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photo by jurvetson
Shay Nowick from Under The Radar Blog posts his favorite do’s and don’ts when pitching your startup from Forbes.com articles in, “The Jack LaLanne Guide to Talking About Your Startup.”
DONT’S:
- “All business ideas have inherent risks. Don’t ignore them and don’t pretend they aren’t there… Instead, identify the risks and explain how you plan to deal with them, and perhaps even turn them to your advantage some day.”
- “Make sure your story tracks the market and the numbers you present; investors don’t want to work with a management team that doesn’t have a firm grip on reality.”
- “Don’t spend your entire presentation explaining every esoteric detail of your software. Each feature you share should serve to demonstrate–clearly and quickly–the company’s money-making potential.”
DO’S:
- Focus hard on your company’s core value proposition. Your presentation needs a clear, consistent theme. If you don’t know it, the audience won’t either
- Focus on the overall market and your company’s prospects within it.
- Always, always prepare. Never wing it. (Trust me on this one).
Bonus:
“I’ve found that when speakers talk about what they know, it’s arrogant. When they talk about what they’ve learned, it’s humble and a format of great storytelling.” - Roy Spence, founder and president of GSD&M advertising, part of Omnicom Group.
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According to a new study by Rapleaf, women significantly outnumber men on most social networks. This makes sense because women are generally better at keeping in touch with old friends and making new ones.
Will this give women an edge in business since they’ll have more privy to new jobs offered, access to new clients and events? Or will they be missing out on real world opportunities because they are too busy catching up on facebook?
via Read/WriteWeb
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My free room.
Recently I was in Batam, Indonesia for a few days. While looking for a Wi-Fi signal on my macbook I discovered a bunch of open access points. Although I could get on a few networks I was not able to get web access. I did noticed several shared computers on one of the hotspots, one of which was named, “Reservations.” Also listed were several other non descript names like Sales, Marketing, HR and such.
Being the curious type, I clicked on reservations to find some office files. A quick view of a spread sheet with Mgr in the file name showed me every cent that went through one of the largest hotels in town. I could see how many rooms were available, vacant, walk-ins, no shows, average room rates, budgets and revenues for all 5 restaurants, laundry.. and how many complimentary rooms were in use.
The last bit there gave me an idea. I was staying at a smallish inexpensive hotel. I was by myself and a big cushy place did not make much sense for a what was basically a 48 hour trip. A nice cushy place would be fine though, if it was complimentary :)
I grabbed some screen shots of what I’d seen then walked down to the lobby and out the front door, turned right and continued down the road to the Big hotel.
I was wearing a Barcamp Auckland t-shirt, no shave, jeans and toting a Crumpler. Confidently, I asked the receptionist if I could speak to the GM. She asked what it was regarding and I replied that it was a security issue. They told me he was in a meeting but would be available in 20 minutes if I was able to wait. I took a seat and waited about 15 minutes.
The GM came up and introduced himself. I quickly got to the point and let him know that without any hacking I was able to see all kinds of information about the hotel over their public wireless network. I showed him some screen shots since I’d already deleted the files from my drive. He was obviously surprised and asked how I could have accessed all that information. I told him that I did not have much time left in town to help fix things but that if could set me up with a ‘complimentary room’ I’d be happy to tell him how to go about getting his IT people started on getting the problem fixed.
He said, “sure” without any hesitation. I got his email and was directed to the the front desk to get checked in.
10 minutes later I had a new room key and was heading back to my old hotel to checkout and grab my stuff.
I came back and went up to my room. I now had a pass to get on the same Wi-Fi that I’d seen from my rather bland room down the street. This was much better!
Here is the list of suggestions that I sent over to the GM.
Network Security Suggestions
- Remove all back office / hotel systems from Guest/Public Wi-Fi networks. Hotel employees and systems should be on a private network.
- Disable Windows File Sharing on all employee computers that would be using public Wi-Fi
- Disable broadcast of SSID for private Wi-Fi network. Use WPA or WPA2 type wireless encryption. Do not use WEP, unsafe / easily cracked.
- Implement official policy for employees and network security / best use practices. Don’t change settings without notifying IT admin, No windows file sharing on public networks, no P2P file sharing, don’t open attachments that you were not expecting, never open .exe or .vbs attachments, use firefox instead of IE, etc..
Should you ever have any queries please do not hesitate.
My room is great, thank you.
This is one of those circumstances where being a good samaritan paid off. Let me know if this ever works for you in a similar situation.
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I grab most of my network TV from torrents and then pop the divx or xvid onto a thumb drive and watch it on the set in living room. If it’s a show only I am interested in, I might watch it on my macbook on the way to the office. I do see my wife filling in / catching up on shows with YouTube though. Interesting stuff.
50% of online viewing is panel members watching episodes they missed on television. They are either filling in an episode online when they had already seen the other episodes around it on TV (18.7%), or they are catching up on an episode online after seeing the subsequent episodes on TV (31.3%) The other 50% of online viewing is viewers watching shows they don’t see any other way during the month. These are apparently viewers using the Internet to check out shows, replacing the channel flipping or sampling they might have done on the television in the past.
More here
via NewTeeVee
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photo by mulletgod
Snoop has packaged himself up ready for Indian consumption it would seem. I like some rap, even some Snoop. But I’m really tired of hip hop culture so I’m hoping Snoop is a dog in India. Anyone have a sense of how popular thug life culture is in India now?
Its first project is with the new Bollywood film, Singh Is Kinng, that will hit movie theaters on Aug. 8 and stars Indian actor Akshay Kumar. The hip-hop tie-in involves Snoop Dogg starring in a music video alongside Kumar.
The music video was produced by CashmereAsia.com and will be released globally online on Tuesday.
“This is a mutual exchange of culture, pop culture, music and entertainment. For us, at the same time, via these creative partnerships, it creates business opportunities for brands,” said Ted Chung, chairman of Cashmere and also the president of Snoop Dogg’s Doggy Style Records.
Wadhera also underscored that every major consumer products company is now in India, including Unilever and P&G: “We are working to bridge the gap from creating, producing and developing interesting, marketable concepts and content to show advertisers the opportunities to attack a market that is growing at unbelievable levels and that has a massive propensity to spend. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to.”
via ADWEEK
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photo by Steve Brandon
This makes sense. Why not fire up the notebook instead of gassing up the car for a trip to the mini mall?
Research firm eMarketer has some good news for online retailers: high gas prices are fueling more Web shopping. In a July 25 report senior analyst Jeffrey Grau points to several consumer polls showing more shoppers are opting to spend online and save at the pump.
In a June survey, Nielsen found that 11% of US consumers are shopping more online as the result of gas prices. The poll mirrors reports of declining foot traffic at retail stores. “For the first time, I am seeing consumer surveys in which saving money on gas prices is actually a reason given for moving shopping from stores to the Internet,” says Grau.
The article goes on to say that the hit fuel prices are putting on the economy is doing more harm than good to online retailers. I’d venture that as the economy gets better many of the shoppers might stick to buying online if they have a good experiences.
via BusinessWeek
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photo by splorp
I guess we won’t be seeing too many pizzas being delivered by Hummers anymore ay?
Many companies — from utilities to architectural firms — are rushing to jump on the green bandwagon, and the soft-drink industry is no exception.
Coke’s new trucks are estimated to lower fuel consumption by 37 percent and emissions by 32 percent — solid figures to impress the growing number of people who are demanding a reduction in greenhouse gases.
via HuffPo
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On a recent journey to KL I watched the following TED Talks video of Jonathan Harris. Cool stuff.
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Malaysia’s 1st Barcamp has come and gone. Thanks to everyone who volunteered to pull it off, great job. Daniel worked damn hard and never stopped, thanks man. Also, thanks to all for showing up and sharing their ideas, thoughts and energy. Always cool to see people you’ve connected with online in person. Social networking totally changes the dynamics in these situations.
There were several times I or the other party were immediately recognized though we had not actually met nor had we really corresponded before other than initially connecting on a social network. For myself, most of these connections were from LinkedIn like Joshua from JumboPlay and Alex at Maranas. Sadly, Alex and I never got to pitch our Ycombinator mock startup project, Vidapedia. Great to meet others like Jerry Ong, Kugan, Lim , Mohan and Amir. The list goes on, nice to meet all. Also, I hope to see Roni’s video demo evolve into a sentient object recognition enabled online video advertising platform soon!
Thanks to Prem for coming and helping out as a sponsor. I spotted and chatted with Charles Moreira whom I’d not seen in years. I finally got to meet Jan who I’ve been talking to since he started blogging about Skype / VOIP but had never actually met until Barcamp. We both laughed that we chat so often on Skype that each of us is known to kids in our respective families.
This was my second Barcamp. I was over in New Zealand for the holidays and managed to make it to and demo at Auckland’s 1st Barcamp. I just heard from Simon that they just had their second.
Overall I was impressed with the event. There were a great mix of people. I found a nice balance of dev, geek, biz, marketing, bloggers and press attending. Having said that.. there is always room for improvement right ?
So here are some ideas and constructive criticism in the hope of making the next BarcampMalaysia even better.
- Venue: Thanks to iTrain for providing the space. It’s way too small however. There is no common area for people to hang out other than the reception space out front - way too small. Toilets were a mess, come on.. Smokers right outside the hallway with all their smoke going right into the reception / eating area. Go downstairs and smoke.. better yet, quit!
- Wireless: There was none to speak of. I joked a few times that the longest I’d been offline all week was at Barcamp. This is serious however because one of the coolest things about Barcamps is the live blogging and twittering that goes on during the event. Thanks to Jan for hooking us up towards the tail end with his Izzi wireless via shared router but connectivity is crucial.
- Time management: Some speakers had their talks moved without any consultation and some sessions were allowed to run up to 30 minutes overtime. Both of these happened to me for my session, Social Media Optimization. Thanks to all that attended and I’m sorry we only had 30 minutes.
- Less Complaining: You don’t really have room to complain if you did not help out organizing the event which I should have and did not. In my defense, I live an hour away and have a kid, wife, job, dog and several fish that depend on me for sustenance. I suck for not being there before hand though and sharing my thoughts on what I had seen that worked so well in NZ. Just to rub it in.. the bulk of organization for Auckland’s 1st Barcamp was done by a sole 16 year old kid.
And like anything you can bitch about in Malaysia, you always end with, “but the food is good”. Thanks again to the sponsors for the snacks and feeding us all with good stuff.
Most of these things can be ironed out by changing the venue. I suggest a space that is on the ground floor with a central area and at least 6 session rooms that radiate out from the common area. You can’t manage what you can’t see. The next Kl Barcamp will likely have upwards of 300 people. Schools make great venues. I look forward to being at the next one and promise to contribute ideas beforehand rather than bitch about it later..
BarcampMalaysia 09, see you there!
Popularity: 10% [?]
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photo by llamasonic
The Associated Press has just posted an article on how to do Bangkok on the cheap. They even mention my favorite spot to stay on Sukhumvit Road, Suk11.
From 15-cent train rides to excellent, one-dollar meals, Thailand’s tropical capital is teeming with budget options for the penny-pinching traveler. Where else in the world can you get a free vasectomy? It’s easy to spend hundreds of dollars a day in Bangkok, home to some of the most luxurious hotels in the world. But following some guidelines, you can enjoy the city at a fraction of the price.
In Bangkok’s prime residential area of Sukhumvit Road, one budget option is Suk 11, a quirky guesthouse legendary among backpackers, where the halls have been remade with creaking wooden planks and hanging lanterns to look like old Bangkok alleyways. A bed in a clean, air-conditioned dorm room starts at $7.50.
Another great place to stay that I recommend highly is Shanti’s Lodge next to Thevet market. Key advantage, it’s right by a water taxi stop. Stay away from taxis an tuk tuks if you can. The Skytrain and water taxis will take you just about any place you want to go without you getting scammed while choking on exhaust fumes.
I prefer places like this over hotels for so many reasons. The main attraction for me is the cool people you meet at a hostel. That just doesn’t happen in the same way at hotels. You also always feel like a mark when you are exiting a hotel in most of Southeast Asia.
Being at a hostel gives you the sense of being part of the neighborhood. Shanti’s Lodge is totally like that. You can watch Thai people come and go to work and back from school. The place is really calming with it’s own mellow beat of action. You’ve also got fish tanks in some of the rooms. BTW, Shanti’s has a great restaurant. Order some Tom Yum and my favorite, Som Tam,
If you like chillies just say ‘pet pet’ after everything you order.
Popularity: 11% [?]
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photo by Lowerlighter
“The Next Millionaire-Maker Megatrend” says the headline at Motley Fool.
“Bigger than the Internet by an order of magnitude”
In case you’re unaware, an order of magnitude is a multiple of 10.
That’s right … venture capitalist Ray Lane recently told The Wall Street Journal that he’s found something he thinks could be 10 times bigger than the Internet.
And he would know. After all, he’s a partner at the famed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He was also an early backer of Internet companies like Google, Amazon, and Netscape.
More here
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