Guidewire » Outside the Valley

Zaragoza (Spain) Opens Entrepreneurial Incubator

chrisshipley — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 20:51:09 +0000

Congratulations are in order for our partner, the City of Zaragoza in northern Spain, which completed a key milestone in the city’s transformation to an information economy. Centro de Incubación Empresarial (CIEM) a 2,000 sq meter facility opened this month to house up to 30 young companies building businesses in information and green technology and alternative energy.

Designed to be a zero emission building, the center was conceived in response to the economic crisis that hit Spain in 2009. I was in Zaragoza less than two years ago when city leaders proposed the incubator as a means of fostering startups and creating new, high-value jobs in the region. The city broke ground for the facility last May and opened its doors less than 10 months later. The quick pace from conception to completion gives one hope that governments can move decisively and quickly when opportunity avails itself, and Mayor Belloch and his team should be congratulated for the vision and will to get the job done.

CIEM will be managed by another visionary institution in Zaragoza, the City of Knowledge Foundation, managed by my friend Ricardo Pedrol. The Foundation was conceived by the Belloch administration as the instrument to create and engage with innovative programs that advanced the city’s quest to embrace information technology and entrepreneurship as a new economic driver. By empowering the Foundation to act on new innovation initiatives, the city can move quickly to institute new programs without getting bogged down in political squabbles.

While CIEM will focus initially on housing and supporting local and regional companies, the broader vision for the Center is to serve as an incubator for Spanish companies generally, and ultimately as a gateway for companies outside of Spain seeking to move into the Spanish market. For entrepreneurs in the Guidewire Group network, CIEM becomes an important node in global network of organizations supporting the global ambitions of startups. Just as Guidewire Group’s Studio G is a “soft landing” for companies making forays into Silicon Valley, CIEM will become a landing zone for U.S. companies seeking to enter the Spanish and European market.

Guidewire Group has enjoyed a long relationship with the City of Zaragoza, which played host to our Innovate! conference series since 2005, and which helped us transform our model into a business acceleration program that enables foreign Economic Development Agencies to support their entrepreneurs with a greater global understanding of the innovation ecosystem. In fact, Guidewire Group will return to Zaragoza the week of June 20, 2011 for an intensive week of Studio G workshops.

I’m looking forward to our return to Zaragoza and exploring this important new facility.

For more information about CIEM, Contact Ricardo Pedrol

PIPELINE Is a Model Startup Empowerment Program

carlacthompson — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 20:12:48 +0000

Those of us who live on the coasts can easily regard the space between New York and San Francisco as little more than a six hour plane flight. After all, the brains of American innovation are in Silicon Valley and the pocket book to pay for it is in the Big Apple. At least that’s what we’re led to believe by our own arrogance and the perennial question “How can we become the Silicon Valley of Fill-In-The-Blank?”

On the face of it, it’s a silly question, sort of like me wondering how I can become the Heidi Klum of overweight, middle-age women. You, dear Fill-in-The-Blank, cannot. No more than I can become a supermodel at this or any age. We don’t have the right stuff and trying to fake it just makes us look silly.

That’s not to say that Fill-In-The-Blank doesn’t have the right stuff to be the center of its own business universe or that great companies can’t be fostered in the Fly Over states. In fact, they are.

I had the honor of working with ten such companies earlier this month as part of the PIPELINE program, funded by the State of Kansas and expertly led by CEO Joni Cobb. In each of the last four years, PIPELINE has identified 10 high-potential companies to participate in a year-long immersion program. The companies come from a broadly-defined technology sector, and represent remarkable innovations in bioscience, materials engineering, consumer Internet applications, education, energy efficiency, robotics, pharmaceuticals, and a host of industry-specific enabling applications. Over the course of the year, they receive support for business planning, run market validation studies, learn effective communications skills, and connect into a national network of business mentors.

Then, they grow their businesses in Kansas, hiring local talent, investing in local infrastructure, paying local taxes, building the local economy. Indeed, PIPELINE is driving these entrepreneurs to better outcomes than a typical investment portfolio might experience. These companies are doing astoundingly well – and during an economic downturn, no less. Most have exponentially grown their businesses, and others have retooled and started newer, higher potential companies after realizing they were not on the right track. And in this awful economy, we’ve seen PIPELINE companies with substantial exits completed or in process. Most importantly, the entrepreneurs at the head of these PIPELINE companies are paying it forward by encouraging others to start and grow new businesses. As the program enters its fifth year, it has spawned an active alumni network in which past Innovators, as the program participants are called, become active mentors to current participants and to entrepreneurs at large.

No doubt State and local legislators eager to see big change fast – or at least in time for the next election cycle — wring their hands and wonder why Kansas isn’t the Silicon Valley of the Heartland. They may worry if one little program can do enough to revitalize the economy and stem the brain drain to the vaunted coasts. I don’t have the numbers to make my case, but I have to think the bang for the buck of this little program is remarkable. PIPELINE – a relatively low-cost, high-impact business development program — is a model for economic development throughout a country where once vibrant towns and cities are struggling to remake themselves for the Information Age. And through a network of national mentors, the program is making footprints in the Innovation Ecosystem far beyond the borders of Kansas, becoming an emerging brand for programmed mentorship.

No question, by comparison, Kansas is no Silicon Valley and never will be. And that’s okay. In fact, it’s better than okay; it’s essential. Kansas, and every other Fill-In-The-Blank region, has a fundamental responsibility to foster economic growth, and nothing drives growth more effectively than entrepreneurship. Delivering programs that shift the odds of success in favor of the entrepreneur and driving policy that incites young businesses to invest and grow locally are building blocks of economic growth and sustainability. PIPELINE does both. It is an effective program that other states and regions would do well to model.

Silicon Ivy and Main Street: Both Need a Thriving Ecosystem

chrisshipley — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:33:26 +0000

Last week, my friend Ami Kassar posted a Facebook note coining a phenonomon he called the “Silicon Ivy Bubble.”

He wrote:

In the Silicon Ivy bubble, there is a perception about entrepreneurship. In Silicon Ivy, an entrepreneur tends to look like this:

1. You need a unique proprietary idea that could grow into a billion dollar company;

2. You must raise rounds of capital – b, c, angel, bridge. There is an entire ecosystem built around supporting this bubble.

3. You must follow these steps.

Ami’s conclusion, though, is that these Silicon Ivy startups are far outpaced by businesses that “start on Main Street” where there is “typically no ‘secret sauce’ at the core of the business.”

Main Street businesses are traditional companies where an entrepreneur’s recognition of the need to provide for family and a need in the community coincide. They are businesses funded by savings or maybe, if the entrepreneur is both lucky and good, a bank loan.

Ami sees plenty of Main Street businesses at his ideablob site, where entrepreneurs post business ideas and receive business advice in return. The site is the kind of ecosystem that Ami laments is missing from the Main Street business arena, a vibrant ecosystem of support akin to that which supports those Silicon Ivy businesses.

As I thought about Ami’s post, my first inclination was as you might expect: the dynamics and metrics of a venture-fundable business are vastly different from those of the sort of lifestyle businesses that pop up on on Main Streets everywhere. Silicon Valley – or Silicon Ivy – is home to a high-stakes ecosystem exactly because the stakes are so big. It takes a lot of heavy lifting to build a $100M company, then grow it some more.

It’s different on Main Street. A sole proprietor, a banker, maybe a real estate agent. Set up shop. Hang out the shingle. Get to work. Bring home the bacon, fry it up the pan. Feed the family. Pay the mortgage.

As if there is something wrong with that.

Yes, venture-backed businesses require a certain scale and ambition. They are bigger businesses, potentially, than Main Street businesses. But not necessarily better businesses. Main Street businesses, or what some folks describe (often with derision) as “lifestyle businesses,” are good businesses. Some are even great businesses. They simply don’t scale the way a venture capitalist requires in order to make an investment.

Main Street businesses, writes Ami, “need a place to feel the energy that exists in Silicon Valley coffee shops. They need access to financing for their businesses. They need mentors and cliques like the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. They need hip, cool resources that keep them inspired.”

I’d argue that they also need our respect. These businesses deserve a vibrant ecosystem of support because they are, in fact, the life blood of the global economy. They create jobs and drive productivity. They are arguably the lever in economic recovery.

And, oddly enough, many – and I might argue, most — of Silicon Valley startups are Main Street-scale businesses masquerading as venture-investable enterprises simply because they are based on that spit of land between San Francisco and San Jose. These are business that won’t find success with the venture community, but wouldn’t dare to identify themselves as Main Street businesses.

Maybe in all of this discussion, though, is the realization that a large part of Silicon Valley is Main Street. . . and a block or two of Main Street in most every global business center is, in fact, Silicon Valley.

Where To Now?

carlacthompson — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:25:26 +0000

Chris and I have been asked one question many times in the past few weeks: how will the financial crisis impact the start-up ecosystem? The answer depends partly on your place in that ecosystem but if I were forced to boil it down to one pithy statement, I’d say this: The real world has horned in on our heady idyll and that is a very good thing.

If there’s one point at which Guidewire Group relentlessly hammers, it is this: Remember the Masses. And when cash and attention are flowing to ideas that don’t make sense for everyday consumers – as they have been the past few years – it’s hard to keep that point top of mind. So what if Joe Six-Pack (sorry, couldn’t resist) doesn’t understand lifestreaming? He’s a hopeless fellow who doesn’t understand technology and should stick with digital picture frames, assuming he can get them to work. But as anyone at Pets.com can attest, Joe Six-Pack very much matters. Without him, your product is destined to a very small market of people who will leave you when the next big thing comes around.

So as markets crash around us and VCs become increasingly skittish, what’s an entrepreneur to do? First and foremost, stay true to your nature. No matter the economic climate, entrepreneurs will always be entrepreneurs. It’s in their bones to innovate and as long as there are problems to be solved, there will be creative minds working to solve them. Smart entrepreneurs will either tweak current companies to answer real-world needs or develop new solutions for them. For instance, I expect an influx of financial solutions in the coming year. We explored this idea a bit at DEMOfall last month, with companies like Rudder and Green Sherpa recognizing the hole in personal financial management. Many consumers complain that Mint, while well-designed and intuitive, is also labor-intensive. In a climate where consumers find themselves budgeting to the penny for gas and groceries, reactive, super-smart financial tools will be more important than ever. And how many of us could now appreciate similar functionality around investment planning? Even smaller companies designing Facebook and iPhone apps should jump on this bandwagon. Where’s a location-aware, gas-price app for the iPhone? Or an investment tracker for Facebook? If successful entrepreneurship is about locating pain points, this is arguably an ideal market in which to develop; we are literally awash in them.

I’m getting a bit off track here. I didn’t intend to start throwing out product ideas, so let me return to the original point: Remember the Masses. Ideally, I’d hope the current economic climate will serve as an alarm bell for start ups. A smart use of your time, money and energies will be to keep one target customer in mind: your next-door neighbor. What technologies do they use on a regular basis? I’m betting its Google, Facebook, Kodak Gallery/Shutterfly and the like. They haven’t heard of FriendFeed and don’t see the point of Twitter. So if you’re FriendFeed, start thinking about bridges to the real world. How do you take that vibrant community and make it… need-able by mass consumers? I truly believe FriendFeed has the potential to become the next Facebook with consumers; it just needs to find that one pain point that will pull people in.

This feels a bit like a broken record, as I think we had this same conversation in 2001. The start up economy will find ways to thrive; innovators will never stop innovating. There will be corrections, if only because they’re needed. Sorry, but we just don’t need another social aggregation app; let’s hone the ones we have now. The difference, though, is in the technologies that exist today. When the first bubble burst, we didn’t have Facebook with a huge, primed user base, ready and waiting for the site to go to the next level. Semantic technologies were just hatching in university labs and think tanks; they’re now set to inherently transform our online actions and interactions. If anything, this is one of the most exciting times in technology. When funding is scarce and only the truly brave are venturing forth, the resulting ideas and companies are sure to be groundbreaking.

IVA's Startup Competition Finalists…And the Winner Is…

chrisshipley — Thu, 22 May 2008 06:56:12 +0000

The honor of announcing the winners of the Israeli Venture Association’s Startup Competition, a business pitch event co-sponsored by DEMO’s partner in Germany.

Sixty-nine Israeli startups submitted plans and 11 finalists were selected by a panel of judges to present during the conference in DEMO’s tried-and-true six-minute format. A few of the finalists should be familiar to DEMO devotees. DEMO alums Worklight and Delver each made it to the final round.

Here’s a quick rundown of the final pitches:

Techtium is a fables semiconductor company developing an integrated circuit that allows portable electronics and other consumer devices to run on hybrid rechargeable power as well as alkaline batteries. The company’s Energi to Go implementation is an external charger that adds three hours of talk time to a mobile phone.

Worklight (which was Serendipity Technologies when it launched at DEMO 07) allows businesses to easily integrate salespeople and channel partners into the the enterprise data flow using secure RSS or AJAX widgets.

Diagnostic Technologies is medical diagnostics company developing a biomarker that detects the risk of toxemia in pregnant women. As many as 207,000 women die from pre-eclampsia each year, women who can be saved by this company’s $50 blood test.

WeFi is creating a world-wide network of open WiFi hot spots. A small client application identifies available WiFi hot spots, while collecting data about open networks that is added to the company’s comprehensive database.

Redbend Software develops Fota – firmware over the air: The company’s technology enables mobile operators to update mobile firmware over the air, reflashing the device even while it is in use.

ID-U Biometrics uses unique eye-movement patterns to identify people. This very early stage company is developing an application that detects eye movement as users engage with online commerce applications.

Delver, which launched its technology at DEMO 08, crosses social network concepts with search to allow users to find content, media and people within their social networks.

Modu is a tiny, modular mobile phone, that can be slipped into a wide variety of modu jackets – stylishly designed phone enclosures – and modu mates – modu-enabled consumer electronics devices.

Petnovations is developing products to improve the lives of pets and pet owners. The company’s first product is CatGenie, a self-cleaning litter box. To come soon: a dog collar that automatically dispenses anti-flea solution.

Gizmoz is a consumer entertainment site that lets individuals create 3-D avatars from their 2-D photograph. The company is soon to release Be A Star which combines content from branded media, such as feature films, with the company’s avatars.

Nearly 1,500 people voted by SMS for their favorite businesses. Their choices, organizers told me, aligned with the top finishers as determined by the judges. The IVA Startup Competition prize went to an unfunded, incubator-based company: ID-U Biometrics. The company automatically receives a spot at DEMOgermany in October.

The Week That Was and Will Be

carlacthompson — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:35:41 +0000

I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never be an A-list blogger, primarily because I just can’t keep up a daily flow of posts. I intended a quick piece on the CBS/CNET story yesterday but the day got away from me. In short, I agree with Marshall. (Perhaps that’s my new blogging philosophy: “Ditto.”) I am bound and determined though to dash off a quick post on the week behind and the week ahead.

Chris and I ran through a day packed with meetings in Austin earlier this week, screening potential startups for DEMOfall. While I can’t reveal particulars, I can say that there were multiple “Wow” moments. And the companies were overwhelmingly un-Web 2.0. Energy conservation, computer security, wireless USB – Austin startups are innovating across the technology map. We ended the day with a jam-packed cocktail party and all manner of great conversations. It was an excellent conclusion to a road show that has taken Chris across the US. For anyone in doubt, innovation and thriving tech communities are by no means exclusive to Silicon Valley. Can’t wait to reveal more on these companies in September.

The week ahead has two interesting events I want to plug: SemTech and the French Tech Tour. The Semantic Technology Conference, at the San Jose Fairmont May 18-22, may not immediately send thrills up your spine but I can promise you that semantics is where technology’s future lies. Love it, hate it or completely befuddled by it, semantics aim to transform our Internet into a smarter, simpler, more intuitive world in which to live and work. I’ll be on a panel discussing just how we’re going to draw everyone into this exciting world, Taking Semantic Technology to the Masses. With Chris Morrison of VentureBeat, Mark Johnson of Powerset, Thomas Tague of the Reuters Calais Initiative and Josh Dilworth of Porter Novelli, the conversation is sure to be lively. If you have any issues or questions you’d like us to address, leave them in the comments.

On Wednesday, May 21, I’ll be participating in the French Tech Tour at Microsoft’s Mountain View campus. Hosted by the French Embassy, it will be a day of discussion and networking, introducing French startups in the US. If you’re at all invested in the global tech landscape, don’t miss it. And if you’re looking for the cocktail party to be at on Tuesday night, join us at Mighty in San Francisco.

I’ll do my darndest to blog on all of this, even if they’re just one-paragraph updates. You can also follow my Twitter feed if you’re interested in the minutia. Be warned though, parenting issues and political diatribes sometimes crop up there.

Imitation Is Flattery? Or Just Bad for Entrepreneurs?

chrisshipley — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 01:10:40 +0000

There are a dozen other, perhaps more important and insightful, posts I’d rather be writing today. But, alas, my friends at TechCrunch put a wall in my path today and I just can’t ignore it, despite counsel from perhaps wiser advisers to do just that.

You see, TechCrunch and Jason Calacanis announced their plans for what is now being called TechCrunch50. Reading the TC50 site was a deja vu experience. The concept, the “rules,” the agenda . . . all out of the DEMO playbook.

You might remember that TechCrunch announced its first startup launch event, what was then called TC20, while sitting in the second row at DEMO 07. At the time I believed, as I still do now, that entrepreneurs need a variety of venues and opportunities to address the market. If TC20, which becameTC40 presumably when the blog’s desire to attract more entrepreneurs outstripped its promise of super-exclusivity, can provide a platform and give wings to entrepreneurs, then good on ‘em. That can only benefit the tech ecosystem.

But, as I told VentureBeat’s Chris Morrison this afternoon, I’m baffled by TechCrunch’s decision to put its event literally on top of DEMOfall 08. DEMOfall is Sept 7 – 9, TC50 (the number has grown from the original TC20 concept) is Sept 8 – 10.

I’m not naive. I’m not at all surprised by the competition. A year or so ago, TechCrunch set its sites on DEMO and has been lobbing missiles our way ever since. Why? Honestly, I don’t know. This is a great big market and there is ample opportunity to support the startups in it.

I also understand that it’s much easier to imitate a successful venture than to create a new value proposition. And if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then consider me well flattered today.

What baffles me, though, is why an organization that purports to encourage startups would create an environment that effectively asks them to scream in a hurricane.

The companies who accept our invitation to participate at DEMO receive a ton of media coverage. DEMO 08 did well over 200 million media impressions . . . and that’s without counting the audience who read about DEMO companies in blogs and other online media and those who continue to flock to DEMO.com to view the videos of their presentations.

The companies that participated at TC40 got lots of attention, too, and certainly I’ll not take anything away from the audience reach of TechCrunch.

By putting TC50 up against DEMO, TechCrunch has created a challenging dilemma for the best startups.

Sure, they’ll have to choose which venue will more appropriately serve their needs — and the should. Here, DEMO stands on its 18-year record. The entire DEMO organization, from me and Carla who screen companies to Jackie DiPerna who helps them prepare for their DEMO experience, to our A/V team that coaches and supports their on-stage demo, to Becky Sniffen and Erica Lee who provide media support, to the DEMO.com crew who continues to cover DEMO alumni companies for years after they’ve presented at DEMO. . . DEMO is all about putting entrepreneurs first to accelerate their go-to-market efforts.

Yes, demonstrators pay a fee, an $18,500 fee, once they have been accepted and invited to present at the conference. And that’s no small hurdle for the very smallest of startups. Consistently, we’ve been told by demonstrating companies that it’s the best marketing money they’ve ever spent, with value far surpassing the dollars paid. But that fee is also a signal to the investors and business development executives and customers who come to DEMO. It says, in effect, these companies are ready to be taken seriously. They understand the value of a market presence and they’ll spend — wisely — to support their product launch and reach their potential customers, the vast majority of whom live no where near Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

But even the price and platform is not the real dilemma for startups. It’s the noise. One of the objectives of DEMO is to help companies stand apart from market noise. Indeed, DEMO was started in an age where young companies got drowned out by the Big Boys at events like Comdex and PC Expo. By bringing selectivity, an even playing field, and a relaxed venue to the table, DEMO allowed companies of all sizes equal air time with media, investors, and customers. And because DEMO focuses on selectivity, companies that are chosen to be a part of the event are even more separated from the prattle that is every media noise.

Now, 120+ companies will be vying for attention in what will be a very busy media week, what with TC50 on the tail of DEMOfall. That has at least one smart PR guy, Porter Novelli/Austin’s Josh Dilworth, to suggest that stealth startups just stay home. I’m not sure that’s good for anyone, frankly, but I can understand the counsel. Why expend any resources, regardless of the entry fee, if you can’t get heard above the noise? And with many of the people attending DEMO and/or TC50 blogging and reporting on the events, that’s a whole lot of noise. (And, frankly, it would be a shame if the media story is about either of the two conferences and not the companies presenting at both.)

At the end of the day, it is what it is. We’re not spoiling for a fight with TechCrunch. Frankly, that just distracts us from our real work: helping extraordinary products and young companies come to market in a relationship that starts at the screening process and lasts for years.

For us, it’s about the entrepreneur. He or she comes first. So, DEMO will do what it has always done: deliver tremendous value to the companies that choose to partner with its events.

Web 2.0's Gateway Drug

carlacthompson — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:17:50 +0000

By gum, I think I’ve got it. My post yesterday on breaking out of our insular tech bubble to evangelize to the mass consumer spurred a good discussion on FriendFeed. There was much agreement around the idea that sharing all these neat Internet tools with mass consumers is needed. But how to do that? There were a couple of angles to the conversation: one, how to share our general insider knowledge with consumers and two, how to get people involved in FriendFeed specifically. Clare Dibble made a good point regarding the latter; that non-techies don’t have to sign up for the myriad services on FriendFeed to delve into the site. Simply by adding the FriendFeed share button to their browsers, they can start submitting interesting articles and watch the conversations ensue.

It was then that the light bulb went off. FriendFeed is the gateway to Web 2.0 for mass consumers. It’s incredibly easy to jump into, easy to navigate and easy to participate; not many people have a hard time figuring out what the “comment” button means. It’s also the rarest of services, in which it doesn’t take long to get the draw. Spend two hours in there and you’re hooked. There are a couple of ways FriendFeed could roll out to consumers. Introduce FriendFeed as a way to share and discuss articles with your friends and find the good stuff from people you trust. Once consumers dip their toes in, have a taste of the recommended friends feature and see the tangential relationships that form, they’ll start exploring the other applications that pop up. “What’s this Last.fm service? What are these little 140-character sentences I keep seeing? Who the hell is Robert Scoble?” You get the idea. Honestly, it’s like a gateway drug. Draw them in with something harmless and easy to understand, then watch them drift toward the hard stuff. I’ll stop that analogy there before it goes any further.

Another option would be to offer first-timers a bundled package of services from which to start. If you’re a media buff, here’s YouTube, Netflix, Last.fm, and Pandora to get you started. Or even bundled packages of friends – FriendFeed old-timers that wouldn’t mind being followed by strangers. Want a tech infusion? Here’s Robert Scoble and Mark Hopkins. Looking for music lovers? Try Jonathan Coulton and Fred Wilson. I know my friend Shellee trolled the Everyone tab to find fellow politicos; wouldn’t it have been great to offer her a ready-made feed?

The question of how to share general emerging tech knowledge with a larger audience needs more discussion and thought. It’s something those of us on the inside need to be continually pondering. But perhaps a good first step lies in sharing easy-to-grasp products that can have a positive effect on people’s lives, without submersing them in the intricacies of one hundred different services.

Share the Love

carlacthompson — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 17:40:10 +0000

Every industry has a certain level of insularity. It’s human nature to want to be part of the in crowd and knowing the buzzwords and inner workings of a sector carries cache. The emerging tech industry, though, takes insularity to a whole other level. It’s easy to get caught up in the morass of social services and tools; a day spent immersed in tweets and status updates, FriendFeed links and Seesmic videos can easily cloud one’s mind. Spend enough time in here and you find yourself wondering why the gas company doesn’t just send your bills via Twitter. (On second thought, that’s a hell of an idea…) So it’s always a pleasant surprise to talk to my stay-at-home-mom friends, the ones I dragged kicking and screaming to Facebook. They give me a much needed reality check as to what’s going on in the real world.

I had one of those conversations this morning with my friend Polly, who is marginally tech-savvy, mainly because she’s too busy raising three boys to be otherwise. We talked about several tech-related issues, some of which I’ll post about in the coming days. But perhaps the most interesting talk concerned Facebook, in which she bemoaned the hesitance of some of our friends to join the site. She’s surprised to find that a few of her friends won’t consider a Facebook profile; that there was even a level of disgust at the idea. We threw around a couple of theories but I suspect the answer is pretty simple: ego. There is an air of ego – mistaken in my opinion – around Facebook and social networking in general. From the point of view of my generation and older, Web 2.0 is about ego: telling people what you’re doing at the moment, referring to articles you’re reading, posting pictures of yourself and the parties you go to – all actions that are second-nature to younger generations but anathema to anyone born before 1973 (or so).

Here’s my point: these services we’re building and testing and funding – where are they headed? For what mass audience are they intended? Take FriendFeed. I love it, you love it, we’re all (mostly) in agreement that they’ve built a nifty little service for those of us inside baseball. But how am I supposed to explain it to someone who’s never heard of an RSS reader? Someone who exclaimed, “Wow, you can do that?” when I described Google Reader to her? She wants to know about FriendFeed but I don’t even know where to begin. “Well, first you create an account at six or seven different services that you’ve also never heard of…”

I know I harp on this often but we desperately need to take all this fantastic innovation and share it with the outside world. The fact that many people think Facebook to be an ego trip (and equate it with the less-mature MySpace) is our fault. The fact that RSS still hasn’t made it to the mainstream is our fault. We’re the insiders with a wealth of knowledge and fulfilling tech experiences to share. The point of evangelizing is to win new converts, not to continue preaching to the already converted. Isn’t that the definition of insanity – doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result?

I’m not entirely sure who I’m directing this rant towards. Perhaps it’s to everyone who has forgotten the larger audience – bloggers, pundits, marketing strategists, investors and entrepreneurs alike. We need to broaden our reach, talk to everyday consumers about their technology uses, likes, and dislikes. Think past the TechCrunch reviews while building a product and plan for its uses in the real world.

While there is certainly a stage at which a product needs to be honed first within the industry, we should recognize the point at which it’s time to take it to the masses. Time to take the acronyms off and present it to consumers in a manner they can understand. Time to build products that will extend beyond our secluded little world. Time, it seems, to stop staring at our navels.

**Update: Just after I posted this entry, I came across this on LaughingSquid. A series of short videos featuring people describing Twitter, it’s a perfect illustration of the disconnect between technology insiders and mass consumers. Evan Williams is a brilliant guy who built two fantastic products – but he needs to learn friendlier language that will appeal to mass consumers. Alex North’s description wins my vote – a real-world case for using Twitter.

A Second Opinion

carlacthompson — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:48:19 +0000

I wanted to dash off a quick note and point everyone to an interesting conversation that happened here on The Guidewire. I’ve written about Songkick a couple of times recently, giving the service praise for its focus on semantic-based recommendation for consumers. In my most recent post, I specifically raved about its new capability of recommending concerts to users based on their music preferences. My friend Shellee, very much a tech outsider and a live music fanatic, gave Songkick a spin and wasn’t as happy with the results. She said so in the post’s comments and, after a request from me, the company responded to her in kind.

I say this not to needle Songkick, who posted an excellent, well-reasoned reply to Shellee, but to again stress the importance of the mass consumer, a theme we return to repeatedly on this blog. Rave reviews from The 250 are great in the short run, but end-user stress-tests are the only reviews that truly matter in the end. It’s a good lesson and ego-check as we tech insiders continue to debate our role in product analysis.