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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
--

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