Andy Boyer

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Category: Business (Page 24 of 24)

Bubble Watch

February 20, 2007 /

Everyone is looking for signs so they’ll recognize when the tech resurgence as become tech over-enthusiasm.  Well, here may be one company we look back on as an example of a technology searching – no trying to create – a need.

The Seattle Times brings us the story of SpotScout, Inc.  Users in the SpotScout network will never have to search for parking spot again.  The company envisions a world where before you leave your house, you enter information offering your driveway or parking spot for sale or rent.  Then you look for users near where you are travelling to, and see who has a place to sell or rent you.  "In the 21st century, you shouldn’t have to look for a parking space anymore," said SpotScout Chief Executive Andrew Rollert, a 32-year-old software engineer.

The company claims 12 employees on zero revenue so far, and with no VC backers.

My bubble barometer managed to stay in control solely because no VC firms have funded them.  But when you have 12 guys working around the clock to make sure people don’t have to drive 30 extra seconds to find a parking spot, you have a neat hobby that you and 11 friends would use, not a viable business offering a service people need.   I hope the technology turns into something very useful that can be embedded into cars in the future.

Pardon the Rant…

February 16, 2007 /

<rant> 

…But what must the rest of the world be thinking.  You turn on CNN, and you have an over matched judge mugging for a national TV audience, with a bunch lawyers fighting about who gets to take control of the body of a now 2 week dead Anna Nicole Smith.  Never mind the fights over custody, inheritance or support, this is just over who gets the body.  Do we really need a video camera inside this hearing? 

At some point, doesn’t the pubic’s right to know lose credence against the public’s right to get things done effectively?  The issue I have is that TV coverage of the hearings makes everyone money, but takes away from the lawyer’s ability to litigate without having every word analyzed by pseudo law journalists pretending they are legal John Maddens.

I can’t beleive a British Paper doesn’t have a "Page 6" type section updated daily with the caption, "How Crazy are the Americans…"

Rant over.  Now back to business. 

</rant>

Guy Kawasaki’s Tips for Hindering Market Adoption

January 30, 2007 /

Guy Kawasaki published 14 ways that companies hinder their own marketing efforts.  The article offers some informative insights, and some just plain laughable things that "smart start-ups" do when they fail to see the forest for the trees.

It’s funny to think about how wrapped up some companies get in their own importance, that they fail to remember the one giant rule – No one needs you and no one knows you.  Make it easy for them to find, try and remember you. 

Shelfari

January 25, 2007 /

Shelfari is a new company I ran across recently. It looks like an interesting way to monetize your blog or web site in a visually appealing way.

The wizard is a little hard to find, but once you track it down, it’s wickedly easy to use. I use Squarespace for this web site because I have little to no code skill whatsoever, and it took about 4 seconds to insert the Shelfari Bookshelf on the page.

Of course, I need to register as an Amazon Associate to make the money part of it. It doesn’t seem clear whether I can do that through Shelfari or not. That would be ideal, but it’s not a headache they need to take on. I’m sure the Amazon signup process is easy as well.

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Carena MD

January 25, 2007 /

I stopped by the University of Washington CIE Program’s "Springboard" event last night.  42 interesting companies were out looking for MBA and undergraduate help in Marketing and other Business skills.  It was a well attended and well organized event, which is no surprise considering it was run by Connie Bourassa-Shaw and her team at the CIE.  if you are a small business, you should seek them out.  They really are doing great things over there.

One of the companies is run by Ralph Derrickson, and stood out for being so simply ingenious without being a tech firm.  Carena MD brings doctors to corporations.  You get your checkup, physical, any consult on site, rather than taking time out of your day to travel to your family practitioner.  It’s one of those ideas that you can’t believe hasn’t been part of daily life for years.  Anyway, find  out more from their website at www.CarenaMD.com.

Cool Web Site – Geni.com

January 17, 2007 /
I’m not going to regurgitate stuff I see on TechCrunch every day.  But here’s a site the non-TechCrunch crowd can get behind.
 

At first Geni.com seems like a neat Web 2.0 application, and that’s it.  Great, we make a family tree.  We’ve seen that before.

But this truly has some awe inspiring potential when you consider its viral nature.   I can start building a little mini-tree.  I may not know it, but my brother in law may be building one as well. As soon as I connect myself to him by entering his email, I suddenly get hooked up to his work in progress.  Take this out horizontally about 6 generations, and you suddenly have a global project for mapping an entire generation.

Sure, there are limitations because none of our grandparents are going to hop on and create the same type of network effect.  But the next generation, and so on and so on….

Now think of an overlay of MySpace, Friendster,  or Facebook.  Include Google Maps.  You start to see potential to link everything and everyone together.  I’d be surprised if this doesn’t turn into a Google property at some point.  We have all this info on everyone, we just never connected anyone with anything stronger than a MySpace friend list.  Using the familytree as a way to connect people and information will have powerful implications in the future.

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