Michael Robertson

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Michael Robertson was interviewed last Friday for SoCal TechNews.  He talked about SIP, the kinds of businesses he likes to start, and entrepreneurship.  I loved this paragraph where he says that the things he does are obvious:

What I think about, is I have two sons—and what they will think about their father and what he did. I think they are going to say “you had it so easy Dad” and “Your businesses are so obvious.” And they are so obvious. It’s not hard to figure out my business strategy—I am focusing on industries that can be completely digitized. Music is a perfect example—you can move it around, make playlists, play files. There’s no question all music is going online. Software, with Linspire and click and run – all software is going to be delivered online. Phone calls—no doubt they will all be delivered on the internet. These are undeniable truths. You can argue how quickly it will happen, but getting back to my kids—I’m sure they will say it’s so obvious. When they are adults, they will not be able to say that it wasn’t obvious that all voice calls will be on the Internet, that calling would not be free, or that instant messaging and email is free. Though it might have been revolutionary, they will say that it should have been pretty obvious to anyone looking around. That cuts to the core—I like businesses that are purely digital, which can really change the whole economic structure. What I mean by pure digital is things you can digitize and shoot around on the Internet, such as news, music, videos, and phone calls. You can’t shoot a pair of shoes, or a loaf of bread, or physical goods like that. If you can digitize it by moving to the Internet, it’s going to happen. And with that change, it knocks out old incumbents and makes new room at the table for new leaders. You get a seat at the table with adults and make some money during that transition period. The businesses I do are pretty obvious to me because they are all about digitizing an industry that previously was more offline, and moving those industries 100 percent online.

Worth a read.

Alec Saunders is the Vice President of Developer Relations for BlackBerry make Research in Motion. This is his personal blog, with his personal viewpoints. Prior to this Alec was the CEO and co-founder of Calliflower — the easiest way to hold a meeting, online, on a conference call, or on the go. A double-decade veteran of product management and marketing, he spent nine years at Microsoft where he helped launch Windows 95, the first two versions of Internet Explorer, the Universal Plug and Play initiative, the push into home markets, opt-in email marketing and what might well go down in history as the very first direct email list ever.