evans ink

I’m been enthusiastically hammering my head against the wall of local media and small business revenue models for over a dozen years.  About a year ago, I strapped on my early stage start-up skates and wobbled my way back onto the ice.

the napkin phase

A lot has changed in the 6-7 years since I was an early stage entrepreneur.  While running a 150-person local media tech business keeps you contemporary with industry knowledge, rolodex and perspective, you forget the scrappy exhilaration and anxiety of a from-scratch business formed around a shining new idea. It also gives you a near carnal attachment to a clean cap table;)

learning to lean

I’ve read with a mixture of enthusiasm and marginal skepticism the lean start-up school of thought.  The “agile + listen to your market + pivot quickly” logic is high quality stuff for any start-up to seriously digest.

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We’ve grown up to view online business reviews and recommendations as something that gets accumulated into organized sources of browsable content. TripAdvisor and Yelp represent two highly successful cases-in-point of the power of critical mass to reviews.

The dominating model of shopping behavior goes something like this…

search > initial select > search again for opinion to test your decision > transact

As noted in Search Engine Watch, “the search continues because search engines aren’t the consumer’s most trusted source of advice”. As we all know, we’re spending more and more time socially connected.  This creates a new whole stepping off point for shopping behavior. In theory, the potential exists to invert the experience and infuse trust and recommendations into the front end of shopping.

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A few people have been asking about my thoughts on GroupOn.  This post presents some general observations on their business model and the impact on local promotion marketing.  Soon, I’ll take a look at how we view and apply this learning in our business model at Closely.

As a consumer, and as an entrepreneur, I love GroupOn.  They have build real velocity into a large market need and space, executing exceptionally well on a quality business model.   I also am impressed how they have backed their brand strategy with real attention to customer service.  For those not familiar with GroupOn, explore here.

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Out with “fan”, in with “like”.

So, Facebook is officially mothballing the terminology of Fan, in favor of the kinder, gentler Like.  According to All Things Digital, the decision has been made.

Sometimes subtle changes in terminology can drive meaningful impact and unintended consequences.  My commentary below  is on how this might impact a Business’ Fan Page marketing.

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You may know I’ve been working on a new start-up for the past 6 months, pretty much heads down – stealth by default, not design.  Actually we’ve been very active in our market, just totally focused on product, not business cards or websites!

In a couple of days, we’ll be taking the wraps off.  We’ve been chosen to launch at the DEMO Conference, which is a great venue to jump off the ledge with new products.  I’ve done this once before; it’s a pretty intense and fun launch pad!

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I was pleased and excited to see this week’s launch of Public Earth’s website.  Not just because it’s the home of a small cadre of friends that I knew would build something very interesting, but because I believe in the fundamental premise underlying Public Earth.

The Twitter synopsis of Public Earth sums it up nicely.

We’re the Wiki For Places, dedicated to delivering interesting, unique, and up-to-date place information in a personalized way.

after world domination

The scale of product investment and advancement commitment from Google and Microsoft in mapping these past five years has been truly impressive.  These brands deservedly unseated MapQuest’s sleepy position by moving the ball forward on user experience, on multi-dimensional content, and on developer tools.

Fact is though, we’re still at the utilitarian consumption stage in geo-experience, and the very thing that creates their current world domination could well be what weighs down their forward progress.  The “Anchor Tenants” of the consumer geo universe, perhaps. [for fun: Google = Walmart, MapQuest = Kmart, and Microsoft so wants to be Target].

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Many people are aware that a few months ago I migrated from my full-time role in Local Matters, and began working on the “next new thing”.

I guess I’ve reached that inevitable point of self-admission to being a serial entrepreneur, forced to work on things that get stuck in my head, and get me out of bed @ 4am.   I. just. can’t. seem. to. help. myself.

I have great memories from the last few years taking a business from concept through multiple cycles of growth. I’d be lying to not say I am also disappointed by some of the choices I led us through along the way.  And, like many (most?) companies do in the face of the dramatic shifts in market structures and valuations of 2008-09, we had to triage through a reinvention phase.  Thanks to an amazing team (employees, board members, clients and investors), this has advanced very well; I am very impressed with the clarity that the company now has going forward.  I sat at the last Board meeting witnessing a business that has matured and evolved very well under the new leadership team in 2009.  It’s a first class business with a bright future, powering the strategic progression of Yellow Pages businesses, globally.   I only hope the industry lets it unleash the potential underlying the impressive technology and team.

I’ve now confidently moved on to what I know I LOVE to do – creating a new business.  My passion is for opportunities that lie JUST ahead of the horizon.  I love to work in market spaces where the structures of consumer-to-business interaction are inefficient and capable of being dramatically overhauled with online and mobile models.

So, my next target:  Direct Marketing.

I’ll be announcing my newco when it’s more ready for public consumption.  I was initially intrigued with the idea of blogging my way through the experiences and challenges associated with start-ups, but I’m not going to do that.  There are enough quality entrepreneurs out there doing that, and adding more of the same just feels kind of pointless.

Perhaps I’ll return to my blog in the coming weeks, as I ruminate over the new space I’ll be occupying, we’ll see how things progress.   For those looking to stay connected, I’d suggest you follow me on Twitter;  140 character micro-blogging just seems to fit with where my life is at right now.

It feels like everywhere I turn there is yet another media company paying writers to crank out search engine friendly content, in thinly veiled attempts to please the google bots.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the years looking into the content gaps in converting local to an informed and useful shopping experience. The quest for deeper local content is on the order of a holy grail epic challenge.

The standard by which most publishers currently seem to be approaching their content strategy is “whatever the google bot rewards”.

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For those of you who thought there was no business model behind twitter…

beware, clicking on the link will take you to an infomercial!

Spam “validation” aside, this AdWeek article by provides an interesting discussion on how the ecosystem of Twitter is working to uncover and build business models from the platform.

Kudos to the Denver Post for having the gonads to ask consumers about the value proposition of micro payments. This kind of transparency is refreshing.

While consumer research like this can’t be relied on for detailed forecasting, the sentiment is overwhelming.  Sorry, newspapers, this math don’t hunt!

You’ll just have to innovate like the rest of us.