The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Trials Network (CAPTN), a multi-national network of practicing child and adolescent psychiatrists established in partnership with Duke University and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), has chosen Clinipace's web-based Tempo™ software platform to support its upcoming clinical research projects.

Read Entire Article

FastPitch launches Blog

2006-10-25T12:13:00.000-05:00

Our friends at FastPitch launched a BLOG. We look forward to some insightful posts on successul marketing.

Check out the BLOG here

VentureCast Announces Video Service for Entrepreneurs

2006-10-20T08:31:00.000-05:00

VentureCast, a private network of entrepreneurs and investors who connect online, today announced a new premium service which allows members to upload their video presentations or demonstrations of their products and inventions for other members to view.

Read Entire Release

Yokel - Top 30,000 websites based on traffic

2006-10-11T19:31:00.000-05:00

Yokel keeps climbing the charts on increased traffic. This is a big measuring stick for destination web sites. View Alexa Rankings

Next Destination : Florida Venture Blog by Dan Rua

2006-10-08T07:05:00.000-05:00

In our small community of venture capitalists and risk takers in the State of Florida, my friends at Inflexion Partners stand above the rest. A "tip of the hat" to them for investing in PayPerPost - an innovative advertising network based in Maitland. If you could only meet three venture capitalists in Florida, make sure Dan Rua is on the list.

Check out Dan's Florida Venture Blog.

Neighborhood America - Movo Merger Announcement

2006-09-29T23:22:00.000-05:00

Neighborhood America Acquires Movo Mobile

Strategic acquisition solidifies Neighborhood America’s market-leading position as provider of enterprise applications for building participatory communities

Naples, Fla. – October 4, 2006 – Neighborhood America announced today that it has successfully completed the acquisition of mobile marketing solutions provider MOVO Mobile. Neighborhood America is the leading provider of solutions that enable customers to build community through enterprise management of structured audience interactions.

Read Entire Press Release

Clinipace Software To Be Utilized in DoD-Funded Study Of Brain Injuries

2006-09-14T08:45:00.000-05:00

Software developed by RTP-based Clinipace will be utilized in a study of brain injuries that is being funded by the Department of Defense.

Banyan Biomarkers, a company based in Florida, is working with the DoD on the study. Banyan will utilize applications from Clinipace that were developed for use with data gathered through clinical trials.

Banyan is studying biomarkers found in patients who have suffered traumatic brain injury.

Clinipace software will be used to capture and manage data collected at several clinical trial sites over the next three years. The software is web-based.

Check out the News Story

Sarasota Tech Conference... Success!

2006-09-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

The 2006 Sarasota / Manatee Technology Conference is the first of its kind on the Gulf Coast and boasts a slate of high-level speakers whose expertise range from Web marketing to manufacturing. The conference will focus on how businesses within the Gulf Coast region and around the world integrate technology to improve efficiency, processes and sales. Official Website of Sarasota Tech Conference.

CFO Magazine - Real Digital Media

2006-09-05T09:25:00.000-05:00

Read the latest article in CFO Magazine about Digital Signage (and reference to Real Digital Media's customer UPS).

Read the Full Article

Startup Florida welcomes Star2Star

2006-09-01T17:54:00.000-05:00

Star2Star is an Internet Phone Service Provider that is providing world-class service to small businesses around the nation. We are excited to have them as neighbors. Visit their website.

FastPitch signs Manhattan Chamber on Online Networking

2006-09-01T17:30:00.000-05:00

The Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, which represents over 100,000 businesses recently partnered with Fast Pitch!, creator of the innovative ONLINE networking platform, to provide it’s members with a new way to network from their office using a computer and telephone. The Fast Pitch ONLINE event format, which was designed to help business professionals promote their company, uses web-casting technology to allow people to actively ‘pitch’ their business to more people in less time. Read More.

MobileSecure acquires Highwall Technologies

2006-08-24T21:12:00.000-05:00

MobileSecure (a mobile security company) based in Boston, MA has acquired Highwall Technologies LLC.

Yokel.com Traffic breaks top 50,000 websites on the Internet

2006-08-16T10:49:00.000-05:00

Yokel.com is climbing the traffic rankings. For more details check out Alexa Rankings. Yokel is currently ranked 33,067 in traffic rankings over past three months, but has gone as high as top 10,000.

2006-08-08T17:20:00.000-05:00

Real Digital Media Teams with AccuWeather to Provide Rich Localized Media Content for Digital Signage

Network operators using Real Digital Media’s NEOCAST® digital signage solution now gain access to AccuWeather news, sports and weather content.

View Entire Press Release

Movo partners with Neighborhood America

2006-07-31T15:26:00.000-05:00

Founded in 1999, Neighborhood America is built on the premise that meaningful interaction drives value for your organization.

NA provides customers software-as-a-service solutions for capturing customer feedback. Read More about Neighborhood America here.

Connections Canada (CCi) partners with RDM to bring solutions to Canada

2006-07-31T15:21:00.000-05:00

Real Digital Media (RDM), a leading provider of next generation digital signage products for establishing point-of-purchase marketing, promotions and corporate communication networks, today announced a partnership with Connections Canada (CCi), a firm that specializes in the delivery of retail automation products and value added services to the Canadian marketplace.

News - Isobar Mobile to bring Movo Mobile’s Agency Platform to Clients

2006-07-06T09:33:00.000-05:00

Movo partners with leading interactive ad agency Isobar.
http://www.movomobile.com/news.cfm?Page=Press&Menu=Press&PressReleaseID=53

Isobar is one of the world's largest interactive agencies with more than twenty offices around the globe. With North American headquarters based in Boston, MA, Isobar has six additional offices in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Dallas. Isobar is owned by Aegis MEDIA, the world's largest independent media agency with more than $15 billion in worldwide billings. Isobar's clients include Pfizer, Hyundai, RadioShack, Ofoto, and PalmOne, among others. For more information on services, go to www.isobarcommunications.com

Article - Yokel Aims for Local Shopping Search Niche

2006-07-06T09:31:00.000-05:00

ECommerceTimes.com publised an article on Yokel.com
http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/50392.html

"E-commerce has been going for 10 years plus now and what's interesting is that still 97 percent of stuff gets bought off-line," co-founder and CEO Scott Randall said. "People want to research it online, but they want to go to the store, see it, touch it and feel it before they buy it in a lot of cases."

Article - Yokel.com in Search Engine Lowdown

2006-07-06T09:20:00.000-05:00

Yokel is featured on Search Engine Lowdown website. Good article explaining the current state of Yokel and the road map ahead.

This is my favorite quote from the author - "Notice something missing from Google and Yahoo? That's right. They're called relevant results." He is commenting on the fact Yokel delivers superior results for product and store searches over and above Google and Yahoo.

http://www.searchenginelowdown.com/2006/05/yokel-local-shopping-search-social.html

News - Clinipace launches another registry

2006-07-06T09:19:00.000-05:00

Clinipace Wins National Antiphospholipid Syndrome Registry Managed By UNC-Based Thurston Arthritis Research Center
June 27, 2006
Clinipace, Inc., a software company focused on late-stage clinical research studies and registries today announced its newest academic research center client â€“ the Antiphospholipid Syndrome Collaborative Registry (APSCORE) managed by investigators at the Thurston Arthritis Research Center in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

View More - http://www.clinipace.com/xpertblogs/templates/template3.aspx?articleid=15&zoneid=2

News - Clinipace Off to a Fast Start

2006-07-06T09:17:00.000-05:00

Check out Clinipace in Bio-IT world. Good article about the company and the market

http://cms.bio-itworld.com/newsitems/2006/june/06-22-06-clinipace/view

Welcome to Startup Florida

2006-07-06T09:11:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the official blog of Startup Florida. The primary goal of this blog is to track news of our portfolio companies for our friends and investors.