22 Executives Share The Best Advice They Ever Received

here are 22 executives that share the best advice they ever received:

http://www.businessinsider.com/executives-share-the-best-advice-they-ever-got-2012-3#heres-some-more-advice-wake-up-early-24#ixzz1pyXI2rFv

Source: Business Insider

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin conglomerate argues that inexperience can be an asset for start-ups

Richard Branson, is the founder and CEO of Virgin group. This firm is involved in many sectors that are almost mature and in oligopolies, but with good success: i.e. airlines, cola, insurance, lottery, etc.

For Branson: "Virgin's history shows that a lack of experience does not have to be a liability -- it can be an asset.... It is something you should play up when you discuss your ideas with prospective investors, partners and employees, rather than directing the conversation toward your other strengths.... Explain that it frees you and your team to follow your vision for the industry."

For more information: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220789


How to Avoid Common Startup Mistakes according to Richard Branson.
-Stay on Target
-Be Realistic About Costs
-Hire the People You Need, Not the People You Like
-Know When to Say Goodbye

For more information aee: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220743


Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence.com
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Business start-ups tips from top entrepreneurs

Here are some business tips from top entrepreneurs. Source: Entrepreneur.com

Spanx Inventor and Founder Sara Blakely

"Don't be afraid to fail. My dad encouraged us to fail. Growing up, he would ask us what we failed at that week. If we didn't have something, he would be disappointed. It changed my mindset at an early age that failure is not the outcome, failure is not trying. "

Mashable Founder Pete Cashmore

"You need space to try things and create. It takes a long time to recalibrate if you let people pull at you all the time. A lot of stress comes from reacting to stuff. You have to keep a certain guard [up], if you're a creative person. "

Gurbaksh Chahal, Serial Entrepreneur and RadiumOne Founder

"Many [business] people focus on what is static, black and white. Yet great algorithms can be rewritten. A business process can be defined better. A business model can be copied. But the speed of execution is dynamic within you and can never be copied. When you have an idea, figure out the pieces you need quickly, go to market, believe in it, and continue to iterate."

Marcia Kilgore, Founder of Bliss Spa, Soap and Glory and FitFlop

"Get everything in writing, especially with business partners. When you're starting out, things can be quite friendly and exciting, but people's memory can change due to money. Obviously, better to have a lawyer do it, but at least have some written recollection that you are partners, who's responsible for what, and how much money each of you put in."

Jim Koch, Founder of Boston Beer Co. and Samuel Adams Boston Lager

"You have a viable business only if your product is either better or cheaper than the alternatives. If it's not one or the other, you might make some money at first, but it's not a sustainable business."

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh

"Be true to yourself. If you follow that principle, a lot of decisions are actually pretty easy."

Caterina Fake, Co-founder of Flickr and Hunch

"Pick a good market. The idea for approaching that market may change, but find a meaty problem to solve. You can try to attack it a bunch of different ways. Don't be too narrow."

Meetup Co-Founder Scott Heiferman

"Something worth doing might take a while, so really flesh out the potential of the business and be honest about whether it's worth doing. If it's not a $100 million company in five years, maybe it'll take 10 or 15 years. If you're doing something that has a universal, timeless need, then you need to think of the company in a timeless way."

DailyCandy Founder Dany Levy

"Don't spend money until you have money. When we used to put candy in our media kits, I would go to the Duane Reade store the day after Easter because the candy was on sale. Of course, it's important to spend on certain things in the beginning. You need good servers but you don't need Aeron desk chairs."

Go Daddy Founder Bob Parsons

"What I learned from Rockefeller that's off-the-hook important is: You need to know exactly where you stand in a business at all times. Measure everything, because everything that is measured and watched improves."

Barbara Corcoran, Corcoran Group Founder, Shark Tank Judge and Investor

"The joy is in the getting there. The beginning years of starting your business, the camaraderie when you're in the pit together, are the best years of your life. So rather than being so focused on when you get big and powerful, if you can just get the juice out of that… don't miss it."

HomeAway Co-Founder Brian Sharples

"A good idea is not enough. Business aren't just about ideas, businesses are about execution. Don't get too enamored with your own idea. Other people are going to have that same idea or something similar. You have to build a better team to execute it. You're only human, nobody has all the skills required to make a business work. [Ask yourself] what people are required to make it work for this idea, for this business?"

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

New article on Seeking Alpha: BCE relies again on a convergence strategy

Our new article is available on Seeking Alpha: "BCE relies again on a convergence strategy".

http://seekingalpha.com/article/440281-bce-relies-again-on-a-convergence-strategy

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Some tech firms are not well diversified

This graph of splatf demonstrates that some tech firms rely too much on one product or service. They are not well diversified in terms of revenues.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

New article on Seeking Alpha about Facebook

Our new article about Facebook's competition is now available on Seeking Alpha.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/355141-facebook-now-has-competition

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomnAnalysis

The business model of Twitter according to CEO Jack Dorsey

According to Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, the company did not have a real business model until recently since they are now targeting advertising revenue. They concentrated on getting a critical mass of subscribers first which then gave rise to an exponential traffic growth. They now have more than 190 million users, which are tweeting 65 million times a day . Twitter’s market value has reached $7 billion in January 2012, according to SharesPost. Twitter’s new business model relies on charging for access to its full data stream. According to GigaOm , it will feature promoted tweets in search results and promoted trends in its trending topics . It will publicize sales and other deals. Twitter is even considering inviting users to pay to promote their Twitter accounts. Promoted tweets would represent a Twitter-specific version of Google AdWords. Thus, Twitter is still experimenting with new sources of revenues. As for Facebook, Telcos will have to determine if they want to have Twitter as a partner and at what conditions.

Jack Dorsey, the CEO and co-founder of Twitter recently gave an interview to TechCrunch:

"What is Twitter compared to Facebook, Google+ and other social networking services?

Twitter is different because we’ve always been about hosting public conversations, that are real-time to boot. There’s always been this perception that you need to tweet to use Twitter, but we see a huge number of people using it for the discovery of news, events, content and so on. Our focus on simplicity is another differentiating factor....
Twitter was obviously born from a blogging-centric mindset, but where we shine is real-time discovery, being able to open up Twitter and instantly see what’s going on in the world, or with your friends and family. When we recently redesigned the website, we focused a lot on the discovery part of the equation, making it very simple for people to get value out of Twitter without necessarily participating...

Twitter has just acquired Summify, in order to deliver relevant content to people, instantly.

In the long run, is Twitter going to become a destination for information, or a distribution channel that brings traffic to other websites?

The beautiful thing about the service is that it is both. The most amazing thing about Twitter is that it reaches every single device on the planet, from the cheapest phone to the most advanced smartphone. We’re not just about distribution, but also about people sharing content on Twitter.

Do you want to be a distribution channel or a destination site?

Well, it’s a blurry line, but in essence we think of every tweet as a destination on itself, while Twitter is also a mechanism for distribution of content.

It look a long time for Twitter to develop a business model, and it’s based on advertising. We can agree that Twitter is big in perception but comes up short when it comes to engagement and stickiness. Do you need the same level of engagement other social networks enjoy to make your business model work?

Twitter’s business model has been in development for quite some time, and it works. Advertisers use it and we see them coming back for more. The market has vetted, and confirmed that they want to keep using it. Twitter’s ‘Promoted’ products — including promoted tweets, accounts and trends — are currently seeing 3 to 5 percent engagement. We’re always looking to increase engagement, but I also think about other things, like that fact that our technology can have a positive impact on the world and how businesses interact with their customers.

So what you’re saying is that even with the extremely minimal exposure of ads that you deliver, engagement can still prove sufficient enough to make for lots of revenues down the line?

Absolutely, it’s huge. Every signal that we’re getting from both users and advertising proves to us that people want more of it.

What’s more important to you as a business right now: make money or get more users? And you can’t answer both.

Both. It’s not really a fair question. We think of revenue as not a destination but as oxygen that feeds the model and vice versa. You can’t build a product without revenue, but you can’t focus on revenue without having a product either. Twitter is an organic system and product. Time and time again, you see companies whose revenue model makes their products better, just look at how Google AdSense improved search.

Source of the interview: TechCrunch.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The art of tech start-up pivoting

There is a interesting article in the NY Times on the art of tech start-up pivoting.



“In the legal and entertainment industry, you can only fail so many times,” Professor Hosanagar said. “But the culture of Silicon Valley is one where failure is embraced.”

A VC adds it is easier when you are a small start-up to pivot and change the business model, since few will notice. For Ben Horowitz, one of the founders of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “The art of the pivot is to do it fast and early. The older and bigger the business, the harder it is to change directions.”

Sometimes a pivot is necessary when the pace of Internet evolution has made a start-up’s original plan obsolete. “The Web we were building for a few years ago is almost no longer relevant,” said Michael LaValle, the co-founder of Gojee, a recipe recommendations app. “The Internet changes so fast.”

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalyis

10 strategic actions Yahoo's CEO should do now.

Here are 10 strategic actions that the management of Yahoo should do.

1. Bring Yahoo email up to par

Yahoo email is actually more popular competitor Gmail — with 302 million users globally, according to Yahoo’s statistics. But Gmail is growing quickly and will eventually win this battle. Both of them are far behind Microsoft’s Hotmail client, which reported 360 million unique users in July.

Yahoo mail still doesn’t allow people to use their accounts as an all-purpose e-mail utility for work, enterprise and recreational unless they pay for a premium subscription — meaning if you want to hide ads, gain offline access via POP, use more than 100 filters/labels or forward your mail to other accounts — you have to pay $19.99 annually.

2. Restore Flickr to greatness

Flickr rose in popularity because it amplified the ability of photographers to store, catalog and share their hobby. Eventually, Yahoo saw its potential and purchased the company. And many critics have argued that’s pretty much where the service went wrong.

Fast forward to 2012, and we see that the iPhone is now the most used camera for uploading pictures to Flickr. We also see that Instagr.am, a startup that gives users filters for pictures they take with mobile phones, has pulled in 13 million users and been named Apple’s number one iOS app of 2011. The problem is that Flickr isn’t mobile enough. The company needs a happy medium between Flickr and Instagr.am — and it needs it fast.

3. Consolidate & trim the fat

Yahoo desperately needs another consolidation plan — something that combines all of its social products into one nice, neat package the way Google is attempting to do with Google+. It’s not enough for Yahoo to provide integration of these services. The company needs to take (another) hard look at what products and areas it’s successful in, and concentrate on them entirely.

This also means the company will inevitably have to trim the fat. Services like Yahoo’s IntoNow, a social check-in service for people watching TV frequently, is hot. Several analysts see the product going anywhere in the future. Yahoo has a history of building great services and not knowing quite what to do with them, leading the company to do nothing more often than not. It should consolidate IntoNow into Yahoo’s other social services and kill things like Yahoo Deals and 4cast.

4. Better organize

The company has several very popular media channels for sports and lifestyle/culture that aren’t being used to their fullest potential. Partnerships between Yahoo and other services (Monster.com, Match.com, etc.) are mixed in with all the other Yahoo channels, which probably earns the company lots of money for placement, but isn’t very desirable for the overall user experience. Yahoo should reorganize these channels, affiliate services and products into something more manageable.


5. Clean up the homepage

Yahoo’s homepage is extremely busy. It has a somewhat complete list of apps/services in a left sidebar, tabs along the top, trending topics on the right along with must-see trending videos, a collection of recent and interesting news down the middle. The company can certainly do a better job of streamlining its services into something more appealing than the current offering.


6-Get Back Into Search

Yahoo partnered with Microsoft to have Bing power its search engine a couple of years ago, part of a deal that let Yahoo run advertising for both. While the arrangement may make sense from a financial standpoint, it robs Yahoo of direct control over one of its primary products, and strengthen's Bing's brand more than Yahoo's. The move basically told them to never come back.

7-Platform First, Services Second

Yahoo has a problem with its products: It's always chasing its competition. Typically, an innovator or competitor will launch a service, then Yahoo will follow much later with a similar product that's inferior. And its core services (search, email) were quickly outclassed by more nimble and focused players. Think Flipboard vs. Livestand, Gmail vs. Yahoo Mail and Digg vs. Yahoo Buzz. Over the past six or seven years, Yahoo has been the ultimate me-too digital brand.

Even though some of those services have improved (notably Mail), a bunch of disparate services does not make a platform. This is something Facebook, Amazon and Google understand, but Yahoo doesn't. Yahoo has a bunch of people using its services, but they're not connected in any meaningful way. Yahoo needs to find its focus going forward -- maybe it's the multitude of niche and hyper-local Groups that are still very popular -- and start uniting its suite of products around that.

8- Make a similar HuffPo Move

When AOL bought The Huffington Post, it was a questionable decision, but it was a strong move forward in the company's plan to morph itself as a media company. It also got people talking about the brand again. Yahoo needs an equivalent action to really assert itself either as an innovator or serious player in the media business. Acquiring the right startup or small-but-growing company (I'm looking at you, Tumblr) could give Yahoo direction, attention and something it's in short supply of -- cool.

9-Get Allies

Yahoo can't compete in every digital sectors. Yahoo's aging brand needs more focus. Yahoo killed its me-too deals service after a few short months last year, so now might be a good time a partnership with Groupon, which could use the help after that firm's shaky IPO. Yahoo made a strategic deal with Facebook in 2010, and it might be worth expanding that. LinkedIn is another company, at least demographic-wise, that might be a good match. Mobile is clearly an area that Yahoo wants to grow in, and there are some key players (Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, Sony) that would also love to take a bite out of Apple and Google.

10-Exit Asia

Yahoo's stake in Asia has been financially lucrative, but it's still a distraction. Its holdings in both Yahoo Japan (35%) and Alibaba Group (42%) don't give Yahoo enough control to make any difference to its core brand. It's already looking at making a deal to sell off these assets,. That'll give the company more focus and a big pile of cash to help it innovate in the coming (hopefully) years and maybe make interesting acquisitions such as vertical WebMD.

Conclusion

The company is in needs of a coherent innovation strategy that relies on a good mix between internal and external innovation building capabilities; acquisitions of innovation from start-ups and hot niche players; and alliances.

Source: Venture Beat and Mashable

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

10 quotes from Andy Grove, former CEO of Intel

In 1997, CEO magazine chose Andy Grove as its "CEO of the Year," and Time magazine made him "Man of the Year." He built Intel into the 7th largest corporation in the world. He is now an adviser to Intel and a strategy lecturer at Stanford University. He was also one of the mentors of Steve Jobs.

Here are 10 quotes from Andy Grove:

"When TV first came, people tried to look at it as a radio with pictures. We're at the stage now where the Internet is TV with poor connections."

"A fundamental rule in technology says that whatever can be done will be done."

"Success breeds complacency. Complacency breeds failure. Only the paranoid survive."

"Just as you would not permit a fellow employee to steal a piece of office equipment, you shouldn't let anyone walk away with the time of his fellow managers."

"Stressing output is the key to improving productivity, while looking to increase activity can result in just the opposite."

"You have to pretend you're 100 percent sure. You have to take action; you can't hesitate or hedge your bets. Anything less will condemn your efforts to failure."

"Technology happens, it's not good, it's not bad. Is steel good or bad?"

"People can't memorize computer industry acronyms"

"Your career is your business, and you are its CEO"

In 2000, Grove encouraged America to be "vigilant as a nation to have tolerance for difference, a tolerance for new people." He pointed out that immigration and immigrants are what made America what it is.

Source: Wikipedia

I read his 1996 book "Only the paranoid survive". For me, it is one of the best strategy book in information and communications industries.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

The future of the Internet in 3 trends according to the CEO of Forrester Research

3 trends will influence considerably the Internet, according to the CEO of Forrester Research George Colony.

1-The Internet will offers more applications.
2-The social network sector is due for an important transformation.
3-The entreprise sector will adopt massively the social networks

So, social will still prosper but it will evolve a lot.

George Colony suggests that in each decade we saw the turnaround of a major infocom player. In the 1980's it was Intel, in the 1990's it was IBM, in the 2000's it was Apple and he suggests in 2010's it could be Microsoft, but it would necessitates a leadership transformation.

Social networks have reach maturation in term of users' time and penetration rate among population (over 80% in US and Canada for example).

Social start-ups who don't understand this new rule and consider there is a social bubble will disappear. Strong business models are pre-requisite for post-social survival.

In order to use the Internet more effectively and efficiently, Internet applications (web applications and mobile applications) will prosper.

Forrester provided a graph Total offerings versus Strategy of the major infocom players. While Apple is at the top with a strong offering and a strong strategy, luck helped also Steve Jobs. Apple did not really anticipate the proliferation of mobile apps. However, the business model of Apple could leverage that unanticipated new trend.

To watch the whole video from Le Web conference see:

http://youtu.be/2XZNsBz0aGw

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

New article on Seeking Alpha: Quebecor: an information and communications convergence play

My new article is available on Seeking Alpha: "Quebecor: an information and communications convergence play".

http://seekingalpha.com/article/312432-quebecor-an-information-and-communications-convergence-play

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Ywitter: @InfocomAnalysis

How a firm can build a sustainable competitive advantage

According to Fred Wilson, a famous venture capitalist at Union Square Ventures, a company needs some requirements to build a competitive advantage, and it is not necessarily what is taught in business school.

"But as I look at many of the challenges facing businesses today, it seems to me that the focus on performance and efficiency often comes at the cost of sustainability. And interview with Clay Christensen really drives that point home. The recent history of the steel industry in the US is a case study in managers doing everything they were taught in business school and in the end they bankrupt the business.

Going back to business school, they teach you the value of a business is equal to the present value of future cash flows. If the company is likely to stay in business forever, then the value is most likely way higher than a business that is going to be out of business in a decade. The present value of a hundred years of cash flow is likely to be larger than the present value of ten years of cash flow.

And sustainability is all about figuring out how to be in business forever. It is about business models that are win/win and lead to happy long term customer and supplier relationships. It is about avoiding the temptation to overeach. It is about avoiding the temptation to mazimize near term profits at the expense of long term health. It is about adapting the business to changing market dynamics. It is about building a team and a culture that can survive the loss of the leader and keep going. And it is about many more things like this."

Source:http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/11/sustainability.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AVc+%28A+VC%29

It is the same investment philosophy for Warren Buffet. He dislike managers who don't have long term plans. For Warren Buffet, the best stocks represent investing in companies with sustainable competitive advantages and forget the price of the stock for 5 years.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

New article on Seeking Alpha: Groupon versus Amazon: Similarities and Differences in Creating Value

My new article "Groupon versus Amazon: Similarities and Differences in Creating Value" is available on Seeking Alpha. It is in the Editor's pick of the day.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/307899-groupon-vs-amazon-similarities-and-differences-in-creating-value

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Some key elements for innovation management value creation: the case of Yahoo versus Google

In a recent interview, a former Yahoo VP argues that the key element for efficient innovation management in order to create value is to have an organization enabling small accountable and empowered team that can take risks. Salim Ismail is a successful angel investor and entrepreneur. He has operated seven early-stage companies and is a frequent speaker on internet technologies, private equity and entrepreneurship. From February 2007 to February 2008, Salim was a Vice President at Yahoo and the Head of Brickhouse, Yahoo's internal incubator where game-changing ideas were brought in, built and launched. He is now working for Singularity University.

Yahoo became a matrix company under Terry Siemel, with several layers of organizational approval. The firm is now developed under the traditional verticals administrative functions. Google on the other hand always promoted risks taking and has less organizational layers of approvals, even less under the new CEO Larry Page. Free time is giving to engineer to work on the innovation project of their choice. Google encourage risk taking. Many internal resources of Yahoo made spin-off outside the firm like Zynga. Like Xerox which created many innovations like the mouse, the operating systems, Ethernet but did not develop it, outside spin-offs of Xerox created more value than Xerox itself: Apple, 3Com, Adobe Systems; history is repeated with the case of Yahoo.

According to Ismail, in the fast moving area of high tech, it is difficult to play the game of catching-up on trends and competition. Few players won that game. Apple totally reinvented the company, but they have relied on the Blue Ocean Strategy.

For more information on the ideas of Salim Ismail, see the interview on TechCrunch.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/11/keen-on-how-yahoo-screwed-up-and-lessons-for-other-silicon-valley-giants-tctv/#ooid=locnJ1Mjq5H8b_xXxgp9bym7HAdEvXrv

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com

IBM has now 100 years

Today, there is an interesting article on IBM in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. It talks about the recent strategy of IBM. The firm has now 100 years. In 2010, the consulting and technology services accounted for 56.4% of revenue, programs, 22.5% and machine business 18%. One has to remember that IBM dominated the PC business in the 1980's. Between 2000 and 2010, IBM bought 116 companies.

According to Mr. Zufiria, an executive manager of IBM, the best invention of IBM, which has 76,000 patents in its portfolio, is to sustain the culture of progress. In the last decade, the image of IBM dedicated to the machines has evolved into a company also dedicated to the services and enterprise software. IBM sold his home computer unit to Lenovo, among other movements, bought the consultant Price Waterhouse Coopers Consulting. "This change is a response to globalization and the challenge faced by companies in mature sectors, where part of the offer are already standardized services. This transformation reflects IBM's commitment to build a business based on value proposition. In there, you select investments designed to create a difference. " To Zufiria, customers are seeking solutions and facing transformational issues.

"With Price Waterhouse, it allow us to have knowledge of business processes and provide this global response. " The same principle applies to business management market. "The challenge is no longer in the data warehousing tools. It is situated in the analytical processes around that data, that allow a company to understand their situation and make decisions in real time. " In this area, IBM has invested U.S. $ 14 billion, to create a complete portfolio of predictive analytics solutions with the acquisition in five years of 24 specialized companies.

IBM is really a transnational firm profiting from regional expertise and selling those solutions globally. IBM has made a million dollar bet on free software, "open source". IBM spends 6% of its revenues on research and development. " Thus, explains Zufiria, the company is not seeking an offer that is redundant, or which already exists. "In 2007, opened 500 patents. It was not a selfless act, but IBM was trying to drive the standardization, for example, certain operating systems or software components, so as to accelerate the transition to other software layers on top IBM can provide the greatest value. "

Source: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/Pantallas/IBM/anos/reinventa/elpepurtv/20110613elpepirtv_1/Tes


Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Skype acquired by Microsoft?

The Wall Street Journal reports an important rumor that a deal is near between Microsoft and Skype. Microsoft would acquire Skype for $8.5 billion including the debt. Microsoft still makes few profits from the internet. While Skype's growth is important, it is still losing money and expanding aggressively internationally. Other potentiel acquirers are Facebook and Google.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730804576313932659388852.html

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter:@InfocomAnalysis

Venture capital: does the pre-IPO valuations of tech firms are overvalued?

According to William Quigley, a VC at Clearstone, several actual pre-IPO valuations of tech firms are justified.

You can see the whole presentation there:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=79023772

He pinpoints that even though some valuation in the 80's or 90's appeared overvalued at first, with time they were highly undervalued. For instance, the IPO of Microsoft around $600M (or $0.07 per share, Cisco ($0.23), Amazon ($0.44), eBay and Google can all be considered higly undervalued.

He reports that it may be also the case in some extent for the next IPO of Facebook and Zynga.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

Skype’s founder now investing in venture capital

Niklas Zennstrom is a serial entrepreneur, which helped found online chat service Skype. He also created Peer-to –peer file-sharing website Kazaa in 2001. After selling Skype to eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005, Zennstrom and co-founder Janus Friis launched Joost, an online video service. Zennstrom is now involved on making venture capital investments in the technology space through his new firm Atomico.

Why do you think Skype succeeded, where so many other online chat services failed?

The team was very focused to make Skype's core product the global standard — “we had the ambition to become a global player.” Since previous VOIP solutions did not work well at all, we identified two major problems: technology and user experience. We found that Peer-to-peer technology was the solution to the technology problem. We had the best peer-to-peer technology experience in the world from Kazaa.

“We had perfect timing; we launched Skype for a broadband world, so we utilized high definition audio before anyone else… We went after a large market with a transformational business model, so there was a big opportunity.”

With VC Atomico we are looking for some precise characteristics in companies:

• entrepreneurs with global ambitions to become category winners,

• unique transformational products or business models,

• large markets in transition and finally the right timing.

What's the biggest mistake you made as an entrepreneur and what did you learn from it?

I try to move on when I make a mistake. I guess a major mistake I did was not to start my own company earlier. I spent nine years working for others before starting Kazaa in 2000.

What's the best investment you ever made?

That must have been taking my education seriously.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42892302?__source=stocktracker&par=stocktracker

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis

BNN Network interview with the management of McKinsey

Yesterday, there was an interview at BNN Network with Dominic Barton who is Canadian and the Global Managing Director of McKinsey. Among others, he argues that Canada exports not enough in China and Asia in general. There are many opportunities such as in education, a 2% increase in higher education in China would require 2000 more universities...

For the whole interview you can watch:
http://www.bnn.ca

It would be available in the coming days.

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com