Thundernewt Unfiltered - Thoughts from a raging, inexorable lizard that changes colors and stomps on things.

February 5, 2010

Experimenting with a dev shop in the Ukraine

Today, I sent out full specs, wireframes, content, and some design elements for an iPhone app to a development shop in the Ukraine.

This is an experiment for me... I've outsourced to developers in Canada, the U.S., India, Korea and China in the past. I'm curious to see how things go with these guys in the Ukraine. I'll let you guys know here how it goes... first deliverable is in 2 weeks.

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Posted by David Lee

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February 5, 2010

(Sadly) eulogizing TVGorge

TVGorge, you will be remembered fondly by many around the world -- in particular, those outside of the United States.

Though your life was short, you brought happiness into the lives of those you touched. I remember the day that Robin Wauters from TechCrunch introduced me to you. I was sitting at my desk. The moment TechCrunch described you, I was instantly in love. I had to meet you. Fortunately, you were only a click and a few keystrokes away!

For hours, we enjoyed each others' company. My eyes could barely be torn away from you.

But it all seemed too good to be true. Truth be told, even before we met I knew that we were on borrowed time. But that didn't matter, because you changed things, and you did so in an irreverent way that will be remembered by those who come after you.

What did I love most about you? Was it the way you let me watch TV in America all the way from Korea? No. It was the outrageous way you said FUCK YOU to the idiots who allow an outdated licensing model (and method of valuing viewers by geography instead of by other, more intelligent means that are readily available) to prevent me from watching what I want to watch, even if I'm willing to pay for it.

So in honor of your memory, I now raise my pint of beer in a toast to you, with a big FUCK YOU to The Idiots who are responsible for the way that content is licensed.

May you rest in peace.

NOTE: TVGorge isn't dead yet, but I wrote this now because I doubt the Idiots (who are referenced above) will allow it to stay alive, at least if TVGorge insists on continuing to do what it now does. Who put the Idiots in charge?

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Filed under // content idiots licensing premium tvgorge

Posted by David Lee

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February 5, 2010

Dave McClure's expletive-laced rant that you need to hear

If you're an entrepreneur, chances are you were just called a lazy, ad-happy Web-Tard. I find myself agreeing substantially with a lot of the points that Dave McClure makes in his assessment of recent entrepreneurship on the web, a space in which I've been playing a small part.

McClure's PayPal experience influences his article when he gets into a discussion about K-Y Jelly password friction. It's a valid point, one that (for the most part) can be resolved fairly easily by using third party authentication services like Google, Twitter, or Facebook Connect. Dave dives into this in some detail, under the heading "Assertion #3: In 2015 the default login & payment method(s) on the web will be Facebook Connect, Google Gmail, or Apple iTunes." Makes sense.

McClure's second assertion, that "the default startup business model for 2010 and beyond will be subscriptions and transactions" is something that I've been leaning towards for Wetoku -- though I remain adamant that there must always be a free version of Wetoku. The barrier to entry for creating compelling content in formats that viewers will enjoy consuming and find convenient to access needs to be low to ensure that we have an interesting wilderness of content out there. No disrespect to the venerable New York Times, TechCrunch, and MSNBCs of the world, but I'm glad that the big media guns out there aren't the only ones who decide which stories need to be told. It's a really big haystack out there on the fringes, but lots of great needles can be found in it. I digress.

Back to McClure's point about subscriptions and transactions supplanting ad-happy Web-tard-ism as the default business model for 2010 and beyond. I think this is more of a frank assessment of the inability of most startup ideas and their execution (both, independently) fall short of the standard necessary to be frequent-use products, than a substantial point against pursuing ad-happy Web-tard-ism. For those companies that can create frequent-use products, in particular those that benefit substantially from scale (ummm.... isn't that most of us?), freemium and ad-happy Web-tard-ism is your friend. But really... how many startups just really aren't cut out to be successful ad-happy web-tards? Chances are, your product and your company sucks (if we use Twitter, Facebook or YouTube as the standard for non-web-tard-ism.) Ouch. Throw 'dem stones, I'm ready.

So once reality sinks in and you realize that, despite offering your product for free (or partially for free, as a part of a larger attempt to get some of your users to pay), not many people want to use your product. So, for those entrepreneurs, subscriptions and transactions are what's left. It's much more efficient, which is necessary when you're looking at a smaller market than, ummm, everyone in the universe, à la Google, Twitter or Facebook. (Unless you're in Korea, which means you live in a different universe... )

My point is, ad-happy-web-tard-ism works if you're Facebook, Google, Twitter, or God:

0.04% to 6.49% of infinity users @ $0.47 = a gazillion dollars

vs. subscriptions and transactions, for lesser beings (like me):

2,000,000 @ $4.99 per month X 12 months = $119,760,000

Jeez, I wish I was Facebook, Google, Twitter of God... I think I'll have to settle for a more humble goal, like $120 million.

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Filed under // @davemcclure content freemium lazy-ad-happy-web-tard subscription transaction

Posted by David Lee

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February 4, 2010

More Media Wall by @hkalbert

Late night at the office, managed to snap a pic of @hkalbert, the guy
who dreamed up our take on the media wall.

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Filed under // mediawall zenitum

Posted from 서울특별시, Korea, Republic of

Posted by David Lee

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February 3, 2010

Hanging out with the maker of Twit on Air & Terebe

Recently, I've been spending a lot of time with the brilliant team behind Korea's UStream / Justin / Livestream... TwitOnAir has attracted a bit of a celebrity following in Korea.

TwitOnAir.com borrows heavily from his team's earlier creation, Terebe.com, however it's much more focused and simplified. @naruter and his team have a lot of good IP that they've accumulated over the course of the past year or so. It's nice to see that they are now focusing on specific usage scenarios, so that they can be meaningfully helpful to a core group.

It's interesting to note that @naruter's company is based in Chuncheon, about 2 hours from Seoul. Most of Korea's tech startups, at least those that I know of, happen to be in Seoul. It's nice to see some people outside of the capital city get involved in entrepreneurship. Chuncheon is a part of Gangwon Province, and Gangwon is making a concerted effort to draw entrepreneurs to their recently formed Chuncheon Valley. CV is a growing launchpad for new tech companies, it's an area that I plan to keep an eye on.