Rating Association FUTURE EUROPE predicts next trillion industry will be Social Media
http://futurerating.blogspot.com/2011/02/social-media-will-be-next-trillion.html
blog of Trustnet expert Association doing Lifetime Award www.healthheroes.live
Friday, February 25, 2011
Social Media - will be next trillion sector.
JPMorgan Raises $1.2 Billion To Invest In Social Media
http://www.businessinsider.com/jpmorgan-digital-growth-fund-2011-2
Right now, there’s no sector more attractive than technology and Social Media.
And that’s reflected in the performance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq. The index is up over 17% since January 4, 2010, outpacing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500.
One of the major driving forces for this is hard cash.
After years of belt-tightening, U.S. corporations are now sitting on cash reserves of about $2 trillion. More than 200 S&P 500 companies actually have cash safety nets of $1 billion.
And with “double-dip” recession fears receding, research firms IDC and Gartner say tech spending should increase by about 3% to 6% in 2011. Meanwhile, Forrester Research predicts a 7% jump, to about $1.7 trillion.
So who’s going to get this money?
- Information technology services companies will take a big chunk, snagging $820 billion globally, according to Gartner, Inc.
- The computer hardware area will receive about $390 billion.
- Enterprise software spending will top $253 billion, putting it firmly on track to become a $300 billion market by 2014.
Not to mention the impact of new healthcare reform laws. Billions of dollars will be up for grabs in the medical records market.
But the entire tech sector appears poised for a rally in 2011.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Europe is not the good land for VC
Ilja Laurs is CEO and founder of GetJar. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.
I had become certain that the VC model — the economic paradigm I had learned was far and away best for IT companies — could not be implemented effectively in Europe thanks to two factors: Europe’s heavily government-controlled business environment and lack of VC experience.
I’ll explain. First off, the long work hours required to jump start a new tech company under the VC model are not permitted by European laws, which usually only allow employees to work 40 hours per week. Those already scarce hours are often consumed by another aspect of the strictly controlled European work environment: report filing, certification courses and tax inspections — all of which are conducted with much more rigor than in the U.S.
During the startup phase, a European company is subjected to a stringent level of control. In addition to endless paperwork, a full-time accountant must be hired immediately. If, for example, form 140B-3.6 isn’t filled out by a certain time on a certain day, a company owner can be fined or even jailed.
To say the least, these rules are not VC-model friendly. They take attention away from a startup’s main objectives, add a level of stress not conducive to creative thinking and actually discourage the formation of IT startups.
Europe’s controlled business environment prohibits the level of experimentation necessary for VC-backed enterprises, particularly in regards to hiring and firing. While American employees who don’t work well in furthering the company’s goals may be terminated without warning, European employees, once hired, can rest safely in their jobs for an extended period.
While this is a benefit to the employee, the inability of employers to view a newly hired employee as participating in an audition of sorts hinders the creative freedom of the company and can lead to long-term stagnation, both consequences that operate in direct opposition to the VC model.
In addition to the issues stemming from a strictly controlled workplace, Europe’s efforts in VC suffer from an extreme naiveté. As the birthplace of the VC model, the U.S. has considerably more experience in VC enterprises, and, as such, operates with a more mature view. In the most intimate way, American VCs have seen the rise of Google, Twitter and Facebook. They know the ins and outs of their formation, they are familiar with the risks they took and they know the intricacies of their success.
Also, thanks to their experience, VCs in the U.S. understand that the parameters of the classic business model do not apply to the businesses they back. While European boards are focused on profits and revenue from the get-go, their U.S. counterparts realize that money often takes its time coming. In fact, I have noted time and time again that European valuations of IT companies are two to three times lower than those in the U.S.
The best opportunity for vc funding
I had become certain that the VC model — the economic paradigm I had learned was far and away best for IT companies — could not be implemented effectively in Europe thanks to two factors: Europe’s heavily government-controlled business environment and lack of VC experience.
I’ll explain. First off, the long work hours required to jump start a new tech company under the VC model are not permitted by European laws, which usually only allow employees to work 40 hours per week. Those already scarce hours are often consumed by another aspect of the strictly controlled European work environment: report filing, certification courses and tax inspections — all of which are conducted with much more rigor than in the U.S.
During the startup phase, a European company is subjected to a stringent level of control. In addition to endless paperwork, a full-time accountant must be hired immediately. If, for example, form 140B-3.6 isn’t filled out by a certain time on a certain day, a company owner can be fined or even jailed.
To say the least, these rules are not VC-model friendly. They take attention away from a startup’s main objectives, add a level of stress not conducive to creative thinking and actually discourage the formation of IT startups.
Europe’s controlled business environment prohibits the level of experimentation necessary for VC-backed enterprises, particularly in regards to hiring and firing. While American employees who don’t work well in furthering the company’s goals may be terminated without warning, European employees, once hired, can rest safely in their jobs for an extended period.
While this is a benefit to the employee, the inability of employers to view a newly hired employee as participating in an audition of sorts hinders the creative freedom of the company and can lead to long-term stagnation, both consequences that operate in direct opposition to the VC model.
In addition to the issues stemming from a strictly controlled workplace, Europe’s efforts in VC suffer from an extreme naiveté. As the birthplace of the VC model, the U.S. has considerably more experience in VC enterprises, and, as such, operates with a more mature view. In the most intimate way, American VCs have seen the rise of Google, Twitter and Facebook. They know the ins and outs of their formation, they are familiar with the risks they took and they know the intricacies of their success.
Also, thanks to their experience, VCs in the U.S. understand that the parameters of the classic business model do not apply to the businesses they back. While European boards are focused on profits and revenue from the get-go, their U.S. counterparts realize that money often takes its time coming. In fact, I have noted time and time again that European valuations of IT companies are two to three times lower than those in the U.S.
The best opportunity for vc funding
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
New innovative models of e-commerce
They are 4 C innovative models of e-commerce :
consumer, content, curation and convergence.
These four elements have profoundly left many industries in disarray. This is mostly in part because businesses are creating new products and marketing them without understanding the new world order. In like vein, some of today's businesses are in danger of acting like the old railroad barons. "As business people often say, the industry's big mistake -- and the reason that car companies replaced the railroad industry as the main source of transportion in the United States - was that the railroad barons didn't realize that they were not in the railroad business, they were in the transportionat business," as Larry writes in his book, and touches on in this interview.
How do you apply this to your business? "It means that you are in the business of serving your audience, not perpetuating your business model," said Larry. "Newspaper readers want news, not necessarily newspapers."
Briefly covering 4Cs, let's start with consumers.
Larry Kramer, C-Scape author:
Indeed, I don't believe mine or Larry's children will ever know a world where they can't get a movie, song, or information on demand. Larry explains that consumer control over media started with the TV remote control. Consumers are also often the best distributors of content and salesmen of products.
If content was king in the old media paradigm, it's even more so today with tens of thousands of distribution channels. "Content is the only sure thing," said Larry. Owning the distribution outlet has become leass important, he said.
Curation has also risen in importance. Huffington Post is a great example of a new media company that has succeeded in curating content across the Web. (VatorNews is also another example of a curator. VatorNews has 350-plus contributors posting their opinion pieces on VatorNews.) In TV, curation is manifested in stations like Fox, which has curated a number of conservative voices and opinions.
Convergence is disrupting the way businesses need to think about incenting its employees. For instance, an electronics retailer might have once given bonuses to employees who could sell the most appliances at the store. But if consumers want choice and prefer to purchase an item online, then an employee should also be incented to encourage the sale wherever it happens. "People need to adjust their award systems," said Larry.
There is the best idea how to do social e-commerce
consumer, content, curation and convergence.
These four elements have profoundly left many industries in disarray. This is mostly in part because businesses are creating new products and marketing them without understanding the new world order. In like vein, some of today's businesses are in danger of acting like the old railroad barons. "As business people often say, the industry's big mistake -- and the reason that car companies replaced the railroad industry as the main source of transportion in the United States - was that the railroad barons didn't realize that they were not in the railroad business, they were in the transportionat business," as Larry writes in his book, and touches on in this interview.
How do you apply this to your business? "It means that you are in the business of serving your audience, not perpetuating your business model," said Larry. "Newspaper readers want news, not necessarily newspapers."
Briefly covering 4Cs, let's start with consumers.
Larry Kramer, C-Scape author:
Indeed, I don't believe mine or Larry's children will ever know a world where they can't get a movie, song, or information on demand. Larry explains that consumer control over media started with the TV remote control. Consumers are also often the best distributors of content and salesmen of products.
If content was king in the old media paradigm, it's even more so today with tens of thousands of distribution channels. "Content is the only sure thing," said Larry. Owning the distribution outlet has become leass important, he said.
Curation has also risen in importance. Huffington Post is a great example of a new media company that has succeeded in curating content across the Web. (VatorNews is also another example of a curator. VatorNews has 350-plus contributors posting their opinion pieces on VatorNews.) In TV, curation is manifested in stations like Fox, which has curated a number of conservative voices and opinions.
Convergence is disrupting the way businesses need to think about incenting its employees. For instance, an electronics retailer might have once given bonuses to employees who could sell the most appliances at the store. But if consumers want choice and prefer to purchase an item online, then an employee should also be incented to encourage the sale wherever it happens. "People need to adjust their award systems," said Larry.
There is the best idea how to do social e-commerce
Friday, February 18, 2011
How to raise $100 millions?
We must first find people who give out the money in the form of the loan, like
Short-Term Loan Startup Wonga
- Raises $117 Million
http://www.businessinsider.com/short-term-loan-startup-wonga-raises-monster-117-million-round-2011-2?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10+Things+In+Tech+You+Need+To+Know&utm_campaign=10ThingsTech_NL_021711
10 lessons for entrepreneurs going into 2011
Advice from CEOs of Zynga, Zappos, Twitter, Tesla Motors, and morehttp://vator.tv/news/2010-12-30-10-lessons-for-entrepreneurs-going-into-2011
If there is one overriding lesson about viral marketing, it is that the product is itself the marketing. Without a great product, few would care to share with friends and thereby ignite the exponential growth in user adoption that most successful "social" media and network companies rely on Jeff Smith, CEO and co-founder of Smule, expressed this in spades during his time onstage at Vator Splash Feb.
Lesson: The product is the marketing.
Other lesson how to raise investments how to attract investments
User-centered research strategies
Having had the opportunity to work with many design teams over the last decade, we’ve been able to test and evaluate various methods of gaining insights from users. There are three research strategies we typically see when working with clients: interviews, field observations, and users’ full integration into a design process as subject-matter experts.
Expert interviews are very common and, typically, the simplest way to understand your user population at a more intimate level when you need design input. Expert interviews are extremely valuable because they present an opportunity for you to ask targeted questions regarding users’ routines, needs, desires, and struggles. Such interviews typically include behavioral routines and subjective feedback on currently available solutions versus new design ideas. The downfall of this approach is that it involves self-reporting. What people say is not always what they do. We have a saying at our office: “behavior never lies.” Expert interviews do not let you evaluate behavior.
Field observations—AKA ethnographies—are not as common, because of their cost, but offer an extremely effective approach to observing the behavior of users. In this approach, both a researcher and a designer can spend time observing users within the context of their own environment—at work, at school, or at home—record user behaviors, and ask questions that guide them to a better understanding of how to design a product. Field observations are effective primarily because of the volume of objective data they let you gather. But the challenge with this approach is just that: the volume of data that you gather. It takes a team of people to sift through the data and make sense of it—and, if your team does not do this properly, that data can lead you down the wrong path.
Working with subject-matter experts
Fully integrating users into a design process is rarer, but this is a very powerful approach when you use it appropriately. This approach involves employing users as subject-matter experts (SMEs)—people who use your product often and with whom you can interact on a regular basis to get their perspectives on the product’s design. They typically have insights no one else would have. SMEs could be industry specialists such as doctors, lawyers, military personnel, or CEOs. Or, they could be people who customarily follow certain processes or routines—such as parents, foodies, athletes, car enthusiasts, or avid video-game players.
When working with SMEs, it’s important to understand how to evaluate and use the information they provide—thus, ensuring that your product not only meets their needs, but also meets them in a way that encourages these SMEs to continue using your product regularly and incorporate it into their daily routine. The evaluation and use of such information can be tricky, because what SMEs say they need might not translate into what they actually do—something Betty Crocker dealt with, as we described earlier.
Integrating SMEs into your product design process means consulting them frequently, so they can help you shape a product’s direction as it goes through its development lifecycle. You typically see SMEs play an active role on larger projects such as the design of military or medical applications, but sometimes, also on smaller projects with large budgets. There are pros and cons to this approach. While getting input from SMEs helps keep a product’s direction in line with the needs of its target market, there is always risk when only a few people judge the validity of a product. Plus, when SMEs contribute to the design of a product over a long period of time, they may lose their objectivity and provide guidance that is less than optimal.
There are certain techniques researchers apply when gathering data from SMEs to ensure they do not get overwhelmed by seeing bits and pieces of unpolished ideas, leading to confusion. For example, before presenting a design mockup or idea to SMEs, you should have at least one or two product team members—perhaps engineers or researchers—first review it, to ensure there are no glaring problems that would distract the SMEs from the goal of their evaluation. We’ve found that, if you show SMEs each and every bit of your design process, they tend to become overwhelmed and sometimes frustrated by your constant changes in direction. SMEs should serve as guides—to ensure you are on the right track—not moment-by-moment evaluators.
A second technique is very similar to a negotiation tactic automobile sales representatives use: a fresh face makes the sale. It is important, at some point during a project, to bring in a few new SMEs who can offer some fresh perspectives. This does not mean previous SMEs need to leave the project; it just means they should focus on a new aspect of it. We cannot overemphasize the importance of this technique and how much value we have obtained from doing this on our projects. The new perspectives help you fine-tune your ideas and also validate the work you’ve already completed.
Finally, be objective, and take what SMEs tell you—whether verbally or nonverbally—very seriously. We’ve found that, when people get married to their ideas or design concepts, they stop listening to their SMEs. It is important to give structure to your meetings and SME evaluations by defining how SMEs can contribute to product design. We’ve found it’s very helpful to establish these guidelines right away, at the very beginning of a project—as well as to re-evaluate them a few days later. The process of gathering and applying expert feedback is iterative and, although it can be tiring at times, the final product will be better for it.
Short-Term Loan Startup Wonga
- Raises $117 Million
http://www.businessinsider.com/short-term-loan-startup-wonga-raises-monster-117-million-round-2011-2?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=10+Things+In+Tech+You+Need+To+Know&utm_campaign=10ThingsTech_NL_021711
10 lessons for entrepreneurs going into 2011
Advice from CEOs of Zynga, Zappos, Twitter, Tesla Motors, and morehttp://vator.tv/news/2010-12-30-10-lessons-for-entrepreneurs-going-into-2011
If there is one overriding lesson about viral marketing, it is that the product is itself the marketing. Without a great product, few would care to share with friends and thereby ignite the exponential growth in user adoption that most successful "social" media and network companies rely on Jeff Smith, CEO and co-founder of Smule, expressed this in spades during his time onstage at Vator Splash Feb.
Lesson: The product is the marketing.
Other lesson how to raise investments how to attract investments
User-centered research strategies
Having had the opportunity to work with many design teams over the last decade, we’ve been able to test and evaluate various methods of gaining insights from users. There are three research strategies we typically see when working with clients: interviews, field observations, and users’ full integration into a design process as subject-matter experts.
Expert interviews are very common and, typically, the simplest way to understand your user population at a more intimate level when you need design input. Expert interviews are extremely valuable because they present an opportunity for you to ask targeted questions regarding users’ routines, needs, desires, and struggles. Such interviews typically include behavioral routines and subjective feedback on currently available solutions versus new design ideas. The downfall of this approach is that it involves self-reporting. What people say is not always what they do. We have a saying at our office: “behavior never lies.” Expert interviews do not let you evaluate behavior.
Field observations—AKA ethnographies—are not as common, because of their cost, but offer an extremely effective approach to observing the behavior of users. In this approach, both a researcher and a designer can spend time observing users within the context of their own environment—at work, at school, or at home—record user behaviors, and ask questions that guide them to a better understanding of how to design a product. Field observations are effective primarily because of the volume of objective data they let you gather. But the challenge with this approach is just that: the volume of data that you gather. It takes a team of people to sift through the data and make sense of it—and, if your team does not do this properly, that data can lead you down the wrong path.
Working with subject-matter experts
Fully integrating users into a design process is rarer, but this is a very powerful approach when you use it appropriately. This approach involves employing users as subject-matter experts (SMEs)—people who use your product often and with whom you can interact on a regular basis to get their perspectives on the product’s design. They typically have insights no one else would have. SMEs could be industry specialists such as doctors, lawyers, military personnel, or CEOs. Or, they could be people who customarily follow certain processes or routines—such as parents, foodies, athletes, car enthusiasts, or avid video-game players.
When working with SMEs, it’s important to understand how to evaluate and use the information they provide—thus, ensuring that your product not only meets their needs, but also meets them in a way that encourages these SMEs to continue using your product regularly and incorporate it into their daily routine. The evaluation and use of such information can be tricky, because what SMEs say they need might not translate into what they actually do—something Betty Crocker dealt with, as we described earlier.
Integrating SMEs into your product design process means consulting them frequently, so they can help you shape a product’s direction as it goes through its development lifecycle. You typically see SMEs play an active role on larger projects such as the design of military or medical applications, but sometimes, also on smaller projects with large budgets. There are pros and cons to this approach. While getting input from SMEs helps keep a product’s direction in line with the needs of its target market, there is always risk when only a few people judge the validity of a product. Plus, when SMEs contribute to the design of a product over a long period of time, they may lose their objectivity and provide guidance that is less than optimal.
There are certain techniques researchers apply when gathering data from SMEs to ensure they do not get overwhelmed by seeing bits and pieces of unpolished ideas, leading to confusion. For example, before presenting a design mockup or idea to SMEs, you should have at least one or two product team members—perhaps engineers or researchers—first review it, to ensure there are no glaring problems that would distract the SMEs from the goal of their evaluation. We’ve found that, if you show SMEs each and every bit of your design process, they tend to become overwhelmed and sometimes frustrated by your constant changes in direction. SMEs should serve as guides—to ensure you are on the right track—not moment-by-moment evaluators.
A second technique is very similar to a negotiation tactic automobile sales representatives use: a fresh face makes the sale. It is important, at some point during a project, to bring in a few new SMEs who can offer some fresh perspectives. This does not mean previous SMEs need to leave the project; it just means they should focus on a new aspect of it. We cannot overemphasize the importance of this technique and how much value we have obtained from doing this on our projects. The new perspectives help you fine-tune your ideas and also validate the work you’ve already completed.
Finally, be objective, and take what SMEs tell you—whether verbally or nonverbally—very seriously. We’ve found that, when people get married to their ideas or design concepts, they stop listening to their SMEs. It is important to give structure to your meetings and SME evaluations by defining how SMEs can contribute to product design. We’ve found it’s very helpful to establish these guidelines right away, at the very beginning of a project—as well as to re-evaluate them a few days later. The process of gathering and applying expert feedback is iterative and, although it can be tiring at times, the final product will be better for it.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Social Will Dominate Future Innovation
Social will be everywhere.
This is part of IEEE Spectrum's prognosis: Top 11 Technologies of the Decade
Social Economy - we are seeing the mechanisms of the social economy breaking down and the different institutions and organizations are going to be under even more severe pressure with cost cuts. Often the boundaries there were clear in the past are becoming blurred and we have to tackle these with more social innovations. There is an increasing need to redraw a growing complex set of relationships and establish the different, distinct approaches required by innovation to understand, leverage and extract more from these groups involved for more social needs and aspirations of individuals within communities.
Social transformations are happening all around us. The very structures and institutions are under increasing strain and in some cases simply collapsing. There are new paradigms that we need to understand and translate, for instance the massive shift taking place from ‘push-through’ to ‘pull-through’ and the requirement of the individual not just serving the mass. There is intense ‘tensions’ for wider change and many organizations are failing to keep up or not being bold or radical enough to embrace and innovate in these changing times
Social innovation is growing in its discipline, its identity and understanding its tasks. Social innovation has to tackle the problems of increasing epidemics, flooding, pollution, healthcare costs, waste, inadequate welfare programs and a widening inequality within society. We have to construct solutions around 1) structures and mechanisms to develop and diffuse quickly and effectively, 2) establish the process of social innovation to extend it beyond business or its philanthropy roots to extend it and spread it and in so doing bypass many restrictions and current barriers left in place from a rapidly older order of society and 3) productive systems to learn who can do what, when, where, how and with whom and scale it accordingly.
Social Entrepreneurship - presently there are prescriptive theories on this as it is only emerging as a discipline in its own right in recent years and research tends to lag. What goes on today is social entrepreneurs blend methods from business and philanthropy to deliver what is needed in their challenge. This needs more understanding to allow for greater ‘replication’. The need of the social entrepreneur is to create social value but we need to define this a little more in the coming period.
Social value chains really do need to have an increased focus to understand in design, scale, the critical value-adding points, the ability or inability to scale understanding and in the service criteria. Some years ago the value chain become a focus of business with the result seeing a dramatic productivity improvement in results and we need the same amount of dedicated focus on the social value chain and what are good and improved outcomes along it from these efforts.
Social Enterprises - The need to organize and deliver in complex situations of crisis requires very different thinking and adaption than in the norm.
This is part of IEEE Spectrum's prognosis: Top 11 Technologies of the Decade
Social Economy - we are seeing the mechanisms of the social economy breaking down and the different institutions and organizations are going to be under even more severe pressure with cost cuts. Often the boundaries there were clear in the past are becoming blurred and we have to tackle these with more social innovations. There is an increasing need to redraw a growing complex set of relationships and establish the different, distinct approaches required by innovation to understand, leverage and extract more from these groups involved for more social needs and aspirations of individuals within communities.
Social transformations are happening all around us. The very structures and institutions are under increasing strain and in some cases simply collapsing. There are new paradigms that we need to understand and translate, for instance the massive shift taking place from ‘push-through’ to ‘pull-through’ and the requirement of the individual not just serving the mass. There is intense ‘tensions’ for wider change and many organizations are failing to keep up or not being bold or radical enough to embrace and innovate in these changing times
Social innovation is growing in its discipline, its identity and understanding its tasks. Social innovation has to tackle the problems of increasing epidemics, flooding, pollution, healthcare costs, waste, inadequate welfare programs and a widening inequality within society. We have to construct solutions around 1) structures and mechanisms to develop and diffuse quickly and effectively, 2) establish the process of social innovation to extend it beyond business or its philanthropy roots to extend it and spread it and in so doing bypass many restrictions and current barriers left in place from a rapidly older order of society and 3) productive systems to learn who can do what, when, where, how and with whom and scale it accordingly.
Social Entrepreneurship - presently there are prescriptive theories on this as it is only emerging as a discipline in its own right in recent years and research tends to lag. What goes on today is social entrepreneurs blend methods from business and philanthropy to deliver what is needed in their challenge. This needs more understanding to allow for greater ‘replication’. The need of the social entrepreneur is to create social value but we need to define this a little more in the coming period.
Social value chains really do need to have an increased focus to understand in design, scale, the critical value-adding points, the ability or inability to scale understanding and in the service criteria. Some years ago the value chain become a focus of business with the result seeing a dramatic productivity improvement in results and we need the same amount of dedicated focus on the social value chain and what are good and improved outcomes along it from these efforts.
Social Enterprises - The need to organize and deliver in complex situations of crisis requires very different thinking and adaption than in the norm.
Blogger revolutions. Predictions and news
In future revolution will be sponsored by USA and supported through Internet social networks.
American diplomacy has in fact included the freedom of internet access in the list of human rights and freedoms that the United States be obliged to protect globally.
Head of the U.S. Department of State Hillary Clinton spoke on Tuesday with a landmark speech on "the Internet, the pros and cons: the choice and challenges in the world, to connect the global network," which cautioned that all dictatorships, including China, and limiting access of its citizens in a global network.
U.S. and its companies serious about the promotion via the internet revolution. When the Egyptian authorities have closed their citizens access to Facebook and Twitter, and then to the Internet, Google has even launched a special service that allows people of Egypt to send messages to Twitter using voice calls from your mobile.
How the bloggers have made a revolution in Tunisia - see
http://znacomstva.blogspot.com/2011/02/sponsorship-of-revolutions-in-social.html
HOT NEWS!
Sponsorship of the revolutions in social networks has led to what is just a riot in Libya.
Violent clashes, in which were involved supporters and opponents of the authorities and the police, occurred last night in the city of Benghazi in eastern Libya.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Bank of America waiting for the loss
Bank of America will lose at least 10% of capitalization, when Wikileaks will open truth about his dirty operation discribed on
http://hodorkovski.blogspot.com/2011/02/wikileaks-secrets-about-bank-of-america.html
http://hodorkovski.blogspot.com/2011/02/wikileaks-secrets-about-bank-of-america.html
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
How to attract investors
Here are advises on how to attract an investor:
1) Come up with a persuasive elevator pitch that captures the essence of what your idea is and what problem it solves.
2) Demonstrate passion and commitment.
3) Research your market.
4) Know your competition.
5) Start selling as soon as you can.
6) Write a business plan.
7) Acknowledge your limitations and explain how you intend to overcome them.
8) Be persistent.
Answer the following items:
Is there a razоr and blade cоnnectiоn
Investors like product concepts that require the customer to be put on a regular buying schedule. For example, when you buy a piece of software, you're locked into at least the potential of buying regular upgrades. Products that are sold once and then last 100 years with no maintenance and no upgrades just aren't desirable to investors.
Is there roоm for additiоnal products
No one likes to invest in a one-product company. When presenting a financial forecast, you should be very clear as to when new products will be introduced and what their perceived impact will be on sales and profits.
These six areas can be easily examined by an investor if you take the trouble to clearly present and document them in your financials. The next four areas aren't so easy to see. They'll require careful anticipation and documentation, but you should take the time to do it if you really want to impress an investor.
Is there a lоck out pоtential that makes this prоduct more attractive
Are you the first company to ever think of this idea and now, because you're first to market, you have a huge lead over anyone else? Are the barriers for any of your competitors getting into this market so huge it will take them years to catch up? If so, investors will love you.
Prevent regulatоry barriers
If you're in a business where there are regulators and you've passed their scrutiny and you're ready to sell and you're first to market, then, once again, investors will love you. Investors like barriers when:
Many companies make the mistake of simply assuming their product is superior to every product that exists on the market both now and for the expected future. They fail to even consider that whatever competitors that exist may be just months away from introducing a product that could be far superior to theirs. A seasoned investor will either know or do considerable homework to find out what all potential competitors are working on and to determine how their next product will compare to yours. So, if you really want to impress an investor, do this work for them! Research and hypothesize about every conceivable approach your competition may take. The better handle you have on your competition, the more believable your financial projections will be to investors.
Cоmpute the deal capital fоrmula
For most product-based companies, there's a formula used by professional investors that approximates how much capital they'll need to invest before the company will be ready for a liquidity event
how to attract investments
1) Come up with a persuasive elevator pitch that captures the essence of what your idea is and what problem it solves.
2) Demonstrate passion and commitment.
3) Research your market.
4) Know your competition.
5) Start selling as soon as you can.
6) Write a business plan.
7) Acknowledge your limitations and explain how you intend to overcome them.
8) Be persistent.
Answer the following items:
Is there a razоr and blade cоnnectiоn
Investors like product concepts that require the customer to be put on a regular buying schedule. For example, when you buy a piece of software, you're locked into at least the potential of buying regular upgrades. Products that are sold once and then last 100 years with no maintenance and no upgrades just aren't desirable to investors.
Is there roоm for additiоnal products
No one likes to invest in a one-product company. When presenting a financial forecast, you should be very clear as to when new products will be introduced and what their perceived impact will be on sales and profits.
These six areas can be easily examined by an investor if you take the trouble to clearly present and document them in your financials. The next four areas aren't so easy to see. They'll require careful anticipation and documentation, but you should take the time to do it if you really want to impress an investor.
Is there a lоck out pоtential that makes this prоduct more attractive
Are you the first company to ever think of this idea and now, because you're first to market, you have a huge lead over anyone else? Are the barriers for any of your competitors getting into this market so huge it will take them years to catch up? If so, investors will love you.
Prevent regulatоry barriers
If you're in a business where there are regulators and you've passed their scrutiny and you're ready to sell and you're first to market, then, once again, investors will love you. Investors like barriers when:
- They're real and substantial.
- The company being invested in is on the right side of that barrier.
- The competition either hasn't yet gotten past the barrier and/or your product is clearly superior.
Many companies make the mistake of simply assuming their product is superior to every product that exists on the market both now and for the expected future. They fail to even consider that whatever competitors that exist may be just months away from introducing a product that could be far superior to theirs. A seasoned investor will either know or do considerable homework to find out what all potential competitors are working on and to determine how their next product will compare to yours. So, if you really want to impress an investor, do this work for them! Research and hypothesize about every conceivable approach your competition may take. The better handle you have on your competition, the more believable your financial projections will be to investors.
Cоmpute the deal capital fоrmula
For most product-based companies, there's a formula used by professional investors that approximates how much capital they'll need to invest before the company will be ready for a liquidity event
10 Stеps For Attracting Investors
Step 1: Dеfine the sort of investors you want to attract.
You wаnt to be аble to speаk directly to your ideal invеstor types. Create a profile for your investors that include things like location, criteria, attitudеs, and beliefs. You don’t need to be concernеd with ALL investors being interested in your technology and company!
Step 2: Create a frеe whitеpaper.
You’ll wаnt to have empоwering informаtion ready for downlоad when investors sign up to receive updаtes on your site. A whitepaper is a highly effective tool to educate investors on all solutions, history, and milestones in your industry, and then wrap up with your specific technоlogy.
Step 3: Determine your web platform and auto-responder
Here you must dеcide if you’re gоing to pаy an expensive web developer, or if you will go with less expensive options such as Wordpress.
You will also need an auto responder to capture investor contact information and regularly communicate. You’ve likely seen many examples of these by now, such as Constant Contact and iContact.
Step 4: Dеsign your site map for investor nаvigаtion
If you already have a company website, I recommend adding a tab called “Investors” which will take them to an “investor universe”. This universe is a blog platform of your choosing, as mentioned above. Ask yourself, “What do investors want to know?” And create pages tailored to their needs.
Step 5: Shоut your “cause” from your Welcоme page!
Get investors inspired to sign up for your company updates regarding your milestones and technology.
Step 6: Capturе invеstor name and email
Your updates and other educational material you provide via your auto responder will have greater impact and quickly grow your thought leadership in your industry.
Step 7: Nurture-mаrkеt your list with your updatеs
Only send things of high value as seen through the eyes of the investor. They will want to know milestones. They will want an announcement of your blog post that provides a video of useful or interesting information about your technology. They will want to know of your latest research publications with a summary in lay terms. Think before email marketing!
Step 8: Blog your case studies and other helpful information
Realistically decide how frequently you can blog on a consistent basis. The more frequently you blog, the more you attract your market/investors.
Step 9: Implеment multi-mеdia on yоur site
People are drawn to pictures, cоntroversy, drama, and оther emоion-laden content. Implementing multi-media will attract the market, even investors (Investors are people too, yes?!)
Step 10: Tap intо social networks
The only people who maximally benefit from social networks are those who have done something very similar to steps 1-9 above, plus understand that strategy comes before tactics.
Other advises
You wаnt to be аble to speаk directly to your ideal invеstor types. Create a profile for your investors that include things like location, criteria, attitudеs, and beliefs. You don’t need to be concernеd with ALL investors being interested in your technology and company!
Step 2: Create a frеe whitеpaper.
You’ll wаnt to have empоwering informаtion ready for downlоad when investors sign up to receive updаtes on your site. A whitepaper is a highly effective tool to educate investors on all solutions, history, and milestones in your industry, and then wrap up with your specific technоlogy.
Step 3: Determine your web platform and auto-responder
Here you must dеcide if you’re gоing to pаy an expensive web developer, or if you will go with less expensive options such as Wordpress.
You will also need an auto responder to capture investor contact information and regularly communicate. You’ve likely seen many examples of these by now, such as Constant Contact and iContact.
Step 4: Dеsign your site map for investor nаvigаtion
If you already have a company website, I recommend adding a tab called “Investors” which will take them to an “investor universe”. This universe is a blog platform of your choosing, as mentioned above. Ask yourself, “What do investors want to know?” And create pages tailored to their needs.
Step 5: Shоut your “cause” from your Welcоme page!
Get investors inspired to sign up for your company updates regarding your milestones and technology.
Step 6: Capturе invеstor name and email
Your updates and other educational material you provide via your auto responder will have greater impact and quickly grow your thought leadership in your industry.
Step 7: Nurture-mаrkеt your list with your updatеs
Only send things of high value as seen through the eyes of the investor. They will want to know milestones. They will want an announcement of your blog post that provides a video of useful or interesting information about your technology. They will want to know of your latest research publications with a summary in lay terms. Think before email marketing!
Step 8: Blog your case studies and other helpful information
Realistically decide how frequently you can blog on a consistent basis. The more frequently you blog, the more you attract your market/investors.
Step 9: Implеment multi-mеdia on yоur site
People are drawn to pictures, cоntroversy, drama, and оther emоion-laden content. Implementing multi-media will attract the market, even investors (Investors are people too, yes?!)
Step 10: Tap intо social networks
The only people who maximally benefit from social networks are those who have done something very similar to steps 1-9 above, plus understand that strategy comes before tactics.
Other advises
how to attract investments
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Chapman predicts returning of Great Depression
There is the Kondratieff cycle of depressions.
Kondratieff Wave cycle corresponds with the Great Depression of 1930- 1942.
Significantly, a period of 50-60 years from 1949 encompasses the past decade, which culminated in the financial panic of 2008.
But given the possible influence of the longer 72-year and 90-year cycles, this particular Kondratieff Wave may not yet have seen its nadir. At the end of the other long waves the culmination of debt build-up was largely cleansed via bankruptcy and defaults. Today this process is still being worked out.
The well-known Kitchin cycle of 3-5 years is what plays as a series of stock market lows about every four years. From the Great Depression low of 1932, stock market lows were seen in 1938, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005 (very shallow) and 2009. The next Kitchin cycle low is due anywhere from 2012 to 2014.
More about forecast expert prognosis http://hodorkovski.blogspot.com/2011/02/truth-about-economic-cycles-kondratieff.html
Kondratieff Wave cycle corresponds with the Great Depression of 1930- 1942.
Significantly, a period of 50-60 years from 1949 encompasses the past decade, which culminated in the financial panic of 2008.
But given the possible influence of the longer 72-year and 90-year cycles, this particular Kondratieff Wave may not yet have seen its nadir. At the end of the other long waves the culmination of debt build-up was largely cleansed via bankruptcy and defaults. Today this process is still being worked out.
The well-known Kitchin cycle of 3-5 years is what plays as a series of stock market lows about every four years. From the Great Depression low of 1932, stock market lows were seen in 1938, 1942, 1946, 1949, 1953, 1957, 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005 (very shallow) and 2009. The next Kitchin cycle low is due anywhere from 2012 to 2014.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Leadinf forecast expert Edward Mushinsky predicts
Edward Mushinsky, 4 years ago predicted the new forms of networked business - models called virtual corporations.
Virtual state may start as a "game" - this does not detract from the reality of relationships formed in it. Economic game, which brings the participants to real income, allowing them to have a real economic relations, it is not a "virtual practice", but a real economic system.
Forecast rating forms of social and business
Virtual state may start as a "game" - this does not detract from the reality of relationships formed in it. Economic game, which brings the participants to real income, allowing them to have a real economic relations, it is not a "virtual practice", but a real economic system.
Forecast rating forms of social and business
Friday, February 4, 2011
Forecasts by Edward Mushinsky become true
Forecasts and recommendations by top manager of Future Rating Association Edward Musinski, a leading expert in innovative marketing, on the theme "How to increase the audience of the site for a month, and profits doubled, "
- Implement in Branchout
and Hulu Plus
http://vsocial.livejournal.com/117997.html
which doubled audience adn profit
Thursday, February 3, 2011
How to attract investments
How to attract investors.
Statement of investment consulting associations Future Rating.
Future Rating has a mission to clarify the prospects for global markets, through an expert forecast of investment opportunities.
For the first time startups and investors receive a FREE platform for evaluation of the potential (predicted ratings of the future growth of industries and individual technologies), and increasing the investment attractiveness of startupsthrough the creation of strategic alliances and direct investments.
Benefits on-line platform to attract strategic investors.
To compete successfully in the changing business environment, global companies are moving to the digital style "of doing business, that means outsourcing and acquisition of startups that have the necessary technology.Another way out of crisis deadlock - strategic alliances with Internet access - shops, it has stable distribution system, with client base.
How to start attracting investment.
Begin work with the investor should be to bring in order and structuring expertise, assets and customer base.For example, the union of a customer relationship management with the telephone exchange will allow better quality monitor this channel of communication with customers - the customer can be automatically identified by the incoming call, the call center and automatically transferred to the same employee responsible for work along this direction. The employee will be ready to talk, because all the data needed to talk, it will be displayed on the screen.This is possible by combining disparate customer data in one database, suitable for storage, processing and analysis of customer data. Synchronization of the database with directories of services, contracting, billing and invoices will help point your business to the real needs of customers - and they will appreciate. A loyal customers will help your business become more attractive for investors and attract new partners to you.
Expertise - it is a guarantee for the investor.
Frankly, today, a team from a technological idea without even who to turn to for advice - how to pack the project, that he interested in venture capital investor, how to build a business model and business plan. As a rule, people who are trying to move in the field of technological entrepreneurship do not have enough business experience. The presence of such experience is often at odds with experience in technology - for his achievements should be thrown to engage in technology and do business.
Institute of business expertise will ensure availability of services to promote projects from technology to the company, the product, to a successful exit for the investor. Such expertise can provide an open community of experts. The need for this now feels, in my opinion, all market participants. And we are in its strategy to take on the role of initiator of this project.
Statement of investment consulting associations Future Rating.
Future Rating has a mission to clarify the prospects for global markets, through an expert forecast of investment opportunities.
For the first time startups and investors receive a FREE platform for evaluation of the potential (predicted ratings of the future growth of industries and individual technologies), and increasing the investment attractiveness of startupsthrough the creation of strategic alliances and direct investments.
Benefits on-line platform to attract strategic investors.
To compete successfully in the changing business environment, global companies are moving to the digital style "of doing business, that means outsourcing and acquisition of startups that have the necessary technology.Another way out of crisis deadlock - strategic alliances with Internet access - shops, it has stable distribution system, with client base.
How to start attracting investment.
Begin work with the investor should be to bring in order and structuring expertise, assets and customer base.For example, the union of a customer relationship management with the telephone exchange will allow better quality monitor this channel of communication with customers - the customer can be automatically identified by the incoming call, the call center and automatically transferred to the same employee responsible for work along this direction. The employee will be ready to talk, because all the data needed to talk, it will be displayed on the screen.This is possible by combining disparate customer data in one database, suitable for storage, processing and analysis of customer data. Synchronization of the database with directories of services, contracting, billing and invoices will help point your business to the real needs of customers - and they will appreciate. A loyal customers will help your business become more attractive for investors and attract new partners to you.
Expertise - it is a guarantee for the investor.
Frankly, today, a team from a technological idea without even who to turn to for advice - how to pack the project, that he interested in venture capital investor, how to build a business model and business plan. As a rule, people who are trying to move in the field of technological entrepreneurship do not have enough business experience. The presence of such experience is often at odds with experience in technology - for his achievements should be thrown to engage in technology and do business.
Institute of business expertise will ensure availability of services to promote projects from technology to the company, the product, to a successful exit for the investor. Such expertise can provide an open community of experts. The need for this now feels, in my opinion, all market participants. And we are in its strategy to take on the role of initiator of this project.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
How to made the greatest Startup
In a startup fоunders and the bоard need to do exact the oppоsite of a large company – failures need to be shared, discussed and dissected to extract “lessоns learned” so a new direction can be set.
The first time I saw a corpоrate cover-up was as a new board member of a medium size public company. The VP of an operating divisiоn had run into trouble in product development; the product was late and getting later. The revenue plan had the new product baked into the numbers and it was clear that this division General Manager was going to crater his forecast (happens all the time, nothing new here.) I knew this from talking to his people before the board meeting so none of this was a surprise. What was a surprise was the boldface lies the VP told us at the bоard meeting. “The product’s on schedule. No problems. We’ll make the numbers.” The disconnect between reality and a senior executive’s willingness to blatantly lie to his CEO and board just blew me away.
It would have been so much simpler for him to say, “We’re screwed, and I need your help.” Until I dug deeper and realized that the entire оompany had a “cover-up culture” – the CEO punished failure and bad news. Since only good news was rewarded (as defined by the revenue and product plan shared with Wall Street analysts,) I understood why avoiding bad news and covering mistakes was the general manager’s rational choice in this company. Because earlier in my career I had a board that beat me senseless when I missed a milestone.
Cоver-up or lоok like an idiot
In large companies executives are hired and compensated for pristine and efficient execution. If you screw up, there’s an unspoken assumption that you’ve screwed up a known process – something that was repeatable and predictable. You cover up because your screw-ups not only make you look like a failure, but everyone up the line (your boss, their boss, etc.) look like an idiot. Further, the odds are that the information you hide won’t immediately be discovered or damage the company.
I mention this not because this post is about cover-ups in large companies, (I’ll leave that to the experts in organizational behavior and social theory) but to contrast it with the very different kind of culture that startups need to survive.
The role of the bоard
As a founder I quickly learned how open I could be with my board. A few times I had not so great investors who believed that a startup should unfold like a Harvard case study. They ignored the reality that most startups are a chaotic set of events from which founders are trying to extract a repeatable and profitable pattern. The first time I delivered bad news I got my head handed to me. The lesson this chastened CEO took from that board meeting? Don’t tell this board bad news.
In other startups I was lucky and had great investors who knew how to manage and deal with chaos. They realized that conditions change so rapidly that the original business plan hypotheses becomes irrelevant. These investors taught me metricsappropriate for searching for a business model, how to work with the board when I didn’t make a milestone, and how we would figure out when it was time to change the strategy. I thought of these board members as partners and I shared everything with them; good, bad and ugly.
The first time I saw a corpоrate cover-up was as a new board member of a medium size public company. The VP of an operating divisiоn had run into trouble in product development; the product was late and getting later. The revenue plan had the new product baked into the numbers and it was clear that this division General Manager was going to crater his forecast (happens all the time, nothing new here.) I knew this from talking to his people before the board meeting so none of this was a surprise. What was a surprise was the boldface lies the VP told us at the bоard meeting. “The product’s on schedule. No problems. We’ll make the numbers.” The disconnect between reality and a senior executive’s willingness to blatantly lie to his CEO and board just blew me away.
It would have been so much simpler for him to say, “We’re screwed, and I need your help.” Until I dug deeper and realized that the entire оompany had a “cover-up culture” – the CEO punished failure and bad news. Since only good news was rewarded (as defined by the revenue and product plan shared with Wall Street analysts,) I understood why avoiding bad news and covering mistakes was the general manager’s rational choice in this company. Because earlier in my career I had a board that beat me senseless when I missed a milestone.
Cоver-up or lоok like an idiot
In large companies executives are hired and compensated for pristine and efficient execution. If you screw up, there’s an unspoken assumption that you’ve screwed up a known process – something that was repeatable and predictable. You cover up because your screw-ups not only make you look like a failure, but everyone up the line (your boss, their boss, etc.) look like an idiot. Further, the odds are that the information you hide won’t immediately be discovered or damage the company.
I mention this not because this post is about cover-ups in large companies, (I’ll leave that to the experts in organizational behavior and social theory) but to contrast it with the very different kind of culture that startups need to survive.
The role of the bоard
As a founder I quickly learned how open I could be with my board. A few times I had not so great investors who believed that a startup should unfold like a Harvard case study. They ignored the reality that most startups are a chaotic set of events from which founders are trying to extract a repeatable and profitable pattern. The first time I delivered bad news I got my head handed to me. The lesson this chastened CEO took from that board meeting? Don’t tell this board bad news.
In other startups I was lucky and had great investors who knew how to manage and deal with chaos. They realized that conditions change so rapidly that the original business plan hypotheses becomes irrelevant. These investors taught me metricsappropriate for searching for a business model, how to work with the board when I didn’t make a milestone, and how we would figure out when it was time to change the strategy. I thought of these board members as partners and I shared everything with them; good, bad and ugly.
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