It’s a good thing February 29th doesn’t come around that often. It’s a day Jason Calacanis may want to sweep under a rug. After yet another episode of Jason jumping up and down for the world to notice him and his company (this time with some affiliate marketer rants and techmeme coverage), a Feb 29 [...]
Florida Venture Blog
by Dan Rua…just a VC, living vicariously thru entrepreneurs…
Monthly Archives: February 2008
Feb 27
Where’s Dan Now? #3
Well, just like WDN #1, you folks solved WDN #2 faster than I expected. Given the long time gap between those, I thought I’d toss you another one I snapped this morning. Where is this Papa John’s commercial being shot? I gave plenty away in the picture so I need the exact address. UPDATE, 02-29-08: [...]
Feb 26
GOOG Will Die an Open Death
I’ve been digging into open search, playing around with Hadoop, Nutch, Wikia Search and other efforts. I don’t think it’s close to supplanting GOOG, but it will eventually. It will start with better results and/or better display of results — particularly to niche/long-tail needs. The key will be when someone applies a sustainable revenue model [...]
Feb 26
Where’s Dan Now? #2
As I shared in my first Where’s Dan Now? post, I’m on the road a lot. Today’s pic is very different than last time. Can you be the first to name this location within 1 block (e.g. address, google map etc) via comment? Enjoy! UPDATE, 02-27-08: Congrats to Kris for guessing my Tampa, FL location [...]
Feb 26
Stage6 Killed so DivX Could Thrive?
Well, no sooner did I tout the growth and value of HD streaming site Stage6.com and they decide to close up shop. It could be my rationalization, but it sounds like they were a victim of their own success. According to some sources the combination of traffic, copyright policing and board greed (nixing a spin-out [...]
Feb 23
Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist…er Business and Asset Consolidator
I’ve seen people make money in a lot of ways in this world. The MOJO show Bobby G: Adventure Capitalist reminded me of that fact. I thought I was going to see a show about venture capital, but that’s not quite what was on the screen. Upon further research, the show website shares that Bobby’s [...]
Feb 22
RankSpank Makes Me Laugh…What’s Your RealRank?
As a VC you get to live vicariously through your portfolio companies. Sometimes that is exhilarating, other times it is frustrating, and quite often it’s just plain funny. This morning, I’m laughing. Given some of GOOGopoly’s moves in late 2007, more and more bloggers and advertisers are realizing that PageRank has no direct correlation to [...]
Feb 18
Nice Idea, but How Will You Get Visitors?
I had another conversation today with an entrepreneur who had an interesting online destination site idea, but few answers for attracting visitors. In general, I’m not nearly as excited about destination/media properties as I am about horizontal online services. However, a well executed destination site can still make an interesting business. The only problem is [...]
Feb 04
Mako Surgical Files for $68M IPO
Ft Lauderdale-based Mako Surgical filed for a 5.1 million share public offering, with a price target of $14-16/share. Mako is led by Maurice Ferre and has a revolutionary approach to knee restoration — utilizing robot guidance for more precise operations, enabling quicker recovery and, ultimately, better outcomes. I really liked Maurice and his company when [...]
Feb 01
Why GOOGopoly Cannot Buy Yahoo!, Even if They Try to Annoy Microsoft Anyway
Microsoft announced today a bid to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion. First, let me say “wow, that’s a big number and this deal, if completed, will have big consequences.” Steve Ballmer extended the offer by phone to CEO Yang and sent the following letter to the YHOO board: January 31, 2008 Board of DirectorsYahoo! Inc.701 [...]
