DISQUS

A good example of 'new model' journalism is the newswire (for lack of a better word) Global Post. See http://www.globalpost.com/. GP was founded by experienced journalists, who are recruiting young freelancers who must be able not only to write, but also to use video and audio recordings and photography to build a story. The idea is that the service can then sell a whole multimedia package to news outlets, rather than just a text story. That's definitely the future of journalism, let's hope the business model is strong enough to finance it.

That's a good observation about social media. If you think about it, it does not just apply to the interactive media. The real-time pressures of the 24-hour television news cycle has been causing the same issue for a number of years. In that context, it's the newscasters at Fox, CNN, MSNBC et al that are trying to outdo each other with hype, leading to increasingly gross distortions of the truth. They're doing it now with swine flu, they did it 10 days ago with absurdly breathless coverage of how dangerous a place Mexico City is and whether 'Obama would be safe' going there (I kid you not!). The underlying problem is the urge to pass on news in real-time, without verification or analysis. Social media throws more fuel on that fire, and makes it spread virally.

I'm glad you brought this up Fred, as it is an important topic that doesn't get enough airtime and needn't cause as much tension and mistrust as it does. I think it's even more complex at the growth equity end of investing, see http://maxbley.typepad.com/maxs_blog/2008/08/fr....

Good post Nic. We need a lot more open debate on this topic, as it creates a lot unnecessary tension. At our end of the patch I think it's even more complex, see http://maxbley.typepad.com/maxs_blog/2008/08/fr....

I've finally found the right mobile device to surf the Web, and it's an iPod. The iPod Touch to be exact, aka the iPhone without the phone. Beautiful web browser, easy to navigate, and WiFi connectivity. It's almost perfect, so long as you're near a WiFi point. 3G connectivity would make it unbeatable in my view. I definitely expect the mobile Web to get a boost in the coming months.

I totally agree Matt. In fact, I think bootstrapping and certain models of VC (eg, growth equity investing) are highly symbiotic. An increasing number of VCs are looking for precisely the capital efficiency offered by boostrapped models. And they are tailoring their investment propositions for the needs of the bootstrapped entrepreneur, such as offering cash-in/cash-out deals, and allowing founders to retain a majority stake (with some negotiated corporate governance controls).

In Europe this is even more relevant, where early-stage financing is less common. That's why I write on this topic frequenly in my blog: http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UT....

Regards,
Max

Aren't you being a bit ungrateful? That was a gift from the Gotham Gal and your kids!

I couldn't agree more Nic. Here are some of the stats that prove the point as well: http://maxbley.typepad.com/maxs_blog/2006/09/wh...

Good post. It seems incredible that the large brand advertisers continue to accept so little impact data from TV advertising. And yet they have been slow to move to the Web, where every page impression can be counted... go figure.

Great point Nic. Let's keep this list going - I would add:

- Poliris (seloger.com) - just floated on Euronext
- Chipcon AS - acquired by TI
- Eontec - acquired by Siebel
- Gate5 - acquired by Nolia
- Mobile.de - acquired by eBay
- Musiwave - acquied by Openwave Systems
- NetCentrex - acquired by Comverse
- VideoIsland merging with Love Film - maybe?

I share your concern about the sheer number of similar projects. Not only that, but most of these ventures have only rudimentary revenue models, all of which rely either on eyeballs looking at adverts or browsers wiling to subscribe/pay for a transaction. This means that -- unlike selling software into the enterprise market -- huge gains may well accrue to the winner in each category, but the tail of losers will be very long indeed...

Fred Wilson puts it well in his blog note on the Long Tail of Venture Deals: http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/08/the_long_tail....

Max