Choose Thrift…
There is a clear impression among NZ entrepreneurs that Silicon Valley-based start-ups get big cash from VCs and spend like crazy. Reality couldn’t be more different. The WSJ this morning throws light on prevailing the “thrift” is good mentality.
Some great quotes throughout:
“Cash is queen these days,” says Mr. Thomas, who estimates Sharpcast can last another two years even if it doesn’t produce any revenue. “Fiscal discipline is harder to teach later in the life of a company, and we want to be the last guy standing.”
“Indeed, while tech start-ups are raising less funding these days — an average of $8 million each time, down from $11 million in 2000 — they are making the money last longer. According to research firm VentureOne, tech start-ups in Silicon Valley now survive an average of 17 months on a single round of funding before needing to raise more money, up from just 10 months in 2000. (VentureOne is a unit of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newspaper.)”
A Blogger Isn’t A Blogger When…
They are paid to post on a blog other than their own. They then become a freelance writer, journalist, hack, whatever you want to call them.
The move by CNet and others to pay bloggers based on page views is no different than previous payment terms – such as words or stories – made to journalists, so, why call bloggers anything other than that? All that has changed is that the payment is more aligned with the reader/viewers interest level.
Further, the move is likely to continue to blur the lines between the independent publication and there so called independent bloggers. Take Information Week whose vendor blogger blogs away in a very self interested fashion only then to be named by the same publication as "one to watch" in the coming year in a full page spread. Self serving? Self interested? Biased? Yep – all of the above. And not an ounce of disclosure or transparency by either party.
As Steve suggests, this should raise an eyebrow – more than an eyebrow. But is very different than bloggers pimping products in post. It is far more subtle than that.
I initially misread a post by Mitch Ratcliffe, taking it (below) to suggest that if we don’t pay bloggers in the same way as journalists their posts don’t have to be informative or accurate? That isn’t what he meant as his comments suggest.:
"at ZD Net bloggers are compensated based on the number of page views they receive and a fraction of the pages in TalkBack, so at the end of the month the size of a check expresses something, but not necessarily our success in being informative or accurate."
I do think though that publications are attaching the mantle of blogger to paid writers and thereby opting out of any sense of integrity that applies to the masthead. Mitch is making an equally important but different point that popularity doesn’t correlate to accuracy – anywhere.
This has been going on for sometime, and pointed to by Tom Formenski and others – so Steve’s revelation isn’t so much that as a rehash. Either way, it’s worth flagging as the standards we expect of publications are increasingly compromised and new means of bloggers generating revenue come to fruition.
Nick makes a good point that businesses and workers tailor what they do in response to economic incentives – a shift in the way publishers and journalists make money means a shift in what gets published. But the message also makes the medium. And once fiercely independent online media are being transformed.
Made From NZ
Cool site promoting NZ. Like the PR stunt with the Silver Fern!
Technorati Tags: NZ
Why Apple Will Win
Rod has a couple of terrific posts on the iPhone. I haven’t posted because I am still stunned at what they have pulled off. They redefined the device. Things that got me excited:
- Screen size. I’m one of those weird people that watch videos on their iPod – normally while working out. The bigger screen and format mean more viewing and one less device.
- OSX. One less interface to learn. One platform to love. One platform for all my apps.
- WiFi. I live on WiFi. This is a real coup for them. Cingular made Nokia take the WiFi out of the E61 and rendered it useless.
- Camera. Finally, one device for everything.
The other big news that Office 2008 will be ready for the Mac next year and, I hear, Parallels will run Windows apps inside OSX (you don’t have to switch between OSs) means I am back on a Mac full-time by December. Brilliant!
One thing I love about Apple is that they just seem to care about their customers. Contrast this to my recent experience on the Microsoft Office 2007 beta and trial and Apple wins hands-down. They seem to just revel in what they are – a product company.
Rod, I’ll be standing in line to get you one mate!
