Software

Snapshot of a VC Deal: IGLOO Raises $5-Million

By Mark Evans in Software, Venture Capital No Comments Tags: , ,

Who: Kitchener-based IGLOO Software, which sells social business software

How much: $5-million from RBC Venture Partners and Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund. In 2008, IGLOO raised US$4-million from RBC Venture.

The Quote: “Social networking for business has reached a watershed moment, with most companies either actively using or evaluating social technologies,” said David Unsworth, board member and partner with RBC Venture Partners. “As a pure cloud solution that supports both internal and external collaboration, IGLOO is uniquely positioned to not only enable companies to get up and running quickly, but also scale their efforts as their social strategy matures.”

Let’s Work on Our Listening Skills

By Mark Evans in Software 3 Comments Tags: , , ,

imagesWhen most of us were growing up, our teachers – and parents – likely spent a lot of time working on our listening skills. The idea is you learn more by listening to someone rather than making them listen to us.

As adults, listening is just as important but it’s something that many people don’t spend enough time doing. We live in a multi-task world in which listening happens at the same time as surfing the Web, watching TV, writing blog posts and updating Twitter. As a result, our listening skills have deteriorated. A case in point is a blog post by Mitch Joel on how people attending conferences are more intent on using Twitter and other social media tools during presentations as opposed to listening. If you’re not going to be paying attention, why go to a conference other than to network?

Within the social media world, listening is as important as ever but it’s shocking to see how many companies are not listening to the conversations happening around them. Whether you’re using free tools or premium services such as Sysomos’ Heartbeat, listening should be a top priority if you want to know what your customers and potential customers are talking about.

If you’re not listening, then you’re doing what you’ve been done for years – talking or broadcasting your corporate messages. It’s a one-way practice that doesn’t work any more. Consumers want to be engaged, they want to contribute and they want you to listen to them. If you’re not having two-way conversations, stop what you’re doing right now, and then reload on your communications, marketing and sales approaches.

The lessons we were taught about listening as children as just as relevant and necessary now. The problem is many people are so happy hearing their own voices that they’ve forgotten how to listen.

Why Does the NFL Hate Social Media?

By Mark Evans in Software 1 Comment Tags: , , ,

Social media is having a dramatic and exciting impact on how we communicate and share information, as well as how we market and sell products and services. So why does the National Football League so anti-social media? It recently issued an edict on how and when its players can use Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools.

While a strange approach, you could argue the NFL wants to protect the integrity of the game by making sure players are focused on playing as opposed to updating their social media statuses. A ban on using social media tools until after post-game interviews are completed could, I guess, be justified given the media plays a key role in marketing and selling the game.

But where the NFL has gone completely off the rails is a declaration that people who attend games can’t use Twitter to provide play-by-play coverage. The NFL said that if it identifies people who are live Tweeting, it will ask them to stop. If they refuse, the NFL could sue them.

This policy is really dumb for a couple of reasons. First, the last thing you want to do is threaten your paying customers about an activity that in no way undermines or damages your business. I mean, how could live Tweeting seriously impact the NFL’s lucrative broadcasting contracts?

Second, Americans seem to have this thing about freedom of speech so if the NFL ever does file a lawsuit against someone, someone will go after it for violating the First Amendment.

Over the past 30 years, the NFL has established itself one of the premier pro sports business by controlling the product, including strict rules on how players conduct themselves on and off the field. But trying to control how its fans use social media is something else entirely. It’s misplaced and downright evil.


When Upgrades Go Bad

By Mark Evans in Software 2 Comments

EctoOne of the more frustrating things about the high-tech industry is the concept of the upgrade.

For developers, upgrades mean the opportunity to add more bells and whistles. If an application was great before, the upgrade is their way of making it even better based on the assumption that more is better.

The problem is more is often not better. In fact, more can be worse if it makes the software/application more difficult to use and unnecessarily complicated.

Case in point is Ecto, which makes a blog publishing tool for the Mac. Ecto 2.4.2 is solid, albeit lacking in frills and the add-ons that many of users like to use to pimp our software these days.

Unfortunately Ecto 3.0 is a different beast. It has a slicker user interface and an easier way to add blogs. Unfortunately, it’s really a downgrade when it comes to usability. It’s more difficult, for example, to add photographs and images, and inserting a URL now features an option to add a name/description, which is unnecessary.

Not to pick on Ecto – okay, I’m picking on Ecto – but it’s a perfect illustration of how you should really avoid upgrading to a “new” version if you’re happy with what you’ve got.

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Interesting Concept: Paying for Web Services

By Mark Evans in Software, Web 2.0 1 Comment

TechCrunch’s M.G. Siegler had an interesting post looking at the online Web service that he pays to use (Pandora, Tweetie, Flickr), and those he’d pay to use if needed (Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed, GMail, Digg, YouTube and Instapaper).

What a novel concept; actually paying for online tools that you find useful and valuable. At a time when the economic landscape for online services is arguably broken, you have to wonder how long it will be before the something gives.

At some point, people may start to be willing to pay for services they use on a regular basis to more them more productive, efficient and more profitable. It this such a wild concept; the idea of paying for value?

In any event, here’s a list of the services that I pay to use:

Fused Network – great hosting services.

Performancing Metrics – blog statistics

Freshbooks – kick-ass invoicing

And here’s what I’d happy pay to use:

- Read it Later: To have a place that stores all the stories and blogs for consumption later, I’d pay $5 to $10/month.

- Twitter: It has become a valuable communications, resource and content tool that provides tremendous value. I’d happy pay $5/month for a reliable service that includes some bells and whistles such as analytics, a central place to read all the items I’ve made a favorite, and some filtering tools.

- WordPress: I have three blogs running on WordPress, and would pay a few bucks for premium customer service, analytics and access to themes and a developer database

- iDesktop.tv: I’d easily pay $10 to $20/year for a service that provides access to thousands of videos, including the ability to download them, which makes it an essential tool when putting together presentation

- GMail: For more storage, I’d pay $10 to $20 for GMail. That said, I’ve soured on GMail a bit because some of my mark@markevans.ca e-mails are ending up in peoples’ spam boxes – I think because there’s a conflict when spam filter also see gmail.com

- PrintFriendly: To save some paper and the environment, I’d pay $5/year.

So what do you pay to use, and, as important, what would you pay to use?

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A Little Love for meshU

By Mark Evans in Software, Web 2.0 No Comments

meshU
As we gear up for the mesh conference in six weeks, I would be remiss if I didn’t also cast the spotlight on meshU.

Launched last year, meshU takes place the day (April 6) before mesh at the MaRS Collaboration Centre. It consists of small workshops focused on the design, development and management markets.

We created meshU based on the belief that people wanted hands-on sessions led by industry experts where they could learn first-hand about the leading technologies, the hottest trends and the key issues.

To be honest, we probably under-sold meshU last year because we weren’t exactly sure how it was going to resonate with people. Much to our surprise and delight, meshU was a huge success. Not because there were 150 people attending but more so because it was an engaging, education and dynamic event with some amazing speakers. Every session was packed and the discussions were top-notch.

This year, Mike McDerment has put together an impressive list of speakers for meshU, and it’s shaping up to be even better than last year. Ticket sales are brisk but you can still purchase one here.

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