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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

How to get out of London without Heathrow? #cab #train #ferry #christmas at home

We made it in 36 hours from London to Berlin, starting at Monday 7am.
So if you still stuck in London without a chance of a flight, you maybe can make it home for christmas like we did.
Here comes how we did it and what else we found out:
- First of all forget your luagge and bags at Heathrow and tell your destination airport your numbers - they will send it to you in the next days (hopefully ;).
- Second: Even if we had booked another flight out of London, we decided for an alternative which we could control and not are totally dependend on the weather or Heathrow airport

London
We decided to leave London via cab, after we saw the chaos at the kings cross train station. There was a huge waiting line on the street from people with tickets for the eurostar. But now they even dont sell tickets anymore. Our plan was to get on a train to dover with: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
The cab was 200 pounds to dover, but train tickets for family of 5 would have cost about 140, so it was a good compromise and a lot of fun with the cab driver who drove us to his favourite breakfest place "Bernis Sandwich Bar" in London.

Dover
The ferry to calais was easy, after we realized we have to buy the tickets at the door, because they dont allow foot passengers to buy tickets online: http://www.poferries.com/
Tickets for 5 cost us 90 pounds

Calais
Here comes the hardest part!
We got luck and catched one of the last rental cars from europcar, but dont ask for the price, it's "highway robbery". But if you would like to try, here is the number:  +49 1805800
Because of the price, we change the car next day in Duesseldorf with sixt +49 1805252525
We also found a second way to get out, via cab to one of the next bigger citys and then get a rental car there, but meanwhile you probably have to go abou 100km, because its hard to find a
An alternative to get out is by train http://www.raileurope.co.uk/

Duesseldorf
From here it's a childsplay, beside the weather and road conditions. We stopped one night in Belgien (Hasselts) they have a nice christmas market and good hotels.

We which you good luck and merry christmas 2010


Thanks to this people and websites, who helped us to get home:
@mdbergfeld  - He is an TwitterAngel, he tweeted his experience and responded to my tweets.
Hausecke - He was my realtime researcher and road advisor.
Berne - He helped me to book hotel and flight.
http://www.seat61.com/ - great travel website
http://search.twitter.com/ - real time news



Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Venture Summit Silicon Valley 2010 - summary part1 #alwayson #daily notes

@TimDraper
The world needs free markets.
Become an entrepreneur because private sector is doing a better job
then any public.

VC boom is starting again. (Cycle)
Technology innovation continuos to grow exponentialy.
VC future trends: Global, networked, clean, liquid
IPOs coming back
Many good deals don't get funding

Revolutions change existing business models and invent new ones, like:
-Amazon - book store
-Hotmail - post office
-Google - broadcaster
-Skype - telephone

Entrepreneurs are heros, they
-Create jobs
-Make our lifes better
-Take risks


#VC titans - panel
@timDraper - draper fisher
@toddChaffee - institutional ventur partner (twitter, zynga)
@johnSimon - general catalyst partners
Later stage is over heated and seed has a hard time right now.
Invest in teams and disruptive models insted of sectors
Look for monopolies because they get lazy and find disruptive models
(examples: finance industry, databases like oracle, transportation,
education)

#Closing the capital gap - panel
Are angels and seed funds more attractive then VCs?
Robert ackerman
Howard hartenbaum
Nils johnson - angel (wepay,
Karl jacob - angel
There was a time Ron Conway was the only angel, today there is a
industry of angels or maybe an Angel bubble.
To grow a company you still need money.
Angels invest their own money and take high risks, VCs not.
Angels who get succesful become often VCs.
VCs ware suites and jackets, angels not (at least at this panel ;)
Airbnb - biggest hotel in the world without having a hotel

@joeSchoendorf - accel partner
990 open jobs are listed from all portfolio companies on accel
website, because of the bad education system in the US, they can't
find qualified talents.

#SAP business by design
Saas erp platform

#traditional exits vs alternatives liquidity - panel
SecondMarket sees a 10b dollar market next 3 years

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
CEO | Founder | Angel Investor

Globumbus
Silicon Valley - Sunnyvale | 440 N Wolfe Rd | CA 94085
Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie | Friedrichstraße 50 | 10117 Berlin

Follow me:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Reach me:
email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomashessler
Global mobile: +1 415 335 9843 (google voice)
DE mobile: +49 173 6111884

Meet me:
events: http://plancast.com/thomashessler
shedule: http://tungle.me/thomashessler

Friday, December 10, 2010

mobile tsunami 2/2 #sdfmobile #daily notes

#Mobile Investment landscape
Mobile, cloud, game are the hot topics
Stay away of apps, apple will provide themself

#mobile my world
@Susan welsh de grimaldo, Strategy analyst
Why user love iphone? UX, apps, big display
How to get to WOW? Design, personalized, viral
Where is the innovation? Keep it simple that people can understand it.

#industry perspective
Panel: Nokia, orange, alcatel, microsoft
Accu time and band wight

#where is the money in mobile?
Panel
@shopkick aaron emigh
@Mobclix founder vishal gurbuxani - monetize apps
@Tapjoy founder ben lewis - adnetwork
Mobile adds become more relevant and make money
Virtual currencies generating high conversions
Payment methods outside of iphone are needed
Analytics for mobile apps: google analytics,


#globumbus
Search/offer
Company: work equity
Worker: money work
Investor: equity money

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
CEO | Founder | Angel Investor

Globumbus
Silicon Valley - Sunnyvale | 440 N Wolfe Rd | CA 94085
Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie | Friedrichstraße 50 | 10117 Berlin

Follow me:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Reach me:
email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomashessler
Global mobile: +1 415 335 9843 (google voice)
DE mobile: +49 173 6111884

Meet me:
events: http://plancast.com/thomashessler
shedule: http://tungle.me/thomashessler

The Mobile Internet Tsunami summary 1/2 #sdforum #sdfmobile #daily notes


@GuyKawasaki - opening keynote
1) Achieve Likability
- smile
- dress for a tie - under-dressing: dont respect you
- shake hands right

2) Trustworthieness
- knowledge competence
- trust others (like companies: norstrom, amazon, zappos)
- default to YES > if somebody ask you something, say yes

HOW TO PRESENT?
Make it DICEE (deep, intelligent, complete, empowering, elegant)
Make it short, sweet and swallowable.
Conduct a premortem product (assume if our product will fail, how xould we prevent this?)
Tell a story
Plant many seeds (address also lonlyboy15 on twitter, because you never now who will support you and not cnn)
Illustrate saliebt points (argument on numbers, everybody understands)
Provide social proof
Find a bright spot
Enchant all the influencers
Dont use money
Invoke reciprocation
Build an ecosystem - and dont try to do everything by yourself (appstores, 3rd party...)
Customize the introduction - 
Sell your dream - forget feature fuckin
10slides 20 30

How to enchant your boos?
Drop everything else if he ask you to do something
Prototype fast (show 
Deliver bad news early (

Enchant employees
- provide MAP (mastery: come to me and you will learn xy, autonomy: no micro management, purpose: sell a vision)
- Empower action ( i trust you, 
- Judge your results and not their 

10 use technology
- remove speed bumps (like captchers)
- provide value (information, insights, assistance)
- engage with social media: (fast, many (to all), often)

Be a mensch

slides made by: anafxfz.com
get a copy of the slides, email gina@garage.com



@getJar - 
Independent cross platform appstore
no listing fee, no transaction fees, only promotion fees like adwords

@kapow
platform wich makes your data available without an api

@cogan
aggregating data of events


Thursday, December 9, 2010

The future of work #my Daily notes #networkconf #humancloud #crowdsourcing

The Future of Work
#ElasticWorkforce
#Humancloud
#Realtime collaboration
#crowdsourcing

#salesforce ceo @benioff
Your business is tweeting you.
5000 employees
Chatterlytics: shows transparent "who earns what"
Every employee can earn the same like a VP
Flat world, flat company

#vidyo
Video conferencing system with coomodity hardware

#human cloud
@Cloudcrowd axel edelstein
@Mturk sharon chiarella
@Utest doron reuveni
@Liveops maynard webb

Crowd mechanics like game mechanics brings fun
Real Names or anonymous? Controversy
Offshore comes back onshore, world is flat.
Don't bet on regions or countries in crowdsourcing

#the cloud
@Netsuite ceo zach nelson
B2b cloud apps
200m sales rev
We run the apps and eliminate the app costs for our customers.

#mobile workforce report
Bit.ly/9hEHvw

#self serve, simple social inside
New saas solutions
@sliderocket ceo chuck dietrich
@central desktop ceo isaac garcia
@box.net ceo aaron levie
@huddle founder andy mcloughlin
The technology is there with all the systems from amazon ws, google
apps, salesforce appexchange, etc. Now its time to change the
companies and people to use them.

#HR in the web
@rypple ceo daniel debow
@trinet MD philip korn
Many companies don't allow facebook, onle the smart ones try to get
ahead of it, because it will happen anyway.
Netflix dosnt have a vacation policy. You'll measured on your results.

#radical collaborator
Working at cisco san jose, living in carmel
Email, Cellphone, Webex, Cisco Quad collaboration tool,
Asynchronus voice and video sharing

#xobni
Inbox app and address book


#globumbus
The end of fix and fulltime.
Company as a service
my company

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
CEO | Founder | Angel Investor

Globumbus
Silicon Valley - Sunnyvale | 440 N Wolfe Rd | CA 94085
Berlin - Checkpoint Charlie | Friedrichstraße 50 | 10117 Berlin

Follow me:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Reach me:
email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomashessler
Global mobile: +1 415 335 9843 (google voice)
DE mobile: +49 173 6111884

Meet me:
events: http://plancast.com/thomashessler
shedule: http://tungle.me/thomashessler

Sunday, November 21, 2010

startup weekend 20 pitches @inTourage @muffinbuster @p0werpack #daily notes

100 people, 60 ideas, 20 realized projects.
what an awesome concept and so much energy and creativity in one weekend.
Here are the finalists and my votes out of 4 points, > 2 I would
probably invest:

@socialpong.org 1/4
crowdsource game
@manBadges 2/4
sticker collector iphone app
@chefit 1/4
dating portal for restaurants and chefs
@getToClose 1/4
sell more with analyzing the personality of your target
@whoImetLastNight 2/4
iphone app to tag contacts with events
@inTourage 3/4
if all go, I will go too
groupon for private event organization, like friendfund + plancast
@caroob 2/4
video interview library
the logo gets a 4/4 ;)
@wham 1/4
women health and mobile
sms social network to organize help in 3rd world
@crowdmarket 2/4
sms based marketplace for underdeveloped countries
@theCollegeGap 2/4
microdonations for students
@medWriterMobile 1/4
mobile notebook for doctors in hospitals
- whats news?
@mugify ?
@grb.ly 2/4
community for home cooking
- how can I buy it?
@eventus 1/4
another plancast
@shopicient 2/4
keep an eye on what you buy
uses your confirmation emails
@justOneThing 1/4
simple task list for iphone
@p0werpack 3/4
better hiring in groups
work with your friends to get a better deal.
offer
#disruptive #globumbus
#a sign in up founders
@funcompass 1/4
travel guide
@muffinbuster 3/4
exercise you need to do per food
ask yourself: is it worth it to eat?
#a tell them about withings and fitbit + google health
@fundraiser7 1/4
ticketing event fundraising solution
@adsuggestions 2/4
keyword generation tool for adsense and bing
@martiniyellow 2/4
cab sharing service

#tools they used
prezi.com presentation tool
piryx fundraising solution
rememberTheMilk - tasklist
-

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Incubate 2.0 summary #daily notes #globumbus

#HP launches his startup incubator "startup central"

#panel - global entrepreneur networks
@youNoodle - marketplace to discuss new ideas and predict the
potential success @rebecaHwang
@cofounderNetwork global incubator @fadiBishara
@founderSpace - advise for founders @steveHoffman
@entrepreneurCommons miami chapter - advise
@globalTechBridge - support founders in latin america
Discussing about, why they care about entrepreneurs.
Recommendations to entrepreneurs:
- learn from the best
- open up, let other people help you
- never give up
- network to do the right things

#panel - entrepreneur programs
@udemy @gaganBiyani
@FoundersInstitute
@startupweekend @kevinBraithwait
@urbanRoots @bokuKodama
@sparkseed @mikeDelPonte
@syracuseUniversity @shayColson
Go to the gym early in the morning to network with the decision maker.
#social media change
@igniter michael Lewkowitz founder epic institute epic.io
Nobody is doing well on paychecks
What type of platforms help us to transform the way we innovate? -
let's get naked

#panel - new knowledge, new media
@theStartupDigest
@webWallFlower
@womanzworld
@epicInstitute
@vatorTV
Basecamp, plancast,
linkedin, fb, twitter,

#panel - new funding (robert scoble)
@indiegogo (non profit)
@500startups
@jennyKassan - top legal expert on crowdfunding
@growVC
@angelsoft
Cost are dropping, angel incubators are growing.
Are we in a angel bubble?
Angelsoft 0 gets used in 60 countries
Indiegogo 139 countries

#panel - new incubators
@IOventures incubator mission disctrict @paulBraigiel
@parisoma coworking space sonoma @clementAlteresco
@quickstart global incubator for globalization in 30 countries @kaushalChokshi
@thehub

#panel - new models to support entrepreneurs
@servicesAtEndeavor
@women20
@newScholars
@kauffmanLabs
@citizensSchool

@BoBurlingham
- autor of "small giants" companies chosen to be great insted of big.
Smalgiants.org - community
#Mojo quality criterias:
Now what you want
Deep routes into your community
Personal connections to your customers
Employees come before customers
Solid business model with strong margin
Owners are passioned about their business

--

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Angelpad demoday 8 pitches #daily notes

Congratulations to Thomas Korte for the first demoday of angelpad.
Nice pitches and interesting companies.

Here are my votes:

@snip.ly 3/4
Aggregates the most important parts of an website to rdeuce, like a
pagerank within a page
#crowdsourcing love it

@hugenergy 2/4
Web app to Track, cut and share your energy usage
#iot Serious problem, maybe hard to monetize

@adku 3/4
Behavior targeting with real time data analytics to optimize adds
#another promize. Need to see results

@eggcartell 3/4
Social mobile commerce platform (craigslist + ebay + yahoo groups) by
just taking pictures with your mobile phone. Leverage your social
graph to sell something
Mobile payment, geo support,
- 1000 users after 9 weeks

@alltrails 2/4
Recommendation platform for outdoor activities
Angel.co/alltrails

@curated 3/4
Collect and organize real-time news into topics
Angel.co/curated
#globumbus tracking ?

@rollCall 2/4
Mobile app to organize casuall get togethers
Signup for beta at Rollcall.to

@Mopub 3/4
Mobile ad server, helping app developers to monetize their apps
- not fundraising yet

--

Crowdsourcing Landscape from @crowdsourcingresults

















Here is another crowdsourcing landscape:  http://www.crowdsourcing.org/document/crowdsourcing-industry-landscape-by-crowdsourcingorg-v12/1468

Monday, November 8, 2010

SecondMarket presentation at startup2startup event #daily notes

SecondMarket is a marketplace, where you can buy and sell shares and
options without going public.

Competitors: Satx, nasdaq portal, sharespost

Why is it great?
-attract employees (they can sell equity/sop earlier)
-Raises capital
-Option not to go public
-Good alternative to get lequidity
-Stay private longer
-Control your destiny (its not private or public)

Model is regulated by SEC
-Only accredited investors are allowed to buy on secondmarket.
-They are not allowed to advertise prices etc
-more then 500 shareholders = public listed
-you can control, who and when buys your stocks
-you choose, who sees your sensitive information
-system is designed for all sizes

- they sign up with the company and work with them


400mio trade volume since 2008
Transaction fee 2-4%

Going public should not like turning on a switch
It should be a slow process

Existing stock market is broken:
You need 10 years to get your money back
No exits, no angels, no innovations
Time to go public from 6 to 9 years
Holding from 5 years 1970 to less then 1 year 2010
No one is pushing smal companies
Public markets are broken

Asset classes @ secondMarket
-Restricted securities
-auction rate securities
-bankruptcy claims
-lp interests
-loans
-company stock

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
Founder zanox, Globumbus & Angel Investor

Globumbus.com
Berlin Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 50
10117 Berlin

email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomas.hessler@gmail.com
Global mobile: +49 173 6111884
US mobile: +1 415 335 9843

Follow me on:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Thanks for advise on school #cms #lms @TheDrupalist @chill_creations @CanYouRecommend @joomlablogger

Our High School wants to relaunch theire website into a community solution.
I would recommend an open source solution to be more independend and flexible. So I did a litle research and asked the community via twitter about an recommendation and luckily got some interesting feedback:

Here is a discussion from another school:

So after reading this, I am even more convinced to setup an framework of open source applications as a combination of CMS + LMS + Intranet = High School Platform

LMS - Learning Management Systems
Blackboard, Cornerstone, SumTotal and Element K. Learn.com

Intranet - Community Management Systems

CMS - Content Management System
Drupal 
Joomla 
DotNetNuke, Umbraco, dotcms

Thursday, October 28, 2010

best pitches at pnp iexpo #daily notes

@kaleidoflex 3/4
epaper with color

@baseband 3/4
fast gps detection with litle power

@devi 3/4
3D virtual elearning platform

@ingboo
social syndication of facebook like

@empireAvenue 4/4
gamification of social media
globumbus tracking

@phyzio 2/4
iphone animation apps

@morpho 2/4
webcam improving software


--
Thomas Hessler
Founder zanox, Globumbus & Angel Investor

Globumbus.com
Berlin Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 50
10117 Berlin

email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomas.hessler@gmail.com
Global mobile: +49 173 6111884
US mobile: +1 415 335 9843

Follow me on:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Mark Suster @ Stanford ETL #StartupLessons #daily notes

#Lessons on starting a company

#Lessons learned from Mark (and my comments THE:)
You don't to have to be a genius to start a business.
You just need to get started.
You need to be passionate about it.
You need to do research (basic monetization)
Get a prototyp built
Assemble a diverse team
Dilution comes before you start -> start on your own (THE: I totally disagree. Its too much work and no fun)
Make sure tech is part of your DNA (THE: find the right cofounder)
Don't raise too much capital (THE: raise from family and friends)
Start Lean
You can go fat later in life
Why the 'fail fast' mantra must fail
Don't raise money from friends and family maybe you will fail. (THE: raise from frinds and family and make the risk clear)
You need an anchor investor, after that, all will follow.
Ship your product
Test monetization early
The sausage factory is never pretty, inside of every startup is chaos
Have fun with what you do and play it like a game.
Sell early 10m exits are not a failure

#advise on branding
Name=URL
Name dosn't box you in a corner (not to smal specific market)
Be careful about words that mean something else

#Beeing a VC is a fun life
Beeing an entrepreneur is a roller coaster
Beeing an Entrepreneur is a nature skill
Beeing an CEO is a chief psychologist
Biggest challenge in every company is people
Hire fast, fire fast (its an ongoing process)

#criterias to invest
70% team 30% market
Product skills
more on http://Bothsidesonthetable.com


My Todos
#a check peer forum shared notes
#a check Formspring
#a add to your CV early businesses and fails
#a read the Blackswan blog
Follow @tseelig


Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Virtual Goods Summit summary 2/2 #facebook credits #social games #vgsummit #vgs #daily notes

#panel - virtual goods and brands
@joeEibert universal
@davidLevy socialVibe
@brianCho booyah
@mannyAnekal zynga
Social games like zynga beat every TV show today in DAU

#facebook credits @DeborahLiu PM
Vision: to build a virtual currency
200 games from 75 developers (22 of 25 top games) using credits, paying 30% fee.
#Starting today: Opening now to many more developers
Apply at http://Developers.facebook.com/credits
20 new payment methodes announced with playspan.
#Examples of games:
#arkadium
5 games on facebook (credits is exclusive)
#digital chocolate
6games, 15m MAU 2,5 DAUs
Millionair city

#asia social game market @benjaminjoffe
Cyberagent.com - new social game comp in japan
Rekoo, rakoo, elex chinese comps in japan
Biggest opportunity: mobile social games
Expanding globally
Mobile social games will replace all games incl offline
First farm game came from china
Development of games in china is big

#Next generation social game:
Paradise paintball cmune.com

#social games leaders
@zynga @markSlaggs 220m users
@crowdstar @nirenHiro 58m users
@playdom (disney now) @christaQuarles 41m users
Next generation of games comes from china and korea and on mobile.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
Founder zanox, Globumbus & Angel Investor

Globumbus.com
Berlin Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 50
10117 Berlin

email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomas.hessler@gmail.com
Global mobile: +49 173 6111884
US mobile: +1 415 335 9843

Follow me on:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Virtual Goods Summit summary @imvu @habbo #gamification #vgsummit #daily notes

#Myths from social gaming
Controverse discussion about this questions:
Good game on fb is also a good iphone game?
Fb credits will increase paiing users?
Still possible as an new developer to launch game on fb?
Google games will be a strong competitor for FB?

275m people are playing games on FB every week, its the biggest game
platform ever created.
The 1st generation of social games is over, now fb credits and new
rules require higher quality.
If shakespeare was alive today, he'd say the world is a game.
A mobile gaming platform will likely a bigger challenger to FB than google.

@imvu - Boosting conversion to paid @mleeclancyjr PM
Imvu virtual avatar game
Imvu sells crowdsourc virtual items 200k 15year old girls
#1Go shopping for free (3000 credits) 20% increase
#2 offer you can't refuse
#3 All ways to pay
#4 New ways to pay 15% increase
#5 cool ways to pay (3d prepaid card)
#6 keep inventory fresh (5k new items every day) longtail
#7 give free stuff in addition to paid stuff 10-20%
#8 make spending cool
#9 let them be creative 1/3 of revenue comes from ugc
#10 turn users into sellers
#11 give them new ways to spend
#12 speak their language
Virtual currency for creators
You can cash out on secondary market

#gamification
#game based marketing (book) @gzicherm autor
http://Sf.gsummit.com 12.11. Workshop gamification
Popular social games: Diner dash, farmville, foresquare,
#What are fun game mechanics?
Eat your vegetable and THEN you get desert.
Deserts in 200s: are virtual rewards
Satus is the most important reward
#We buy shit in real world to show our status
Since facebook Loyalty becomes a public topic.
#Cycle of gamification
Challenges, win conditions, leaderboards, badges, social networking, status
#gamer types: Achiever, socializer, explorer, killer
80% are socializer
#The game always favors its creator
Fun is the future!
Badges matter: like the letter on a mercedes
design matters:
Level up: Green, gold, platinum, black

#panel - Measuring health of virtual communities
@ianSwanson
@chethanRamachandran
@BillGrosso
@albertsupdates
@mikeOuye

@playspan @MarkRose PM - On demand monetization
(Sponsored session)
1800 need a river
1900 need a generator
1910 need utility
Today you need social
Facebook is social as a service
#Monetization as a service
Playspan 3-5% transaction fee
Let's user pay in the game not on external sites

@habbo @teemuSheppard VP BD - What to sell what not
Habbo is a teenager virtual space to play or hang out
In business for 10 years
185million players
50m eur in 2009, 40m first 6 month in 2010
150 payment channels in 32 countries with 70 billing partners
#Zynga is the best company in dealing with data for user experience
90% monetization comes from micropayments
#Dual currency
Paid currency - credits
Earned currency - pixel
Buy, trade, earn.
#secondary market (10 times as big as primary)
Marketplace to trade any item
Trading is a big business
#key success factors for habbo
-Differentiate target group
-Focus in community monetization an virt goods
-Global
-Community management and safety (200 moderators)
-Fast upgrades based on analytic data (weekly)

@andrewSheppard chief PM kabam
Design principles
1. function
2. form (follows function)
3. Let players and non-players alike participate

#Game mechanics in social gaming
Player vs player (wow)
Player vs self
Vs kierkegaard (farmville)
With friends (frontierville)
Versus friends (bejeweled blitz)

#social gaming =player with friends
In mafia wars: Energy refills are perfect monetization
FrontierVille
-school house is a big want
Needs many things to build you can buy or get from friends


#a todos
Socialtimes.com
AllFacebook.com
Trip hawkins 100billion usd market size
Gamification book
Epicwinapp.com iphone game to get things done
Lolapps.com facebook games 50mio player

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
Founder zanox, Globumbus & Angel Investor

Globumbus.com
Berlin Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 50
10117 Berlin

email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomas.hessler@gmail.com
Global mobile: +49 173 6111884
US mobile: +1 415 335 9843

Follow me on:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

picture virtual goods summit

Friday, October 8, 2010

2/2 Design Happiness summary @twitter @zynga @groupon @myspace #daily notes














** Designer track **

@TomChi yahoo - designing for search
Design your website: Fast relevant comprehensive fresh
#5-8 words do people read in 10 seconds they spent on your website.
Make sure they find their keywords.

@Leland Rechis twitter mobile - designing for mobile
60 twitter traffic outside US
46% mobile usage of twitterp
Simplicity, Ubiquity, speed
Sms is not dead (universal UI, everyone, notifications)
#To ask for the phone number increased conversion for sms twitter.
#No penalty to click on something
Twitter don't follows the strategy to become my remote control :-(

@macadaan MikeMacadaan myspace - Designing for Real-Time
Use dashboards with Analytic data
New logo my____

@Aaker Jennifer stanford - Design for Happiness
#We don't know
-what is happines
-how to become happy
To find it out Ask what people love and not what makes them happy.f0dSAaa
Grab data
#Money dosnt make happy! (Proof by numbers, even if you get richer,
you don't get happier)

** Developer track **
New experience = instinct + heuristic + data
Speed is everything

@lukew slideshre - design for performance
Make people successful in the first 5 seconds

@DarrellBenatar - designing for user aquisition
#sign-up forms must die
#40% conversion drof off when you ask for a photo during register process.
@posterous is a good example to kill a signup form

@darienBrown Usertesting.com - designing with data
#In cyberspace no one can hear your customer scream
#run usebility tests on your competitors website
#removal of the registration button led to 300m increase

@mark_Skaggs zynga - Designing for engagement
Engagement = fun = feelings
Feelings drive engagement
Live in the world of your game
How to create feelings?
- design patterns and activities
-presented in an entertaining way
-players feel their time is well spent
#right feel needs internal marketing
Appointment + anticipation
#game mechanics http://yhoo.it/asATG2

@to_morrow groupon
Small, simple and plentifull
Don't love the solution, love the problem and make a love child.
Acting rash will cost you cash.
Let dummies inform your decisions.
You won't understand until the test is done.

@putorti
#UX is everything
#how would it work if it were magic?
#How would it work if it were human?
#great design does not make users think
#great designs talk benefits not features
#brand is how your customer feels about you
#10things non-designer should know
http://Slidesha.re/9VctM2


#get
the team out of the office
#best marketing is a well designed application
#features should pay rent to be on a page!!








#a my todos
Subscribe to twitter list of all attendees, ask @damon
#a elegant.ly dating entrepreneurs and looking for designers

SLIDES will be on: http://Slideshare.net/warmgun
public NOTES on: http://typewith.me/warmgun
ATTENDEES: http://damonc.com/warmgun.html
best TWEETS: http://www.curated.by/bastian/warm-gun-2010
facebook GROUP: http://www.facebook.com/warmgundesign

1/2 Design Happiness summary @pulse @lmspool #warmgun #blind #mobile #agil #UX #daily notes

1/2 Design Happiness conference

The Mission Bay Conference Center, SF, CA

@pulse design process
Ipad news reader
Launchpad d.school in stanford
Addresses Information overload
#Rapidly product design cycle
-Every two weeks a new update
-Major design changes
-experimenting (keep taking risks)
-one page quick tutorial
#darren burton afb.org Blind designer
Alt tags on images should describe the image for blinds
Use page headers


@zazzle
Design for buyers or sellers? Marketplace conflict
Design for buyers but keep sellers in mind.
Listen what they want and give what they need.
Design for the people with money.

@lmspool Jared Spool - designer
#apple 75% marketshare in mp3 players - why?
-desing matters more then features
-stores to ask questions to people
-build strong brand with marketing
Apples retail stores sell twice as much per square feet compare to tiffanys.
#Succesful experience design is invisible like aircondition
#what you need for experience design?
Copy writing, process management, editing/curation, visual desig,
information design, usability, information architecture, business,
analytics, ethnic, marketing, technology, ROI, social, use cases,
agil, critiquing, presenting, facilitating, sketching,
#succesful experience design is multi disciplin
#good strategy
-vision (everyone is in)
-feedback (best weekly)
-culture (reward major design mistakes to learn)
#risk-averse companies produce crap!
#compare Apple. / microsoft -design is like sixflags / disneyland is
like activity / experience focus.

#panel engeneers and designer in harmony
@IreneAu google user experience
@KateAronowitz facebook design director
@JasonPutorti mint founder
@JeffVeen typekit ceo (moderator)
#Is design a key differentiator for startups?
UX (user experience) is the whole thing!
Technology becomes commodity so design is the differentiator.
UX team at google: 200 facebook: 50
Flowtown every friday we watch an UX video from usertesting.com over lunch
Designers need to understand product strategy, not just type and color.
Look at your competitors feedback forums to understand your customers
Facebook design is documented in code, gr8 for coders
Work in smal teams helps to focus
Done is better than pefect
Listen and understand your users, then ignore them and follow your vision!
Mobile first, second web! (Quote from facebook)

@GeoffreyMiller
#Openess is mandatory for good design, but be aware. that most of your
customers are less open than you are. That leads to mistakes if you
are not careful.
#Product design needs to be high quality to make profits

#a my todos
Typewith.me/warmgun - collaborative notes tool
Like ethercodes.com for coding or google wave
#Globumbus garage
Moving white boards
--

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Svase event 'What's going on in venture capital' #daily notes

Svase Panel with:

@GeorgeGachary
Charles river ventures
1-2 investments per year
1-2 calls a week with ceo
No board seats
Looks for 500m deals

@BillReichert
Garage technology ventures
Partner from guy kawasaki, Seed fund
Stays away from gaming, social, music - everything wich depends on the
magical likenes of consumers
Takes board seats and active role in the company
Looks for 500m deals

@ManuKumar
K9 venture
4-6 investments per year
Takes board seats
Don't does social
Is fine with 25m deal

@TravisKalanick angel investor
Jam pads in his house with entrepreneurs
25-300k investments
12 investments
Works active in 3 companies as cxo
There are no super angels, this guys who invest opm are VCs or micro
VCs. Angel invest their own money.
There is nothing bad about an 25m exit, if you have invested 500k
Discussion about convertible notes and equity is controverse:
-some like, some dislike CNs
-CNs are easier/cleaner for VCs in next round
-CNs with cap and interests
-CNs are cheaper
Is there a differenc between money and smart money? No, its bullshit,
money is always green. If VCs start pitching added value, its a signal
for a bubble.
--

Monday, October 4, 2010

Crowdconf 2010 summary #crowdsourcing #TopHatangel #daily notes


Companies presenting on the floor:
@getsatisfaction
@mygengo human translation api
@hipchat - intranet chat rooms
@hypios
Crowdsourcing for projects 10k +
#finanace raising money

@meraki
Cloud based wifi network

@SwiftRiver
Open source software, saas, api for
Data agregation and analyzis based on the crowd
Business model comes
Like Yahoo pipes
#a finanace: looking for 500k seed funding

@solvate
Julie Ruvolvo coo
2 years in business
Crowdsourcing for high level
Average 10hs per task
3 cofounders
Seed funding from dfj
A-round VCs
#finance Now raising 5m B-round to get break even

CONFERENCE

@panel -The softer skills of human intelligence
@zittrain
Labor law for crowdsourcing is untouched

#panel big ideas and great successes
-its the beginning of the revolution of work
@odesk @GarySwart
@utest @DoronReuveni
@elance @FabioRosati
@mavenResearch @WyattNordstrom
@Keniks @PatrickMcKenna

@turksurveyor - opensource survey based on ruby on rail

@kapcha-fade-in method to increase quality of surveys
(Slow down, fading in words)


@Hagglebot - experiment to get right price by asking for
counteroffers. @JohnHorton harvard

@clickworker @wolfgangKitza
50 languages supported by his platform
Be much faster with crowdsourcing then traditional

#panel power of crowdsourcing
@DanScholnick trinity ventures
@amazon mturk @wili SharonChiarella
@microtask @VilleMiettinen
@Samaource @leile_c leilaChirayathJanah
.. barney pell, martijn lampert,
-Oursourcing is an 500bn dollar business
-crowdsourcing is amplified outsourcing @barneyp
-big customers don't want to buy crowdsourcing, they just want to get
things done with good roi and quality
Red ballons - crowdsourcing example

Sponsors
@crowdflower @Clickworker @utest @500startups @99design @elans
@liveops @meraki @microtask @odesk @anybots @bessemerVentures
@chaordix @trinity @crowdsortium @castingwords


crowdsourcing landmark:
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/document/crowdsourcing-industry-landscape-by-crowdsourcingorg-v12/1468

--

Friday, October 1, 2010

Tahoetechtalk summary from @garyvee @sacca @BenKaufman @DaveMorin @TravisKalanick @KevinRose @davemcclure @Alexia #daily notes

This was the best conference I ever attend.
Tahoetechtalk 2010 will change my life forever and I really thank all the speakers for their open and honest sharing spirit.
To you, who is reading my blog, this notes I made from the speeches of the new generation of next world leaders. This guys are doing awesome
things today within a totally new spirit - open, honest, responsible and caring about how to change the world. They are entrepreneurs who want you help to also become an entrepreneur. Just because it is the
ultimate way to have an impact and satisfy yourself - which I totally agree with.
Here are my notes:

@garyvee GaryVaynerchuk
We will have a personal relationship to our customers.
Build Human focused businesses!
Start today to care about your customers

@Alexia Tsotsis
What makes a story?
Competitive or political drama like:
"...company x releases product y to kill company z"
..Trend x will change the world because of...
..Measurable success
..We fail because
Manage relationships to blogger
Send tips in
Don't try desperately but still try
AlexiaATtechcrunch.com

@davemcclure
Why you shouldn't start a startup:
#1 Go for things who pissing you off forever, nothing else
#2 entrepreneurship is pain and sacrafice
#3 have products and customers, fuck 25 pages business planes
#4 ideas suck, have an product
#5 Find a real problem then a solution
#6 you are not a leader
#7 your pitch sucks and you won't get money
#8 team sucks (no idea how to hire, tech design, social, search,
mobile, sales skills)
#9 whiners will make you crazy
#10 you can't sell or market, which is key
#11 you rather change your TV channel then change the world

@KevinRose
Angel Investor in twitter forsquare, Founder digg
#1 Go build it (take the risk and make it)
#2 Release (for real feedback)
#3 Hire your Boss (make sure they build your vision)
#4 Raise Money
#5 Go cheap
#6 connect with your audience (
#7 Hack the press (youngest editor)
#8 Advisor (get many and give shares)
#9 leverage your userbase
#10 analyze your traffic

@TravisKalanick
Angel Investor
I can't just invest, I need to be involved.
Blippy, crowdflower, ubercab...

@DaveMorin
Angel Investing (slow + premium + private)
#Slow
Authenticity for company
Simplicity in products
Quality on design
Organic growth for loyalty
Trust via authentic open honest
Network products - platforms
Craftsmanship
Long term thinking = responsibly
Focus on customer prosperity
#premium
Scarcity of data +Openness. + Marginal Utility + Commodity + Business
model + Advertising + Low quality = 0 value
If Value Add, charge for it!
Digital goods are Premium Expression like cloth
Premium is worth a lot of money
#private
Network growth is time of clubs in clubs
Privacy enables creativity, sharing and trust
Examples: 37signals.com
Customers are better then users

@BenKaufman
#quirky
Crowd Design and manufacture
One new product a week #Crowdsourcing
#kluster
Crowd solution for everything
-never worked out because just theory
#Mophie his first product
Use trade shows for Crowdsourcing
#Lessons learned:
Honesty and transparency
Best filter in the world is money
share open
Tell, show, involve me

@chrissacca
Lowercase capital
41 portfolio companies after 3 years
Lessons learned:
Start now
Go big
Easy
70core 20new 10crazy
Ignore paradigms
Focus on users and real problems
Users first
Worship data
Bold humility
Be open
Feed talent (food, services etc)
Listen more than you talk
Charitywater.org
Livestrong.org
ChrisATlowercase.com
#globumbus
Mix real and virtual
#infographics search engine
#a connect Tal Siach
--

Thursday, September 30, 2010

20 pitches at Expo plugandplaytechcenter

The winner from the VC jury:
iSocket, rSeven and !nflectSOL


@picbounce 2/4
Iphone app Social photo sharing
@mingleverse 2/4
Social telepresence (3d virtual meeting rooms)
Facebook + twitter + skype + ...
@driveassist
Helps with sms and calls during driving
@inflectsol 1/4
Green manufaturing for LED lights
Still in research status
@ddc 1/4
Data management saas
@passmark 1/4
Software development company
@yapper 2/4
Mobile app generation platform
@getquik 2/4
Restaurant order for deliveries
@peelindustries 1/4
Avatar to dress yourself
@eugrid 2/4
Cloud storage and virtual workspace
@violin 1/4
Cloud computing
@rseven 2/4
Recording of all your phone calls and connect with crm
@mobibucks 2/4
Mobile payment solution
@tapplocal 2/4
Mobile advertising network
@icoupon 2/4
Social geo Coupon platform
@gantto 1/4
Project management saas
@appbackr 2/4
#crowdfunding to develop iphone apps
@friendcaller 2/4
VOI like skype
@twocents 2/4
Conversation platform like twitter
@gotocamera 3/4
Security network via webcams #crowdsourcing
--

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

3/3 Techcrunch #disrupt summary #TopHatAngel

#startup pitches
With my votes on investment potential aut of 4 points

7 Finalists:

@qwiki 2/4

@cloudflare 2/4
Free Virtual Load balancing for websites

@datasift 4/4
Realtime data curation
@globumbus tracking
@twe etmeme

@opzi 2/4
Quora for intranets

@gamecrush 2/4
Casual games as dating platform

@pinger 2/4
Free sms for incentivized offers

@badgeville 3/4
Checkin game on websites
Loyalty system


....

@groupme 3/4
manage a group with sms (like fastsociety)
All via sms:
On demand calls withe your group
Reminders
Free Group sms texting

@wisedame 2/4
Iphone app for inform parents when you not get on time, where you were
and with whom
Teman: woman

--
Sent from my mobile device

Thomas Hessler
Founder zanox, Globumbus & Angel Investor

Globumbus.com
Berlin Checkpoint Charlie
Friedrichstraße 50
10117 Berlin

email, skype, msn, Gtalk: thomas.hessler@gmail.com
Global mobile: +49 173 6111884
US mobile: +1 415 335 9843

Follow me on:
http://twitter.com/ThomasHessler
http://www.facebook.com/thomashessler
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashessler
Blog: www.thomashessler.com

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

2/3 Techcrunch #disrupt summary day 2 #daily notes #TopHatAngel

#startup pitches

@Gri.pe 1/4
Social complain system
-to much bad energy, don't like it

@sumazi 2/4
Iphone app to introduce people

@pinger 2/4
Text free for incentivised offers

@tello 2/4
Iphone app to rate customer service

@conyac 3/4
48 language translation via Crowdsourcing
Screening by the crowd
20% transaction fee based on 3cent per letter
6 languages on ui
Team: japan, two founder cto, ceo
Finance: 500k lookibg for

@betable
Bet on everything

@boosket
Facebook storefront saas with a

@bubbalon 2/4
Like measure network

@digitalluxury 2/4
Brandsforfriends for latin america

@praized 3/4
Lead generation from social media
Finance: Raised 2m
Paul dawalibi

@producteev
Cross platform Task list
Business: fremium

@iCoolhunt 3/4
checkin game to discover cool things

@iExperience.it 2/4
Life log, checkin service

@instamobil 2/4
Mobil storefront saas for ecommerce sites

@marketfish 1/4
List marketing email and postal lists

@Immou 2/4
Helping each other platform
#crowdsourcing

@dehood
Your neighborhood social network

@awayfind
Stop checking emails

#Panels
@yammer
Announces his V2 and translation via crowdsourcing into 100 languages

@greendot
Prepayment credit card for my kids

Monday, September 27, 2010

1/3 Techcrunch #disrupt summary day 1 #Daily notes #TopHatAngel

#Startup pitches
With my votes out of 4 points. (Investment potential)

@kudols
Very fast P2P lending
#crowdsourcing #crowdfunding
Tom Contreras
#a follow-up with tomATkudols.com
Like #Thinkfinance ?

@kwaga 3/4
Crm for gmail with recommendations
Comes with an iphone app in 4 weeks

@lifesta
Second market for groupon coupons

@postling 3/4
Sme social media cm
Team: etsy
Finance: raising 500k with dave mcclure
-no brainer
DaveATpostling.com

@snapdragon 2/4
Product checkin game
Coupon checkin system

@onetruefan 2/4
Game to compete with friends who share the same content
#globumbus tracking solution?

@checkpoints 2/4
Mobile app for checkin points in retail stores
High effort to sell

@gifi 4/4
Next generation app, based on foursquare
Give virtual gifts with real money at real locations
2500usd friend on facebook
Team: Venmo

@badgeville 3/4
Whitelabel social Loyalty system for any website
Become a mayor of any website or earn points for comments on any website
Social, gaming, checkin, engaging : all in
#globumbus tracking solution?

@Gunzoo 2/4
Video streaming wall to browse and watch many videos at the same time

@Storify 3/4
Converts tweets into stories
Invite code: tcdisrupt

@Qwiki 2/4
New way of news consumption like nabaztag

@mygengo 3/4
Translation #crowdsourcing in 12 languages
With an api, localization app or ui translation
5-15 cent per word

@efactors 2/4
Entrepreneurs / investors network from russia
#a check platform

#craigslist killer
#a send him an email
NavishijainATgmail.com

@warrantylife 3/4
Warranty for products for lifetime
Take a picture of all your receipts and send them over

@upgo 2/4
groups for facebook
Crm

@social27 2/4
Virtual events and social crm
-only an directory, no matching or new interection

@yapper
Mobile app creator like homepage baukasten
For bloggers and editors

@rseven 1/4
Record all your voice calls and provides you an log

@mymonolog 2/4
Transcription doctors, lawyers,
Smal market

@Mentormob 3/4
Crowdsourcing for education
Kris chinosornvatana
Business model: advertising

@datasift 3/4
PTwitter data analysis and alerts


@Kno
Improve the learning experience
tablet for students
Integrates students books and notes/drawings

#Hot topics
Facebook and zynga

#Angelgate
No fake
Smaler exits
Super angels are small VCs - that's it
-Is it ok to take cash early from table as an invstor?
Dave mcclure: yes together with founders
VCs: no
--

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My Burning Man experience



First of all, it was the most exciting event I ever attend and I'm looking forward to next year.

Imagine mad max, love parade and alice in wonderland become best
friends and live together in one city to party, then you are almost
there in Metropolis / Black Rock City.
Next year we need to go there within a group of people, a theme and a
service to provide to the community. The european presense there was
almost zero and should be increased in my eyes. So if there is anybody
who wants to contribute to Metropolis with some european style, feel
free to get in touch and join the team.
...more pictures on my facebook profile

Monday, August 30, 2010

pnp angel deal flow session #daily notes

@picloud 2/4
cloud computing platform which consolidates cloud platforms like
amazon and rackspace
@lark 1/4
sleep revolution with silent wake up
@reputable online 1/4
like reputation defender
@rentalic 2/4
crowdsourcing rental service with inventory functiona
@emms 1/4
medical report system

--

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

2/2 pitches Ycombinator Demo day 2010 #tophatangel #daily notes

@futureadvisor 2/4
Replaces Personal financial adviser like turbotax replaced personal accountants
Mint 2.0 ?

@adgrok 2/4
SEM Dashbord with a nice integrated UI
@zanox perfect app for the AppStore


@koduco games 2/4
iPad games for 2 or more players

@fanvibe 1/4
real time checkin for sports games
#a connect with chris from @yoursports

@ginzametrics 3/4
Automation and optimization tool for SEO managers on a saas subscription model
#a check it out, they have a free trial version
Angel: dave Dave McClure

@hirehive 2/4
Video presence for hiring interviews
Candidates have to answer questions in front of their webcam

@hipmunk 2/4
Flight search and comparison website
@zanox good AppStore application for whitelabel

@pagerduty 1/4
Realtime alerting system for IT operators

@thefridge 2/4
Social network without being on Facebook, more privacy
I don't got it?

@chart.io 2/4
Software to transform data into charts in real time

@gantto 2/4
New project management system (sharing, presenting
Team: 2


@brushes 2/4
Painting apps for mobile apps
#a install it on iPad
Great staff


1/2 pitches Ycombinator Demo day 2010 #tophatangel #daily notes

All looking for series A funding
My personal voting out of 4

@ohlife 2/4
Journal on email basis


@simperium 2/4
Platform to build mobile apps
Example simplenote

@gazehawk 1/4
Eye tracking for everyone

@rapportive 2/4
Contact profiles integrated in gmail,
Like xobni
Miss the crm features

@messageparty.net 4/4
Chat + location just obvious
@taso check it out


@whereoscope 2/4
Find your kids, using smart phones
like latitude or similar services

@indinero 2/4
Mint for business, consolidate banks credit cards and paypal

@teevox 3/4
Makes you mobile phone to a Remote control
Team MIT hacker

@1000memories 2/4
Place to remember things like a cemetery

Sent from my iPad

Saturday, August 21, 2010

28 change the world pitches @profounder @inVenture @exygy @skillshare #daily notes #da2010

28 Pitches to change the world hosted by sandbox and singularity
university - with my voting out of 4 points:
@1degree 3/4
show about how to start your company
wants to globalize
@openAction
@poverup 3/4
non profit microfinance platform for students
@ctcKenya
@enzi.org 3/4
invest in students and share their salary
crowdfunding
@skillshare 4/4
gaming for learning
education revolutiom
@bamyan media 2
tv show about social entrepreneurs
@elecar 2
elevating the electric car
@foundersfirst 3/4
increase success rate of entrepreneurs
@theSchoolfund 3/4
microfinance for students
@catchafire 2
volunteer marcetplace for non profit projects
@malotraders 2
fair prices sales channel
@paperfeet
cheap shoes for the third world
@mike del ponte 4/4
first social entrepreneur incubator
@almacommunity 2
education platform for entrepreneurs
@feelGoodz
flip flops
@holstee
@scholarPro 3/4
new education
@exygy 4/4
crowdfunding
opensource
fundcrowd.org
@startingBloc
@eco_scraps
@micasa
venture
@myDunkTank
donation
@inVenture 3/4
next step in microfinance for entrepreneurs
@uimpactfund
support social ventures
@cleantechU
social capital for cleantech entrepreneurs
@goworks
power of ideas with impact
@profounder 4/4
crowdfunding platform
everyone an entrepreneur
public fundraising

Friday, August 20, 2010

plugandplay EIR friday pitches #daily notes

@lark 2/4
sleep improving infrastructure
wake up system on smartphone no noise
@quizsense 3/4
social media gaming engine
for betting and predictions
@globalcardsystemsinc.com 2/4
financial transaction service like xoom moneygram or westernunion -
better pricing and
@capseo 3/4
seo agency wirh a product for crowdsourcing
@joget 2/4
open source workflow system


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

#founder conference summary with @mint @dropbox @thefunded @davemcclure #daily notes

Agenda backwards:
#incubator panel
Is it worth to give up 5-10% of the company to incubators like ycom
techstars or foundersinstitute?
Answer of startups: yes and more
#pitches
grocereye.com - sales list: looks for cofounder
#PR panel
Traditional media guys try to sell us trasitional media like radio and
newspaper. WTF?
- anyway, they explained how to get their attention.
simple answer: discover a single person, pitch him on an event and
follow up again and again. its like a hard sales job!
Forget press releases!
@davemcclure
lean startup: (measure, iterate, listen users, simplify)
AARRR: acquisition, activation, retention, referral, revenue
stop developing features and start scale if u found meaning
#dropbox @DrewHouston
decide on numbers
viral and WOM successful marketing
#thefunded @adeo
-ideas dont matter, passion matters
-hire slow and fire fast
-if you want win, dont compromize with your team
-dont build a company that does noy want you
-startup funding will change dramaticly in the next 3 month
#mint @AaronPatzer
get his slides for "how to find a business model", very structured process

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Super Angel lesson by Mike Maples on supercoolschool

Mike Maples
super angel, floodgate fund partner

How he invests:
invests earlier, faster, smaller amounts
500k is the new 5mio funding
looking for meaningful investments
his first investments twitter and digg
looking for psycho entrepreneurs (more risky, crazy about his vision)
90% of his investments are going into silicon valley companies
he has a very local strategy
personal recommendation is key to get his attention
angel investing is satisfying and you get rewarded by the ideas of all the entrepreneurs you work with.

How he started as an  angel investor:
met 100 most interesting guys from silicon valley
not deal flow its people flow
meet people not business plans

What are good angels?
true appreciation about entrepreneur
discovering a business before scaling
provide acceleration not taking operational decisions
be ready to accept that the entrepreneur can make it happen and not yourself
lean startup means agile not cheap startups: be able to change everything, every day


Tuesday, June 8, 2010

15 Pitches at Launch Silicon Valley with my votes #svase #svlaunch

Here are my personal votes out of 4 points:
If somebody is interested to invest, I will probably follow votes >3

#zikon 4/4
#a meet Remy Cromer to followup
eInc for flat panels, upgrades via rfid
Invest 1m to make it a product
>Basic Infrastructure for the next blue ocean device "internet of things"

#laster 2/4
Zile Liu
Virtual reality solution with glasses
>Future technology, no product yet

#Taggstr 3/4
Alamgir Mand
New Checkin service with tagging
Crowdsourcing solution for tagging
#a intro to footfeed
>Better forsquare, difficult to grow faster

#micello 2/4 (winner of crowd votes)
Ankit agarwal
#a get the app and intro api to footfeed
Google maps inside of buildings
>Potential POS adnetwork, missing crowdsourcing to get more maps build

#jmango 1/4
Ilan oosting
Software development platform for mobile apps
Makes it easy to support all different operating systems
>Busy market and difficult to sell to a smal target group

#vizibility. 4/4
James Alexander
Google Searchme button for your blog, facebook etc which generates
best search results of you
>Simple great idea, potential like sharethis,

#truedomain 1/4 (winner of crowd votes)
Robert pickup
Email anti pishing system
>Email is dead

#socialamp 3/4
Matt sunbulli
Social commerce tools: mini facebook tools for retailers
>Hard to sell and integrate into retailers website > good candidate for zanox appstore

#scanavert 4/4
Ellen badinelli
Mobile app for Food alergic tagging system via barcode
Diet, gluten free, organic, etc
>High potential for pos advertising network, daily usage, alternative affiliate offers

#lingto 2/4
facebook app: Coolcrap
Video conference / collaboration platform
>Another video conference

#tenCube 3/4 (winner of crowd votes)
Darius Cheung
Wavesecure - security solution if you lose your cellphone
>Peace of technology which needs every phone -nobrainer, why do they need money?

#jungle cents 2/4
Sameer Mehta
ReInverting pay per lead advertising, give the commision direct to customers
>Groupon adaption

#evolver 3/4
Brian nilles
3d avatar creation: (2d example avatara.com)
>Infrastructure for the new world, ready market?

#bccthis 1/4
Email extention wich allows you to send comments to bcc in the same email
>email is dead and bcc is bad for sharing

#appbackr 4/4
Crowdfunding for app developer
Trevor cornwell
>Crowdsourcing for a smal niche

--

Thursday, June 3, 2010

#sdforum @DLApiper

#ArgusInsights 1/4
Consulting company to help to innovate
>No way

#realLifePlus 4/4
mobile social games
Facebook games for adults, with sub
Invest 1.5m series A
>No brainer

#adeptol 2/4
Streaming solution for in Cloud stored data
Invest 3m series A
>Greate infrastructure

#insight 2/4
Smartphone Coupon solution
>Old world problem, old world software solution, hard to sell

#watersmart 2/4
Software to save water
>Right trend, hard to make money

#marseille networks 1/4

#sytosoft 2/4
Virtual world platform
Invest 750k
>Boring slide = boring platform? Don't get the business model.

#mylawsuit.com 2/4
Platform to find a performance based lawyer
Invest 2m
>Great idea, missing social integration and global scalability

#clientshow 1/4
collaboration platform for creative agencies
>Very competitive. Smal market with agencies

#askyourtargetmarket 2/4
On demand market research platform by surveys
Self service saas like surfeymonkey, facebook, linkedin
Invest 3.5
>Surveys don't work

#veritrix 2/4
Security Capture identification
Capture speech and video after an sms
Invest 3m
>To complicated and hard to do mobile on street

#Oolinum 3/4
#a follow-up with Akash L Pai, CEO
Social media advertising platform
Invest seed 1.5m
>Great idea, how does it work?

--

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Pitches from Plugandplay EXPO 2010

candidates with my personal voting:

#vufind
Mobile social service

#Mobilizy 1

#imagemetry 2
Algorythm for control of modified images

#vayulogic 2
Text messaging crm

#apparound 2
Rapid software development environment

#ecop 2
Innovative heating/cooling technology

#greenNexxus 2
Accelerating green behavior

#Fundrazr 2/4
Social commerce fundraising solution on facebook

#yoursports 3/4
Crowdfunding sports broadcasting

#a assetize 3/4
Adnetwork for social links, like adsense

#webservius
Data Marketplace

#whatsnexx
Marketing campaigns

#Mobilpay
eWallet, implemented with vodafone romania

#perspecsys

#appsocial.ca 3/4
Tingle.com - Social Dating solution

#Webgreek 2/4
Groupware for universities

#mingleverse
3d next generation of communication facebook app
Talk, share, iphone, ipad

#Teespy 2/4
Facebook app for golfer
Teetimes, advertising,

#myweboo 3/4
One stop shop of all social platforms

#locarna
Eye tracking solution

#a Universaldoctor project 3/4
Realtime speach Translation iphone app

#pqa 1/4
Consulting company

#networkhippo 3/4
Social personal crm consolidation solution
Sales management
#a looking for 300k angel

#vm6 1/4
Virtualization infrastructure

#tencube 1/4
Loosing a mobile phone

#woozworld
Virtual UGC saas kids world like sims

#mobizou 3/4
Mobile marketing for facebook + twitter + reward system

#Pnpexpo pitches

#motoky
Like facebook connect

#2future 1/4
Sustainable data management for cost reduction

#verold 2/4
3d animation for video games

#lixto 2/4
Price comparison saas

#zettar  2/4
enterprise storage in the cloud


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

13 pitches from #Founder showcase Thefunded: evenues snapshop #globumbus

#Founder showcase Thefunded
Great pitch event, top candidates, professional judge, big audiance.

Here the candidates with my personal votes out of 4 points. Official
winner are evenues and snapshop. They all looking for funding!

#cloudcanvas 2/4
Saas tools

#breakthrough 2/4
Healthcare

#monstrous 1/4
Social music game platform

#evenues 3/4
Expedia for Meeting rooms

#koitunes 1/4
Social music platform

#memetales 2/4
Youtube Children stories

#vsee 2/4
Video collaboration system

#trueinsider 1/4
Anonymous reviews and feedback for employees and companies

#salesportal 2/4
Online auction of telephone lead generation

#snapshop 3/4
New Mobile Ecommerce solution with foto and social integration

#amahi 1/4
software platform?? Don't get it

#heliograph 2/4
Make websites faster (like akamai)
Caching, local, compression

#puzzazz 2/4
Saas Casual game for puzzles

--

Friday, April 30, 2010

Wisdom 2.0 conference #wisdom2conf

#wisdom2conf
wisdom 2.0 conference

First Panel - Managing the Stream in a connected World
@Sacca @SorenG #RoshiJoanHalifax @GregPass @BradleyHorowitz @SorenG
@MeganPallai - Blockles: Multiplayer tetris version , where you have to do 40 things at the same time http://bit.ly/VN0Wt
CTO Greg Pass: Twitter principles 1) pay attention to what ur doing 2) be a force for good #wisdom2conf
Chris Sacca: after removing all distractions (drive, workout etc), only really get stuff done 1-1.5 hrs/ day.
Google has "no meetings Thursday" - amazing how stuff they get done on Thursdays! Chris Sacco #wisdom2conf /via @kanter // LOVE IT!
@jhalifax "the most precious thing I have to give is my presence"-
@sacca philosphy: "staying on offense", as opposed to reacting all day to one's email inbox a public to do list.
You could live your whole life in your inbox and never get anything done" - @sacca #wisdom2conf

detailed notes: http://innergreatness.blogspot.com/2010/05/wisdom-2-conference-managing-stream.html



Monday, April 26, 2010

Summary of #FutureOfMoney summit on: #crowdFunding #newBanking #mobilePayments #virtualGoods #financeTechnology

The Future of Money & Technology Summit
#FutureOfMoney - conference San Francisco about #crowdFunding #newBanking #mobilePayments #virtualCurrencies #socialCapital
26.4.2010 hotel kabuki SF
livestream http://de.justin.tv/futureofmoney#r=-rid-&s=em

Whats the next innovation in finance after ebay and paypal?
>We still pay with paper and plastic, no exciting innovations at all.
Financial crisis is not over yet.
> Stronger regulations and no new models making it even worst.
Why is there no banking revolution in the Valley?
> Lendingclub and kiva could not become the next big thing. Maybe mint, blippy and facebook credits addressing a real customer need.
Why most mobile payment examples are from unbanked people?
> Is there no market need in the developed world?

#VirtualGoods and Markets panel
@PhilRosedale #Lindenlabs
@BillTai #Charles River Ventures
@Vikas Gupta #social gold
@GurbakshChahal #gwallet
@DannyShader #kwedit
#"You don't want to be a poker chip without a casino." On creating new virtual economies/currencies.
#social exposure helps protect against casual fraud
#ILindenlab (second life) annual currency market is more that $700 million
#big topic "Facebook credits" - fraud is their biggest concern before launch

#Funding panel
@steveSchultz - Venrock (moderator)
@BhavaniRana - Intel Capital
@Christine Herron - First Round Capital
@JeffClavier - SoftTech VC
@konatbone TravasKalanick - entrepreneur, angel investor
#Do you see crowdFunding as a future competitor?
not seen yet, they still ask us for money, interesting, could fund we never would fund,
why not
#Angelsoft invested the same ammount of money like VCs did.
#Summary of VC market end of April 2010 "liquidity is amazing and deals are happening fast" Hooray! VCs are investing again!
#Avg person has relationships with 11 financial institutions - no wonder it's so hard to manage.
#Success of blippy is their good PR coverage because of their controverse model.
#Jeff clavier: cost of acquiring an unbanked customer is $50
#Perspective from funding panel: each market is very different in compliance terms. global scaling is much more challenging
#What are your criterieas in A-rounds?
- nice people, exciting ideas (Angel)
- track record of the team (VCs)

#Liquidity panel
@BenParr, #mashable - moderator
@JeremySmith, #secondmarket
@GregBrogger, #Sharespost
@DaveMcClure, #FoundersFund
IPO market will never return to the place where it was.
Time to founder cash has gotten too long.

#DemoSession - on new technologies
#BillingRevolution @AndyKleitsch - mobile payment system
#HomeAccount @MarkGoldstein - mortgage comparison platform
>lead generation landing page and affiliate model
#plasticJungle @GaryBriggs - sell giftcards you dont want
> Why do we buy giftcards, to sell them later for 50% of the original price?
#shwowp @TaraHunt - customer focused ecommerce (forward your shopping data via email to  comment on it)
> I dont get it before they launch it. Right now doing it on facebook.
#pageonce @GuyGoldstein - consolidated finance overview like mint + blippy
>They should allow sharing like blippy to get more user attention.
#a register and check it out
#enole @KurtCollins - zapcash: bluetooth ewallet with paypal on iphone
>just a paypal transaction on iphone. where is the innovation?
#blingNation @WencesCasares - RFID mobile wallet
> its gonna be hard to distribute a proprietary hardware to everybody
#expensify @DavidBarrett - create expense reports on your iphone
> blippy and mint just got funding and make the same issue more fun

#Compliance Issues - Will Voorhess, Silicon Valley Bank
money business is in the highest risk class of the high risk businesses
make sure: identity of your customers, security of transactions, controls about fraud, dont deal with terrorists etc.,

#new banking models panel
Laura hertzfeld - economystory.org
@bruce cahan - GoodBank
@Arno hesse - bernal bucks (german guy)
virtual currency ecosystem (pagerank 2)
"Financial crisis is not over"
@John bates - mindark.se
online game platform, 3D virtual world, virtual currency,
@Rob garcia
Lending club started 2007 very slow
Easy to use for everybody
facebook was not good for finance topics
banks will not go away
3needs: where is my money, better returns, transparent transactions

#mobile payments panel
@menekseGencer (moderator, she runs a #a linkedin group of moderator about mobile payment)
@billBarhydt - m-via
@redgSnodgrass - alcatel
@ronHirason - boku
#biggest challenges: carrier rates, sincerity is market ready to change, financial regulations, safety issues
# to many companoies try to sell tech instead of solving real problems (bonus cards,
# looks like mobile payments right now are only a topic for unbanked people in afrika, india etc.
#Single most imporant customer feedback - appreciation for simplicity.


Sponsors 1/2 of #futureofmoney @m-via @secondmarket @expensify @paypal @transfs @billshrink @mpayy @plasticjungle @pageonce
Sponsors 2/2 of #futureofmoney @socialgold @bling @sonic.net @collecta @mashable @ReadWriteWeb @BillingRevolution

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Founders Interview Thomas Hessler

A lesson for the startup_school at supercoolschool.com
Founders Interview Thomas Hessler

Thursday, March 25, 2010

9 pitches from PACT @plugandplaytc

#namedepot 2/4
SAAS to Detect and protect brand names

#soundOfMotion 2/4
Mobile Apps for sports
Like powermeter with bluetooth heart beat control

#bserious 3/4
Social game company like zynga with a purpose
Play educate and change the world
Looking for 300k

#mvia 2/4
Mobile Money transfer
Mobile wallet

#appAround 1/4
Sync solution between different platforms
Looking for 7m ??
Italien team
The winner of PACT 2010 are: mvia -sms money, volta energy -semiconductor, a-volute - 3d audio technology #startup @plugandplaytc

#Hypios
Crowdsourcing problem solving marketplace

#3d sound company 1/4
Technology for new generation of audio
France team

#mobidigger 2/4
Somain service for mobile phones
German team

#sunplugged 1/4
b2b manufacture
Austrian team

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

19/25 startup pitches on demoday @ycombinator #yc #angel #startup

#Greplin 4/4
full text search for all your personal cloud data
facebook, gmail, facebook, twitter, linkedin, ....
team of 1

#dataMarketplace 4/4
find, buy and sell data on one marketplace
monetization based on data selling on #crowdsourcing
team of 2

#notifo 4/4
mobile notification system, like RSS
consolidates all notifications and pushes to your cellphone
integrate it in your aquarium and get notifications if the
team of 1

#etacts 3/4
individual CRM - like xobni for gmail
who you care, who you should follow-up, remember me, if i dont get an answer notify me
gmail plugin + iphone app
team of 2

#500friends 3/4
social ecommerce, recommendations in social networks
social rewards (get a coupon if you tweet this offer)
#tracking of social actions
team of 2

#infoharmoni 3/4
analytics of twitter data
find your influencers
team of 2
> candidate for applicationstore @zanox
#tracking of social actions

#embedly 3/4
embedly embeds everything
embeds replace links on the web
monetization 50 times better then banner ads (50$ per 1000 views)
team of 2
> candidate for applicationstore @zanox

#nowmov 2/4
new TV/video experience like easy lean-back - like autoplay for youtube
team of 3


#zencoder 2/4
online video encoding SAAS
like youtube for web and mobile devices
team of 3

#LaunchHear 2/4
introduces top bloggers with unreleased products
team of 2


#zenedy 2/4
mass producing of content
monetizing based on google ranking -> like aufemini

#newslabs 1/4
monetization and seo for editors like adnetworks for blogger

#140bBETS 2/4
sms games, sports game bets
#tweetbracket (first game)
40k visitors in 4 days

#fabricly 2/4
online marketplace for clothes manufacturing -> like alibaba


#answerly 2/4
Q&A search
vertical search engine
monetize websearch
team of 2

#crocodoc 2/4
SAAS collaboration platform to edit documents easy - a new adobe
team of 3

#chromaom 2/4
colourlovers.com, 1mio color paterns, UGC
team of 3

#gamador 2/4
social games
quick to play, skill based, short to play
140.000 daily active user
monetization with virtual goods
team of 2

#seeingInteractive 1/4
save newspapers with whitelabel yelp > dont got it?

6/25 startup pitches on demoday @ycombinator #yc #angel #startup




Mertado, Movity, Newcope, Embedster, Optimizeley, Tweetflow


#embedster 2/4
video monetization (pre-roll ads) for youtube videos
cpm monetization (hard to sell)
team of 2
> candidate for applicationstore @zanox

#newcope 2/4
auction platform for virtual goods
swoopo.com for virtual goods (prices going up in realtime)
team of 2 from netherlands

#tweetflow 2/4
custom twitter websites as SAAS model
wholefoods customer example
integrates pictures and videos, seo optimized, statistics, analytics
team3

#optimizezly 1/4
SAAS A/B testing for websites

#mertado 3/4
social commerce, facebook app -> like groupon or letsbuyit
want to become the QVC of facebook


#movity 2/4
relocation service on google maps -> like trulia

Friday, March 19, 2010

Peer financing conference embarkon @ sun campus

#peer financing conference embarkon


#crowdfunding platforms
indiegogo, lendfriend, lendingclub, chiatti, virginmoney, smava, prosper, myc4, yoursports, zopa,  #pfin

#appbackr
Invest in iphone app projects beforedevelopment and get paid later with an upsite

#crowdfunding panel
Chris mccoy ceo - yoursports like sellaband
Rob garcia productstrategy - lending club like prosper (passing banks)
David kuchar founder - lendfriend like virginmoney
Ram lakshamanan founder - chittai like kiva
#a Skillocracy #crowdsourcing
 
#peer financing embarkons
Trevor cornwell, ceo embarkons (intro by christian rees)

#alternative funding panel

Nathan beckord venturearchetypes
Kayvan baroumand - pnp
Ankit agarwal - micello
Danae ringelmann -Indiegogo crowdfunding of ideas
-2years, 3000 projects, 39 countries,
-presell your product
-turn costs into revenue (like our blue party)
-get money from customer by selling smal peaces of your product
-internship programs (pizza and beer)

#How to raise first 25k
Eric klein - klein venture, chris gill - svase, mark dangeard -
commons, raymond lay - playhaven
Sources: Friends & family (0%), Angels (10%), Ycombinators (10% incl
advise), Customer (0%)

#globumbus
Proof points for investors:
-proof if they get friends and family money
-get cashflow positive from day1
-25k are enough to get it running
-get something smal running right
-could he convince a team from your idea?
-enough shares for the team?
-15-20% for employees pool
-co-founders hard to find you have to know (friends)
-engage your customers from day1 to proof if somebody wants it
-are they able to bootstrap?
> Consolidate crowdfunding platforms


#a check VentureArchetype, Sandhill angels
# check Launchbox take 10% for first 25k, Ycombinator, Techstars
#a check microseed fund dave mc Lure (by chris maresca) Check his slides on slideshare
#Sponsors
Cooley, appbackr, ostatic, techzlu, venturebeat, cloudbook, semantic
seed, svase, ssv network

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