My Internet Notebook

a journal on software, mobile, marketing

Archive for May, 2009

Entrepreneurial Quote – Peng Ong

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Here is a quote I like regarding risk-taking as an entrepreneur. It was an old interview by Sramana Mitra (http://www.sramanamitra.com/2006/11/12/serial-entrepreneur-peng-ong-part-1/) of Peng Ong, who founded match.com, interwoven.com etc.

The biggest risk to me is not that I loose money but I do not make use of the time I have as effectively as I can. When you look at it from that perspective it is very risky to get a regular job, not learn anything and not to experience very much. From that perspective, losing all of my money is lower risk to losing all of my time.

Interestingly, Peng Ong made his first fortune working at Sybase and Illustra. But he was essentially a serial entrepreneur who was able to spot opportunities to solve problems from his prior experiences.

Written by Y.

May 25th, 2009 at 10:38 pm

Posted in Entrepreneur

WolframAlpha.com is Impressive

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Within 5 seconds of going to WolframAlpha.com, I decided to enter this query just for fun, without much expectation.

“loan amount $400,000 interest rate 5%”

Wow, I was impressed. WolframAlpha.com just gave me exactly what I expected.

mortgage calculator WolframAlpha.com

Enter the same search phrase in Google.com, you got at least 4-5 steps away before you get the same information. I think WolframAlpha.com really found a niche to beat Google. A very welcome development in the search space.

Written by Y.

May 16th, 2009 at 10:07 am

Posted in Business

Social Apps Monetization Methods

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Social apps, mostly games, on Facebook and MySpace can make a lot of money. As long as you have a good game play designed, you have a couple of monetization options that are commonly used/proven by the existing players today.

Virtual Goods

Players of social games are ready to pay for a) customization and decoration of the game environment; b) advancement in game levels. For example, Tencent made a lot of money with premium instant messaging, pet penguins, page decorations. Playdom did with clothing, weapons & adornment for cars, and advancement in the game. Zynga did with poker chips, mystery crates, home improvements, flame throwers. (Via: paidcontent.org)

Free v.s. Pro

Games designed with two or multiple levels of players can charge for a Pro experience. For example, in Playfish games “Who Has The Biggest Brain?” and “Word Challenge?” users have the opportunty to access additional content by “Going Pro” payable either via payment methods like PayPal, PayMo or PayByCash, or by using affiliate programs such as Trial Pay.

Advertising

Social games can also monetizing their audience by advertising, with direct or through a ad network. For direct advertising to work, you probably will have to already have a sizable player audience so that direct advertisers are willing to work with you.

For advertising through an ad network, you have quite a few options: Offerpal Media, adparlor.com, tattomedia.com, Super Rewards, etc.

If you are still looking for evidence on whether there is a serious business in social applications and social gaming, just take a look at the big players such as Zynga, Playfish, Playdom, SGN, RockYou, Slide and how much venture capital money they have raised so far.

Written by Y.

May 7th, 2009 at 9:02 am

Posted in Business,Web2.0