VC's opt-in for LinkedIn

Professional social network LinkedIn will announce a previously rumored $12.8 million round of financing on Monday, led by Bessemer and the European Founders Fund. The company, which has been profitable since March 2006, has raised $13.4 million in two previous rounds of financing, bringing the total to more than $26 million.

The company had something north of $10 million in revenue in 2006, and says they’ll do substantially more than that in 2007. LinkedIn Answers, which launched earlier this month, has been a huge success, they say. LinkedIn has 70 employees, up from 45 a year ago. They claim 9 million worldwide users, and are adding 100,000 or so new users per week.

The valuation of the financing round is not being disclosed by the company, but it is rumored to be around $250 million.

LinkedIn’s European competitor, Xing, is currently generating about €2.8 million in revenue per fiscal quarter, or $3.6 million. The company was valued at about $200 million when it went public in December 2006.

source: TechCrunch

Top 10 Stupid Ways to Hinder Market Adoption

Here's the top 3...you'll have to read Guy's post to get the rest. But it's worth the read:

1. Enforced immediate registration. Requiring a new user to register and provide a modicum of information is a reasonable request—I just think you should do it after you’ve sucked the person in. Most sites require that registration is the first step, and this puts a barrier in front of adoption. At the very least, companies could ask for name and email address but not require it until a later time.

   A good example of a site that does the right thing is Netvibes. It allows you to do a high level of customization without registering. (Thanks to Glenn Kelman)

2. The long URL. When you want to send people an URL the site generates an URL that’s seventy characters long—or more! When you copy, paste, and email this URL, a line break is added, so people cannot click on it to go to the intended location.

   Here’s an URL for a billiard table copied and pasted from the CostCo site. Just how many billiard-table models could CostCo be selling?

   http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11197553&search=billiard%20table&Sp=S&Mo=8&cm_re=1-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&N=0&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=All&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=billiard%20table&Ntt=billiard%20table&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

   The justification often goes like this: “We create a long URL because people with Crays might break our code and see private pages. Seventy characters that can be twenty-six lower case letters, twenty-six upper case letters, or ten numbers ensures that no one can break our code since the possible combinations outnumber the quantity of atoms in the universe.” This is what keeps sites like TinyUrl and SnipURL in business.

   Also, speaking of URLs, it’s good to have an easy naming convention for URLs. MySpace, for example, creates easy-to-remember URLs like http://www.myspace.com/guykawasaki.

   ---

   Test: Can people communicate your site’s URLs to others over the phone?

   Extra credit: People using Verizon and can do this despite its coverage.

   ---

3. Windows that don’t generate URLs. Have you ever wanted to point people to a page, but the page has no URL? You’ve got a window open that you want to tell someone about, but you’d have to write an essay to explain how to get that window open again. Did someone at the company decide that it didn’t want referrals, links, and additional traffic? This is the best argument I can think of for not using frames.

source: How to Change the World (GK)

MyBlogLog integrates Flickr

It hasn’t always been clear how Yahoo planned to tie together its many small social media properties.

But it seems that MyBlogLog, acquired by Yahoo earlier this month (see Yahoo-MyBlogLog), is already seeing some integration with another slightly geeky Yahoo property: Flickr.


excerpt: Mashable!

Google mashes up books and maps

Google Inc. has started integrating its popular mapping service with its controversial books search engine to let people plot on maps references to places they find in books.

Now, book entries in Google's Book Search may include a section called "Places mentioned in this book." The section includes a map from Google Maps with pins indicating places included in the text. Below the map is a list with the name of the places, linked to the pages in which they are mentioned, and an excerpt from the text.

Some books whose entries include this new feature are Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace and Charles Sanford Terry's Bach: A Biography.

excerpt: ComputerWorld

Japan's Health Minister: Women are "birth-giving machines"

Japan's 71-year-old health minister Hakuo Yanagisawa gave a speech in which he called Japanese women "birth-giving machines" and called on them to "do their best per head."

The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can ask for is for them to do their best per head, although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.

source: BoingBoing

Wireless Carriers Say Cell Phones are No Danger

Well, I suppose this is nice to know...but did "not knowing" actually slow cell phone usage (MOU's)?

A four-year long study of cellular telephone base stations has found their transmissions pose no risk to human health, the carriers funding the study said Wednesday.

Mitsubishi Chemical Safety Institute carried out the study for Japan's three largest cellular carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile. The study began in November 2002.

source: Yahoo!News
excerpt: Well, I suppose this is nice to know...but did "not knowing" actually slow cell phone usage (MOU's)?

A four-year long study of cellular telephone base stations has found their transmissions pose no risk to human health, the carriers funding the study said Wednesday.

Mitsubishi Chemical Safety Institute carried out the study for Japan's three largest cellular carriers: NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, and Softbank Mobile. The study began in November 2002.

source: Yahoo!News
excerpt: WirelessJobs.com

Bebo Minicards Launched

While over on Bebo checking out the new Slide.com guestbooks, I spotted an announcement for Bebo Minicards, from the printing startup Moo. Moo first attracted blogger love back in September 2006 with the launch of their Flickr Minicards - Flickr users can convert their shots into a box of 100 printed photo cards for $19.99. Moo has also produced Skype Minicards in the past, although that promotion is coming to an end.

The Bebo Minicards, which went live on Wednesday according to the Moo crew, allow users to print 100 cards of their Bebo photos, plus text and other add-ons, for $14.99. Taking into account Bebo’s popularity in the UK, the price in UK pounds seems to take center stage. Moo has its own Bebo profile, of course, and utilizes Bebo’s photo feature to show off the product. What’s more, they’re giving away a set of 10 free Minicards to every Beboer to promote the service.

excerpt: Mashable.com

1 Billion Mobile Phones Shipped in 2006

Blockbuster mobile phone sales during the holiday season last year propelled shipments to more than 1 billion for all of 2006, market researcher IDC said.

Handset vendors shipped a record high 294.9 million mobile phones in the past three months of 2006, propelling the full year total to 1.02 billion, according to IDC. (IDC is owned by International Data Group, which also owns Computerworld.)

The fourth quarter figure was 20% higher than the same time in 2005, while the full year figure beat the 832.8 million wireless handsets sold in 2005.

excerpt: ComputerWorld

Credible Christian

During the first two decades of her adult life, Barbara Curtis thought Christians were idiots. A radical feminist who protested war and lobbied for abortion on demand, Barbara got her kicks from yelling obscenities at the "pigs" during rallies. A sexually promiscuous, cocaine-snorting welfare mom, Barbara called herself a "fag hag" (a woman who parties with gay men). She lived to shock people, "to be different and avant-garde."

Today, the only visible residue of Barbara's past is the blurry rose tattoo etched on top of her right hand. "I got it done in 1969 at a place across the street from the Greyhound station where all the sailors went. It seemed like a good idea at the time," she muses, shrugging. "I wasn't thinking that someday I'd be a 58-year-old woman with this thing on my hand."

Barbara—now a Christian—doesn't hide her tattoo or her past. Nor does she flaunt them. Instead, she draws on what she's learned from her experiences as she lobbies for a new cause: challenging Christians to befriend non-Christians, and encouraging conservatives and liberals to interact. Her latest book, Reaching the Left from the Right: Talking About Social Issues with People Who Don't Think Like You (Beacon Hill), is one means to that end.

"The only way Christians can change society is by understanding our culture," she asserts, "and by becoming involved on a personal level.

excerpt: "Credible Christian," from Christianity Today

5 Ways to Make Valentine's Day Sizzle

Here are 5 tips to make your Valentine’s Day sizzle.

1. Don’t Buy a card. Anyone can buy a card… Why not be a little more creative and write your valentine a love letter poem. If you’re not a poet, a quick search on Google should get what you need. Take this opportunity to tell your valentine why you love them, what you find most attractive about them, and how much you appreciate your relationship.
2. Know what they like. Don’t just go out and buy the standard flowers and chocolate. That’s the lazy way out… Get your valentine a gift that will actually mean something to them on a personal level. What do they like to do? What kind of music do they like? What are they passionate about?
3. Rather that a gift, go on a special date. Again, think about something your valentine truly enjoys, dancing, dining out, or snuggling on the sofa to watch a great movie - a movie that your valentine wants to see.
4. Everyone loves a little suspense. Start building up to Valentine’s Day a little in advance. Hint about your plans or gift without giving too much away. This will let your valentine know that you’re thinking about them and that you’re really excited about this special day.
5. Think ‘romance’. Romance includes the words you say, your body language, and your surroundings. Make sure that your attention is 100% on your valentine, not the day’s events or latest sports scores. Get some candles, turn down the lights, and put on some romantic music to create a truly romantic atmosphere.

excerpt from : ASK Dan & Jennifer

Creativity

99% of the time, in my experience, the hard part about creativity isn't coming up with something no one has ever thought of before. The hard part is actually executing the thing you've thought of.

The devil doesn't need an advocate. The brave need supporters, not critics.

from Seth Godin's Blog

Top Ten Marketing Podcasts (Kawasaki)

From How to Change the World (G. Kawasaki):

Here’s a collection of podcasts about marketing from Marketing Voices, a weekly podcast that discusses how social media is affecting marketing strategy and practices, by my buddy Jennifer Jones. There’s lots of great information for entrepreneurs and small-business owners in these podcasts.

1. Seth Godin

2. Robert Scoble

3. Peter Rojas

4. Phillip Bodzenta

5. Sharon Wienbar

6. Pete Blackshaw

7. Steve Rubel

8. Dick Costello

9. Bill Kircos

10. Kelly Wagman

11. Ross Mayfield

The entire collection of Marketing Voices is here. There’s also a collection about entrepreneurship here. And this is my interview with Jennifer.

Who'd You Make Smile Today?

...from Creating Passionate Users

excerpt:

"Marketers and managers tell us to "delight" the customer. But they're usually talking about heroic gestures, "empowering the front line", and virtually always about how to use this "happy customers" focus as a competitive advantage.

But sometimes it's the smallest of things that can make all the difference. Things that aren't bullet points in the brochure or check marks in product comparisons.

Things that just... make you smile. Things the one who made you smile didn't need to do."

Can a big company really blog?

Excerpt from the Blog Herald: "Can a Big Company Really Blog?

There’s an interesting article in The Economist about CEOs attending the Davos World Economic Forum being encouraged to blog (the theme this year is “The Shifting Power Equation”). On the face of it, this makes about as much sense as the CEOs being encouraged to slam dance at the raging party that Google guys Sergei and Larry are going to throw.

But, to get back to the question, is blogging really a suitable activity for a company boss? Seth Godin, author of business books such as “Small is the New Big”, and “All Marketers are Liars: the Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World”, is sceptical. Blogs work, he says, when they are based on the values of “candour, urgency, timeliness, pithiness and controversy (maybe utility if you want six)”. As he asks, “Does this sound like a CEO to you?”

Candour, in particular, will surely strike most bosses as a reckless risk in the liability-laden world of corporate America after Sarbanes-Oxley.

Read the complete article HERE

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