Martin Stiksel, one of the founders of social music site Last.fm, spoke to the BBC about his startup and how entrepreneurs are constantly challenged to persevere through times thick and thin. Last.fm sold to CBS Interactive for $280 million in May, but Stiksel remembers leaner days. Back in 2002, he said, no-one was interested in investing in online music sites. The echoes from the dotcom crash were still being felt …
The Man Behind Two Buck Chuck
According to Business 2.0, Fred Franzia, CEO of Bronco Wine, the nation's fourth-largest wine company, is fighting a war against pretentiousness. Hating pretentiousness isn't just a business plan. It's Franzia's entire identity. His office is a wood-paneled trailer with carpet holes repaired with duct tape that looks like it might house the night manager of a troubled dude ranch. He uses his cell phone only in his …
Chris Anderson’s 3Cs: Catalyze and Curate Conversations
Chris Anderson of Wired says, "The question I get most often is how I can work for a blockbuster company, Conde Nast, by day and celebrate the decline of the blockbuster by night. My physics-geek answer: it isn't hypocrisy, it's wave-particle duality!" He goes on to explain how he uses his Long Tail strategy to run Wired. …
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Chaos By Design
The Wall Street Journal (paid sub. req.) is running a fascinating look at modern retail in India and the man who figured out how to make it work. Kishore Biyani, 45, owns Pantaloon Retail Ltd., India's largest retailer. Food Bazaar, Mr. Biyani's Western-style supermarket which makes up more than 60% of the annual sales of Pantaloon, now has 93 outlets in the country. Big Bazaar, which sells household goods and …
Mark Pincus Is In Oil Stocks and Other Bits of Video Wisdom
Serial entrepreneur, Mark Pincus--with Harvard MBA in hand--started Freeloader, Support.com and then Tribe.net. Speaking to Howard Lindzon of Wallstrip about a future where there will only be two types of media, measured and non-measured, Pincus said, "Measured media, which is anything on the internet, measured media will just fundementally sell for a premium to non-measured." …
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Journalists Are The Real Change Agents
I think a good deal about about the differences between journalism and advertising, and how in many cases the differences are fading away in this new age of content-driven media. Then along comes a story that reminds me just how large a gulph still exists between the two professions. According to The New York Times, Editor of The Oakland Post, Chauncey Bailey, was shot multiple times at short range yesterday morning …
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Don’t Ask A VC For Something Your Credit Card Can Provide
Guy Kawaskai is not the VC you want to ask for a million bucks to build your Web 2.0, User-Generated Content, Citizen Journalism, Long-Tail, Social Media Site...not when he built one for $12,107.09. …
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Making Change In Redmond
According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft has, throughout its history, been slow to grasp some of the computer industry's most important technology shifts and business changes. Craig Mundie, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at the tech giant wants to change that. "The bulk of the population comes to work every day and makes the trains run on time," says Mr. Mundie. "You've got to have a small number of …
