VentureBlog

So Many Media Channels, So Little Time

Today TechCrunch posted a list of the "Top VC Blogs (According to Google Reader)." I was very pleased to find out that I came in at number three, sandwiched between Fred Wilson and Brad Feld. But I have to admit, the ranking makes me feel a little guilty. Not because I don't think there's good content on VentureBlog (after six years of blogging, there must be some good stuff in there somewhere). But because I really don't blog enough. Every couple of weeks or so, something jumps out at me that demands a blog post. In stark contrast, Fred and Brad post all the time. I have huge respect for them for that. And not just because of the quantity, but because they post great quality stuff day in and day out. So my hat is off Fred and Brad, who are the rightful owners of the top two VC blog spots without any questions.

The challenges posed by trying to maintain an active blog are only further exacerbated by the incredible proliferation of "media channels" these days. I don't mean professional media channels. I mean user-controlled media channels. Blogs. Podcasts. Twitter updates. Facebook and LinkedIn status messages. YouTube channels. Etc. The list is daunting. Yet anyone who takes seriously the idea of communicating directly with his or her "customers" really can't ignore the opportunities posed by each and every one of these channels.

What's more, each of these media channels serves a different purpose. Podcasting can not replace blogging, which can not replace tweeting. A jogger isn't going to read my blog while taking a morning run, but may well listen to VentureCast. An entrepreneur trying to quickly get up to speed on the state of Venture Capital is not likely to listen through 30 hours of VentureCast, but could easily browse through VentureBlog for relevant content. And anyone foolish enough to care what I'm doing on a day to day basis will not likely find that out on VentureBlog or VentureCast, but could certainly subscribe to my Twitter feed and get the latest and "greatest."

The more I think about the relevance of each of these media channels, the more I realize that it is important for me to engage on each and every one of them. To that end, I have recently revived VentureCast -- now with my partner Howard Hartenbaum. We intend to record a new show about twice a month. The first two we've recorded are already available on iTunes, so check it out. It also means that I need to share more thoughts on entrepreneurship and Venture Capital on Twitter, which I will surely continue to do. And, of course, it means that I need to blog about the world of Venture Capital more frequently. If nothing else, this post is a good start.

Calling All Powerful VCs (and a few weakling entrepreneurs)

In a typical breakfast with my friend Hunter Walk, we spent half the time talking about business (online video, startup finance, the advertising ecosystem, etc.) and half the time talking about nutty ideas that would be fun. One such idea is coming to fruition. We decided that it would be a great idea to have a VC vs. Entrepreneur dodgeball game. Hunter dubbed it Labor vs. Capital Dodgeball, enlisted the help of his friend Noah Kagan of OkDork fame, and we were off and running.

After some planning and a lot of effort designing the t-shirts, we are ready to rumble. We have a fantastic group of entrepreneurs and VCs signed up so far. But we still have a few slots left for the game. So if you are a Bay Area VC (or a VC visiting from out of town) who used to be a professional athlete or are an entrepreneur who used to a Dungeon Master, here's the scoop:

Labor vs. Capital Dodgeball
Friday, June 8th
Noon to 2 pm
Sky High Sports in Santa Clara

Register HERE!

Not only will there be some serious dodgeball playing and pizza eating, but Craig and I will also be podcast from the gathering, thus making it a major media event. And best of all, the pizza, t-shirts and dodgeball are courtesy of August Capital, ComVentures, Greylock Partners, and Mohr Davidow (many thanks to Baris Karadogan, David Sze, and David Feinleib for lending a helping Amex).

I'll be training hard over the weekend with my kids. See you all on the battle field.

VentureCast at DEMO (Now in MP3)

Craig and I spent a good chunk of last week at the DEMO Conference talking with all sort of folks about technology, startups, finance, you name it. One of the challenges of DEMO is that all the startups there are in pitch mode -- the have had their media training and are on message to a fault. But we did manage to have some fun conversations with folks that didn't only involve them pitching their companies. The DEMO version of VentureCast should be available soon.

And speaking of VentureCast, a number of people have asked us about an MP3 version of the show because they aren't iPod users (did you know that there were actually people out there who didn't use iPods?). Courtesy of GruntMedia (aka Craig), we now have AAC and MP3, or you can listen to the latest show on our very own VentureCast page. So much VentureCast. So little time. Happy listening.

Blogging and Podcasting Into the New Year

Happy New Year! I am really excited to be jumping into 2007. I have a feeling that 2007 is going to be a watershed year in the technology world in many respects. And I am certainly looking forward to poking and prodding the market along from my seat here at August Capital.

As I go into my fourth year of blogging on VentureBlog, I hope that I can continue to be a resource to the entrepreneurial community. When Andrew Anker and I started VentureBlog, it was in hopes of providing a window into what was then a very closed community. That continues to be my goal, although the black box of venture capital is somewhat more illuminated these days than it was a few short years ago. Nonetheless, if there are topics that you would find it valuable for me to explore, please do drop me a note (hornik_at_augustcap). In karaoke and on VentureBlog, I am happy to take requests.

One thing that I am very excited about in the new year is the opportunity to continue working with Craig Syverson on VentureCast. If you've listened to the last couple of shows we recorded before the new year, you'll see that, for better or for worse, we have landed on a format that is conversational, relaxed and at times pretty goofy. We ramble all over the place, but we talk about all sorts of relevant topics along the way. I won't pretend that it is the most direct source of information you will find on the Web. On the other hand, if you have the 45 minutes to spare, we'll try hard to make it entertaining and occasionally informative.

Thanks for continuing to read VentureBlog and listen to VentureCast. I really do appreciate it. I'm looking forward to a great new year.

Return of VentureCast (or is that VCcast? VentureRant?)

I'm very pleased to announce the return of VentureCast. As some of you may recall, for a short while there I would carry around a digital audio recorder in my pocket and take the opportunity on occasion to record a truly stream of consciousness podcast as I drove up and down the Bay Area hightways. There were about a half dozen podcasts in total before my audio recorder ran out of batteries or got replaced by some other gadget in my pocket. And, as these things go, VentureCast was put on hold until the next bit of inspiration or a smack on the head.

I got that smack on the head a short while ago from a friend named Craig Syverson. Craig has a fantastic video podcast called VideoGrunt that is well worth checking out. He and I were chatting and he asked me what ever happened to VentureCast. I claimed laryngitis or some such thing, but he wasn't buying it. By the time we were done chatting, we decided to reboot VentureCast as a conversation between the two of us. We're planning on getting together every other week to talk about the world of technology, entrepreneurship and venture capital (and I'm sure we'll chat about a whole bunch of other extraneous crap as well).

The first episode of the New VentureCast (dare I say VentureCast 2.0?) is now available for download. Here's the link (or you can go the VentureCast FeedBurner page). Better yet, not only is it now available for subscription on iTunes, but it is also one of today's Featured Podcast on iTunes (according to the AskANinja guys, they got their first big boost of viewership as a result of being the featured podcasts on iTunes -- I'm not expecting quite the same impact). Check it out and let us know what you think. We'd love to get your feedback on things you'd like to hear us talk about, things you liked, things you didn't, etc.

And speaking of feedback, here's your first chance to have an impact. When I first started VentureCast, I discovered that someone had already bought the VentureCast domain. Given that I had been blogging at VentureBlog for going on three years at the time, it really annoyed me but I didn't do anything to force the issue. Now not only are there a couple of podcasts using the VentureCast name in some form or other but a separate company is using VentureCast for its services. So here is the question? Should I continue to call the podcast VentureCast? Or should I change the name to something new. How do you like VCcast? Or VentureRant? I'd love your feedback.

Craig and I will be recording the next episode of VentureCast tomorrow. It will be great to do it on a regular basis and I want to give a huge thanks to Craig for motivating me to do it.

Social Networks 3.0

I have received a lot of calls recently from reporters interested in discussing social networks. It reminds me of the set of calls I got way way back in 2004. The reporters today want to know what I think of social networking companies and if the venture capital community remains excited about social networks. I certainly don't claim to speak for the venture capital community. But I am happy to share with them my thinking about social network. And, while a well tread topic here at VentureBlog, it may be worth revisiting social networks given the ongoing activity in the space.

For those of you who have long commutes, or are joggers, or simply prefer the sonorous tones of my voice, you can check out my podcast on the topic at VentureCast. For the rest of you (and those of you who have complained that you think I'm being lazy by recording my thoughts rather than writing them) let me take a second to share my thinking on the evolution of social networks.

Let me simply start with this. I am a huge fan of the fabric of social networking. I believe that it makes up a crucial piece of the online communication that is driving the consumer web experience. But I do think that social networks have undergone an significant and important evolution, even since 2004, which will continue to pay dividends for end users.

For what it is worth, to my mind we are now experiencing Social Networks 3.0.

Social Networks 1.0 were built during the late 1990s to enable the initial set of consumer services that created such excitement about the promise of the web. Services like eGroups/OneList, ICQ, Evite and many many more relied upon groups of users organizing and communicating on the web through coordinated networks. Those networks were not explicitly described as such but they were the underpinnings of these communications platforms.

Social Networks 2.0 began in the early 2000s when entrepreneurs got to thinking about the nature of their online networks and the power that could come of making those networks explicit. Services like Friendster, Tribe, Orkut, LinkedIn, Spoke emerged to allow users to organize their recreational and business networks. The focus of those services as they were first built was to enable the creation, growth and management of an explicit social network. In other words, the consumer experience of Social Networks 2.0 was around the creation and discovery of the network itself, rather than a particular use of that network.

I believe that we are now in Social Networks 3.0. After a fair bit of excitement and energy around pure play social networks, it became clear that the building and management of a social network was not, in and of itself, a compelling consumer experience. In a nod back to the earliest instantiations of social networking, entrepreneurs have come to realize that social networks are enablers of other compelling consumer experiences. Thus, social networks are becoming an important ingredient of all sorts of consumer experiences. Social networks inform the conversations that take place among friends on LiveJournal. Social networks enable the discovery of new music on MySpace. Social networks enhance the multi-player gaming experience at Xfire. Social networks now empower recruiting on LinkedIn. And dozens of new social networks are emerging to enable specific, valuable consumer experiences that are enhanced by the underpinnings of the network.

I am more than a little excited about Social Networks 3.0 because I believe that social networking will be a crucial element of virtually all online consumer experiences going forward. And truly compelling online consumer experiences will always make successful companies. Thus, I look forward to seeing how social networking continues to evolve. I see great things in the future for Social Networking 4.0, whatever that ends up being.

Web 2.0

What is Web 2.0? That is the question I sought to answer at last week's Web 2.0 Conference. Yet, despite asking dozens of people that very question, I can't say that I am any closer to an answer than before I went to the conference. That said, I frankly don't think that it matters. Whether it is the case that Web 2.0 is a paradigm shift that takes advantage of open APIs, web services, folksonomies, etc. or is merely incremental advancement on existing paradigms such as user created content and increasing bandwidth is more or less irrelevant. What is relevant is the fact that large numbers of entrepreneurs are back to developing meaningful technology that makes our lives better across a vast array of use cases. That is good news for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike. But it is even better news for consumers and businesses, all of whom/which benefit greatly from accelerated innovation.

For those of you who are interested in hearing what a number of entrepreneurs at the Web 2.0 conference thought was the meaning of "Web 2.0," check out my latest VentureCast podcast. I can't say that the answers I got were too substantive in most cases but they were entertaining. Enjoy.

Let the Podcasting Begin

As I wandered around the DEMO conference last week, I was struck by the strong presence of both John Furrier from Podtech and Greg Galant of VentureVoice. John set up shop right on the show floor and was grabbing people as they passed by to engage in conversations about the conference and the new technology being demoed. Greg on the other hand had produced an excellent piece about VideoEgg preparing for DEMO and was at the conference following up on his original piece. My sense was that both John and Greg were adding a lot to the conversation.

It was a nice change of pace to see audio journalism represented at the DEMO conference. Of all the time I've spent at conferences, I think Jan ZIff of sound*bytes is the only traditional radio journalist I've ever met. She is certainly a pleasure to chat with and a wonderful journalist but it was nice to see the upstart podcasters in force at DEMO. John and Greg didn't need to negotiate distribution deals with radio stations to make their voices heard. They only needed a few hundred bucks in recording equipment and a blog on which to post their audio files. It is incredibly democratizing when you think about it.

As I thought about it, I was finally inspired to actually start podcasting myself. Below you'll find a link to my inaugural show on VentureCast, the VentureBlog Podcast. I hope you enjoy it.

The inaugural VentureCast is here!