Millenium Marketer

Last week, I saw something about OpenSocial being used through Google Gadgets.

Open Social still has a lot of kinks in it as a newly released October 2007 source code interface, although as more social networking applications are created, the more important it will be from a developer or marketing standpoint to implement this API. It’s uncertain how quickly adoption of the API will pick up.

Even more astonishing–Yahoo! is combining forces with Google to strengthen the Open Social platform. And then you say, “What? Aren’t they rivals??”

Yes, but according to BusinessWeek, “Yahoo is still fighting off Microsoft’s marriage proposal, but it is still open to making friends.”

Another site, Techtree.com, India, says the plot of the story is like many Bollywood potboilers. “Now Google and Yahoo! seem to be becoming the new best friends for each other.”

As rivals, they have their interests much more aligned than with Microsoft, and it’s no secret that Google is constantly pursuing products to reduce market share for Microsoft. Well, that explains the drama, at least for now.

Whenever a journalist writes a blogpost with an angry rant against public relations practitioners, the word spreads like wildfire. Agencies cross their fingers and close their eyes before reading the forward that gets past around.

I didn’t really believe it before but journalists apparently do get angry about being under appreciated for their talents. Good writers are getting quickly trumped by technology and the paper boy isn’t worth much to me either. As far as I am concerned, I don’t want a wad of paper delivered to my home every day, especially when my News Central is right at my desktop after I check my e-mail.

I visited <a href=”http://www.angryjournalist.com>The Angry Journalist</a> and the most recent gripe by Angry Journalist #2201 is a fairly amusing gripe about Social Media:

“Does journalism even exist anymore? A five-line blurb on the Web? Whoop de doo. Get a real job.”

It’s not really clear what his gripe is about exactly, it could be the idea that newspapers don’t publish new news and blogs are ubiquitous at this point. But yeah, I get that. Journalists are struggling to keep up, but just like everybody else, journalists have to innovate themselves. After a few months at a local daily paper, entirely paid by local advertisers, I knew I had to get out. The newspaper’s publisher at the time refused to even archive their paper on the web.

As a girl who met her first Apple computer at age 9, I thought this was just ridiculous.

Angry Journalist #2201, I get where you are coming from. News quality is decreasing and the level of information on the web is just crazy. But maybe, just maybe, “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Who said journalism has to be owned by a select few? The first newspaper was probably started by a guy who was experimenting with a printing press and just went around talking to people. No joke.

Well, I can’t say it’s not true. There are still very few people who use the wide range of social media tools that are out there and most people think it is about YouTube and Facebook or MySpace.

Mack Collier on Marketing Profs is talking about social media tools like Twitter, Seesmic, and Viddler.

I don’t know what it is about these social media tools but the average person doesn’t just integrate social media tools into their life, probably because they aren’t quick software gadget adopters. Sure, if you go to the South by Southwest conference, you have a microcosm of bloggers and social media chatters. Unfortunately, this won’t catch on with everybody.

It would be cool to see Twitter grow big but Facebook status messages seem to work nicely for most people. This is a dilemma for those who want to add more social media tools to the webosphere.

By the way, here’s a video posted by Guy Kawasaki on his blog about how he and Steve Ballmer had a witty tete-a-tete. To me, this is like web 1.0 vs. web 2.0

*I was going to post about revenue models today but I met with one of the co-founders of Zonbu today and could not resist posting this instead.*

Business is often an elusive practice. For some odd reason, some businesses succeed and others fail simply by trial and error. So is the term entrepreneurship, and so I should point out here that for all the academic theory and research surrounding this idea, it is those who have been able to embody the spirit of entrepreneurship who have been truly successful.

As for Grégoire Gentil, when I met him in his office on El Camino Real, it became evident that whatever the traits are for an entrepreneur, he is inexplicably an individual that embodies those traits not only in spirit but in action.

Gentil launched three businesses since 1996. In 2006, Gentil and his colleague Alain Rossman created Zonbu.

So what is Zonbu? The technology has the look and feel of the traditional desktop (for $99) or laptop (for $279) but isn’t quite the desktop or laptop that we know. Aimed at casual laptop users, Zonbu provides an open source software where the computer is more of a portal to the data stored on a server somewhere rather than a computer.

In addition to that, most of the company’s revenue comes from a subscription based service rather than the device itself–a type of HP printer model where the printer itself is a cheap base price, but you pay more for the print cartridges later.

Gentil, as a technology geek and avid trendwatcher, has been able to create what he calls a “disruptive technology”–the very thing that will keep away corporate giants like Dell and Microsoft from his market niche.

As a disruptive technology, it tends to just elusive enough for the corporate giants not to move into this space, and Gentil attributes this to defining a very clear and specific niche where larger players may not be able to support.

So how has Gentil been so successful at creating 4 start-ups to date? Gentil had no direct answer, except to say, “You have to be stubborn enough to believe in yourself and what you are doing, because others may not believe in what you are doing.”

He has also been very good at simply identifying solid trends and opportunities. Zonbu is the intersection between cloud computing, sound hardware design and open source. It’s an ambitious idea for sure, as he has also been able to integrate poignant environmental issues into the benefits of the technology.

For those of us who want to start a business, Gentil advises, “You have to start early.” The older you are the less opportunity there is to succeed. My perception of this is that perhaps the more responsibilities and pressures there are to succeed. This is centrally against the principle that entrepreneurs must be able to pursue risk without boundaries because entrepreneurs risk failure just as much as success.

However it seems that Gentil’s skill at identifying opportunities, “stubborn” nature and technology knowledge have contributed most to Gentil’s success thus far.

In addition to that, it also helps if you “hire people who are smarter than you.”

I read Dean Takahashi’s column today about how Apple has been very successful at innovating their products recently and taken away some of Microsoft’s market share.

Recently I wrote about Microsoft’s offer to purchase Yahoo and I think Takahashi is right. Microsoft has to solidify their core business before they tackle the internet space. Yahoo as well seems to be losing sight of their core business by engaging in the Microsoft deal although more recent news suggests that stockholders are holding Yahoo back from making any deals, not to mention that such a merger would be challenging with two very different cultures.

Microsoft may have been largely successful due to the large market share in PC products versus Apple in early years, but if the price point is right, consumers may just switch to Apple, and especially since it seems to have more intuitive and better software than Microsoft’s products.

*Updated: Photo to represent not the iPhone but the core business of computers, laptops and OS software. Courtesy of 65 Bit Computers.com

In the next week or so, I will be writing a series of articles that I will call “The Start Up 101″ Series which will be my observations on entrepreneurship from meeting entrepreneurs and what makes a start-up opportunity successful. Not only that–but people can be entrepreneurial while working at corporate companies and there are several Silicon Valley companies prefer this approach than the traditional corporate style.

Some of things that I will cover in the next week based on my observations:
- Characteristics of an entrepreneur
- Identifying opportunities
- Goal setting and creating benchmarks
- Surveying the competitive landscape
- And more as I think of other related topics.

Today is about defining characteristics of entrepreneurs.

First, I’ll start by defining my personally coined term “Rookie Stylie.” I don’t think I had a chance up to now to define what “Rookie Stylie” really means to me. It is finesse, confidence and individuality to make connections and think critically about the business world. Not only that, I will have to say that it is also about being a young professional, maybe in your twenties and having a ton of potential to live up to your passions versus the old skool paradigm of working for the Man.

Entrepreneurship is the art of “taking or entering into opportunities” and many people here have dreams of having their own start-up or company. In Silicon Valley, where everyone is trying to stay competitive, we have to be our own agents or consultants, even if we are working in the corporate world. I don’t think you have to be a public figure in your community to be an entrepreneur, per se, but you can be an aspiring entrepreneur if you have passion and motivation to work towards dreams and life goals. The fame comes afterwards (and only if it really is fame that you are seeking. Personally I think being a strong thought leader is a service to the community not a celebrity role.)

Another aspect that is important is to stay focused. I learned recently that it is easy to get distracted because there are a lot of wonderful things in the world that can pull away one’s attention, but having an entrepreneurial spirit means you’re able to seperate the important stuff from the “crap” much like we have to do with a lot of the information that is available us through the internet today.

Next up: how can you recognize you have a good opportunity to pursue?

Resources

The world is abuzz today as Microsoft has proposed to buy Yahoo! AND Yahoo! is actually considering the offer. There are often mixed feelings for users of services acquisitions happen like this. Microsoft isn’t great when it comes to innovation and has been better at simply buying companies who innovate well.

I’m surprised because in some ways, I felt like I should have seen this coming. Microsoft started to go after the big players when they made a bid on Facebook and it’s starting to be come clearer now that they want a bigger share of the online space, while they have been leaders in desktop software for a long time.

Economically speaking, mergers are never good for consumers. First of all, Yahoo’s problem recently has been in scalability and Microsoft can’t solve that problem. There is going to be a lot of organizational change if and when the merger takes place. Second, Microsoft’s goals and Yahoo’s don’t seem well aligned. Microsoft is a stodgy old, uninnovative company and Yahoo needs to figure out some way to act quicker, stay nimble against their number 1 competitor Google.

Maybe it’s because I am a user of Yahoo products, but this just sounds like a bad idea.

Other articles fielded on this story:

How does it happen that the entire health of the stock market is affected by one Rogue Trader can mobilize the Fed to do something?

My former accounting and personal finance professor once said that the best way to buy stocks is to go by the old saying “Buy in May and Go Away.” If you believe in the health of the company that you paid for and the health of the US economy, then there shouldn’t be any need to micromanage the company.

Now that is going to change because the US economy is not so stable. China, the sleeping giant, is just at the birth of the Industrial revolution and moving fast. A lot of Americans still think of credit cards as free money and look beyond interest rates as negative incentives not to pay off their debts, which is probably what gave in to the subprime crisis anyway.

Fellow Millenials: Listen up! USE that altruistic nature that you so value and help the US prepare for a healthier economic future. You don’t want to end up on the streets smelling more like ammonia than Coco Chanel.

Yes, I am a millenial too and yes, perhaps I was spoiled by doting parents but once they let go, you get the real idea about what rock bottom looks like.

Living in the “now” is not as important as living comfortably. We’re most likely not going to remember the fancy Coach bag at age 80 and in need of health treatment that probably costs just as much as the bag, which won’t be trendy any longer.

The way the financial sector has structured their marketing tactics (0% APR, Health Services on Credit, Buy Two for One, etc) just to increase market size has to change. It’s done nothing but taught us that everything is for free, even if temporarily. And it’s obvious that today’s market simply has the kind of behavior that expects everything for free: free internet, free services and instant cash. Young people have to become more educated about the way they spend their money. The color black is almost always in fashion, so ladies, gents and metrosexuals, let’s try to remember that red should only be used in moderation.

And for the anti-consumers out there: you know you’re just as bad toting lululemon gear, $50 to $100 fair trade yoga bag and taking yoga classes that most likely cost you $150 per month. This is enough to feed a family in Cambodia for half a year.

Let’s get real here. Do something huge, save the world economy by SAVING. And if you’re going to make an investment, do it but don’t expect instant gains. We’re going to need it when Hydroxatone becomes our new best friend.

This is just a random observation but I daresay in my group of friends, those who are reaching their 30s are less likely to use Facebook and then you have the oddball professor or teacher or parent who is trying to stay hip and connect with their teenagers. Are these non-Facebook users laggards or simply not interested?

Just read on Reuters.com today that a Dutch company is going to launch Readius, a handheld mobile device with a Kindle Reader like screen. It’s a Phillips subsidiary that is launching the product and I must say, we all love mobile and we like the idea of the Kindle Reader which is why I’m getting really interested in this product. Reviewers of the Kindle have commented that the Kindle is kind of clunky and 70s-ish and I think Readius could solve that problem. It sounds like a good idea to have a phone that you can use and a reader that you can pull out when you feel like reading.

Now all we have to do is wait for the reviewers to start giving their pros and cons on this product.

It’s going to be priced the same as the iPhone, though, so that will really put up some barriers for people like me who are laggards and tend to wait and see what they early adopters do with such a thing.