The clear trend today was focused on analytics and data intelligence.
Two of the companies in today’s competition BrainPark and ManyMoon are all centered around the same themes of analyzing data and behavior to make recommendations that are relevant to what you are working on.
1) reducing noise, de-duplicate effort by surfacing only relevant content, links, people and feeds to you
2) simplify - centralized activity feed to track others on the same project, status updates and comments to existing projects
The winner was you calc, an Open Source SaaS analytics platform for enabling whiz bang BI to be applied by drag and drop, in mashup interface in top of several application data sources.
Technorati Tags: e2conf,BrainPark,Manymoon,youcalc,e2 launpad,enterprise 2.0 conference
Overall there is a feeling of wider spread adoption of Enterprise 2.0 technologies when compared to last year. Customers and consultants aren’t simply talking about Enterprise 2.0, they have actual implementations that are rolling out to scale.
Some key trends on adoption:
1) Intranets - there is a big focus on people search and knowledge experts. AD federation is the key enabler.
2) The concept of extranets and federated communities is gaining ground. However, these are platforms. Social marketing applications are still a consultative and customized sale. Read my analysis here
3) Micro blogging and status updates/feeds seem to have been incorporated in every platform. It appears that unlike email, an enterprise version of twitter is not a standalone application.
Technorati Tags: Ent2.0,enterprise 2.0 trends,enterprise 2.0 highlights
A handful of E2.0 exhibitors have been helping enterprises increase engagement in their customer facing communities. My initial apprehension of these solutions is that there is a high degree of consultative services required to get these communities off the ground, to keep them fresh and active. In many aspects, these solutions overlap, but there are two distinct approaches worth noting.
Solutions-based. Awareness provides campaigns, loyalty programs and best practices in pre-defined templates out of the box. Jive Software and Mzinga provide a number of uses cases around brand awareness and customer support.
Role-based. Telligent and Lithium focus on identifying what roles the community members play and then targeting activities to the role. For example, an “influencer” might receive special treatment through onsite tours and early product previews. Lithium takes the same approach in identifying and rewarding the top contributors. Especially in the area of reducing customer support costs.
In either approach there is a level of customization, however, the role based approach, in my view, would serve to keep the community active and fresh.
Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,community marketing,social marketing,jive software,lithium,telligent,awareness,mzinga
When I think about the profound impact social marketing can have on the way we make purchase decisions, an immediate thought comes to mind - the concept of voice. In fact, three distinct voices. The voice of the Company, the voice of the Customer, the voice of the Community.
Until Web 2.0 technologies took mainstream, consumers only heard one voice, that is, “voice of the company”. Campaigns, sales collateral, advertisements and the like were all pushed out to the masses over a one-way channel. The “voice of the customer” was limited to a private channel back to the company via customer service, support, feedback and comment cards. There was no “voice of the community”.
Then, Amazon implemented the concept of ratings and reviews that gave the “voice of the customer” a new forum. Yet, still there was no “voice of the community”.
Enterprise 2.0. technologies like blogs, forums and discussion boards enable the “voice of the community”. See here for how the “voice of the community” is influencing how companies deploy social marketing.
Technorati Tags: social marketing,enterprise 2.0,voice of customer,voice of company,voice of community,federated communities,web communities
Tim McAdams of Trinity Ventures looks for the 4Cs when evaluating potential investments:
Capital efficiency – how much does it cost to get your product to market?
Costs – are you leveraging low cost outsourced development?
Channel – does your revenue model include channel partners?
Code – is there defensible IP?
Mark Sherman of Battery Ventures looks for the 3Ms: Management, Market and Mix. Mix meaning the mix of product and services.
Lastly, when putting your presentation together: focus on the entire sales process, pre and post-sales, don’t overshoot your financials, in fact under commit and over deliver. And, identify the challenges and problems and help the VC get comfortable with them.
VCs are looking for capital efficiency. In other words, slowed growth and fewer risks. Shunning the direct sales model, VCs are in favor of telesales, webinars and channel partners. Direct selling is out to pasture as are VPs of Sales. Outsourced development is a must. While the Cloud is being exploited for cheap computing. Gone are the days of raising large rounds, $20M is the new $50M.
A new pattern has emerged whereby less syndication is taking place. Some VCs, especially the larger funds are riding it alone, for fear of a down round. For those who are syndicating, the investing pace is much slower. However, Asheem Chandna noted that companies, even in this environment are getting term sheets in a matter of days, while others are completing rounds in 3- 6 weeks. Outside that window, it is simply taking too long. Valuations are down. And, VCs are holding management’s feet to the fire more rigorously. If milestones are not met, a down round ensues.
The main reason why entrepreneurs shouldn’t raise outside money is misalignment of return objectives. Most VCs swing for the fences, so a sub $50M exit is unattractive to them, but could be very lucrative to the founders. Entrepreneurs also need to remember that they are partnering with the venture firm, not simply the partner who did the deal. Firms can completely change the direction of the business even to the dismay of the partner who made the investment. If money is going to be raised, entrepreneurs should do thorough reference checks.
Beyond their checkbooks, venture capitalists can add tremendous value to a young company. Most VCs spend up to a third of their time recruiting. Not replacing the founders, but adding skills like execution to the mix, while preserving the company culture. VCs are in a great position to cross pollinate successful business models and best practices across their entire portfolio. This is extremely valuable in M&A negotiations, and for reducing the cost of failure. Lastly, statistically speaking, venture-backed companies are far more likely to succeed when compared to their boot-strapped counterparts.
Straight from the Stanford Global Technology Symposium. Pitch Johnson, Bill Draper, Ann Winblad and Reid Dennis discuss the current state of venture capital. Venture capital is undergoing a sea change. There has been a tidal wave of unsophisticated money invested in the venture capital asset class. As a result, General Partners raised more as well as larger funds, with management fees becoming a key incentive. Limited Partners hold diversified investments across numerous firms and are focused on early returns. Thus, a natural conflict emerged. LPs are demanding returns in a timeframe in which GPs cant’ deliver, and without incentive. Today, LPs are selling their positions in VC funds at a deep discount. Secondary funds have emerged to buyout these non-performing positions. Kleiner Perkins raised an Annex Fund. Corporate venture arms are re-surging. The industry is ripe for change. Or, perhaps it needs to go global. DFJ has offices in 33 countries and some 100 international partners. NEA has made big bets in India and China. Johnson is invested in Poland, Russia, Romania and Bulgaria. Ann Winblad syndicated her latest investment to Australian VCs. A few examples of how the pioneers of venture capital are re—inventing themselves by going global. | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /Blogs/lynda_ting/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 255 | | View in Web Browser | /_layouts/images/ichtmxls.gif | /Blogs/lynda_ting/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&DefaultItemOpen=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 255 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /Blogs/lynda_ting/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsx | 256 | | Snapshot in Excel | /_layouts/images/ewr134.gif | /Blogs/lynda_ting/_layouts/xlviewer.aspx?listguid={ListId}&itemid={ItemId}&Snapshot=1 | 0x0 | 0x1 | FileType | xlsb | 256 |
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Lynda Ting
Collaboration and Communication
In a former life I was an early stage technology VC investor in Toronto, Canada. Before that, an M&A investment banker. If you can refrain from holding both of those professions against me, I hope you will find my content of some use. So here I am, a valley girl, and a member of the Emerging Business Team at Microsof...
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Recent Posts
Enterprise 2.0 Day Two – Launchpad
June 24, 2009
Enterprise 2.0 Boston - Day One Trends & Highlights
June 24, 2009
Enterprise 2.0 - implementing community marketing
June 24, 2009
The Many Voices of Enterprise 2.0
June 24, 2009
How to Get VC Funding - TiEcon (part 5 of 5)
May 17, 2009
What VCs are Looking for - New Business Models at TiEcon (part 4 of 5)
May 17, 2009
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Featured Startup
The company of the day is ShowNearby.com, based in Singapore. The company's mission is simple: to show you what's nearby. You will find below an interview with Douglas Gan, Founder of ShowNearby.com. All the best to them and congrats for being the startup of the day!
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