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I could build Instagram in a week

by Don Dodge, May 21, 2012 | Comments

Success looks easy from a distance. Technology seems simple if the design is great.

I could build Instagram in a week. How many times have you heard someone say "I could build [insert hot startup name here] in a week"? I hear it all the time. But, I have yet to see one of these delusional wizards actually do it. They are obviously too busy inventing the next big thing. They fail to realize that building ...

MeCommerce - how to disrupt retail & commerce

by Don Dodge, June 13, 2011 | Comments

Take the best of Dell, Amazon and Zappos

MeCommerce is all about me and you. It is disruptive and can be applied to any business. I had a fascinating discussion today with Matt Lauzon, founder of Gemvera, about how he applied MeCommerce to the jewelry business. The core MeCommerce principles are; Customization, Customer Care, and Convenience. Some businesses do one or more of these already, but very few ...

How does Groupon work?

by Don Dodge, June 6, 2011 | Comments

Is the business model sustainable?

Groupon is the fastest growing company ever. From nothing to a stunning 7,000 employees and billions in revenue in just two years. Groupon just filed for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) and revealed the financial details behind the media hype. TechMeme is ablaze with negative stories on Groupon. Minyanville says "Groupon is Effectively Insolvent". MG Siegler calls it "Grouponzi". Yipit ...

Four tests to test for a good startup idea

by Don Dodge, May 26, 2011 | Comments

	Fundamental tests to help you determine whether to take the plunge Everyone has a few ideas for a startup company. But how do you know if this is the one big idea you should do? There are hundreds of questions along the way, but these four fundamental tests will help you decide if you should take the plunge. Is this something I MUST do? - The decision to start a company ...
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Failure is experience on the way to success

by Don Dodge, May 15, 2011 | Comments

At Google we say, 'Achieving 65% of the impossible is better than 100% of the ordinary'

Failure gets a bad rap. It is actually an important element of success. When I speak at conferences around the world, I say "In America, we don't use the word failure. We call it experience." You learn far more from failure than you do from success. And those lessons from failure are what prepares you for success. At Google, we ...

Tech bubbles, tides and earthquakes

by Don Dodge, April 24, 2011 | Comments

	What you should know Are we in a tech bubble? Yes. When will it burst? I have no idea, and neither does anyone else. Mike Arrington, founder of Techcrunch, has a great story today "We're In A Terrible Blubble". It is insightful and entertaining. My view is that tech bubbles are a little like tides in the ocean, and a lot like earthquakes in ...
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Search is amazing vs Alta Vista 10 years ago

by Don Dodge, February 28, 2011 | Comments

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Pundits would have you believe search innovation is dead. But they are wrong

We all use Web search engines a lot -- about 3 Billion times a day around the world. We hear pundits say that search sucks, or hasn't advanced much beyond 10 blue links. Eleven years ago, I was director of engineering at AltaVista, the best search engine in the world at the time. The advances in search since then have ...

Facebook, Twitter and startup valuations

by Don Dodge, January 7, 2011 | Comments

	The best properties always look too expensive The best properties always look too expensive. Market leaders command the highest prices. It is only a year or two later that they look like great deals. The experts thought Microsoft was crazy when they invested $240M in Facebook at a $15B valuation. Crazy like a fox. Digital Sky Technologies invested $200M in Facebook in May of 2010 at a ...
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Seed-stage investment bubble?

by Don Dodge, December 20, 2010 | Comments

Not really. Investment is down and so is the average investment per deal

Is there a bubble in seed stage investing? Critics point to Twitter raising $200M at a $3.7B valuation, and Facebook being valued at $35 Billion, or Groupon at $6B valuation just 6 months after raising a $135M round at a $1.35B valuation as evidence of a bubble. The Economist seems to think there is a bubble. Eye popping headlines, but ...

Googlish - Google's secret code language

by Don Dodge, December 9, 2010 | Comments

Wdyt? This is the way people communicate via IM, text message and even email

Googlish is the language used to communicate via Instant Messaging. Any high school kid understands it instantly. It is not unique to Google, or any company. Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook has been studying it too. The way we communicate in this Twitter / SMS world, and the tools we use to do it, is rapidly changing. A Googler sent this ...

Hiring a big company exec for your startup?

by Don Dodge, November 15, 2010 | Comments (1)

Fast-growing startups don't need experienced CEOs to run their company

Fast growing startups need experienced big company execs to take them to the next level, right? Wrong. Big company execs are wired differently than startup ninjas. My last post "Startups play poker, big companies play chess" explained how startups are different from big companies. This post is about how execs at startups are different from big company execs. Big companies ...

Napster 10 years later

by Don Dodge, October 3, 2010 | Comments (1)

Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker changed the world, and they're just 29 and 30-years-old

Ten years ago in October, Shawn Fanning, co-founder of Napster, was on the cover of Time Magazine. Today, Sean Parker, the other co-founder of Napster, is portrayed in the movie The Social Network, about his role as president of Facebook. Fanning and Parker changed the music world at 19, and continue to change the online web world today. Shawn Fanning ...

What happened to Yahoo and Alta Vista?

by Don Dodge, August 17, 2010 | Comments

From innovator to imitator to forgotten

Paul Graham of Ycombinator wrote an excellent blog on "What happened to Yahoo?". (YHOO) It reminded me of what happened to AltaVista, the first and most popular search engine. Yahoo thought they were a media company, not a software company. Simple, yet deep implications. AltaVista was hatched inside DEC, a hardware company. They had no idea what to do with ...

Freemium business models for the enterprise?

by Don Dodge, August 10, 2010 | Comments

It's commonplace for consumer applications, but can it work for enterprise software?

The Freemium business model is normal for consumer applications, but can it work for enterprise software? Freemium usually means a free service with an "up sell" to paid premium subscriptions. Examples include Skype, LinkedIn, Flickr, Ancestry.com, Typepad, Dropbox, and many others. Freemium differs from Free Trial in that a free trial is the fully functional product but only for a ...

How did your name get on a Facebook ad?

by Don Dodge, July 15, 2010 | Comments

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By clicking the 'like' button your name becomes associated with an ad for that organization

How did your name get on a Facebook advertisement? When you click on the Facebook "Like" button you could be agreeing to have your name associated with an ad from that company. The Wall Street Journal reportsthat Facebook is using the "selling power of friendship" in its ads. Unless you specifically opt out in Facebook's complicated privacy settings you could ...

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