Good morning, All,
First, our thanks to all who attended our last Terrace event last night. A special thank you to our volunteers and to the investors who took the time to come and talk to you all. We’ll be planning another Find A Cofounder and SOS 1-1 with an Investor soon. In the meantime, don’t forget that you can www.doitinperson.eventbrite.com – and get a 50% discount with the code SOS. Hope to see you there!
During the days of web 1.0, content providers insisted that content was king. They seemed to be a voice in the wilderness, and the technology itself held sway. This week it was announced that Carol Bartz is out at Yahoo (Yahoo’s Board “F***ed Me Over” http://yhoo.it/rs2HHr). Oh, and yes, Michael Arrington is out at AOL. Or so it stood , when last we left our hero (Entire staff of TechCrunch now threatening to commit mass suicide unless Michael Arrington gets his way, on everything, forever http://bit.ly/oLW5pC, and yes, that was him in the Unpaid Blogger tee onstage at Disrupt). It was also announced that Google bought Zagat to beef up its local content (Google Acquires Zagat To Flesh Out Local Reviews http://tcrn.ch/nEWuhg). What’s interesting in all of this is that what distinguished Yahoo at the onset and what drew eyeballs – yes, they were the only search engine out there at the time – but they offered content. Outstanding content, and maybe that’s why every now and then that old standby rumor emerges: the Yahoo/AOL merger talks. Back to our story: then Yahoo made a slew of expensive acquisitions, in every direction, which did very little to improve the brand (http://bit.ly/aZQMDC) Au contraire, Yahoo lost its focus. Google has also made acquisitions that they later killed, and with this year’s announcement from Larry Page that the company needs to focus on social (enter GOOG+), well, yes, we do remember dodgeball, one of the first mobile social services (which google purchased in 2005), which died off and founder Dennis Crowley went on to launch – oh, don’t even make me say it. Google needs to remember to focus, too, and with the Zagat purchase, it seems they’re may well be following in the path of the early Yahoo. For its own reasons, to be sure, lest we forget what drives GOOG profits. What strikes us is that we had it right the first time and we’re going to just come out and say it: Technology is awesome, entrepreneurs out there, but all dressed up and nowhere to go: content is – and always was – king. And Yahoo should refocus on what they’ve always done best. Onward and forward. Read More...
