Coffee With Pete Prestipino

This morning I had coffee with Pete Prestipino. Here’s a picture of him and his wife.

Pete Prestipino

Online Publishers Association Releases Web Report

The Online Publishers Association released a report entitled “Going Mobile: An International Study of Content Use and Advertising on the Mobile Web“

Highlights Include:

Advertising works on the mobile Web — both in terms of receptivity and action.
Brands play a significant role in driving mobile Web activity.
People depend on the mobile Web for key content and are actively registering, personalizing and paying for content.
“While people often think of the mobile Web as the realm of ringtones and messaging, it is clearly a rich platform for quality content and marketing,” said OPA president Pam Horan. “Mobile content consumption is high and growing - in the year ahead, current users plan to spend more time with the mobile Web and new audiences will adopt the platform. Additionally, a large number of consumers are watching ads and acting on them. The OPA ‘Going Mobile’ study indicates that very real opportunities exist for marketers and publishers to take advantage of the mobile Internet.”

If you look through the report, please keep in mind the frame of online publishers as there are other sectors not discussed and to draw broader conclusions based on this subset could be a mistake!

Microsoft Executive Departures

The Wall Street Journal reported today that “Christopher Payne, who most recently served as vice president of Microsoft’s Windows Live Search group(formerly MSN), is leaving the software company, according to people familiar with the situation.

It then goes on to say, “A person familiar with the situation says that Mr. Payne is leaving to start his own company, to be based in Seattle. A spokesman for Microsoft wouldn’t comment. Mr. Payne’s departure comes amid a broader set of changes wrought by Microsoft Senior Vice President Steve Berkowitz, who was hired last year from search engine Ask.com to head Microsoft’s online group. On Monday Mr. Berkowitz named three new marketing managers to the online group, including one who will oversee search marketing.”

The article also states that Vice President of AdCenter, Blake Irving will retire this Summer.

Current analysis: There is evidence in my recent queries that live.com is becoming equal to Google in terms of search result quality. It is my belief that is where the problem resides. They need to be better, different and/or provide unique value by a wide margin to get people to switch. This didn’t happen yet because to date they have hired people from Google and elsewhere to rebuild the same wheel in much the same way. To me, the proper next step is to hire a larger number of people with strong competencies from other businesses that have created world class user experiences in different disciplines to curiously question conventional search industry thought processes to create innovation. To mature fully, successful search companies need to build strong cultures that reward and encourage the hiring of fresh voices with passion to build a product that is differentiated and then be able to communicate that value proposition clearly that resonates with both B2C and B2B audiences.

Illinois Innovation Accelerator Fund (i²A) Launched

It has arrived! The Illinois Innovation Accelerator (i2A) Fund, a $10 million seed-stage investment fund with an initial closing of $6.4 million in capital commitments. The i2A Fund is a member managed fund that will be administered by the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. The fund will make investments in well managed seed-stage companies in Illinois or willing to relocate to Illinois that have a demonstrated value proposition in a given market for their products or services. The fund will make investments ranging from $250,000 to $1 million in each company.

I’m hoping it’s the first of many! There are many fine upstart companies here in Chicago starving for capital. I know David Weinstein and his crew worked hard on this and I’m hoping it’s a great success.

Volvo Becoming Transparent and Listening

I’ve been car shopping - mostly to just get down to my short list for now. I’d like to point out one brand seems to be moving in the right direction with edgy new styling and design and marketing transparency - Volvo. A short summary:

Launched Volvo XC60 Concept site before Detroit Auto Show. It shows Steve Mattin, Volvo Cars’ Design Director, talking about the evolving Volvo DNA and innovation. It has an educational frame - which is a positive thing.
The site is very open. Many of the videos have been downloaded and received thousands of views on places like Youtube, Autoblog, etc.
Launching the XC60 Concept sit created enough of a stir for people to create drawings of what a new S40 might look like with the same design principles, this got a few good blog postings. One post even stated that the new S40 “may grow to be 3-Series fighter“.
The only thing I’d change about the concept site would be to add a direct text feedback form instead of the vague questionnaire that is on the site. Most people are passionate about their car opinions. Somewhere in that potential mountain of text would have been potential competitive advantages so it’s a lost opportunity.

On many current Volvo models the inside cabin rearview mirror could be mounted higher and adjustable. I’d like to see a day when my two o’clock position is not obstructed by mirrors that hang too low and that all cars have at least 40 inches of headroom. They should also use the space between the seat and the floor effectively when a driver wants it - the current Volkswagen GTI is an example of a car that does this quite well. Hopefully Steve Mattin and his team are monitoring the blogosphere, if not, they should be. If Steve or anyone on his team would like to contact me, I’d be happy to go into more detail on this issue.

Also, while at that dealer, they told me about the new C30 that will be arriving soon, I’m on a list for a test drive focus program that they will be conducting. The next few years should be quite interesting for Volvo.