mesh - Day 2

Yesterday and today are my first experiences of blogging live. I just suffered my first lost post, when i lost a whole entry. Here's the summary:
Steve Rubel spoke this morning about PR and blogging, with many questions and rich conversation. Will blogs make PR more honest, or will monetizing blogs lessen thier authenticity?

Stuart MacDonald was an excellent interviewer, guiding and following the conversation.

Next up is Paul Kedrosky, interviewed by Mathew Ingram about Web 2.0 and venture capitalism.

• There seems to be a concentration of capital looking to venture, and Web 2.0 benefits, but if you can avoid taking it for your company, do so.
  
• The starting of a business has been democratized, BUT then there are multiple starts doing the same sort of thing.
  
• YouTube, as an example, do they have a business plan? Is this an early version of the future of TV.
  
• Google started up with no real business model, and found their way, but lately they’re running up their capital expenditures.
  
• The pendulum is swinging towards business in Web 2.0, for example, DabbleDB
  
• Some examples of Web 2.0 businesses that are successful – PlentyOfFish - $15,000 a day
  
• Seed investing is problematic in Canada – DFJ - almost uses seed marketing as PR, lots of overage for what it does
  
• Venture capitalists – trouble choosing when to jump in, seed financing can be too soon, later can be too late.
  
• How many ‘products’ are actually just features – Google’s recent media day on 3 features treated as amazing
  
• Skype moved people towards VOIP
  
• IPOs don’t exist any more, creating problems with exits (Don’t understand but that’s what he said.)
  
• A preoccupation with AdSense, Google totally dominates in this single-payer system, but subscription can be a viable option
  
• P&G spend 10% of their advertising budget on online, “nada”
  
• TV commercialization starting to break down, some companies refusing to play in the competition
  
• Canada much lower in numbers per capita basis in terms of looking for venture capital
  
• We don’t see as many examples of people making money exiting their companies
  
• Where do eastern Canadians go fort venture capitalism – Boston, Canadians …
  
• Advice – think about the contingencies of your business before asking for VC, a real appetite now for investments

Good session. Next up - 15 Minutes of Fame

• Favorville.com
  
• TakingITGlobal
  

More Later.

tags
mesh
mesh06
Steve Rubel
Paul Kedrosky