Startups Archives - Page 16 of 29

SupportMagic: Running Out of Support, Waiting for Magic

Posted on November 30, 2006 ·

OK, I admit, that’s a tacky title… I just couldn’t resist

Seriously though, here’s a weird post on VentureBeat:

CRM company, Support Magic, for sale on VentureBoard

“Support Magic, out of Bangalore, is the latest company to put up a for-sale sign at VentureBoard.”

OK, let’s check out the VentureBoard listing:

“Launched on 09-November-2006, SupportMagic (www.supportmagic.com) is an on-demand customer interaction management solution that enables companies to deliver an exceptional customer experience online.”

Launched 3 weeks ago and already for sale? Wow! Let’s clarify it on the company’s site:

Public BETA launch on 09-November-2006.

Gotcha. Let’s check out the blog:

“Some are asking “Where can I download SupportMagic?”
Well, you can’t.
SupportMagic is an on-demand (remotely hosted) solution that runs on our server. There is nothing to download OR install. Register with us, follow the instructions we send you & simply map your “Support URL” to our application IP and you are ready”

Hm .. why would anyone want to sign up for a hosted application by a company already up for sale? Oh, well, let’s now go back to the for sale ad:

“Competitors: RightNow, LivePerson & Talisma.”

Wow…wow…wow… 3 weeks into beta and competing with RightNow, a $100M company? Give
me a break

But hey, that’s the ad, put up by the company itself. They may be full of it, but probably learned from #1 that in the CRM space you need a big mouth. However, VentureBeat repeats the same statement in the front page story:

“Support Magic, out of Bangalore, is the latest company to put up a for-sale sign at VentureBoard. It is an on-demand customer interaction management software company that competes against RightNow, LivePerson & Talisma…”

Matt, I really like VentureBeat – this kind of fluff does not belong there… it dilutes your brand.

Tags: venturebeat, ventureboard, matt marshall, crm, supportmagic, rightnow, liveperson, startups

Filed Under: Blogging, Business, ERP / CRM, Marketing / PR, SaaS, Startups ·

SVASE VC Breakfast with Walden VC in San Francisco – Sold Out

Posted on November 28, 2006 ·

I’ll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting this Thursday, Nov 30th in San Francisco. As usual, it’s an informal round-table where 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. We’ve had VC’s from Draper Fisher, Hummer Winblad, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital …etc.

Thursday’s featured VC is Larry Marcus, Managing Director, Walden Venture Capital. The Zvents post has all the info and a map; and normally I would link to registration but this event has sold out. (here’s a list of future events, 2 in December, so you could sign up in time)

These sessions are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since I’ve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:

It’s a pressure-free environment, with no Powerpoint presentations, Business Plans…etc, just casual conversation, but it does not mean you should come unprepared!
Bring an Executive Summary, some VC’s like it, others don’t.
Follow a structure, don’t just talk freely about what you would like to do, or even worse, spend all your time describing the problem, without addressing what your solution is.
Don’t forget “small things” like the Team, Product, Market..etc.
It would not hurt to mention how much you are looking for, and how you would use the funds…
Write down and practice your pitch, and prepare to deliver a compelling story in 3 minutes. You will have about 5, but believe me, whatever your practice time was, when you are on the spot, you will likely take twice as long to deliver your story. The second half of your time-slot is Q&A with the VC.
Last, but not least, please be on time! I am not kidding… some of you know why I even have to bring this up.

Here’s a participating Entrepreneur’s feedback about a previous event.

See you in San Francisco!

Tags: Venture Capital, VC Breakfast, Funding, VC Funding, Startups, Entrepreneurship, SVASE, SDForum, TiE

Filed Under: Bay Area, Social Networking, Startups ·

ProtectMyPhotos Protects More than Just Photos

Posted on November 27, 2006 ·

Update: This service is no longer available.

I’ve been a happy user of ProtectMyPhotos for over a month now. The best thing about it is that I’m barely aware it’s working: after installing the client one can completely forget about it. Now, this is exactly what I said about Mozy a little while ago, so what is different here?

First of all, let’s define what ProtectMyPhotos is: an online photo data backup/restore service with quite a few bells and whistles added. As usual, TechCrunch has the detailed review, so I will focus on positioning and some comparative analysis here, which is not quite easy, for it resembles/competes with several other services, yet does not fully replace either.

When it comes to online photo storage, we tend to think of Flickr, Zooomr and the like – but those services are primarily focused on sharing, and you have to manually upload photos. This is the part that’s fully automated by ProtectMyPhotos: just like with Mozy, you download a client application, set your preferences on what you want to back up (let it find photos or manually select directories), then leave it alone. From now on all your photos are synchronized with the online version, non-intrusively, as the program runs in idle time and throttles back when you start using your computer. The system keeps multiple versions of your photos online, so you get to pick which version to restore from (“userproof system” in case you mess up your current version) .

Unlike Mozy and other backup/storage services, ProtectMyPhotos allows easy access to your online pictures: your original directory structure is preserved, you can browse and display, even do basic photo manipulation online that is synchronized back to your PC.

When I first looked at the pre-launch service, it clearly focused on photos only; since then they added support for several office document types (doc, xls, pdf …etc.), as well as financial documents like Quicken and MS Money files. This is of course great, but why the restriction? Without the file type limitation this would be a full-featured online backup / storage service. Of course then it should be called ProtectMyFiles, but that domain name is taken.

A mobile edition, publishing to Flickr, opening files locally (not just photos, Word, Excel ..etc also) and automatic synchronization of multiple computers are amongst a host of new features recently announced.

The last one is a (potential) biggie for me: it could replace useful but unreliable FolderShare – if it wasn’t for the file type restriction.

In summary, I’m somewhat puzzled: ProtectMyPhotos definitely does more than just protect my photos, overlaps with several other services but the file-type limitation forces me to run redundant applications: Mozy, FolderShare and ProtectMyPhotos. I certainly wouldn’t mind reducing the clutter in my systray…

Tags: protectmyphotos, mozy, foldershare, online backup, online storage, synchronization, flickr

Filed Under: Personal Productivity, SaaS, Software, Startups, Technology ·

What Sequoia Capital Should Look For in Startups

Posted on November 16, 2006 ·

Being the lazy guy I am, I enjoy when others serve up what to write about, I just have to connect the dots. Well, it doesn’t get any better than today, reading these two posts 3 minutes apart.

First there’s Valleywag’s story on how Sequoia’s investment in RockYou (service by NetPickle) turns more into a F***You (pardon my French):

“Two months before Sequoia Capital, and a couple other investors, funded a Web 2.0 startup called NetPickle, the founders were accused of intellectual property theft by their former employer. They operate a photo slideshow service called RockYou; Iconix said the idea was developed while the founders were employed there; and a U.S. district court judge yesterday ruled against the Sequoia portfolio company.”

Next I’m reading VC Ratings via Paul Kedrosky on What Sequoia Capital Looks for in Startups:

Perhaps it’s time for Sequoia to add the 11th element: Clean IP Ownership.

Update (11/17): Good chronology at GigaOM.

Tags: sequoia capital, venture funding, vc funding, startups, ip, intellectual property, ip theft, funding criteria

Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Startups, Technology ·

IdeaWins: Microsoft Contest for Innovative Small Business Idea

Posted on November 16, 2006 ·

I still don’t know if Microsoft’s Software by Parachute initiative was real or just a prank, but here’s another one: IdeaWins: The Ultimate Challenge – a contest for Innovative Small Businesses.

Software and techie types don’t get your juices flowing just yet: apparently “innovation” is limited to retail businesses, and the award is not only $100K but a year’s rent of a Manhattan storefront, too.

It appears MS released the site in a rush and not all components are ready, as for now submissions are by emailing a downloadable form, but starting November 27th there will be an “innovative” interactive way to enter.

Four Finalists will be selected who can submit a video and the winner will be picked by a public online vote. (digg it? )

This contest is basically a PR campaign to promote MS Office Accounting 2007 which is quite evident if you arrive to the IdeaWins Home Page: the FAQ is actually all about the Accounting package, and the contest terms are somewhat hard to find. If you follow my link from the pic above, you get right into the contest page, where there is a seconds set of FAQ, this time about the contest. Oh, and of course you’ll be prompted to download MS Accounting a few times along the way…

Tags: smb, sme, small business, small business software, small business accounting, ms office, ms office accounting 2007, ideawins, small business contest, microsoft, msft

Filed Under: Business, Marketing / PR, SMB / SME, Software, Startups ·

Art of the Start / Launch Silicon Valley with Guy Kawasaki – Last Minute Discount

Posted on November 7, 2006 ·

This is a reprint of a previous post, because with 250 registrations I can now offer the few remaining tickets at a huge discount ($49 vs $199) at this special link.

Mark November 8th, Wednesday on

your calendar for a full-day entrepreneurial

super-event (actually two) at the Microsoft Conference

Center in Mountain View.

At 8am SVASE

will present The Art of the

Start, a conference all about helping

entrepreneurs succeed, offering time-tested, battle-hardened business

strategies and the opportunity to meet experienced entrepreneurs and

investors.

The drought of the past few years is over

and venture capital is flowing again. But starting a high tech business

is no less challenging and demanding than it’s ever been, even in an

environment of venture capital overhang.

Pure

talent and winning ideas are never enough. Whether you’re an

entrepreneur in a garage, dorm room, lab or inside a big company, there

are fundamental business insights and skills you need

to succeed.

Start-up authority and

popular business author Guy

Kawasaki and experts from Garage, along with Silicon Valley

leaders and mavericks, venture capitalists, and successful start-up

CEOs explore the art of starting up.

The conference

includes breakfast and lunch, including a Fireside Chat with

Guy Kawasaki and

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch.

Check out the agenda

here, then rush to register.

Rush, as Early Bird registration ends tomorrow, November 3rd. (Yes, I

know, posting this late, sorry…)

The conference ends

at 3:30, and an hour later a related event, Launch: Silicon

Valley starts at the same venue.

Launch: Silicon Valley is an

opportunity for the next generation of emerging technology companies

will to tell their stories to the world – literally, as the event will

be videotaped and broadcast later. Over 150 startup

submissions from all over the country, several European countries and

as far as New Zealand have been reviewed by an Advisory Board of

investors and executives. The 30 most interesting companies have been

invited to participate in the “Launch: Silicon Valley”

showcase, and 15 of these companies have

also been invited to deliver product

presentation to an audience of Silicon

Valley’s leading movers and shakers.

Product presentations will take place in three

categories, 5 companies each:

Information Technology, Communications & related
technologies
Life Science, Material Science,
CleanTech
Consumer &
Other

Please check out the complete

agenda, and again, rush to register,

as Early Bird pricing ends tomorrow, November 3rd for this

event, too. The Registration site allows you to book both

events together, or any of them selectively.

Now,

for the surprise: Silicon Valley Auto

Group will be displaying Aston Martin, Bentley, and

Lamborghini cars at both events, and I’m hearing they’ll schedule

test-drives. I’m sure half the participants – the cream of

the Valley VC community – can actually afford these cars… as for the

other half, the Entrepreneurs, how is this for an incentive?

Tags: SVASE,

garage.com, Guy

Kawasaki, Art of the Start, entrepreneurship, startups, silicon

valley, social networking, business events, lamborghini, aston

martin, bentley, venture capital, vc, vc

funding, startup

pitch, launch silicon valley, product showcase, techcrunch

Filed Under: Bay Area, Business, Social Networking, Startups ·

Mega-Event: Art of the Start / Launch Silicon Valley with Guy Kawasaki by Garage / SVASE (and the Lamborghini is a Surprise…)

Posted on November 2, 2006 ·

(Updated)
Mark November 8th, Wednesday on your calendar for a full-day entrepreneurial super-event (actually two) at the Microsoft Conference Center in Mountain View.

At 8am SVASE will present The Art of the Start, a conference all about helping entrepreneurs succeed, offering time-tested, battle-hardened business strategies and the opportunity to meet experienced entrepreneurs and investors.

The drought of the past few years is over and venture capital is flowing again. But starting a high tech business is no less challenging and demanding than it’s ever been, even in an environment of venture capital overhang.

Pure talent and winning ideas are never enough. Whether you’re an entrepreneur in a garage, dorm room, lab or inside a big company, there are fundamental business insights and skills you need to succeed.

Start-up authority and popular business author Guy Kawasaki and experts from Garage, along with Silicon Valley leaders and mavericks, venture capitalists, and successful start-up CEOs explore the art of starting up.

The conference includes breakfast and lunch, including a Fireside Chat with Guy Kawasaki and Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. Check out the agenda here, then rush to register. Rush, as Early Bird registration ends tomorrow, November 3rd. (Yes, I know, posting this late, sorry…)

The conference ends at 3:30, and an hour later a related event, Launch: Silicon Valley starts at the same venue.

Launch: Silicon Valley is an opportunity for the next generation of emerging technology companies will to tell their stories to the world – literally, as the event will be videotaped and broadcast later. Over 150 startup submissions from all over the country, several European countries and as far as New Zealand have been reviewed by an Advisory Board of investors and executives. The 30 most interesting companies have been invited to participate in the “Launch: Silicon Valley” showcase, and 15 of these companies have also been invited to deliver product presentation to an audience of Silicon Valley’s leading movers and shakers.

Product presentations will take place in three categories, 5 companies each:

Information Technology, Communications & related technologies
Life Science, Material Science, CleanTech
Consumer & Other

Please check out the complete agenda, and again, rush to register, as Early Bird pricing ends tomorrow, November 3rd for this event, too. The Registration site allows you to book both events together, or any of them selectively.

Now, for the surprise: Silicon Valley Auto Group will be displaying Aston Martin, Bentley, and Lamborghini cars at both events, and I’m hearing they’ll schedule test-drives. I’m sure half the participants – the cream of the Valley VC community – can actually afford these cars… as for the other half, the Entrepreneurs, how is this for an incentive?

Update (11/4): I can now give away a few hugely discounted tickets ( $49 vs. $199).

Tags: SVASE, garage.com, Guy Kawasaki, Art of the Start, entrepreneurship, startups, silicon valley, social networking, business events, lamborghini, aston martin, bentley, venture capital, vc, vc funding, startup pitch, launch silicon valley, product showcase, techcrunch

Filed Under: Bay Area, Startups ·

Losers of the Google / JotSpot Deal

Posted on November 2, 2006 ·

(Updated)
In my longer analysis of the JotSpot sale to Google I listed a group of JotSpot customers who may feel disadvantaged by the deal: those who’d rather pay to have their data at a company whose pure business model is charging for services than enjoy free service by Google whose primary business model requires dissecting/analyzing their data left and right.

I also pointed out that several competitors are offering deals to migrate these customers to their platform free or at a discount. Socialtext and Atlassian were the first to come forward with their offers, but since the previous post I heard about Central Desktop, (update: see correction in this comment by Central Desktop’s CEO), ProjectForum and I’m sure there are others. (Clearly, the wiki market is growing and sadly, I don’t know all the players). Jerry Bowles and Tom Raftery wrote more on the subject.

We all seem to have missed a point here: there is a group of customers for whom migration is not optional but a necessity: participants in the JotSpot Wiki Server beta program. Like I’ve said before, as much as I am a SaaS believer, it is not a religion, apparently the feedback from most customers is that they want their wiki behind the firewall – JotSpot’s response was the Wiki Server edition. These customers now have a rude awakening: JotSpot notified them that they would discontinue the beta program. Current customers have the right to continue using the product for the remainder of the 90-day beta period (what’s the point? ) but there is no support, no migration plan – game over, bad luck. Of course JotSpot had the right to do this, these were not paying customers (yet), and a beta is a beta, after all. But a beta program is a mutual effort, and especially early on requires a lot of time and effort from the customers, so it’s clear that these customers may feel let down. While most competitive migration offers are hosted solutions, it’s this specific “betrayed” group that Atlassian goes after: they offer migration help and discounted rates on Confluence, their behind-the-firewall enterprise wiki. So let down or not, these customers may eventually be better off on a more mature, robust enterprise platform.

As a sidenote, this is the second time that JotSpot drops a product benefiting a competitor: when they discontinued JotBox, Socialtext reaped the benefits by moving those customers to their Appliance. Update: Please read the comment exchange below for correction by JotSpot.

Update (11/29): two post on how the deal affected JotSpot partners and customers:
JotSpot Got the Goldmine. Its Partners and Customers Got the Shaft.
The JotSpot Google Merger

Update (11/30) the above post, The JotSpot Google Merger is now deleted, supposedly under pressure by … (?) Read the story on TechCrunch.

Filed Under: Business, Collaboration, Customer Service, Enterprise Software, SaaS, Software, Startups, Technology · Tagged: atlassian, confluence, Enterprise Software, enterprise wiki, Google, Jotspot, jotspot wiki server, SaaS, socialtext, wiki

Pathetic Small Business (?) Consultant

Posted on October 31, 2006 ·

This is not a particularly nice title, I know, but enough is enough. I generally like Small Business Trends , sometimes even quote their material, but I can’t help but wonder what Jack Yoest is doing there.

The first weird post I picked on was 10 Reminders for Effective Management, which technically was advice to small business owners, but it reminded me of the 80’s corporate mid-manager’s survival guides, as in “how to BS your way through your career, looking busy while doing nothing“. No kidding.

In his next piece he recommended that small businesses be run like a military unit. That shocked me again; I for one tend to believe (small) businesses are better off with a team of partners and collaborators than a military organization.

Today he writes about Small Business Business Structure. A few selec quotes:

“Companies should be designed on the ol’ fashioned hierarchical organizational chart so that praise can easily flow up. And the heart-burn can flow down”

“The best structure is a pyramid with the small business owner at the tippy top with a few direct reports. The employee wanting to bother and waste the time of the boss will have to crawl over layers of managers before getting to you, the owner.”

“Put each business function in a box. Every action and process in to a discrete description. … Put employees in a box and a label.”

“And finally, close your door.”

I’ve been long wondering if these posts are meant to be satirical, but I’m afraid they are real. He really means it. Read his posts – if for nothing else, the entertainment value.

Tags: SMB, SME, Small Business, Consulting, Management consulting, Jack Yoest

Filed Under: Blogging, Business, Startups ·