The Social Analyst- Page 7

Why aren't there more women in tech? Wrong question

"Why aren't there more women in tech?"

It's a question I hear just about every week, especially when controversy erupts around the issue. However, it's not the question we should be asking if we really want to solve this systemic problem.

Several recent incidents has brought the lack of women in tech issue back into the spotlight:

A Boston-based hackathon, the Boston API Jam, offered women serving beer as one of its "perks". The ensuing controversy resulted in sponsors pulling out of the hackathon and an apology from its organizers.

A heated Twitter … Read more

Seven startup sins to avoid

I've seen thousands of startups fail, but they almost always fail for the same reasons. Most entrepreneurs fall into the same traps over and over again, despite how easy they are to avoid.

At the London Web Summit earlier this week, I told an audience of European entrepreneurs the seven mistakes I believe most often destroy promising startups.

These are my seven startup sins. Avoid these common mistakes at all costs:

1. Losing focus: If you're like the typical entrepreneur, you probably have hundreds of new ideas for your startup. But you must resist the urge to build … Read more

Has Google lost its magic?

Google's empire is under direct assault from Facebook. Its big weapons -- Search, AdWords, and AdSense -- are not as potent as they once were, thanks to the rise of social media.

This frightens Google immensely. Facebook is now the Web's top destination, and it's quickly becoming the platform that powers the Web. It even threatens Google's core advertising business. If Facebook were to ever launch a social version of AdSense, it could snap up advertisers and cause a serious disruption to Google's cash cow.

Google isn't taking the Facebook threat lying down, though. … Read more

How to create a business in 48 hours

Businesses are hard to build and even harder to grow (just ask any successful entrepreneur), but they're easier to create than you might think. This is especially true if you have technical chops, access to a room full of investors, and a lot of caffeine.

I recently had the opportunity to be part of two hackathons--I was a judge for the Mobile App Olympics, a global mobile app competition, and the host of AngelHack, a bicoastal hackathon competition. Teams had one weekend to create a viable product that they had to present in front of a panel of investors, … Read more

The battle for SXSW is Highlight's to lose

Highlight, a passive location-sharing app, is poised to emerge as the big winner of South by Southwest, thanks to a wave of positive media attention. But will it be able to live up to expectations?

The SXSW music, film, and interactive-media festival is one of the most important and prominent launching pads for tech startups. The confab hosts one of the largest concentrations of techies and early adopters in the world (more than 20,000 will attend this year's festival), making it fertile ground for an app to quickly gain traction and go viral.

Don't underestimate the "… Read more

The stage is set for a monster Facebook IPO

With Yelp's impressive IPO out of the way, all eyes are now on Facebook and its highly anticipated public debut. And thanks to Yelp, Facebook will have a lot of momentum for its IPO.

On its first day as a public company, Yelp's stock jumped by more than 60 percent, valuing the company north of $1.4 billion. It remains to be seen how Yelp will fare in the weeks to come, but for now Wall Street has declared Yelp a winner.

It's a stark difference from Groupon and Zynga's run on the public market. Groupon … Read more

AOL: It's not dead yet!

AOL just can't seem to catch a break this week, but a few pieces of bad news doesn't presage the demise of the Internet media giant.

First it lost CTO Alex Gounares, who wanted to move back to Seattle. Then it lost tech head Tim Dierks and sales exec Tim Castelli. And to top it all off, news leaked out that the struggling media giant is about to hand out pink slips in its West Coast office.

About the only piece of good news was the departure of TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld. The loss of the leader of … Read more

Why business co-founders ought to learn code

In the new Internet economy, code is king. Taking the time to learn the basics of programming will help you succeed in business and entrepreneurship.

A few days ago, an aspiring entrepreneur e-mailed me with a simple question:

"Do you need to be an expert in coding to build a successful startup, or can you employ experts to do the technical work for you?"

This person has demonstrated success as a businessman and a salesman, but he caught the entrepreneurship bug and couldn't shake it. He wanted to start his own company.

I knew what he wanted … Read more

Apple vs. Facebook: Why users are the losers

commentary At first glance, it looks like Apple really loves Twitter. The reality, however, is that it hates Facebook.

It sure seems that way, at least.

Apple's distaste for Facebook became apparent with last week's preview release to developers of Mountain Lion, the newest version of Apple's OS for computers. The OS includes a slew of new apps (Game Center, Reminders, Notes) and new features (Gatekeeper, Notification Center). What it doesn't include is Facebook integration--a baked-in connection to Facebook that would make it easier for Apple users to share more on the world's largest social … Read more