Paul Wallbank – Brilliant Communications

Author: Paul Wallbank

  • Facebook has another attempt at local search

    Facebook has another attempt at local search

    Before the web came along, advertising for the local plumber or hairdresser was just a matter of placing an ad in the local newspaper and a listing in the Yellow Pages. Then the internet and smartphones swamped those channels.

    One of the greatest missed opportunities has been small business online advertising. With the demise of phone directories, particularly the Yellow Pages, it’s been hard, time consuming and expensive for smaller traders to cut through the online noise.

    This market should have been Google’s for the taking however the local search platform has been drifting for years in the face of company apathy, mindless bureaucracy and silly name changes to fit in with the Google Plus distraction.

    While Facebook has been playing in the local business space for a while they are now ramping up another service with a new site for local services search.

    TechCrunch reports Facebook are experimenting with the local search function and while it isn’t anywhere near as comprehensive as Google’s at present the rich data the social media service has been able to harvest could well make it a far more useful tool.

    However it’s not Facebook’s first attempt and Apple too has been playing in this space albeit with little traction.

    If Facebook or Apple does usurp Google, the search engine giant will only have itself to blame for missing the opportunity as it was distracted by loss making ventures while letting potentially lucrative services pass.

    The local business search market should be a lucrative opportunity for the business that gets it right. It may well be that all the big tech giants are unable to make this market work.

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  • When startup growth pains prove fatal

    One of the most dangerous things for a startup business is trying to grow too quickly.  In his blog, Jun Loayza describes how RewardMe, one of the startups he was involved in, failed after it tried to scale to fast.

    In his list of factors that led to RewardMe’s demise Loayza cites an undue focus on customer acquisition, however this is a fundamental part of the current Silicon Valley greater fool model.

    As the exit strategy is to sell the business, whether it’s to a trade buyer or through an IPO,  the aim is to maximise the value of the operation ahead of that sale. Boosting the numbers of users is a key task for management.

    Loayza says in retrospect he would have liked to focus on product development rather than user acquisition, but that’s a luxury not available when you’ve taken venture capital funding.

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  • Apple opens the kimono

    Apple opens the kimono

    Something strange is happening at Apple, the once secretive company is now becoming far more open in its plans and relations with the media.

    The latest example is the company inviting Sixty Minutes and Charlie Rose into its inner circles to interview CEO Tim Cook and go on tour of a future concept store with retail chief Angela Ahrendts.

    Apple’s media friendliness marks a big change for the company that’s reflected in its markets as engaging with other partners becomes critical for future success. Successfully achieving this will mean another fundamental shift in the organisation’s management.

     

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  • When autonomous vehicles and humans collide

    When autonomous vehicles and humans collide

    With the rapid advances in driverless cars, it was only a matter of time before the question of what happens when people encounter them would be answered.

    It turns out not too well for the autonomous vehicles reports Bloomberg citing a study by the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute that found driverless cars have accident rates double those of normal vehicles.

    As it turns out, those accidents are usually minor and are caused by humans colliding with the autonomous vehicles as the law abiding computers catch drivers unawares.

    That people aren’t very good at driving cars isn’t a surprise but now we’re seeing what happens when distracted, mistake prone humans encounter cautious and usually correct computers.

    We now have to start thinking about what happens when artificial intelligence encounters human frailty.

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  • Building a European Silicon Valley

    Building a European Silicon Valley

    The World Economic Forum asks can Europe build its own Silicon Valley?

    It seems the answer lies in money, investors’ money to be precise, with a lack of VC funds to finance emerging businesses and a lack of acquisition hungry corporates providing high profile experts argues the WEF piece’s author, Keith Breene.

    That appears to be a strong argument although there’s still some strong contenders for European tech hubs with the WEF identifying Munich, Paris and London as being major centres.

    London’s claims are reinforced by the city’s strength in financial technology with KPMG nominating 18 of the world’s top 50 fintech startups being based in the British capital.

    Interestingly, the Belgium town of Leuven which has styled itself as a centre for 3D printing and beer features on the WEF list of European startup hubs as well.

    While it’s unlikely Europe can create a ‘Silicon Valley’ – even the post Cold War US would struggle to do so today – the presence of major centres like London and specialist hubs like Leuven indicates another important aspect of creating a global centre, that of having an existing base of businesses and skills.

    That skillbase isn’t built up overnight, it’s a decades long process of commitment from industry, investors and governments and often as much the result of a series of happy accidents rather than deliberate planning.

    It may well be the question of Europe creating a Silicon Valley isn’t really relevant with the bigger issue being how the continent’s cities and nations put in the conditions to develop long term industrial hubs. Trying to ape today’s successes for a project that will take decades to come to fruition could be a big mistake.

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