April 30, 07 by Diego •
I am copying this post from the Anywr blog (the site that I have co-developed with Martin Caleau):
Anywr.com is already on the list of candidates for the Startup 2.0 competition!
You can vote for us by clicking on the link below. All you have to do is to fill out a very short registration form (choosing a username, email and password) and then vote for Anywr.
Anywr profile: http://promote.startup2.eu/story.php?title=Anywr.com+-+United+Kingdom%2C+Argentina
This is a great event that shows how strong the web 2.0 scene is in Europe.
The semi-finals will be held in Madrid on the 10th of May and the finals will be held on the 24th of May in Bilbao.
Go Anywr!
March 26, 07 by Diego •
I discovered Vodpod.com a few days ago. I really find it interesting. They site basically helps you search for on line videos in many of the most popular video sharing sites like YouTube.com or Dailymotion.com.
Even though there were sites that did video search before (Blinkx.com is one of them) they have gone even further and help you do “video and podcast management” so you can create your list of favorites, share with friends, joins groups, etc. Very interesting.
Related link: http://www.vodpod.com
February 14, 07 by Diego •
Even though that the product was announced last week, it was not available for download until today. After a few days waiting for it, I installed the beta version of this very good application on my Nokia E70, luckily everything went as expected.
I can see Nokia’s value proposition here. Not only you can use a compatible GPS coupled with the phone but you can also download the maps through your computer into your mobile. If you don’t have a flat data connection plan, like many users in the UK, you would have to pay up to £ 5 per Mb transferred from/to the mobile phone. Even if it is not ideal, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea to put all the maps that you use in your mobile, at least until data rates are more reasonable.
Related links:
January 13, 07 by Diego •
Many people have business ideas but probably only a few go further than “having the idea”.
I just found an article on The Guardian Unlimited with seven “Golden rules of entrepreneurship” by the frech entrepreneur Loïc Le Meur. I found them quite simple but yet useful for potential entrepreneurs:
- You wait for the idea of your life. I know so many people who, before starting a business, wait for the idea that will revolutionise the world. They never do it. We all have business ideas and the difference between an entrepreneur and a “normal” person is that the entrepreneurs execute it.
- You do not look for the empty space surrounding you. Opportunities are everywhere. Did you ever think “this service can be really improved”, or “this product is really bad”? This is empty space and an opportunity to create a business. Of course, it is even better if you find not just an improvement to a product or a service but a real innovation that addresses a clearly identified need.
- You do not share your idea with anybody. So, you’ve got your simple idea? Probably not. Every time I created companies, I had about five different ideas. Most people protect their business ideas as if they were protecting the most valuable thing they have. I do exactly the opposite, as sharing your ideas can help you better define and test them. Many people will criticise them and enrich them. If everyone tells you the plan is stupid, then what they say may well be true!
- You give up on your idea because someone has already done it. Look at low-cost airlines. Ten years ago, who would have thought that out-of-the-box airlines would appear and take the market share that Ryanair, easyJet or Virgin have? Just measure how innovative you can be, how much faster than your competitors can you go and how much better your product can be.
- You do not execute your idea. Your idea is worth nothing if you do not execute it immediately, faster and better than competition. You should be more scared by not executing fast enough than having the idea right. This is just because from the idea in your mind to the company you will have created, and from the very first products and services you deliver to the mature ones, your idea will have changed tens of times with the feedback you got from your clients.
- You listen to people who tell you that you will fail. Congratulations. You have finally chosen an opportunity and started gathering a team to make it happen. Even though the team is only you, this is just awesome, as you have started doing it rather than thinking about it. Now you will find tens of people, some of them you consider friends, who tell you that you will fail for hundreds of different reasons. Do not listen to them. Listen to your clients, and be obsessed by quality. Your friends just envy you.
Related links
November 12, 06 by Diego •
Steve Wozniak visited the University of Oxford as part of the promotion for his book I Woz where he talks about how Apple and personal computers were born in the 70’s.
It was a fantastics insight to one of the moments that changed the industry and in many ways our lives.
Here is the video