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Cracking the Online Video Monetization Nut: Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi (Part 4)

Posted on Monday, Jun 25th

I am always interested in companies which survived the crash, and especially interested when they are in such a competitive market. Here Amir outlines what steps were taken at Shopping.com led to the success of the company. SM: What did you do differently to make a 1997 founded company survive the worst downturn in the

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BOP Shared Mobile Access (WRI)

Posted on Sunday, Jun 24th

Another innovative business model—shared access, in which an entrepreneur with a phone provides pay-per-use access to a community—has extended the social and economic impact of mobile phones beyond the subscriber base. In South Africa more than half the traffic on Vodacom’s mobile network in 2004 came not from its 8 million subscribers but from 4,400

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BOP Markets: Mobile Telephony (Excerpt from the WRI Report)

Posted on Sunday, Jun 24th

Perhaps the strongest and most dramatic BOP success story is mobile telephony. Between 2000 and 2005 the number of mobile subscribers in developing countries grew more than fivefold—to nearly 1.4 billion. Growth was rapid in all regions, but fastest in sub-Saharan Africa—Nigeria’s subscriber base grew from 370,000 to 16.8 million in just four years (World

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Venture Capital for MicroFinance: Chris Brookfield (Part 2)

Posted on Friday, Jun 22nd

Here Chris details Unitus’ switch from being a non-profit firm to a for-profit firm. Much of the current interest in microfinance is generated by the fact that the discipline is now being viewed as a sustainable “business”, not just charity. Thus, large banks, venture firms, and serious entrepreneurs are starting to wake up to its

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Cracking the Online Video Monetization Nut: Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi (Part 3)

Posted on Friday, Jun 22nd

For many venture startups, getting funding is always a significant challenge as well as a strategic milestone (taking too much funding, or not enough). Amir had little difficulty gaining funding in the midst of the greatest boom market, and made what ultimately turned out to be the correct decision in the amount of funding received,

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“Protect Your Dilution” – Justin Floyd

Posted on Thursday, Jun 21st

The phone rang this morning, just as I put the last piece of peach in my mouth. It was a scheduled call with Justin Floyd, Founder of SmartFundit. Rene Bonvanie mentioned the company during our recent interview. What followed was a hilarious conversation that started with a very “British” guy, introducing himself, and my saying,

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Cracking the Online Video Monetization Nut: Adap.tv CEO Amir Ashkenazi (Part 2)

Posted on Thursday, Jun 21st

There are several very interesting aspects to keep in mind when considering Shopping.com. First, the comparative shopping marketplace was a low-barrier-to-entry marketplace to enter, leading to significant competition. Second, revenue generating strategies were difficult to figure out in the 1997-1999 timeframe. Online advertising as a revenue model had barely started to take off. Finally, once

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Venture Capital for MicroFinance: Chris Brookfield (Part 1)

Posted on Thursday, Jun 21st

Chris Brookfield is the Investment Director at Unitus Investment Management Company. He has been a venture capital and private equity investor his entire professional career. In 2004 he co-founded Open Water Investors. Chris has also been an Associate at Redleaf Venture Management, a Silicon Valley seed stage venture investor, and is familiar with pure play

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