Umair posited that in a truly Friedmanesque world, the only thing of value is the idea, because executing it is cheap. This was part of his argument that the whole VC structure is broken, and even though I don’t want to piss any VCs off, he does seem to take the whole Friedman argument in its logical direction. If Friedman (The world is flat is the book we are referencing, for those of you unaware) argues that because the world is getting more connected, that costs are being reduced, then it would make logical sense for the cost of a startup to drop. In this day and age, that makes a lot of sense, as the cost of execution is going down.Execution is the area where VCs traditionally shine, that and having piles of cash at their disposal, and thats where they like to contribute. VCs bring to the table quite a bit of resources that the average entrepreneur would normally have little access to: Harvard MBAs by the dozen, millions of dollars, and more important than any of those things: connections. Umair figures that the most important thing is ideas in this day and age, but ideas alone are nothing. Ideas are a dime a dozen, people can come up with hundreds of decent ideas, its the great ideas that are worth something.When great ideas are paired up with great execution and great resources, then that is when we see something magnificent emerge. Now the fact that one can probably raise the money to build a business by getting a small business loan, finding cheap developers, and using viral marketing, does not mean that the VCs are not necessary. You can’t raise the money necessary to operate a server farm by just asking friends (granted you don’t need a server farm up front, but thats not the point).So you might be asking yourself, what the heck am I arguing then seeing as I’ve backed both sides of the equation. Well I am trying to argue that ideas ARE becoming more important with the lower barriers to entry, but for those really big projects, the VCs are going to be sticking around for a while. They are a smart group of people that aren’t likely to sit idely by and watch as the industry topples its inverted pyramid.

When you are building a web based application, you have to put a lot of thought into what gets into each screen, you can't go throwing the kitchen sink in there just because you can. So my current dilemna is that I am limited by the fact we're trying to design for flexibility and usability at the same time. This is a quesion the average user never thinks about, but its something i've been spending alot of time on lately. These are questions every developer faces, and they may seem like little issues here and there, ... Continue reading

Now don't take this as a call to arms for everyone out there to go and setup a blog on any old topic and take google adsense as your sole revenue source because its easy. I don't want people bitching and moaning that they aren't making any money even though the market is soaring, thats not my fault. What I am arguing for is the pursuit of valuable niche markets. Jason Calacanis said in a post on his site recently that sports were an interesting market to pursue (mainly ... Continue reading

Unfortunately there was no preview of Sunrise their "CRM-ish" tool that they were rumored to be announcing/showing off today. They did manage to show off their new group communication tool "Campfire," which was pretty neat for what its worth. Demos aside, the workshop was very useful in what they covered in respect to general business tips. Now I won't go into specifics of what they covered (don't want to step on anyone's toes), but they had alot of good tips that many non-MBAs wouldn't think of. Alot of stuff they covered strikes you as common sense AFTER you hear it, ... Continue reading

Postings are going to be slow this week as I am finishing up the interface for the first of our next 4 products we're going to be releasing this spring. On top of that, I have to pack for Chicago, where I'll be attending the "Getting Real Workshop" being put on by the folks at 37Signals. If you're going to be in Chicago, and want to get a drink or a bite and discuss the web and all of its goodness, let me know. IM me at brbreslin on AIM, or email me at breslin [at] infinimedia.com

The other day while looking through BizNicheMedia's portfolio of sites, something struck me, this is why blogs are really important. You might ask, why BizNiche? Well its simple, they are doing something that is really more widespread than we realize, they are creating mini-niche verticals in underserved markets. With the cost of setting up a magazine being too high for most niches, and their reach being too limited, the blog becomes the perfect vehicle. Now when I use the term ... Continue reading

When starting a new business venture, one of the first things most of us do is fail to break down the matter at hand. What I mean is, we are all so excited about our revolutionary new idea, that we fail to pick it apart and break it down to its core. Most people have good ideas from time to time, some people have great ideas from time to time, and a select few have what others would refer to as genius (these people already assume their ideas are genius ;-) ). Its those good and great ideas that make up most ... Continue reading

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