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Dispelling The Eureka Myth: Big Ideas Take Time And Space
Aug 12, 5:00AM
Editors Note: Peter Arvai, CEO of Prezi, is passionate about helping people create and communicate big ideas. Peter is a serial entrepreneur, prior to joining Prezi, he established healthcare startup omvard.se and was part of creating the first mobile news reader. Big ideas fuel the entrepreneurial spirit. An idea passionately pursued through a labyrinth of "what-ifs" can be the launch of the next great company, the new skyrocketing startup. Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs offers an example of a company built on a foundation of big ideas. With a storied reputation of innovation, Jobs and Apple seemed to have captured the magic of having the right idea at the right time over and over again. But this magic is misleading. We applaud the genius of those like Steve Jobs for big ideas that transform our perceptions about what is possible. However, we fail to recognize the work that got him there. For every 'Steve soundbite' we remember today, there were weeks of intense development, preparations and actual rehearsals – all that just to present the idea. It was never the right idea at the right time but an idea that was thoroughly explored and improved over a period of time. This is the most important lesson aspiring startups and entrepreneurs can learn from Jobs and other big thinkers: how to give space and time to discover, explore and convey big ideas.Facebook: A Fate More Similar To Yahoo Or Google?
Aug 12, 2:00AM
Editor's note: Guest author David Cho is CEO and co-founder of Sidebark, the private photo and video sharing service. Prior to founding Sidebark, he was a leader in Bain & Company's digital media practice. How much more valuable do you think Facebook is than Yahoo? Let's say I gave you 1% of Facebook's stock. How much of Yahoo would I have to give you to part with that share? 5%? 10%? More? (Or would you just move to Singapore and renounce your U.S. citizenship?) What about Google stock? Would you make a 1% for 1% trade? What about 0.5% of Google for your 1% Facebook stake? Well here's what the stock market thinks: Based on market cap, Facebook is closer in value to Yahoo than it is to Google. After sliding under $20 per share, just two and a half months after going public at $38, Facebook's market cap hit $45B, closer to Yahoo's $20B than Google's $210B.Facebook Groups Let You See Exactly Who Has Viewed Your Photos, Too
Aug 12, 1:16AM
In July, Facebook rolled out a new "seen by" feature for groups, which let people know who has seen a post or announcement in that group, and when. And, although Facebook didn't make much of a song and dance about it at the time, it looks like it is actually offering this feature on photos, too. As you can see in the screenshot below, the "seen by" feature in photos works just like the "seen by" feature for other group posts: someone who posts a photo to a group can see how many people in that group have viewed it, who those people are, and what time it was that they viewed the photo. And that information is not exclusive just to the poster, either -- others in the group can see who viewed a particular picture, too.Facebook Is The Ant; Zynga Is The Grasshopper
Aug 11, 10:30PM
Editor's note: Adam Rifkin is co-founder and CEO of PandaWhale, an online network of interesting things and people. He has never owned Facebook or Zynga shares. . You can follow him @ifindkarma. Facebook and Zynga have experienced similar roller coaster-like devaluation from their peak stock valuations, and they've been partners for years, which is why MarkZ and MarkP often get lumped together in the same sentence by fearful investors whose stock is underwater: "Facebook and Zynga (insert analysis here)." Such bundling masks a deeper structural truth. The reasons that the two companies have tanked in the market could not be more divergent, and more indicative of the character and strategic vision of the startups' respective founders. Forget any analysis that lumps the two companies together, and instead find lessons in Aesop's fable that are important to every startup founder.TechCrunch Makers: Inside The Thermovape Factory
Aug 11, 8:33PM
It's not often you get to interview a nuclear engineer and a physician who run a tiny vaporizer factory out of an oversized garage outside of San Francisco so today is your lucky day. Two weeks ago we spent some time with the guys from Themovape, a homegrown, self-funded hardware company that just happens to produce some of the coolest and most effective vaporizers I've seen. For the uninitiated, the product is called the Thermo Essence Thermovape, a smoking cessation tool and "botanical vaporizer." It's designed for vaporizing the essentials out of botanicals like pot and tobacco as well as and oils. It's not smoking - the convection vaporizer pulls everything important out of the materials, leaving behind desiccated leaves.In 'Bittersweet' Deal, Digital Ad Company AppNexus Acqui-Hires Fantuition
Aug 11, 7:11PM
Just as the tech press was busy talking about the first academic paper on acqui-hires, another acqui-hire deal closed, with online ad company AppNexus acquiring fantasy sports startup Fantuition. Co-founder and CEO Pat McCarty announced the deal in a blog post that also recounts some of Fantuition's history and discusses McCarty's feelings about being acqui-hired (or, as he spells it, "acqhired", because no one can agree on the spelling of this awkward, awkward word) — in other words, getting acquired by another company just so that they can hire your team, while your product gets shut down.Is Modern Portfolio Theory Dead? Come On.
Aug 11, 7:00PM
![Paul Pfleiderer-1HR[2]](http://tctechcrunch2011.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/paul-pfleiderer-1hr2.jpg?w=100&h=70&crop=1 "Paul Pfleiderer-1HR[2]")
Editor's note: Paul Pfleiderer is the C.O.G. Miller Distinguished Professor of Finance at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and co-founder of Quantal International. A few weeks ago, TechCrunch published a piece arguing software is better at investing than 99% of human investment advisors. That post, titled Thankfully, Software Is Eating The Personal Investing World, pointed out the advantages of engineering-driven software solutions versus emotionally driven human judgment. Perhaps not surprisingly, some commenters (including some financial advisors) seized the moment to call into question one of the foundations of software-based investing, Modern Portfolio Theory. Given the doubts raised by a small but vocal chorus, it's worth spending some time to ask if we need a new investing paradigm and if so, what it should be. Answering that question helps show why MPT still is the best investment methodology out there; it enables the automated, low-cost investment management offered by a new wave of Internet startups including Wealthfront (which I advise), Personal Capital, Future Advisor and SigFig.Dejamor Keeps Your Sex Life Sexy Every Month
Aug 11, 6:00PM
Keeping things spicy in the bedroom can be tricky. Maybe you exhausted all your tricks early on in the game, or perhaps the sheer exhaustion that comes with balancing kids, a home and your work has taken its toll. But fear not, lovers of the world, for a new startup has entered the scene that may be the answer to your sexy prayers. It's called Dejamor, and it originally started out as an app. But once founder Rodrigo Fuentes realized that the engagement and input required with an app was only adding work to people's lives, he realized a subscription service was a better fit. Dejamor sends you a box every month with all the ingredients for a special, romantic moment with your significant other, and instructions to make sure you don't screw it up. It's as simple as that. Think Boinkbox, but classier. And for couples.Stacked Ranking
Aug 11, 4:26PM
The undercurrent of the Vanity Fair analysis is that the toxic anti-innovation culture of the company trumps even Bill Gates' unlikely return to the throne. Unlike a salesforce.com where each passing day engenders innovation as a way of validating the subscription model, Microsoft is a victim of its own success at the hands of its most successful. According to the article, executives withhold just enough vital information to maintain their own position of unique value. Where social is a requirement in a system that lives on innovation, Microsoft is forced to go against the grain to share in realtime.It's A Dark Time To Be A Consumer In The Cloud
Aug 11, 4:00PM
Ecco Pro, a much beloved outliner and personal information management application for Windows was discontinued about 15 years ago. But you can still download it and run it on Windows 7 today thanks to the efforts of a handful of volunteers. Even though the software isn't open source a few devotees have continued modding it and keeping it current for modern operating systems. They say that no modern application has yet replicated its functionality. Another piece of software with longevity is Eudora, which as of 2009 was still in use by Steve Wozniak as per an interview with Lifehacker. Wozniak didn't say which version he's using, but since he says it's been discontinued, I assume he's using Eudora 6.2.4 or earlier, not the newer Thunderbird based Open Source Edition. I've heard of people using versions as old as 3. They say they can still do stuff with it they just can't do with anything else. If these were web applications, what are the odds people would still be using them today, more than a decade after they were officially discontinued? And are there any new web applications out today that are so good that 15 years from now users will still be clinging to them?Web 3.0: The Mobile Era
Aug 11, 3:00PM
Editor's note: Jay Jamison is a Partner at BlueRun Ventures where he focuses on early stage mobile and consumer opportunities. You can read more of his analysis on startups and Silicon Valley at his blog jayjamison.com and you can follow him on Twitter at @jay_jamison. The highest flying of internet high-flyers, Facebook and Zynga, were laid low last week in public markets on weaker than expected guidance on their paths forward. What a difference public market scrutiny and forward-looking forecasts can make. Given the size, scope and importance of these two companies to the broader technology ecosystem, it's worth analyzing what these reports might mean for industry trends. According to Wall Street analysts, Zynga had a "dreadful" Q2 report. Several negatives converged to deliver an egg, reported the New York Times:In Defense Of The High-Frequency Hackers
Aug 11, 1:00PM
It's a potential "doomsday machine." It's "quite literally out of control." Hedge fund managers and Nobel winners say it should be banned. Others insist it should at least be regulated. Its practitioners are "parasites." Mark Cuban says they are "the ultimate hackers," who "scared the hell out of me." Last week they wiped out $440 million of Knight Capital's capital. Earlier this year they messed up Facebook's IPO. A couple of years ago they caused the Dow's 1,000-point flash crash. And everyone's horrified by that GIF making the rounds. Yes, it's the bête noire to end all bête noires; high-frequency trading. The only problem here is that I don't really see the problem.Business Lessons From Olympic Innovators
Aug 11, 5:00AM
Editor's note: John Greathouse is a general partner at Rincon Venture Partners and has held a number of senior executive positions with successful startups during the past fifteen years, including Computer Motion, Citrix Online and CallWave which collectively created in excess of $350M in shareholder value. You can follow him @johngreathouse. You can also check his blog for emerging entrepreneurs here. Successful Olympic athletes share a number of common qualities with entrepreneurs; including boundless energy, uncompromising tenacity and a willingness to innovate. Such innovations include new training routines, inventive diets and novel, gameplay tactics. Entrepreneurs are well served to pay particular attention to two of the most innovative Olympic athletes: Dick Fosbury and David Berkoff, the former of which I discuss in the following 2-minute video.As Marissa Mayer Annoys Investors By Keeping $4.2B In Dividends, YHOO Is Down 5.4%
Aug 11, 1:30AM
Less than a month after taking over Yahoo, Marissa Mayer is already sending strong signals of leadership to investors. Yet, the announcement of a new financial strategy led to a 5.37 percent downturn of YHOO today as the company played down dividend expectations. Yahoo filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the strategy review "may lead to a re-evaluation of, or changes to, our current plans."InsideSales.com Raises $4 Million For Big Data Analytics Sales Force Automation Technology
Aug 11, 12:33AM
InsideSales.com has raised $4 million from Hummer Winblad in a Series A Round that the company will use to grow its big data analytics sales force automation (SFO) technology. Joining in the round were Josh James, co-founder and former CEO of Omniture. Mark Gorenberg, managing director, Hummer Winblad, said before the funding, the company was profitable and had not taken any investment. He said the company reminds him of Omniture, which the firm funded under similar circumstances. Omniture was also profitable when it accepted its investment. Omniture was acquired for $1.8 billion in 2009 by Adobe Systems. InsideSales serves small and medium sized companies. It uses predictive analytics to help serve inside sales professionals. Its algorithms are designed to tell the sales professional who to contact, when to contact and how to tailor the message for the sales target.DMD Panorama Opens API To Power Panoramic Photos In Any App
Aug 10, 11:07PM
It's a strange thing to hear from the co-founder and CEO of a photo startup, but DMD Panorama's Elie-Gregoire Khoury tells me that panoramic photos will become "a commodity at the end of the day." That doesn't mean it's time to get out of the photo business — instead, Khoury wants to see panoramas become a standard feature in a wide range of websites and apps, the way that regular photos are now. And if Khoury has his way, that will all happen through DMD's new API.The Friday WTF Awards – Oracle Not The Only One Who Deserves Calling Out
Aug 10, 11:01PM
I need to lighten things up a bit with all this Oracle brouhaha. Oracle acquired Xsigo recently. I wrote about the acquisition and how Oracle will lose as IT gets virtualized. Oracle's Bob Evans came back with his own special brand of attack. Yesterday I responded with my post: Open? Yeah, Sure. Sorry Oracle, You're Still Full Of It.BranchOut CEO Rick Marini On Building A Company Atop Facebook's 'Shifting Sands' [TCTV]
Aug 10, 10:46PM
BranchOut is known as one of the bigger success stories for startups building on top of Facebook. The company, which makes a professional social network that runs on Facebook, has raised nearly $50 million in venture capital and attracted 30 million users in the two years since it made its debut. So it was great to have the chance to pull aside BranchOut CEO Rick Marini at the Facebook Ecosystem CrunchUp TechCrunch hosted a week ago to get his "dos and don'ts" he's learned while building his company. Watch the video above to see our full interview, and below I've excerpted a couple of his insights:Twilio Says It Is The Fastest Growing Short Code Provider In The U.S.
Aug 10, 10:14PM
A little over a year ago, cloud communications company Twilio launched Short Codes, dedicated 5 or 6 digit numbers for sending and receiving text messages at volume. Since then, Twilio has become the fastest-growing short code provider and has found surprisingly differing uses for its product. "People have started using our Short Code product in ways we didn't ever expect," Patrick Malatack, the product manager in charge of Short Codes, tells me.RIM: Layoffs Are Ongoing, Will Not Affect BB10
Aug 10, 8:37PM
RIM is about to layoff more employees in an ongoing effort to cut $1 billion by 2013. According to one report, as many as 3,000 RIM staffers could get the boot as soon as next week. However, RIM has not confirmed this as of yet. RIM's Global Corporate Communications Manager spoke to TechCrunch this afternoon and confirmed there are more layoffs on the horizon. She went on to explain that the company is "moving quickly for the impacted employees." As RIM communicated earlier, the company plans to eliminate 5,000 positions within the current financial quarter. While RIM hasn't pointed out affected departments and regions, it seems those working on BlackBerry 10 are safe -- well, at least for now.If at any time you'd like to stop receiving these messages, just send an email to feeds_feedburner_com_techcrunch+unsubscribe-hmdtechnology=gmail.com@mail.feed2email.net.
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