ImaginativePRO Blog

TWITTER NOW NO 3 AMONG SOCIAL NETWORKS, ANNOUNCES PROMOTED TWEETS, A "PAY FOR FOLLOWERS" SERVICE FOR BRANDS

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, onstage at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, plugged the moneymaking potential of Twitter.

"Twitter strikes me as being a very important platform," Schmidt said. "Twitter should be able to come up with advertising and monetization products that in our opinion are highly lucrative."

Twitter Chief Operating Officer Dick Costolo was in New York at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Mixx Conference on Tuesday with a similar pitch.

That's where he unveiled a new initiative called Promoted Accounts. Advertisers can boost their audience on Twitter by paying Twitter to automatically suggest to users with similar interests that they "follow" the advertisers. Costolo said in an interview this month that Twitter was pleased with the performance of Promoted Tweets, which appear at the top of updates, and Promoted Trends, which are featured on a list of trending topics. Advertisers pay when users click on a link, which happens about 5% of the time.

The idea behind the latest initiative is to give businesses the opportunity to get their updates in front of users, not just their ads. Twitter plans to roll out a self-serve advertising system for small businesses next year.

Costolo also said Twitter was abandoning its @earlybird initiative, an account that Twitter users could follow to get daily deals from advertisers.

It was a big day for Twitter: It surpassed MySpace in unique visitors to become the third-most popular social networking service. According to its latest stats, Twitter has more than 160 million users and is adding 370,000 users a day.

Twitter had nearly 96 million unique visitors in August, up 76% from the same period a year ago, ComScore said. MySpace shed 17% in the same period, dropping to 95 million unique visitors last month.

Twitter and MySpace are tiny compared with Facebook, which jumped 54% to 598 million unique visitors in August, and Microsoft’s Windows Live profile, which combines the company’s Web-based e-mail and other services to grab 140 million unique visitors.

Twitter could gain more visitors with its redesign launched two weeks ago.

COMMENTARY:   So I can expect to see a new section labeled Who to Follow with some links for brands Twitter thinks I should follow and that I share commonalities with.  Sounds interesting.

I am curious about that algorithm that Twitter has developed that will identify brands that I should follow.  Since I am into technology, SMM, venture capital, green technology, inventions and new products, and booty, this could actually help me connect with brands.  I benefit because maybe I learn something from that brand, and the brand benefits because they have another set of eyeballs for their products or services, and potential customer.  Ah yes, it all makes sense. 

Never mind that I can search for followers or brands that might interest me on my own, and I have done this in the past, but Twitter thinks they ought to help us along, instead of waiting for us to act. So what is the payback ($$) for me if I take up Twitter's recommendation and follow a particular brand?   Nothing comes free laddies.  I want some doe, virtual currency or something of value that I can redeem.  Fort of like points used in loyalty programs.

I think Twitter needs to make a compelling call to action, for example, "WIN a date with Kim Khardasian, click here to qualify for the grand prize."  That might actually do it for me, all kidding aside.

Courtesy of an article dated September 28, 2010 appearing in The Los Angeles Times 

 

CHEGG.COM, THE ONLINE COLLEGE TEXTBOOK RENTAL SERVICE, RAISES $75 MILLION IN VC FROM ASIAN FIRM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chegg, the online textbook rental service, has raised another $75 million from Asia-based Ace Limited, according to sources.

Ace seems to be nonexistent on the Internet, although sources said it is a Hong Kong-based investment firm.

The round comes after a huge Series D investment in late 2009, which already brought Chegg’s funding to a whopping $144 million.

Venture firms, such as Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital, Insight Venture Partners and others have presumably handed over that money in hopes of big returns.

And, of course, the inevitable IPO for the Silicon Valley start-up.

That’s because Chegg has become the front-runner in the increasingly competitive online textbook rental space as it seeks to disrupt the $10 billion college textbook business.

Chegg got its start in 2005 at Iowa State University as a classified rental service, where books were the dominant item, but evolved its business to focus on actually doing the textbook rentals.

The company’s unusual name, Chegg, is a mashup of “chicken and egg,” and its model is similar to that of innovative video rental outfit Netflix (NFLX).

Chegg now serves close to 7,000 schools across the U.S., with 120 employees in Silicon Valley and more at a warehouse operation in Louisville, Ky.

Typically, a rental costs a fraction of what buying a book outright does. It is ordered online and then sent to a renter, who then returns it.

There is, of course, lots of competition.

The Barnes & Noble (BKS) College division recently began testing a textbook rental program, for example, and is rolling it out to 25 U.S. colleges. And BookRenter is a smaller rival.

In a bid to expand its offerings beyond books, Chegg recently acquired CourseRank, a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that helps students “share their course schedule, take classes with their friends, read and write reviews on classes and professors as well as find out how professors grade.”

Here is a video interview I did with Chegg CEO Dan Rosensweig recently at Chegg’s Santa Clara, Calif., HQ:

COMMENTARY:  In January, I posted a blog posting about Chegg.com.  I found Chegg.com's college textbook rental business model interesting, but also felt that it would not be long-lived unless it changed to digital college textbooks, and still think so.   We all learned what happened to Blockbuster, the giant DVD rental company, don't we?

So I was taken by surprise to hear that the folks at Chegg.com had raised another $75 million in a D round of venture capital, increasing the total raised to $144 million raised to date.   I assume that Kleiner Perkins, Foundation Capital, Insight Venture Partners and the unnamed Hong Kong investor have thought this all through and await a big payday when Chegg.com files an IPO.

Courtesy of an article dated September 26, 2010 appearing in D All Things Digital   

 

Every business begins with an idea. And every idea needs to be fleshed out into a business plan. TheIdeaStartup offers specialized collaboration tools to help you develop that plan, complete with financial projections and intellectual-property security.

Arguably the toughest part of the process is actually writing the business plan. TheIdeaStartup (TIS) provides a robust plan-builder that walks you through each section, from Executive Summary to Marketing Plan to Revenue Summary. It includes tips and examples, saves previous versions of your content, and even spell-checks your work.

TIS also walks you through a five-step process for generating pro-forma projections, including a revenue model, P&L, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows over five years. And it has real-time collaboration tools so you can chat with partners, share calendars, track tasks, and so on.

Want to learn more? This five-minute demo video shows you some of the ideas behind TheIdeaStartup:

TheIdeaStartup HD from Matt Chepeleff on Vimeo.

You can try TIS free for 30 days, after which you’ll pay $24 per month for a Pro account. That strikes me as a somewhat weird pricing model, unless you’re the type of person who generates lots of business ideas. I think for most folks, one or two months with TIS would do the trick.

Either way, you’ve got a month to find out. TIS looks like a superb solution for anyone looking to turn a business idea into a business plan. 

The Idea Startup Business Plan Screenshots

COMMENTARY: As a business consultant, I am often hired to prepared business plans, financial projections and complete investor documents.  I never use template-driven business plan applications like Business Plan Pro, The Idea Startup any other similar software.  They are organized and structured a certain way and the finished business plan for company A looks just like that for Company B.  

I only write custom business plans.  This allows me to create truly compelling and business plans that are unique to each client and  industry.  Each custom business plan is tailor-made including color, imagery and embellishments that make the finished document truly standout.  Preparing custom investor documents allows me to challenge the boundaries of my creativity.  The end result are business plans that are different between clients. 

Although, I respect The Idea Startup, they are nothing more than a SaaS version of Business Plan Pro.  I don't like the Pro pricing of $24.00 per month either   This does not work for an individual entrepreneur, but better suited for a consultant who writes numerous business plans.  

The ability to collaborate in the development of the business plan is a nice feature that I have not seen before, but I wonder how many company management teams are going to use it.  

When it comes to financials, most sophisticated entrepreneurs are pretty savvy, but ask them to prepare a set of comprehensive financials, and very, very few actually know how to prepare them or do it right, including all the bells and whistles, such as the ability to make changes on the fly, handle both fiscal and calendar years, handle different business organization types, automate column dates, automate graphs and charts, handle both equity and debt financings, calculate the break-even point and prepare an ROI, payback analysis and discounted cash flow present value calculation.       

In conclusion, I have seen a lot of business plan templates and financial models, and they all have a few features that differentiate them, but the bottom line is that you have to wear a lot of different hats, including strategist for every aspect of the business from operations to marketing and sales to product launch, must possess incredible word smith skills, develop a business model and identify your value proposition, and can do market research like a pro, in order to prepare a well prepared business plan.   I rest my case.

Courtesy of an article dated September 17, 2010 appearing in BNET

STUDENT OF FORTUNE: THE "EBAY" FOR HOMEWORK MAKES MILLIONS

Student of Fortune is not a joke or a scam. They’re a service that claims to be the eBay for homework and compares themselves to Yahoo Answers. However, there is a big difference between Yahoo Answers and Student of Fortune. Namely, money. People are actually making good money answering tough questions from students all over the globe.

If You Ask it They Will Answer

The heart of the service is the Post a Question form. This is where students post whatever tough question or homework assignment they have and the amount of money they are willing to pay for the answer. Eventually, if someone out there has the answer, the transaction is completed and the student gets their answer and the person who provided the information gets paid by Student of Fortune, which acts as the broker.

Knowledge is Cash
Many people, known as tutors, are generating decent revenue by simply selling the same answers repeatedly over and over again. They usually pick a topic that they’re proficient in and cover all questions in that subject matter.

There’s even a leaderboard that tracks those who’ve made the most money on the site.

Learning vs Earning
So who benefits the most from this site? Is it the student that actually learns the answers to their questions and completes their homework assignment instead of flunking it? Or is it the one that provides the answer and earns compensation for their effort? Or is it the service itself? What about everyone involved?

Final Exam
Some people out there will undoubtedly have problems with this service and what it does. Some will question how ethical it is to allow students to “cheat” and pay someone to do their dirty work. Others will think it’s a good example of true American ingenuity.

What do you think? Is it right for students to buy answers this way? Please share your thoughts in the comments area. No, we will not pay you for that! 

COMMENTARY:  According to Entrepreneur, Student of Fortune was founded by Sean McCleese, a high school dropout turned entrepreneur.  McCleese bootstrapped Student of Fortune from the start and revenues are estimated to be between $5 million and $10 million. 

McNeese dropped out of Flintridge Prep, a nonprofit independent prep school in La Cañada, Calif., after ninth grade with the reluctant support of his academically well-decorated parents (his father has a doctorate and his mother two master's degrees) McCleese took, and passed, the California high school exit exam, recalling it as "awe-inspiringly easy." Rather than lament the proms, physics labs and study hall hijinks he'd miss by foregoing high school, McCleese forged ahead to blaze his own path. At 15, despite the gaping hole in his academic résumé, he became the youngest person ever accepted by Occidental College, the Los Angeles liberal arts school from which he graduated in 2005 with a degree in physics.  

Students open an account and then post their homework questions.  Bids can start as low as 25 cents.   I was just on the Student of Fortune website and somebody by the name of COROLEVA has earned $130,000 answering homework questions.  Not bad coin.

We are living in the Internet Age and today's students have so many online resources available to them from downloading term papers to websites that help them apply for scholarships and grants.  I recently posted an article about Khan Academy, founded by Chris Khan, a former hedge fund manager.  He provides free 15-minute video lectures on over 1,600 subjects from Chemistry to Geometry.  

We didn't have any of these resources available to us when I was a high school and college student, so I am a bit jealous, but also concerned that students are getting lazy or taking too many shortcuts.  There is nothing like doing the research and work yourself.

Courtesy of an article dated September 3, 2010 appearing in Entrepreneur