Chip Griffin: Pardon the Disruption

The Geography of Demo 07

Not surprisingly, California has the most representation at Demo 07.  By my unofficial count, there are 32 companies from the Golden State here.  Next in line is a tie between Massachusetts (5) and foreign countries (5).  Below is the complete breakdown

• California (32)
• Massachusetts (5)
• Foreign countries (5)
• Arizona (4)
• Washington (4)
• Florida (3)
• New York (3)
• New Jersey (2)
• North Carolina (2)
• Colorado (1)
• Georgia (1)
• Missouri (1)
• Ohio (1)
• Oregon (1)
• Pennsylvania (1)
• Texas (1)
• Wisconsin (1)

Technorati tags: Demo07, Demo 07, Demo 2007, Demo2007

Demo 07 Day 1 Afternoon Session

Below is the rundown of what I saw this afternoon.  Note that I arrived a few minutes late and missed the SupportSoft demo then missed VUVOX because of a pressing business issue I had to address.

Triumfant

Software designed to help diagnose computer problems.  Focused on the enterprise rather than end users.  Simple interface for finding and fixing problems.  Replaces missing software files without backups or reboots.  It won't replace that memo you inadvertently deleted so it isn't a replacement for backups, but it does fix many problems users can create by installing bad software or inadvertently deleting or changing system files or settings.

My Take: Looks very easy to use and potentially useful for enterprises.  I'm not an IT software expert, so I can't really speak to the marketplace in which it competes, but the demo impressed.

SOASTA

Automated web testing.  No scripts or fancy development needed to test your web services or applications.  Starts at $250.  Unfortunately, these folks killed their demo's effectiveness by reading from a script. 

My Take: They completely put me to sleep through a rapid-fire monotone recitation from notecards.  The concept has promise, but I'll have to learn more about it in a different venue.

Integrien Alive

An IT monitoring solution that finds slowdowns and outages in key applications and identifies the cause.  Attempts to detect problems before they occur using "predictive alerts" by monitoring normal and abnormal behavior and learning over time early warning signs. 

My Take: If it really can do what it claims, it has a lot of value for enterprises.  Again, I am not an IT infrastructure expert, so I can't speak to competition in the marketplace.

SailPoint ComplianceIQ

Helps with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance by assessing risk based on user access privileges.  The presenters represent, and I understand from my sources as well, that this sort of thing is a huge problem for public companies who must now better identify such risks. 

My Take: Anything related to SarbOx compliance remains hot.  As for how useful the specific application is, I can't really say since I have no experience with it.  But it does look pretty slick.

Panjea.TV

Allows users to create their own online TV channel.  They equate it to creating mix tapes for friends.  They had a glitch, but passed it off with a passable joke and moved on.  The Panjea player took a while to come up, possibly due to network bandwidth issues, but then it came up.  Simple interface to combine a series of video clips into a "channel."

My Take: I could see where this would have appeal among the MySpace crowd.  As I have written on this blog frequently in the past, I do question to what extend people want to watch a large volume of streaming video online.  Short clips a la YouTube make perfect sense to me, but movies and "channels" like Panjea's offering are harder to grasp.  Of course, they are targeting pop culture brands, and this may yet work since those brands are willing to try these sorts of things to target youth.

Clip Syndicate

Apparently a spinoff of Critical Mention, a TV monitoring service, Clip Syndicate seeks to license video clips for display on blogs and other content-oriented sites.  Just as AP, Reuters, Creators, and others offer written content to web sites, these guys want to do the same for video.  They claim deals with most major broadcast networks, as well as others in order to stock the network with content.  Site editors can easily create channels of clips and even reorder them.  Smart channels will allow content to automatically update on the content publishers web site.

My Take: This has some real promise.  Sean Morgan, the company's CEO, is a hard-charging guy who made his case forcefully on stage and I trust he will do so with potential partners as well.

Magnify.net

Starts out with a very high-energy pitch.  Used audience to get input to move the demo forward -- a great tactic to prove the system really works and isn't just capable of the canned keystrokes that the company has pre-planned.  Allows aggregation of user generated video.  It searches major providers like YouTube and Yahoo.  Presents aggregated search results on the site of your choosing.  Partners with weather.com to allow users to present weather videos.  Visitors can vote on results for different criteria to help tailor future result sets for themselves and others.

My Take: Not precisely the same as Panjea, but I think these guys hit the mark a little better.  Looks pretty easy to use and I could see it catching on with bloggers and other content sites.

Yodio

"Destination site" for audio casts.  Allows people to contribute audio content directly to the site.  Photos can be added as well. Aims to collect and aggregate audio content.  Permits tagging.  Content can be emailed.  Groups can be created.  Positioning themselves pretty much as a Flick for audio. 

My Take: Flickr for audio?  Maybe. 

ThePort Network Blerts

Manages "priority" RSS feeds.  Allows visual alerts when new posts come in.  Customizable graphics can be associated with each feed.  Billed as a cross between personal feed aggregation and social networking.  Presentation was heavy on buzzwords and light on details.

My Take: They say they don't compete directly with the likes of Newsgator, but I just don't see it.  Feels like they have some ideas for features for the existing players in this space, but I don't see them making it on their own without more innovation or some creative partnering. 

LiveSquare.com Streaming Media Defender

Aims to prevent piracy.  A lot of talk at the beginning about the problem of piracy.  Kept wondering when the demo would begin ... OK, we're now over 1/3 of the way through their time and still no demo ... a lot of emphasis on how quickly they update the product (less than 1 minute to auto update) ... still no demo ... doesn't add much overhead -- just 80 bytes and blah, blah, blah less overhead ... OK, I know I'm getting snarky, but really, we still haven't seen a demo ... ah, now we're seeing it.  Hmmm.  The demo consisted of showing a video for 10 seconds, unchecking a box and seeing that it shut off the feed, and then a quick look at some sort of logging screen.  Then a spin into VoIP.

My Take: I'm left speechless here.  Clearly a candidate for the "Worst of Demo 07" -- at least as far as the demo itself goes.  Can't offer any real opinion on the product or the company based on what was seen on stage.

ink2

Print on demand service.  Example was a greeting card that was designed and addressed online.  Will be mailed within 24 hours.  Presumably there are other products that can be created as well.

My Take: Has potential, not sure how much.

SplashCast

Channels, channels everywhere! That's sort of how it feels this afternoon, but here we go... Allows embedded channel content on any web page that includes video and other media (photos, text, etc.).  Handles a variety of formats transparently.  Allows channel sharing across sites.  Simple channel creation.  Openfor 36 hours and they claim 1000 channels created so far.

My Take: It will be interesting to see how all of these channel creation services fare.  At first blush, I still prefer Magnify.net (see above). 

SharedBook

They call it an "on-demand reverse publishing system."  Example given was the ability to print comments produced for obituary guest books on Legacy.com.  Seems like a simple process to set up and receive a printed book with the user generated content provided.  This was a custom integration, but they now offer API's to permit any site to interact with the service.

My Take:  It will be interesting to see growth here since it requires semi-custom integration through API's rather than a way to easily integrate content either through cut and paste or better yet through RSS/XML/etc.

OurStory

Feels like an ongoing, "living" version of a baby book.  Follows timeline of someone's life and permits text, photos, and multimedia to be inserted.  Content can be printed in book form.  Others can access online.  Alerts can be set to receive email updates when a timeline is updated.  Can also be used to do timelines for groups of people instead of individuals.

My Take: I'd love to see this rolled up with a genealogy web site to have an end-to-end family history solution.  Done right, I think this would meet a real demand and feed off of the existing desire to build family tree information.  But even on its own it has some promise.  Even 5 years post 9/11, there still seems to be a much greater interest among a lot of folks to be better connected to friends and family.

Mixpo

They don't use the word channel, but seems very similar to the other offerings that permit personal channel creation.  Pick content.  Embed it on the blog or web site of your choosing. Etc.  Final words were that they have a "distribution deal" with Microsoft.  No idea what that means, but obviously it could be significant depending on what it really is.

My Take: Luck of the draw put these guys on the stage after too many channel presentations and it has all become a blur to me now.  These guys did do a better job of describing practical and business applications for the service, so they do get points for that.

Preclick IPM Instant Photo Messenger

Just like it sounds -- sharing photos via IM.  Billed as an alternative to email.  Automatically resizes photos to reduce file size.  Easy to add captions, reorder images, etc.  Preclick already partners with Walmart, Cosco, and others to offer photo services.  It appears to be a proprietary IM app, but either I missed it or they weren't entirely clear about that.

My Take: Existing partnerships will likely give this service some initial juice and probably could sustain it on its own. 

Bling Player

Claim to be the first AJAX client for mobile applications.  Joined on stage by the creative director of BarryBonds.com (apparently there's at least one company that isn't running away from Bonds despite his -- how do I put this tactfully? -- questionable public image).  Demo made it look very simple.

My Take: Mobile application development isn't my expertise, so I'm not sure I have a lot to offer on this one.

Technorati tags: Demo07, Demo2007

Going Through the Motions at Demo

Shel Israel pointed out this morning that the presenters so far this year have seemed far less prepared than in past events.  I would add that they have seemed less inspired in their demos.  It almost seems as if most companies are just going through the motions here.

Lots of reading from notecards in a monotone.  Plenty of confusion.  Too much flying through a presentation at the speed of light.  Excessively awkward handoffs between company team members on the stage.

Put down the notecards and speak from the heart.  Show the audience that you have a great product and you can demo it effectively.  Demoing your product is a key skill for any startup -- not just at a conference like this but to potential customers, investors, and employees.  Capture your audience -- be it one or many -- in the first minute of the demo.  Keep them engaged not by reciting a laundry list but by showing us what you can do with it.  Tell me a story -- your story.  Open my mind to the possibilities.

Hopefully this is not a sign that Demo has reached that point of maturity where companies believe that simply by showing up they are achieving their goal.  Complacency by vendors and attendees has killed other conferences, and I don't want to see that happen to Demo.

I still believe that Demo is the most valuable conference of the year for me and plan to continue to make the cross country trek twice annually.  But I do wish that the companies doing demos would put more heart, soul, and effort into the presentation.

Technorati tags: Demo07

Employees Must Grow at the Same Pace as the Company

One of my top employees, a veteran of startups and the startup investment worlds, frequently emphasizes with me the need for employees to grow as fast as the startup they're working for.  In his words, "if you want to grow at 40-50% then your employees need to grow at 40-50%."

It's a powerful point, but not nearly as simple as it sounds.  The burden falls not merely to the employees themselves, of course, but to the startup company as well.  As a CEO of a young company with ambitious growth plans, I am very sensitive to the need to provide the atmosphere needed to help my team grow.  In some cases this may require financial resources, it usually requires time commitment, but it also may require things like mentoring and training.

It also means that we have to build our team smartly.  By bringing on new team members with complementary skill sets, it is possible to help existing employees grow.  This growth can occur by exposure to new ideas and skills, through the natural competitive process, or by team collaboration.

Of course, employees must be open to this sort of growth even if you make the resources available to them.  The trick is to motivate and educate those who are willing and receptive.

And this must be an ongoing effort by the company.  It can't be merely lip service or a sporadic effort.  Focusing on growing the human resource asset should receive focus just like growing the customer base does.

These challenges are especially acute in fast growing companies where employee responsibilities are constantly changing as circumstances and resources demand.  It is not enough to merely grow, then, but also to evolve with the company's changing needs and goals.

I know that I spend a fair amount of time thinking about how to best foster this type of employment environment and figure out what I can do to do my part.  We have experienced considerable staff growth of late and making sure that we do the right things now will be critical to our success in 12 to 24 months.

It's not an easy challenge, but it is one that all fast-growing companies must face up to.

Technorati tags: startup, staffing, growth

Asking for Money

Nobody I've ever met likes asking for money.  Whether it is a politician seeking election, a fundraiser working to cure cancer, a college kid trying to hit up mom and dad, an employee seeking a raise, or an entrepreneur trying to raise capital, everyone seems to hate the process.  Yet it is a necessary thing for most people at some point in their lives.

Interestingly, some overcome this problem better than others.  Politicians who win clearly do what it takes to raise campaign cash.  The ones I have worked for in the past haven't liked it -- and some came up with every possible excuse to avoid it -- but at the end of the day they did enough to generate the money they needed to run for office and win.

And kids generally still have little enough shame that getting cash from their parents isn't that challenging.  Successful entrepreneurs who have businesses that can't be bootstrapped similarly find a way to get it done if they are going to succeed.

Unfortunately, I frequently find that too many organized fundraising efforts lack good money asking skills.  I have contributed to a number of charities, non-profits, schools, and campaigns in the past, and I have found that more often than not they don't do a good job of working to raise more.

For instance, in a recent election cycle I was never asked by a candidate for office to contribute to his campaign.  I had contributed to this individual in the past, but never heard anything.  Until he lost.  And then I received the autoprinted campaign holiday card.  So apparently my name was still on the house list, but I can't explain this glaring oversight.

Non-profits typically have been much worse.  There are two that I give to that send me about one contribution request by mail every week.  Yet there are others that I give to that rarely if ever follow up to ask for more.  And there are a number with which I have a personal relationship either because of past giving or other connections with key individuals that fail to ever ask for any additional gifts.  That's simply inexplicable to me. 

It's not that I want to be hit up all the time -- I don't.  But it would seem to me that even a once a year ask from some of these groups would be a wise move.  And if they're overlooking the opportunity they have with me, no doubt there are countless others on their lists that fall into the same category.  Imagine how much more good these organizations could do if they were more effective at fundraising.

And entrepreneurs aren't completely off the hook here.  I deal with quite a few who are seeking angel investments in their startups.  They're great about getting the first meeting -- most are pretty dogged about that.  But most have a hard time figuring out how to follow up.  Some do so very aggressively, but most seem to take a very passive approach. 

One could chalk that up to belief in the soft sell.  Or perhaps their belief is that any investor who is really interested wouldn't let a good idea just slip through the cracks.  But if I were in their position, I would want to have a better sense as to where my funding request stood.  Just a periodic check in email would be smart to see if a final decision has been made so that the limited resources of a startup can be better directed.  And I can't speak for most angel investors, but at least in my own case the pace of my "first job" can often lead me to leave business plans on the back burner.  It's not that I'm trying to ignore them or not interested, it's just there are only so many hours in the day.

Ultimately, the individuals and organizations that achieve the best balance between aggressiveness and passivity will do the best at raising whatever money they are asking for.

Technorati tags: asking for money, fundraising, angel investing, vc, venture capital, startup capital

Demo 07 Day 1 Morning Session

DEMO 07 kicked off today with a series of interesting of product presentations.  A complete rundown of the morning session appears below in the form of my real-time notes as the demos were presented, along with my initial impression.

Kauffman iBridge Network

A non-profit project of the Kauffman Foundation that promotes entrepreneurship, this site aims to provide a way to find innovations available for licensing from universities.  Allows searching and browsing by tags.  Information touted as being clear, concise, and understandable for non-PhD's.  Intellectual property is directly downloadable.  How does the data get there?  Direct links have been created with existing systems, but they are also working with universities to rewrite descriptions to be more accessible to lay people.

My Take: This one really depends on how good the data is.  It will take more time to figure out how it stacks up today and obviously it will be important to see how well-received it is by universities so that they remain interested in populating it in an understandable fashion.

ZINK Digital Imaging

ZINK ("Zero Ink") enables pictures to be printed without any ink.  Built-in rechargeable battery in a handheld portable printer.  Specialized paper is what permits the technology to work.  Dye crystals in the paper are activated by the printer.  Photos come out completely dry and "ready to enjoy."  Heavily focused on mobile printing.  One of the early products will be a digital camera/printer in one device -- sort of a Polaroid instant camera for the 21st century.  From a distance, the quality appears to be pretty good.  Obviously, we'll need to have a close-up look at it to see how quality stands up.  In addition, price points will be interesting.

My Take: Really cool with solid business prospects.  This is an early favorite for my Best of Demo list.

Shipwire.com

Provides warehousing, fulfillment, and shipping services for small businesses.  Accounts start at $30 per month.  Paypal compatible.  Provides better logistics for small retailers.  Also provides global reach.

My Take: May have potential.  Retail shipping logistics are far from an area of expertise for me.

QTech reQall

Speed dial a number on your cell phone and leave a message for yourself to remind you about something.  System emails you to remind you that you have a message.  Use voice prompts to attach meta data to the messages like due dates.  Will also transcribe your messages and email them to you.

My Take: Sounds like a marketing wrapper on a voice mail service, with a few added bells and whistles.

6th Sense Analytics

A software as a service offering that seeks to help to manage software development projects.  Integrates with leading development tools like Visual Studio, emacs, etc.  Logs use of various tools by developers.  Shows which files were accessed when and what was done with them.  Can view by developer or aggregate by team.  Pitched as a way to make sure that developers are aligned with business objectives.  Claims to offer insight into whether IM/email helps or hurts. 

My Take: A very big brotherish application that I imagine managers would love and developers would loathe.  Could prove useful in many environments if it is as easy to use as it appears, and developers might actually find it helpful to them over the long term (spoken like a manager, not a developer, I know).

Eyejot

Video messaging service.  Works in any browser with no client software to install.  Uses RSS feeds to expand distribution options beyond emailing the video clip.  Integrates with iTunes and social networks like MySpace through use of a widget.  Compatible with mobile devices like Blackberry or Treo in an attempt to break into the business space.  Uses Adobe Flash.

My Take: Does seem simple to use.  Could prove popular with bloggers and teens.  More skeptical about business environment adoption.

Honeypitch

Seeks to automate proposal generation.  Creates a password protected web-based document that can be negotiated online between vendor and prospect.  Allows multimedia or other docs to be embedded.  Breaks the information out by category. 

My Take: Could work for interactions between two high-tech organizations.  Probably ahead of its time for most sectors, however.

Wyse N10

Most folks think of me as a tech geek, but this one flew right over my head with lots of jargon about silicon, thin clients, virtualized pc's, hardware and software encoding and decoding, etc. 

Adobe Apollo

Permits rich Internet applications can be used on- or offline.  Supports HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, Flash, and Flex.  The demo focused on an eBay application currently in development.  Demonstrated the ability to work offline by pulling out the network cable and continuing to build an auction for eBay. 

My Take: This appears to have real potential for apps that could benefit from being available on- or offline.  Feels a bit like a more accessible alternative to Java apps. Another one likely to make my Best of Demo list. 

Mission Research SalesWorks

Desktop sales/CRM app with online features.  Framed as a cross between Salesforce.com and ACT!  Demo focused heavily on list management, mail merge, etc.   Looks simple and easy to use.   

My Take: This feels like a crowded space and it may be difficult for this product to break out.  They need to do a better job of communicating their unique value proposition and driving that point home.

Ceelox Scram

Steganography: encrypting messages in photographs.  That's what Ceelox is all about.  You email someone a picture and some message or data is included in the photo that can later be decrypted by the recipient.  Examples touted include bank statements, medical records, or advertising offers/games.  Using the Scram service, you create the image online and then email it using Outlook or any other email client.  Recipient saves and opens the attachment.  Also works with IM.  Images can also be posted online publicly. 

My Take: They tout it as being great for advertisers, though I suspect it may also appear to a less savory element.  The question is which becomes more prevalent?

Serendipity Technologies WorkLight

Widget to display RSS feeds securely.  Also allows secure tagging through existing apps like Delicious. 

My Take: I didn't get enough out of this demo to truly assess it.

Symantec Identity Initiative

Norton Identity Client integrates with the browser to learn about web sites and online sellers.  Also has tools to protect identity during online transactions.  Integrates with existing identity solutions like Yahoo and OpenID.  Flags sites as those who use their email lists for spam.

My Take: This is obviously a major player and no doubt will sell a lot of this product.  Online security is a huge concern among consumers, but at some point the pendulum may swing so far that there are too many tools to protect yourself online.  Even the major vendors have so many products that it is often hard to figure out what to use if you are a typical consumer. 

Jaman

Offers independent films online in "better than DVD" quality.  Seeking to monetize the long tail of film.  Augments the movies themselves with community tools.  Appears that you have to watch on your PC only and that is a streaming only offering.  Permits in movie commentary and discussion.  $1.99 to rent and $4.99 to buy. 

My Take: An innovative idea, but this will certainly test Chris Anderson's Long Tail argument.  The question is how much cumulative audience is there for these types of films?  And will folks who are into cinema enough to enjoy independent films want to watch on their computers rather than their TV's?

Total Immersion D'Fusion

Real-time integration of of 3D graphics into live video.  The demo started slow as they weren't able to get the right video up on the projector, but once the show producers sorted that one out, lots of cool stuff could be seen.  Video games are apparently a key target for this one.

My Take: Definitely cool stuff.  These guys will probably win a DemoGod award tomorrow night from Chris Shipley, and will also be likely to make my own Best of Demo list.

Technorati tags: Demo07

Feeding the Funnel

One thing most entrepreneurs remain concerned about at all times is "feeding the funnel."  In other words, introducing prospects to the product or service being offered.  The more qualified prospects exposed to your offering, the more sales you are likely to convert.

This same concern crosses the boundaries between different types of businesses.  B2B and B2C enterprises both have funnels. The size and type of the funnel may vary, of course.  A retailer will need more foot traffic for instance that will likely be interested in his wares -- this is a high number game in most instances.  A professional service business will probably have a very small funnel, on the other hand, as the sales tend to be bigger and more consultative in nature.

For startups and growing companies feeding the funnel is an even greater concern.  The movie Field of Dreams doesn't represent reality in the business world.  You can't just build something and expect the customers to find you.  You always need to be out prospecting and finding new veins to tap into. 

At CustomScoop, we use a variety of methods to feed our funnel.  Word of mouth and Google AdWords have historically been the strongest drivers, but we have also had some success with direct mail, email, cold calling, advertising, earned media (both online and off), and other tactics.  This year we have beefed up our marketing resources to begin to enhance all of these efforts, with an emphasis on some of the secondary ones that show promise but we need to see if they will be successful as they scale up.  In addition, our marketing team is a talented group of individuals with a range of past experience and I expect that they will come up with new, innovative tactics that we can try.

Every entrepreneur needs to spend time thinking about what strategies and tactics will work best to build the sales funnel for each individual company.  Different budgets, industries, and target markets all dictate different approaches.  And just doing the same thing that competitors do isn't necessarily effective.  Keep in mind that the value proposition each company presents can also alter the sales approach.

In the end, it will require a lot of trial and error to figure out what works best.  And it will require continuous tuning.  It also requires every member of your startup or small company team to devote at least some time to feeding the funnel.  This isn't something that should be relegated merely to the sales and marketing teams.  Everyone can add value here through ideas and action. 

Whether you are a one person consulting shop or a venture funded startup with lots of employees, spend some time thinking about the sales funnel every day.

Technorati tags: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, sales funnel

Demo 2007

I am writing this on a plane headed to Demo 2007, being held in California this year.  For those of you interested in the latest offerings from cutting edge companies, stay tuned to this space in coming days for the same sort of coverage that I have offered in the past.  I'll try to make sure I share a good sense of what I'm seeing and what I find especially interesting.

I find Demo to be the most valuable conference I attend.  Over the past few years it is really the only conference that consistently finds a home on my schedule, and I have attended both the fall and winter editions.  Unlike so many other conferences, Demo does not submit attendees to a long list of tedious panels and speakers.  (Though they usually do have one or two of these, and I must confess that I have found them to be almost uniformly disappointing -- with the exception of the panel at the closing dinner which can be quite entertaining since you have a roster of tech journalists chatting after many have consumed some decent wine.)

I usually leave these conferences energized and full of ideas to bring home to the team at CustomScoop and with better insight about potential future investments for the angel group I lead.  And, of course, it helps me figure out which services and gadgets I just won't be able to live without.

Technorati tags: Demo, Demo2007, conferences

Corporate vs. Personal Blog

We've been having an interesting discussion of late at CustomScoop.  Essentially, it boils down to the question how the corporate blog should be deployed.  We all agree that the usual product announcement/service interruption type blog isn't really our cup of tea.  We'd like to have something with a greater degree of insight and relevance to customers and prospects alike.

Obviously, I blog regularly here in my own space.  And some on my team point out that what I write about frequently would prove relevant and interesting to our target audience.  My point of view has been that I like to write about things that are both of interest to that audience, as well as things that have more of an appeal to fellow entrepreneurs.  And in some cases, the two overlap, while in others they don't. 

Our EVP feels strongly that it is impossible to separate the CEO from the company and that there should really be but one blog, not my personal one and a corporate one.  While I don't disagree that the actions and words of the CEO are difficult to separate from the company as a whole, I do believe in having a personal professional blog and a separate company one. 

While I have and will continue to post on the CustomScoop blog, I would love to see it as a forum where the other smart people and great writers on our team can have the opportunity to share some of their wisdom.  I'm not sure whether we have others with the desire or motivation to sustain a professional blog on their own, but I am confident that as a team there is the skill and insight available to fuel the company blog.

But this is certainly an interesting question and somewhat of a challenge.  Sorting it out is something that many companies do in different ways.

Surveying the blogosphere in a highly informal way (OK, I just browsed through some of the feeds I read regularly), I tried to see how others handle it.  In the examples that follow, many are senior execs but few are CEO/partner level (though usually one of the major "public faces" of the company in the blogosphere nonetheless).

Richard Edelman has a company-branded blog, though it isn't the official company blog per se.  Rather Edelman aggregates blog posts from employees, including Steve Rubel who continues to post on his unbranded personal blog MicroPersuasion, which he successfully built before joining the national agency.

Jim Nail, CMO of Cymfony, blogs directly at the company blog.  To the best of my knowledge he doesn't have another outlet for his professional thinking nor does the blog seem to have any other contributors of late. 

Fred Wilson, one of the partners in Union Square Ventures, blogs primarily at his well-established A VC blog, though he also contributes to the group blog that the firm keeps. (And the group blog is actually the firm's web site as well.)

Jonathan Carson of Nielsen Buzzmetrics makes his online home as the sole author of their company blog, although CMO Pete Blackshaw is probably better known for his blog ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com.

TailRank has a corporate blog that focuses directly on the company itself, while founder Kevin Burton uses his own blog to speak to broader industry issues.

So the bottom line seems to be that everyone does it their own way.  We're likely to stick with the concept of a team blog for CustomScoop while I continue here at Pardon the Disruption as well.  But only time will tell -- and the beauty of the Internet is it is fairly easy to make midcourse corrections.

The Value of Loyalty

As I was writing about the "hit and run" web traffic phenomenon ("Traffic for Traffic's Sake"), it made me think about the value of loyalty.  That post addressed social network traffic and how many visitors from sites like Digg don't provide any value to a web site because they simply enter quickly and leave just as fast, likely never to return. 

In the current environment, it has become so easy to bounce from one information provider to the next.  To swap products or services with very low switching costs.  To find new bloggers to read, new friends to talk with.

In general, these are all good things to be able to do.  But at the same time, we should all continue to value loyalty and trusting relationships.  I've been fortunate to have those ties on a personal and business level.  My wife and I have known each other for 15 years.  I've worked with my primary business partners for 15 years. 

But I also try to cultivate those relationships with companies with which I do business.  For instance, all of the companies I have founded have used the same managed hosting provider, dating back some 7 or 8 years now.  In the hosting game, that's an eternity.  But that relationship has paid off as I, and later my tech teams, got to know and work with that company as it has grown considerably over the years.  I'm confident they give great service to all of their customers, but I'm just as sure that they go the extra mile for us as one of their earliest and longest clients.

Those who know me well, also know that I work to build relationships based on loyalty at restaurants in the cities I frequent.  For example, in Washington, there's a great restaurant I visit almost every night I'm in town.  Over time, I have gotten to know everyone who works there and many of the other regular customers.  Obviously, they appreciate my business, but I appreciate the food and service they provide.  And when I'm in a pinch and need to accommodate an important business or personal function, they're always ready to help meet whatever crazy request I have.

I can't put a price on the personal or business relationships I've cited here -- nor any of the many others that I didn't mention.  But I can tell you that I've taken real value from all of them on a variety of levels.  Some have obviously been financial, but others provide psychic value of one sort or another. 

In a society in which change is simple and often encouraged, we would all do well to think carefully about the value of loyalty.

Traffic for Traffic's Sake

Most of us want to be noticed.  Bloggers like readers.  Politicians like press.  Non-profits like donors.  Businesses like prospects and love customers. 

So any traffic you get for your blog or web site is good, right?  Not according to Scott Karp, Matt Bailey, and Kim Berg.  All have looked at the question of whether the raw traffic spikes from social tagging sites like Digg or del.icio.us are worth it and uniformly conclude it probably isn't in most cases.  They contend that visitors that come through these tagging sites come in quickly and leave just as fast.  Worse, they often leave a raft of ugly comments in their wake.

Yet Danny Sullivan argues that social search sites like those are now generating more web traffic referrals to many sites than the second tier search engines (in other words, anyone but Google).  He encourages marketers to pay attention to these traffic drivers.

So who is right?  Like most things in life and business, it depends.  If you are running a site that depends on page views to sell advertising inventory, most non-bot traffic will be helpful regardless of the source.  But what if you are selling on a cost-per-click basis?  And are you OK with clickthru rates dropping if this "hit-and-run" traffic doesn't click on many ads, as many argue.

Essentially, web site operators and bloggers need to make sure they really understand their objectives well.  If you're trying to build subscriptions to your blog through RSS or email, this hit and run traffic doesn't serve you well. If your focus is becoming an expert in a niche, this traffic probably doesn't help.  If you're selling a product and getting mostly unqualified leads as visitors, you're wasting bandwidth serving these clicks.

The web is no different than any other thing that you or your organization does.  You need to have a plan and understand how various marketing methods can help or hurt.  It is often said in Washington that members of the House of Representatives (who are always press hungry and get less media attention than their Senate counterparts) who really want to get on TV need only head to the House floor and disrobe.  Just like social search traffic, however, it may not be the kind of coverage that helps.

Just remember that traffic for traffic's sake makes no sense.  Traffic is a means to an end, not an end in itself.  Know your goals and carefully assess the real value of whatever traffic your site receives and adjust your plan to maximize its effectiveness.

The Power of Language

Words matter.  They communicate meaning from one individual to another.  Used effectively, the message will be clear and understandable.  Sometimes, however, words can serve to confuse.  Or worse by leaving the message sender and its recipient with different understanding of the meaning. 

I got to thinking about this when I saw an item in yesterday's CustomScoop PR Blog Jots that referred to a Slate review of Steven Poole's Unspeak.  According to the review by Jack Shafer, Poole argues that unspeak boils down to:

an attempt to say something without saying it, without getting into an argument and so having to justify itself. At the same time, it tries to unspeak—in the sense of erasing, or silencing—any possible opposing point of view, by laying a claim right at the start to only one choice of looking at a problem.

Shafer goes on to cite phrases from the book or his own experience that would be considered unspeak by this definition.  Examples include: pro-life, pro-choice, Friends of the Earth, tax relief, tax burden, extremism, moderate, gridlock, loopholes, and Islamofascism.

Peter Himler points to the review and uses it to challenge the PR profession:

From the perspective of PR practitioners, e.g., those typically accused of creating unspeak, PRSA or some other industry organization should also lay down the gauntlet...to distance the industry from the Beltway spinmeisters who have increasingly tainted the profession. Honest advocacy does not have to be an oxymoron.

Clearly, if someone is trying to actually mislead an audience of readers, listeners, or viewers, that's not right.  But that's different than carefully selecting words to convey an organization's message, be it political or promotional.  Dueling terms like pro-choice vs. pro-life and death tax vs. inheritance tax are not meant to mislead; rather, they clearly and honestly communicate the point of view of each side's advocates. 

One is not left to parse words for understanding with phrases such as these and to malign them as spin or even of questionable ethics would be misguided.  We should fight against deceit, lies, and deception, but we ought not hamstring the ability of professionals to communicate honestly and effectively. 

Saying No

Yesterday I spent some time thinking about saying "no."  It started with Fred Wilson's blog post on the subject.  He talked about a board meeting he attended where he learned that one of the company execs has a favorite saying: "the best answer to most questions is no." 

I had never quite thought of it in that way, but it makes a lot of sense and it mirrors what I try to do in evaluating business decisions.  To me, I have viewed decision making as akin to the judicial system.  Rather than innocent until proven guilty, it is more like "no until proven yes."

Saying no isn't easy.  And often it isn't fun.  As an angel investor, I say no to a lot of fellow startup founders.  As a company CEO, I say no to a lot of good ideas from my team.  And as a parent of a 5 year old and a 2 year old, my kids surely feel like I say no to almost everything!

Like most people, I like to say "yes."  As a result, I take on more than I can handle.  That's just one of the many good reasons that "no" should be the default answer until overwhelmed with reasons to say "yes."

After thinking about it during the day, it was ironic that over dinner with a group of friends last night, we started talking about the "No, David!" book by David Shannon.  It's a great book and was a fitting cap to the day.

Hopefully I will be able to take this reminder to heart and be even better about saying "no" in 2007. 

What is Spam?

This sounds like a stupid question, but it seems to me that based on several debates currently ongoing, it is becoming an increasingly valid one.  Two specific discussions come immediately to mind.

First, last week there was quite the kerfuffle over at TechCrunch over the actions of a competitor to a company reviewed by Mike Arrington. 

(Pointless aside: I have noticed recently that Neville Hobson uses the word kerfuffle frequently and it has become a new favorite of mine, especially as it relates to the blogosphere.  And even though this is my second mention of Neville today, he does not pay me a cent for the mentions -- which is probably good since I'm certain he has more, better readership than I.)

In a nutshell, a company named Spinvox was reviewed on TechCrunch and offered a limited number of free accounts to readers of that blog.  In order to claim the freebie, readers had to post their email address in the comments.  Seeking to take advantage of the situation, a competitor named Simulscribe had their CEO email the same folks offering a free account on their system. 

A vigorous debate broke out after Arrington slammed Simulscribe for "boldly spamming" his readers.  Perhaps what really set him off was the subject of the SimulScribe email ("Free Trial from TechCrunch").  Some commenters argued it was merely a good guerilla marketing tactic, while others concurred it was blatant spamming.  As it often does when the question of spam arises, the comments became quite vitriolic.

Now today comes news that Wikipedia is attempting to fight link spam on its property by instructing search engines not to pay attention to outbound links anywhere on its site (in tech terms, using a "nofollow" tag on all such links).  Many are praising this decision, but others are raising questions.  Nicholas Carr questions the move, however, and notes that others have concerns as well. 

Carr writes:

I wonder, though, if it could also have the effect of reinforcing Wikipedia's hegemony over search results. The sources cited in Wikipedia, many of which are original sources, will no longer get credit for their appearance there, which should cause at least a little downward pressure in their own search rankings (hence providing a little more upward pressure, relatively speaking, for Wikipedia's articles).

And even among those who agree with the move, some wonder whether there ought not be a way to separate the spam from the legitimate links.  But inevitably a debate will arise over how to make that determination.  There will be many cases where the verdict will be uniform, but in many others there will be dispute.  At the end of the day, of course, it will be Wikipedia's decision to make (as it is for all site owners), but the implications could well be broad for the community as a whole.

Ultimately, spam ends up being entirely in the eye of the beholder.  Or as former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote in a famous 1964 opinion where he couldn't assign a specific definition for pornography: "I know it when I see it."

The Second Life Phenomenon

Over the past couple of weeks I have begun to dip my toe into the Second Life waters to find out what it is all about.  For those not familiar with it at all, Second Life is the hot "virtual world" that has people talking.  Essentially, it is an online game where you have the ability to interact with others.  It attempts to recreate much of what we have in our "first life" society, including real estate, currency, commerce, and more.

Much has been made about the ability of individuals to make real money in Second Life.  In fact, there was a recent article mentioning a woman who claims to be the first Second Life millionaire (on paper at least -- it apparently comes from real estate ownership in the game, if I recall correctly).

Major brands have begun flocking to Second Life. Reuters has assigned a reporter to cover goings on there.  PR firms are creating outposts.  Some major companies (Dell, I believe, was one) are actually making announcements inside Second Life about real world business happenings.

With all this attention, I felt I needed to see for myself what it is like.  Going in, I was skeptical.  I don't tend to get all wrapped up in virtual world discussions and don't completely understand folks who spend countless hours playing inside of them.  When I was younger, I did spend a lot of time playing games of all sorts -- including video and online games.  And I would spend a fair amount of time doing so, but I have a hard time comprehending this current phenomenon since it doesn't seem to be limited to young people still in school with lots of discretionary time.

I guess the best way I can describe what I have seen so far is something that looks like an old fantasy computer game.  The graphics are a bit more advanced than what I remember playing with when I was a kid (ok a lot more), but they are more boxy and choppy than most have come to expect on today's computers.  Communicating with others relies primarily on chat windows -- sort of like group IM. 

Last week, I attended the first of what is to be a weekly new media discussion hosted by Crayon -- a PR firm focused heavily on Second Life.  There was a very high turnout ... probably 30 or so professionals working in this space.  Unfortunately, given the nature of group chat it was not the easiest venue in which to have or listen to good conversation. Perhaps over time it will take up more structure.  And, of course, my view may be different than other participants.  I am just not especially fond of group chats as the conversations tend to be disjointed and frequently more than one conversation is actually taking place at the same time.

I plan to stick with Second Life for a bit and continue to try to explore as time permits.  But I remain skeptical of its benefits going forward.  I recall reading an item recently that argued that companies embracing Second Life do so primarily for the "hip factor" and not because it is actually useful to do so.  I'm not sure yet.  Obviously, those jumping in now do get a bump in their perception as a trendsetting early adopters.  Whether they are the lead prospectors in the latest gold rush or merely hopeful fools, time will tell.

For skeptics, Neville Hobson offers a link to a very funny site that parodies Second Life.

Journalists Have Always Been Paid for Performance

Steve Rubel essentially puts the question today: is pay for performance journalism right or wrong?  He specifically discussed ZDNet which now reportedly compensates its writers, in part, based on how popular their blogs are.

Here's an excerpt from Steve's take:

Many of the ZDNet blogs are written by veteran journalists turned bloggers. So, I don't anticipate that the performance based compensation changes their ethics one iota. Bloggers such as Foley, Dan Farber and David Berlind have been around a long time and they are highly ethical. They have a nose for news. And news is often what gets clicks. The newer voices on the site may have a taller trust hurdle to climb given this revelation.

To me, the debate is a moot.  Journalists have always been paid for performance.  Web traffic tracking simply makes it easier and more explicit.  But just because magazine or newspaper writers aren't directly paid per click doesn't mean that their employers don't focus on it heavily when they set compensation numbers.

Perhaps the most obvious case is freelancers, who make up a significant share of the writers for many magazines.  These folks are paid based on anticipated interest from readers.  In this case, they are effectively paid in advance but the same ethics situation would apply.  Is a freelancer more likely to pitch an obscure story that may interest few, or shoot for one about a big company with broader appeal?

But it isn't limited to freelance writers.  Staff writers for publications large and small are compensated in part based on how interesting their product is for readers.  Does anyone doubt that Walt Mossberg is compensated better than other tech writers because he is must reading at the Wall Street Journal?  Similarly, David Broder and Bob Woodward don't make more than colleagues at the Washington Post simply because they have been there forever, but because their columns and articles are must-reading and sell papers. 

So let's not get all exercised about the fact that bloggers are getting paid for traffic and may choose their topics accordingly.  All writers do it.

Blogs as a Barometer of Public Opinion

Last week SEC Chairman Chris Cox again demonstrated his interest in blogs as he spoke about them at a conference.  According to a Reuters report of the event, he lauded blogs as a source of information about "passion" and indicated that they "give you an early read on the ... response you might expect." 

By using blogs as an early warning indicator -- or a sort of focus group, if you will -- the SEC Chairman demonstrates a keen understanding of one of the roles blogs can play not only for his agency, but for other organizations and companies across the board.  Following blog conversations can provide great insight into how key stakeholders are responding to products and services, issues and policy, strategy and tactics. 

Of course, one must always apply a little discretion in using blogs as a barometer of public opinion.  The intensity of opinion at times accelerates into blogstorms that may not be quite as representative of the view of the public at large.  And it is important to remember that bloggers represent a relatively narrow segment of the population that may be a better gauge of some topics than others.

Nevertheless PR practitioners and marketing pros would be wise to follow the SEC Chairman's lead in incorporating blog analysis into their toolkit to help guide communications planning.

(Hat tip to Wall Street Folly for pointing out this story.)

Reflections on CES

On the whole, this year's Consumer Electronics Show produced few "wow" moments, but did show general technology progress on several fronts.

There were interesting products that may one day become useful. One exhibitor had a monitor that produced holograms. Pretty neat, but the quality leaves something to be desired. Not yet Star Trek come to life.

And there was a new version of a robor sweeper and floor washer. But it needs tiny barcodes embedded throughout the flooring to work. Frankly I didn't quite understand the appeal.

Of course there hits as well as misses. All in one remote controls seem to be improving. TV screens are getting ever larger with higher quality to boot.

Mobile video was hot, as was multimedia streaming of all types. Product size continues to shrink even as capabilities increase.

Of course, as CES wraps up, the buzz in the tech world is about the Apple iPhone and all that it does -- and doesn't -- do. And also the Cisco trademark infringement lawsuit over the iPhone name.

In the end, score one for the marketing mavens at Apple. They stole the thunder of a 140,000 attendee strong event. The question is whether it has more to do with Apple's product and marketing acumen or with the fact that there was little else to wow the tech community and media.

Coolest Product at CES

The Novint Falcon provides users with realistic physical feedback.  The demo shown at CES included using this controller to "touch" a variety of surfaces.  When moving across a bumpy ball, you could feel the bumps.  Pushing through a glob of molasses felt just like you were putting a stick into the jar.  And trying to touch the center of an ice ball was impossible as you felt yourself slipping all over it.

Of course, the real use for the device is as a gaming controller.  The Novint team used Half Life as the gaming demonstration.  When firing a shotgun, the controller realistically recoils.  Trying to handle the submachine guns requires real concentration as it vibrates wildly.

The physical feedback this device provides is truly realistic.  It isn't the seemingly random vibrations that the XBox 360 controller provides. 

Not exactly a high-productivity device, but probably the coolest product I have seen at CES.

More thoughts on the products I have seen coming in the days ahead.

CES and Flat Panel Fatigue

I have barely scratched the surface of the exhibition halls, but I already find myself wondering just how many TV's one can look at before suffering from flat panel fatigue. I kid you not when I tell you that I have seen more than 100 LCD and plasma screens already, including at least 5 over 100 inches.

I realize the vendors need to show off their wares, but seeing 20 or more from each with little variation other than size makes it hard to absorb.

The BlogHaus is a Great Idea

I just checked in to the PodTech BlogHaus at CES and they really have a great setup. Lots of space to lounge, plenty of food, a table set up perfectly for blogging, a tv for relaxing, and a very friendly atmosphere.

If you are a blogger who registered for the BlogHaus I'd encourage you to stop in. I'm off to the exhibit hall now but will be back frequently this week because it's a good place to blog and get away from the crowds.

Thanks to Robert and Maryam and everyone who has put this together.

Sonos Now Works With Urge

I learned today that my beloved home wireless music system, Sonos, now works with MTV's Urge service. Previously the only subscription music it was compatible with was Rhapsody.

I look forward to testing this when I return from CES later this week.

Blogging from CES

I am out at the Consumer Electronics Show this week and will be blogging as time permits about the interesting things I see.  Last night I attended the Bill Gates keynote.  It is receiving extensive coverage in the blogosphere (see TechMeme for a roundup), so I won't rehash the details.  I will say that I was left with the general feeling that it was a pretty ho-hum keynote without a large wow factor.  To be sure, there were some interesting announcements and some fun features shown, but nothing that became a real conversation starter.

Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

New Media Silo Shops vs. Multidisciplinary Agencies

Shel Israel's post over on Global Neighborhoods a couple of days ago got me to thinking.  The thrust of his posting was that a lot of "recovering publicists" (his words) were now taking to providing PR services in the blogging/new media space.  "We all see huge opportunities and expect to be joined by many other quality consultants."

While I agree that companies need good guidance to help them navigate the blogosphere, and I concur that experts are needed, not your typical PR flak.  But at the same time I am a bit concerned that if this trend takes hold, then the necessary integration between online and traditional communications will become weaker not stronger.

Let me explain these seemingly contradictory views.  Fundamentally, I believe that the same folks who coordinate online messaging should be working on traditional media as well.  Perhaps not the same exact individuals, but the same teams.  In general, I am not a big believer in having one agency do outreach to broadcast and print while another handles blogs and other online opportunities.  I would like to see agencies -- and corporate communications shops -- do a better job of building teams that have the range of skills necessary to provide a unified solution.

Unified messaging is all too often overlooked by companies as they enter the blogosphere.  But there needs to be consistency in the messages being delivered.  People frequently get information from on- and off-line sources simultaneously and if the messages differ, it will lead to confusion -- or worse, distrust.

None of this should take away from Hubbub or Crayon or any similar agencies out there, but I do hope the trend is toward integrating these efforts within multidisciplinary agencies, rather than moving forward as lone new media silos.

The Wall Between Print, Web Continues to Crumble

Reuters reports that The Washington Post will soon have its print editors working more collaboratively with its web editors in order to generate "more three-dimensional ways that you can present that news," in the words of Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr.

It seems this really just formalizes and extends what the Post has already been doing.  In many respects, the paper has been a pioneer of sorts in the newspaper industry and has used its web site fairly well to extend the content of the publication.  More than just breaking news updates, the Post for a decade or so has used its web site to offer original documents and other materials too cumbersome or wordy to include in the print edition.  The paper has also embraced the concept of conversation, through online chats, links to blogs, and the like.

But by making this announcement prominently, the Post will put pressure on its brethren in the dead tree media to better integrate their editorial operations.  Publications are coming to the fundamental realization that the medium is merely a tool for message delivery.  Frankly, businesses across the board, as well as political campaigns, and non-profits, are realizing the same thing.  Whether the message is a "straight" news story, an editorial, a marketing pitch, or political plea, a multimedia approach makes the most sense.

This, of course, is good news for PR, marketing, and branding professionals.  The increasing availability and reach of web outlets enhances the ability to communicate key messages.  And as content becomes ever more easily accessible online, it improves the ability of organizations to quickly monitor and rapidly respond to articles, discussions, or other information -- to amplify or clarify as appropriate.

The Reuters article points out that this is obviously not merely an editorial decision in the interests of the Post's readers, but also a business necessity.  With newspaper revenues (and consequently stock prices) in decline, the industry must continue to evolve with the times (no pun intended). 

Innovative thinking will be the key to the future success of the newspaper industry.  By embracing technology and the new means of improving discussion and transparency, the readers and the companies themselves will benefit.