Robert Scoble – 03:17 (edited) – Public
A note to my brother, Ben Scoble, the bar owner in Virginia
I was talking to +Seth Robinson who is working on a report for his business about how businesses to use social media.
That caused me to think about what I would do to help your bar.
I’ve been studying how businesses work online and you are missing an opportunity to get more customers. A big opportunity.
You might say “I have enough customers” or “my customers aren’t online.” (His bar is in Virginia, where he perceives that not many of his users are online, although I notice he’s been on Facebook and Foursquare a little more lately, so is starting to sense something is going on).
My number one advice? Tell a story.
What’s a story? Well, from what I can figure out, his story is “Benny’s Tavern is a fun place to hang out.”
A lock-in is the term used to lock the doors of a pub and have a party to remember.
This lock-in was a little different. The graphic novel, based on the idea of the business plan resource Equity Fingerprint, has been some some two years in the making. For lots of reasons it has been delayed and delayed. The main reason was biting off a lot more than we could chew. So Cong organised a lock-in of Cambridge illustrator Dill to help him finish the last few pages. I was there as the client to make decisions.
It has been a rare honour to be part of a creative process (in my case a very small part of the creative process) and watch a master at work. Dill has worked his fingers to the bone and ensured the fans on his MacBook were busy trying to keep the processors cool. We thought it would take one day, then two and then we needed the third day to nail it. Drained we went off to Browns to celebrate with the cocktails.
Thanks to Sue for her writing; Cong for her writing, editing and cooking; me for washing up and Dill for allowing us to be part of the most amazing experience. And not forgetting our amiable landlord for allowing the lock-in nor Rodney’s calm, confident assurance and direction.
Lock-ins are draining and, like the England World Cup rugby team, you need to let off steam afterwards.
Now onto the final edits and printing.
Drained by a lock-in is how I feel today. Need lots of fresh air.
But Dill will be creating today, tomorrow and everyday. One more person to cherish in the Cambridge Cluster. How lucky we are!!
Pete Townsend wrote the song about the changes over generations and the same applies to passive equity companies or lifestyle businesses. In Cambridge, ironmongers Mackays has had planning permission for change of use of their site rejected. Guess some families are lucky and the location for the business chosen by the earlier generations becomes a nest egg but some like brothers Duncan and Ian Mackay are unlucky. They have a valuable site but planning permission takes time and costs money. In another case, the business had a quiet location down a country road. As the business grew and was serviced by larger and larger lorries, it now needs to be moved. But the cost and upheaval is enormous.
Something for the next generation to worry about? Not a problem with the global technology companies with active equity companies which are sold in the first generation. Let the people who create the wealth, enjoy it!
“Founder Mike Lynch, who owns 8.2% of the stock….” worth some £500m which must make him the most successful entrepreneur in the Cambridge Cluster on paper.
“The implied valuation of the company is equivalent to 47 times the pre-tax profits earned by Autonomy in the 12 months to June this year.”
The p/e is 47 times; a little higher than the 10 placed on technology companies by our friends from India at the gala dinner I attended at the end of a course in Cambridge.
So if Redgate makes profits of some £30m per year (it would be interesting to confirm this from the figures on the Judge database of accounts) then it is in the billion pound class as well and the two founders worth some £500m each.
Great case studies for Equity Fingerprint at the next course…………….
Another great boost for the Cambridge Cluster.
More Aston Martins to hit the streets of Cambridge.
Fred Wilson stars in the interview by Jason Calacanis for This Week in Startups. Sadly the great brains could not get the microphone settings organised and then set the two against bright windows. So it is a little like shadow boxing at times with the added fun of needing to keep adjust the volume control. A pity that Jason Calacanis’ technical team did not sort it out. Never seen the same mistakes with Robert Scoble!
Fred Wilson’s site has a timeline so you do not have to watch the sponsors. Start at 6:30mins. Again not something you have to suffer with the Scobleizer!
Join the Robert Scoble fan club and keep up with the latest stories from Silicon Valley. But here the camera is turned on the Scobleizer and he reveals the secrets of using social networks to promote your company. These are the points I picked out but watch it all:
Watch how other people are using social networks and copy a style to get going; Ask: am I causing an interesting conversation? How do you do that (which is the biggest unknown)? Drive people towards an action. Be credible, authoritative, know the competition, nice and make sure you should be listened to. Fascinating how this blog and all others has changed from text to building on videos. Perhaps should do that for a business plan resource……
Hat tip: Robert Scoble on Facebook; and whoever wrote the song. Ok let us have Tina on video….
Great article on the founding of Twitter on TechCrunch.
Great case for a business plan resource to look at the Equity Fingerprint. Great jump in valuation between rounds. Amounts raised look likes: Round 1, Y combinator round some $50k; Round 2, angel round, $550k; Round 3 VC A round $7.2million (which included Sequoia Capital, Greylock, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher and Youniversity Ventures); Round 4 VC B “in the process of closing a whopper of a funding round: $100 million or more at a $1 billion-plus valuation”. Go read the article.
Hat tip via Twitter:
@abrams Jonathan Abrams by Scobleizer
Wow! “@newsyc20: Airbnb Has Arrived: Raising Mega-Round at a $1 Billion+ Valuation tcrn.ch/jNqguQ (bit.ly/kTSBR8) #trending”
It is a great video as you can see all the mistakes I would make as the entrepreneurs talk too much about the wonderful technology. They are all incredibly gifted people but seem to have no feel for thinking of how the consumer will want to use their product. Also most talk about the features and have not developed an elevator pitch. It is just great to see that I am not the only one who makes the mistakes. Also people are so enthusiastic about their idea, they duck the question of who would want to pay or use their product. Great teaching tool. Wonderful to ask students to watch the video, discuss the learning issues and then submit them to Office Hours.
At the same time Fred Wilson blogs that his firm and two others have just funded www.kik.com to be the new SMS service on mobiles – SMS but without the per message cost as the messages go out over the Internet. It is an $8million series A funding.
So you need to think through your strategy and be comfortable with the number and quality of your partners. Use a business plan resource to help you think through the process.
The picture on the www.kik.com site shows a large team of thirteen people (unlucky?) gathered round a brown car. Not sure why a car but there must be some message (sic) in there. No comments on who has funded the business so far. Wonder if the lucky thirteen all have founder shares or do some have staff options?