Dave Winer says journalism as we know it is “obsolete” because everyone can do it. Is he right? Yes and no. One thing is for sure: journalism is being transformed by the web and by real-time publishing. Whether that’s good or bad depends on your viewpoint.
AOL said it has purchased the technology blogging site TechCrunch for an undisclosed amount, a story Om broke last night. While we don’t know yet how much AOL paid for the blog network founded by Michael Arrington, we’ll update this story as details emerge.
Today we’re all probably doing a lot of timeless things. Feasting with family goes back to the Pilgrims. Great Aunt Mindy’s cranberry sauce recipe hasn’t changed in generations, nor should it. Even watching football games feels like a prehistoric ritual at this point.
But that doesn’t mean new traditions, like gathering around the laptop to watch silly cat videos, are any less capable of sappy meaningfulness. Still, it can be a bit hard to translate what this whole YouTube thing is to your Luddite relatives, much less the ability to watch TV on your computer or see original online entertainment that’s actually good. So when you’re on the spot, with your wits a bit less quick from the tryptophan, and need the perfect video for any number of situations, we’ve got you covered.
Our picks of online video to queue up if you’re:
Showing your grandma YouTube:
Dancing dog. Best trick in the book.
Read More about A Video Handbook for Thanksgiving Day
Many entrepreneurs fear being a flash-in-the-pan success — achieving an exit once, but never again. (Some might call this being lucky rather than good.) But while the allure of success inspires us to do great things, achieving it can have an ugly aftereffect: complacency. Vigilance, my friends, is the only path to serial-founder bliss. Here, in descending order, I offer nine leading indicators that you’re headed for one-hit wonderdom.
9. You went and got all tricked out.
I mean with your next business, not your fashion sense. But remember how you got your first hit — with a kindergarten-level UI that any neophyte could comprehend. Sure your friends called you Forrest Gump and sneered that you were lucky; that’s their problem. Trying to prove to your friends that you’re really, truly smart isn’t good business. Delivering a simple, usable concept that solves problems and makes money is. Read More about F|R: The 9 Signs of a One-hit Wonder
Networking has always been a high art in business. Just ask Susan Roane, my mentor and author of the seminal tome, “How to Work a Room.” (I know a handful of VCs and startup kings on Sand Hill Road who have her book tucked into a drawer.) I’ve been showcasing Roane’s lessons for founders in my Found|READ series, “What They Don’t Teach You At Stanford Business School.”
By now it’s time to address the latest, and arguably the most powerful, networking tool in any founders’ arsenal: Twitter. It’s simple. If you’re not “tweeting,” you’re missing half the conversation. Just ask Sarah Lacy. (How different Lacy’s now-infamous SXSW interview of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg might have been had she been plugged into the tweets flying around the conference room floor!) Don’t know how to use Twitter? No sweat. Here are my 8 Tips for How to Work a Twitter Party.
(Photo credit: News.com. SXSW Tweeters celebrating before the ill-fated Zuckerberg interview.) Read More about Networking: How to Work a Twitter Party
Question of the Day: Do social networks exploit their user-content generators?
I don’t know if you saw Billy Bragg’s Op-Ed yesterday, The Royalty Scam, but it’s worth reading as a criticism of social media business models that leverage the intellectual and artistic capital of users to build a traffic base that can be monetized — and then don’t share the wealth. Read More about Question of the Day: Bebo & Profit Sharing
Question of the Day:
Can your business mission be summarized on the back of a business card?
If not, then I want to make sure you all see this: Sequoia’s Gospel of Startups More True Than Ever. In it, Mike has republished Sequoia Capital‘s 1st Gospel for building successful startups called Elements of Sustainable Companies. it includes things like:
* Clarity of Purpose: Summarize the company’s business on [a] business card.
* Large Markets: Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop.
* Rich customers: Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering…. etc.
Mike is right that these principles are even more important in the current market (and we’re glad others are fans of Teddy Roosevelt!)
But also I want to draw your attention to Sequoia’s 2nd Gospel, a list of tips for how to write winning business plans. In Writing A Business Plan, the firm says: We like business plans that present a lot of information in as few words as possible. The following format, within 15-20 slides, is all that’s needed.”. So here’s the list… Read More about Sequoia Capital’s 2nd Gospel: Good business plans
