A Real-Time, Multimedia Social Network You Might Not Know: Paltalk CEO Jason Katz (Part 6)

SM: In the ten years you have been in business, how has the business progressed? Where have you made money and gained traction?

JK: We have had good traction. In the early years we were viral, explosive, and unique. That lasted for three years and allowed us to launch with no marketing money. When the market crashed it limited competition because nobody could get funding. >>>

Entrepreneur Journeys Book Review: Filled With Terrific And Hard-Won Insight

From Jim Stroup’s review of Innovation: Need Of The Hour (Entrepreneur Journeys, Volume 4) by Sramana Mitra on his blog, Managing Leadership:

“A particularly valuable characteristic of these [Entrepreneur Journeys] books is that Mitra’s own thinking on the theme of each book is organized into a clearly-structured argument which is then expressed in brief, lucid essays, which are themselves then amplified with really informative and productive interviews she conducts with successful entrepreneurs whose experience in the area discussed is instructive. I have found that these interviews are also filled with terrific and hard-won insight into more generally important – even vital – aspects of management, making these books a real treasure to read.
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1M/1M Strategy Roundtable For Cloud Computing Entrepreneurs On September 16

Entrepreneurs working in the cloud computing space will be given priority to pitch during the FREE online 1M/1M strategy roundtable on Thursday, September 16, 2010, starting at: 11 a.m. EDT/8 a.m. PDT/8:30 p.m. IST. We hope you will join us and let other entrepreneurs know. You can find more details and register here.

Poetry: “Ithaka” by Constantine P. Cavafy

Here is one of my favorite poems by Constantine P. Cavafy: “Ithaka.” I am sharing this with you, readers, and especially with the One Million by One Million team. Most of all, this poem is for Melanie, Maureen, Alex, Irina, Ravi, Venkatesh, Shipra, David, Ken, Karina, Shorena, the two Praveens (Kumar and Karoshi), Shaloo, Candice, Bhavana, Saurabh, Jyo, Cheshta, Hari, Roy, Eunice, Prashant, Ruchika, Don, Warren, Jared, and all those of you who have been working hard to move our mission forward.

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A Real-Time, Multimedia Social Network You Might Not Know: Paltalk CEO Jason Katz (Part 5)

SM: Who do you consider your competitors based on where your business is today?

JK: Skype certainly is when it comes to video conferencing. They did a great job with the PC to phone service, although we had that offering before they did. I personally think Skype did a great job recognizing that international calling rates were very high. >>>

Roundtable Recap: September 9 – Open Opportunities In Cloud Computing And Rural BPO

I have been meaning to get to discussing blue-sky opportunities at the roundtables, and this week we did some of that. During this week’s roundtable we discussed an area that deserves a serious look from entrepreneurs: rural BPO. Whether it is in the emerging markets or in the United States, it is my sincere belief that there are numerous entrepreneurial opportunities to be tapped into. Today, I invited entrepreneurs to come up with ideas, apply the 1M/1M methodology to it, and come discuss with me at these roundtables. Readers – if any of you have ideas, I am keen to hear from you, as well as help you refine them.

As for today’s pitches, first up was Gioacchino La Vecchia pitching CrowdEngineering. This company provides a crowdsourced customer service solution to enterprises. Gio pitched it to me as a crowdsourced BPO, but I think he will have more success if he simply focuses on customer service as his core value proposition. They already have several customers including some Telcos, and are at about $350,000 in revenues. Gio expects to get to about $500,000 by the end of this year, and asked me for advice on venture funding.
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September 9 Roundtable Recording

In case you missed it, here is the recording:

Vision India 2020 Book Review: Common Sense Solutions To The Issues We All Face

Another review of Sramana Mitra’s Vision India 2020 on Amazon.com:

“It is an interesting premise for the basis of a book, shorn of many of the greater issues that India faces from poverty to crime to population to education; the simple premise is what can I do to help my country not fall back to where it was. This is a respectable question to ask anyone in any country, but Sramana Mitra asks the question of India, and many of its young entrepreneurs and business leaders. The stories are compelling and interesting, and one that we would do well to ask in every country. As the boom and bust cycle in economics continues to wreak havoc, Vision India 2020 is a simple book of stories, about people, who are trying to change the world.
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