Laura Spiekerman

Most Expensive Speeding Ticket (and what that has to do with Nokia)

On June 1 of this year, Nokia’s share price hit a 13 year low.  This post describes how they started as a timber company, then slowly got into the telecom business.  Then they stopped innovating, despite their numbers.  Someone recently told me that Nokia’s R&D team had 16,000 people, whereas the iPhone’s had 400.   I don’t know if that’s true, but it certainly gives some color to Nokia’s recent struggles.  (Well, that and the fact that Vanjoki, a Nokia director, got the world’s most expensive speeding ticket, to the tune of more than $100,000).  Oh, the Finnish.

Still, there are 1.3 billion people using Nokia devices, and given the “fragile” state of the Symbian code, they’ve partnered with Microsoft.  I wouldn’t want to compete with Android or iOS, but I don’t think Nokia’s dead yet.  Their recent ad gives me hope yet - maybe they’ll return to their color plate roots, kitschy, fun, and functional.

Banking Disruptions

Mobile money is just a part of the banking disruption landscape, and is indicative of the larger need for traditional banking to evolve.  This is true for emerging markets, underbanked in developed markets, and younger people.  I can speak to the last.

Most of my friends don’t really understand personal finance.  They may have even studied economics in college, and yet largely don’t understand where they should be putting their money, from who to lend, and why.  This can often lead to bad cases of debt, or money not being put to good use, among other things.  At its best, personal finance today is inconvenient when you consider ATM charges, hassles of opening and closing accounts, and parsing through various marketing materials (I probably get 10 letters a month from a bank with useless offers).

Which is why banking innovations are so exciting.  Things like Bank Simple and Singapore’s OCBC are changing the game, and what’s really exciting is that things like mobile banking and ATM charge-free transactions and easy financial dashboards and budgeting are going to reach far beyond those who already have bank accounts but want something simpler and more user-friendly.  These innovations can reach the unbanked and underbanked.  Looking forward to seeing this happen soon.

The Economist on Data

Sesame Street Goes Online

I love the local online/offline thing that’s happening - from marketplaces to bargains, there’s a lot of disruption occurring.  Neighborgoods and Heyneighbor are good examples of ways to maximize the resources in your neighborhood you don’t know about.  I’m not sure how they built up the supplier-side - screenscraping Craigslist services?  Meetups?

From offering your services and goods (need a tent to rent for the weekend?) to discussing solar panel installations to organizing a block party, online communities are making their way offline and vice versa.

As I’ve mentioned before, in the local online/offline trend, combining crowdfunding too, I want to see a web platform that allows me to invest in local businesses.  A Profounder but with a local function.  Trust me, I’m much more likely to want a fantastic ice cream shop in my neighborhood than yours.

Human Capital Contracts

Stackin’ that Open Source Paper

PayPal has blocked bitcoin payments; they’re a Wikileaks donation method; they’re completely disintegrated with our central banking and regulatory agencies.  There will never be more than 21 million of them (due to Bitcoin Mining).

Virtual currencies have existed before, from Flattr to the Project Entropia Dollar to facebook credits, and even platforms like Tapjoy got in on the action.  Most had another purpose or tie than simply being a currency (gaming, micropayments, etc.)  I see those going far.  And Google Wallet may get in on the game by competing with facebook credits, so while I think Bitcoin is a really interesting endeavor, I don’t know how it can overcome the Google and legal obstacles.

Image credit here.

Obligatory Groupon Post

Not a post, really, just links with some highlights.

Dissecting the S-1

CAC estimation for purchaser around $26.50 (Netflix, with recurring revenue, is around $18.03; LivingSocial $10.)

About half of Groupons are sold to existing customers.  We all know the margins for businesses are remarkably low when Groupons are used (for institutions like restaurants, a new and eventually returning customer is key) and don’t know how sustainable that is.

5 Interesting Observations about the Groupon Model

The promotion was profitable for 66% and unprofitable for 32% of respondents.  Yet 82% of those who found it ‘unprofitable’ will run another Groupon again.

I’m really looking forward to Google Wallet getting into this space.  I want more customized, local deals.  They know what I like, and will know what I’m already buying.

Secondary Markets: freedom or fraud?

In this primer on Secondary Markets, Jason Jones writes that “Facebook and Twitter are just the beginning”, and he was right.  With the Linkedin, Groupon, Pandora and possibly Zynga IPOs all within a short couple of weeks, the startup fever is there.  Without bubble-related speculation, it’s clear that people want to invest in hot startups, IPO or not.

A recent NY Times article describes tech stocks as an “unlikely haven”, with things like rising gas prices actually being good for tech spending.  Not only can people buy and sell non-public shares, but employees can benefit from their ownership/equity pre-IPO or acquisition.

SecondMarket is probably the best example available.  (Intrade, an Irish company for legal reasons, is almost a tertiary version, for all sorts of predictions.)  The platform allows shares in a company to be bought & sold in ways that were never available before.  But perhaps even more interesting is the data that will emerge from these trades.

A couple interesting outcomes of secondary markets:  "insider selling“ and the potential ”next big fraud“, which Vivek Wadhwa claims is a result from selling shares to "uninformed investors”.  

P2P 2.0

This post about the P2P marketplace sums up a lot of my own excitement and hope for websites that let us save money, make money, and share resources more effectively and efficiently.  There are the established but clunky presences, like Craigslist, as well as newer and more elegant ones, like Airbnb (with their new $1b valuation!).  But there are tons of others, too, waiting to emerge for things we haven’t even thought of yet.  There’s Getaround for cars, Venuetastic for venues (I’m convinced all flower shops should sign up), and Gobble for meals.

I’d love to see some data on who sells their services on these sites - I’m guessing these are a good target for the young, urban, upper middle class population but will move further to middle-class - and maybe women in particular.