Venson Kuchipudi
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StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
September 8 at 9:12 am - Link
A friend of mine created this app and it seems like a fun way to look at your Flickr or Facebook pictures. Kind of like coverflow in iTunes or on your iPhone. Check it out. - Venson Kuchipudi
StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
September 8 at 9:12 am - Link
A friend of mine created this app and it seems like a fun way to look at your Flickr or Facebook pictures. Kind of like coverflow in iTunes or on your iPhone. Check it out. - Venson Kuchipudi
Twitter
Jason Calacanis posted a message on Twitter
Last.fm
Venson Kuchipudi loved a song on Last.fm
August 1 at 6:08 pm - Link
Hey Venson! Do you know of a way to LOVE a song on Last.FM without launching it in a browser window? - Leslie Rollins
Do you mean in the client app or iphone app? both have the 'heart' that you can click. But do you mean to tag without actually playing the song? - Venson Kuchipudi
Blog
July 26 at 12:13 pm - Link
I actually read the title as "The Silicon Valley VD Disease" ..and nearly jumped out of my seat !! :)- - Peter Dawson
I think the bigger issue is the fact that startups want to scale quickly. What happened to starting slow and small and letting the product naturally develop, grow a natural user base, before getting VC and super expanding? I guess it's not as sexy... - iomegadrive
Johan: startups have this attitude forced on them by the VC's. The VC's only give you enough money to go a year or two. If you don't build a business by then you either have to convince more VCs to give you another two years of cash, or you have to have a business up and running and generating more revenues than expenses by then. And the VCs don't like it if you just sit on the cash. They are hoping you come up with some dramatic business success. - Robert Scoble
I hope it's not contagious - paul mooney
Good post - my phone is not used to connect to the web but to text message. I can't get a handle on the iPhone yet, though. My daughter loves it and that's good enough for me. - LPH™
The other term for this: Short-sightedness. - Eric Florenzano
ok I jumped off the seat and now back w/beer. :)_ yeah but if you have the right product and appliations , you dot need to shop for VC funds in the first place. The issue is that too many startups are in the markets and nothing really is getting innovated. VS are in to make money. Show me the money and I'll show you my term sheet. Simple investment talk. DOnt waste our time - Peter Dawson
+1 for Peter's "Silicon Valley VD Disease" .... LOL - Mitchell Tsai
Unfortunately VCs are not the best investors. Most are running scared. Even with their efforts, 85% of their investments fail (50% for the top firms). Creates a me-too mentality evident also in the Pharmaceutical industry. Real break-throughs may have less than 1% success rate. That is too scary for most VCs and pharma companies. - Mitchell Tsai
And you can only imagine how frustrating this is for biotech (and explains the lack of funding). Takes 10 years to see some results, 3-5 if you are providing services) - Deepak
Thanks for writing this post, Robert. You're saying better than a lot of us what I'm sure some of us are thinking. It's unfortunate that this kind of thinking can actually prevent innovation and seems counter to the original American entrepreneurial spirit. We all lose when a good idea doesn't get funded to grow as well or as quickly as it could. - Cathryn Hrudicka
There's also the ROI and IRR disease in the VCs. Typical businesses have maybe a 50% success rate (where success is not the VC - 5X my money in 5 years, but includes I-just-want-to-pay-my-salary companies). The VC pressure to provide decent returns pushes many companies to failure. Rule of thumb: If you aren't willing to take out a loan at 40% annual interest (because your company's opportunity is so big & needs fast speed), don't ask VCs and smart angels. "Inexperienced" angels is ok. - Mitchell Tsai
P.S. I'm sitting on a lot of worthless pre-public stock. It's tough to be an investor too. - Mitchell Tsai
the home-run, quick-hit mentality is a disease, sorry ... softer, slower, wider is the way to grow the future we all want ... - Gregory Lent
basically VC are getting funding via the global Hedge Funds bowl, w/multi legged swap options. so they (VC's) need ROI's to ensure that they can pay back what they took and make a profit at the same time. They win some and lose some, its a gamble.. Follow the money trail for dynamics of this landscape - Peter Dawson
VCs want companies to make money so they can recoup their investment and it's called a disease? The sickness is that many of the companies that get funded get funded when there is no hint of a business/revenue plan in place or even on the horizon. If more VCs had a strategy to invest in companies destined to actually make money of course there would be less SV whiny minor millionaires and more real business. - Brian Sullivan
VC/Angel is the "lottery for the rich": (A) ~15-20% annual returns (B) lottery chance to make $25 million on your $25,000 if you hit a Netscape, Yahoo, or Google. Most mathematicians who make a profit at Vegas gambling move on to stock markets, futures/commodity trading, financial derivatives, hedge funds, etc... - Mitchell Tsai
+1 for Brian: In the VC biz, that's called "pressure to invest". Not enough good ideas & teams to invest in. Conservative VCs won't find enough investments, thus the "pack" disease of VCs all funding hard drives at the same time. Much more fun chasing pictures on the internet. :-) - Mitchell Tsai
Brian: the companies that get funded that have no obvious business model (PodTech and Twitter, for example) are part of the VC Disease of go for a home run. They were hoping that PodTech would turn into the next YouTube and that Twitter turns into the next Google. Remember, Google didn't make money for the first four years of its existence, and, in fact, were almost shut down because they weren't paying their bills at Exodus. - Robert Scoble
Liking mostly because you say not to listen to Dave Hornik. I think I might actually be starting to like you, Robert. - Cyndy
Echoing Robert: Google burned through $26 million before finding profitability with Bill Gross's (IdeaLab) http://idealab.com/about_ideal... sliding-scale ad fees http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... I would have been too chicken to put that much money into Google. The sliding-scale ad idea of Goto.com wasn't a "proven" revenue model either. "In November 2001 Gross defaulted on a $50 million personal loan he had taken from the Bank of America to invest in Idealab". - Mitchell Tsai
Using Google as an example of a company that didn't have a business plan but ended up a big success is getting tired as an argument for support of investment of clueless "businesses" and their founders. Investors in Google and the founders won the lottery -- that doesn't justify investing in the lottery as business strategy. Investing in Iphone apps in my mind would also be a waste of money (maybe not quite as idiotic as investing in Facebook apps though). Iphone will not be the winner in the mobile computing sweepstakes- in my mind it is destined for the same scrap heap as the beta tape format. Investors really should be looking outside the SV echo chamber for potential investment successes. - Brian Sullivan
VCs have to see a deal in this way: 3-5 years to get to 10X return. They can't wait 10 years for a payback, their fund is usually only 10 years as far as I know. So they can't fund things that are too far out. Although it seems clear that the iPhone can create opportunities that fit in this framework of 3-5 years to 10X return, so not sure why Hornick was down on it. Nice, controversial post to get us thinking... I think the disease is more like "groupthink" than it is "lack of long-term vision" - Elliott Ng
+1 Brian - Cyndy
Interesting post Robert. May be what Dave is saying is that when a company has proven their concept on the iphone is ready to scale to other platform, then the time is right to actually go after a bigger VC round. I think that both people like Jeff and Dave are key to the entrepreneurship ecosystem: they just target different stages of the company lifecycle. Another way to prove that is that 1) raising too much money on day 1 is the best way to loose the focus necessary to survive and 2) traditional VC firms can not scale to manage 100 x $1-2M deals. - Edwin Khodabakchian
Brian: when I went to Israel a high percentage of developers there proudly showed me their iPhones. And there's not even an Apple store in the country. I HAVE GONE outside the country. Tons of the best iPhone apps are from outside of SV. I also totally disagree about iPhone not being the winner in mobile computing sweepstakes. At least not as the market is today. But I hear Nokia is coming out with something cool in January, so we'll see. And Microsoft told me they are bringing out something cool next year. - Robert Scoble
Brian, maybe the iPhone will wind up like the Atari, who knows. And I would add that many times investments are at least as much due to the people than to the initial technology. However, the iPhone is a game changer. I find that I'm using it more and more to read news, check the weather, etc--some which is new behavior for me, but also some of which I used to do on my notebook. The iPhone is winning out. Is it perfect yet? No. I want more, but there's a systemic change going on here. - Loren Heiny
Loren: the problem with people who don't own iPhones is they just don't see how big a game changer it is. I wish I could get Brian to carry around the four phones I currently have to see how bad these things all are compared to iPhone. The iPhone isn't perfect, either, but it's years ahead of the others. Of course, back in 1989 the Macintosh was years ahead of everything too and see what happened... - Robert Scoble
Deepak: Agreed, look at Amgen and Genentech as classic Biotech examples - Sally Church
Scobles , are yo sure that iPhones are just not hype ? - Peter Dawson
Mr. Scoble - I'll tell you... this disease causes Myopia too. There are SO many fine business opportunities being pitched right here in Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Wichita... Sevin Rosen Funds has a guy here in Tulsa. EARLY stage oriented. Pre-money oriented. Why KPCB or Charles River (or whoever) doesn't grab some initiative and park a good couple of partners in middle-America and work some new land is beyond me. - Gerald Buckley
You'll get little disagreement from me on this one, Robert. But it's not just VCs, it's inertia. OTOH, Brian Sullivan a few comments up makes a great comparison...iPhone (and Facebook for that matter) are heading the way of BetaMax and MiniDisc, and MemoryStick. I may not use MySpace, but they're the VHS of the Social Network game right now. What we need is for someone to invent the DVD. - Andrew Feinberg
Robert: I have absolutely no need for the Iphone (or any "smart" phone) and certainly would not pay the ridiculous prices some people are paying to use them. These products and their supporters are making a couple of fundamental assumptions that I think are flawed: that most normal people are like California geeks that feel the need to be connected at all times and that people will continue to commute and move about daily and have waste travel time to consume using these devices. That may make me an apparent Luddite (or maybe I am a generation removed from understanding the need)but I am still offended by people that answer mobile phones in the middle of a person to person conversation and am equally offended by people at a "real" social gathering with their eyes glued to a 3" screen and thumbs/fingers flailing wildly. - Brian Sullivan
Peter D. define "hype"? I can't be sure that iPhone will "win" the mobile space (I seriously doubt it given current pricing). But they're bound to be closing in on their 10 million units worldwide goal, and especially given the price, that doesn't strike me as hype. - Robert Seidman
I completely respect yet disagree with this post. Most designers are not businessmen, VCs help in other ways than a chequebook. You bring the skills and the idea, they teach you how to squeeze money and create revenue. Great ideas change the world but they're not always profitable. VCs are there strictly for the money and you have to respect that. - Cains
What's wrong with investing in Facebook apps, if you get the exposure it's like advertising on Taxi wheels (I've seen this one). As for the iPhone, it has changed the way people are surfing on mobiles and this advertising market is just at the beginning so i see many companies getting inside. The only question i ask myself is either the company can generate money within 3-5 years or not and should i put my money in as if it was after the bubble burst. - Nir Ben Yona
Brian, here are a couple non-California uses of an Internet connected device like the iPhone. Imagine you're in Nebraska in the spring. A storm rolls in. Tornado sirens blare. If you've got your iPhone with you in the closet or basement or wherever in anticipation of a tornado, you've potentially got access to an Internet radio, weather radar maps, 911, etc in your iPhone. Another example: You're visiting friends/relatives you haven't seen in years. The cameras in the car. You take a pix with your iPhone, email it to family/friends that moment. All of this can be done with other devices, but the iPhone does it in one. - Loren Heiny
Great post. I see no excitement surrounding any other phone. People I know who use Windows Mobile phones have to in order to have access to corporate email. Maybe that will change with Apple licensing AciveSync. - Brett Nordquist
Peter: I'm absolutely convinced that iPhones are not hype. Brian: mobile didn't get hot in California first. You really need to visit Europe or Japan or Korea. There we look pretty stupid in our usage of mobile. As for "needing" stuff, you probably 10 years ago would have told me you don't "need" a cell phone, but today I can't name a single person that I know who doesn't have one, except my baby. You need to travel more and watch what people do when a plane touches down. Everyone starts up their mobiles. - Robert Scoble
Has anyone decided if Apple's implememntation of ActiveSync is any good? - Andrew Feinberg
I guess I'm glad I can have whatever phone I choose, and no need to worry about syncing anything, as I'm not tied to a corporate and all the associated bloatware that goes with it... - Ian May
"First, our society’s most valuable audiences are getting iPhones." Really our most valuable audiences? Archeticts are these type of people? What about doctors, nurses, firemen, policemen, etc. They are way more valuable then any single architect in LA. Get over yourself.... That comment alone made me snort my coffee. I know 4 people who iPhones, neither of them would be somoen who i would define as society's most valuable audiences. - Jonathan Jesse
@Loren Heiny I have a co-worker who used his Windows Mobile device in a Tornado to upload video of the tornado, let people know about that he was safe via email all w/o an iPhone. and from the hotel's bathtub which was the safest place. - Jonathan Jesse
@Loren Heiny: when my son was born i used my windows mobile phone to take pictures and email those pictures to everyone i know from one device.... from a windows mobile phone - Jonathan Jesse
@Brian Sullivan: I completly agree.. I have a Windows Smartphone from work, it is also the only cell phone I have. try taking a vacation when you get constantly reminded that work needs you through emails. I am amazed about how rude it is for people to interupt converstations and text/sms/email/twitter whatever instead of talking with the person face to face in front of them. this is something that i am strugeling with as my phone is always "buzzing" with someething new. - Jonathan Jesse
Ok its not hype.. but with over 715Million users of Mobile technology in China alone. What does a 10M unit sold slice in terms of market penetration to these segments ? Just asking.. So you can see how thin of a slice that iPhone really has in terms of market share. A prodcut may have all the bells and whistles on it, but if major user base is not buying into it. then it could be some real issues. - Peter Dawson
I think the whole VC model is broken. We don't need millions of dollars for our startups anymore, we need $25k or $50k. When I hear about companies getting millions of dollars, I always think, what the hell are they doing with it!? - Dawn
To add scale to the 10M figure, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L... roughly 70% of those will be changing their phone within 5 years. ChinaMobile signs up almost 10M subscribers per month! - Cains
I'll offer this, just me speculating. I'm not sure that the price point of the iPhone is the biggest factor these days. I think we're more bottled by the thought of paying ridiculous prices for sub-par mobile web. I mean seriously, what the heck is with the current rates for cell phone plans. Also, the thought of paying for SMS in 2008 is just silly. It should be included in all plans. Not for the purpose of cutting profits from our providers but rather for American's to catch on to the technology. - Ben Pettit
@ben I vaguely recall Mr. Scoble interviewing someone (was it the FCC commissioner conversation maybe) that had the US basically foregoing SMS and being off & onto the next big thing. SMS won't really stand a chance against what's coming is what I heard. Robert...? Care to put that in better context for us? - Gerald Buckley
Dawn: $25K, $50K, $100K These are the lower-price points for qualified angel investors, who work the lower levels below the first tier of $500K-$3M VCs. One VC person can maybe manage 10-20 investments, so you can divide the size of fund by the number of active partners (x10-20) and figure out what size investments are in a VC-fund's sweet spot. Complicating the issue are some micro-VC funds, angel-type funds, and $5-20K Y-combinator-type-groups. - Mitchell Tsai
Scoble: Great post. Hornik is a very smart guy, but he is hamstrung by the current VC model. VCs need a huge upside because the model dictates that they need to put in a ton of cash on the front end. Most of today's web startups don't require the kind of cash that VCs are used to putting in. That's why Hornik doesn't want to invest in iPhone apps. He wants to invest in companies with hundreds of millions in near-term valuation, not tens on millions. Imho, that is the VC disease -- in SV or out. - Christian Anderson via fftogo
Robert, I left a long comment on the post with my thoughts. I appreciate that some investors don't have the patience to bet early and let an idea run its course. That said, I don't think I am a good poster-child for that problem. August Capital has a long history of betting early and supporting our companies for as long as it takes to create an interesting business. - David Hornik
@cyndy Curious what I said or did to deserve your comment? - David Hornik
David: thanks, I just wrote a new post about this new world where people like you help us arrive at the truth by participating. Appreciate that a lot. - Robert Scoble
Gerald: SMS is seeing some pickup here, but, really, look at Twitter, which is what my son is using now increasingly, or Facebook. If you have an iPhone both of those are a lot better than SMS. Also, my phone is increasingly getting SMS spam, which will really piss people off and keep them from adopting that system. - Robert Scoble
This is not too dissimilar from the Innovator's Dilemma concept by Christensen. The "right" business decision ("right" as in profit-maximizing) would be to invest in big, rich markets: that's precisely why there is an opportunity for disruptors to enter the market. - Tito Costa
+1 for Michael Sheehan. - Mitchell Tsai
None of this seems like rocket science. Valley VCs want big returns in short amount of time. Asking them to invest in small slower-growing but sustainable markets is like going to Ford Motor headquarters and asking to buy a windshield wiper. It isn't the scale that they're working at. - Michael
While you make some valid points, Robert, I don't it is fair to call it a disease. Looking for investments with a short-term return potential is certainly a legitimate investment strategy. I can't fault them for opting for perferring lower risk, quicker payoff investments, rather than longer-term (and thus higher risk) investment that *may* payoff huge in 10 years. That said, there are other types of investment strategies out there -- I think your post highlights a void that needs to be filled. - Mark Carey via Moopz
I still think, after reading the post, the follow up and this thread, that a VC is perfectly entitiled to pick and choose investments based on the return. And I'm sure there will be a few start-ups that have a Walmart business plan - take two asprin and call me in ten years. Because thats the way it is in technology (not just SV). The issue here is that we don't hear form these companies. We may well get the next Google, Microsoft, Sun, HP, etc from there. - Roberto Bonini
I thing this disease is more of a symptom of greed and ego vs. making a difference in the tech world. But then again, isn't that what business is about? It is very hard for traditional business to grasp this concept, and is why real innovation wont be found there. - Venson Kuchipudi
The problem with VC's is not that they have a disease but that there is no quality control. I am sure the good ones are very good but most of us never get to work with the good ones. On the other hand, I believe many Entrepreneurs (in the Silicon Valley) are in fact infected with a disease which is that they think the only way to start companies and generate net worth is with VC money. VC's are like "former" mother-in-laws. They cease to be a problem when you stop sleeping with their daughters. - Denny K Miu
FriendFeed
Venson Kuchipudi posted a link
brooklynvegan: Devendra Banhart's 'Carmensita' video w/ Natalie Portman
July 21 at 9:02 pm - via Reshare - Link
quirky video. they make a nice couple. - Cee Bee
If you've ever seen some old Bollywood movies from the 60's, this is very similar except that it is in color. - Venson Kuchipudi
Flickr
Venson Kuchipudi published photos on Flickr
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July 15 at 12:06 pm - Link
nice photos. congrats! - Cee Bee
Thanks, did you happen to see the picture of me taking a picture with my iPhone during the ceremony? :-) - Venson Kuchipudi
ha, i did. was the wait longer to get the iphone or for the bride to walk down the aisle? - Cee Bee
FriendFeed
edythe posted a link
brooklynvegan: Devendra Banhart's 'Carmensita' video w/ Natalie Portman
July 21 at 8:09 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
Grandma, I love you in a salad way! - Robert Seidman
Bollywood and Natalie Portman - Wow! - Victor Ryden
Flickr
Morton Fox published photos on Flickr
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Angus Third Pounder Deluxe
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July 21 at 8:15 pm - Link
shoot... its like 11:18PM here... and now I feel like taking a run too Harvey's - bad bad Morton..inducing salivation at this hr of the nite !! - Peter Dawson
Now I'm hungry again... - Venson Kuchipudi
Digg
Kevin Rose dugg a story on Digg
July 21 at 10:52 am - Link
Wish I could make it... maybe you guys will find your way to StL some time. - Keith Smith
Dam it I just left Chicago - Francis P Bonnemere
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Russellreno posted a link
Miami Vice, Don Johnson, ... | 50 Pop-Culture Moments That Rocked Fashion: Part 1 | The EW 1000 | Photos | EW.com
July 21 at 7:50 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
Never before — or, likely, again — would so many men don roomy linen suits and sockless loafers in an effort to emulate the pastel-tinged cool of TV's hippest cop duo. - Russellreno via Bookmarklet
Incredible music in all the episodes. - Michelle Marie Miller
I wanted a Miami Vice house for years. Big windows and white walls. - Russellreno
@michelle YES! I don't think I will ever forget the episode with Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" - to me West Wing is the only show that has ever come close to using music to massively increase the dramatic impact of the scene - Marco (aureliusmaximus)
yes, I wore the 'look' - Venson Kuchipudi
incredible boats and cars too ,,, - johnpiercy via twhirl
My grandfather rocked the pastel jackets during the Miami Vice hey-day. Good times ... good times. - AJ Kohn
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Mona N. posted a link
7 Essential Cheat Sheets To Download | MakeUseOf.com
7 Essential Cheat Sheets To Download | MakeUseOf.com
7 Essential Cheat Sheets To Download | MakeUseOf.com
July 21 at 4:16 pm - via Bookmarklet - Link
Where's the vim one? ;-) - directeur via NoiseRiver
Google Search Windows Mac OS X Gmail FF (win+mac) Google Reader - Mona N.
Fam5.com says: GREAT resource thank you for posting these. - Jeff B
My pleasure :) - Mona N.
@directeur: Vim's help system is my cheat sheet. :) - Morton Fox
@Morton vim <3 - embee
@Morton Fox (mortonfox): :he :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
@Morton and @embee: One of my posts on the subject: http://xhtml-css.com/blog/seve... :) - directeur via NoiseRiver
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Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
July 21 at 10:44 am - Link
"I'll be there!" - Venson Kuchipudi
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Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
July 3 at 12:28 pm - Link
"We have had this law in Chicago for quite some time. But I always see people on cell phones. On average, waiting to cross a street on the north side of chicago, I'll see 20 cars go by, with probably 10 of them on cell phones. Not sure who are hands free, because you don't see a lot of bluetooths here, I think they sell more on the south side." - Venson Kuchipudi
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Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
May 30 at 11:27 am - Link
"I bet these guys are good at 'Where's Waldo' pics" - Venson Kuchipudi
YouTube
Scott Beale favorited a video on YouTube
Pork and Beans
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May 23 at 2:32 pm - Link
what an aweome video / song! - Chris Jones via twhirl
Best video i've seen in an awful long time. so meta! - Tad - the Meme Maker
Such a great great band. I was trying to describe them to some people in Mexico yesterday ... not so easy. The irony gets killed by the language barrier. - Clay Newton
Dope! - Tim Moore
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Hugh MacLeod posted a message on Twitter
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Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
May 23 at 1:35 pm - Link
"I'm walking to the dealer to pick up my Hummer" - Venson Kuchipudi
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Robert Scoble shared an item on Google Reader
May 21 at 1:53 pm - Link
Good points. There's a lot more people out there that don't even know what RSS is than people like me. - Robert Scoble
I wish more people would realize that Web 2.0 innovation isn't mainstream in the grand scheme of things. - Shey
or put another way - (from http://www.shirky.com/writings...) "Kofi Annan's 2000 speech to the Australian Press Club, where he said "Half the world's population has never made or received a phone call." " - Nancy Babyak
I think I saw Paul Buchheit say here before that you start with the early adopters, because you need traction to survive. Then you iterate through features to grow the more mainstream audiences. So getting early adopters' interest early is actually a vital part of eventually getting to the mass market. - Hutch Carpenter
I think this point is a particularly good one: "The problem an RSS reader solves is "I read so many blogs and news sites on daily basis, I need a tool to help me keep them all straight". How many people who aren't enthusiastic early adopters (i) have this problem and (ii) think they need a tool to deal with it?" One new product that might speak to this is Times for the mac. It has a way to go, but it does take a different approach. http://www.acrylicapps.com/tim... - Tom Landini
I know a lot of people who have no clue what an RSS is or how to aggregate blogs. Many of my biotech/pharma clients read but do not subscribe, so they send me emails instead of commenting on the blog. Arrrgh! - Sally Church
I was reading something from Steve Rubel about how Google News rules. I had to inform him that my mom sends me news articles that she finds on AOL. - Ontario Emperor
That doesn't mean you can't build a small company on early adopters, either. You just can't take funding for it... (unless you can completely own the market segment and the early adopter crowd is big for that segment) - lilbyrdie
Robert -- precisely what I said in that comment exchange last week :) Also happen to be reading Crossing the Chasm at the moment. - Andrew Badera
Good "note" to Web 2.0 companies... wisdom indeed~! they need to realize we are only an edgy segment of the market. - Susan Beebe
Not sure I agree. Gibson said, "The future's already here, it's just not evenly distributed." Early adopters ARE the the mass market, just the slice that's in the future. What problem that "everyone" had did Jobs solve with the iPod in 2001? To paraphrase the famous quote, if Henry Ford had listened to the problems of the mass market, he would have built faster horses. - Karim
Early adopters just have a lower threshold for trying things out. They don't need to see X number of neighbors using something before making up their own minds about it. It's not that they have radically different tastes, needs, desires. Some of them (like Scoble) are edge cases because they push the new technology hard (e.g. 5,000 friends in Facebook). But early adopters aren't necessarily all edge cases. - Karim
The argument is based on the notion that early adopters have different needs and wants -- I don't think this is true. The best you can say is don't build things to suit the needs of edge cases. But that's common sense. Most of the people building things for niche markets (e.g. interior design of personal 767 aircraft) KNOW that they're building for niche markets and edge cases. - Karim
Karim, Apple's form factor (for storage size) was a big innovation at the time relative to other MP3 players, not to mention better UI, navigation and menus and a gazillion dollars of marketing. Plus almost everyone enjoys music, but most of the population would rather ask someone else a question than look up the answer themselves on Google... - Robert Seidman
It's more than whether the problem you solve is mainstream. Early adopters are willing to tinker; so, they'll be comfortable plugging multiple apps together to get what they want. The pragmatists won't do that. So, remembering my Geoffrey Moore, the key is to get a foothold with the early adopters, then ignore everything about how they use your app and find the early mainstream users and rebuild to suit their requirements. - Barry Graubart
I buy the "early adopters are willing to tinker" argument -- they have a higher threshold of putting up with crap (in exchange for the new technical ability). But this doesn't mean they have "different problems and different needs" from the mass market. Earlier adopters *will* mess with a smartphone that requires 2 firmware updates and 5 software updates. That doesn't mean they *want* to, that they have some burning desire to tinker and patch their phone and reboot it 17 times a day. - Karim
Mostly, like the late adopters, they just want their stuff to work without too much effort. (I am of course ignoring the small Early Adopter subset of True Tinkerers, the folks who take soldering irons to their new toys just for fun.) - Karim
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Venson Kuchipudi posted a link
May 21 at 8:49 pm - Link
Twitter to Friend Feed Contact Importer finds all of your Tweeps on Friend Feed and automatically subscribes them. - Venson Kuchipudi
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Anthony Farrior posted a message
“Has The Twit-Out today persuaded anyone to totally stop using twitter?”
May 21 at 9:42 am - Link
No. There is no good alternative to Twitter at this time, at least if you're using a mobile phone interface. - Ontario Emperor
I feel bad since I made so many new contacts there,If/when I stop altogether I'll have to build my community back up here... - Anthony Farrior
No, my friends are there so I have to return. - Morton Fox
Nop, I have just hidden all tweets here. - Gadiel Rivera
Nope, I'll be going back for sure - Shey
I doubt I'll stop using Twitter. I'll go back tomorrow. In fact, I may go back after I check woot.com at midnight. - ha3rvey (That One)
Uh no lol - Corvida
hahahaahahhahaha, you've got to be kidding right? - Nailed Jello
I hope people go back so I stop seeing status messages in FF, like another FF post mentioned... - elroy via twhirl
As we say in Atlanta, "Hell Nah, Shawty!" - RAHwsomeSHEENsauce™
not a chance it seems. - Chris
Wasn't intended for that purpose in the first place - Shey
Bloggers couldn't give up Twitter any more than a druggie could give up his crack. - David Risley
I like consuming information on FF, but for posting a quick tweet from my cell phone nothing beats the simplicity of sending an SMS message to twitter. And I like getting updates from my close friends as well as @ replies directly via SMS, too. So I will be heading back to Twitter tomorrow, no doubt. - Alexander Falk
There is a very distinct place for both. Twitter is a great tool, and while I do not participate extensively I would not do without it. - JodyUnwired
I'll still use both Twitter & FF. - Tim Chemacki
I think they complement each other. I wish Twitter more stable, or maybe the community moved to other similar service (like jaiku) - Alejandro S.
No, but it has convincied me that there is value in the comments made here! - Nancy Babyak
Nope. Like Shey said, The Twit-Out wasn't meant for that. I'm *LOVING* the conversations that are happening. Tomorrow, I'll go back to Twitter no problem...that is...if it's up - Bwana McCall
no, but convinced a lot of people that there could be valuable communication here as well - Dobromir Hadzhiev
FriendFeed
Rick Mahn posted a message
“Wonderful - waiting on Twitter, there was someone I was trying to look up!”
May 15 at 2:40 pm - Link
I thought it was just me. But then I knew that Scoble would have the scoop. So here I am. - Venson Kuchipudi
Hey, I just did a blog post about Twitter being down. Check out and add to the responses - http://www.toddrjordan.com/the... - Todd Jordan
YouTube
Venson Kuchipudi favorited a video on YouTube
Apple Mac Music Video
Play
May 14 at 9:56 pm - Link
Such a fun video to watch again, and again... - Venson Kuchipudi
Digg
Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
May 12 at 7:59 pm - Link
"Good summary on what we can do and those who are already mobilized into action." - Venson Kuchipudi
StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
April 21 at 4:00 pm - Link
Interesting.... - Venson Kuchipudi
StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
April 21 at 4:00 pm - Link
Interesting.... - Venson Kuchipudi
StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
April 21 at 2:06 pm - Link
Great overview of the challenges and opportunities in social media marketing - Venson Kuchipudi
StumbleUpon
Venson Kuchipudi stumbled upon a site on StumbleUpon
April 21 at 2:06 pm - Link
Great overview of the challenges and opportunities in social media marketing - Venson Kuchipudi
Digg
Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
April 18 at 12:19 pm - Link
"Awesome, but only $10? With the latest shootings of Cougars in Chi town, you may as well have a bullseye on your back." - Venson Kuchipudi
Digg
Venson Kuchipudi commented on a story on Digg
April 18 at 9:30 am - Link
"Actually I have a friend who is doing this. One state every week. He flies out on Friday and back on Sunday." - Venson Kuchipudi
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