Modernize Newspapers

Sayonara 2008

I left Microsoft, we moved back to Texas, got a business off the ground, made money, lost money (mostly in the stock market), and had the transmission in our car explode.  It was the best of times and the worst of times...

With every new year comes opportunity.  I'm not sure about you, but this optimist sees brighter days ahead.

Stay fresh... stay humble... and make the most out of 2009!

Happy New Year!

2009 - Customers, not Outcomes

Happy Holidays everyone!

The holiday season is a great time to refresh... to get away from the pressures of the business world for a bit and chill out.  I've certainly had a few great days to relax, disconnect, and now I'm thinking about what we've achieved in 2008 and where we are headed in 2009.

2008 was an interesting year.  Like a lot of other startups, we evolved to meet the needs of our customer base several times... gradually moving closer and closer towards something that is both relatively unique and solves a major pain point.  We have kept quiet as a strategic move to not "blow our 15 minutes"... and we've been learning as we've gone along.

Now that we've largely figured out the real customer pain point and we've built a product to address it, we'll go into 2009 with an obsessive focus on customers.  Finding more of them, supporting them, and making them successful.  We will answer to metrics that demonstrate success for our business in this area.  We will not waste any time or energy daydreaming about outcomes or future milestones.  We'll minimize distractions while we build our company one successful customer at a time.  It's admittedly a cliche, but truthfully nothing else really matters.

Quick Hits - December 16, 2008 - The Twitter Edition

A few minutes between meetings and a lot on my mind... so here's another installment of Quick Hits.

• I don't get Tweetups.  Especially ones where the attendees have NOTHING in common except being in the same place.  I guess that makes me a Tweetup curmudgeon.  I'm ok with that.
• I'm starting to care about the munging of my personal and professional lives on Twitter.  Not sure how Twitter will evolve to assuage these concerns.  I'm sure I'm not the only one having them.
• Tip to those of you creating web services that integrate with Twitter... if you set up a Twitter convention to make your web service "viral", guess what?  It's searchable.  Not only that but search results can be monitored via RSS.  Methinks it is important to launch at the right time less you lose your momentum and are then screwed.  And there is no way to explain that away to prospective investors or business partners.
• I forgot the name of the service, but I ran across another one the other day that allows you to track your behavior on Twitter over time... it was complete with usage stats by hour, keyword, etc.  Scary.  Perhaps this is why I'm concerned about work & play being too "munged".
• There has been a lot of talk on the blogosphere over the last few weeks asking whether or not brands belong on Twitter.  I don't see what the big deal is.  Who or what people choose to follow is totally up to them.  If you want to hear drivel from a corporate PR department, feel free.  I don't see where Twitter is any different than any communication medium.
• Regardless of what you think of Twitter, it has brought about another round of democratization on the Web.  Think back to what sales/partner/business development was like for people ten years ago... tracking people down was really, really difficult.  I used to go to trade shows because that was pretty much the only way to reach an influential person that could help my startup.  Now if you can't reach the right person via the web, blogs, Twitter, etc. you seriously need help with either your product, your approach, or your company's value proposition.

Needless to say, I'm a big fan.  I can't help but think that one of the major players (Google, Microsoft, Facebook) will buy the company (i.e. user base + brand) soon.  They won't be able to resist.  One of many predictions for 2009 that I'll share with you in a week or two after I review my 2008 predictions.

Newspapers are dying... now what?

Today's news that the Tribune Company may file for bankruptcy and the New York Times is seeking debt financing for operating capital shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.  Newspapers have been late to both modernize operations and figure out how to use the Internet effectively.  Revenues are shrinking year on year, and their stocks are trading at rock-bottom multiples.

Is the entire local newspaper industry doomed?  Probably not.  Companies that either can't or won't adapt will fail.  What will the winners look like?  How will they behave?  Here's my blueprint for making newspapers & local advertising work again.

1) Being open-minded re: advertising -- the model of printing & placing advertisements in newsprint is dying, if not already dead.  For instance, some newspapers are experimenting with a hybrid "print+online" offer.  I'm not sure if that is the answer, but newspapers have to think beyond print as their only product offering and they have to get creative.

2) Understand that their place in a local community has changed -- Internet technology has reduced the importance of newspapers significantly.  Local television stations have created portals of their own to showcase their news offerings, effectively creating a proliferation of competition on the web.  Personalized portals have brought upon competition from major tech players.  This is the advertising environment available to local businesses.  More options and fewer eyeballs everywhere, including the newspapers.

3) Experimentation -- Local advertising is a tough nut to crack, but there are a lot of companies (like ours) that are trying different things to attract eyeballs.  Effective local advertising will be more responsive and more targeted than ever before.  Now embrace it and work with companies that understand how to capture companies on the Internet.

4) Costcutting -- Publishing is a tough business, but it is even tougher in the current environment.  Newspapers need to learn to get leaner and more efficient.  That means investigating all operations for new efficiencies.  It probably means getting rid of luxuries and making employees take on additional responsibilities that were once handled by "staff".  Hey, I didn't say I wanted to work in the newspaper industry ;-)

5) "Semi-user-generated" content -- I know the concept of high-quality, unique content is a bit sacred in the news industry, but let's face it.  Newspapers haven't cornered the market on it.  If I were running a newspaper, I'd look at ways to collect hyperlocal content from all the talented soccer moms and Nascar dads around.  It may make more sense for newspapers to become clearinghouses of sorts for good local content, as opposed to clearinghouses + generators of 100% of their content.  Just a thought.

In the next few weeks, we'll launch our first hyperlocal advertising product/network.  If you're a struggling local newspaper, I'd love to talk with you about how our product(s) fit into an effective strategy for harnessing the power of local advertising and saving your business in the process.

Newspapers are dying... now what?

Today's news that the Tribune Company may file for bankruptcy and the New York Times is seeking debt financing for operating capital shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.  Newspapers have been late to both modernize operations and figure out how to use the Internet effectively.  Revenues are shrinking year on year, and their stocks are trading at rock-bottom multiples.

Is the entire local newspaper industry doomed?  Probably not.  Companies that either can't or won't adapt will fail.  What will the winners look like?  How will they behave?  Here's my blueprint for making newspapers & local advertising work again.

1) Being open-minded re: advertising -- the model of printing & placing advertisements in newsprint is dying, if not already dead.  For instance, some newspapers are experimenting with a hybrid "print+online" offer.  I'm not sure if that is the answer, but newspapers have to think beyond print as their only product offering and they have to get creative.

2) Understand that their place in a local community has changed -- Internet technology has reduced the importance of newspapers significantly.  Local television stations have created portals of their own to showcase their news offerings, effectively creating a proliferation of competition on the web.  Personalized portals have brought upon competition from major tech players.  This is the advertising environment available to local businesses.  More options and fewer eyeballs everywhere, including the newspapers.

3) Experimentation -- Local advertising is a tough nut to crack, but there are a lot of companies (like ours) that are trying different things to attract eyeballs.  Effective local advertising will be more responsive and more targeted than ever before.  Now embrace it and work with companies that understand how to capture companies on the Internet.

4) Costcutting -- Publishing is a tough business, but it is even tougher in the current environment.  Newspapers need to learn to get leaner and more efficient.  That means investigating all operations for new efficiencies.  It probably means getting rid of luxuries and making employees take on additional responsibilities that were once handled by "staff".  Hey, I didn't say I wanted to work in the newspaper industry ;-)

5) "Semi-user-generated" content -- I know the concept of high-quality, unique content is a bit sacred in the news industry, but let's face it.  Newspapers haven't cornered the market on it.  If I were running a newspaper, I'd look at ways to collect hyperlocal content from all the talented soccer moms and Nascar dads around.  It may make more sense for newspapers to become clearinghouses of sorts for good local content, as opposed to clearinghouses + generators of 100% of their content.  Just a thought.

In the next few weeks, we'll launch our first hyperlocal advertising product/network.  If you're a struggling local newspaper, I'd love to talk with you about how our product(s) fit into an effective strategy for harnessing the power of local advertising and saving your business in the process.