startup

Here's a tip for East Coast geeks who are gearing up for this week's Internet Week New York: Make a schedule. And leave room for last-minute additions.

The first citywide tribute to the Web revolution, sanctioned by the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and set to run June 3-10, isn't a cohesive weeklong event, nor is it a central nucleus with satellite events like the South by Southwest Interactive Festival or the city's own biannual Fashion Week. There are a few anchors like the Webby Awards ceremony, the Advertising 2.0 conference, and Federated Media's … Read more

Larry Dignan asks a potent question: Which startup will topple the giants of today, Microsoft and Google?

As I've written, I believe Google will cut Microsoft off from its future, leaving it to dwindle into its past. It will take some time (Microsoft has more cash than the US federal government), but Microsoft's every effort to become relevant in tomorrow's most important markets have met with resistance and, ultimately, futility. Google is the death of Microsoft on the web.

But what about Google? I had suggested that mobile may be the answer, but in reality I suspect Google has several more years of dominance. We won't know who will challenge it until it's at the very height of its hubris, just as with Microsoft. It's when we're strongest that the cracks start to show.… Read more

After over a year of operation, Spotplex is closing up shop, according to a message on their site. The company states that, "We regret to inform you that Spotplex is going offline. This was a very hard decision for us and we are sure you will miss the service as much as we do."

I wrote about Spotplex, back in November after having a conversation with their CEO, Doyon Kim (previously founded Dialpad, which sold to Yahoo 2005). At the time, I expressed concerns with the way that their site operates. In order for the content from a … Read more

Have you founded a tech company?

Chances are, if you're a U.S. entrepreneur, you're about 39 years old and hold a bachelor's degree, and there's a good chance your company was started in the same state where you received your education, according to a study released Thursday by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and researchers from Duke and Harvard universities.

Based on a study of U.S. entrepreneurs who started their companies between 1995 and 2005, the findings show the median age of U.S.-born founders was 39 years old, with only 1 percent … Read more

How much is Facebook, Wikipedia, or Twitter worth? Silicon Alley Insider is attempting to crack the mysterious code on the valuations of the major Web start-ups with its SAI 25 Live! It tracks the valuation of the private companies and shows changes in those valuations in real-time (updated every 20 minutes on the site).

Given that the companies in the SAI 25 (or 47 in this case) don't share their numbers like a public company, the index is based on educated guesswork, looking at a combination of VC financing, financial performance, growth rate and market share and size.

Interestingly, … Read more

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers is forming a "Green Growth" fund for green-tech start-ups looking to scale up their operations.

PEWeek reported on Thursday that the fund will be over $400 million and have input from Kleiner Perkins partner Al Gore.

The idea behind a late-stage funds such as this is to give up-and-coming companies the money to ramp up, rather than develop their core technology.

This late-stage funding is particularly important in the energy business because companies require a large amount of capital to test their technology at commercial scale.

Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, … Read more

As I've said previously, the Web 2.0 Expo show features a lot of products for developers. But there are still cool new Web apps to find--especially at the Launch Pad, a rapid-fire demo session featuring six relatively new companies. It's kind of like a mini-Demo.

Acquia sells a commercialized version of Drupal, the open-source content management (and Webware 100 winner). If you buy the open-to-commercial model, as executed by RedHat (Linux), and Trixbox (Asterisk), this business makes a lot of sense. I'm glad to see the platform get some business attention.

Chirpscreen is a fun … Read more

A lot of programs you don't need to start with Windows do anyway, or try to. And many that you try to prevent from auto-starting just re-enable themselves. Yesterday I described how to remove recalcitrant apps from Windows XP's auto-start list via the System Configuration utility, or Msconfig. Vista's new Software Explorer makes it easier to get rid of the unnecessary auto-starters on your PC.

(As I mentioned yesterday, the $30 WinPatrol, the free CCleaner, and many other Windows utilities can be used to prevent applications from starting with Windows. Here I'm focusing on the tools … Read more

After describing a particularly exciting consulting opportunity, a friend called me "lucky." That got me thinking: Is he right? Is luck a component in business success, or is it all about knowledge and experience. And if luck does play a role, how important is it? Can it be influenced, or is that taboo by definition?

To answer those questions I first did a little research. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines luck as "a: a force that brings good fortune or adversity, or b: the events or circumstances that operate for or against an individual."

Gee, "luck" sounds a lot like "competition" to me.… Read more