Today I was suprised by the amount of office movers within a few blocks stroll. I don't remember seeing lots of trucks blocking the way for years. Maybe it's just the early spring or could it be the more optimistic outlooks (and expansion plans) of companies?
At least there are some sings for VC springtime according to AlwaysON.
Ventureblog reminded again about those great people who do not know how to fail, only how to get stronger: "I used to be wealthy".
It's interesting to see how the voice market is going to change. Nokia released it's new Communicator 9500 with wlan and voip-applications. Some operators are already putting into a place roaming agreements with GSM and WLAN networks. Sonera seems to be among the first ones screened by ex post. Skype is also targeting for the same space by it's own PDA extension. Now it's just time to wait the network externalities to happen and at least 30% of my most called persons to switch to use VOIP as well...
George Colony of Forrester Research has some interesting points on Google. Check also the comments below the article.
Sorry for my infrequent posting. I'm quite loaded with a VC round & consulting work. My prediction of the next big thing is definetely optoelectronics. European & US VCs have still underinvested for the sector and desperately looking for good investment targets. Asia has been ahead of the rest of the pack. Here's a good starting point to explore the near future applications to arrive and already existing in the market. The good thing is that the market shares are not divided yet. An innovative player can still make a home run. Drop me a private mail if you wanna learn more :-)
Gates admits that Google kicked their butt. AlwaysON reports from Davos.
HBS professor David Yoffie discusses Apple's future and its competitive advantages.
Some good thoughts about the social software in "Anti-Social Software?".
Paul Krugman at NyTimes tells how a surplus can be turned into a massive deficit thanks to events in the past...
A good review of the VC process for those who want to refresh their mind...
Booz Allen Hamilton made an extensive study of different organisational types and their behaviour: www.orgdna.com. Different types of management include: The Military, The Passive-Aggressive, and The Overmanaged Organization among other. The article is worth checking out.
VCs seem to be optimistic about the future. Actually there has been quite a significant activity in the market: in the exit market. Many mobile companies have been sold as trade sales and many deals are still to be made. The ones who survived the though times are now leaner and fitter for action but they haven't got the time to get their sales bell ringing continously, yet. It's a perfect time to catch good companies with reasonable market price.
Here's the Forbes' list of Midas Venture Capitalist of 2004. Familiar names in the list. Funnilly enough the top amount of people from a same company seems to be five: Benchmark Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Matrix Partners.
In the last days many active bloggers have noticed the enourmous boom in the social networking. However, it seems that some of the companies might turn to be just one time shots with current peak already behind. Social Software weblog seems to have quite an extensive list of new entrants to the market. Due Diligence has some additions to the list. Some are even considering outsourcing their social networking activity :-)
After gathering well over hundred people in one of the social networks it really started to loose point. What's the difference listing my contacts in the net instead of keeping them in the Outlook? Anyhow they are just names and numbers. You need to have something in common with the people and keep in touch. It's quality of your people network, not the quantity. And no intermediaries between, thanks.
It seems that the most expected IPO might be in doubt. Quicken.com reports. Here's the article where it all started last week.
According to a survey European retailers are starting to see the benefits of RDIF. 41% of top retailers are plannig RFID pilot for this year.
What To Expect From A Venture Capitalist? by Guy Kawasaki in Forbes.