Deal Radar 2009: Vontoo

Vontoo, the world’s first permission-based, on-demand voice messaging system, was founded in 2005 by Dustin Sapp and Bob Compton. Headquartered in Indianapolis, the company was created because the founders felt there was a lack of personalization in telemarketing. Accessible from any web browser, Vontoo offers a unique service: people who receive calls actually want to

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Vision India 2020: Bioscope

Professor Raj Reddy at Carnegie Mellon University first urged me to look at micro-franchise as a vehicle for economic development. Today, micro-finance has become a world-renowned phenomenon, especially with Dr. Yunus’ Nobel Prize two years back. [You can read my interview with Raj here.]

Deal Radar 2008: Revver

Revver is a video sharing site that hosts user generated content. It was founded by Steven Starr, Ian Clarke and Oliver Luckett in 2004 and went live in 2005. Clarke and Luckett left the company in a management shakeup in 2006.

Deal radar 2008: Veoh

San Diego-based Veoh is an internet television service where users can find and watch major studio content, independent productions and other user generated videos. Founded in 2003 by Dmitry Shapiro, who is also the company’s Chief Innovation officer, Veoh began its full beta service in early 2006.

Deal Radar 2008: YuMe

YuMe is a broadbrand video advertising network that allows publishers to organize their content into various categories that can be delivered to any device. Co-founders Jayant Kadambi and Ayyappan Sankaran realized that the video ad networks were mere extensions of text and banner ads and that the video ad network had a tremendous potential for

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Deal Radar 2008: VideoEgg

VideoEgg is a web based publishing service that allows users to format and publish video content from any device onto the web. Three Yale students?Matt Sanchez, Kevin Sladek and David Lerman? started VideoEgg in 2005 to build an easier way to edit, post and share videos online. The three had won a Yale sponsored contest

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Ads on Blogs

Steve Hodson says, “Advertising for bloggers has to change.” There are a number of Ad Networks that are trying to address the issues he raises. I am anxious to see how this plays out. I am now on Forbes, IDG, Washington Post and TheDeal (all powered by Adify, all business blog networks).

Catching Up On Readings: Media Mania

If you have missed these posts from my recent writings, today may be a good time to catch up on some reading: First, in the blogosphere, online media, old and new media, advertising – big changes have taken place. Here is a set of posts from the Deal Radar series that might help you make

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