Category Archives: Web/Tech

Facebook: Leading or Following?

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Readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of Facebook.  FB has truly changed the way a lot of people manage their relationships and share information.

What's been unique about FB is that they approached their business as a technology company, as opposed to a media company.  They identified the potential problems and tackled them through technology solutions.  They imagined the "newsfeed" and that has now been the default approach to online representation of people's lives.

Now there's news that Facebook is preparing to implement a Friend-feed like presence representation tool.  What I don't like about this is the lack of innovation involved.  So far, FB has broken new ground in every area they'd touched.  I wonder if the company's size is beginning to effect their innovaton.  Google had passed through these post start-up staged without comprimising its technology DNA.  I hope FB is able to do the same.

Back to Blogging

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I have been having a tough time blogging lately.  A few weeks ago I
made a resolution to blog shorter and more frequently, and so far, I
have failed at this.  Maybe it's because I have developed a certain style of writing and can not shift that easily.

It also definitely has to do with my work schedule.  The downturn in the market has caused us at iLab Ventures to focus more intently on our portfolio and I am now involved at a higher level with the operations across the portfolio.

Nevertheless, blogging has been a critical tool for me in doing my job.  It helps me track my thoughts across many facets and participate in the global conversation on venture investing.  As my posts decline, I feel I am missing out on a part of that conversation.

So, once again, I resolve to blog more frequently.  I am also considering blogging in Turkish from time to time.  It makes a lot of sense to blog in the native language of my home and principal target market. I will have to see if it feels natural.

Prosper is Shut Down – Such a Shame

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The SEC, in its quest to protect investors, has shut down Prosper, the peer-to-peer site that connected lenders and borrowers. It looks like Prosper claims it's a marketplace but the SEC asserts that it is enabling investments without proper licensing.

Details aside, I think this is a stupid move by the SEC, not to mention, ironic.  While we're dealing with the mess created by the very industry the SEC is tasked to watch over, here they are shuttering a service that would probably provide some relief, albeit small, to the pains caused by the unprecedented tightening of credit caused by their failure.

I am a fan of P2P lending and think that the value it creates far overshadows the risks it introduces.  I am rooting for Prosper in this battle.

Sirius XM Never Made Sense to Me

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Sirius XM, the digital radio co, is trading at $0.20, off its 52 week high of $3.94.  It's 95% down from that peak and about 99.7% down from its all-time high circa 2000.  Still, it's a company with $1b+ revenues, so it's not insignificant.  It's run by Mel Karmazin, who personifies old media to me.

I am not a bit surprised by the state of the company.  I never got satellite radio.  I presumed it's targeted at cars and delivered a constant, high quality signal so it was an improvement over traditional radio, but the high cost of equipment replacement and the high cost of subscription was always a barrier for me to ever become a customer.

Then I realized that the entire venture was dependent on biz dev relationships, which, for me, is the worst kind of competitive advantage for a business.  And in this case, this dependency was with car manufactureres.  The satellite radio companies were trying to get their equipment as standard accessories in cars, turning around and cutting expensive proprietary content deals, to turn and squeeze value out of customers.

This is so far from value at the edge.  So much of old media still does not get what business they are in.  I see this currently at play in Turkey, where the leading satellite TV provider, Digiturk, is trying to sell me Tivo capabilities for $500 for the box plus an increase in my $70/mo subscription.  Are they nuts?  I got my digital cable plus PVR plus unlimited local and national calls plus broadband in NYC (a very expensive city) in 2005 for less than $100/month.

Old media should look at their strategy, then at Sirius XM, and rethink.  Fast.

Banning YouTube Does Not Work

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I had not heard that the US Army had banned YouTube in May 2007.  Its reasoning: "security and bandwidth issues".

Now the Army is announcing the launch of an alternative video sharing site, TroopTube.  The move is being called "a "retention tool" aimed at a generation of soldiers who bring laptops to the front lines."

What they don't get is that YouTube is not a video sharing site, it is a part of people's lives.  Their retention tool will not work.  It will not replace YouTube.  Just the way that USA Today they drop outside your door at hotels does not replace your NY Times, even though they both give you news.

What they also don't get, just like the Turkish courts don't, is that banning YouTube does not keep a population from accessing it.  I am sure there will be leaks of sensitive information from military ranks through the multitude of channels available for sharing information. 

YouTube, which has been banned in Turkey for months, is still the #11 most popular website in Turkey, accoding to Alexa.  It woud have been Top 5 had it not been for the ban, but still, it's way ahead of all the alternative video sites.

What a waste of taxpayer's money, in both cases.

No Clouds in Turkey

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I get pitched by a large number of Turkish internet startups, and none of them, not one, so far, have built their application using cloud computing.  I wonder why that is.

It seems to me that the cloud computing service providers like Google App Engine, AWS and 10gen, offer a solid, scalable solution.  On top of this, all of the non-cloud Turkish alternatives are more expensive than their US counterparts.  Yet, you read about companies like drop.io going 100% cloud and I can not name a single Turkish company following suit.

Interesting.

Browser Glue

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I am very interested in the smarter browser.  I am still very excited about Chrome despite its somewhat slow launch.  It may not be the killer app in this game but it's a step in the right direction.

One recent development in this area is Adaptive Blue's Glue browser extension.  I don't think there's enough context in Glue yet.  It reminded me of MyBlogRoll.  Even now that it's quite liquid, it fails to delivered promised value to the user.

The context is critical.  The second most natural company in the world to begin working on the browser is Facebook. (The first was Google.)  I also think there's quite an opportunity for Grou.ps here. Because, a group itself provides plenty of context.  The trick there is for the user to be able to separate his activities in multiple groups.

Another opportunity exists for regional markets.  If you built a browser that abstracted and made sense of Yandex, Vcontacte.ru and Mail.ru, it would be quite relevant for Russians.

How about Turkey?

Keep watching the browser.

Turkish Online Advertising

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My expectations of the Turkish online advertising market have been pretty cautious.  My approach was that with the adjustment in the USD-TRY exchange rates, we may have a fairly flat 2009 on dollar basis.

Then, yesterday, after yet another panel I participated in on the Turkish VC sector, I had a very brief conversation with a friend who runs a successful interactive agency.  He quickly shared that:

  • One client of his, a major FMCG company, is dramatically increasing its online spend for 2009
  • Another FMCG co, with relatively minor online ad presence is starting to explore more aggressively

He said he may blog about these, in which case he may disclose who the companies are.  If he does, I’ll update this post.

Music to my ears…

With Friends Like This…

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"We advise against shopping on the internet due to recently increasing fraud cases.  It should not be forgotten that sharing credit card information online can result in serious consequences."

Aydın Agaoglu, President of Turkish Consumers Union (Tuketiciler Birligi)

The above quote was in the Turkish press last week (thanks, Caglar).  I wondered who these jokers were and browsed their website, Tuketiciler.org.  Not surprisingly, the site is not much more than fear mongering and calls for vairous boycotts. 

I invite the Turkish media to be a bit mroe selective in responding to PR requests.

Euro VC

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I participated in two separate VC events last week.  One was a private conference organized by Brains to Ventures, and the other was the Venture Capital Forum organized by EVCA (European Venture Capital Association).  At both events, I was a panelist discussing the VC environment in Turkey.

The B-to-V event was a private event so I can not go into detail on the topic specifics. One could definitely sense the tense mood created by the stressful few weeks in the financial markets, and the recession the global economy is experiencing, yet the conversation was focused on investment opportunities and the upside.

At the EVCA VC Forum, the mood was much more gloomy.  First, I was surprised by how different European and US VC communities are.  In Europe, most VCs come from private equity, banking or accouting backgrounds, whereas in the US, you meet many former entrepreneurs.  The European VC mindset seems focused on down-side protection rather than building great businesses.  Of course I realize I am generalizing and there are some who fall outside of this stereotype, in general, European VC industry appears as if the professionals were primarily picked by prioritizing "those we can trust with our money".