ismail blogtalk 2008

Company Confidential

Entrepreneurship & Social Media

Salim Ismail

Head of Brickhouse, Yahoo!

Copyright 2007Slide 2

Background

1996: First early-stage company2001: First startup (of my own)2002: 2nd startup2005: 3rd startup2006: 4th & 5th startups

2007: Joined Yahoo to build/run Brickhouse

1 year, 3000 ideas and 4 products later….

2008: Back to Startup land


Cork – 1996-2008


Overview

Internet Infrastructure- Context for where we are today

- technology underpinning- product roadmap

Data on the internetHidden Web

Event-Driven

Business ModelsMap of theinternet

Social Media

Web 2.0


What is Web 2.0

According to Tim O’Reilly….

Fundamentally: user participation (UGC) + XML


Other Web 2.0 Descriptors

Services (as opposed to data)

UGC (User Generated Content).. e.g. blogs

Manipulate and ‘use’ data, not just presentation

Low latency (real time)

Data aggregation

Social Networking

Examples– Flickr, Buzznet, Dabble– Wordpress, Typepad, Drupal– Eventful, Upcoming, Edgeio– YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook

Web 2.0:Consumer to

Consumer


Web 2.0 Tag Cloud


Web 2.0 – Was led by Blogs

• Last few years - blogs have exploded in use– With the rise of the web in the 90s, we had millions of readers, but

relatively few publishers (e.g. CNN, CNet)– Now, due to the ease of publishing with blogs and other tools, we

now also have millions of publishers• 1m in 01/04, 10m in 01/05, 50m in 2006 and over 100m today (that’s

just blogs)

• A Syndication ecosystem has evolved– Ping servers, ping aggregators and blogging platforms all

collaborate to disseminate RSS and Atom updates

• Blogs now being ‘overtaken’– Top Bloggers: stratifying into self-publishing journalists/pundits– MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, Bebo et al covering the rest– Has led to web 2.0 and social media


Since then… a few companies are betting on it


What makes this all tick?

Syndication

XML

Low Latency

Great UX


Overview



Data on the internet

Business Models


Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0™

We are increasingly watching…

80s Email

90s Web Browser

00s RSS Aggregator

Messaging

RequestResponse

PublishSubscribe

What’s youremail address?

Sending

What’s yourWebsite?

Searching

What’s yourFeed/Blog?

Watching

Information Exchange Patterns Evolution of the Internet


Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0

Web 2.0 = Internet 3.0

• Structured Data (XML) Syndication is starting to take hold

• Event-based (Publish/Subscribe)

• Participatory UX = consumer to consumer– Latest wave in internet companies (MS, FB, YT…)


Internet 3.0 – The Nervous System

The internet is evolving into a complex organism

Search is the memory

Web 2.0 provides the basis for the nervous system

The key question is:

“ Whenever…”


Now that we understand internet infrastructure...



Data on the internet

Business Models

Definition:

Rows & Columns

e.g. Word vs. XML authoring


Example: Blogs

• RSS is really just a wrapper for text plus metadata plus a syndication mechanism – Atom is another, more evolved syndication spec

A typical blog

Post contains an

opinion or

specific

Information

(in text)


The Internet is largely ‘hidden’ data

Unstructured information (Visible Web)– HTML and text oriented

– Search-engine crawlable

– Difficult to analyze

Structured information (Hidden Web)– XML, structured information (auctions, tickets, cars, jobs)

– Lives mostly in walled gardens (eBay, Monster…)

– Not easily available to search engines

– Much of that can be syndicated

The hidden Web is 400-500x largerthan the visible

one

VISIBLE WEB

HIDDEN WEB

Source: Crawling the Hidden WebSriram Raghavan,

Hector Garcia-Molina


Types of Structured Content

Web 1.0

AutotradereBay

MonsterCraigslist

Lexis NexisOnline Media

Web 2.0

WordpressTripAdvisor

Dabble“Fire Eagle”

SkyDeckSafariUZillowTripit

Zimbra......


The old world (hidden web)

BeforeUser fills form site stores data users search site

craigslist


Create/Publish/Discover Syndicate/Aggregate Read/Consume/Process

The new world

AfterUser fills form (publish) data is syndicated users get updates



Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs

RSS ReadersRSS Feeds

Closed Syndication or Branding

Browsers

Web PagesSearch Engines

Walled Garden

DBs

Internet Information Flows

Open Syndicationor Branding

Pings



Web 2.0Web 1.0

Blogs

AggregatorsRSS Feeds

Browsers


Walled Gardens


Pings


craigslist



Recent Products

Who do I know (Social Networks):

Flickr, Upcoming, FaceBook, MySpace, Bebo

What am I doing (status updaters):

Twitter, Pownce, Skype, FB

Where am I (location brokers)

Fire Eagle, Plazes,

Loopt

Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data

E-commerceTransactional data(reviews/ratings)(offers for sale)

(events)

Self-publishing(where am I)

(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML


Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs



Browsers

Web Pages Search Engines

Walled Garden

DBs


Pings

Social Networks MiniFeeds

Closed Syndicationor Branding

Social Networks(email)



Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs



Browsers


Walled Garden

DBs



Pings




craigslist



Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data


(events)


(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML


Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs



Browsers


Walled Garden

DBs


Pings




80sEmail

90s

Web Browser

00s

RSS Aggregator

Messaging

RequestResponse

PublishSubscribe

What’s youremail address?

Sending

What’s yourWebsite?

Searching

What’s yourFeed/Blog?

Watching

Information Exchange Patterns

Evolution of the Internet


Business Models – Internet 3.0

Publish(syndicate)

BlogsPhotosVideo

CGM

Subscribe

RSS readersCell phones

Web

Clients

Aggregate

Search EnginesSocial NetworksVertical Search

Tagging

Aggregators



Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data


(events)


(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML


Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs



Browsers


Walled Garden

DBs


Pings





Business Models

Users/Advertising

Subscriptions

Data Mining


Internet Entrepreneurship

• It’s a numbers game– “You have to do everything right, and THEN get very lucky”

• Market timing– Too early is worse than too late

• Team, Team, Team

• Focus, then Execute

• Never give up– stick around long enough…


Dynamics of starting a company today

- Low barrier to entry

- Virality is key

- Lots of competition

- Focus on service rather than data


Dynamics of Revenue Streams

Advertising– User base (you need a lot of them)– Behavioural targeting– Social profiling

Data Mining– Aggregate information on large sets of users– E.g. Rapleaf, Spock, Wink, Google, Fire Eagle

Subscriptions– Typically for enterprise or prosumer use


Tensions to be navigated

• How dodgy are you willing/able to be… ?– Customer acquisition & monetization– Spam factor

• When to take in revenue

• When to launch– Don’t be a perfectionisht


Thoughts on Social Media

• Computers are binary

• 80/20 rule

• Leverage with other types of information



Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data


(events)


(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML


Web 2.0Web 1.0

Aggregators

Blogs



Browsers


Walled Garden

DBs


Pings





Key Drivers of Value

Syndication

XML

Low Latency

Great UX

Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data


(events)


(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML


Back to blogs

• RSS is really just a wrapper for text plus metadata plus a syndication mechanism – Atom is another, more evolved syndication spec

A typical blogpost today contains anopinion or specificInformation(in text)


There’s over a trillion XML documents

Unstructured information (Visible Web)– HTML and text oriented

– Search-engine crawlable

– Difficult to analyze

Structured information (Hidden Web)– XML, structured information (auctions, tickets, cars, jobs)

– Lives mostly in walled gardens (eBay, Monster…)

– Not easily available to search engines

– Much of that can be syndicated

The hidden Web is 400-500x largerthan the visible

one

VISIBLE WEB

HIDDEN WEB

Source: Crawling the Hidden WebSriram Raghavan,

Hector Garcia-Molina


Steps for building a business

• Pick a domain you’re passionate about• Travel, sports, entertainment, business….

• Pick a type of data that can to be leveraged on the internet

• Location, social information, structured data, live info

• Select one of the drivers of value creation

• Position yourself for risk

• Jump in with both feet

Gov’t Data

Enterprise Data


(events)


(what am I doing)

SN Profiles

Blogs(about me)

HTML

Syndication

XML

Low Latency

Great UX


And if it doesn’t work….

Pick yourself up..

Dust yourself off…

Get a new T-shirt…

Start again…



Web 2.0Web 1.0

Blogs

AggregatorsRSS Feeds

Browsers


Walled Gardens



Pings


craigslist

ismail blogtalk 2008

Economy & Finance