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In terms of volume top ones would probably be ads (Google, Craigslist), retail (Amazon, Staples), brokerage (eBay, PayPal), and digital goods (iTunes, Zynga). My hunch is that sites based on subscriptions (Netflix, 37Signals) and affiliate (Polyvore) models generate less total revenue but I haven't researched this.
Groupon is about volume discounts, and there's been a lot of buzz around this because they introduced a sense of urgency with the limited time offer (sites like Gilt are doing the same). Their idea is to generate more volume for merchants by offering discounts on purchases made through their site. The deal doesn't happen unless enough people purchase it. Groupon makes money by reserving a cut of the deal for itself, so the company has an interest to make sure enough people sign up for the offers. Psychologically the fact that you have to hurry to purchase before the offer runs out has some similarities with the auctions on eBay.
We're going to see a lot of purchasing move to mobile devices, so my interest right now is in ways to be part of that shift. For instance, OpenTable works on the mobile and has been integrated nicely into apps like Siri. Groupon is perfect for mobile too because of the combination of location and timeliness. Digital goods are starting to be consumed more on mobile (iTunes, Spotify, Netflix, Kindle, games) and even Amazon has a nice mobile checkout interface. So there's now opportunity to build on CPA based models that didn't yet exist a year ago. -
I'm working on a new mobile app that's focused on the use case that was (at least to me) the most rewarding part of using Jaiku. The new app is definitely not Jaiku, it's something completely new; although original Jaiku users might connect the dots back to the "classic" Jaiku.
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Noise-filtering of the realtime stream is the equivalent of pagerank of the 2010s. The most exciting part about joining Google for me personally was the opportunity to focus on that. However, Google first had to build its infrastructure for pushing massive amounts of realtime updates. I underestimated the time that took. Facebook had a head start. Our interests shift. None of the traditional ways of categorizing taste are dynamic enough. I believe a lot in social objects determining our interest. When I post a new photo, that could be analyzed and affect what updates I see in my newsfeed. It will move to overlay the real world when the hardware gets there. HUD glasses that signal interesting stuff as we work, play, walk in the city. Sounds Terminatorish but that's where it's going.
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A friend gave me that nickname a long time ago. I was never into zen so I'm not really sure why it stuck. Maybe because I wouldn't stop pondering stuff especially when I was a teenager; and that can get annoying :) When I set up my blog it was the first name that came to mind. A reminder to embrace the pondering. Not try to be something I'm not.
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The first ones that come to mind are: (1) Zappos, because Tony's credo is to serve his customers not just incrementally better than the competition but way the hell better than anyone imagined was possible; (2) Etsy, because they are totally in love with their seller community BUT Rob is ruthless about quality in everything; (3) Cordarounds, because Chris is hilarious and making people laugh is an incredibly powerful way to build a loyal community whose every member an ambassador for your brand; (4) The Huffington Post and Techcrunch, because both Arianna Huffington and Mike Arrington are masterful in stirring and directing controversy which is the juice that fuels conversation; (5) Withings, because they are showing how something as bland as a body scale can be turned into a social object-generating media machine.
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I don't attempt both at once. In my last year at Google I worked much less. We had two tiny kids. Now that the kids are a bit older, it's possible to take the time to focus on building a company. Kids notice when their parents are happy, and I'm at my happiest when I am creating things I believe in. My wife and I take turns. When she works and travels I am at home and vice versa. She has taken the bulk of the load. For instance, I am currently in New York; my family is at our farm in Finland. I need solitude to do my best work. People don't realize how crucial it is to be alone. It seems asocial and selfish. But you have to be selfish in order to be you. Switching between modes is hard because you have to shut off stuff like Twitter (and Formspring!) I'm still not great at it but I'm getting better. Finally, none of it would be possible without a support network. We do have a nanny and are blessed with wonderfully helpful grandparents.
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My time allocation for blogging shrunk to a raisin when our children were born. The people who used to blog nowadays spend that time on microblogs like Twitter, Facebook (and Jaiku!) Everyone's looking for things to link to and retweet, so in reality there's a lot more potential demand for well-written blog posts. Hugh and other articulate bloggers are benefiting from that, which is all well and good. I still write, but recently I've been more interested in personal topics (relationships, art, homeschooling) that don't translate to blogging so well. I'm pretty sure that eventually the issues I'm concerned with shift again and I'll naturally start blogging more.
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Tea person, absolutely. When my wife and I started dating I learned to drink espresso-based coffee and I am an avid subscriber to Citizen Bean, but since this May I've gone back to tea. I grew up drinking Russian black tea ("Caravan tea"), for which there was a samovar in the household. Nowadays I've been drinking more hojicha and pure lapsang souchong. There's a bottle of Oi Ocha by the bed even as I type.
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I'm involved in the capacity of an advisor, board member and/or investor with: Appsfire, Betabrand, Mobclix, Sofanatics, Superfeedr, Thinglink, Xiha. I'll probably invest in one or two more companies this year and then stop. I'm a product guy, so my main focus right now is on coming up with a new product and business around it.
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We started off building a new service from scratch at Google, so initially it seemed reasonable to let Jaiku sit while we were busy rebuilding a "2.0" version on Google's infrastructure. Internal politics kept getting in the way, and people who pre-existed us in the company had different ideas about the product, I was no longer enjoying myself and left. When Buzz was released it looked very different from what the Jaiku team would have built, but the teams working on Google's social products have many really stellar individuals and I'm supportive of their efforts.
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When the deal was made, the acquisition price wasn't disclosed. There were other interested acquirers too so it was a competitive market price at the time.
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No, but I spent a good deal of time attempting the moonwalk with different footwear-surface combinations.
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In terms of hours played, the classic space enterprise & combat game Elite, created in 1984 by David Braben and Ian Bell. Read its story here: http://www.acornelectron.co.uk/eug/67/a-elit.html
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I'm not a US citizen; I have a Finnish passport. My daughter's the only one in my family with dual citizenship (she was born in San Francisco).
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Jyri Engeström’s Bio
Co-founder of Jaiku
