Philip’s blog

This new blog is being developed to allow people easier access to all that is happening in the Cambridge Cluster in the UK.  It is being masterminded by Robert Jones of ARU and the social network guru Geoff Jones.

Sad news today that two people have lost their lives on Helvellyn, a mountain in the Lake District in the north of England.  One person was blown off the difficult ridge called Striding Edge.  I lost my nerve on a the Edge this summer on a glorious sunny day so I can imagine it was difficult with the ice and the very strong wind.  It is very exposed and I guess a combination of a strong gust of wind and a poor foothold led to the tragedy.  There will now be another brass plaque on the Edge.  Perhaps next time I will walk up from Thirlmere which is much easier and think of the climber and his family.  Take care on the hills.

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 9

Read the book “Innovators Dilemma”

Peacefully co-exist with incumbents

Get early champion from smart VC who can help you

You want your board to find them

Work your board

Make the world a better place, spot opportunities

From USA to UK, a different geographic market

Large companies miss opportunities with customers giving a chance for small companies

Microsoft is not afraid to cannibalise their own resources

Take advantage or turn on a dime without changing their own business

When you have brand police, then you are the incumbent

As an entrepreneur/founder, you do not have a brand

If you go to court, you are dead!

Get a board of advisers who can argue your case where you need influence

IBM execs have to work with start-ups - it is now part of their culture

Don’t look at other people, look at your customers

Bayesian motion will get you were you want to go, eventually!

Efficiency of p2P is stunning; spectacular uses/applications

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 8

Tune in to the changing dynamic of the social network group - monitor continuously

Motivators - inherently social; fear at not being in network; emphasis on adoption; create addiction and usage

How do you capture advertising as it moves from off-line to on-line?

Two interesting ideas: Adwords and Adsense (algorithm based)

Advertising business models on web are changing

Advertising is new micropayments of new Internet - need new monitory model

Providers are very sensitive to customers - smart service providers

LinkedIn has been profitable for the last 18 months

How do you develop trust? Social behaviour?

Psychology of 10 million users - very basic things common to lots of people

Not simple, won’t scale!

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 7

Natural to go for a viral distribution model

Embody real life - the way you live

Everybody uses social networks

People start crossing over between social and professional networks

Social networks is an infant technology with infant products

Generational thing; different ways of expression; destroy barrier between work/play

Lots of innovation still to come on revenue models for social network sites

Most people will not use security features/filters

In Silicon Valley, there are around 14 experts on viral marketing, how to reach 10 million people. THERE IS A SECRET

LinkedIn started by 13 people sending out 138 invites

Orchid is big in Brazil and a flop in Silicon Valley

Catch a community with the right thing

Binary decisions; viability

Small differences on a site make a huge difference

Challenge - they are all the same

Watch reputation as people expose their personal relationships

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 6

Being right in front of a big ship is not a good idea!

Try not to be in the line of something on which a big company is focused

The big test for a team - can they work together.  It is like a marriage!

Start-ups are an extremely pressurised world

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 5

Facebook has a great team

Key thing: in the initial stage the founders do everything

Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, is an angel in 50 start-ups including facebook

Levels of hierarchy in an organisation helps you to be organised

You have to chose from the many jobs that need to be done in a start-up

“Get certain types of jobs done!”

Teams pick up people from around them, from friends

Do or die basis, month by month

Silicon Valley is a talent university with people from around the world

Reaching out to get them in your team

Bring you voice to bare(?)

Check and check references.  When Reid Hoffman recruited the CEO of LinkedIn, he checked 23 off-balance references (ie not references supplied on the CV)
Might be right person for another job

Markets change; lots of chaos

Google is big in Africa

“Great Founders; great destroyers!”

Make sure that all the teams want to get things done

Countless ways a company can fail - visualise success

World class generals

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 4

Silicon Valley is like an intense pressure cooker - everyone in Silicon Valley is running

Fastest deal - money in bank within three days!

Silicon Valley cluster - cluster in which you are living

Cambridge, UK, is adopting Silicon Valley values

Silicon Valley is unbelievable and adapts to changing trends very fast

MIT has barriers to fast paced change

Training is not a real replacement for entrepreneurship; get students as close to real-life experience as possible

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 3

Concentrate on customer and audience

Organise around clusters

The idea needs to be scaleable end users

“Get you were you are going as fast as we can” for the customers

Not a business model - a customer model - a distribution model

Can you go from zero customers to 1 million to 10 million?

Cost structures on the Internet are very low

Advertising cpm - try Google Adsense

Will cpms grow at fast rate?

Advertising models do not work

Accommodation of free and premium services

Google values potential

Key problem, what matters most - how do you get to millions of customers?

Business Plan - how are you going to do it? Then put team together and get building

These are quotes from the conference.

Part 2

Patent portfolio can effect exit price

Patent prosecution

Rambus was sold with a patent portfolio

Electric cloud had two or three patents

Slide has not patents

Patents can secure your market, barriers to entry

Who will litigate in that space?