Web 2.0 Expo 2010, iPad and other business thoughts
Just a quick review of my recent Web 2.0 Expo trip, while it is still fresh in my head.
Firstly, almost everyone there rocking an iPad which is really amazing. Some of my friends dismiss the iPad as a fad, but I really think what we have here, while not perfect, is a glimpse into the future. It is a world where we are no longer carrying a keyboard bolted to a LCD screen, with limited computing hours. One day, when our portable computing device runs as long as the iPad, we are going to look back on how silly we were running around looking for power supply every few hours.
Now, let’s get back to business. I was there basically to recharge my entrepreneurial battery. The last 1 year has been a busy year and was filled with ton and tons of “executions”. It is fun to get into the strategic thinking mode again. The Lean Startup sessions were excellent. Although they use fancy words such as “pivot”, which simply means “change”, I was happy to be reminded that startups jobs, like mine is to continuously test new business model for maximum growth. There is no right or wrong about what we do. The very nature of startup is that both problems and solutions are not as clear cut or as well defined as traditional business. We have a vision how the future might look like, but the solution needs constant tweaking and sometimes, even the vision needs updating.
Less experienced individual might pee in their pants when facing with the uncertainty, but for me the challenge of building something new, and trying to steer the team is my daily morning coffee. It feels good to be surrounded with like-minded people who are as crazy as me.
Another important lesson from the expo is the idea that you should not be building a product, but instead a platform. It is a simple idea that many of us forgot. When we talk about platform, we sometimes overwhelmed with the thought of trying to create another iPhone platform or building another Facebook, the chances which of course, is as slim as anaroxic under-aged models. But it doesn’t have to be that massive. A good platform simply means that the core value of your offerings can be derived through multiple channels, your website being just one of of them. We need to starter thinking about multiple channels, mobile devices, phone, iPad, refrigerator! A solid API can do this, which is what we will focus on.
Third important lesson is perhaps the human analytics. Silicon valley startup are extremely aggressive in chasing leads and sales. It seems as if their marketing department are run by a bunch of Skynet-manufactured terminators, bend on hitting their sales numbers. There are exceptions of course, but by far, the more successful ones are pretty much sales driven. They are crazy about measuring their website analytics. So you are tracking your site daily traffic? That’s lame. These guys are tracking your daily visit to the loo!. Oh, you stopped reading this blog for 5 minutes, did you just come back from the toilet?, click here to have order your toilet paper.
Forth lesson, is the importance of customer development. However, this topic really deserve its own blog entry and I will get back to this later.
Now, I need to get back to my mind-numbing wait for my flight…
