The AO Global 250 represents the best of emerging innovators and disrupters from all the technology sectors we cover, and therefore is our most distinguished annual competition.
In anticipation of Venture Summit West, the gathering of investors taking place this week in Half Moon Bay, we surveyed the key players in the high-growth markets. Here's what they're saying.
Last week, a panel of big-name marketing execs tackled the question of how to crack the online branding code. Ben Bajarin, the undisputed youngest voice on the panel and president of Creative Strategies, said that the key is niche social networks. He cited Dogster and Momster as ideal targets for branding campaigns. Integration across the 3 screens is also a must, he said. Not necessarily a ground-breaking idea, but interesting to hear it from the mouth of a bonafide IM-gener. The full panel, which features the top execs from Ogilvy, AKQA, Vibrant Media, and Cleary & Partners is available here: http://alwayson.goingon.com/page/display/23247?param=session/181
We all know that VCs and startups have to be bullish about 2008, despite a rocky economy, but when a top analyst says digital media M&A will be up, even after an explosive 2007, it's worth another look. JP Morgan's Imran Khan said at OnMedia NYC this month that we'll continue to see Google, eBay, Amazon, Expedia and company dole out big bucks for up media startups, because hunger for traffic, better ad technology and traffic-to-transaction conversion will grow unabated, even in a downturn. New media may find itself on a rock in the midst of a mudslide.
Given the ubiquity of cell phones, you'd think advertisers would be all over them. So why did mobile advertising account for less than 2/10ths of one percent of the total advertising spent worldwide in 2007? At OnMedia NYC this month, CBS VP Cyriac Roeding railed against the complexities plagueing the American mobile industry, and called for a general iphone-esque simplification.
How Music-Industry Partnerships Can Help Brands Reach Target Demographics. Panelists: Moderator: Anjula Acharia Bath, CEO & Co-founder, www.desihits.com Rohan Oza, Chief Marketing Officer, Glaceau Roy Edmondson, Partner, Global Brand Practice, Ketchum Liz Schimel, Global Head of Music, Nokia Charlie Walk, former President, Epic Records & current President/CEO, CWE Media, in partnership with Endemol USA
AO proudly presents the inaugural GoingGreen East 50. With this list, AO's editors and advisors introduce a new generation of game-changing greentech startups from the Eastern U.S. and Canada.
Bruce Nelson, Omnicom's Vice Chairman, gave his historical perspective of the evolution of 20th/21st-century media at AO's OnMedia conference last week. He had some interesting things to say about metrics - if you measure hits, you'll end up with a lot of fraternity humor. As lead and sales tracking improves, maybe the quality of online content will too. The whole panel is available here: http://alwayson.goingon.com/page/display/23247?param=session/189
Evolution Trumps Design. Many interesting unsolved problems in computer science, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology require the construction of complex systems.
Venture Capital 2.0. Venture Capital has underwritten most of the transformative software and Internet companies for the last twenty years...
Tim Draper told AO that Silicon Valley will be stuck in a quagmire until the Sarbox noose is loosened. “At DFJ, we have 20 companies ready to go public, and they are in a bit of a logjam. That's created by this system that we’re stuck with—Sarbanes Oxley. "Once they’ve either repealed or eliminated Sarbanes Oxley, that logjam will be broken, venture capitalists will be able to return great amounts of money to their investors, and their investors will fund them again.” Read more: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/29891
Climate, Economics, Reality, Part 2 What is really happening to the earth? What are the observational and simulation data saying? What is the political and economic reality - are business models based on climate change mitigation the ultimate safe haven for investors, or overhyped schemes that are vulnerable to imminent shifts in scientific consensus? Moderator: Paul Deninger, Vice Chairman, Jefferies & Company, Inc. Howard Hayden, Professor Emeritus, Physics, University of Connecticut Richard Lindzen, Professor, MIT Nick d'Arbeloff, President, New England Clean Energy Council Paul Epstein, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School
The top private companies creating new business opportunities in digital entertainment.
Elevation Partner's Roger McNamee predicts that the mobile device industryâs migration from feature phones to smart phones will produce even greater disruption than what the PC industry experienced as it moved from character-mode to graphical interface
Water technology will replace the battle against global warming as a global priority, says Accel Partners' Joe Schoendorf. The world is running out of usable water, and this will kill millions more people in our lifetime than global warming.
For the last 20 years, venture capital has underwritten most of the transformative software and Internet companies. However, change is in the wind. Evolving economics (for both startups and venture funds), combined with changing markets, will have a dramatic impact on the venture capital industry, and move things away from Internet IT. Get ready for a Venture Capital Shakeout.
Dr. Craig Venter revealed how his company is recombining DNA to create new sources of rapidly diminishing resources. Ream more: http://alwayson.goingon.com/permalink/post/29339
Venture Capital and Angel Financing Workshop With the cash crunch and downturn, only top-flight firms can get funding. Venture veterans brief entrepreneurs on the state of private equity and how to raise the next round. Moderator: Sam Angus, Partner, Fenwick & West Mark Stevens, Partner, Fenwick & West Tom Patterson, CEO, Wize Bob Greene, Partner, Contour Venture Partners David Pakman, Partner, Venrock
Filler
Venture Summit East in Boston is an opportunity for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, industry professionals, bankers, and analysts to gather and discuss the state of the industry.
Not finding what you want? View results from YouTube.
Comments