How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...

Afterwards, I went over to congratulate him on his award and also say how much I enjoyed his speech. Rebecca Buckman, one of Forbe's top journalists, was also there. He then started to tell us a very interesting story, about how Silicon Valley VCs could have saved the newspaper industry--back in 1996.

Vinod Khosla tells Rebecca and I about a meeting with the top executives of the ten largest newspaper companies, essentially locking them inside a hotel for an entire day.

He says that he and his colleagues had come up with a way newspqpers could avoid the harmful effects of the Internet on their business mode. But the newspaper executives squabbled over control and the deal went nowhere.

Foremski's Take: Did Mr Khosla and his colleagues have a solution? We would need more information about the proposed business model. But I'd be very surprised if Mr Khosla's business plan for newspapers would have worked -- whatever it was.

The reason I am confident in saying that is that the online world was a totally different place in 1996. We now have dozens of new online revenue streams that didn't exist then, and also we have a tremendous amount of broadband rather than slow dial-up. However, I am curious to find out more about the rescue plan.

Here is the conversation with Vinod Khosla via Flip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79GbNip38HE

He also spoke about the importance of Stanford university and its encouragement of entrepreneurs. Other universities look down upon business people.

Judy Estrin: Silicon Valley Unwilling To Fix Structural Problems Around Innovation, Blame Others

Kay Koplovitz: We Need More Women Entrepreneurs

Vinod Khosla: How To Succeed In Silicon Valley By Bumbling And Failing...

- Second quarter VC investments jumped to $1.2 billion in 85 deals compared with first quarter $836 million in 59 deals.

- Solar power was once again the leading investment segment at more than $330 million.

- One of the drivers for steady second quarter venture investment was the promise of stimulus monies offering startup investors a non-dilutive funding source.

- Early-stage and late-stage investments dominated, while mid-stage funding was harder to come by, and the average round sizes were slightly smaller.

- No giant $100 million+ solar or biofuel rounds as in 2008.

- Second quarter was more balanced investments across sectors:

Automotive and Transportation   $202.5M+   8 deals

Biofuels, Gasification, Cleaner Coal   $195M+ 12 deals

Batteries, FCs, Energy Storage   $181.5M 10 deals

EE, DR and Smart Grid $101.4M+ 11 deals

Lighting   $47.3M 8 deals

Green IT   $34M   2 deals

Wind and Geothermal $22.2M+   4 deals

Water $16.8M+ 4 deals

Carbon Markets / Energy Monitoring   $16.68M   3 deals

Green Buildings   $7.5M   3 deals

Miscellaneous   $14.45M   3 deals

Q2 VC Totals   $1,172.8M+   85 deals

- - -

Please see:

Spanish Study: Green Jobs Could Lead To 11m Lost US Jobs - SiliconValleyWatcher

Talenthouse aims to be the first online community for artists worldwide. It allows them to exhibit their work and also to connect with each other to collaborate on projects.

"With Talenthouse we eliminate the age-old artistic struggle for recognition and instead focus on creative excellence,” said Roman Scharf, CEO of Talenthouse. “We are filling a tremendous void felt by the artistic community."

The site has won support from international artists:

These artists have agreed to host “Creative Invitations.”

A “Creative Invitation” acts as a stimulus for collaboration on an original project. The projects can be commissioned by any artist in the community or proposed by an established artist looking to work in tandem with another. The goal is to inspire multiple collaborations, which the community can evaluate and vote upon, leading to recognition for the artists and projects that rise to the top.

The idea for Talenthouse is from British recording artist Amos Pizzey:

"Coming up first as an artist then as a producer in the music industry, I saw so many talented young people that had no way of being seen and heard. For us the Internet is the ultimate tool for them to create, collaborate and liberate their art for all time."

This is how it works:

Artists can log onto www.talenthouse.com and create a profile that showcases their talent, including a brief description of history and past work experience, a profile picture as well as links to personal Web sites and other social networking pages. Most importantly, Talenthouse provides easy access to samples of an artist’s work, which are uploaded and presented in a unique 3D timeline. The artist’s profile will also highlight ‘supporters' and other artists 'supported' as well as any “Creative Invitations” and sponsored challenges in which the member has participated. Talenthouse acts as a one-stop-shop for artists allowing them to embed their profile and work into popular online properties such as Facebook and Myspace.

Talenthouse says it already has more than 25,000 memebrs and plans to have one million by June 2010.

Foremski's Take:

It's an interesting project but artists already have a multitude of ways to showcase their work: Youtube, web sites, etc. And as for collaboration, it seems that most artists I know have no trouble finding local collaborators. And local is key here.

What artists do need is money to support their work. Providing a commerce platform that can handle a variety of back-office tasks would be a good idea. Also, others could use Talenthouse to commission works of music or art. Or maybe find less expensive artists, which could harm rather than help artist incomes.

The site itself is slick but very busy, there's a lot going. Where do you start? It is trying to appeal to many artist communities: Talenthouse - All Creative - Film, Fashion, Art, Music and Photograph. It will be a challenge to be relevant to all types of artists.

She said that women haven't had the access to capital and she urged Silicon Valley to "open your hearts" to more women entrepreneurs.

Her Bio:

Kay Koplovitz is currently a principal of Koplovitz & Co. LLC., a media investment firm and is the founder of USA Network, the first basic cable network delivered via satellite nationwide. Koplovitz was the first woman to head a television network when she founded USANetworks under the banner of Madison Square Garden Sports in 1977. Ms. Koplovitz co-created Springboard Enterprises, a national organization that fosters venture capital investments in women-led high growth companies. Since its inception, Springboard has presented over 380 companies that have raised $4.4 billion in new capital. She also co-founded Boldcap Ventures, a venture capital fund backed exclusively by leading women executives. Ms. Koplovitz is Chairman of the Board of Liz Claiborne, Inc. and a board member of CA.

Please see:

Judy Estrin on the Gender Gap in Silicon Valley

Ms Estrin again voiced her concerns during her speech at the SDForum Visionary Awards 2009. She was one of four recepients of the annual awards.

She said that Silicon Valley has been living off the innovative work that has been created over the past 30 years but that there needs to be new work done to support future startups.

"What I've been struck by, and concerned by, is that although everybody seems to understand that we have significant structural problems, few are willing to acknowledge their role in the solution. Each group tends to point to someone else that needs to change. The VCs need to take more risk, Wall Street needs to be less short-term focused, government is too involved, government is not involved enough... This is natural because change is hard. But isn't innovation and change what this valley is all about?"

She said that there is a need for "sustainable innovation" so that our future generations, our children, can experience a quality of life at least as good as we have had.

Here is her speech:

Now he has sworn off FriendFeed and Twitter, saying that those services are "hurting long-time knowledge." This about turn comes on the heels of Mr Scoble berating Kara Swisher at All Things D for not taking part in the real-time web.

It’s interesting that neither Kara nor Walt show up very often on friendfeed, which is the best example of the 2010 Web right now. Kara Swisher has made a total of five comments there. Walt is even worse, doesn’t bring any items in there, and only has six comments. How can you know what the 2010 Web is, if you don’t use it and don’t participate in it?

However, by largely avoiding the real-time web Ms Swisher and Mr Mossberg have chosen to protect their largest asset -- their web site traffic.

By neglecting, Scobleizer, a web site run by Mr Scoble's employer, Rackspace, traffic to the site has plunged.

In just two months, from March to May 2009, Compete.com reports that traffic to Scobleizer fell from 181,500 unique visitors to 91,792. That's a nearly 50% drop in unique visitors!!! If the traffic for June can be projected, it looks headed for a 75% plunge.

I can imagine that Rackspace isn't too pleased to have such a massive drop in audience for its advertising and outages reports.

I'm sure that Robert can bring back the traffic but it's clear that its going to be difficult for him to also be active in all the other places, Building 43, Google Reader, email, Twitter, FriendFeed, FaceBook. And there's a lesson here for others too. You can't do it all.

“We’re here to help nonprofits master the social Web to bring about meaningful social change,” said J.D. Lasica, a consultant and author of four books about emerging technologies. “There’s nothing else like this on the Web for nonprofits, social change organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and educators. Socialbrite's mission is to shine a light on the best practices, social tools and strategies that will benefit each of these important constituencies.”

Beth Kanter, a longtime trainer and advisor to the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) and other organizations. Her upcoming book “The Networked Nonprofit” will provide a social media roadmap for nonprofits.

J.D. Lasica, a social media pioneer who co-founded Ourmedia.org, the first video hosting and sharing site. He advises both Fortune 500 corporations and nonprofits in social media strategies.

Katrin Verclas, co-founder and editor of MobileActive.org and past executive director of NTEN.

John Haydon, a consultant who advises small nonprofits, small businesses and social entrepreneurs on social marketing strategies.

Amy Sample Ward, a strategist who supports and educates clients in the nonprofit and social change sectors.

Ken Banks, who is using mobile technology to foster positive social and environmental change in the developing world, particularly in Africa.

Sloane Berrent, a cause-based marketing consultant who works with nonprofits and social cause organizations. She is currently a Kiva fellow serving a three-month tour in a rural section of the Philippines.

Carla A. Schlemminger, a strategic marketing communications professional who integrates best practices in branding, PR and social media.

Some of Socialbrite's resources include:

- A directory of Web 2.0 Productivity Tools.

- A Social Media Glossary that offers a deep, friendly introduction to dozens of social media terms in plain English.

- A first-of-its-kind Twitter widget that tracks tweets about nonprofits or social causes in real time.

- A Free Photos Directory, Free Video Directory and Free Music Directory that offers nonprofits, cause organizations and Web publishers a guide to hundreds of online resources for adding legal, high-quality content to their own Web sites, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, printed materials or online presentations.

More information: Socialbrite