Posted on by — 1 Comment

Just Where is Steven Berkowitz?????

Robert Scoble’s got a nice post about Youtube and Ballmer making comments…the post has some interesting detractors in the comments…I like this part the best he says: “The thing is, YouTube is two SEPARATE things: 1) the technology. 2) the community/brand.” I agree, most people focus too much on the technology.

But here’s my bigger question. Earlier this year, MSN hired Steven Berkowitz, the CEO of ASK. I have yet to see one meaningful interview in a five months now of this man, why hire him at all if you can’t delegate the spotlight properly to him?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Honda – Great SEM and SEO on Honda CRV 2007 Redesign Launch…

What can I say? It’s so rare to see a new vehicle launch and have the term rank #1 in Google and have the Adwords ad done right to boot! Bravo! If anyone from Honda is monitoring their brand and would like me drive one for a while and give it my review, my contact info is in my bio section… P.S. Why can’t I buy an EX without that headroom choking sunroof?

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Recruting Best Practice : Brightcove

At 11:10PM EDT today, I got an e-mail from an actual Brightcove employee in Boston, yes actually living in the same time zone in the company, reading and then replying to my resume!

Let me repeat, a real live person was reading my resume and physically at 11:10PM!!! Wow!!!

This tells me some things:

1) The odds of Brightcove beign a long-term success just rose significantly in my view by the way they conduct business

2) They might find and hire thought leaders and not drones hired from keywords. Good for them.

3) My desire to be a part of this organization is stronger than it was before this interaction.

Thanks for the reply…I look forward to the next step in the conversation when appropriate. Jeremy Allaire should be proud.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Why Executives Are Like Blog Readers

Someone asked me this morning why posts with lists do better on Digg? It’s a good question. I myself have worked for considerable time on many posts I thought were deep, profound and interesting only to see them go nowhere.

Sometimes the post combines other elements like artwork.

My favorite graduate school professor, James Schrager of the Chicago GSB, always preached conciseness in his entrepreneurship class so that executives and people funding your startup can understand it consistently. It makes things easier to digest. Especially if the concept is new to a person which is frequently the case as you stumble upon a random blog.

That’s why executives are like blog readers, yet most executives don’t read blogs, interesting contradiction, isn’t it?

Posted on by — 34 Comments

Google Acquires Youtube – 10 Unanswered Questions

Congrats to Michael Arrington on breaking the rumor and upstaging all of the rest of the media and business press in this matter that became a reality very quickly. Frederick Marckini of iProspect stated that Youtube would be acquired for more than Myspace was, I bet he didn’t think it would be almost three times as much as his guess stated in July! I joked with him that he held a position in Youtube during the session, he probably wishes that he did now…

10 Unanswered Questions:

1. Will users stay with the recently scrubbed and censored Youtube or will they migrate to other alternatives?

2. Why are the investment analysts and “major media” only allowed on the announcement conference call? Why not bloggers, why not the person, Michael Arrington, who broke the rumor and story in the first place?

3. Why can’t the Investor Relations, Press and Blogs at Google ever be in sync? The Official Google Blog still has no information about it. Instead there are posts on “Inside Macs at Google”…very strange.

4. This is what a multi-million dollar rat looks like, will the next of kin receive their fair share?

5. The Google Press Release states “This afternoon, we announced that we are acquiring YouTube for $1.65 billion in stock. YouTube will operate independently following the close of the transaction, which is expected in the fourth quarter of this year.” Why is this the first company that Google has ever kept independent?

6. There are a few theories on number five. I’m no lawyer, but if it’s kept as a separate legal entity, it might be able to limit any content liabilities to that entity?

7. How much is 44 seconds of everyone’s time (maybe a bit more now) worth?

8. Eric was forceful in the call about stating that these will remain separate entities and curiously he asserted Google Video will become even more important. Am I the only one that is mildly confused by this statement? Or is there some larger segmentation or story here?

9. Many people have asked “Why didn’t Microsoft buy Youtube?” With a large stake held by the people who funded Google, it was clear that Google had the right to make the last bid. Microsoft also likely would have had to pay cash due to it’s lack of a high growth currency to purchase Youtube and it’s not certain they could monetize it as well.

10. How long ago did these talks start? I’d say around this time.

What do you think the answers to these questions are?

UPDATE: Due to the popularity of this post, it’s getting alot of spam thrown at it. Comments are closed as of 6/4/2007.