LaunchPad (WebExpo 2.0): Battle of the Bands (Startups)
O.k. It wasn’t a battle of the bands. More like the battle of the startups. But if you are curious what the top 6 startups out of a field of around ~150 you should take a gander at this … factoring in, of course, that:
1. This is just those startups that think competitions for exposure is good use of their time
2. The selection was crowd based so it may not reflect true enterprise value (more like consumer)
Anyway, the format was a 5 minute pitch to a panel of VC’s at SF’s Web 2.0 Expo followed by 3 questions (1 per VC) by the top six finalists. Then the crowd voted. All they were missing was an encore of School of Rock from Jack Black (the best movie IMHO around battles of the bands).
Here’s my thoughts and scribble …
| Details | Notable Points |
| Title/Link:
Duration:
Presenters:
Panel: Michael Jung (Panorama Capital), Maha Ibrahim (Canaan Partners), David Hornik (August Capital), Recommend to Watch? Perhaps
|
1. Tradevibes – Startup Watercooler
2. JobScore – Enable Resume Sharing Across Recruiters
3. Trigget – Simplify Insertion of Ads (Media) Into Any Site?
4. Chirp – A ScreenSaver Of Your Activity Streams?
5. Acquia – Supporting Drupal (Open Source CMS) For the Enterprise Ala JBoss Model
6. Oortel – Revolution in the Underbelly of the Web
|
My parting thought was … how did these six became the six startups featured? When you track other channels of startups like Scoble or RedMonk you get a different sense of the field and what is more intriguing to the consumer and enterprise. Still, these six beat out 150 others … so it made them interesting enough to ponder … for awhile. However, a few days later … I am not pumped on any of the topics so it wasn’t eye opening.
FYI, eventual winner was Trigget.
As always interested in your thoughts.
* START OF RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **
• Hosts
………………..○ Facilitator – John Battelle – Federated Media Publishing
………………..○ Panel
………………………………….§ Michael Jung – Panorama Capital
………………………………….§ Maha Ibrahim – Canaan Partners
………………………………….§ David Hornik – August Capital
• Companies
………………..○ TradeVibes
………………………………….§ Founder Overview
…………………………………………………… David Lee
…………………………………………………… Startup Sharing Ideas — Products Ideas
…………………………………………………… Community based
…………………………………………………… All six of launch pad are there
…………………………………………………… 5/13/2008, 6:21 AM
…………………………………………………… Like / Dislike … show similar
…………………………………………………… Wikipedia for Startups meets Yolk (sp?) … facts and opinions on startups
…………………………………………………… Show which are hot and not
…………………………………………………… See … team, funding, products, bio of team
…………………………………………………… News
…………………………………………………… Traffic comparison
……………………………………………………Bauer Comment- why would I put research I did in online for competitors I am trying to beat? I guess to poison the water.
…………………………………………………… Company profile widgets
………………………………….§ Q&A From Judges (VC)
…………………………………………………… What is in it for the user?
…………………………………………………………………….. Stake in company, fan of company.
……………………………………………………………………..Bauer Comment- so big fan boy site
…………………………………………………… User base too small … challenge is will become a sales tool w/o counter model
…………………………………………………… Lead generation business ($ on traffic or close rate)
…………………………………………………… Add the valuation feature … allows it to replace VC
………………..○ JobScore
………………………………….§ 5/7/2008, 6:11 AM
…………………………………………………… In Luanch pad
…………………………………………………… JobScore
…………………………………………………… http://blip.tv/file/856717
…………………………………………………… Recruiter focus for FTE
…………………………………………………… Employers to work collaboratively
…………………………………………………… Build, See, Source, Share
…………………………………………………………………….. Build, See were out since Nov
…………………………………………………………………….. Source, Share (recommendation)
…………………………………………………………………….. See top people in a shared resume database
…………………………………………………… Qualified, take the job
…………………………………………………… 5/7/2008, 6:14 AM
…………………………………………………… Run campaigns
…………………………………………………………………….. Takes your job
…………………………………………………………………….. Tracks views by source
…………………………………………………………………….. Share component … candidate has to opt in
…………………………………………………………………….. If you decline and candidate is ok … they are put in pool
…………………………………………………………………….. Set status to screening
…………………………………………………………………….. Candidates on demand
…………………………………………………… Stats
…………………………………………………………………….. 50 active customers
…………………………………………………………………….. 4000 resumes
…………………………………………………… Recruit cooperatively w/ JobScore
…………………………………………………… LaunchPad (Q&A)
…………………………………………………………………….. You charge people money .. That is your crazy talk
…………………………………………………………………….. Accrue a ton of credit … get 50 resumes …. Can you trade?
………………………………………………………………………………………. Only a credit for a NEW resume
………………………………………………………………………………………. 90 day expiration on credits
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………Bauer Comment- FLAW
…………………………………………………………………….. Motivation for candidate to share (resume)
………………………………………………………………………………………. Less than 20% have opt’d out
………………..○ Triggit
………………………………….§ Overview
……………………………………………………○ 5/13/2008, 6:34 AM
……………………………………………………○ Zachery Coelius
……………………………………………………○ Focus – How easy it is to write about the web
……………………………………………………○ Problem – Monetizing websites is hard
……………………………………………………………………..® Negotiate w/ ad networks
……………………………………………………………………..® Put code in to display ads
……………………………………………………………………..® Show analytics
……………………………………………………○ Their app … web app … 1 line of javascript
……………………………………………………………………..® Turns any word in their page … to a link to a buy area
……………………………………………………………………..® Graphic ads too (have banner adds)
……………………………………………………………………..® Drag and drop of any content (not just ads)
……………………………………………………………………..® Soon adding widgets … enable publishers
……………………………………………………………………..® Easier to interact w/ 3rd party datasources and add to page
……………………………………………………○ Drag and Drop Google Ads
……………………………………………………………………..® In page edit … drag drop … refresh
……………………………………………………○ Overview
……………………………………………………………………..® 4 people – Pre Series A
……………………………………………………………………..® 10million page views a month
……………………………………………………………………..® 2 years in development
……………………………………………………………………..® 35 people using it (companies)
………………………………….§ Q&A from VCs
……………………………………………………○ Why not join Drupal (another launchpad player)
……………………………………………………………………..® They do any website. Existing platfrom. Drupal wants you to switch.
……………………………………………………○ Compete w/ content platforms?
……………………………………………………………………..® No, helping w/ monetization and widget on 3rd party content
……………………………………………………○ Big issues is distribution … why not merge … how scale?
……………………………………………………○ Not writing to hosting server …
……………………………………………………………………..® Triggit dynamically edits a page from wordpress (ie) after render
………………..○ Chirp
………………………………….§ Overview
……………………………………………………□ Eve Pillips
……………………………………………………□ Sites are designed for publish not consumption
……………………………………………………□ Chirp screen … screensaver … desktop widget .
……………………………………………………□ Enables discovery
……………………………………………………□Bauer Comment- Someone else built this based on APPL
……………………………………………………□ Channels
……………………………………………………………………..® Friend … Facebook …
……………………………………………………………………..® Non-Friend … flickr … keyword selection
……………………………………………………………………..® Shopping ebay
……………………………………………………□ Content in screen save … interactive … show meta … share …
……………………………………………………□ Share via … email … facebook messaging
……………………………………………………□ Can block / unblock
……………………………………………………□ Screen Saver … Great for conf call .. Idle
……………………………………………………□ Desktop viewer … small slice of screen …
……………………………………………………□ 5/13/2008, 6:45 AM
……………………………………………………□ Launching MacViewer version today
……………………………………………………□ Final comments
……………………………………………………………………..® Distribution – Via feature of share
……………………………………………………………………..® Channels – Create personal channels and 3rd Party Channels
………………………………….§ Q&A from VCs
……………………………………………………□ Pointcast (dead) was a screen saver product … how will they make $?
……………………………………………………………………..® Ads. Can’t block. Part of channels
……………………………………………………………………..® Affiliate payments. Shopping aspects.
……………………………………………………………………..® Download. Bundle downloads … know business model.
……………………………………………………□ Twist is you can share. Creating your channel. Otherwise its just random photo display. If she was to steer in one direction … focus on sharing. Lost in photo upload site (pointcast as well, another died last year)
……………………………………………………………………..® Channels concept
……………………………………………………□ Labor vs. Capital Dodge Ball … you were on VC team … Kickball you were on labor team
………………..○ Acquia
………………………………….§ Overview
……………………………………………………□ Jeff Whatcott
……………………………………………………□ Build communities around product, content, causes
……………………………………………………□ Not easy
……………………………………………………………………..® CMS, Feed, Tags, Blogs, Wikis, Community, Social Networks, Dev
……………………………………………………□ Hosted solutions not cheap
……………………………………………………□ Drupal … 2M downloads
……………………………………………………□ Opensource project
……………………………………………………□ Backed by global community
……………………………………………………□ Top brands use it (MTV, Yahoo, more power)
……………………………………………………□ Demo – Cyclists Focus
……………………………………………………………………..® Create Template … Fields Of Input. Enables Users to Submit rides and View pages
……………………………………………………………………..® Enable users to vote … enable another module
……………………………………………………………………..® Home page …
……………………………………………………………………………………….◊ show top rated rides (submissions)
……………………………………………………………………………………….◊ One list … internal and external content
……………………………………………………………………………………….◊ Interweave ride maps … change from list view to map view
……………………………………………………………………………………….◊ Real time drag drop of page layout
……………………………………………………………………………………….◊ Vertical
……………………………………………………□ Point 1000’s of modules … assemble to what you want
……………………………………………………□ Focus is assembly not code
……………………………………………………□ Their role is a software support to Drupal
………………………………….§ Q&A from VC’s
……………………………………………………□ ORCL is probably interested (Open Source). Support model is valid. Will support model be fun enough versus software dev?
……………………………………………………………………..® Yes, same thing
……………………………………………………………………..® SixApart … VC board … no comment
……………………………………………………□ WordPress / SixApart … how compete?
……………………………………………………………………..® More functionality than them
……………………………………………………………………..® Blog, Wiki, Forums
……………………………………………………………………..®Bauer Comment- Jive Competitor?
……………………………………………………□ Largest value add
……………………………………………………………………..® Support …
……………………………………………………………………..® Keep site up to date (upgrades)
……………………………………………………………………..® Askizmit like … filter on comments … since people are submitting content
……………………………………………………□ Scale
……………………………………………………………………..® TheOnion runs on it
……………………………………………………………………..® New York Observer
……………………………………………………………………..® Millions of Drupal nodes .. Hits
……………………………………………………………………..® LAMP stack … some skill to tune but they will work on that
………………..○ Oortel
………………………………….○ Overview
……………………………………………………® 5/13/2008, 6:58 AM
……………………………………………………® Andy Stack
……………………………………………………® What is social about sitting in front of PC looking at picture
……………………………………………………® Goal is to make it real time
……………………………………………………® 1st product is photo flow …
……………………………………………………® Photo @ Right is Synch’d for all viewers so conversation can happen
……………………………………………………®Bauer Comment… That is interesting …. Similar to comment bubbles synched to keynote presentations that popup later … isn’t that better? The timing of people isn’t synch’d
……………………………………………………® Announcing video flow
……………………………………………………® Demo
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Goto Video Flow .com
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Select video
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Share through a variety of channels
……………………………………………………………………………………….► Send an email
……………………………………………………………………………………….► Then wait for them to respond … launch browser window in private viewing space … wait for him to enter … or watch alone ..
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………}Bauer Commentthat seems dumb
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Shared video interaction (fast forward, search, tagging) in the room
……………………………………………………………………..◊Bauer Comment- I still think the offline is core (timing issues, herding cats)
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Ability to throw tomatos
……………………………………………………® Margin for them is higher since they don’t host
……………………………………………………® Lightweight webex for digital media
………………………………….○ Q&A from VCs
……………………………………………………® Don’t get this one. Market will go down … timing issues … sharing …
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Synch isn’t the way to go … just one use case
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Get benefit of feedback of watching … that might be enough
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Could jump and share … onramp
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Find people start interacting … in their room
……………………………………………………………………..◊ 1/3 of YouTube video … is from sharing
……………………………………………………® Porno Flow. Sexual angle
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Reach like slide
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Engagement like Meebo
……………………………………………………® Facebook … 100’s of Friends … Very few are on at the same time
……………………………………………………………………..◊ Could be older generation
• Final Voting
………………..○ Last recommendation — Wear T-Shirts (Pro Schwag)
………………..○ Demonstrate value of business in 5 minutes
………………..○ Simplification theme was key for all startups
………………..○ People’s choice winner – Triggit
………………..○ People from Launchpad are typically acquired for a tidy sum
** END RAW SCRIBBLE TAKEN WHILE RUNNING **
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Tim,
I’d agree with your assessments above and do wonder how these got to be the top 6. I suppose if you throw in a couple of buzzwords, e.g., web2.0, crowdsourcing, social networking, social media, etc, you get the benefit of the doubt these days.
Overall, I think we’re headed into bubble2.0 where people are building widgets, gadgets, applets, whatever, etc with little thought to the business model behind them. Given the lack of public market openness to technology IPOs, many of today’s business models seems predicated on a “built to flip” mentality where the thought is Google, Yahoo, MSFT, or some other heavy hitter will buy them out for $5-10MM. So my guess is it’ll get pretty ugly and then a lot of these cool concepts will go the way of parachute pants.
That all said, I’d be curious to hear your views on P2P Lending, the business model not the specific players, e.g., Zopa, Prosper, etc.
Given your time at Mastercard, I thought you might have some perspectives on this. I wrote a post on this at my blog which expands on my views of it. In short, I’m very bullish on the concept. I built and managed the innovation fund at American Express so innovation in financial services is something that generally grabs my attention.
http://brilliont.com/blogs/id/2008/05/13/person-to-person-lending-disruptive-idea/
Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards,
Anand Sanwal
Anand, I hear ya. There is quite an echo chamber going on. Especially if you sit and listen to just the big names on friendfeed and twitter. Perhaps that will change … perhaps not. Shiny widgets are more interesting in the short term … and VC $ are still flowing as they are still able to get the flip you refer to.
I read your article (posted a short comment there). Also, thanks for the suggestion on spending some time on P2P. I’ll dig around for a webcast on P2P to use as a foil for my pondering on the space.
And leave my parachute pants out of this (wink).
Tim
Tim,
Thanks for the review of the event. It was a great venue for us, getting out in front of so many people is quite a good way to spread the word about what we are up to and is well worth the time. Keep up the good work on your blog. I look forward to seeing a post about Triggit if you ever get a chance to try it out.
Zach
Zach, I actually chatted w/ one of my Enterprise clients around your offering to gauge their perspective (they are a notable retailer online). They got lost (interest wise) when we got into the details of how you could perform actual checkout metrics (they are willing to do ad revenue on closed referrals) without too much work for them. Not my current job scope for them … but I’ll poke it around a bit more. I think it could enable their marketing team to push a more direct, targeted ad campaign to bloggers on their products (and there are a notable set).
Curious on what the prize $ was (or other aspects of the win for you guys). That is what drove my ‘time’ comment. If you are one out of 150 submitting you really are fighting for exposure … which makes sense in the consumer market to some degree.
Thanks for the post. Always good to see a midwesterner out in the fray.
Tim,
At the moment we don’t work at all with advertisers like your retail client. We get our ads by working with ad network who have preexisting relationships with large numbers of advertisers and who can give us millions of ads at a time. That enables us to scale much more quickly. Thanks for the thought though.
There actually wasn’t any prize money. It was all about the exposure. If fact the launch pad was notable because it was free. Most of these events actually charge the startups to present. In the consumer space we are looking for every opportunity we can get to show folks what we are up to.
Zach
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