ImaginativePRO Blog

MORE MOMS USE FACEBOOK, SOCIAL NETWORKS THAN AVERAGE INTERNET USERS

Have you Facebook-friended your mom yet? Even if you haven’t, you probably have more than a few connections on the social network with little ones of their own, using the site as a way to communicate, stay in touch with families and exchange information about parenting, among other things.

eMarketer estimates 23 million US moms are on Facebook this year—a figure that counts women with children under 18 in the household who use the site at least once each month. That represents well over two-thirds of all online moms in the country. Overall, eMarketer estimates that just 57.1% of internet users (including children) use Facebook monthly.

Facebook, of course, is not the only social networking site moms use. Overall, 26.5 million mothers with kids in the home use social networks at least once per month, or 79.2% of online moms. This compares to 63.7% of internet users overall.

These estimates mean that as of 2011, moms will make up 17.9% of all US social network users and 17.4% of Facebook users. But the high rates of penetration reached in this group mean growth will be relatively slow, and moms will actually lose share on the sites over time. By 2013, eMarketer estimates, 16.1% of US Facebook users will be moms with children in the home, while 17.1% of all US social network users will be mothers.

COMMENTARY:   Facebook is the place to go if you want to target moms.

Courtesy of an article dated October 19, 2011 appearing in eMarketer

GROUPON IPO IS BACK ON AGAIN, VALUATION REDUCED TO ONLY $10 BILLION, AND COULD RAISE $500 MILLION, BUT DOUBTS STILL LINGER

The Groupon monkey rides like a bat out of hell before the IPO window closes

Groupon scales back its IPO, now valued at $10.1 billion and $11.4 billion – original estimates were $20-30bn - Will only raise $480 to $540 million not the original $750 million originally sought 

 

Groupon has filed amended papers ahead of its IPO, suggested an $11.4 billion valuation, down from an earlier valuation of $20 billion, Deal Journal's Shira Ovide reports on Markets Hub. Photo: AP.

LITTLE ANDY SAYS, 'IT'S ON BITCH'

Groupon has filed an early morning surprise, putting to rest speculation about it’s IPO. It is on, albeit at a slightly lower valuation than originally expected.

It intends to raise between $480 million to $540 million in the public markets, setting a valuation range between $10.1 billion and $11.4 billion.

In addition, the daily deals giant released third-quarter results today, which included improved numbers including a profit in North America.

It will trade on Nasdaq exchanged under the ticker “GRPN.”

The company said it plans to sell 30 million shares at $16 to $18 apiece, which will raise about half of the original $750 million it had intended to raise when it filed for the IPO back in June.

There will be an over-allotment of 4.5 million shares. In all, the company will end up selling nearly 5 percent of its Class A common stock before the allotment.

Since the company’s original filing, the Chicago-based darling has gone through the ringer. Updated amendments led to questions about the company’s strength, or whether it could sustain a profitable business over the long-term. Additionally, a number of top-level executives have left the company under the watch of Groupon’s CEO Andrew Mason.

Some of those concerns will be muted, given the company’s financial performance in the quarter ended Sept. 30. In that period, it helped to demonstrate it can scale back its marketing costs and still grow.

Q3 revenues increased 426 percent year-over-year to $430.2 and 9.6 percent sequentially to $430.2 million. The company’s third-quarter net loss totaled $10.6 million narrowed substantially from the prior quarter and year-ago period when it lost $101.2 million and $49 million, respectively.

Contributing to improved results was a profit in North America of $18.8 million, reversing a loss of $10.5 million in the second quarter. This is primarily due to a decrease in marketing expenses while still maintaining customer growth, which resulted in higher revenue.

The international markets had similar improvements, however, it continued to invest heavily in countries, such as S. Korea, Australia and Japan, which adversely affected results. A bulk of the company’s revenues, or about 64 percent, occur in North America.

Critics skeptical that Groupon would have a hard time swapping losses for growth definitely has something to think about now.

It now has $244 million cash on hand, up 8 percent since the prior quarter, and 255 percent since last year.

Groupon said in the filing that it plans to use the money to increase revenues by expanding domestically and internationally through adding gaining new subscribers and investing in technology.

THIRD QUARTER 2011 PERFORMANCE

The daily deals giant cut back on marketing expenses and still showed it could make a profit in North America and delivered on a number of other key metrics.

Marketing costs are the primary way Groupon gets subscribers to sign-up for its email list that offers a deal everyday, and therefore, is the lifeblood of its growth engine.

But it is also costly and unsustainable.

In today’s filing with the SEC today, it showed it could continue to grow despite reducing its marketing expenses by 20.4 percent during the quarter in the U.S. alone.

Here’s some key takeaways from the quarter as compared the prior quarter on a worldwide basis:

• Revenues before the merchant’s cut: $1.16 million vs. $929 million.
• Revenues after the merchant's cut: $430.6 million vs. $430.2 million (9/30/10)
• Net profit or (loss):  ($10.6 million loss) vs. ($101.2 million loss) 
• Subscribers: 142.9 million vs. 115.7 million.
• Paying Customers: 29.5 million vs. 23 million.
• Participating merchants: 78,649 vs. 78,466.
• Groupons sold: 33 million vs. 32.5 million.
• Avg. revenue per subscriber: $3.30 vs. $3.90.
• Avg. revenue per Groupon sold: $13 vs. $12.1.
• Groupons sold per paying customer since 2009: 4.2 vs. 4.
• Total unique paying customers: 16 million vs. 12.1 million.

COMMENTARY:    I can hardly wait for the Groupon IPO, and see it crash and burn in an early trading disappointment.  The IPO window is rapidly closing, and the beleagured group buying startup really doesn't have any choice anymore.  This is a last ditch effort to pull a rabbit out of the hat for Little Andy and his management team.   At this point, something is better than nothing.    

Courtesy of an article dated October 21, 2011 appearing in All Things Digital, an article dated October 21, 2011 appearing in All Things Digital, and an article dated October 21, 2011 appearing in Business Insider

HOW CHINA'S ECONOMIC POWER AND WORLDWIDE CHECKBOOK DIPLOMACY CAN CONTROL THE U.S. FOR DECADES

We hear incessantly about the rise of China. So much so that it's all a bit too abstract: What does it mean that China's has become a global force? And more importantly, how have they actually accomplished that?

The quick answer? Through business dealings rather than military alliances, and a superb infographic from the Heritage Foundationoffers a rarely seen snapshot of that.

I say rarely seen because The Heritage Foundation boasts that it possesses the only database of China's global investments, and they've actually made it available for public consumption. The charts elegantly show the various sectors that China is investing in around the globe, and where they're doing it. The most obvious thing that's happening: China is using partners from around the world to secure the raw materials it needs to grow. It's investments abroad aren't in technology or industry; they're in metals and energy and power.

Here are their investments around the world in energy:

Click To View Interactive Map

And in metals:

Click To View Interactive Map

The more you look at this chart, the more you start seeing powerful forces at work. For one, you'll notice that majority of China's trading partners aren't in Europe or America: They're in Asia and Africa and South America. In other words, precisely those countries which have always spoken last on the world stage. China is using its economic relationships to create an alternative bloc of power, which can directly compete with the political might of the E.U. and America.

You could call it checkbook diplomacy, and it's vastly different than the bedrock of our own diplomatic efforts. Granted, the U.S. does use its economic relationships abroad as a carrot, but the stick has always been our armed forces. China, by contrast, isn't exactly threatening countries overseas with potential military action (with the exception of Taiwan, of course). Instead, it's doing hundreds of billions in business with countries that are usually also-rans on the global stage. Look, for instance at its dealings with little old Australia:

Click To View Interactive Map

The one country that China is pointedly not investing much in is America. Instead, the only thing they're doing is buying our debt and holding our currency. Here are their investments in the States:

Click To View Interactive Map

And here is a look at what currencies draw their attention; it's almost exclusively our own:

Click To View Interactive Map

This is profoundly clever stuff. China has neutralized our power to oppose it by holding so much of our debt. And it has simultaneously drawn other countries closer to its bloc of power by offering them a taste of its rocketing economy.

COMMENTARY:   I can remember as a kid reading about China's famines.  The U.S. would even send them bags of rice.  Look at them now.  Without our humongous military might, what is the United States, really?  China has eaten away at us by essentially "buying" other countries and copying everything we make.   China presents a huge bloc of votes in the U.N. not just in the Security Council.   We need to stop buying their junk, and bring back those jobs.  But wait, how could we supply Apple evangelists with their magical devices?  Forget I said that.   

Courtesy of an article dated October 19, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design 

 

 

TWO SOCAL MOMS PROVE THAT MILK CHOCOLATE ISN'T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE, LAUNCH 'ADULT CHOCOLATE MILK'

Click Image To Visit Site

It's not the hardest sell in the world: A product called Adult Chocolate Milk naturally sounds like a good idea. Add that it tastes delicious and is peddled by rapper Ginuwine and girls in sexy milkman outfits and it's no surprise that Adult Beverage Company's flagship product quickly took off.

The inspiration to "Re-taste your youth … at 40 proof" came from a simple Facebook status update posted by co-founder Tracy Reinhardt: "Tracy is enjoying some adult chocolate milk." The single mom had recently gone through a divorce and was relaxing one night with a homemade concoction after she'd put the kids to bed. She often mixed up different brews, but this particular creation--chocolate milk, vodka and a few secret ingredients--sparked much discussion from her friends online, including comments from high school friend Nikki Halbur.

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Halbur, also a mother of two says. 

"It totally became Facebook fodder: ‘Had a rough day, wish I had some ACM,'  Things are so hectic, you're up to your armpits in babies, and you just want to escape to a simpler time. And that was the appeal."

At the time, Halbur was looking to invest in a business she believed in, and decided to take a trip from her home in Arizona to Newport Beach, Calif., to visit Reinhardt for a girl's night.

Reinhardt says.

"It was literally our 'aha' moment, on the sofa, having some adult chocolate milk: ‘Why don't we do this together?'" 

COMMENTARY:   What a great idea. I don't think they have any competitors producing a similar product.  Hope they corner the market.  Looks like the girls have been busy inventing some other mixed drink variations from their Adult Chocolate Milk product: 

Click Images To Enlarge

Adult Milk Chocolate also conducted a Miss Milk Maid Calendar Girl contest and its looking like a close race.

Courtesy of an article dated October 17, 2011 appearing in Entrepreneur

AN INFOGRAPHIC THAT SHOWS WHAT ARE THE DARKEST PARTS OF THE BIBLE, AND WHY WE HAVE NOT LIVED UP TO THE BIBLE CODE

Openbible.info charts the Bible according to positive and negative sentiment--with some surprising results.

We generally avoid featuring infographics about literature because they obfuscate the text rather than illuminate it. One exception is the Bible, which is so big and woolly, it occasionally benefits from a text-based visual analysis (or just pisses off a lot of people).

 The latest Bible visualization won’t start an e-Holy War, but it certainly shrinks some complex ideas down to size. Openbible.info used algorithms to label events in the Bible according to positive or negative sentiment (“Think of it as Kurt Vonnegut’s story shapesbacked by quantitative data,” the designer writes), then mapped the narrative peaks and canyons around the wheel you see below. Black is positive, red negative.

Click Image To Enlarge

What you end up with is a snapshot of the relative cheeriness--or gloom--of different sections in the Bible. As the designer tells it:

Things start off well with creation, turn negative with Job and the patriarchs, improve again with Moses, dip with the period of the judges, recover with David, and have a mixed record (especially negative when Samaria is around) during the monarchy. The exilic period isn’t as negative as you might expect, nor the return period as positive. In the New Testament, things start off fine with Jesus, then quickly turn negative as opposition to his message grows. The story of the early church, especially in the epistles, is largely positive.

In short, it gives you a bird’s-eye view of the tone of each book, something that’s easy to miss in a line-by-line reading. You could also use it as a guide of sorts to the darkest, juiciest parts of the Bible.

Click Image To Enlarge

It’s worth noting that at the microscopic level, the analysis doesn’t hold up terribly well. As a commenter on Openbible points out, it mis-characterizes both positive and negative events in the Book of Nahum--and who knows where else. The designer concedes that the calculations here are far from perfect:

“I largely agree that on individual verses, the results are hit-or-miss, and the data are certainly at the mercy of an opaque algorithm. In the aggregate, as you note, the trends largely fit with my basic expectations, so it may be the case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.”

Guess there’s something refreshing in that. I mean, if an algorithm can figure out the Bible, then what the hell have we been fighting over all these years?

COMMENTARY:   If the Holy Bible, The Bible, The Old Testament, The New Testament, King James Bible, The Roman Catholic Bible, The Koran, The Tanakh or just the good ole Good Book, which ever version you chose to use, is so righteous, why do humans continue to screw over each other, lie, cheat, steal, hate, commit adultery, use the Lord's name in vane and even kill each other? The simple answer:  The Bible does not have any real clout.   Even the Roman Catholic church is considered by many to be full of corruption and sin.  The Church of Mormon is prejudice against females.  These  are books that are based solely on one thing:  FEAR.  Fear of the unknown, fear of punishment by some force or power, fear that if you don't follow the rules in the Good Book, you will go to hell for all eternity, which is one fucking long time to burn.  

Personally, I believe that hell is right here on Earth, and human beings above any other life form on this planet, are the only ones that actually set out and plan the murder of each other, commit wars, and drop WMD's on each other.   Even the King of the Jungle, makes peace, and the males find a way to compromise, and split up the females so that everybody gets laid regularly, and their DNA gets passed on.  The animals have found peace amongst themselves, while Man is still screwing around, and not trying very hard, to get along, although it says right there in the Book of Paul:  "Thou shall love thy fellow man as thou lovest thyself."  If we lived by that covenant, that would be the only rule we would ever need.  If we lived by that covenenat: We would have universal healthcare, and employer's would learn to love and respect their workers, and not exploit their labors, export our jobs overseas or take away social security and medicare for people for no good reason other than they old and the weakest.  

It seems that we preach, but we do not follow, and we certainly don't repent over it, and if we do, we do it with two fingers crossed behind our back.  

Courtesy of an article dated October 19, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design

HOW ARTHUR OLSON'S MOLECULAR GRAPHICS LAB AT SCRIPPS IS USING 3D PRINTING AND AUGMENTED REALITY TO DESIGN BETTER DRUGS

Pathbreaking work at Arthur Olson's Molecular Graphics Lab.

Drug design is a scientific problem so important that researchers are willing to throw just about any kind of creative problem-solving approach at it, including tech-buzzwords like gamification and augmented reality.  The latter approach comes from Arthur Olson's Molecular Graphics Laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute:  He uses 3-D printers to spit out physical models of drugs and enzymes, and attaches augmented-reality tags to them so that computer vision can help researchers find the optimal fit.

 

The reason this approach is worth exploring is that designing drugs comes down to piecing together the molecular structure of their chemical parts in the best possible way, so that they literally latch onto the surface of their targets like a magnetic Tetris piece. Tactile feedback is a very powerful tool for this kind of puzzle-solving, which is where Olson's 3-D-printed models come in--think of it like playing with a Rubik's cube, except the solution may help cure HIV.

But this is science, after all, and fiddling with a physical model won't provide detailed measure-ments of molecular energetics. That's where the augmented reality comes in.  A tag on the model is recognized by a webcam and Olson's software, which generates a pixel-accurate digital overlay on a computer screen that the researcher can watch like a real-time heads-up display as she manipulates the model. The digital overlay computes and displays all kinds of scientific detail that isn't manifest in the model, which can help guide the researcher's manipulations into even more productive directions.

Click Image To Enlarge

Finding the right molecular "fit" isn't something that can be effectively calculated using brute force--it has to be discovered, using a fusion of human intuition and digital visualization. Olson's interface ingeniously combines both kinds of intelligence in a way that lets them complement each other instead of get in the way, so that unexpected breakthroughs may have a better chance at surfacing.

COMMENTARY:  I have always been fascinated with molecular engineering (ME),  or the science of manufacturing molecules.  ME may be used to create, on an extremely small scale, most typically one at a time, new molecules which may not exist in nature, or be stable beyond a very narrow range of conditions.

Historically, ME is an extremely difficult process, requiring manual manipulation of molecules using devices such as a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic leve.   

ME is a precision form of  chemical engineering-- the design, improvement and maintenance of processes of transforming raw materials  or chemicals into more useful or valuable forms.  

ME is an important part of pharmaceutical research for new drug design and materials science. Chemical or biological transformations includes protein engineering, the creation of protein molecules, a process that occurs naturally in biochemistry.   However, ME provides far more control than genetic modification of an existing genome, which must rely strictly on existing biochemistry to express genes as proteins, and has little power to produce any non-proteins.

In the following video, professor Arthur J. Olson of the Scripps Research Institute demonstrates a 3D printed model of a virus that self assembles when shaken. 

 

Professor Olson is head of the Molecular Graphics Laboratory, which uses 3D computer models, 3D printing, and augmented reality to create tools for life science researchers and educators. He is also the project leader of Fight Aids at Home, a tool that allows home computer users to share their resources as part of a massive project to find new HIV drugs.

Work Of Olson's Molecular Graphics Laboratory

Anti-HIV Drug Design

• HIV-1 protease, or PR, is essential to the replication of human immunodeficiency virus-1, and is consequently the target of major drug design programs worldwide. Our computational work is part of a closely-knit Program, involving several other laboratories, to develop both novel and mature tools to aid in the drug design cycle for anti-retroviral agents. The program consists of the following integrated parts:
  • Computational methods for docking active site ligands (inhibitors), and for elaboration and refined design of inhibitor lead compounds;
  • Design and chemical synthesis of retroviral protease inhibitors using new chemical approaches;
  • X-ray crystallographic studies of the feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV PR) and inhibitor complexes;
  • Molecular biology/virology of the FIV system.
• Our laboratory is exploring a new paradigm in distributed computing, by launching www.FightAIDSatHome.org in September 2000. Tens of thousands of people around the world run AutoDock on HIV Protease on their personal computers. The goal? To design better protease inhibitors that are more robust in the face of HIV resistance.

Ligand-Protein Docking

• AutoDock: rapid automated docking of flexible ligands to macromolecules, with estimated free energies of binding and genetic algorithm-based searching.
• Vina: new program for fast receptor-ligand docking and affinity prediction.
• AutoDockTools (ADT) is a GUI that can be used to set up dockings, as well as view and analyze the results.

Python Software Development

• Related links - papers, documentation, tutorials, downloads. (March 2001)

Protein-Protein Docking

• Spherical harmonics approximation of molecular surfaces.
• Evolutionary programming for protein-protein docking.

Protein Folding

• Lattice representations of proteins.

Macromolecular Visualization

• Rapid calculation of molecular surfaces.
• Simulation of molecules in living cells.
• Macromolecular animation and illustration.

Tangible Molecular Models

• Tangibles Interfaces for Molecular Biology
• PyARTK: an augmented reality toolkit.
• Images of Molecular Model Prototypes.

Molecular Cell Biology of Tissue Factor and Endothelia

• The goals of this project are elucidation of the molecular biology, structure-functionrelationships and three-dimentional structure of tissue factor.

Courtesy of an article dated October 20, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design

MUTEWATCH: A SLEEK, MINIMALIST TOUCHSCREEN WATCH THAT'S EQUIPPED WITH A SILENT, MOTION-SENSING ALARM

Mutewatch responds to swiping, tapping, and pinching just like a touchphone. But its real appeal is a silent, motion-sensing alarm so that you--and only you--wake up naturally.

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Is stabbing at an iPhone more intuitive nowadays than glancing at your wrist? The makers of Mutewatch seem to think so. A sleek, minimalist timepiece, Mutewatch behaves more or less like your iPhone. To access the functions--the clock, the alarm, the timer--you swipe. To set the alarm, you tap directly on the digits. To turn off the alarm, you pinch.

 

Call me an old fogy, but I prefer good old-fashioned analog knobs. I don’t find swiping and tapping particularly intuitive, especially since it usually takes a few taps and a few swipes to get my iPhone to do what I want it to do. Why would Mutewatch be any different?

Mutewatch comes in three colors: white, charcoal black and red

The timepiece has one advantage that your standard strap-on watch does not: a built-in motion sensor that adjusts the strength of the alarm, which pulses silently against your wrist, in response to your movements. So the more you stir, the more it vibrates, gently rousing you from slumber. That means you wake up naturally--and don’t wake up your partner (or whoever’s in bed with you).

Mutewatch comes in red, white, or gray and costs $259. Available at the A+R Store and elsewhere.

COMMENTARY:   Mutewatch is a Swedish company based in Stockholm.  The company works at the center of a constantly growing international network that includes people from the film, design, fashion and music industries as well as young entrepreneurs and professionals.  They are driven by curiosity and have a simplistic and human approach to technology. This is why this network is the perfect place for the company to develop and test their innovations and designs, letting them have a conversation about how they can adjust and improve their products. 

The comany's goal is to develop products that give people the tools they need to manage their time in a sustainable way.  They believe in the pursuit of dreams, ambitions and personal fulfillment - whatever they may be - and embrace the possibilities and opportunities of contemporary life. The Mutewatch works for everyone who has a set of tasks, a goal to achieve and only 24 hours a day to do so.

FEATURES

The Mutewatch is designed to be simple and intuitive. Just tap the flat surface and the touch screen lights up, then swipe through the functions clock, alarm and timer. 

You set the time for your alarms by tapping directly on the digits – tap on the top of the digit for a higher number or on the bottom of the digit for a lower one. When you want to erase an alarm, simply pinch the touch screen. 

The Mutewatch also features a built-in motion sensor that registers your movement and automatically adjusts the strength of the vibrations. So, whether you're sleeping, on stage giving a presentation or doing your work out, the Mutewatch will keep you updated on your next step.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATONS

Display - Glowing Perfection

• LED display at 100 Hz rate
• Capacitive and easy-to-use touch screen
• Automatic adaptation to the surrounding light intensity for optimal glow

Model & Dimensions - The One Size Adjustable Wristband

• Total weight: 40 grams
• Minimal wrist size: 14 cm
• Maximal wrist size: 18,5 cm
• Bracelet width: 25.4 mm
• Bracelet thickness: 12.5 mm

Battery Power - Energy Management

• Normally around 1 week of operation depending on usage
• Device warns when battery level is low (by showing “BATT”)
• 2 hours charging (from USB-port) refills battery
• Enters into hibernation mode when battery is too low
• 1 week without usage automatically sets device in hibernation mode
• Plug device in USB-port to awaken from hibernation mode
• Device arrives in hibernation mode

Motion Sensor - Detection of Your Motion

• High level of movement, triggers an increase in the intensity of the vibrating alarm
• A simple flick of the wrist activates the glowing display

Product Care - Give A Little Love

• Hand wash
• Protect from strongly colouring substances (for example: soy sauce, tomato, jeans)

Software - Upgrade and Move On

• Mutewatch firmware can be upgraded via USB
• See webpage for news: mutewatch.com

That's what I call one sweet watch.

Courtesy of an article dated October 19, 2011 appearing in Fast Company Design 

 

TESLA MOTORS FILM "REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR" TO HIT THEATERS THE W/E OF OCT 21-23, MARKS START OF MARKETING BLITZ

Click To View Trailer

Revenge of the Electric Car is hitting theaters the weekend of Oct. 21-23. From the makers of Who Killed the Electric Car?, it follows Tesla's industry-catalyzing role in the resurgence and rise of electric vehicles. Tesla gave director Chris Paine insider access to capture unprecedented footage of Tesla's history and growth leading up to the launch of Model S, the electric sedan poised to turn the tide against the internal combustion mainstream. 

According to Tesla's press release, the movie opens the weekend of October 22-23 in Los Angeles before rolling out to theaters across the country in November. A full schedule of showtimes can be found here. Want to hold a "Revenge" party? Request the movie to come to a theater near you.

The filmmakers behind “Revenge of the Electric Car,” follows a group of car makers as they develop and market electric vehicles.  The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on April 22, 2011 — Earth Day. 

“Revenge of the Electric Car” is a documentary about electric cars directed by Chris Paine, who made a splash with his 2006 film, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” It tells the story of how electric cars are making a comeback a decade after it seemed like they were doomed by cheap gasoline and a lack of consumer interest.  The filmmakers say this is not a sequel to “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Instead they say it “follows a new chapter in the history of electric cars with all new characters, cars, and stories.”  Here's the movie trailer:

 

Paine's film crews went behind the scenes for three years at four car-making operations ranging from auto giant General Motors Co. to a guy converting conventional cars to electric power in his small shop. The main characters include Bob Lutz, former vice chairman of GM, pitching that company’s Volt electric car; Carlos Ghosn, the boss at Nissan Motor Co., which makes the new Leaf electric car; Elon Musk, head of electric sports-car maker Tesla Motors, and Greg “Gadget” Abbott, converts gasoline cars to electric power.

COMMENTARY:   I believe this is the first time that any automobile company has sponsored a film of its own.   You talk about creating buzz for Tesla Motors.  It's definitely a bold move, but Elon Musk, Tesla Motors CEO is no stranger to bold moves or showmanship, for that matter. 

I receive all of Tesla Motors press releases, and read just about everything that is written by the media about the company, from its first all-electric sports car, the Roadster, its upcoming Model S sedan, its sleek new showrooms (which reminds one of the Apple Store) and goals to sell 15,000 of the Model S sedans in 2012. 

Tesla Motors CEO and founder Elon Musk, could very well be the next Steve Jobs when it comes to product launch presentations.    Very few people know about this guy, but his business formula is all about taking risks, creating great products, breaking new ground, creating excitement and doing the dog-and-pony show to the max.    Earlier this year, Elon Musk took Tesla Motors public, in a very successful IPO.

Incidentally, if you didn't know, Elon Musk is also the CEO of SpaceX, the first privately-owned space company that is scheduled to replace NASA's Space Shuttle.  According to Elon Musk, SpaceX will be able to launch payloads into space at 40% the cost of the Space Shuttle, and the founder claims this gives SpaceX quite a competitive edge.   As proof, SpaceX has already signed several contracts to launch satellites for several communications companies.

I get SpaceX's press releases, cover the company extensively in my blog, and the company's accomplishments so far are nothing less than spectacular.   This November, SpaceX will launch its multi-stage Falcon 9 space rocket and Dragon spacecraft into space, and try to get the Dragon spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.  This is going to be the Big Event for SpaceX.  One of the key steps to launch the first SpaceX astronauts into space, and eventually a possible return to the Moon.   Earlier this year, Elon Musk said quite boldly that he believed SpaceX could launch a manned mission to Mars within ten years.  Comments like this have made Elon the target of critics, to say the least.

Check out SpaceX's new animation on spacex.com of the Falcon 9 multi-stage rocket and Dragon Spacecarft for a sneak peek at SpaceX’s exciting plans for the future!  

Click To View Launch Animation

You may chose to call Elon Musk a showman if you wish, but results don't lie.  Tesla Motors' Roadster and the early success of the Model S demonstrates that if you can develop great, well-designed products, package and present them the right way, you can beat the odds. 

The "Revenge of the Electric Car" is another one of Elon Musk's bold moves to create a lot of advance marketing buzz for Tesla Motors and the Model S sedan, and it might actually work. He needs to follow-up with a tremendous social media blitz as well. 

Courtesy of a press release dated October 18, 2011 from Tesla Motors, the Revenge of the Electric Car movie site, and an article dated March 15, 2011 appearing in The Wall Street Journal

GOLDMAN SACHS CEO LLOYD BLANKFEIN PERSONALLY PITCHED GROUPON TO UNDERWRITE ITS IPO, IGNORED GLARING RED FLAGS

This summer, Lloyd Blankfein, the chief executive of Goldman Sachs, flew to Chicago to personally pitch his firm to underwrite what was supposed to be the hottest initial public offering of the year: Groupon, the fledgling online coupon company that was being valued at around $30 billion.

Mr. Blankfein’s pitch succeeded and Goldman was selected as one of three lead underwriters, including Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse. As the summer progressed, some insiders whispered that the offering could value the company at even more. For Wall Street, the I.P.O. was the ultimate bragging right.

They probably aren’t bragging anymore.

Groupon’s triple-digit growth has slowed, slicing Groupon’s valuation in half — if not more. Analysts now suggest the valuation will be lucky to be more than $10 billion. A series of accounting and disclosure gaffes have brought the attention of the Securities and Exchange Commission, raising questions about the company’s credibility.

The history of Groupon’s chairman, Eric Lefkofsky, was also unearthed, showing a lawsuit-prone entrepreneur who flipped a dot-com company in 1999 only to have it lead to bankruptcy a year later for the firm he had sold it to. And Groupon’s filing shows that when the company privately raised $950 million in a pre-I.P.O. round in January, it paid out $810 million of that to its investors and employees, a red flag for any investor. (Mr. Lefkofsky and his wife took home about $319 million of the total.)

All of this raises an obvious question: How did so many Wall Street firms desperate to underwrite the Groupon I.P.O. miss these warning signs when pitching such a sky-high valuation? Or did they just turn a blind eye?

Lynn E. Turner, a former chief accountant for the S.E.C. says  

“Underwriters are supposed to be gatekeepers, not just a sales and marketing agent.  Underwriters have gotten to the point of being cheerleaders. I question whether they are really fulfilling their obligation to investors.”

A cursory reading of the various versions of Groupon’s prospectus that the banks signed off on, as did the accounting firm Ernst & Young, would give virtually anyone a modicum of pause. And a deep dive into the numbers should have raised alarm bells at the outset about even talking about the possibility of a $30 billion valuation.

Here’s just one data point: Groupon has $225 million in the bank. The company lost $102.7 million in the last quarter on revenue of $878 million. If that were to continue at the same pace, it would need to find a new way to start making money quickly or raise new financing. That is why the I.P.O. could not come soon enough. (Groupon, it should be noted, says it does not intend to use the proceeds of the I.P.O. to finance operations in the next 12 months. But there is always next year.)

In total, as of last quarter, the company had $681 million in current liabilities but only $376 million in assets. Among its liabilities, it owed $392 million to vendors. That is because the company receives money from customers before it has to pay its vendors, called a working capital deficit.

In some cases, a working capital deficit is not a problem. Wal-Mart has a working capital deficit, too. But when there are questions about whether your business can continue to grow at the same rate, a working capital deficit can become a problem because it means you are relying on a steady stream of new revenue to pay off old liabilities.

The company also spent $432 million in the first six months of the year on marketing, an unsustainable model. Add in the fact that Groupon’s revenue slowed in August, up only 13 percent, compared with 96 percent in the first half of the year, according to Yipit Data, and the picture becomes a bit nerve-racking.

Groupon is in a quiet period ahead of its I.P.O., so the company, as well as its underwriters, is unable to comment publically.

But in a memorandum to employees last month, Groupon’s chief executive and founder, Andrew Mason, said he was not worried: “We’re almost on the other side, and the negativity leaves us well positioned to exceed expectations with an I.P.O. baby that, having seen the ultrasound, I can promise you is not one of those uglies.”

He also said that he planned to slow the company’s marketing expenditures. He wrote.  

“Eventually, we’ll ramp down marketing just as fast as we ramped it up, reducing the customer acquisition part of our marketing expenses.”

Of course, it is possible that Groupon could update its prospectus with new numbers before the I.P.O., showing that it has already begun to get its house in order. If it were to really slow its marketing spending, it is possible Groupon could turn a profit.

Even so, it does not fully explain how Groupon’s underwriters, whose endorsement of the company is supposed to be considered the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, originally came up with Groupon’s questionable $30 billion valuation.

Perhaps more troubling, those same banks allowed their client to publish one of its first filings with an accounting gimmick. It was a made up metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income that accounted for the company’s operating income but conveniently excluded several major expenses, including marketing and acquisition-related costs. That caught the eye of the S.E.C., and Groupon has since been forced to remove the accounting metric.

The cynical reason that the banks stood by Groupon and its accounting shenanigans is most likely the expected fees from the offering. Even if Groupon’s I.P.O. values the company at $10 billion instead of $30 billion, the banks will probably walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mr. Turner said.

“There’s a ton of money to be had.  That’s what’s driving this.”

COMMENTARY:   I don't think there's been a business startup that I have trashed more than Groupon.  As sick as this may sound, I actually enjoy trashing Groupon.  It's a case of S&M for startups.  I whip the shit out of Groupon and their incompetent CEO  Andrew Mason whenever I can get a chance, and this seems to be about every week or so.  

In a blog post dated September 4, 2011, I reported that the Federal Housing Finance Agency or FHFA filed a lawsuit against 17 major banks firms that sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $196 billion in worthless collateralized debt obligations or CDO's that were secured by worthless subprime loans.   All of the banks on that list were also bailed out by the Department of the Treasury otherwise the entire banking system would've collapsed and we would not be in the middle of the Great Depression.    

Goldman Sachs is one those 17 banks, and the FHFA claims that Goldman sold Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $11.1 billion in worthless collateralized debt obligations or CDO's.    When I read that Goldman Sachs' CEO Lloyd Blankfein had personally pitched Groupon, I was flabbergasted.  Would anyone trust a bank that just took Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a combined $11.1 billion.  Yes, Groupon's CEO Andrew Mason trusts Goldman Sachs.  He was apparently overtaken by Blankfein's incredible pitch that valued Groupon at $30 billion.  I would've loved to have sat in on that meeting.  

Here's more bad news about Goldman Sachs.  In July 15, 2010, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a $550 million fine (the largest in SEC history) to settle SEC claims that it misled investors about collateralized debt obligations secured by subprime mortgages  as the housing market began to collapse.  Although Goldman knew about the impending collapse, it went ahead and sold those CDO's, then bet against them, and made money at both ends. He called it "market making".   

Although Groupon has been able to generate explosive revenue growth, it has yet to generate a single dime in profit, had to restate its earnings for not using generally-accepted accounting practices, and has come under severe criticism by the SEC for violating the "silent period" following its IPO filing, not once, but twice.   Groupon has also clearly demonstrated incompetence in executing its global expansion, particularly in China, and the amounts it has spent on sales and marketing have been termed excessive and wasteful.

Groupon has been severely criticized by many analysts, including yours truly, for a business model that may not be sustainable over the longterm, and this appears to be coming to fruition.  There are bountless rumors that Groupon is having severe working capital issues, especially since it is unable to sustain its meteoric revenue growth rates of the past.  

Although it was able to raise $1.1 billion from outside investors, about $950 million of those funds was used to payback existing investors, retiring directors, and three key Groupon employees, including Little Andy.   This all occured within just a few months prior to the IPO filing.  This makes one wonder if Little Andy and his executive team have a code of ethics.

Every time I read something about Groupon it is generally bad news, and the hiring of Lloyd Blankfein, a charleton if there ever was one, smells to high heavens, and if I may say so, is really, really bad news.  Individuals of the character of Lloyd Blankfein and Little Andy really deserve each other.  Anybody that drinks the Groupon Kool-Aid is an idiot.  All the signs you don't want in a new public company are out there for everybody to see.  You have been warned.

Courtesy of an article dated  October 17, 2011 appearing in DealBook

TWITTER'S DICK COSTOLO SAYS TWITTER GENERATES 250 MILLION TWEETS PER DAY, NOW HAS 100 MILLION ACTIVE USERS

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo says his company is now seeing almost 250 million tweets every day, up from 100 million at the beginning of 2011. That’s a billion tweets every four or five days.

Costolo made the comments in an on-stage interview with John Battelle at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Monday night.

 

A few other key points from the session:

• Costolo said the company now has over 100 million global active users, half of those logging in every day.
• He says about 30% of the users were logging in every day at the beginning of the year.
• The Twitter also exec said mobile usage is over 40% quarter-on-quarter for the last few quarters. With Apple iOS5, he says, daily mobile sign-ups are up by more than 3x.
• Costolo says the company needs to figure out how to surface content on the platform – to separate signal from the noise. He says they ran some tests to get the most authoritative tweets on certain subjects; but he says the issue is that you lose the volume, “the roar of the crowd.” It sucked the life out of it. He says they have to figure out how to catch the volume when you separate the signal from the noise.
• Costolo says the company’s ad platforms will likely be things users are already doing. He says they will surface more rich content on the site; if that works, then they will consider likewise offering new forms of advertising. He says they will not throw things into the platform that people don’t already use organically first.
• Battelle notes that Google+ has launched hashtags and real-time search. He notes that Google has said they intend to compete on features; Costolo says Twitter will compete on simplicity. He says Twitter will try to simplify interaction, and simplify the way people use the service. He says that over time, Google+ and Facebook will be more and  more different from the experience Twitter is trying to give its users. He says they will feel more and more like social networks, and Twitter thinks about social context in terms of delivering information to you right now.
• On the company’s roughly $8 billion valuation: Costolo says you can’t let that be the way you think about the company. It would be easy to start to optimize for near-term revenue, he says. Lots of Twitter.com pages with no ads. He says they are not going to worry about people scoffing at the valuation.
• On providing access to old tweets and direct messages: He says they hear it all the time that people want to be able to access old tweets and DMs, but they have to prioritize the work. He says they want to get to it, he gets asked about it all the time, they have to get to the point where they have the resources.
• On when they will IPO: Costolo says they don’t need the cash, which will allow them to scale the business the way they want, at the pace they want. He says they don’t want to be beholden to an IPO window.

COMMENTARY:   It's guys like me, the truly active Twitter users, that keep Twitter alive and breathing.  Now make some damn money.  Show me you can generate revenues with the Blue Bird, the Whale and 140 characters.  If you are reading this, could you maybe increase posts to 180 characters?  Thanks.

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Courtesy of an article dated October 17, 2011 appearing in Forbes