December 2006 Archives

Have you tried NetVibes yet? If not, you should. It is a really powerful, flexible service that allows you to control the way you experience the web. It is the poster child for RSS feeds and web services and open architectures. And it is the poster child for viral marketing. it has become a large, global service through the power of word of mouth with virtually no marketing dollars spent. Never was that word of mouth stronger than at the Le Web conference. It was the sweetheart of the show. The name "NetVibes" was intoned dozens, if not hundreds of times throughout the conference. Speakers pointed to NetVibes as evidence that Europe could compete in a global market and they pointed to Tariq Krim, NetVibe's founder, as evidence that European entrepreneurs had the drive, smarts and savvy of their counterparts in Silicon Valley. I had the good fortune of spending some time chatting with Tariq at Le Web (and at Web 2.0 before that) and I will certainly second that. He is not only smart and accomplished but a really charming guy. I have no doubt that Tariq's magnetism has had a lot to do with NetVibes' great success at spreading the good word.

Speaking of spreading the good word, I have another superhero to add to the online marketing pantheon. His name is Jonathan Coulton and he is my favorite new musician in years. I love Jonathan's music. If you haven't heard Code Monkey yet, stop reading right now and CLICK HERE (Michael Sippey gave me a hard time last time I wrote "CLICK HERE" in all caps -- he suggested that I had been seduced by the likes of Ronco and Guthy Renker -- to Michael I say, CLICK HERE -- $1.3 Billion!). But the chances are you have heard Code Monkey already. Not just because it is a fantastic song. But because Jonathan has used the Internet to its fullest to spread the word about, well, Jonathan. Code Monkey is licensed under a Creative Commons license and he has encouraged fans to create their own music videos, use it to back slideshows, find inspiration for their artwork (all of which Jonathan blogs about when he learns of someone's take of his music), and now Jonathan himself is holding a remix competition in which he has released the source files for Code Monkey and is encouraging people to make their own versions of the song.

Not surprisingly, Jonathan's website isn't a static website, it's a blog and he is an active writer, engaging his audience to be part of the conversation and part of the show. He writes from home. He writes from the road. He's funny and smart. And, of course, he has a podcast. For a year he wrote a "Thing a Week" -- a new song every week for 52 weeks -- which, while it sounds like it nearly killed him, resulted in some amazingly great songs, all of which he shared on his weekly podcast. On top of all that, rather than discourage the taping of his shows, Jonathan frequently points to videos of his performances that have been posted on YouTube and the like. The result of Jonathan embracing new media to its fullest has been a whole lot of great publicity from all corners of the web (now even VentureBlog) and beyond. My hat's off to Jonathan for schooling the labels in how to do marketing in this post-Napster era. I have no doubt that it will lead to great success for him and we can all learn from what Jonathan has been able to accomplish with a bunch of hard work, a pile of talent and a broadband connection.

Update: I got an email the other day from Brian Dear, the founder of Eventful. Brian is also a Jonathan Coulton fan and wanted to point out that Eventful is yet another Web 2.0 marketing channel that Jonathan has embraced. You can not only use Eventful to track when Jonathan is coming to your town. You can also use Eventful Demand to request that he come to a theater near you. If enough people "demand" a Jonathan Coulton show in their city, he'll hop on a plane, train, automobile to play for you and the hordes of other voracious fans in your neighborhood. I joined the Demand for a Jonathan Coulton show in the Bay Area and my wish has been granted. Hope to see some of you at the JC show at Cafe du Nord on Sunday, February 18th.

As I type this, I am returning from Le Web 3 in Paris. What started out as a small blogging conference organized by Six Apart to help connect bloggers throughout Europe (Les Blog), has in three short years become a massive international gathering of entrepreneurs, journalists, executives, investors and now politicians, all focused upon the power of the Internet to transform markets, economies, and governments. Like the vastly oversubscribed Web 2.0 conference a month ago, Le Web was standing room only. Registration closed at 1,000 attendees from 38 countries, with many more hoping, begging to get in. Add 180 traditional journalists -- print, radio and television -- and you have more than a conference, you have a phenomenon.

The content of Le Web mirrored that of Web 2.0 in many ways. There were discussions of the powers of communities, the emergence of online games as virtual economies, Dave Sifry's "State of the Blogsphere." And, of course, the obligatory debate as to whether Europe can compete with Silicon Valley as fertile ground for growing web companies (a fraction of the crowd voted on the proposition by SMS, giving the nod to Europe by a margin of two to one). Like Web 2.0, the lobby of Le Web was bustling with entrepreneurs anxious to show off their fledgling services to journalists and investors alike. And like Web 2.0 before it, I left Le Web with a heightened sense of optimism about the ever increasing capacity of entrepreneurs to harness the power of the Internet for the betterment of the world. Does it sound hyperbolic? You bet. Do I believe it? You bet. After talking with entrepreneurs from throughout the world, it is clear to me that the Internet is the transformative force in world economies today and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

A short while ago my good friend Reid Hoffman asked me to participate in a promotion he was doing for LinkedIn in Germany. The idea was simple -- the 5 individuals in Germany who create the largest LinkedIn networks over a specific period of time will be flown to the Bay Area and given the opportunity to meet with 5 individuals of their choosing out of a list of Silicon Valley schmoozers. The promotion has launched (details translated from German here on Oliver Thylmann's blog) and here is the list of folks from whom the winners may choose:

1. Chad Hurley, Co-Founder YouTube (77)
2. Jimmy Wales, Founder Wikipedia (51)
3. Michael Moritz, Partner Sequoia (23)
4. Caterina Fake, Co-Founder Flickr (171)
5. Peter Thiel, Co-Founder PayPal (100)
6. Dave Sifry, Co-Founder Technorati (237)
7. Gil Penchina, VP International eBay (500+)
8. Kevin Rose, Founder Digg (65)
9. Peter Fenton, Partner Benchmark (58)
10. David Hornik, Partner August Capital (377)
11. Ross Mayfield, Co-Founder SocialText (280)
12. Om Malik, Founder GigaOM (116)
13. Andrew Anker, CEO HotWired (379)
14. Dan Gillmor, Founder Citizen Media (156)
15. Reid Hoffman, CEO and Chairman LinkedIn (500+)

I love the fact that LinkedIn listed the number of connections each of us has on their service. Talk about getting the competitive juices flowing. When I saw that Andrew Anker had two more connections than I did, I immediately ran to LinkedIn and accept three more invitations to connect. Take that Andrew. Now I have 380 connections. I still have a ways to go yet to catch up with Reid and Gil. But beating Andrew is satisfying in and of itself.

Actually, as I looked at the list, I had that same sinking feeling I used to get at recess when we were picking kick ball teams ("Pick me! Pick me!"). Reid has assembled a great group of people. Luckily, because of the way the promotion is structured, we'll never know who would have been picked last. We will, however, know who is in the top third and who isn't. But I have a way to solve that problem -- why don't we have a dinner and have all 15 of us meet with the German contest winners. That way they don't have to choose, I don't have to feel unloved, and I get to hang out with all the great folks on the list (and pretend that I would have been picked anyway).

I suppose at this point a mea culpa is due. I remember talking with Reid back when he started LinkedIn and I was a skeptic. Not about Reid's ability to build a great product but about the overarching value of a business network. I wasn't sure if people would stay engaged. Nor was I sure how valuable facilitating those relationships would be in the long run. I was wrong. It is undeniable that the value of LinkedIn is huge across a whole bunch of constituencies.

For entrepreneurs, LinkedIn is invaluable because it magnifies the business contacts you've made. I often talk with entrepreneurs who are just getting started with their businesses and they ask me, in essence, what to do first. My answer is always the same. Network, network, network. It is important to have a great idea or to build a great product. But it is really difficult to make progress in hiring, PR, financing, sales, etc. without the right set of relationships. So I advise first time entrepreneurs to go out a meet lots of people and try to get them excited about their project. If people are excited about what you are doing, they'll help you out. For example. VCs meet with entrepreneurs because they are introduced by people we trust. So the more people you have to make introductions, the better off you are. LinkedIn not only facilitates those introductions but it amplifies them. Suddenly, not only do you have your own relationships to draw upon, but also the relationships of those contacts. As a result, your network grows exponentially.

As a VC, I have also found LinkedIn quite helpful. While VCs try hard, its just not possible to actually know everyone and know everything. Some of us are better at it than others (or at least a better job of pretending). I fail miserably on both fronts. But if you know the right people who know the right things, you can get away with falling short. I certainly rely upon my friends and the friends of my friends (and sometimes, but pretty rarely, the friends of the friends of my friends) to help me evaluate both entrepreneurs and technology. LinkedIn has grown so large that I can almost always find an expert on a particular technology or someone who's worked with an entrepreneur in the past, both of which are invaluable in the amorphous process that VCs call "due diligence."

So if you are reading this in Germany, now's the time to start connnecting with all your associates on LinkedIn. Not only because you might get the chance to meet some interesting people out here in Silicon Valley. But because LinkedIn is a powerful business tool. And, should you be one of the lucky five who is flown to the Bay Area, Aussuchen Mich! Choose me!