NeilCocker.com » san francisco

Innovation

Neil Cocker — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:28:00 +0000

So much to write about – so little time!

A couple of cracking articles from the BBC about the future of the web: One points to the second web boom (as I highlighted with examples in a post about the huge amounts of money being spent on new companies). And the other asks lots of top thinkers and innovators what they think will happen to the web in the coming years.

And speaking of innovation, I went to a great talk last night by Charles Leadbeater, a world authority on innovation and creativity. His talk was mainly about how immigration is a positive thing for innovation in this country (did you know that Triumph cars, Moss Bros, ICI and ice cream trucks were all founded in the UK by immigrants?). His argument is that complex problems are better solved by a diverse group, and immigrants into a society provide massive diversity. Catering for the differences inevitably comes with higher costs, but the lesson for entrepreneurs and businesses is clear – don’t just surround yourself with people exactly like yourself.

Thanks to Richie Turner at NESTA for hosting it and providing the nice veggie canapes!

p.s. If you consider yourself an entrepreneur in the web or technology fields then you should probably read this….

Silicon Valley Envy

Neil Cocker — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:55:00 +0000

My ex-business partner Maf and his wife Tara came over from LA this week and it was fantastic to spend an evening with them reminiscing about getting drunk in various cities around the world and talking about the various business pursuits we’ve both been involved with since closing the record label down.

I had a real burst of “Silicon Valley Envy” (although it was strictly speaking “California Envy”). I’ve written before about the superior environment and attitude that exists for entrepreneurs in the States. And while I’m in the enviable position of having good contacts at the likes of Creative Business Wales, nothing really makes up for the general positive atmosphere that exists over there. I run a network for creative entrepreneurs and businesses in South Wales (new website being built as we speak!) and as far as I’m aware it’s the only one of its kind. And yet in pretty much any area surrounding San Francisco, Silicon Valley or LA that’s an equivalent size to South Wales there will be countless networking opportunities for those of us that sit outside the mainstream of business. I’m not a huge fan of networking (in the traditional sense) but, provided there’s an opportunity (online or offline) for people to get mutual support and ideas, I think it’s essential to business success.

In related news, Project Pinewood is “one of the most unique and ambitious projects ever undertaken in the UK for the creative industries. It’s a living working media community, set within a collage of permanent film and TV locations”. Apparently it will have permanent sets of all the world’s major locations. I just hope it fosters young talent and gives opportunities to up and coming film makers, and doesn’t just become a playground for the big studios. I also hope it avoids the curse of the beleaguered Valleywood. More projects like these (and smaller ones like the fantastic hub DigitalCity) are just what we need to keep the creative industries growing at a faster rate than the average for the UK economy.

p.s. The last Bond movie was shot at Pinewood studios, hence the Daniel Craig pic….

Silicon Valley Envy

Neil Cocker — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 07:55:00 +0000

p.s. The last Bond movie was shot at Pinewood studios, hence the Daniel Craig pic….

Developer trouble….

Neil Cocker — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 15:18:00 +0000

I was chatting to a friend from America recently about the problems I’ve had over the last couple of years with web developers. I’ve worked with a couple who’ve both let me down really badly and put me back to square one with my web-based startup. Admittedly much of this was my own fault for not being tough enough with them when it seemed like they weren’t committed to the project. And also my lack of capital meant that I had to engage the developers with equity stakes instead of cold, hard cash. The problem with this, as I wrote about in this post, is that developers don’t often see the potential future value of things. So giving them a share of the company didn’t excite them into action in the way I thought it would, and I slowly drifted down their priority list until I wasn’t hearing from them for weeks at a time.

I understand that a freelancer’s gotta eat, and so therefore will have to take other jobs that offer to pay upfront. But if you have been given a substantial stake in a potentially very lucrative business that you would find the time to make it work. Where are all the programmers out there that have developed the sites for the multi-million dollar businesses out there? I don’t believe that all of those were funded by entrepreneurs backed by Silicon Valley funders. Surely some of them must have been started by geeks in their bedrooms with groovy ideas – like these guys who had to quit the UK and head to the States?

So what’s the solution for cash-strapped entrepreneurs like myself?

Sadly i can’t say I can think of many ways other than using shares / equity as “payment”. A good chat to my developer friend Paolo (who’s one of the rare breed of “geeks” who’s also a great creative entrepreneur – check out his spendamillion.com project) has clarified a few possible steps to consider in the future:

Networking events to bring geeks and entrepreneurs together – but will the geeks still be as potentially unreliable? Maybe I should organise one…
Using sites such as elance and getafreelancer to find cheap labour – quality and reliability an issue?
Break the design, wireframing, development etc into smaller chunks so that it’s less daunting for the entrepreneur, plus developers are less likely to go AWOL at any given stage. Especially if you give each stage to a different developer.

Sadly I think the ideal solution is to find a good, well-respected freelancer or small company, pay them for however long you need them for and make it clear that for that fortnight, or whatever, they completely belong to you and you expect twice daily updates. Now, finding a freelancer with the necessary skills and time….. That’s another matter!

I’d be really interested to hear from anynoe who has any thoughts on how best to get quality web work done with as little capital outlay as possible. Any ideas?

The bubble’s back and it’s not bursting. Probably.

Neil Cocker — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:48:00 +0000

A complete list of 2007′s web/tech acquisitions has been published and it makes for encouraging reading for those of us that are working in that field. The good news is that people are definitely still spending big bucks on buying up brilliant ideas.

Two of the more well-known names in the list, Last.FM and Feedburner, were bought for a total of 280 million dollars. Even very niche sites such as Treehugger were commanding fees of $10 million.

So has global finance finally regained confidence in the internet following its overexuberance in the initial bubble that burst? I think that now that broadband connection speeds are widely used enough for most in the developed world to have constant, high-quality access to the net things are different – the ideas that people had 10 years ago are now a lot more feasible.

People are connected for longer, aren’t worried about minute-by-minute charges (as they were with dialup), have faster computers to deal with the flashier graphics and are generally more net-savvy. All this adds up to a “consumer” that’s spending more of their time online but also, and perhaps more importantly, committing more of their life onto the net. They are filling social networks with personal data, storing their diaries online and basically becoming perfect patrons of the online world. It’s like the equivalent of going to your local superstore and spending 9 hours in there, signing up for all the loyalty cards and trying all the tasters. Now obviously not everyone spends money on the internet, but the reality is that traffic is synonymous with cash for many websites. The more visitors a site has, the more its worth to potential investors.

No wonder Facebook has been valued as $15 billion. Yes. Billion.

Team Jaded

Neil Cocker — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:21:00 +0000

There’s something I really like about this idea. The “hosts” of this video blog have got a real spark about them. And I’m really looking forward to seeing what they turn up on their roadtrip. I really admire their sense of adventure. And if their track record’s anything to go by, they’re bound to discover loads of really cool creative and social entrepreneurs, as well as just simple, brilliant ideas.

TeamJaded say they’re “dedicated to D.I.Y. culture, information and innovation”. And I like the cut of their jib. So I’ve donated a few quid to their road-trip funds!

p.s. I’m also very jealous that they live in San Francisco. It’s one of my favourite cities in the world and definitely on my list of places to live before I die. I have very fond memories of parties in warehouses somewhere downtown!

Team Jaded

Neil Cocker — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 21:21:00 +0000

TeamJaded say they’re “dedicated to D.I.Y. culture, information and innovation”. And I like the cut of their jib. So I’ve donated a few quid to their road-trip funds!