Facebook special

The BBC did an hour-long special on Facebook, including interviews with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, as well as cameos by Ron Conway, David Kirkpatrick, and others. The entire video is now on Youtube. Update: Well, that was fast. One version’s been pulled down, but more are popping up

Technology, needs help, to help

Where do I begin, Social media has
evolved so much in the last 2 years, sites like Facebook and Twitter
have become that main power houses in social media and news feeds.
Groupon and Livingsocial have dominated the group buying explosion
that is now on the decline.

Netflix was the cool kid on the
block just 12 months ago, now other rivals (notably Blockbuster’s new
business model) have been popping up to compete with Netflix in the
streaming video market.

And a ton of stuff has been developing
with payments and mobile(Do not even get me started on NFC technology
and how it is the worst idea for mobile payments)…..the world will
be lost online if we continue at this rate. I think we are definitely
traveling in the right direction, but I think we are all moving a
little to fast. With all the competition with “Start ups” and
trying to get the newest, best web idea, or patent, I think its all
kind of stupid. Essentially it’s a tech race and nobody cares if you
win, nobody that’s normal anyway. When I say normal I mean the
general population of common folk that have no idea what “tweeting”
or “ Like” or the expression “it’s in the cloud” without
making them look up, and what it really means.

The other people who are living in
silicon valley who live and breath technology are all rolling around
with a chubby when you mention the words “term sheet”, “social
media”, “cloud based tech” or “pitch”. It’s actually very
amusing to look in on a different perspective, It’s just the internet. What if one day
something tragic happens and we lose the satellites for the web? and
Cell phones? holy shit I would love to see this day, I want to see
the look on Zuckbergs face when his stock crashes.( only joking, I would be just as upset)

I have had the opportunity to attend
many technology conventions and have met with some very high profile
founders and VC, and I must say I am impressed with the energy and
the general aptitude of the attendees, but I start thinking, how on
earth are normal people going to figure out how to use this website/app
that I just seen being pitched? It’s great that a VC just dumped
millions of dollars into the idea but we almost need a professional
liaison between these website inventors and the general population.
Basically someone to say “this idea is good and normal people will
adopt it quickly” or “ You need to get back into your delorean
with Doc. Brown, mick-fly”

So I think we are almost at a cross
road with the internet and technology, do we continue to build and
change before adoption or do we slow down and wait for the rest of
the world to catch up? Very debatable, but I think it would be smart
to wait, continue to build but the primary building focus should be
on education of all the widely used websites and technology. Create a
learning platform for all these websites, a place that everyday
people can visit and learn(like a fun website for just social media
learning), this would not only create a better feature testing
demographic but this would also create a long term user, and more
users that are confident and will embraces your next big thing.

Facebook will only survive another 3
years if it continues to change its user interface monthly for advertising usage, I 
know people who have no idea what to do on their profile the last
time FB was re-designed. I understand the whole, “got to stay a
head of the curve” but Facebook is already around the block and not
looking back. I still think another website will come along and be a
Facebook killer, I think it will be an App that is simple but 
the same idea as Facebook, a newer concept or it might even be like
facebook but with a better user experience, less intimidating and can
virtually cater to every persons technological  aptitude. Facebook UX/UI is dictated by its adversing needs, they are constantly thinking of ways to "engage" users to give up more info via "new improved" features that need more info... like that stupid timeline, who was the engineer who thought of that? Why on earth would I want my wife to see pictures of me and my ex-girlfriend from 10 years ago? just trying to start shit FB. Maybe slow down and work on UX for a few months.....

Facebook has so many options, and apps,
and a bunch of garbage on it. I think its turning into a wasteland of
personal information that is being picked apart like vultures by big
media companies looking to make millions off ads and your personal
info.

Twitter is a wasteland of “Robot
Tweets”, try going on twitter throughout the day about 6 times and
just have a look at the tweets, you will notice a trend of tweets by
the same people, these people are using an automated system to
deliver their message.

Just one problem, if everyone is
automating their Tweets to each other, then who is really seeing
them? Twitter records millions of Tweets, I would love to see the
actual analytics and compare it to the actual tweets to people logged on the
site. I bet you would see a huge number difference, meaning Yes
tweets are getting out but no one is actually see them, Yay great
website…..to end this problem, Twitter should be stopping
automation of Tweets, but they realize if they do this the number of
Tweets will drop dramatically and therefore decrease the value of
Twitter and all the VC will be pissed and lose money. Basically
twitter has built a fake valuation, and fake business on automation,
not the most practical long term solution. It’s to bad, this website
concept has the most power to reach the people.

And finally Groupon……need I say
anymore, oh wait yeah, R.I.P

Cheers,

Your start up, Transaction Vs subscription model

In the startup world, subscription revenue is sexy. Entrepreneurs and investors love subscription revenue (also referred to as recurring revenue) because of its predictable nature. Startups with such revenue models essentially are striving to be annuity businesses: each customer signed up is an incremental lifetime monthly cash flow (with the caveat that churn rates are zero and renewal rates are 100% in this perfect world).

David Skok’s series of blogs on SaaS economics (Software-as-a-Service companies are inherently subscription businesses) contain several analyses on the high profit potential of startups with recurring monthly revenues. Apple/Google recently announced subscription-pricing capabilities for app developers as an alternative to ads-based or one-time transaction-based pricing models, we saw Rentjuice.com as an example of a startup that pivoted away from per-transaction pricing to subscription pricing. It seems that recurring revenue models are popping up everywhere in the digital world.

So is subscription revenue really the Holy Grail for profitability? Why don’t more startups  join the party? Why aren’t all subscription startups wildly successful? A few thoughts...

Subscriptions require patience (and a leap of faith)

Imagine you could charge your customers $20 on a monthly base or charge them .50 cents per transaction. What would you choose? and why? I would choose both. My reason for this motion is
1) You would need to charge a transaction fee to cover your cost (If applicable to your business)

2) The monthly sub fee adds value to your service; by offering a purely transaction based model your actually de-valuing your business model. Same problem if you price your services to low nobody will take your business seriously. (view your competitions rev model, and also look at other successful sites in your market)

3) Transaction based models work great for payment services(Paypal), or high volume sales(Ebay). But if your relying only on transaction sales in todays market of innovation and competition your business could be in trouble at the worst time of your new company, right when your trying to grow.  Reason for this amber alert, You are placing your entire business in the hands of transactions, and not sign ups. Lets say you have 100,000 users that hardly sell anything, chances are your business will not be around much longer unless your revenue includes advertising and you have a ton of traffic, but if you have 100,000 users that pay a monthly fee of $20, your a millionaire every month.

4) Subscription based models qualify your customers or users, if a potentially new user signs up for a trial and sees no value after the trial and will not pay $20/mth, this customer is classified as "low profile" and does not think they could make a big enough return to pay the $20/mth. (Possible other objectives, UX,UI problems).



Subscription pricing is tricky

Recurring revenue looks great in the Excel model, but the trick is determining the price for which customers are willing to subscribe for your product to create a frictionless sign up process. Ning, a web-based platform for building social websites, began as a traditional freemium model that let users access basic services for free and then have the option to upgrade services for $20 a month. The freemium model was not working so Ning got rid of the free product and introduced several pricing options ranging from $3 a month to $50 per month - resulting in doubling conversation rates and tripling the base of it paying users. Ning’s first attempt at a subscription business was not successful, but it had raised sufficient capital to survive this mistake and buy time to test different subscription price points that worked better.
I would choose both if I could, I am not a double dipper but high sales would essentually not cover the subscription fees causing us to absorb the trans fees. Again, if applicable to your model.

Subscriptions are relationships



When people subscribe to a product and agree to send money to a business on a recurring basis - a relationship is established (rather than just a transaction). There is a customer service element that requires higher touch of support for paid subscription relationships. Netflix is exemplary with its proactive approach: if there is an interruption in the Netflix feed when you stream content - customers automatically (and quickly) receive an apology email that informs them they will get a 2% credit on their next bill for the inconvenience. However, startups often have to skimp on post-sales support, considering higher priority is usually given to the product and sales teams.

I expect an increasing percentage of startups to adopt subscription revenue models though I suspect startups with ample funding will be more successful in executing these models given the resources needed to wait out the payback period, figure out pricing, and maintain good customer support.

Groupon, is it worth it for your busniess

Why Groupon and discount coupon websites like this will hurt your business and possibly ruin your customer base.


We have all herd about these discount and coupon websites delivering the “deal of the day” and it is basically 50-80% off the original price. I get excited when I see these “deals” who wouldn't? the idea has been out in the public and in the market place now for months now and businesses are now talking about their experiences with using these sites to market and sell their coupons.

The verdicts are out and these people are not very happy, oh yeah and broke. So lets get this straight, Groupon will sell the coupons for your business online for you....ok good. And they will do all the advertising and marketing.....even better. But wait this sounds to good to be true where is the catch and how will Groupon make money? they will take 50% of your profits, so wait a minute.....I have to discount my product or service 50% off and then Groupon is going to take 50% from my “profits”........Where is the money for my business?

“ $46,320 of merchandise at retail or roughly $23,160 at cost…of that I get around $10,000 because of course I only get 50% of the deal minus credit card fees (ugh!) Groupon gets their 50%.” Kim, Owner of a parent teacher store

“There came a time when we literally couldn’t not make payroll because at that point in time we had lost nearly $8,000 with our Groupon campaign. We literally had to take $8,000 out of our personal savings to cover payroll and rent that month”. Jessie Burke, Owner of Coffee shop in Portland

“with sales of around 300,000 Groupons, Gap lost $7.5 million in revenue on the pay $25-get-$50 coupon deal.” Gap

So when do I get paid for all the items that where sold on Groupon?. Well glad you asked, Groupon pays you in 3 installments during the Groupon life cycle, could be months until you see any money.

So this Groupon website is making 50% of your profits after its been heavily discounted? They kinda sound like the mob back in the 50's, except they are providing marketing/advertising not protection for your business. From my understanding of online businesses and how they work, the over head is relatively low, you might have sales people that work off commission, or possibly an administrative person answering the phone for customer service, but typically the over head is very minor. So why dose Groupon think they need 50% of your money? Sounds like greed to me and a bad business plan, mixed in with bad intentions. They are not helping the economy in any way, just because people are buying and spending their money dose not mean the economy is picking up or “rebounding”.

These websites, I’m sure they will move a lot of product but are they cannibalizing their target market, acquiring unprofitable customers and training them to look for the deal? This is business 101 do not do.

I say if your a smart business owner, please do not fall for this hype. Do not encourage these websites and they will disappear, no businesses to offer coupons= No Groupon or website like them. Their are plenty of other ways that will cost you less and provide less of a headaches from customers that take advantage by getting mad because you will not honor a day old coupon.....

Check this out

Benefits of Registering in an Online Business Directory

Summary:AndyDicosta
Getting your company registered in an on-line business directory increases your chances of getting noticed in the marketplace. With Internet being the most-widely used communication medium for businesses, registering in an online business directory can be increasingly beneficial to the local businesses as well.



With economy rapidly escalating, every business man wishes that his or her business also prospers and soars higher. To achieve this, people employ different strategies. While some people believe in distributing pamphlets, cards and opt for other promotional services and products, some businesses merely get them registered in a good online business directory.



The main advantages of getting registered in an online business directory are:



• It endows you with high-visibility as opposed to your competitors who may still believe in traditional methods to promote their business like yellow pages and newspapers.



• It helps build up relationships with buyers, customers and clients



• You can even attract buyers of competitors, as your company will be much more visible and updated.



• You can always be in the mind of your customers by launching special coupons and special promotional campaigns.



• There are no limitations in terms of quality of the content that you can incorporate in the business directory.



• You can even upload product pictures, menu and service records together with business URL.



• You can even insert your business directory’s website on your business cards, which will make it easy for customers to approach you.



• You could even keep potential customers updated on new products, business hours, special hours and discounts.



• A business directory reportedly submits your company’s internet page to other search engine sites as well and this helps attract and grow traffic.



• As more and more customers are accessing the internet to satisfy their requirements, it becomes easy to locate your company and seek services if you have registered in an online business directory.



The most remarkable aspect of online business directories is that your business will keep progressing sans any glitches, as you will come in contact with large customers, both from India and the outside world. And be rest assured once you get your self registered in an online business directory, your sales will climb up immensely and you can look forward to catering to the needs of your clients in a proper fashion.

Benefits of Registering in an Online Business Directory Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/business-management/international-business/1966355-benefits-registering-online-business-directory/

I will let you know if this works

Hey everyone I am just testing this new method to get a high index

50 Cool Websites you must see

You have not lived unless you have seen these website.