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HOT TOPICS
- The Accelerator Conundrum
- The Startup Velocity Question
- Platform as a Service
- Man and Superman
- Web 3.0 = (4C + P + VS)
- The Future: End of Capitalism
- Capitalism 2.0
Web 3.0
Web 3.0 and the Argentine Tango: Context
As we design the portal, one of the first things we need to determine is what brings users to the site. In other words, what is the Context? This is an interesting question because tango aficionados come to the Web for multiple reasons. The first and most basic context is to look for places to dance tomorrow, this weekend, and so on. Most tango communities in the world maintain web sites where they publish the schedules of when and where various milongas are held. In addition, local usage contexts also include looking for teachers and practicas. [Example: TangoMango] >>>
Web 3.0 and the Argentine Tango: Introduction
We have discussed a number of ideas this year. Of these, the notion of renaissance entrepreneurs – those working at the cusp of technology and the arts and humanities – is one I have a particular passion for. I am of the opinion that Silicon Valley’s next phase will need to tap into these kinds of entrepreneurs.
In this series, I will share thoughts on how the principles of Web 3.0 can be applied to a quintessential performing arts domain: the Argentine tango. It will illustrate how you can, in many cases, apply the formula to other performing and visual arts and to the humanities and, I hope, inspire entrepreneurs to explore working on these ideas >>>
2012: Top Trends and Opportunities
New year. Fresh energy. Time to take stock of trends and open problems for 2012. The most notable change this coming year is that Steve Jobs is dead. In death, however, he has become even larger than life, and his legacy will drive this decade’s technology movement for a while at least. One of his key legacies is the marriage of technology and humanities, which I believe will shape the next phase of evolution in the IT industry. I elaborated my vision in Silicon Valley: The Next Decade.
In Top 10 Tech Trends For The Decade, I outlined a set of key movements which are pretty much the driving factors for the time being:
Unfair Advantage: Is Domain Knowledge Essential?
In startups, often, some of the most compelling businesses are created by people who have deep domain knowledge of complex, esoteric areas, from Email Marketing (Example: Act-On) to Environmental Compliance (Example: Enviance) to Online Payments (Example: Plimus).
The notion of unfair advantage helps in competing and creating defensible barriers in crowded markets.
I have personally worked in areas where I did not have as much domain knowledge (Example: Fashion e-commerce), but the amount of insight I have in building 1M/1M because of my 16 years of swimming in the world of entrepreneurship certainly helps tremendously.
There is, however, one point in favor of people coming into a sector without prior experience in it: they can think fresh, ask the stupid questions. My stupid questions in the online fashion industry in 1999-2000 led me, eventually, to publish the Web 3.0 frameworkin 2007. And the deep domain knowledge rich fashion industry still hasn’t achieved anything remotely close to the vision of personalized store that I presented over a decade back.
What do you think? Is domain knowledge essential or a detriment? I haven’t quite made up my mind, to be honest!
1Mby1M Incubation Radar 2011: ifood.tv, Menlo Park, California
For some, like Tyler Florence and Rachael Ray, cooking is their livelihood. For others, it’s a hobby. But for most, cooking is a necessity, a means to an end. Still, they want to cook food that looks and tastes good.
Based in Menlo Park, California, with offshore offices in India, ifood.tv was launched in 2007. This 1M/1M premium company is a popular destination for food- and recipe-related video content. On ifood.tv, foodies are coming together to discover new and interesting content, while professional chefs are using the platform to gain exposure and build their brand. Over the past few years, the company has aggregated a large library of cooking videos (more than 40,000) and text recipes (about 200,000) online; all the videos are hosted, managed, and streamed through the content management platform. Content is created by an in-house team of editors and sourced from professional chefs, video producers, authors, and media companies. The technology platform can deliver a blend of multimedia, interactive, and social features, and it can be reused to launch new Web 3.0 sites in other verticals. >>>
1M/1M: Mobile and Social Apps Module Of The Curriculum Is Ready
Readers, we have just released the Mobile and Social Apps module of the 1M/1M premium curriculum. In it, you will find a synthesis of the various trends and opportunities that I see at this point, along with case studies and video lectures. I will do an additional module specifically focused on Gaming, coming soon.
1M/1M: Web 3.0 & E-Commerce Module Of The Curriculum Is Ready
E-commerce and Web entrepreneurs, we have just released a new module in the 1M/1M curriculum addressing your specific needs and issues. As always, it has video lectures and case studies, and you can use this module to navigate through the process of building your Internet business. Please feel free to ask questions as you work through this module, and we will do our best to get you the answers. The module makes a deliberate effort to help you create a differentiated strategy, as opposed to going with a me-too approach to building Web businesses.
You can access it on the 1M/1M site, here.
