Hidden Value in Web 2.0
Yesterday I received an email from Paul Freet, founder and CEO of BigContacts. Since it was a generic “I thought you’d be interested in this since you have written about stuff like this before” email, I was going to instantly delete it. Instead, I wrote him back a hopefully productive email explaining why I thought generic ones like his didn’t work and, in fact, usually backfired with bloggers.
That got us into an email dialogue about the challenges in getting noticed and I share his pain with my clients as well as my bride’s business. As more and more people are connected via the ‘net, the noise has already become deafening and getting noticed is harder than ever.
I’m probably the only person I know that’s gone to every Web 2.0 company (see Lists of Web 2.0 Lists here) at least once per quarter for the last five quarters. I’ve learned how Web 2.0 companies should tell a value proposition story in 15 seconds (the time it takes to absorb it on the home page); who has updated their offering adding more value or starting to charge for it; the offerings that are features…not companies; which ones have failed (they’re offline though still in the directories); and how much incredible value is just laying there waiting to be discovered.
Paul’s offering is very robust and is something you should go take a peek at right now. There is a fully populated demo so you can try it.
Part of our dialogue included a statement on how bummed I am that there is so much incredible value in Web 2.0-land and almost no one that I talk to — especially with great needs that could be solved by Paul’s solution and dozens of others in many categories — has any clue they even exist!
The answer isn’t Techcrunch since “buyers” don’t go there (and especially in light of this post by Mike). I’ve been noodling over what is needed to match demand (since users don’t even know stuff exists) with the solutions providers. If you’ve seen any nouveau sales or distribution model out there for Web 2.0 companies, I’m really interested.
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About Steve Borsch
Strategist. Learner. Idea Guy. Salesman. Connector of Dots. Friend. Husband & Dad. CEO. Janitor. More here.
Connecting the Dots Podcast
Podcasting hit the mainstream in July of 2005 when Apple added podcast show support within iTunes. I'd seen this coming so started podcasting in May of 2005 and kept going until August of 2007. Unfortunately was never 'discovered' by national broadcasters, but made a delightfully large number of connections with people all over the world because of these shows. Click here to view the archive of my podcast posts.
My first visit. Thanks for the report and Wikinomics reccomend. Had a hard time subscribing in IE. I’ll try firefox.
Thanks for the list, I’ll be checking out some of the ideas. I’m not sure how to get the message out that there is more available that what one sees. I like the http://www.go2web20.com site for new ideas. Not the best way maybe but it sure allows me to see what is out there. I visit regularly just to browse and try. In education, I often try to find things that will improve my productivity, be of interest for my students, provide them with collaborative options, give them access to information and other such things. As a consumer, I’m looking for options that all me to access things I’m interested in and give me information. As a small time business owner, I want information on doing business, how to save money, how to get more with less, all those great things. As a parent, I’m looking for accurate information about a variety of things from teenager depression to how to respond to a fit in the mall. I’m usually able to find something there. I also like Read/Write Web. It’s in my RSS. I’m off track here. Great information, thanks for all the good ideas.