Month: February 2014

Sam Altman for President – Y Combinator Posthaven

by dldamore

Sam Altman for President – Y Combinator Posthaven:

“I’m convinced there’s a fundamental change happening in the way work gets done.  It’s becoming normal to start a startup.  There will be a lot more startups in 10 years than there are now, …“ Paul Graham

*Technology allows for new connections and ways to analyze data. Perhaps more than that, it enables new industries to be created and to grow. Where we are now is sort of like where we were when VisiCalc was introduced. Sometimes you can’t see the impact of a revolution until after it happens.

Jason Calicanis: You Are Your Own Media Company | Generation Like | FRONTLINE | PBS

by dldamore

Jason Calicanis: You Are Your Own Media Company | Generation Like | FRONTLINE | PBS:

“Amazon’s video production is unstoppable when you think about it. I mean, they’re going to be able to look at all these e-books created by individuals — and so some 15-, 16-, 17-year-old writes an e-book about zombies, and then another 20-year-old writes one, and then they look and see, well, what page did people give up reading the book. This one had a cutoff rate of page 15 on average, but this one people read to page 50 on average. Let’s option that one and make that into a TV series. That’s the power of data.”

*The Power of Data.

Pandora Thinks It Knows if You Are a Republican – WSJ.com

by dldamore

Pandora Thinks It Knows if You Are a Republican – WSJ.com:

“The company matches election results with subscribers’ musical preferences by ZIP Code. Then, it labels individual users based on their musical tastes and whether those artists are more frequently listened to in Democratic or Republican areas.”

*The next election cycle has already started. Message targeting for votes. Could be used to suppress votes, via negative messaging, for competing candidates too.

iBeacon – Shopping Technology

by dldamore

iBeacon – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

“iBeacons could send you notifications of items around you that are on sale or items you may be looking for”

*It will be interesting to see if supermarkets integrate this with your shopping list, created in app or on the web, tied to your phone to enable complete purchases of intended purchases. Where would receipes and recipe apps play in to this? There are some items and ingredients that shoppers would have a hard time finding. Integration of data on item location and items for intended purchase could make shopping easier and better for both buyer and seller. 

For the seller:

  • All intended purchases for a shopping trip bought. 
  • More satisfied customers as they get their shopping done faster
  • …

For the buyer:

  • Reduced or eliminated frustration finding an item.
  • The app will ensure you find it as it is integrated with store plan-o-grams for the store you are in. 
  • Less time going to a second or third store or returning to get a forgotten or missed item.
  • …

*There could be big changes to in-store retailing in the next five years.

A VC: Investing In Startups In Europe

by dldamore

A VC: Investing In Startups In Europe:

“… european entrepreneurs have fully made the change from locally focused to globally focused and are mostly now building businesses that can and do serve a global user base from day one.”

 

*Talent and opportunity is global in the Information Age. Leave off the word european and it still has essentially the same meaning for what the opportunity is in the current environment.

*I am not sure what to call the period of time we are in. Information Age seems appropriate to me at the moment. Computer Age and Digital Age also make sense.