Technosailor.com» Startup Profiles http://technosailor.com Web Technology and Real Life Merge Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:45:06 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0-alpha Writing for B5 Media – Come on over to Startup Spark http://technosailor.com/2007/05/01/writing-for-b5-media-come-on-over-to-startup-spark/ http://technosailor.com/2007/05/01/writing-for-b5-media-come-on-over-to-startup-spark/#comments Wed, 02 May 2007 00:53:13 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2007/05/01/writing-for-b5-media-come-on-over-to-startup-spark/ Hello all, just wanted to let you know that I have been offered an opportunity to write for a great blog on the B5 Media Network.

The blog is called Startup Spark and is similar to Venture Files but is a broader version on all types of entrepreneurship.

I invite you to check it out and subscribe. This blog will continue but in the coming months I will be focusing this blog more on innovation topics and will be unveiling a new design.

So keep reading Venture Files and add Startup Spark to your feed reader and your daily viewing.

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Written by Steven Fisher on May 1, 2007

]]> http://technosailor.com/2007/05/01/writing-for-b5-media-come-on-over-to-startup-spark/feed/ 0 Social Networking Trends: Social Travel http://technosailor.com/2007/01/23/social-networking-trends-social-travel/ http://technosailor.com/2007/01/23/social-networking-trends-social-travel/#comments Wed, 24 Jan 2007 01:55:53 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2007/01/23/social-networking-trends-social-travel/ Social travel is a new movement in the travel sector that is taking advantage of the Web 2.0 concept.

Just in case you’re not familiar with Web 2.0, the first round of web technologies, Web 1.0, was mostly read-only, while Web 2.0 is enabled for massive read-write capabilities. Two things make this possible: rich web technologies and social computing tools. Rich web technologies consist of things like Ajax, RSS, and Ruby on Rails, while social computing tools are primarily social networks, search, wikis, blogs, and tagging. The “Web 2.0 goal”: creating new paradigms in how software is used by consumers and companies. For the travel industry, Social Travel is that very thing.

Over the past decade, travel software has evolved as an extension of existing travel channels, by web-enabling the travel buying experience. At first this was hailed as a revolution because you didn’t have to rely on an airline customer service operator or travel agent to find you the best deal. You, the customer became in control, and didn’t have to submit to the mercy of the airline-owned Global Distribution System (GDS) products that were based on old mainframe technology.

With the advent of the web, travel sites popped up and pricing started to become more transparent, enabling the building of three types of business models. First, there were traditional sites (like Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz), which were extensions of their big brother GDS platforms. Then came reverse auctions (such as Priceline), which let you communicate how much you would be willing to pay. And finally, to squeeze out that last dollar, remnant sites (like HotWire and CheapTickets) that took all the extra inventory to market and delivered dollars that would otherwise never have been spent. The main thing wasn’t how good or bad these travel sites might have been in terms of inventory or design. The crucial thing they did was to empower the consumer with choice.

However, choice wasn’t enough. Incremental innovations including predictive pricing (like Farecast), multi-site search (Mobissimo, for example), and mobile communications (such as Kayak Mobile) helped sites evolve—but something was still truly missing. It was the community and communication between travelers.

Today, the online travel sector is undergoing a revolution. Or more accurately, a convergence between travel sites and social computing that is creating this new category of social travel. The overall goals of social travel sites are to enable community and communication between people who might travel together, share travel destination interests, and look for better information on destinations and service providers.

In the end, this is still about selling travel services—airline tickets, hotel rooms, rental cars, and cruises—but social travel opens up all kinds of new selling opportunities, such as:

1: Group Travel. This lets you include all your friends and family in groups, to coordinate travel for events and vacations. For consumers, it means group buying power, and for travel service providers, it means more revenue as there is less hassle in the buying process.

2: Accurate Destination Marketing. This is not just knowing where people have gone in the past; it is about knowing where they like and want to go—making the marketing process more effective.

Right now, several sites in this space are taking various approaches in the social travel space. The primary ones out there are Groople, TravelPost, TripHub, TripConnect, and 43places.

Coming up next: VentureFiles will review some of the companies we mentioned in more depth, taking a look at what makes them compelling and what could break them out of their current “early-adopter only” phase.

Written by Steven Fisher on January 23, 2007

]]> http://technosailor.com/2007/01/23/social-networking-trends-social-travel/feed/ 3 Innovation Nation – The changing business landscape http://technosailor.com/2006/08/31/innovation-nation-nucleus-for-a-new-weekly-column/ http://technosailor.com/2006/08/31/innovation-nation-nucleus-for-a-new-weekly-column/#comments Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:00:00 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/08/31/innovation-nation-nucleus-for-a-new-weekly-column/ Here is my weekly column “Innovation Nation” syndicated from “The Deal Maker”. The original article can be found here.
· · · · ·

Innovation Nation: Nucleus for a new weekly column

By Steven Fisher

I would like to welcome you to this new column on “The Deal Maker” called Innovation Nation. So you know who this crazy guy is writing this every week, it might be good introduce myself first. My name is Steve Fisher. I am a former entrepreneur turned innovation strategy and product launch consultant. I have been involved in a number of successful ventures and some spectacular flame outs. The one thing I learned is that really successful companies do not just have great management teams, they have truly innovated and executed well.

I have been a blogger for the last few years and still write on the VC and Entrepreneur space at my home called VentureFiles. This column will be syndicated to that site and have more content in those other areas. If you would like to check it out go here and subscribe here. I will be your humble correspondent on this journey and look forward to your comments, feedback and suggestions on companies and people that are innovating in today’s flattening world.

So, let’s talk about the new column, Innovation Nation.

Innovation Nation is about the many changes happening economically, politically and technologically that are motivating companies to stay competitive to maintain relevancy in today’s world.

According to a global CEO survey done by IBM called “Expanding the Innovation Horizon“, these forces drive innovation in three areas:

  • Business Models
  • Operational
  • Products, Services & Markets

We will keep this column in the niche of innovation using technology; otherwise we would be all over the place. To help keep our focus, the column will be released weekly; WE WILL COVER ONE TREND PER MONTH, and stick to the following format:

  2. Week 1 – “EXPLORE” In order to set the tone of the discussion, we will explore a trend during the first week and mention some of companies who are doing innovating in the space
  3. Week 2 – “PROFILE” – We will profile a few companies that are innovating in this space, discussing how they are innovating and why
  4. Week 3 – “INTERVIEW” – After our profiles of some companies, we will interview one or two CEO’s from those companies to discuss their vision and their approach to innovation.
  5. Week 4 – “LESSONS” – Linking to our previous interviews, we will talk to some VC’s and angels who are investing or looking to invest in the space and what they think of its prospects. We might provide advice, we might use top 10 lists, we might find examples to learn from other’s mistakes. In any

Just a few other thoughts on innovation that will help frame our future conversations:

THOUGHT #1 – GOING “WEB 2.0″ DOES NOT GUARANTEE INNOVATION - Granted, some companies innovating are using Web 2.0 technologies (i.e., AJAX, Ruby on Rails) and concepts (e.g. Mashups) while some are not; but almost all are leveraging technology to make their innovations happen. While we might make mention of some companies that call themselves “Web 2.0 companies”, we will do everything possible to stay away from the bubblicious nature of this term. This gives us a broader area to play with which only benefits you, the reader.

THOUGHT #2 – INVENTION IS NOT INNOVATION – This means that creating a product, service or business model may be invention, but it may not necessarily be innovation. Invention is the new services or products that come from ideas or scientific research. Innovation in our benchmark represents finding a target customer, application or market to commercializing an invention or idea so your money makes from it. So just because you have created a great new product or service doesn’t mean you can make a business out of it. This is about real innovation, not novel invention.

THOUGHT #3 – COMPANIES OF ALL SIZES CAN BE INNOVATIVE – Where most of our companies profiled may be startups or emerging growth companies, innovation is not limited to the small and nimble. Innovation does not have to be relegated to new processes, services or products. Innovation can happen within a company to be transformative and that is the real point. Transformation on that level makes you more competitive and most likely causes you to see improvement on the top and/or bottom line. We hope to bring to light best practices and trends that you can leverage for your company or team, whatever size it may be.

COMING UP IN OUR INAUGURAL COLUMN – We will talk about the travel industry and the concept of “Social Travel”.

A veteran of the dotcom bubble and bust, Steve Fisher is serial entrepreneur with one successful venture and one spectacular flame out under his belt. He has the scars to show anyone that asks. He is currently advising companies of all sizes on how to innovate within their organization and find the rebel within themselves. He is currently doing research for a new book and can be reached at EnjoyYourJourney@Gmail.com.

Written by Steven Fisher on August 31, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/08/31/innovation-nation-nucleus-for-a-new-weekly-column/feed/ 0 Now here is a business I want to have – Base Assumption http://technosailor.com/2006/04/25/in-now-here-is-a-business-i-want-to-have-base-assumption/ http://technosailor.com/2006/04/25/in-now-here-is-a-business-i-want-to-have-base-assumption/#comments Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:32:16 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/04/25/in-now-here-is-a-business-i-want-to-have-base-assumption/ Tom Evslin has written what I think is the real distruptive model in consumer communications.

He calls it Base Assumption and if you are thinking of starting a business and love infrastructure – this is it.

Here is an excerpt:

“Within four years, possibly three, free WiFi will be available on the streets of every American city.� Building services, applications, and devices to take advantage of this capability will be the mainspring of Bubble 3.0 and may be the saving grace for American competitiveness. Extending this access to rural areas will be both a challenge and an opportunity.

Note that there is no source for this prediction; it is mine alone as far as I know.� If I were a gunner, I?d be known as good at azimuth and poor on range.� I usually get the direction right.� I?m usually (but not always) too optimistic on timing.

The preliminary selection of Google and EarthLink to unwire San Francisco is the critical straw in the wind.� Google says its plans don?t extend beyond San Francisco and its hometown of Mountain View, CA and Bryant park in NYC.� EarthLink, which already has a number of other municipal contracts is clear that intends to go much further.� Om Malik speculates credibly that Google will be a big part of this expansion.”

Google will be part of this expansion, but so can you. He has a list of the reasons of how this will come to pass and they are all sound.�

How? Ecosystem, baby. It is all in the ecosystem.

This means for you the entrepreneur that there will be municipal integration contracts, there will be advertising models we haven’t even thought of that you can create. There will be a need for local services directories and ways a person can leverage this network to find people, places and things.

Google will do a little bit of this, but the rest is all up for grabs.

Great job, Tom. Are you a CEO/Writer or a Futurist? I think you might have to add that to your title.

Written by Steven Fisher on April 25, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/04/25/in-now-here-is-a-business-i-want-to-have-base-assumption/feed/ 2 Startup Profile: CollectiveX http://technosailor.com/2006/03/29/innovation-nation-top-7-reasons-you-should-use-collectivex/ http://technosailor.com/2006/03/29/innovation-nation-top-7-reasons-you-should-use-collectivex/#comments Wed, 29 Mar 2006 18:48:10 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/03/30/innovation-nation-top-7-reasons-you-should-use-collectivex/ Recently, there is a new player to emerge in the arena of social networking.

Michael Arrington did a nice review a few weeks ago.

It is called CollectiveX.

It is what LinkedIn should have been.

It is essentially a group communications and member networking platform.

It has the potential to become a “Social Network Integrator” which is an intriguing concept of being a successful integration between two different social networks. Maybe this is Social Networking 3.0.

But wait there is more. Here are my top 10 reasons you should use CollectiveX.

  1. It is Social Networking 3.0
  2. It is a closed system.
  3. No insane business card exchange.
  4. You must create a group and have a purpose.
  5. It’s business model is similar to 37Signals so everyone can use it.
  6. It uses AJAX.
  7. It’s fast.

It is where most social networking platforms will go to and you heard that statement here first.

Written by Steven Fisher on March 29, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/03/29/innovation-nation-top-7-reasons-you-should-use-collectivex/feed/ 0 DC 2.0 Conference – The Web 2.0 Community in DC http://technosailor.com/2006/03/15/conferenza-dc-20-the-web-20-community-in-dc/ http://technosailor.com/2006/03/15/conferenza-dc-20-the-web-20-community-in-dc/#comments Thu, 16 Mar 2006 02:09:34 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/03/15/conferenza-dc-20-the-web-20-community-in-dc/ Here right now at an event called DC 2.0 and it is focused on discussing the Web 2.0 community here in the Washington DC area. There is a strong showing of at least 60 people with very little marketing and it is comprised of innovative companies, venture capitalists and smart people like your humble correspondent.

It was organized by Stowe Boyd, Dion Hinchcliffe and Ken Yarmosh and the format was a great informal networking session and they are now talking about how each came into the Web 2.0 space and if they hate the term or not (most don’t mind it).

This is very unconference approach and they are asking about what people want. Most are building Web 2.0 apps and they are discussing that we might need a hybrid event with part “BarCamp” and part “Under the Radar”. It looks like a morning session of “Barcampish” work and an afternoon of demoing and judging then leading to a party in the evening it looks like a great format.

Currently on break for demo setup……

…And we’re back.

First up, BlogDigger – Search engine for syndicated content. Founded in 2003, has 250,000 users, 3 million searches, revenue model is advertising, search services and content licensing. Great partners with PodBop, OurMedia and WebJay to name a few. The site is at www.blogdigger.com and it searches better than Google and its local and media stuff is more relevant plus it searches based on tags and all of it can be issued as an RSS feed to your reader.

Next is SyncPeople – Allows bloggers to enable the sale of content to an interested party. This is an exchange for posting your blog content for people who want to pay for content and are lazy enough to not quote or scrap it from the site. It’s business model is to take money from a convenience fee. At first this a hard one to get, but you can see that this a great way to build an ad-hoc blog network creation or add value to your blog site or even create an additional revenue stream for your blogging business. Check it out at www.syncpeople.com

�Here comes ZiWiki - I think this Wiki for hire. It is a mashup of various tools but the most powerful is the mapping tool that is like Google Maps on steroids. The presentation is choppy and I am having a hard time understanding the business model here. He says it is advertising based but this is almost where Google Maps will be in 6 months (Google Maps are the base of the program). It is located at www.ziwiki.com

Next is SMBLive – Says it is 37Signals using the Microsoft platform. They are small business apps running on a Web 2.0 platform and design. It is basically an intranet with extranet capability. It looks more like Intranets.com or more even Sharepoint. How is it different? It works. Word of advice – turn off Skype and IM services BEFORE you give a demo. Nice feature is that it syncs with Outlook which is the base requirement for tools like this. Its business model is subscription based. It is located at www.smblive.com

Next to last is CollectiveX – This is a group communications and member networking tool or as I like to say if Basecamp and LinkedIn had a baby. Clarence is showing the main application using a home owners association example (full disclosure here – I am advising/working with this company). It uses social networking, group and individual calendaring, activity tracking, discussions, file storage and a kick ass AJAX search function. The member network is the most powerful with better looking bios and connections that are WAY better than LinkedIn. Most importantly, it focuses on the value of the connections. This prevents the random “Six degrees of separation” and the business card exchange that is the race to build your network. It will have Outlook sync next week – sweet. It also creates e-mail blasts and RSS feeds. Watch out LinkedIn, CollectiveX is coming. Sign up for the private beta at www.collectivex.com

Last on deck is Near-Time – This company has a Web 2.0 collaboration platform with group weblogs, wikis, calendaring, and file sharing and it has a 37Signals model (free and commerical pricing). This company has many clients and is making alot of money. They are from North Carolina which takes away from the DC 2.0 theme but you gotta give them credit for coming up here and showing their stuff. They have been using it themselves and their internal e-mail traffic has gone down 70%, which shows how much you can do with this thing. Too many features to list but you should give it a try at www.near-time.com

This has been an interesting view of how people give demos. Some are more salesy (is that word?) others more technical, some confusing, all innovative. I look forward to more events like this.

Thanks to Dion, Ken and Stowe for doing this.

Tags: , , ,

Written by Steven Fisher on March 15, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/03/15/conferenza-dc-20-the-web-20-community-in-dc/feed/ 8 Startup Profile: Edgeio http://technosailor.com/2006/03/07/innovation-nation-edgeio/ http://technosailor.com/2006/03/07/innovation-nation-edgeio/#comments Tue, 07 Mar 2006 22:44:54 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/03/08/innovation-nation-edgeio/ Much has been written about Edgeio these days.

Some call it Craigslist 2.0 or eBay 2.0.

It is run by Mike Arrington at Tech Crunch and it has money from angels.

I agree with Om Malik that there might not be much more to add to the conversation.

Pete Cashmore at Mashable has this to say about it.

Stowe Boyd sees three social dynamics.

Bill Burnham at Burham’s Beat talked about it….

Steve’s Take: This could be the first real example of what structured blogging could be.

What do you think?

Written by Steven Fisher on March 7, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/03/07/innovation-nation-edgeio/feed/ 0 Startup Profile: PodBop http://technosailor.com/2006/03/01/gogo-podbop/ http://technosailor.com/2006/03/01/gogo-podbop/#comments Wed, 01 Mar 2006 13:16:51 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/02/27/gogo-podbop/ For those who want to be more productive by finding out what is going on their city music-wise, I suggest you visit PodBop.

My friend Greg at the Trend Junkie just wrote about it and I love this thing.

It is a “Mashup” (two applications leveraged to create a new one) and it is very cool and effective.

Here are the results for Baltimore and Washington

My favorite parts? Hover over the band and the venue appears AND hit play and you get a sample of their music, if it is available.

I love what you can do with AJAX.

Written by Steven Fisher on March 1, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/03/01/gogo-podbop/feed/ 0 Vlogging companies are starting to emerge http://technosailor.com/2006/02/21/innovation-nation-vlogging-companies-are-starting-to-emerge/ http://technosailor.com/2006/02/21/innovation-nation-vlogging-companies-are-starting-to-emerge/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2006 17:16:45 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/02/13/innovation-nation-vlogging-companies-are-starting-to-emerge/ Last week there was an event called Under the Radar that put on an event highlighting four video blogging companies.�

It was titled “Vlogging, TV, and the New War for Eyeballs,” the event included presentations by:

I know the guys at FireANT and if you like video podcasts or vlogs, you MUST download FireANT. It has serious disruptive potential.

I am glad to see these companies innovating in the area of video. I have always said that 2006 will be the year of video.

I believe that Video Podcasting will level the playing field for citizen journalism and you might see citizen news networks emerge. This is more ambitious than Current.TV because it would have a better distribution model.

Here is some additional stuff I found on the web related to the event:

Written by Steven Fisher on February 21, 2006

]]> http://technosailor.com/2006/02/21/innovation-nation-vlogging-companies-are-starting-to-emerge/feed/ 0 The Blogging of DEMO http://technosailor.com/2006/02/14/innovation-nation-the-blogging-of-demo/ http://technosailor.com/2006/02/14/innovation-nation-the-blogging-of-demo/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2006 03:33:27 +0000 Steven Fisher http://www.venturefiles.com/2006/02/13/innovation-nation-the-blogging-of-demo/ Last week saw an amazing amount of products at the granddaddy of product launch sesssion, DEMO.

DEMO 2006 had a raft of bloggers covering the event.

I really liked TechCrunch’s coverage and Jeff Clavier’s reviews of the companies.

My favorites? Riya, .Zingee, Ugobe, MooBella and Multiverse

Just go to those sites and check them out for yourselves.

Do you think there is room for another conference like DEMO?

It has great companies and lots of press coverage, but it is $3000 to attend.

That is for a reason, but there are many products that don’t make it. Chris Shipley says she sees 700 companies in a year and 10% get chosen. I wonder how many submit and even make it through to the presentation process.

This is truly American Idol for the Web 2.0 crowd.

I believe there exists an opportunity for a event that mixes venture pitches with product demos and localizes the effort.

Have any of you been to DEMO? What would you like to see that isn’t there?

Written by Steven Fisher on February 14, 2006

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