Just got word early this week that Startup Camp 2 has set the date and location for this not to be missed unconference.

Here are the details from the event listing on upcoming.com

When: Monday, May 7th, 2007, 8:00 am - 7:30 pm

Where: The Argent Hotel, 50 Third Street, SF, CA

If you able to make it, PromoterForce is participating in the Best StartUp Contest and would very much appreciate your support.

I’m looking forward to meeting many of the super star entrepreneurs / hackers / investors that will be attending. Lets show all the $1500 a seat conferences how the Web 2.0 community really gets down and make this the cream of the crop event in SF for 2007.
See you there!

With all the buzz surrounding Web 2.0, stoked by the massive viral success and huge price tag acquisitions of MySpace, and YouTube, as well as wildly popular community sites like Flickr, Wikipedia, and Digg.com, it is no wonder there is a lot of chatter in the board rooms of big companies regarding their Web 2.0 strategy.

A recent McKinsey Global Survey titled, How businesses are using web 2.0, was published in the McKinsey Quarterly in March 2007, and highlighted some interesting findings from a group of 2,847 respondents, of which 44% held C-Level positions.

McKinsey used nine Internet technology trends to categorize Web 2.0: Blogs, Collective Intelligence, Mashups, Peer-to-Peer Networking, Podcasts, RSS, Social Networks, and Wikis.

Here are some of the take-aways from the survey:

• More than three-fourths of the respondents said that they plan to maintain or increase spending on technologies that encourage user collaboration.

• Over 80% of the respondents are planning to use Web Services, which was the highest ranking technology amongst the nine mentioned above.

• Respondents in the Retail sector are planning on increasing their bets in Web 2.0 over the next three years more than any other sector, but they were the slowest adopters and are now in catch-up mode.

• Internationally, executives in India, and Asia Pacific countries where the most apt to be increasing spending on these technologies.

It seems that the executive crowd took Time magazines naming of You (users) as Person of the Year in 2006 to heart and are revving up their spending plans and strategies to keep pace with the ever evolving web. The fact that McKinsey, the preeminent Big Five consulting firm is asking execs about Web 2.0 shows that Enterprise 2.0 is gaining a lot of momentum. This study also highlights a very profitable sweet spot for web/tech firms, entrepreneurs, and consultants.

Companies like IBM and SalesForce.com deserve a lot of credit for raising awareness with great marketing campaigns championing the mantra of On-Demand business. But the gap between adoption of Software-as-a-Service, and a user/customer centric business is huge.

For now, big business remains slightly behind the times, but their users/customers will continue to gravitate to services that are more willing to participate as partners by listening, responding fast, and working alongside them to create better products and services. The past was all about Push and Pull customer relationships, the future is a fluid conversation!

Flickr Photo Credit

Flickr Photo Credit II

Technorati Tags: McKinsey, Survey, Web 2.0, technology trends, Enterprise 2.0

Local is the new buzzword in search. The local web search market grew to $4.1 billion in 2006, and is projected to grow to $11.1 billion by 2011, according to the Kelsey group. The search giants (Google, Yahoo, MSN/Live) all have strong offerings and have been steadily improving them with maps, coupons, and location related links. Clearly this is a very big market and the big boys are working hard to dominate it.
A recent report by the Kelsey Group, the leading provider of strategic research and analysis on Yellow Pages, electronic directories and local media, mentioned some pretty interesting facts about the print side of the global Local Directories Industry, such as Yellow Pages, ya remember them (read the press release).

The Kelsey Group expects the print Yellow Pages segment of the global directories marketplace to grow from $26.5 billion in 2006 to $27.8 billion in 2011 (0.9 percent CAGR).

“Bucking the trend of some other traditional media, the global print Yellow Pages market will grow slightly through 2011, driven by aggressive and innovative publishers,� said Charles Laughlin, senior vice president and program director, The Kelsey Report®.

I was really surprised to hear that Publishers are maintaining a 1% growth rate in this very old media / old school industry. While growth rates on the digital / web side are far greater, print is holding its own and accounts for the lions share of total spending in the industry.

Beyond finding this information interesting, I think there are some very important implications for PF’s product development and business strategy.

1) Print is still a highly usable and effective channel.

2) Local and Regionally focused companies are spending their precious marketing dollars on Print.

With this in mind, I’m very encouraged by our decision early in the product development cycle to focus on print as an important channel. Companies will be able to print (via pdf) information about their campaigns to hand out, or snail mail to customers and partners. Promoters will be able to print fold-able “promoter cards” with all the key information about the company they are referring and a personal message to their friends and family.

I personally do not use the yellow pages anymore but I love print. I love the portability of a magazine, I love reading the Sunday paper in bed, I love reading great books, and I especially enjoy receiving personal cards.

Referrals are a personal experience, and print will always be a great channel for reaching people in a more intimate way.

(tech heads needn’t worry PF also supports eMail, IM, Text, and posting to blogs)

Flickr Photo Credit

Technorati Tags: local search, referrals, print, yellow pages, personal, marketing

As a young startup born from an individual’s idea, one of the primary challenges I’m faced with is building the core team to take the vision and turn it into a revenue generating, customer serving business.

While I have been especially fortunate to have two very smart individuals working with me in advisory roles, and a top tier web development partner doing the engineering work, I’m still searching for a key parter to help with the overall strategic and technical development of the company.

I came across an especially insightful nugget of wisdom concerning what to look for in team members from Jason Fried, founder and CEO of 37 Signals. The question below was posed to Jason on the Signal vs. Noise blog, and is excerpted below.

The Question: What I am most interested in is how you (Jason) sought out the talent/team that is 37signals?

The Answer: From Jason Fired at 37 Signals:
“We look for great people. I’m not talking about talent (yet), I’m talking about character. Everyone that works at 37signals is a great person. trustworthy, considerate, curious, passionate, motivated, smart, good teachers, good listeners, responsible, mature, kind.

I would never hire someone I didn’t like as a person. I don’t care if he/she is a rockstar designer or programmer or whatever—if I don’t like them as a person they won’t be working here. You must trust the people you work with. You must be able to learn from the people you work with. As far as talent goes, you just have to know what to look for. It’s not really possible to explain that in words. It’s more of a feeling. And it also has a lot to do with the culture. The talent has to fit the culture. Programmers who only care about programming aren’t welcome at 37signals. Same with designers who only care about design. The talent needs to respect the other talent. Most of all, I think it’s about seeing the potential in people. We all have a lot to learn, so it’s not always fair to hire someone based only on what they can do today. You need to be able to figure out where they can go. What they can get better at. And what they want to get better at. I hope that helps.”
My Perspective:
First off, I totally agree with Jason. At first I was looking for a person with brand name company experience, that would add deeper credibility to the Team Slide of our investor presentation. I was thinking eBay, Big 5 Consulting, or experience at some other very reputable company, not to say that experience wouldn’t be a big value add, but it should not be the primary factor in a recruiting/hiring decision.

I’ve shifted my thinking and am now looking at strength of character as a key factor, followed closely by Creative Problem Solving, Compassion, Passion and then skills and experience.

PF will be a small company for the next 12-36 months, and the amount of work and time that we will be pouring into it, demands that the people involved are not only talented and experienced, but genuinely like each other and enjoy spending time working together. So the search goes on, but my new found clarity for what exactly I’m looking for is very exciting.

FlickrPhotoCredit

Technorati Tags: startup, talent, recruiting, 37 signals

Jennifer Buerck from Santa Cruz, Ca.

Jennifer was the 20th participant in the Survey, and wins a brand new iPod Shuffle from Apple.

Congrats to Jennifer and many thanks from Team PF to all the people that completed the survey.

PhotoCredit

With the Web revival in full swing, early winners are emerging, with big, big name acquisitions leading the way. YouTube undeniably took the cake with it’s billion dollar price tag, and the investment dollars flowing into social media / Web 2.0 is creating a bit of froth in the startup pond.

A Market in Need
On a seemingly saner, and definitely quieter front, Web 2.0 and Software-as-a-Service is reaching the small business market with a strong value proposition and some very innovative applications.

Setting A Good Example
A recent featured post on the Small Business Technology Guru blog, a publication of the Small Business Technology Magazine, chronicled Freshbooks, a promising Toranto based startup that is winning users and media praise with it’s simple and useful Invoicing and Time Tracking product.

Freshbooks was recognized as a leader in usability, by the Usability Institute. They also offer provide live help, user forums, and other high touch services to customers. All in all it seems like the Freshbooks team has not only created a nice application but taken a contrarian approach to client fulfillment in the web world. The combination of real value + service is a key differentiator between the adhoc web application and a real, profit earning, customer serving business.

Earn Your Customers
To earn the business of small business owners, a company must not only demonstrate value but back it up with great service, but when it happens they are rewarded with loyalty and growth. Here at PromoterForce, we are inspired and excited to see other young companies like Freshbooks make an impact in this space. Their winning formula is certainly something we aspire to embody.

Cheers to a breakout year for SaaS - Web 2.0 - and Small Business.

Flickr Photo Credit

Technorati Tags: small business, Saas, web 2.0, web applications, business, startup, 2007