LSQHA Blog Reviews

Last September, China's most successful consumer-to-consumer online marketplace, Taobao.com launched a massive online promotion. By offering exorbitantly low prices on a series of brand name consumer electronics by Lenovo, HP, Philips and others, the site attracted 1.8 billion visitors (non-unique) - the equivalent of every single person in China visiting the site at least once. With 145 million online shoppers expected by the end of 2010, e-commerce in China has come a long way since it began about a decade ago. What types of business models exist? Who's shopping online and what are they buying? And where do we go from here? Sponsor Guest author Joel Backaler writes The China Observer , an award-winning blog focused on Chinese technology trends and consumer culture. His writing has appeared in and he has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal China Journal, BusinessWeek, and Seeking Alpha. Joel is a Mandarin-speaking former Fulbright Fellow who has worked and lived in Taipei, Beijing and Singapore with Frontier Strategy Group. Follow Joel on Twitter . How did it all begin? Jack Ma and his partners launched Chinese e-commerce in 1998 with Alibaba.com , a business-to-business online platform. Like the Web firms of Silicon Valley, Chinese firms felt the shockwaves of the Internet bubble bursting in early 2000 - but in China the Internet industry continued to grow. 2003 was a turning point for Chinese e-commerce with the release of Alipay, Alibaba's version of PayPal, which provided a secure means for online payment. 2003 also marked the first entry of Western multinationals in the Chinese e-commerce market - first by Ebay taking a controlling stake in Eachnet, and then with Amazon subsequently doing the same with Joyo.com in 2004. Roles reversed in 2005 when Alibaba Group gained control over Yahoo!'s Chinese search platform. A period of explosive growth began in 2008 as China's e-commerce market grew to 100 billion RMB, with 80 million online shoppers. Where are we today? In 2009, China's e-commerce market totaled 263 billion RMB (approximately $38.5 billion) with growth equivalent to about 105% increase year-on-year. Currently, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) represents the largest segment of China's e-commerce market; however, business-to-consumer (B2C) is increasingly growing in importance due to two trends. Traditional Retailer to Online Retailer : Traditional retailers are developing e-commerce platforms as additional channels to get consumers to buy their products. From brand name domestic retailers to state-owned enterprises, there is a major push to go online. It has even been reported that Wal-Mart is set to release its own e-commerce platform for the Chinese and Japanese markets . Individual Seller to Online Retailer : Due to the extreme success of particular sellers on existing C2C sites like Taobao.com, online shops that began with a single college student or a small family have been forced to seek out additional support to satisfy market demand. As a result, these one-time, single-person operations have been incorporating into formal enterprises stepping into the B2C space. What types of business models exist? China's e-commerce platforms can be classified by the following three models: marketplace model, online retail model and traditional retail model. Marketplace Model : The marketplace model connects buyers and sellers, whether it is business-to-business or C2C. The company provides a platform to facilitate business between two parties but has no products of its own to offer. It maintains a searchable database of information for buyers and seller to connect, and a secure means to facilitate payment between both parties. Top B2B players : Alibaba.com, HC360.com, Myekoo.com Top C2C players : Taobao.com, Paipai.com, Eachnet.com Online Retail Model : The online retail model is where a company has no formal real-world storefront. It provides both products and a channel to sell directly to end customers. Top B2C Online Retailers : 360buy.com , Joyo.com, Dangdang.com Traditional Retail Model : The traditional retail model is similar to the online retail model; however, in addition to the online website the company also has real-world retail outlets. Top B2C Traditional Retailers : Gome (electronics), COFCO (state-owned: food and beverage), Lining (athletic apparel) Who's shopping online and what are they buying? Shanghai-based iResearch estimates that by the end of 2010 there will be 145 million online shoppers in China. Online shoppers are relatively young - the majority are between the ages of 18 and 35. While this number is split roughly evenly, slightly more women shop than men. In the early days of Chinese e-commerce, products such as software and DVDs were the top purchases. Currently clothing, books and cosmetics are the top sellers. Additionally, as we have seen in the U.S. with sites like Etsy, companies that focus on niche markets are also sprouting up. For example, 21Cake.com is a popular made-to-order online cake company that sells custom-made cakes online and delivers to China's major cities. Where do we go from here? China's e-commerce market is yet to fully mature, but it is entering a period of high-speed growth. C2C sellers that are growing more successful will begin to establish more formal companies, leading to an increase in the number of companies in China's B2C space. While many view the Internet as a sensitive area subject to regulation by the Chinese government, the government supports e-commerce due to its economic benefit and potential for job creation. One example is Xinjiang, a remote province in western China which recently experienced social unrest. Most websites and email there are blocked - but you can still access Alibaba.com and Taobao.com. Of China's e-commerce companies, Alibaba Group will remain the company to watch in this space for many years to come. However, there is still a lot of room for niche operators to capitalize on the growth potential of China's e-commerce market. Image by Kim2402 . Discuss

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Chinese E-Commerce Tops $38.5 Billion; What Comes Next?

As ReadWriteWeb reported earlier , Palm has retained Goldman Sachs for a possible sale of the company. It looks like they're now hoping stock enticements will keep any other executives from joining Michael Abbot in leaving. According to an April 12 SEC filing , Abbott, Vice President of Software and Services for the company, will be boxing his knick-knacks on the 23rd. Sponsor "Palm is implementing a retention program for certain key employees, including executive officers," the company wrote the SEC. "The program includes equity awards and cash bonuses to be earned over a two year period provided that the individuals remain as employees of the Company. As part of this program, Jeffrey P. Devine, Palm's Senior Vice President of Global Operations, and Douglas C. Jeffries, Palm's Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, each received a grant of restricted stock units pursuant to Palm's 2009 Stock Plan and a cash bonus of $250,000." Similar packages are common in a sale situation. They help to maintain continuity during a change-over. They also avoid the flight that may give potential buyers, media and customers the appearance of a wholesale flight by major decision-makers who might be "in the know." Discuss

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Palm to Executives: Who Wants Money?

Here's a little taste of the events coming up in the next few weeks here at the ReadWriteWeb events guide: Seven on Seven, eCommAmerica, DrupalCon, The Real Time Web: Imperative or Insanity?, Big Data Workshop, Future of Money and Technology Summit, and Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco. And of course, ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 ! Have you registered yet? How do you like your events guide? You can import individual events into Google Calendar using the link beside each entry, or download the entire thing as an iCal (and Google Calendar-importable) file, or even view it as a world map . Know of something cool taking place that should appear here? Let us know in the comments below or contact us . Sponsor 17 April 2010: New York City Seven on Seven Seven on Seven will pair seven leading artists with seven game-changing technologists in teams of two, and challenge them to develop something new - be it an application, social media, artwork, product, or whatever they imagine - over the course of a single day. The seven teams will unveil their ideas at a one-day event at the New Museum on April 17. Seven on Seven Participants include, on the technology side, Ayah Bdeir (artist and programmer), Jeff Hammerbacher (Accel Ventures/ Facebook), David Karp (founder of Tumblr), Andrew Kortina (of Bitly/ Venmo), Hilary Mason (of betaworks), Matt Mullenweg (founder of WordPress), and Joshua Schachter (currently at Google, formerly at Yahoo, and founder of delicious), and on the art side, Tauba Auerbach, Cao Fei, Aaron Koblin, Monica Narula, Marc Andre Robinson, Evan Roth and Ryan Trecartin. Conference attendance includes a half-day session where the seven teams will unveil their ideas, followed by a cocktail reception in the New Museum Skyroom. Find registration information here . April 19, 2010: St. Louis Missouri Social Fresh St. Louis The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. Over the course of the day you'll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Ford, Best Buy, Scottrade, Hardees, CMT and many more. Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off. 19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California eCommAmerica Emerging Communications Conference & Awards (eComm) is focused on what's "Next in Telecom, Mobile & Internet Communications". It's designed to accelerate communications technology and business model innovation. Participants attend to be exposed to the latest technologies, research, companies, trends and opportunities. Day three this year is being dedicated to augmented reality. AR may prove to be as significant as the introduction of the Internet itself, moving computers off desks and out of their separate modality into our lives. Use discount code 'ReadWriteWeb' for 10% discount. 19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California DrupalCon DrupalCon is the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management framework that is galvanizing social publishing and web development today. For a registration fee of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal experts. Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and management. 20 April 2010: Palo Alto, California The Real Time Web: Imperative or Insanity? The cost of creating, sharing and distributing data in real-time has become essentially zero, leading to an explosion of user generated content. Currently, every minute: 500,000 pieces of content are shared on Facebook, 25,000 messages are created on Twitter, and 20 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. Over the last decades, the amount of data created by individuals has doubled every two years. How do we effectively use that data to make decisions that drive value for consumers and businesses? How much data is too much to handle? And what's the opportunity for entrepreneurs? In this event , VLAB engages with entrepreneurs, investors, and established players to separate reality from hype while examining key business opportunities. 23 April 2010: Mountain View, California Big Data Workshop As the internet approaches 1 trillion connected gigabytes, we're not in Kansas anymore. The data deluge poses important questions: How will we manage all this information? Is the relational database doomed? How will be synchronize it? Will we all need to migrate to NoSQL stores?Or will the new play along nicely with 40 years of relational history? Who will manage this information? Will we all have to own our own massive infrastructure, will we rent it, or just call the APIs of somebody else? How will we analyze this information? Do we all need to learn Erlang and Map-Reduce, or will a new set of easy-to-use tools spring up, just like the spreadsheet came to the rescue a long time ago? Who will we govern all that information? Who will keep it secure, and private, and audible? Who determines what can and cannot be correlated? Who will watch the watchmen? This event is for: owners and managers of a large amount of data, including web, social media, health, pharmaceuticals, astronomy, government etc.; developers and users of Big Data technologies, including NoSQL databases,Map-Reduce algorithms, data mining, server farms etc.; stewards and guardians of Big Data, including legal and business professionals. The agenda will be created live on the day of the event by attendees, facilitated by Kaliya Hamlin who has designed and facilitated over 100 unconferences for professional technical communities. Register here . 26 April 2010: San Francisco, California Future of Money and Technology Summit The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors, solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O'Dell, formerly of ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and many more. Use discount code "rww" to get 10% off registration . 3 – 6 May 2010: San Francisco, California Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco brings together the designers, developers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketing professionals, product managers, and business strategists - from startups to enterprises - that are building the next-generation Web. Along with a vibrant Expo Hall and plenty of networking opportunities, four main conference tracks cover a spectrum of Web 2.0 topics from business strategy to Web design, user experience, developer hacks, community building, real-time, mobile, cloud computing, user-generated content, and more. Featured speakers include Chris Anderson, Ben Huh, Charlene Li, Kevin Lynch, Hilary Mason, and Brad Stone. Register today . 7 May 2010: Mountain View, California ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 The ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 will be an exploration of the latest Mobile development trends - both the technology and the emerging business applications. Get ready to explore, think and create the future of Mobile with the brightest in the industry, your peers! As in our last Summit, The Real-Time Web, the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit is an unconference. An unconference is a participant driven conference where the agenda is created on the day, in real-time and discussions are lead by conference participants. Read about the history of unconferences . We will have two main tracks at this Summit - Development and Business - so the Summit will be of interest to managers, marketers, developers, innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders alike. Here's a sample of some of the topics we'll explore in both of these tracks. Geo-location services - what can you do using location as a platform ? Commerce & Marketing - as more and more consumers use smartphones, how can businesses utilize this channel? Content, Publishing & Recommendations - the technologies and best practices. Mobile Social Networking - how to tap into communities on mobile devices. Internet of Things - the emerging opportunities from sensor and RFID data. Augmented Reality - the technology and business applications of AR. Native App vs. Browser Based - Including iPhone, Android, RIM, Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian. Click here to register now , or to become a sponsor , or to help shape the conference . 11 May 2010: San Francisco, California FinovateSpring FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world. With Finovate's signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of unique value into a single day. Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the leading financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech entrepreneurs. Early bird registration rates are available. 13 May 2010: Cape Town, South Africa Net Prophet 2010 Conference Taking place on 13 May, 2010 at the Old Mutual Business School in Pinelands, Cape Town, this is the second annual Net Prophet conference to be hosted by the RAMP Foundation, a non-profit entity created by the RAMP Group as a means for social investment within the local Internet based economy. After a very successful conference last year, where over 400 attendees tapped the minds of leading Internet experts and successful entrepreneurs, Net Prophet 2010 will build on the same format and anticipates on reaching many more people. May 17 2010: San Francisco, California SF MusicTech Summit The SF MusicTech Summit will bring together 700-plus visionaries in the music/technology space - the best and brightest entrepreneurs, developers, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving music, business and technology ecosystem in a proactive, conducive-to-dealmaking environment. Enter the discount code "rww" to get 10% off . 18 May 2010: Silicon Valley, California Founder Showcase On Tuesday, May 18th, 10 companies elected by over 13,500 registered CEO Members of TheFunded.com will present to an audience of 200 investors, founders, and members of the press. A panel of experts will critique the pitches, and voting from those in attendance will determine the grand prize winner, who will receive $2,500 on the spot and a host of other prizes. Founder Showcase guests will be treated to food and drinks, as well as informative talks by two leading Silicon Valley CEOs. There is also a networking and Pitch Table area for startups, service providers, and investors to convene. Previous investors that have attended include Charles River Ventures, JAFCO, Leapfrog, Polaris, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, First Round, Blue Run, and various angels. Over $250,000 has been raised by presenting companies that met investors at previous Founder Showcase events. Use discount code "RWW" to get a 10% discount. 18 – 19 May 2010: Santa Clara, California Social Media Strategies Social Media Strategies is a conference on social business, social marketing, advertising and optimization. Social media technologies are fundamentally changing the sales, marketing and operations process. Business are leveraging social technologies to acquire, market, and communicate with customers. This conference features cutting edge topics, keynotes, workshops and discussions that provided strategic knowledge, insights and real world examples on how to successfully plan, implement and manage your organizations social media efforts to achieve your business goals. Use the code "readwriteweb" when you register and get $100 off . 25 – 27 May 2010: Denver, Colorado Glue Glue is the only conference devoted solely to exploring the problem-sets facing architects, developers and IT professionals in a "post-cloud" world. Glue focuses on the APIs and protocols (Twitter, Facebook, Websockets, PubSubHubBub, XMPP), formats and standards (RDF/Linked Data, JSON, Microformats, HTML5), platforms and providers (Amazon, Rackspace, Google App Engine, Salesforce.com, Eucalyptus), Identity Protocols (OAuth/WRAP, SAML, OpenID, SPML) emerging NoSQL data models (Cassandra, CouchDB, MongoDB, Riak, HBase), and other mechanisms that are building the post-cloud world. ReadWriteCloud will be blogging live from Gluecon and CloudCamp, and ReadWriteWeb's Alex Williams will be moderating the "Managing Complexity in the Cloud" session. Please join us May 25-27 in Denver, Colorado. ReadWriteWeb readers can receive 10% off of registration by using the code "RWW12". 27 – 28 May 2010: Beijing, China Global Mobile Internet Conference The Global Mobile Internet Conference is designed specifically for entrepreneurs, executives and influencers to understand and capitalize on the growing opportunities in mobile internet. Though focused on opportunities in Asia, much of the conference dialogue is intended to compare and trade best practices across borders, especially between the East and West. Around 1000 industry leaders from Asia, Europe and North America are expected to attend. The conference will be in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. 28 May 2010: Beijing, China Global Mobile Internet Conference - Innovation Show & Startup Competition The Global Mobile Internet Conference Innovation Show intends to be a launch pad for innovative mobile internet startups from around the world. Innovation Show finalists will have the opportunity to present their company to an expected 1,000 investors, industry leaders, and press. Finalists will be judged by and receive feedback from a team of respected venture capitalists and angel investors. The judges will choose one company as the GMIC Innovation Show Winner. Startups must apply by April 4. 4 – 6 June 2010: Chicago, IL Blogs with Balls 3 The bright future of sports media gathers for Blogs with Balls 3 in Chicago at the legendary Wrigley Field. This third installment of the conference focuses on sports and local media, the ever-changing face of traditional media, as well as all the ways that mobile and emerging technologies are changing the world of the sports fan (and the companies trying to reach him or her) today. Feature speakers from established players like ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo! Sports & The Sporting News and emerging blogging/podcasting personalities and sports new media entrepreneurs, not to mention former professional athletes who are bolstering their brand through digital. Register before May 15 and save more than $50 off the full ticket price at blogswithballs3.eventbrite.com . Use discount code RWWxBWB 15 – 16 June 2010: New York City Corporate Social Media Summit The Corporate Social Media Summit is a two day conference focused exclusively on how big businesses can take advantage of social media to enhance their marketing/comms strategy. Featuring: Practical and relevant insights from peers who have already used social media successfully 20-plus corporate speakers (including PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Dell, McDonald's, General Motors, Citi, Johnson & Johnson), Best practice, benchmarks and practical next steps you can use to take advantage of social media in your business A tightly-focused agenda with 14 in-depth, practical workshops giving you knowledge on only the most critical business issues surrounding corporate use of social media Save $400 if you quote RWW400 when booking. Book here . 22 – 24 June 2010: Santa Clara, California Velocity Now in its third year, Velocity - the Web Performance and Operations Conference from O'Reilly Media - is dedicated to helping people build a better Internet that is Fast by Default. Join hundreds of web developers and experts under one roof from June 22-24, 2010 in Santa Clara, CA Velocity packs a wealth of big ideas, know-how, and connections into three concentrated days. You'll be able to apply what you've learned immediately for high impact results and you'll come away prepared for what's ahead. O'Reilly Velocity 2010 is the premier conference dedicated to building industrial strength sites, at internet speed. Register Now and save 25% with discount code "vel10rww". 29 – 30 June 2010: London Cloud Computing World Forum The 2nd annual Cloud Computing World Forum is the perfect event to learn and discuss the development, integration, adoption and future of cloud computing and SaaS. Building on the success of the 2009 show, this two day conference and free-to-attend exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global cloud and SaaS industry. Show highlights include: Co-located with CloudCamp London Co-located with Green IT conference Free-to-attend exhibition with seminar and scenario theatre Free-to-attend evening awards presentation Hear from leading case studies on how they have integrated cloud computing and SaaS into their working practices Learn from the key players offering cloud and SaaS services Evening networking party for all attendees 7 July 2010: Melbourne, Australia Digital Sport Summit Digital Sport Summit is Australia's premier sport and digital media event. Hear from social media pioneers who are changing the face of Australian sport. Learn how social media and mobile technology is taking fan engagement to a whole new level. Speakers on the day will cover a variety of topics including: iPhone application development for sport Convincing management of the case for social media How to monetize social media Fantasy sports Social media from an athlete's perspective With speakers representing Essendon Football Club, Cricket Victoria, Herald Sun, Football Federation Australia and more. Digital Sport Summit will take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. 5 October 2010: New York City FinovateFall FinovateFall will return to Manhattan on Tuesday, October 5 to showcase dozens of the biggest and most innovative new ideas in financial and banking technology from established leaders and hot young companies. The Fall event is the original and largest Finovate and features a single day packed with our special blend of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) and intimate networking time with top executives from the innovative demoing companies. FinovateFall is a unique chance to see the future of finance and banking before your competition and find the edge you need in today's market. Early bird registration rates are available. Download this entire events calendar in iCal format. Discuss

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ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 17 April 2010

In an email to staff yesterday, new Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal wrote that "When I became CEO 30 days ago, I told you I would take a hard look at our business. This process has brought real clarity to what's working, what's not, and what we need to do now to make Ning a big success." With that, he announced Ning would be abandoning its longstanding business model and discontinuing non-paying sites on its network. In light of this, is it time to reevaluate and reign in some of the excitement about the freemium model for startups? Sponsor Offering free services for a product alongside premium fees for advanced or special features - the freemium - has been touted as a promising business model for startups for several years now: "Give your service away for free, possibly ad supported but maybe not, acquire a lot of customers very efficiently through word of mouth, referral networks, organic search marketing, etc, then offer premium priced value added services or an enhanced version of your service to your customer base." The Freemium Summit in San Francisco last month featured many companies who've been able to leverage the freemium model to great success, including Evernote , Pandora , and Dropbox . A recent New York Times article predicts Pandora could reach $100 million in revenue this year. Finding the balance between what to offer for free and what to charge for is not easy. The trick is to put enough in the free version to get traffic and usage, but not so much that there is no incentive to upgrade. Companies who use the freemium model need to integrate their free service or product into someone's routine so fully (either by making sure it's accessible on their computer and on their mobile phone, for example) that users reach the point where they feel they simply must pay. In yesterday's press release , Ning noted that 75% of its users do pay for some sort of premium service. It may well be then that Ning's announcements are less a reflection on the freemium model than on the company itself. Despite over $120 million in VC funding, Ning has been unable to develop a sustainable business. Yesterday's announcement about the end to free Nings was accompanied with news that 40% of their staff would lose their jobs - an indication perhaps that the company's overhead was simply too high. Nevertheless, the news may serve as a cautionary tale for those startups who think the freemium model guarantees success. As David Heinemeier Hansson wrote in a post on 37signals , "Eyeballs Still Don't Pay the Bills." It remains to be seen if Ning can pull through this reorganization and turn a profit, or if they will also serve as a lesson on what happens when a business that's used the freemium model dumps all those "freeloaders." Discuss

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Is the Freemium Model (Still) Viable for Startups?

As part of my ongoing Online Strategy Roundtables , I met yesterday with four new entrepreneurs, all at the early stage of validating who their customers are and building their businesses. Entrepreneurs who are just starting out need to ask themselves some hard questions in order to develop a crisp go to market strategy. I pulled together a list of such questions that you can find here and in my Positioning book to help you "Clarify Your Story". Up first was Martin Calle and his company OraQuel . Martin worked for years on product development for companies like Procter & Gamble and FritoLay, but eventually wanted to create a product that would be his own. Sponsor i> Guest author Sramana Mitra is a technology entrepreneur and strategy consultant in Silicon Valley. She has founded three companies and writes a business blog, Sramana Mitra on Strategy . She has a masters degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her three books, Entrepreneur Journeys , Bootstrapping, Weapon Of Mass Reconstruction , and Positioning: How To Test, Validate, and Bring Your Idea To Market are all available from Amazon. Her new book Vision India 2020 was recently released. Mitra is also a columnist for Forbes and runs the 1M/1M initiative. /p> After researching what type a product would be best to get behind, Martin came across research showing a strong correlation between gum disease and heart disease, and came up with a heart-smart oral care product. Since large retailer stores won't work with a "little guy" in this category, he has started to approach social media groups like mommy bloggers and TwitterMoms to try to build up a grassroots following. I believe Martin's product does answer a real need, but he has positioned this as a product just for kids. I think he will get better pickup if he positions this as a product for the entire family - a much larger segment of the market. Martin will need to do some controlled experiments to validate whether or not my hunch is correct, and then move forward with his social media PR campaign. Nick Quay presented for BluNami , a mobile marketing company that has developed a technology to help clients connect to Bluetooth users in a certain proximity. Nick and his team have been working with a wide variety of clients looking to use their technology a many different ways, from a city using it to make emergency announcements to restaurants offering deals to lure in customers. (As soon as I hear anyone is trying to work with a government entity, especially a startup venture, I immediately want them to stop wasting their time there. Unless they are paying you upfront as some type of consulting situation, most startups need their cash flow and can not sustain the government's slow 12-24 month sales cycles.) Like many entrepreneurs with a versatile technology, Nick is trying to do too many things right now - the old "spray and pray." While there may be many different segments interested in the product, each requires a unique go-to-market strategy. The best way to scale this business is to figure out what is the best value proposition and the easiest segment to sell to, and then focus time and energy on that while continuing to bootstrap your way to profitability. Later there may be time and money for exploring other avenues. Frederic Guitton gave a nice presentation for ActivSalesAgent , a business that combines its software with call centers as a way to help convert visitors on client websites into better qualified sales leads. This business is further down the road of validation than the others, and is profitable. As I questioned him about price point, Frederic was ready with metrics to show that what they are doing is indeed working. We discussed how using solid statistical information along with references from early customers is the best was to convert potential customers into clients - and those reference accounts do not need to be the biggest clients. Small business references work just as well. That's how Salesforce.com did it. I think this business has legs, but urged Frederic to be open to doing some type of offshore chat centers down the road because I think reducing costs will become a bigger issue as this business continues to scale. Then Linda Muncy, who is just starting out, presented her business idea. She is hired to provide photo-related entertainment at events. Guests are creatively photographed and given the image in some form as a giveaway. She has started reproducing the images onsite on a material similar to Skinit so guests can attach the image to their handhelds, laptops, etc. She would like to develop a product kit so other event planners can do this as well. Linda has yet to truly validate her product and service. I always tell entrepreneurs to validate your idea before building any product. I think Linda will be amazed by what she learns after calling 100 event planners to get their feedback. This may only be a small business, but that is perfectly okay - as long as it is profitable. These roundtables are the cornerstone programming of a global initiative that I have started called One Million by One Million ( 1M/1M ). Its mission is to help a million entrepreneurs globally to reach $1 million in revenue and beyond, build $1 trillion in sustainable global GDP, and create 10 million jobs. In 1M/1M, I teach the EJ Methodology which is based on my Entrepreneur Journeys research, and emphasize bootstrapping, idea validation, and crisp positioning as some of the core principles of building strong fundamentals in early stage ventures. If you are an entrepreneur working on an idea or an early stage business, I am also very interested in hearing what you are looking for from 1M/1M. Please weigh in here . We are crowdsourcing the design of 1M/1M, and requests that have come up include Receivables Financing as a way to bridge to a validated business without giving up precious equity, I would love to hear your thoughts. i> You can find the recording of this roundtable session here . Recordings of previous roundtables are all available here . You can register for the next roundtable here . /p> em> Photo by Svilen Milev . /p> Discuss

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Startup Strategy Roundtable: Early Stage Business Building