Europe Sets Course for Cloud
There’s a perception that cloud computing has become a “mature” technology, a perception shared by few but anticipated by most everyone else with the exception of those trying to preserve their self-interests. I don’t blame them – each person inherently protects self-interests. They’re wrong though. Cloud is not mature. It is evolving. The paradox is [...]
PRCCDC 2011 it is that time of year for all Student Cyber Defenders to face down hackers
If you are not aware of the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, this is a good place to start. If you are aware, then you might know that the regional competitions are underway, and this year I have been very involved with one awesome team from Highline Community College with a huge assist from CityU of [...]
Why You Should Make Your Competitors Your Frenemies
Yesterday I wrote about how to talk to investors about your competitors. In short, acknowledge they exist, be transparent about strengths & weaknesses and use your differences to talk about how you want to position yourself in the market. Conventional wisdom in most companies is that “the competition is the enemy” – it’s the rallying [...]
Talking to a VC About Your Competitors
Competition. Unless you’re Microsoft selling an OS for a PC you probably have some. And even then Microsoft has substitute products as anyone who has taken Econ 101 will tell you. So if you’re raising money – from angels or VCs – you’re going to have to address the question of whom you’re competing against. [...]
X PRIZE Takes on Oil Spills with $1.4 Million Open Innovation Challenge
The BP Gulf Oil spill has unleashed somewhere on the order 150 to 200 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully, much of this oil has been eaten by bacteria, reducing its damage. But much of it is hitting the Gulf coastlines, and scientists know that a disaster of that magnitude will [...]
3 Cs of Innovation 2.0 – Crowdsourcing, Competition, Collaboration
At the E2.0 Forum in Milan (June 9-10, 2010), I had a chance speak about innovation. Specifically, on the latest advances in leveraging communities to advance innovation. The title of my keynote was: “3 Cs of Innovation 2.0 – Crowdsourcing, Competition, Collaboration”. The presentation is provided below: 3 Cs of Innovation 2.0 – Crowdsourcing, Competition, [...]
Designing for Innovation through Competitive Collaboration
In a recent blog post by Intel’s Enterprise 2.0 manager Laurie Buczek, she reviewed her organization’s 2009 experience with social software. One item caught my eye: My entire year has been a quest to find quantifiable ROI. I swear I have nightmares with the “Where’s the Beef” lady crackling out a “Where’s the ROI?!” In [...]
Google’s FeedBurner Social Isn’t Quite Ready. Back to TwitterFeed – for Now.
Why bother with an intermediary when we can now have FeedBurner send our blog post to Twitter directly? – I wrote in Startup Bloodbath in Social Media and I meant it. But for now, we’re switching back to TwitterFeed. The new Feedburner service that pushes blog posts to Twitter directly isn’t quite ready. Let’s just [...]
Startup Bloodbath in Social Media?
Google announced their own URL shortener. Great. But some startups may be panicking. The TechCrunch title says it all: Bit.ly Just Got Fu.kd: Facebook And Google Get Into The Short URL Game. Of course bit.ly is not the only possible casualty, but they are the dominant one in the URL shortening space – or at [...]
Pitching a VC – Dealing with Competition
This is a post in the ongoing series about how to pitch a VC. If you want to to see an overview / table of contents of the series go here and if you just want to see what the first slide in the pitch deck should be go here. Competition This is the slide [...]
What Nokia? Kim Basinger's Lifeline would be an iPhone Today.
The 2004 thriller Cellular features three stars: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, and a Nokia 6660 video-phone. The kidnapped school-teacher played by Kim Basinger pieces together a broken phone and reaches a random dude, Ryan (Chris Evans) on cell-phone – this call literally becomes her lifeline. Ryan effortlessly uses his Nokia miracle-phone in the middle of [...]
