theFunded

Squawk Box August 13

by alec on August 13, 2008

Chrysler is intending to sell a mobile EVDO router for the car. Their idea is that you can turn your car into a mobile hotspot. Our group panned it to start, but then as we discussed it more, it seemed like there might be uses – tracking traffic, navigation and many more possibles.  Of course, team Chrysler is saying “get it because your kids want to surf the web in the back seat”.

As part of the discussion JoikuSpot was mentioned.  JoikuSpot is a fabulous utility from Finland that lets you turn any compatible Nokia handset into a mobile wifi hotspot via the 3G connection. Many of us on the call had tried it and recommended it.

TheFunded.com is getting sued by EDF Ventures.  Is this TheFunded’s watershed moment?  Well, it’s not the first time they’ve been challenged and probably won’t be the last.  We were treated to a short discussion of press sourcing rules and libel laws by Andy Abramson as well.

And finally, we talked about the debate going on in the web right now about whether tech companies need PR anymore.  We’ve got a number of bloggers and tech founders who are regulars on the show, as well as Andy Abramson joining in.  It was a good discussion, including a segment touching on the GIPS announcment that went so spectacularly wrong last week.

On this morning’s free conference call by Calliflower: Hudson Barton, Arshad Merali, Andy Abramson, Jim Courtney, Jeanette Fisher, Adam Somer, Jeb Brilliant, Bill Volk, James Body, and Sheryl Breuker.

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SquawkBox January 28

by alec on January 28, 2008

We had another great SquawkBox session this morning, discussing:

The issue of forced invites on Facebook applications. Some of the fastest growing Facebook applications of late have been those that require users to invite other users PRIOR to installing the application.  It's provoking a small backlash on Facebook. There's now a group called "No, I will NOT invite 20 friends just to add your application!",  that has compile a list of badly behaved applications, and are circulating a petition to Facebook asking that this practice be banned.  On the other side of the fence are Facebook developers, who seem to be quite divided about the practice.  Some defend it, arguing that bad applications will die anyway.  Others argue that it's damaging the facebook ecosystem by giving all applications a bad name.  From where I sit, wearing my marketers hat, it certainly looks to me as if at the very least it breaks the agreement among friends that Facebook exploits — that when i forward an invite, I'm recommending it.  It was a very interesting discussion, including some novel ideas for how to handle those invites from iotum's very own Julien Raynal.

TheFunded's invitation for entrepreneurs to share term sheets.   theFunded is a site that launched last March that lets entrepreneurs post stories about how they've been treated during the fund raising process.  It's a giant database that covers virtually every VC, and has all kinds of feedback on the individual VCs.  Needless to say, it's not that well liked by the VC community.  Now they're encouraging entrepreneurs (anonymously, of course) to upload term sheets so that people can compare and contrast individual terms from each VC.  We offer some advice for those entrepreneurs.

DEMO 2008.  What should we be watching for?

Enjoy! 

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