December 2006

2006 was another wild and wacky year in software and web development. Here it is December and you know what that means: time for a best-of-the-year list. Check out my picks for best new software and web applications that rocked our world in 2006.

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We have all seen major changes this year in advertising revenue generating social media companies.

YouTube and MySpace acquisitions have paved the avenue to, what some consider, the next bust. Major companies seem to be spending more and more of their advertising budgets on the social phenomenon. These life changing and viral ways we now scour the web are, without a doubt, stirring up conventional advertising. So…

How much revenue is the Social Media marketplace generating?

Researching …. … … …

ok, I’m back!

This may not be news to some of you … found this over at the Internet Advertising Bureau..

NEW YORK, NY (November 14, 2006) – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP today announced that Internet advertising revenues reached an estimated new record of $4.2 billion for the third quarter of 2006. The 2006 third quarter revenues represent a 33 percent increase over $3.1 billion in Q3 2005 and a 2 percent increase over the Q2 2006 total of nearly $4.1 billion.

Read the full article here.

More great coverage of this over at GigaOM here and here.

How long will growth continue? 1,2,5,10 years? How much of the 4.2 billion is from social media?

[tags]social, media, advertising, revenue, projections[/tags]

Organization is crucial in timely production when developing web apps, and just about anything else:) I been working hard getting things done, but I need to re-organize my working processes to maximize production. Hopefully outsourcing some of my workload will help.

I’ve been all over the map with the development of swamble and simulagent over the past few months. I always try to write code with specific naming conventions and reusable classes and functions. During the time I have spent on development, I’ve also worked with many different frameworks trying to speedup the development process. Looking back, this crushed production.

With every framework I tried, I ran into brick walls. Problems that were taking me too long to figure out. One problem, leading to the next. Zip files scattered all over my desktop, unzipped sources with different versions and different mods I hacked on. Basically an unhealthy mess for a developer. With all the buzzwords and hype about frameworks, both javascript and php, its been tough to stay focused on the tasks at hand. I’ve had to spend many hours over the past week or so getting my shit together. Still not completely where I want it, but getting close.

I’ve been testing out Trac lately on DevjaVu’s hosted system. Lovin it. Over the next few days I’ll be moving all my working files to Devjavu. Why now? I’m tired of being unorganized and I’m hiring some developers!

In the past, I’ve used guru.com and getafreelancer.com to hire freelance assistance with smaller projects. This time I’ll be using oDesk. I’m really looking forward to it. Development on Simulagent is about 80% complete. I’m hoping this experience is positive and we can work together to break through the walls and launch soon. I’ll keep everyone updated on how the whole experience goes. So far so good.

I’ve been finding some great tips for getting productive all over the web. Ryan Carson has been blogging lately about getting things done on his new blog Carsonified! Keep up the good work Ryan and thanks for sharing the tips! Not sure if I’m ready to switch to a mac yet, but you sure are twisting my arm. Hash, over at White African, blogged recently about Being Successful Online and makes some really great points.

I’m going to continue to learn, take risks, act on my ideas, and get more things done.

[tags]Outsoucing, Production, Organization, GTD[/tags]

Last night I caught a bit of The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. I was on my laptop while watching the show and tried to take some notes. He talks fast and interrupts guests too much. I figured I could visit the show’s website and gather names and more info, but his website sucks! Yea, it’s pretty and flashy, but no information. Update your website Donny!

Worm Poop and Used Plastic Bottles are very profitable. Tom Szaky dropped out of Princeton 5 years ago to start the company. His first round of funding came from winning, or coming close to winning, a business plan competition.

TerraCycle had $461,000 in sales(2005), mostly in Canada, where the product was carried by Home Depot and Wal-Mart as well as other chains. With the decision by both retailers to roll it out in their U.S. stores this year, the company’s 2006 sales are expected to top $2.5 million.

2. I’m not sure who was interviewed last, but he was part of a big venture/angel network. Here are the 5 tips he gave for being ready to pitch to an Angel Investors and Venture Firms.

- Plan “A” Rarely Works; Have a plan B.

- If you don’t have an answer, don’t fake it.

- Its all about credibility.

- Valuations can be valueless.

- If you can’t sell, get a partner.

All this venture and angel investment talk is new to me. With Simulagent, we did take some funding from friends and the next step for us may be going for an angel round.

I’m not sure if I agree with/understand the first tip - “Plan A Rarely works; Have a plan B”. Is he saying to have a second business plan in your back pocket? or to be ready to change the pitch on the spot? Either way, if I do make a pitch I’ll have a solid plan and be able to adapt to the crowd or individual.

I like the second tip - If you don’t have an answer don’t fake it. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t have all the answers. That’s the whole point of seeking more funding .. to pay the people who have the answers.

The third - It’s all about credibility - They talked about how it’s best to get introduced to an angel network or venture firm prior to the meeting by a trusted or respected source.

Valuations can be valueless. This tip was followed up by some arrogance from both Donny and “The Guy”. By valueless they mentioned how founders don’t want to give up more that 10% of a startup for 1mil in investment. I’m not really sure how valuations work, but I don’t think I would have a problem with this point.

If you can’t sell, get a partner. I like this one too. I’ve talked to a lot of people about my projects. Many of them have nothing but good things to say about them. Every once in a while we get some brutal honesty (which I thrive on) and always take suggestions for change into consideration. The ability to sell concepts and ideas to people is tough. I’m confident in my abilities to sell, and am loving learning.

If anyone wants to discuss our projects .. drop us a note or submit a comment.

I work in desktop support. This morning, someone brought in a powerbook that fell from a third story balcony. It booted up into target mode and I was able to save the User’s files from the abyss. I WANT ONE!

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