Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing

Microsoft PDC - Windows 7, Cloud Computing, Live Mesh, and more

Microsoft PDC2008 (Professional Developers Conference) will be in Los Angeles, October 27 - 30. Microsoft will unveil it's vision for cloud computing and building applications that seamlessly bridge the gaps between PC, Web, and phone. Windows 7, the next version of Windows, will be a big focus with 21 different sessions that drill down into the details.

Four Keynotes

• Ray Ozzie will talk about the new world of Software Plus Services, with Bob Muglia joining him, to unveil the new Cloud Computing platform.
• Steven Sinofsky and Ray Ozzie will talk about building immersive user experiences and give developers a first look at the next version of Windows, Windows 7. Scott Guthrie and David Treadwell will join Ray and Steven to dive deep on the latest Win32 and .NET platform advances that enable a next generation of user experiences spanning multiple devices, including a look at the latest developments in .NET, Silverlight, “Live Mesh”, and the rest of the client platform.
• Don Box and Chris Anderson will look at Microsoft’s latest technologies through the eyes of working developers.
• Rick Rashid, SVP of Research, will talk about how Microsoft research is helping to shape the future of computing.

Sneak Peek - In this video Dave Campbell, a Microsoft Technical Fellow and SQL Server guru, talks about what his group has been working on. Dave is giving a PDC session on data-driven applications that span devices, desktops, servers, and the cloud. Learn how cloud-based data services will change the way you develop and deploy applications, and how SQL Server technologies are evolving to help build those apps.

Register Here - PDC is always sold out so you might want to register now. 

Billions of VC Dollars in Boston

Commonwealth Capital held their annual open house this week at their Winter Street offices on "VC Hill" in Waltham. VC Hill is to Boston/Waltham what Sand Hill Rd is to Silicon Valley...the center of Venture Capital for the region.

Commonwealth Capital recently closed on a large new venture capital fund. Longworth Ventures, another Boston/Waltham based VC firm, also recently closed a new fund. In fact, over the past year or so, several Boston firms have raised over $2 Billion in venture capital. While the financial markets on Wall Street are in a panic, the venture capital community in Boston is strong, with billions of dollars to invest in innovative startups.

Boston based VC firms that have raised funds over the last year or so include; Flybridge Venture Capital, Spark Capital, Fairhaven Capital, Commonwealth Capital, Longworth Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, 406 Ventures, Ascent Venture Partners, and Staley Capital. The total funds raised exceeds $2 Billion. If you look over the past three years the funds raised in Boston exceeds $10B, with giant firms like Polaris Ventures, Highland Capital, and General Catalyst raising huge funds.

Microsoft is making a big commitment to innovation in Boston area as well. Microsoft has established a campus at One Memorial Drive in Cambridge, strategically located right next to MIT, just across the river from Boston.

The company has established a new research lab there under the direction of Jennifer Chayes and Christian Borgs that will work with MIT, Harvard, and other area universities to further strengthen the research community in Boston.

There is also a group called Microsoft Startup Labs, a kind of internal idea incubator for quickly building and testing new products and services. The lab, under the direction of Reed Sturtevant, is recruiting a top notch team of developers and former entrepreneurs.

There are several other Microsoft groups at the Cambridge campus including a UC design team and the App Virtualization team. All of them are hiring.

See Microsoft Careers for a complete listing of job openings in the Boston/Cambridge area.

It’s Microsoft’s intent to work closely with Boston area universities, research labs, and the venture capital community to ensure the Greater Boston area remains a vibrant center for entrepreneurship and innovation.

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Microsoft Surface - Ashton Kutcher, Mark Cuban, Mike Arrington love it!

Microsoft's new Surface Computer is a big hit at TechCrunch50. Ashton Kutcher, Mark Cuban, and Mike Arrington all stopped by our demo lounge and played with the Surface.

Ashton Kutcher was at TechCrunch50 to launch his new company called  Blah Girls. Ashton wrote about the Surface on his blog. He said "The coolest thing I've seen so far is Microsoft Surface. Its a coffee table that's like a giant iphone."

Mark Cuban spent about 30 minutes talking with us about possible uses of the Surface Computer. He would love to have his coaching staff at the Dallas Mavericks use it to show video to the players.

Mike Arrington of TechCrunch loves the Surface so much he says he is taking it home with him.  He said "Just try and stop me".

Over 1,500 TechCrunch50 attendees got a chance to see Microsoft Surface and try it out themselves. Based on all the reactions it seems clear that Surface will be a big success.

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Swype slide to type - at TechCrunch50

Swype is a new way to type text on a cell phone or tablet PC. One of the inventors of T9, the current method for entering text on a 9 key touch pad, has developed Swype. It is the most exciting technology I have seen at TechCrunch50.

Swype works by simply sliding your finger across a touch screen keyboard. The technology follows your finger and figures out what word you are trying to type. It usually figures out the word within two or three letters. If Swype isn't sure of the word it will pop up several possible words and let you choose the correct word. They say you can "type" 50 words per minute with one finger using Swype.

The Swype technology works on Windows Mobile Smartphones the tablet version of XP and Vista. It is far superior to the text entry experience on the iPhone.

Swype got a lot of attention at TechCrunch50 and several blogs picked up the story on TechMeme. NewsLaunches.com, Wired.com, Gizmodo.

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Investor tools and services companies at TC50

This group of TechCrunch50 companies is focused on Investing and financial tools. The companies include; PersonalRIA, Emerginvest, ExchangeP, Me-trics, and iCharts.

The TechCrunch Panel of Experts are; Mark Cuban (HDnet, Dallas Mavericks), Don Dodge (Microsoft), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), and Kevin Rose (Digg).

PERSONALRIA Did you ever wish you could invest your money like the pros? PersonalRIA replaces mutual funds as the primary investment vehicle available to retail investors. There are two key participants in the platform: Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), and small retail investors. RIAs are investment professionals that usually cater to the high-net-worth market segment. PersonalRIA creates a virtual fund managed by registered investment advisors (RIAs). Each real-money professional portfolio managed directly by one of our RIAs can be replicated, on a proportionate basis, as an identical portfolio for small retail investors.

Huge market, very competitive, but just a small percentage of the market can generate nice revenues.

Problem/Solution - Professional investment advice for small retail investors

Business Model - Commissions

Possible Competitors - Mutual funds

Emerginvest Deliver targeted, on-the-ground commentary and macroeconomic analysis of Emerging Markets, as well as tools to help you understand your portfolio's global diversification. Emerginvest also enables bloggers or analysts to embed unique international stock data and charts anywhere on the web. The world is full of strong investment opportunities in undiscovered markets; Emerginvest brings them all to you. Another big market where a small percentage can generate nice revenues. Mark Cuban suggested that they sell their information to financial services companies as a service.

Problem/Solution - Professional investment advice in emerging markets

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Mutual funds

exchangeP  A fantasy stock market for betting on the future success (or failure) of private companies. Registration is free and cash prizes are awarded to the top traders. exchangeP uses the collective wisdom of crowds to provide real-time consensus valuations of the hottest, most debated, private companies. Trading a share of a company listed on exchangeP is equivalent to betting on the future outcome of that company – IPO, Acquisition or Deadpool. How much is that company really worth? Let the market decide. Fantasys markets for sports, stocks, and other things could be a big market.

Problem/Solution - Fantasy sports betting meets stock market investing

Business Model - Commissions

Possible Competitors - Casinos, Options traders?

 

Me-trics Me-trics seeks to aggregate that personal data, allowing users to monitor and learn from their own behavior. As technology becomes increasingly pervasive in our daily lives, a growing number of seemingly mundane activities include a digital component. Our financial transactions are recorded and accessible through our bank or a growing number of independent financial management sites. Much of our health and fitness data, from our morning run to heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels can be easily tracked with a combination of hardware and web interfaces. Even work activity can be tracked based on software usage, or time and productivity tracking applications.

Problem/Solution - Keep track of our personal data

Business Model - Subscription

Possible Competitors - Gyminee, traineo, and lots of health sites

iCharts makes interactive charting simple. A portal where everyone can search and share charts. Integrated into the portal is iCharts Studio that allows anyone to create high quality, interactive charts within minutes for private use or for publishing. Every iChart comes with a host of interactive features such as audio comments, data value pop-ups, zoom in/out and show/hide data series. iCharts can be embedded into any web-site where they can be updated by simply uploading new data to icharts.net.

Problem/Solution - Online interactive charts

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - ??

 

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Mark Cuban (HDnet, Dallas Mavericks), Don Dodge (Microsoft), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), and Kevin Rose (Digg).

Social Networks and Collaboration startups at TC50

TechCrunch50 is not just about Web2.0. Here are some companies focused on social collaboration networks in both the web and work environments. These companies include; Tingz, Mixtt, Imindi, and Popego.

The TechCrunch expert panel for this session are; Mark Cuban (HDnet, Mavericks), Don Dodge (Microsoft), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), and Kevin Rose (Digg).

Tingz - Tools and services to gather content from across the web and distribute it directly to digital devices and social networks. Tingz offers a surprisingly consistent and easy experience across a wide variety of devices, operating systems and platforms. The cool thing here is the support all all devices on all platforms.

Problem/Solution - Content aggregation and sharing

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Lots of content aggregation services

MIXTT Social networking that enables groups of friends to meet other groups in their city. Users create group profiles for their various “cliques” or “crews,” post and share social plans, then connect with other groups based on common interests or activities. Unlike other social networking sites, MIXTT aims to facilitate offline interaction, as opposed to merely enhancing time spent at the computer. MIXTT empowers users to meet people outside of their regular social circles, not just stay in touch with acquaintances they have already established. This should be a Facebook or iPhone app, or a widget on all existing social networks.

Problem/Solution - Personal social networking

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Lots of social networks

 

IMINDI Helps users connect with other liked-minded thinkers on the Web to augment individual thinking, build collective intelligence, and even discover new knowledge. Based on neuroscientific principles, IMINDI’s Thought Engine augments the way humans think of new ideas, concepts and questions. This is "rocket science" technology applied to a very generalized problem. The key to success will be finding the right market segment.

Problem/Solution - Social network for ideas

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Wis.dm

 

Popego AI technology that models and  synthesizes interests and  interest profiles for web users based on all their online activity, extracting semantic information from their online content, and connections. 

Problem/Solution - Interest aggregator

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Imindi, Wis.dm

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Mark Cuban (HDnet, Dallas Mavericks), Don Dodge (Microsoft), Roelof Botha (Sequoia Capital), and Kevin Rose (Digg).

Advertising and Commerce startups at TC50

Advertising and online commerce are the hottest markets for startups, so of course TC50 has some companies in this segment. This group includes; Burt, Adgregate Markets, AdRocket, and OtherInbox.

The TechCrunch expert panel for this group is Marc Andreessen (Netscape), Marc Benioff, (Salesforce.com) Dan Farber (CNet), Yossi Vardi (Angel Investor), and Ash Patel (Yahoo).

Burt (CopyBox)Technology that inspires people to have better and more creative ideas, initially focusing on enabling ad agencies to create more intelligent and entertaining digital campaigns. Burt is like PhotoShop for the ad campaign director. The company’s first product suite centers around the concept of leveraging mined data to mass-customize how ads look and behave, responding to the urgent need for publishers to better monetize their data, and for advertisers to increase the visibility and impact of their digital campaigns. Burt offers a simple, convenient and predictable way for agencies to create sophisticated campaigns for almost any digital channel - including web, IPTV, mobile and video-games - where ads are tailored for each individual viewer.

Problem/Solution - Targeted advertising campaigns

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - ??

 

Adgregate Markets Transforms online display ads into e-commerce markets. Adgregate Markets is changing the dynamic of traditional banner advertising by aggregating micro-markets through fully transactional banner widgets. ShopAds(tm) widget provides advertisers with fully contained micro-stores where consumers can engage with merchants within the confines of their trusted sites. Traditional banner advertising is built on the hope of converting eyeballs into clicks that require consumers to transact on merchant sites. Rampant banner blindness has increasingly diminished the results of marketers' efforts.

Problem/Solution - Banner ads that work like clickable commerce ads

Business Model - Percent of product sales

Possible Competitors - ??

AdRocket An ad targeting network for email. There are over 1 billion email users and many billions of monthly email newsletters sent to subscribers, yet the advertising in these newsletters is poorly targeted and largely ineffective. AdRocket fixes this by providing publisher's with individually relevant ads for email communications, websites or RSS. Based on non-personally identifiable interest data about the subscribers. Unlike 'cookies' which have a very short life, email creates much longer lasting, richer individual profiles.

Problem/Solution - Email advertising

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Tecch??

 

OtherInbox  A new way to manage email overload. You probably have an "other inbox" already, and it’s probably a Yahoo or Gmail account that you give out because you don't want receipts, newsletters and social networking notifications to clutter your main email. OtherInbox introduces a clever twist. Instead of just having a single email address such as Johnsmith23@gmail.com, each user gets assigned their own domain name such as johnsmith.otherinbox.com or a vanity domain like johnsmith.com. Any address@johnsmith.com goes to your OtherInbox, so you can easily give a different email address to every website.

Problem/Solution - Manage email overload

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Tecch??

 

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Marc Andreessen (Netscape), Marc Benioff, (Salesforce.com) Dan Farber (CNet), Yossi Vardi (Angel Investor), and Ash Patel (Yahoo).

The panel's questions and observations;

• Feedback on Burt:
• Marc Andreessen- Ad agencies are notoriously averse to technology. Your technology is targeted at them. How will you overcome that? A: We put the UI in a browser so they should feel more comfortable.
• Chris DeWolfe- It will be hard to get the big advertisers to switch to your tools. The agencies all want to work with standard ad units. A: CopyBox is easy technology for ad agency people, and can be used in conjunction with existing tools.
• Ash Patel- Yahoo has something similar called SmartAds.
• Marc Benioff - It is a feature, not a company.
• Feedback on AdGregate Markets;
• DeWolfe - Great idea. It is important to use the standard ad unit size.
• Benioff - This supports a trend where Ads are becoming apps
• Patel - Others have tried this and failed. Scale is a big issue.

Enterprise software at TechCrunch50?

This group of TechCrunch50 companies is focused on Enterprise software and services. And you thought TC50 was all about Web2.0? These brave companies are trying to solve enterprise class problems. They include; FairSoftware, Yammer, BluePrint, and  OpenTrace. The TechCrunch expert panel for this group is Marc Andreessen (Netscape), Marc Benioff, (Salesforce.com), Yossi Vardi (Angel Investor), and Ash Patel (Yahoo).

 

FairSoftware The place to start and grow a virtual online business. It only takes a few clicks for software developers and website publishers to incorporate, hire and share revenue with other project members. FairSoftware is powered by the “Software Bill of Rights,” a legally sound contract in which virtual "shares" represent decision-making and revenue-sharing rights. This new virtual share concept makes it easy to give shares to anyone who helps out in some way, large or small. People are hired with shares instead of cash, growing a team that is committed to the project's success. It costs nothing to incorporate or issue shares.

Problem/Solution - A way for the "Open Source" community to build a virtual company

Business Model - ??

Possible Competitors - ??

 

Yammer A tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: "What are you working on?" As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced. It works and looks just like Twitter.

Problem/Solution - Knowledge base for companies

Business Model - Subscription

Possible Competitors - Twitter, AIM and other IM clients

 

Blueprint  Connective Logic, the company behind BluePrint, has created a software development platform, on top of Microsoft Visual Studio, which enables software developers to design, code generate and deploy very complex multi-core software applications without requiring expertise in the field of ‘multi-threaded’ software. It uses a very visual and graphical method for building software. Blueprint enables software that scales out over any number of CPU cores and networked computers, and ensures optimal load balancing and CPU utilization.

Problem/Solution - Simplify multi-core software development

Business Model - Licensed software

Possible Competitors - Coghead, Bungie

 

OpenTrace A new environmental infrastructure that aggregates product materials' information from bottom up and dynamically calculates the environmental impact indicators. Existing indicators are well authenticated, but are complex and static when calculating the environmental impact or load. OpenTrace approaches this problem from a totally different perspective which is simple and free for use. Based on simple and flexible calculation method, it provides many environmental tools to meet users' needs. You can scan the UPC label on any product and see the environmental impact. OpenTrace also analyzes the supply chain of a product to see the entire environmental impact or carbon footprint.

Problem/Solution - Developer tool for environmental indicators.

Business Model - Unknown

Possible Competitors - CO2Stats

 

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Marc Andreessen (Netscape), Marc Benioff, (Salesforce.com), Yossi Vardi (Angel Investor), and Ash Patel (Yahoo).

 

The panel's questions and observations;

• Marc Andreessen liked the idea of FairSoftware, but has lots of questions about the business model. Liked Yammer as an idea, and liked the viral distribution model. BluePrint-multi-core is an incredibly hard problem and they seem to have solved some of the problem. Loves OpenTrace for the 'Green" factor.
• Marc Benioff - Fairsoftware, this needs to go a lot further on Investor Relations issues. Things like vesting schedules, grants, etc. Yammer - Liked this company the best, and would invest. The name is not very corporate. BluePrint solves a huge problem. OpenTrace would be great if it could trace the origins of food items. Also maybe certify that food was 'green" or that the workers are treated well.
• Ash Patel - Yammer is a good idea, good viral model, but will need to add corp admin tools. OpenTrace - great idea. Branding or certification of products for environmental impact would be great.
• Yossi Vardi - FairSoftware great idea, will eliminate the need for many lawyers. Yammer IM looks like a great idea...will probably be acquired. BluePrint solves a tough problem that I don't understand.

TC50 startups - News and Memes

 

This group of TechCrunch50 companies is focused on news and meme tracking. The companies include; Dotspots, Angstro, LiveHit, and StockMood. The TechCrunch expert panel is once again Marisa Mayer, Dan Farber, Ron Conway, and Chad Hurley.

 

DotSpots Brings the wisdom of crowds -- to every topic meme on the web. DotSpots will focus on improving online news (mainstream media, blogosphere and citizen journalists), by identifying and indexing semantically similar content across millions of news sites and blogs, while empowering bloggers and individuals to annotate text on their local favorite sites with comments, videos and photos. Each local contribution is then instantly distributed globally and filtered by a user voting system that ensures everyone benefits from the best thoughts. DotSpots puts a sidebar on your browser where their content and advertisements can be seen together with the source site.

Problem/Solution - News and blog aggregation

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - TechMeme, Digg, Reddit, Scoopler

CrunchBase Info -

 

Ångströ Delivers critical business news about people and companies across professional networks. By leveraging existing services such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, Ångströ helps users to easily discover and share news about colleagues and clients. Unlike clipping services that confuse different people with the same name, Ångströ both disambiguates names and analyzes social graphs to prioritize those relationships that matter most.

Problem/Solution - A clipper service for business news and business people

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - ZoomInfo, LinkedIn, PlaxoPulse, Google Alerts

CrunchBase Info -

 

LiveHit A social discovery service showcasing who and what’s hot in the moment across the social web. It’s your live personalized social navigation engine to discover contextually relevant media content and people.They have categories such as Community, Entertainment, Sports, and Shopping.  LiveHit’s social discovery platform provides a new extension to social search and discovery by using user-powered navigation paths to surface what’s being viewed live in the moment it’s happening. The platform collects valuable cross-network data and uses velocity-based tracking and dynamic-predictive modeling to gauge the propensity of something to become hot. Very visual presentation of content by category. They have lots of partners to syndicate their content.

Problem/Solution - Finding who or what is hot

Business Model - Advertising

Possible Competitors - Me.dium, MatchMine

CrunchBase Info -

 

Quant the News (StockMood) was formed to develop advanced textual sentiment analysis applications that leverage its unique, AI-based natural language processing and data mining technology. QTN's first product offering is "StockMood.com," a website that analyzes news stories about stocks, identifying their sentiment, and then measuring their potential impact on a stock's price direction. StockMood measures a stock's moving sentiment as news flows, and also assesses the "mood" of a stock, a gauge of how a stock's price responds to news. Graphical representation of news sentiment and stock price charts. Includes a dashboard to track stocks and news in real time, green for good, red for bad, up and down arrows. very easy to track lots of stocks.

Problem/Solution - Make better stock picks based on news and investor sentiment

Business Model - Subscription

Possible Competitors - Reuters, Dow Jones, Reddit, Digg

CrunchBase Info -

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Marisa Mayer (Google), Dan Farber (CNet), Ron Conway (Angel Investor), and Chad Hurley (YouTube).

 

The panel had some interesting questions and observations;

• Marissa Mayer loved DotSpots, but what about the business model? Angstro looks useful...like Google Alerts. LiveHit needs to focus on design and usability. StockMood looks clever and insightful, but building a big audience will be tough.
• Dan Farber liked the annotations and distribution of DotSpots. StockMood - great feature, but not the basis of a company. LiveHit great for targeting advertising. Angstro is an interesting feature for LinkedIn. Again a feature, not a company.
• Ron Conway asked about monetization models for all the companies. Consumers like like the service, but where is the revenue? Will consumers accept and value StockMoods indications?
• Chad Hurley echoed many of the same thoughts. LiveHit colors aren't that interesting. It is all about the quality of the service, but thinks LiveHit will be important in the future.

TechCrunch50 startups focused on youth entertainment

TechCrunch50 is underway, a three day event. 1700 people in attendance, and over 200 companies, 50 on stage and another 150 in the demo area.

The TC50 companies in this group are focused on entertainment and the youth market. They include Shryk, Hangout, Blah Girls, and Tweegee. The TC50 Expert Panel for this group includes Chad Hurley from YouTube, Dan Farber from CNet, Marissa Mayer from Google, and Angel Investor Ron Conway.

Shryk (iThryv) A new generation online banking platform that allows clients to build "flavors" of online banking systems for discreet demographics. They try to teach kids the difference between "wants" and "needs", how to handle checking accounts and credit cards, and basic financial sense. They have pre-built versions for youth (5 to 11), teens (12 to 17), and young adults (18 to 24), but many others could be built. Strong emphasis on teaching financial concepts. They have a free web site for schools that gives them a simulated banking experience and lots of financial content.

Problem/Solution - Financial training for young people

Business Model - Sponsorships from banks and financial services companies.

Possible Competitors - BizWorld, Banks, Intuit

 

Hangout An online space for 16-24 year olds to bring off-line, social hangout activities on-line. Think MySpace becomes MyPlace where each user has their own virtual rooms that are highly personalized, stylized and private 3D rooms where they can invite their friends to hang out and share their media experiences together (voice chat, magazines, photos, videos, gifts and music) in real time. Hangout put a lot of effort into usability, security, and privacy. Hangout works with other social networks, inside them, so they don't need to build their own social network site.

Problem/Solution - Safe online hangout for teenagers

Business Model - Sponsorships, e-commerce, and advertising

Possible Competitors - MySpace, Second Life, Gaia, Habbo

 

Blah Girls Actor Ashton Kutcher (Punked, Beauty and the Geek) has teamed up with Jason Goldberg to create a new online space for teenage girls. "Blah Blah Blah" is an original content site that delivers a unique perspective on popular culture from the vantage point of the Blah Girls, an animated clique of teenagers. It looks like an animated TV show like "The Simpsons", except that you control the characters and the dialouge. Dynamic and interactive video content that you create. They add their opinions and reactions to the latest entertainment news and happenings. Katalyst Media, the company behind Blah Girls, is applying their expertise in television content creation to create an online interactive experience for teenagers. Blah Girls videos can run anywhere, in any social network.

Problem/Solution - Online entertainment for teenage girls

Business Model - Sponsorships, Advertising

Possible Competitors - MySpace, MTV, TV shows, online games

 

Tweegee.com A destination site for kids 8 to 14 and "tweeners" where they can express themselves creatively and safely in a customizable online environment. Tweegee integrates avatars, social networking, digital content, and interactive tools into an intuitive easy to use environment.  Create full personal web sites, communicate via web based email. They can also engage in multi-player games, interact with webcam games and applications, read news most relevant to them, and author their own articles. They had two precocious kids on stage, probably 7 or 8 years old, presenting Tweegee. They were really great!

Problem/Solution - Safe online environment for "Tweeners".

Business Model - Subscriptions and advertising

Possible Competitors - MySpace, WeeWorld, Club Penguin, Second Life

 

TechCrunch Panel of Experts - Marisa Mayer (Google), Dan Farber (CNet), Ron Conway (Angel Investor), and Chad Hurley (YouTube).

The panel had some interesting questions and observations;

• Chad Hurley (YouTube) liked Blah Girls...because it is video.
• Chad asked Shryk if kids really use online financial services and credit cards. Marissa Mayer doubts the business model.
• Dan Farber thinks Shryk should work closely with banks to get traction.
• Marissa Mayer liked Hangout, but asked how they would build their social network.
• Marissa Mayer asked Shryk - what is the business model? Not really advertising, but sponsorships from banks and financial services.
• Ron Conway likes Shryk best, but wants to see some partnership deals before he would invest.
• Ron Conway thinks the other companies have a challenge in getting users to stop using other social networks and moving them to their sites. Kids have lots to choose from. Getting them to spend time on your site is a tough trade-off.
• Dan Farber liked Blah Girls. Thinks that it could build a big audience.