ReadWriteWeb Live: Running a Startup in the Current Economy - Calliflower Online Meetings and Conference Call Services by iotum

Mon, Jan 05, at 06:30 PM
(GMT -05:00), US - Eastern
Duration:	1 hour

Join ReadWriteWeb authors along with entrepreneurs from BrightKite and Zoho as they discuss operating and growing in the current economics environment. Both these companies received recognition from RWW during our annual end of the year awards: Zoho won 'Best Little Co' and BrightKite won 'Most Promising Little Co'. Join us to learn the lessons they've learned over the last year and how they plan to continue growing in 2009.

36 participants called in to this call

M Sean Ammirati	readwriteweb	marshall	Brady Becker	Martin May
Raju Vegesna	Krishnan Subramanian	tulsaGuy	JC Bouvier	nitzan
bobhatch	Doug Coleman	Don Southerton	Frederick	@jakelumetta
centernetworks	Michelle Murrain	Christopher Cameron	eighteyes	SLSmith
Sam Law	Jon at Storenvy	Julian Stone	ninjamonk	barkerja
LEF	Andrea	Jim Gray	Justin	Kim Gaskins
and 6 more

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:38 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ben cool, I will drop you a line

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:37 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ninjamonk.. well I'm originally from London (ex BBC) now in San Francisco... I love helping UK startups, so let me know! :P

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:36 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ben in the uk

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 07:36 PM (GMT -05:00)

thanks

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:34 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ninjamonk - where you based? Feel free to drop me a line -- mail@benmetcalfe.com if there is anything I can do.

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:32 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ben yeah I think I am getting to that point, networking is key I guess. at least the flights to the us are cheaper now :p

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:31 PM (GMT -05:00)

There are loads of people who can help you with that @ninjamonk. The tip is to matchmake with those who can -- esp if you are not in a hot geographic area like SF Bay Area you need to start visiting! :P

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:30 PM (GMT -05:00)

I think as a developer who just builds my problem is not getting the prototype its where to take it from there

Martin May said:

Jan 05, 07:29 PM (GMT -05:00)

Ben: unfortunately, yes

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:29 PM (GMT -05:00)

(rather than new entrepreneurs with new ideas, which is kinda sad)

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:29 PM (GMT -05:00)

Good point on the shake-out of the chicken and egg problem of funding/prototype. It is going to mean those with no money are going to find it hard to come to market. Thus I think we'll see a lot of 2nd and 3rd time entrepreneurs who have had successful prior exits coming back to market with new propositions.

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 07:29 PM (GMT -05:00)

how much do you argue over valuation ? i mean if the moneys there but the valuations sucky - do you go back to drawing board or ?

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 07:28 PM (GMT -05:00)

np -- thank you Ben

Sam Law said:

Jan 05, 07:27 PM (GMT -05:00)

It's all well and good adding API's but they need to be fully supported so tools spring up, there's a great number of providers that have API's with nothing of value using them

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:27 PM (GMT -05:00)

(thanks!)

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:26 PM (GMT -05:00)

Delaying raising money is good advice... but if it risks being able to get a good prototype out in short time AND/OR if the market takes a further tank... it could be the wrong gamble. It's so difficult, esp if you can't bootstrap to the medium term.

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:25 PM (GMT -05:00)

it will be private beta first, so look out for the application/drop twitter an email if you have a site you want to implement it on. </tip>

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 07:24 PM (GMT -05:00)

@ben - good to know.

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 07:24 PM (GMT -05:00)

any questions -- feel free to raise hand ... otherwise we'll wrap this up

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:23 PM (GMT -05:00)

@Jakelumetta - oAuth from Twitter is coming this Q1

centernetworks said:

Jan 05, 07:23 PM (GMT -05:00)

sound has died

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:21 PM (GMT -05:00)

I'm sadly at work :(

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 07:21 PM (GMT -05:00)

yea, good point

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 07:21 PM (GMT -05:00)

@jake or they can just support OAuth

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 07:20 PM (GMT -05:00)

Twitter needs a FB-Connect feature though so we don't have to keep giving 3rd parties our credentials

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 07:20 PM (GMT -05:00)

its probably easier for facebook/myspace to simply work with existing location based social networks through an API perspective than integrating this themselves ? *ahem* brighkite sends location updates etc etc to profiles

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:18 PM (GMT -05:00)

It's also important for companies like Zoho, who don't own the data being manipulated, to be able to offer as many ways for the data to flow in and out.

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 07:16 PM (GMT -05:00)

for zoho - surely your focus must be more on business mobile application platforms - namely at the moment those with the greatest market share - being blackberry and sybmiaan. on the flip side, brighkite must surely be focusing only on platforms which have the greatest consumer dint in the market ?

Ben Metcalfe said:

Jan 05, 07:16 PM (GMT -05:00)

I think Developer Platforms are going to be huge for companies wanting to drive innovation during the tough times (but then I professionally help companies build such programs, so I would say that!)

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 07:15 PM (GMT -05:00)

good question Marshall

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 07:14 PM (GMT -05:00)

:) thanks for answering!

Martin May said:

Jan 05, 07:14 PM (GMT -05:00)

Frederick: we'll try to innovate on all platforms, but we have to pick and choose our battles

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 07:11 PM (GMT -05:00)

on the mobile chat - platform arguments ? do you have a favourite platform ? will you innovate on all platforms ? is there a complexity or cost perspective which is encouraging or stopping you from developing?

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:08 PM (GMT -05:00)

what do brightkite think of http://brightkit.com/ that name is a little close

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 07:02 PM (GMT -05:00)

gigs I am guessing with myspace :p

Marshall Kirkpatrick said:

Jan 05, 07:00 PM (GMT -05:00)

ooh, Brightkite is "working with Facebook and Myspace?" what does that mean?

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 06:59 PM (GMT -05:00)

interesting thanks @ninjamonkey

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 06:58 PM (GMT -05:00)

Sean I ended up giving flash access to mic and video

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 06:58 PM (GMT -05:00)

in terms of your product offerings, how much do you study and analyze competitors products and innovation iterations ? do you simply "clone" these or put your own spin on them or ?

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 06:56 PM (GMT -05:00)

how did you get in?

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 06:56 PM (GMT -05:00)

hmm - sorry to hear that ninjamonkey ... we'll pass it on to them

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 06:55 PM (GMT -05:00)

the problem was the free app requires access to camera and mic

ninjamonk said:

Jan 05, 06:54 PM (GMT -05:00)

thanks I am in

Frederick said:

Jan 05, 06:51 PM (GMT -05:00)

how is brightkite dealing with loopt in the USA ?

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 06:50 PM (GMT -05:00)

or you can use the 'free calling options'

Sean Ammirati said:

Jan 05, 06:50 PM (GMT -05:00)

Skype offers low cost calling from your computer. You will need to purchase Skype™ minutes and then
dial +1 218 936 6581.

tulsaGuy said:

Jan 05, 06:50 PM (GMT -05:00)

For Brightkite, has it been difficult to interest large companies, like Apple, in talking future prospects with you?

centernetworks said:

Jan 05, 06:49 PM (GMT -05:00)

is there a way to listen to this call with your pc - my friend is in london and doesn't want to call in

centernetworks said:

Jan 05, 06:48 PM (GMT -05:00)

i can certainly talk about bootstrapping sean :-P

@jakelumetta said:

Jan 05, 06:46 PM (GMT -05:00)

How big is the brightkite team? How many employees?

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