kivanmaharaj.com

I have decided on giving everyone a look into my startup.

I am currently busy developing a web app which will have social networking components ( cannot do anything without these) and focused on a particular industry. Obviously it is a huge market with tons of competition but I think I could do it better.

Currently the interfaces are being developed so coding should start in a short while. It is very exciting yet draining at the same time, especially if you are doing more then one thing at a time.

With a recession at hand this could make it even more interesting as that is where we all have to get creative with the bootstrapped resources. The joys of bootstrapping a company is always an interesting journey. The long nights and you doing everything or as much as possible yourself.

I will be posting more on the site as it grows and as soon as it is live ( beta of course) I will post a link so you guys can comment on it and let me know where improvements can be made. 

It is interesting to see what the full impact will be on technology companies especially comsumer based companies like Google , Yahoo , Apple. I think that a looming recession in the States will impact not only US based companies but tech companies globally.

The increase in web ad spend in recent times will probably still continue to rise but at a slower pace then previous years. This coupled with increased competition as well as more publishers will hurt many playing in this space. As CPC rates drop many will instantly see a decrease in monthly revenue. This will also create a knock on effect with spending as publishers tighten up their belts and buy a Prius instead of a Hummer.

I am sure there will a few tweats on the advertisers side as well to increase profits thereby driving the Ad giants to do the same. We are going to have to get more creative in order to generate more profits in this space. Already we see Google changing its policies with regards to domain tasting. this will definitely hurt them in the short to medium term. On Yahoo’s side the layoffs with help keep them on a good running but they could also be opening the door to some competition as I am sure some key people on their side are looking at starting a venture in the Ad space.

Microsoft like the rest will feel the same pain from their web initiatives but I think overall they will continue to do well because they focus on so many verticals.

My suggestions would be

1. Look to the mobile ad space as there are more mobile phones on earth then PC’s

2. Leverage the mapping technologies to provide adpsace

3. Provide free PC’s to 3rd world countries and encourage small businesses there to use the internet (Just a wish)

4. Look at expanding your offerings like aquiring some business tools that your userbase could leverage. 

The full impact of a recession moving forward will propably be seen more towards the 3rd quarter of 2008  as people will slow their spending habits not drastically but carefully so as to not totally impact their lifestyles.

For those of you that have money keep it close and wait for bargains it will be coming.

With the growth in the web advertising space as well as video space it makes perfect sense to now go after the most used consumer technology in the world - mobile phones.

There are a number of companies starting to look into this market including Google. This will be a growing in the near future and first to market will either get aquired or become the new advertising kings.

The big question will be how effectively this will done as with the web keywords work well to determine what a person is looking for. With mobile phones this is a whole other story unless a user is browsing the web via a mbile phone.

Another pressing question is will people want to be bombarded with more advertising. Currently it is nearly everywhere we look, except toilet paper. Maybe that is an idea. Free toilet paper if you are willing to check out the advertising on the roll.

Anyway back to mobile. If any one company can effectively master that platform there will be untold riches at the end of the rainbow.

I will be monitoring this one as it is the way of the future. 

With all the talk on web 2.0 and the hundreds on applications popping on to the internet everyday one has to wonder when Web 3.0 will be arriving and how much better could it be. Well from a business execution point of view it is going to become very important to the business , but it will also enable the user to do more without having to go to 10 sites that each do one specific thing.

My question here is Web 3.0 really pre 1999 portals all over again. If that is what it is then Yahoo will become king again. This could mean Google will have to catch ,but will they be willing to put some flash and spark onto their clean landing page , which is slowing being cluttered.

Yahoo has one advantage and that is the huge user base they have accumulated over the years. I think the same could be ture for MSN.

I think with Yang at the helm it could bring back the ailing Yahoo back to its glory. Yahoo should focus on consumer industries like search, travel, sport, finance and maybe even food.

They should also be looking at promising technology companies to boost their offerings to the consumer. I think from a social networking point of view they totally missed the boat, but they shold take some of their exisitng properties and add some social features.

Another good way is to create smaller dynamic teams of people and let them build applications and take it to market. Nearly all web apps are in beta anyway. 

So it will be good to watch Yahoo carefully this year. 

I stumbled on a new look Index Ventures site. It looks like a second life type of enviroment. If you move your mouse over the people then a little speech bubble pops up with a comment.

I think it looks good. Gives Index a cool edge. Makes me want to submit my business plan to them. 

Click on thumbnail to see larger picture.

I was just playing with the openads server and I must say from a functionality point of view it is a cool alternative tool to selling and managing ad space for your site.

 The good is that they have a live demo that you can play with to give you a feel of what they offer. This is a useful application for those of use that don’t want to use Google and have a significant web presense. I will definitely be looking at implementing this on my web project that I am currently developing.

So if you are interested in managing your own ad space give openads a shot.

 You can go to www.openads.org

An interesting article on fortune.com about a South African companies MTN (Mobile Provider) Standbank anf Fundamo (Technology Provider) providing cheap banking services for the many millions of poor people. I think this is a great initiative as this assists in building an economy and with low transaction fees it make perfect sense. I see that Fundamo also provides services in other countires in Africa as well.

This concept has the possiblity to revoluntionize banking for the poor, which as a matter of interest constitutes as large part of planet earths population.

Imagine that every person on earth has the opportunity to save money and in turn assist others. This is one way to assist in alievating poverty and bring the masses closer to a middle class lifestyle. This would take a few decades but at least there could be hope at the end of the tunnel.

Talking about poverty kiva.org (nothing to do with me)  assists people with loans by leveraging other people to borrow through the site.

Maybe kiva.org and Fundamo should join forces and create a new mobile banking system. 

I see the Audi is bringing out their awesome R8 in a diesel. I am a big fan of diesel as it gives great milage and with current oil prices reaching for sky in makes sense to have a sports car in a diesel format. Alot of people may disagree with this as a true blue sports car always comes in petrol.

Maybe Audi has set a new trend in the market which many other manufacturers may follow. One of these days you could go to a Ferrari dealer and get your car in red and diesel. 

I was just reading about Apple’s new Macbook Air. They seem to be doing all the right things these days. It also does’nt hurt to have Mr Showmanship himself punting the new products. I think Apple is doing an excellent job focusing on the entertainment  consumer market as that really is the way things are moving especially from the internets point of view. People want things on demand and when ever and where ever they feel for it.

Jobs said the iTunes Store now offers movie rentals from every major Hollywood studio. The service will offer 1,000 titles at launch and eventually every title on DVD. This is good news for consumers. We will just have to see how easy it will be from a userbility point of view.

Their was also an announcement for Apple’s new storage device Time Capsule.

The Time Capsule will be detected by any Mac running Leopard and Time Machine takes care of the rest. It’ll come in two flavors: 500GB for $300 and 1TB for $500, both with server grade hard drives. I think a big plus is ther server grade hard drives. 

Check out the Macbook Air here - http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

Check out the Time Capsule here - http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/

 This phenomenon as some would refer to it is a growing industry globally with literally hundreds of sites popping up every year which in this case would be the last seven years.

A lot of people joining these sites do so to reconnect with friends, school buddies, make new friends. They also upload photos and videos of themselves, which in some cases show the side of a person that should not be shown as recruiters are using these sites to search for background information on potential candidates. But overall most people join as it is a fun place to hang.

From a business perspective this has become serious business which I will constantly grow from a revenue point of view. It has excellent potential for marketers to sell their wares to that user base as well as track purchasing habits of users like Facebook has done.

But should advertising be the only way that these sites generate money. I think not as that is not a long term survival strategy. Partnering up with other companies is also good but in the long term the sites should look at creating products which the user base can constantly access like eBay has. Generate money for the business but also for the user. A lot of sites are working on this but in some cases it is not sustainable for the user. Just the other day Perez Hilton complained that he only received $5000 for 25000000 Youtube impressions. Now $5000 is a good chunk of change but the reality of it is that if he could monetize that video himself then may it could be $250 000 instead.

The reality is that if at some point the user is creating content, viewing content, distributing content, then they should make some cash off that content. Social networks have a great opportunity to this.

I will be watching this scene very intently this year, as I am also starting a social site.

So let see what the year brings us.