In a time when layoffs abound, it’s unusual to find a startup that is not only retaining staff, but in fact adding them as Netvibes, the provider of customizable start pages is doing. In fact there’s a lot to be surprised about with Netvibes. They have forgone the obvious route of ad dollars and experimented with a series of innovative and successful monetization strategies including enterprise services and brandable products, while still sticking to their core product. CEO Freddy Mini took some time out to talk to the Netsetter about the process of consolidating a startup, the French startup scene and the future of start pages. (more…)
A couple of years ago there used to be this program on cable TV about renovating homes called Property Ladder. It was a great little show that followed various aspiring property developers as they attempted to buy, renovate and then sell property in the UK. The host of the show, one Sarah Beeny, would advise the would-be property magnates on keeping costs down, being sensible about what sorts of choices they made and generally helping them to make a profit. (more…)
One of the neat things about business online is that you can keep a close eye on your competition. You get to inspect their sites and sample their service in a totally anonymous environment. There are also an abundance of tools for analysing and tracking competitors, allowing you to quantify their traffic, see how their site has changed, find out details about their domain, be alerted when they are in the press and lots of other things. (more…)
When Todd Garland launched his company BuySellAds just over a year ago I can remember thinking “Oh happy day” because finally there was a site to help automate what was a rather painful task – managing sales of ad inventory on our various blogs. In the intervening months BSA has come out of beta, signed up publishers by the armful and is today serving well over 1 billion ad impressions a month. I caught up with Todd to ask him how life is going at the helm of a startup in a notoriously tough industry. (more…)
When one-time Apple evangelist turned entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki launched AllTop a year ago, I remember reading some pretty bad press. Headlines like Guy Kawasaki Launches AllTop. Wow, it’s Bad. and AllTop – A gimmick site with marketing flair aren’t exactly what one hopes to launch to.
When I myself visited the site I had the impression that it wasn’t as bad as some of the tech press made out, but it didn’t appear to be anything to write home about. If asked I would have summed up the site as a so-so idea with a decent execution and a famous founder. So I expected AllTop would go the way Guy’s other venture Trumors went – that is to a small but relatively successful end in a quiet acquisition.
In the intervening months however, I’ve been impressed to see the site growing and improving rather consistently. To this day AllTop is still not a site I personally use, nonetheless there does seem to be an audience for it, and Guy and his team have been doing a really good job of persistently pushing the site in the right direction. (more…)
