Egnyte - Continuous backup and on demand file management

Recent impact from lost data reminded me of startup where a friend of mine is involved. Egnyte is a Silicon Valley based startup providing on demand file management including sharing, storing and continuous backup while you work on your documents. Not a bad idea at all since most people around the world are not managing backup properly, I admit to that myself, backup tends to become the typical to-do thing, I'll take care of that tomorrow... So, I can recommend, give Egnyte's service a try.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

Twiffid - A new service to read your friends blogs

Just released, Twiffid, check out http://www.twiffid.com if you want to read in your browser what your friends blog about. The interesting new twist to this service is that it is not a blog aggregator or reader based on your own blog links or RSS subscriptions but it is auto extracting from your Twitter followers profile what they blog post.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

TouchMe - Running with the trend for touch screens

TouchMe is a Swedish startup company jumping on the bandwagon of the more and more popular conception of touch screens. Touch screens are nothing new, I think though that all the attention Apple brought to consumers and businesses with th multi-touch screen on the iPhone has created a renewed interest for "thinking" multi-touch. TouchMe as a company is addressing this with a solution for making store windows and displays live and interactive. This together with an active connection to logistics and supply chain side side of the business creates an interesting package for stores and chain stores to become more dynamic in their presentations and ads.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

TableFinder - A different twist to mobile location use and restaurants

Tablefinder provides a community approach to user for finding relevant restaurant information and a software solution for restaurants to participate allowing you as a consumer to book a table in a restaurant from your mobile phone. This service is gradually being rolled out now and is available for a number of restaurants in different places in Europe as well as in New York. Try it out, the service is in beta right now.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

Secureon - Better licensing for your open source on demand software

Secureon is a Swedish startup focuing on how to better provide needed flexibility for customer to control the licensing of on demand hosted software services (SaaS). I like the fact that one key reason for the growth and popularity of SaaS is the dynamic scalability that can easily follow the need from a business as it grows or scales back. The licensing support has not followed fully that approach today which is something Secureon is addressing.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

Do you want to zoom and pan your position on your mobile phone?

Idevio is a Gothenburg based startup company providing a presentaton and mapping engine, RaveGeo with very efficient compression routines. This makes it possible to provide smooth pan and zoom in real time to your mobile phone. Idevio client software is available for J2ME, Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. Server side products and SDKs are also available.

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs.

Save Google Adwords dollars by using CPM instead of PPC

Here's a summer tip based on notes I took during a presentation. I hope I have correctly interpreted the information. In any case, you are welcome to comment whether something is wrong or you have better information.

Most company marketing people think about Google Adwords and pay-per-click advertising (PPC) however, using cost per thousand impressions (CPM) can be a more effective way of using Adwords in particular if you have a small marketing budget. And yes, I don't think you can expect the value of a 24 ore Swedish stamp will get you anywhere with a marketing campaign but let's look at an example.

Adwords - Site bids (CPM) vs. pay-per-click (PPC)

Two important things to remember with;

• Site bids or cost per thousand impression (CPM), your landing page is not that important
• Pay-per-click (PPC), your landing page is important, you have to design with right keywords

Example to compare cost for advertising:

You pay for 1000 impressions $0.50 per impression, if you have 10 clicks you still pay $0.50.
Continue example using $0.50 CPM average cost, with a click through rate (CTR) of 0.5% to 2-3% CTR (very good)

you can calculate the number of clicks;

1000 impressions x 0.5% = 5 clicks and with $0.50 CPM cost you will get
5/$0.50 = $0.10 cost per click

With a small marketing budget, you get more for less using site bids instead of pay-per-click advertising even though the CTR rate is lower because the conversion rate is higher.

A tip is, remove web sites with a CTR rate of less than 0.1% (not worth using Adwords sitebids on).

Contact me for sales and marketing services, http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx

Intertex - make my small business multimedia enabled

Intertex is a Swedish startup addressing the need for simplicity and internet multimedia communications. The company has despite its small size managed to design a set of products with interesting feature comabinations. DSL modem (ADSL 2+ with 23 Mbit/s downlink, 3 Mbit/s uplink) with firewall (SIP ready), router, 802.11 b/g and analog phone ports for old phones. This together with QoS, SIP switch software and VPN pass through will make your office communications be smoothly integrated using internet communications for presence, IM, video and VoIP phone services. The product is also supporting the TR-069 network management specification which lately has been accepted by the femtocell industry group as the standard to use. I think Intertex fully understands that the way to go for the future is simplicity combined with a set of key features most people are using. The biggest reason for why a lof business communications projects fail is that everything should be integrated and you get a solution too complex and too costly to manage.

See easy to compare product overview; http://www.intertex.se/upfiles/ModelOverview.pdf

Contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/contactus.aspx for help in analyzing your business needs

Voolife - Multimedia Twitter in Swedish

This is my Voolife page. Voolife is like a Swedish Twitter. Voolife has a pretty clean interface and does access to Twitter and Jaiku. Voolife does have interesting features for mobile users such as support for pictures and videoclips as well as geo-tagging of your info. This is another service that specifically is thinking about and using location based info to provide something different than Twitter.

Mikons - Make and market your own ikons with social networking

This is another example of a webservices Texas-based, startup company that is using the power of social networking for marketing purposes. Mikons is a handy little service where you can create logos, your own ikons for whatever purpose, use, market and order your own T-shirt, buttons... I created quickly a sample of a T-shirt with my own logo. Not bad for a couple of minutes work. Once you are happy with the result, you order your T-shirts. See, example below at http://www.mikons.com/people/tlidforss/ The editor is easy to use for cartoons and your own little set of icons you can use for animation.

Earth calling moon tonight

Later tonight, Texas time is the 39th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon. Just remembered that coming home from my sister's place booting up the laptop. I still remember that moment in time as a kid inspiring me to get a masters degree in engineering to go after the all-inspiring unknown areas to be explored.

I guess the only comment right now is, cheers to you Neil and Buzz for making an impact on the future of mankind.

Bipbip - mobile shopping roadrunner style?

The Riga, Latvia based startup company bipbip must be preparing for the launch. I got an invitation from Lars Larsen at Bipbip to test their service awhile ago. I noticed though that I am probably not the best person testing such a service not being a very active consumer (too difficult for me to define my shopping habits). The service is based on a patented idea for location based marketing using a "wishlist" style approach matched with your shopping interests and habits. You get proposed matches on your mobile phone to decide where to get your stuff from. It will be interesting to see how this new service will work out from a consumer point of view. The service will be rolled out from Scandinavia.

Contact me for startup company qeustions, see http://www.lidforss.com

Picasa slideshow - Sweden National Day

A sunny little reminder for a rainy day in Stockholm.

Toluu - I have got my blog aggregator to do social networking

I just started using toluu's new blog aggregator that also does sharing with friends and matchmaking to help you find people to network with. See, http://www.toluu.com/tlidforss for my toluu.

I like the fast and slick UI with listing of blog post contents, useful if you have a lot of blogs you scan and read. I will have to update and check-in later with comments about the match making parts. I think there is an interesting trend going on right now in the blogosphere in parallel with the twitter like gangs. Several new companies are addressing the need for searching, sorting, scanning through blogs together with directory listing type services and social networking. In addition to Google's blogsearch, you have Swedish startups such as Twingly and Bloggkoll that togheter are addressing this area with toluu.

The nimble "Buzz" is getting louder

The Netherlands based Nimbuzz is the latest among internet communications startup companies that have started gaining a lot attraction. Nimbuzz is in addition to supporting already popular IM/chat services such as Skype, Windows Live, Yahoo, Google GTalk... also like Rebtel focusing on cheap and easy to user international mobile phone calls. Nimbuzz has their gateway locations around the world in places such as New York, Amsterdam and Hongkong supporting around 35 countries. What I find in particular interesting is that Nimbuzz is the first company actually addressing the vast majority of already available mobile phones that can download and run a Java application. This is a first step in a phased opportunity to finally move towards mobile VoIP thereby once and for all killing the old telecom operator approach to voice calling and in particular billing. More about to follow in a separate article.

Today, the drawback is related to cheaper or too old mobile phones supporting Java J2ME apps using MIDP v1 and operator preloaded phones you cannot easily change.

Since Nimbuzz is working on Java application that is using VoIP, it will be interesting to see what is in store for us users coming from competitors.

The Zen of Creativity in the high-tech world

When you get stuck not knowing what to do, it's funny that all the high-tech tools in the world do not beat up the old fashioned way of a notepad, a pen and a cup of coffee outdoors in the sunshine...

Telecom Benelux 2008 Business Event Sep 16-18

The Swedish Trade Council is arranging an interest business opportunity for companies interested in getting to know hot products and services from telecom and communications software companies. The event will be held in association with Ericsson and key Telecom Operators in Belgium and the Netherlands. If you are going to be available in the Hague, Rijen and Brussels area at this time, I would recommend you check this event out. See agenda details at:
http://www.swedishtrade.se/tbo2008/?objectID=9169

The companies presenting will be;



Appello is a small company that has been around for 5 years, based in Gothenburg with very interested knowledge going across GPS information, navigation, mapping and end user devices in particular mobile ones used in autos. The company has also launched white label solutions for service providers. Appello is in Gothenburg, Sweden.


Arkivator is not a new startup company, started already in 1940 but is a high-tech focused complete solutions supplier of development through manufacturing including test and assembly. Arkivator has a focus on wireless peer to peer radiolinksystems. Arkivator is in Falkoping, Sweden.

Aurora Innovation is with its TeleQ contact call center system, offering a smarter solution with callback times given instead of just having people waiting. Aurora is also offering the CallControl mobile solution, se older post on this blogsite. Aurora is a startup company in Uppsala, Sweden.

Dub Tools is a small startup focusing on mobile media content delivery services. Dub Tools is in Stockholm, Sweden.








Emerson Network Power is an established company. The power energy systems area in Sweden provides smart energy solutions for communications service providers. They are in Stockholm, Sweden.





Intertex is an established company in Sundbyberg (just outside Stockholm), Sweden focusing on next generation broadband access products such as SIP and IMS compliant feature rich ADSL modems and personal gateway products.

IS Tools is an established company in Stockholm providing complete ECM solutions.

Mobile Arts is a Stockholm based company providing SMSC as well as very interesting voice SMS service solutions.




PacketFront is a Stockholm based company providing complete solutions for FTTH services.




Procera Networks is a Silicon Valley headquartered company with R&D head office in Varberg, Sweden providing state of the art high-end DPI (Deep Packet Inspection) products for the demands on multi-media IP networks.

SmartTrust is a Stockholm, Sweden based company known for many years for their intelligent SIM card and mobile device management products and solutions.








TeamQuest is a Gothenburg, Sweden based company specializing in capacity management software in the IT services optimization area very useful for any telecom operator facing mixed and dynamic traffic demands from their users.

TelecomCity is a business services organization in Karlskrona, Sweden. TelecomCity is going to showcase mobile business services solutions.



Transmode is optical network solutions company in Stockholm, Sweden with products based on WDM technologies.

Webconnect Europe is a Stockholm, Sweden based company known for radio analyzing tools used in particular in 3G networks.



Webforum Europe is a Solna, Sweden based company focusing on easy to use ECM tools and services as hosted services including collaboration.

Twingly - Blog search and linkback service

Twingly is a cool startup company providing a great combination of searching for blogs and linkback service for blog post comments of other sites' posts. Twingly is also working on a "visual blog search" tool called Blogoscope.

To use the linkback service, you just do the following;

1. Write a post in your blog and link to the article on another site.

2. Ping your blog at Twingly http://www.twingly.com/ping

3. Done.

The link to your post will be shown under the article you wrote about. Note: This requires the website or blog you are commenting on to have the needed Widget and Javascript in the html page template. Vice-versa is of course needed if you want to provide the same service to your own linkbacks. See http://blog.twingly.com for further details.

A 75 year old tip - Make a deal before you do the deal

Here's an interesting story from an old Swedish magazine from 1933 about Kronblom and his adventures. For those of you that do not read Swedish, Kronblom gets out of bed, goes to the grocery dealer in town, negotiates best price for the skin of a fox, closes the deal and then leaves with the comment, "Now I just have to go out and shoot a fox". A true entrepreneur!

Have a great Sunday, /Thomas

PS. Click on image to read the story

Quick animation of how BloggKoll.com is working

Here's a follow up on BloggKoll. Animation for non-techies.

BloggKoll - Like Twellow for blogs with a FriendFeed twist

I have started using Bloggkoll just out of simplicity in addition to using RSS readers. With Bloggkoll, you can find, categorize and subscribe to the blogs you frequently read without having to look for RSS feeds or addresses. It is a pretty convenient web service for most people who don't want to having to think, "How do I read and subscribe to my favorite blogs?". I have to say congratulations to a friend of mine, Mattias Swenson and the team for launching this service.

Callcontrol - a new handy mobile personal call control service

Here's a first post from posts about "StartMeUp - Sweden". Aurora Innovation is a new Swedish company introducing their Callcontrol service in addition to TeleQ, the contact center management service used a lot by healthcare service providers.

Calcontrol is a handy little service allowing you to better control how you want to answer incoming calls to your mobile phone. Instead of just answering or letting it go to voicemail, you can choose from a menu how the call should be answered and if you decide to give the calling party a message such as I will call you back in 1 hour, you can get reminded through SMS, 5 min before you need to call.

The service works on Windows Mobile, Symbian and as a SIM-card service.

Contact me for help in contacting Swedish startups.

Zipi your contacts in Outlook

The networking database services company, ZoomInfo has lanuched a new service Zipi for MS Outlook users. Keep your Outlook contacts up to date.

ZoomInfo has (when I checked) 45M records. This new service is like using Jigsaw to find contacts and Plaxo to keep your outlook data in a good shape but with the massive network database from ZoomInfo. Check it out. I think it is a very useful service even though I don't use Outlook for emailings, I still use Outlook as an offline contacts database. My custom MS Access based contacts database is faster and better when extracing data but Outlook is very convenient for a lot of business and websites out there.

Start Me Up Sweden - The Shape of Swedish Startups

Now when summer is here and the second half of 2008 is starting, this is a good time to take the pulse on new startups and what they are upto. A new series of blogposts will appear shortly. Please feel free to contact me for further details or help contacting Swedish startups.

See, http://www.lidforss.com for contact information.

Mobile Mail for Everyone, One click mobile international calling

From the last Mobile Monday (MoMo) Sweden event before summer, Ken Imamura from MoMo introduced MoMail's Lars Aase, VP Marketing presented their free mobile phone email solution. MoMail provides a solution where you can check your email from Google, Yahoo or work and get your copy to your mobile phone as well as on your MoMail web. MoMail is a very smart and compact service allowing you to use it on most phones regardless of screensize and memory. MoMail also remembers where your email came from so when you reply to your Google email, your gmail address will show up.

Rebtel's CEO, Hjalmar Winbladh presented Rebtel's service for making mobile international calls using local phone numbers. You can add your friends phone number, get a local number and call your friend. You pay a small fee per minut and as an option if your friend is within one of the 48 countries supported and your friend also get a local phone number, you don't pay Rebtel anything for the call. Rebtel's service is similar to the UK based, Hype but is easier to use with its two call method choices and it does not "piggy-back" on Skype.

The CEO of Squace, Aage Reerslev presented the personalization and easy to navigate the web solution based on a "square like" screen layout where you can tag and bookmark and store and share with your friends how you use the web from your mobile phone. Squace is also working on how to simplify the use of Rebtel services by using the Squace frontend.

I also met with people from YaYa Productions, Adimo (mobile services and solutions) and Mobile Sorcery (mobile software solutions).

Next MoMo event is a 2-day event planned for early fall.

Squace Launch - The MyStuff way for Mobile Phones

Mobile Monday (MoMo Sweden http://www.mobilemonday.se/) is arranging a meeting a the mobile start up company Squace this Monday June 16 at 5pm. If you are not aware of this but you will be in town, use this opportunity to come and see Squace in action and listen to the CEO Aage Reerslev. Squace is a cool new service that lets you design your stuff as a mobile site, tag info, network with others.

As a part of MoMo meeting, you will also get an opportunity to listen to Rebtel 's CEO, Hjalmar Winbladhand their interesting mobile international calling by replacing (depending on your country location) the international phone number with a local number.

I also want to point out, please feel free to contact me for a discussion about your company needs. Contact me, see http://www.lidforss.com/ for details.

PS. Also, remember to register for this MoMo event, space is limited!

Start Me Up or Not? Notes from a Garage Technology Ventures event

A lot of people are asking me about start up company information. I found while doing computer maintenance my old notes from a Garage Technology Ventures event in Mountain View, California, USA.

After having quickly read through the notes, I think (what do you think?) most of the information is still valid. So here's a summary;

Guy Kawasaki presenting;

Get Started

1. Make meaning

a. Increase quality of life

b. Prevent end of something good

c. Provide quality product & service

2. Make mantra

a. Everybody writes a mission statement - don't go there, make a simple statement with a meaning

b. Starbucks - "Rewarding Moments"

c. Nike - "Authentic, athletic experiences"

3. Get going

a. Start making product or service

b. Think big, 10x better, create the next curve

c. Find soul mates as working buddies

d. Think love/hate design

e. Design differently (I want it)

f. Previous employee does not see it; Start your own company

g. What the hell, let's build it

h. There must be a better way

4. Define a Business Model

a. Who has your money in their pockets?

i. Who is your customer?

ii. What do they want?

iii. How much will they pay?

b. Keep it simple

c. Copy somebody's already working business model

d. Ask women about your business model

5. Weave a MAT (Milestones, Assumptions, Tasks)

a. Milestones

i. MS1 - Proof of concept

ii. MS2 - Complete design spec

iii. MS3 - Finish prototype

iv. MS4 - Raise capital

v. MS5 - Ship prototype

vi. MS6 - Ship final

vii. MS7 - Break even

b. Assumptions (list and test real assumptions)

i. Test product

ii. Test market

iii. Test gross margin

iv. Test sales calls

v. Test sales cycle

vi. Test conversion rate

vii. Test payment cycle

viii. Test payments

ix. Test receivables

x. Test pricing

c. Tasks

i. List tasks for milestones

Bill Reichert presenting;

Raising VC funding

Key VC interests;

· Rapid sustainable growth

· Size & scale

· Disproportional profitability

1. Start smart

a. Corporation and stock issues, buyback agreement for founders stock

b. Employee considerations

c. IPR value, NDA

d. Seed investments including loans

e. Corporate governance practices

2. Tell a good story

a. Team

b. Problem & opportunity

c. Technology & solution

d. Sustainable advantages

e. Business model

f. Partnerships & leverage

3. Make the numbers add up - Demo solid grasp for your business

a. Long term financial projection (vision)

b. Near term operating plan (tactical)

c. Capital requirements

d. Capital structure over multiple rounds

e. Levers of profitability & key metrics

4. Find the right investors

a. Generate momentum

b. Target your venture contacts

c. Nurture syndicates (lead and others)

d. Manage selling process

5. Build your credibility

a. Customers

b. Strategic partners

c. Investors (seed)

d. Advisory and board members

e. Gurus and experts

f. Milestones

g. No lies

Bootstrapping

Four basic models
· Garage

· University (research grant, technology or government grant)

· Services to product

· Core customer & Partner (make sure you keep licensing rights to sell to other non-competitors)

Sustainable models
· Low capital requirements

· Low cost of customer acquisitions

· Rapid cash flow/Cash up front

· Recurring revenue

Nine alternatives to find bootstrapping sources
1) Day job (contract or employment)

2) Credit cards & mortgages

3) The 3Fs (friends, fools and family)

4) Founding angel (seed)

5) Government grants

6) Incubator

7) License rights (exclusive rights for 1 market)

8) Core Customer

9) Version 1.0 - Real customers buying your product

Bootstrap Economies - It's about payback, not ROI, therefore model payback on each expense
1) Product features

2) Marketing & Promotion

3) Sales expenses

4) Overhead

Bootstrap Product Development - Get to your product fast
1) Work nights & weekends

2) Use PhD students, dissertation projects

3) Tap offshore resources

4) Productize a consulting project as NRE (Non-Recurring Engineering) income

5) License a finished product

6) Import a finished product

Bootstrap Selling - Design in repeat sales
1) Rifleshot selling

2) Community (viral marketing)

3) Channel sales

4) OEM partnership/private label

5) Internet

6) Consulting

Bootstrap Marketing - Leverage the leader's marketing
1) Press releases

2) Events, seminars, webinars

3) Directories

4) Analysts

5) Affiliate marketing programs

6) Adwords

Bootstrap Recruiting - Focus on raw talent

1) Networking

2) University

3) Competitors

4) Contract recruiters

5) Not Monster

6) Nurture "talent in working"

Bootstrap Operations - Leverage ecosystem
1) Core: Product development, Sales, Customer support

2) Not Core: Coding, marketing, overhead, manufacturing

When do you stop Bootstrapping?

1) The VCs start to call

2) Product & market becomes hot

3) You can validate revenue projections

4) You can validate payback models

5) You can operate indefinitely at break even

6) You are profitable

7) Never

More on networking sites, Kaneva, Twinity, Spoke, Jigsaw,..

The social networking services are morphing with the virtual worlds from gaming. Two good examples are;

Kaneva a US based company in Atlanta where you can design your own world and mix it with facts and real people you network with. Try it out here. A German based counterpart exaple is Twinity which is in private beta right now by the Berlin based company, Metaversum.
I have only tried Kaneva so far, unfortunately, their business model seems to be based right away on paying for building up our virtual world.

AlwasOn Network is among other things a networking service. AO is mainly known in Silicon Valley for their extensive coverage of start-up companies, inventions, new technologies, Venture Capital coverage (including arranging briefings, conferences and seminars). Bigger events are often done jointly or sponsored by KPMG. Take a look at my profile and try out the services and good access to information and personal contacts you get from AO.

Spoke has transformed itself from being just another networking site into a serious business database resource of 40M+ business contacts. You can easily search (though site response is slow sometimes) for all levels of business people. After renewed use of Spoke recently, they can be viewed as a premium version of Jigsaw (more about Jigsaw later in this post). This service though comes at a premium price, $50/month for an invidual user. Well worth the price if you are a serious corporate marketing user.

SiliconIndia is a relatively new networking and information site in India that is still in beta and allows free access to all members. Good portal to access the booming Indian/Asian continent. Worth keeping an eye on.

WirelessFactors is a niche networking site mainly addressing wireless professionals. The site is still small though but with useful info for wireless.

Jigsaw is a more open (free option in addition to premium services) business contact service than Spoke. Jigsaw works like a tradingpost for business cards. Good contact database, though limited to about half a dozen countries, you can e.g. only access or trade contacts in UK for the EU countries. Jigsaw also gives you free access to Anagram, (register at Jigsaw and dowload from Jigsaw) a useful software tool for easy drag and drop of contact information into Jigsaw.

Staffingforce is an interesting networking site entirely focused on recruiting networks. Read before you do something about this site, George Vasu's blog, there you will get all you need to know before registering. See, http://vasutown.blogspot.com/ A very interesting approach to business building and social networking.

This is the networking update for now.

Happy reading,/Thomas

Review and opinions about business and social networking sites

Social networking services has become the latest hot thing to have and participate within the last couple of years.

Here's a list of sites and services I have used the last 2-4 years with mixed results.

LinkedIn

The first site I started using was LinkedIn. LinkedIn started as a networking site where you could only become a member by being invited by somebody already a member. LinkedIn started growing quickly in 2004, becoming one thing on the net you had to be a member of. LinkedIn has evolved, adding more web 2.0 type services, become open and has more than 17M users.

LinkedIn is based on the concept of how many degrees away you are from a person. People you are connected with are your 1st degree of contacts. You can get introduced to others through your network or become a premium subscriber and (depending on your subscription level) get access directly to people not in your network. LinkedIn also allows you to create groups and join groups others create. LinkedIn has a job search and listing service for those of you looking for a new job. Many listings are also unique.

LinkedIn has some restrictions by default, no blind mass introductions using find colleagues or mass introductions resulting in a high percentage of refusals. You are also allowed max 3000 invitations to be sent out. After that you have to ask for more, 300-500 at a time.

Check it out if you are not a user, http://www.lidforss.com/in/tlidforss (my public profile) and send me an invitation.

Facebook

This was a service started by university students to keep in touch with friends. Facebook is a lot more of a social networking site than LinkedIn. Facebook also publishes an application developer API allowing 3rd party applications to work as plug-ins on Facebook. This has resulted in scores of applications available for almost any service. This is both good and bad, you have to be careful about not accepting too many applications, if you do, you will get bombarded with messages and notification requests. The good thing, YOU CAN LEAVE and REMOVE your appllicatios. The same goes for groups. Facebook is a good site when you want to experiment and try new services. Facebook has a restriction for max 5000 users.

Facebook has nowadays more than 60M users.

Connect with me and send a friend request to tlidforss at yahoo.com and check out my profile;

http://www.facebook.com/people/Thomas_Lidforss/511158599

Ecademy

Ecademy is a boutique style UK based site that has worked as an "exclusive club". Ecademy is the oldest networking site, celebrating its 10th year of operation now. Ecademy has a lot of quality contacts, with clubs, local (geograpically speaking) clubs, news, blogs, marketplace. Ecademy is very interntional, the only restriction being English language only on the site. For people who are used to US based sites, I can recommend Ecademy as an excellent English speaking alternative. Try it out, you have nothing to loose, view my profile to see what kind of infomation Ecademy provides;

Ecademy has 300K+ users.

http://www.ecademy.com/account.php?id=60379&xref=60379

Plaxo (Pulse)

Plaxo is for most people known as the MS Outlook contact and address book synchrinization service. Plaxo started a very web 2.0 developed service more than one year ago, allowing networking, with RSS feeds, groups and sharing of info. Plaxo Pulse has a very simple and easy to use interface. Unfortunately, Plaxo only allows 1000 connections, then you get a stupid message, you have more than 1000 connections, please delete some so you can connect!!!

So, my question is how do I know which connection to delete just so I can accept a new one? Right now I have probably about 100+ connection request I cannot even reply to. Another restriction is also, max 10k contacts in your address book, after that synchronization stops and Plaxo effectively quits working, so I have not used it a lot lately, even though I still like their services.

Plaxo has 10M+ users.

Spock

Spock is a relatively new site. Spock has based their services on the concept of "tags". You build up a list of tags for yourself and people you connect with. Your connections can also add tags on your profile. Spock has a fast and easy to use userinterface. Try it out; see Spock profile info:

www.spock.com/Thomas-Lidforss-Ik2sF1EW

Spoke

Spoke is a US site that very much looks like the European Viadeo and Xing. I have not used Spoke that much but they have more than 30M users.

See http://center.spoke.com/profiles/ThomasLidforss to view profile data information.

Ryze

Ryze is another US site that has been around the last 5 years. I have not used it very much but if you would like to view type of information in a profile, see

http://www.ryze.com/go/mpnow1

MySpace

Myspace is the world no. 1 site for social networking. Unfortunately you can eaily get too much junk request and info. Very social site though. I use mainly because of relatives of mine.

Myspace has more than 230M users.

See, http://www.myspace.com/tlidforss for profile data sample.

Xing

Xing started using the name OpenBC and changed to Xing. Xing is a German company but with a very interntional approach allowing you to have and choose between different languages. I personally like Xing, very good search functions, matching functions for your haves and wants in your profile. Suggestions on people and business opportunities you should look up based on your profile. Xing is also as a premium user cheaper than most sites, about 6 Euro/month.

See, http://www.xing.com/go/invite/3233530.693c4a for profile data sample.

Viadeo

Viadeo is a French based company to some extent like Xing. Very international with multiple languages and profile languages.

See, http://www.viadeo.com/en/profile/thomas.lidforss for profile data sample.

Doostang

Doostang is a career and job oriented US site where you have to get invited to become a user. See http://www.doostang.com/ for a look.

Naymz

Naymz is a relatively new site building up your network based on a "trust" concept. Once you reach trust level 9, you get power features search wise and Google submissios. One good thing, Naymz sponsor links on Google and cross references your blog, homesite and linkedin profile page which improves your visibility on Google.

See, http://thomas.lidforss.name/ or search directory using

www.naymz.com/directory/thomas+lidforss

GoBigNetwork

GoBigNetwork - This is a network focusing on networking among business people interested in growing their businesses, start one or work for one, little activity though, don't really know
if a lot of people are using this site see, www.gobignetwork.com/profiles/Thomas-Lidforss.aspx

CollectiveX

CollectiveX - semi-active user, this is a site where all sites are open for open networkers. CollectiveX allows you to create or join groups.See, http://www.collectivex.com/

TheMetaNetwork

TheMetaNetwork - this is a site organized by Christian Mayaud in the New York area. Christian is number 2 in the world on LinkedIn, got mad at LinkedIn restrictions and started his own networking site; http://www.themetanetwork.com/

You can register, join the LinkedIn group LIONS and update your "The Lions' Lair" status. You will be listed on the LION's excelfile list over members and your willingness to be more or
less a fully open networker. This is one of the most used services from TheMetaNetwork site.

Ning

Ning - This is the site where you can so far for free create your own networking site, open or closed depending on what you want to do including creating groups for your networking site. I
am an active user in a couple of ning sites just to experiement and see if I would like to create my own site with this service. See one example,

http://pmbcom.ning.com/profile/ThomasLidforss

Konnects

Konnects is a new site with an intersting concept for matching leads based on your profile, creating and managing groups and communities.

See, http://www.konnects.com/profile/mpnow1

ZoomInfo

ZoomInfo is a reverse personal and business networking site. ZoomInfo builds your profile based on public internet site information, you can claim your profile by updating or correcting the information Zoominfo has put together.

See, www.zoominfo.com/people/Lidforss_Thomas_200383525.aspx

Biztribe

Biztribe is like a European version of Ryze with networking and job information. I have not used it very much so I have for the time being no further comments.

Jobster

Jobster is a career oriented website like Doostang but open. You get pretty good matches (based on skills matching and skills keywords you choose)for your profile plus you can network with others.

See, http://www.jobster.com/people/tlidforss

Friendster

Friendster is a mix of Myspace and Facebook, have not played with it much and I am no longer a user.

I will add a new post and come back with comments about SiliconIndia, WirelessFactors, PartnerUp and HireAbility and Vasutown (both for people who actively network for recruiter job purposes).

regards,

/Thomas

Meet Jay Conrad Levinson at the May Marketing Event in the Nice, France area

Dear Blogreader,

I am delighted to announce tickets for: "The Most Prestigious Marketing Event of 2008" with Jay Conrad Levinson" on the French Riviera are on sale!

Click here to view all the details and secure your participation at this exceptional event; as one of my blogreaders, you are entitled to a 10% discount, just enter "xgmcp996" when orderiing!

Jay Conrad Levinson's speaking presentation, "The Miracle and Innovation of Guerrilla Marketing", will run for two hours; you will have a chance to interact with Jay during the weekend and ask him questions that matter the most to your business

-- Jay will share laser-focused and inexpensive marketing tactics to really help you recession-proof your business. During Jay's time on stage, he will clarify marketing, excite and inspire the audience with stories and tactics of guerrilla marketing, and create an aura of excitement at the opportunity to breathe life into his techniques immediately

-- at no cost or just a tiny cost.Jay will explain the key differences between guerrilla marketing and traditional marketing, the 100 weapons of guerrilla marketing, prove that marketing is now a science, and delve into the personalities of successful guerrilla marketers. He'll reveal the key secrets of guerrilla marketing, the truth about on-line marketing, and the steps you can take immediately to earn serious profits with a guerrilla marketing attack.

You will get the following Bonuses with your registration:

* Bonus #1: "The Way of the Guerrilla" -- a $599 value

* Bonus #2: Complete Guerrilla Marketing Toolkit with audios -- a $199 value

* Bonus #3: One month free membership in the Guerrilla Marketing Association -- a $49 value

That's $847 in Guerrilla Marketing resources absolutely free!

The event has been scheduled for May 24 & 25, 2008 but please do not make any travel arrangements until you have received an email confirming the event; you will receive an email from the event organizer at least 30 days before the event to ensure you get the best rate when you book your trip to Nice International Airport, France.

In case of any questions related to the organization of this event, feel free to contact Christophe Poizat, the event organizer at: chris at christophepoizat.com or call him direct on +33 977 903 249 (GMT+1) -- you can also contact Amy Levinson, VP of Guerrilla Marketing International at olympiagal at aol.com

I look forward to seeing you at "The Most Prestigious Marketing Event of 2008" with Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, on the French Riviera!

Sincerely,

Thomas

tlidforss at yahoo.com
http://www.lidforss.com

PS: Click here to view all the details and secure your participation at this exceptional event; "as a blogreader, you are entitled to a 10% discount, just enter "xgmcp996" when ordering!

PPS: Testimonials for Jay Conrad Levinson

“Jay is one of the foremost business marketing experts in the world. No one knows how to use the weapons of the trade better than industry expert Jay Levinson." -- Entrepreneur magazine

“Your speech at Entrepreneur’s Day was great! What a good way to kick-off this conference with such a strong emphasis on marketing. Guerrilla marketing is just what these entrepreneurs need to understand. Your style and delivery was excellent and I heard many young entrepreneurs talk about the impact it made.” -- John R. Thorne, Chairman, Carnegie Mellon

“The right person at the right time at the right place – that was you as guest speaker at the U.S. Small Business Administration/Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce Small Business Luncheon. Everyone who attended was thrilled with your presentation. I understand that the L.A. Chamber is still taking orders for your books and tapes.” -- Patty DeDominic, Chief Executive Officer

"Jay Conrad Levinson had coffee with me in 1983 and it changed my life forever. Jay has forgotten more about effective marketing techniques than most of us will ever know. He's the man." -- Seth Godin, best-selling author of Permission Marketing and Unleashing the Ideavirus.

"Your program yesterday was absolutely terrific. It is incredible how much excellent material you packed into that hour and a half session. No one could have left that session without feeling they really got their money’s worth!" -- Kandace Laass, Director, Quality Learning Services, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Sweden Networking Group "Meet and Greet" Mixer

Meet me at the first "meet and greet" mixer organized by the LinkedIn group, Sweden Networking Group on April 10, 18.00-20.30 (6-8.30 pm) at Spegelmatsalen, Berns Salonger (one floor up from the main bar). The address is; Berns Salonger, Berzeli Park, SE-103 25 Stockholm, Sweden

RSVP needed, contact Lisa Sculati for information about this LinkedIn group and activities around it.

See http://www.linkedin.com/in/lisasculati or lisa.sculati at yahoo.com

Contact me, Thomas Lidforss to setup an appointment +4673-701-3465

Location and Berns Salonger Information:

View Larger Map

Turbo 3G vs. Wireless Internet Anywhere in USA

It is interesting to see how aggressively various "Turbo 3G" modem for latop users are being promoted in Europe. Every wireless operating company is marketing their new 7.2MBits/s wireless internet anywhere service. Pricing is about $29/month, free modem if you agree to a 12 month service.

Compare this with (still poor coverage) and 1.5-2MBits/s service from US wireless service providers at a $50-$60/month price (if you already have cell phone service with the company in question). AT&T and T-Mobile have a potential advantage using the international 3G WCDMA standard by being able to "piggy-back" on the volume production and competition internationally.

Also worth noticing is that the Chinese company Huawei has captured a big market for "Turbo 3G" modems in Northern Europe.

On the Fixed Internet access side, you can get +24MBits/s internet access for $39/month. It is about time for internet services in USA to catch up with the rest of the world.

/Thomas

US-EU-ME/Asia Business Opportunities

With the event of booming economies in South Eastern Asia and the new EU countries in Eastern Europe, I have started on a journey to work out of Europe to promote a "Virtual Silicon Valley Worlds" business concept.

There are many "Silicon Valley like" areas in the world nowdays. The existence of internet technology support, using voice/video communications in addition to business and social networking, sharing of information, creating joint business projects is getting easier and easier.

Interested parties, please contact me at http://www.lidforss.com/

Ecademy is one example of a well established business organization within EU. Ecademy celebrates its 10th year of operations. I encourage you to join me on Ecademy. Click on picture/link below to find out more.

http://www.ecademy.com/?xref=60379

There are also a number of interesting business clubs operating on Ecademy. Two examples are Scandinavian Vikings Business and Social Club and Global Capital Access Club. You can join any club once you are a member of Ecademy. I also encourage you to consider signing up for PowerNetworker membership if you like what you see. It is well worth it.

Regards, Thomas