Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria : Chicisimo

Yesterday, Gabriel Aldamiz-Echevarria, the founder of Chicisimo gave lecture to our class.

He has already been the entrepreneur for 3 startups and has enough experience of Internet business.

He had spent significant time in Sillicon Valley and made alliance with websugar.com, which focuses on women blogs in US, and found the online business chances targeting for women fashion.

Then, he launched online fasion community site – Chicisimo in Spain. In Chicisimo web-site, members can upload their fashion pictures and share fashion trend among members.

The key points which I impressed are…

●  Business idea

By utilizing nowadays Social network trend, Gabriel targets at women fashion and launched Chicisimo. I think that the key point is normal women can upload their pictures and share them in this community ; every women who join this community can become a fashion model on this site. If only the pictures of fashion models are uploaded on this site, it would get hard to call on… (Their style & appearance are perfect and sometimes it is hard for normal women to refer to their fashion…. )

In Japan, similar kind of web site (http://www.zoolook.me/) is now catching on because ordinal women can share their fashion by uploading their picture…. All members can feel a sense of affinity ….

●  Start early

Owing to his enough knowledge & experience with Internet business and human network, he was able to launch this business less than a week. Firstly he created ugly prototype with UI (User Interface) and launched it in this short term. Normal entrepreneurs might wait for launch until they can complete neat business model & products, but he did it immediately. This energy & spirit is the point where most entrepreneurs should follow.

I respect not only for his attitude toward disclosing everything he thinks and wants to say, but also for his ability to get things done.

Thanks…

Earthquakes and Cloud Computing

Source: http://www.cloudtweaks.com/2011/03/earthquakes-and-cloud-computing/

“We learn geology the morning after the earthquake.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), American poet and lecturer.

Switch on the television, and there’s only one news item grabbing headlines around the globe – the earthquake in Japan. Unless you have been meditating in the Himalayas, you must know that Japan has been hit by the strongest earthquake in 140 years, measuring a massive 8.9 on the Richter scale.

Although the epicenter was hundreds of miles from the mainland, the resultant tsunami has resulted in extensive loss of life and material damages. The official death toll stands at 574, while local media reports put fatality totals closer to 1,300 people. With thousands unaccounted for, that number is expected to rise. Damages are expected to exceed $50 billion.

What is causing consternation among people is the threat of nuclear radiation. A nuclear power plant exploded on Saturday 12 March, triggering a nationwide atomic alert. Being the only country to have witnessed the horrific nature of nuclear fallout on civilian populations following the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings in World War II, the events at the Fukushima nuclear plant in northern Japan, 250 kilometers north of Tokyo, has caused panic among the people.

So, what do all these have to do with cloud computing?

It may seem heartless talking about business when there’s so much death and destruction, but it’s a proven fact of life that life goes on, and for that to happen, building up businesses is a necessary requirement. And in this, cloud computing can lead the way.

I have argued that one of the advantages of cloud computing, quite contrary to popular perception, is security. This is the security of redundancy, the knowledge that if data in one location is lost to natural disasters like earthquakes and fires, there’s data still available at locations far away. (See:Computing Without Borders – What Works, What Doesn’t and Is Cloud Computing Secure? Yes, Another Perspective)

In my opinion, the ability of a business to recover from such calamities and return to one’s feet can be one of the major attractions of cloud computing. And there has been actual research to back up this argument. According to a recent report by Enterprise Strategy Group, disaster recovery is the prime reason for adopting cloud computing solutions.

It may see uncanny, but only days before the Japan earthquake, IDC Research country manager Ulrich Loeffler spoke about how cloud computing can help with disaster recovery after an earthquake. IDC or Industrial Data Corporation is a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology markets.

Although Loeffler was speaking in a different context, the earthquake that hit New Zealand on 22 February earlier this year, his words seems strangely prophetic in retrospect. “I think a lot of them will consider the cloud option. For businesses that have had their offices or systems destroyed, you would have to think whether you invested to build up your own infrastructure again,” Loeffler had been quoted as saying. With Japan’s much larger knowledge-based economy and much more severe earthquake, his words are even more relevant here.

On a more immediate note, cloud-based solutions can be effectively used to coordinate relief efforts. With traditional IT infrastructure damaged, relief agencies can draw upon resources on the cloud for their needs. It’s our fervent hope that Japan recovers from this blow as soon as possible and regains its position as a leading light of human and technological achievement.

※ I think from this disaster most companies in Japan will migrate from in-house IT system to cloud service. If this kind of disaster happens, companies who have system server and manage their own IT system in-house, would face a huge risk ; server down and all systems down..... From this experience, many companies will realize the importance of cloud service.

lessons I learned from Coches.com founder

The last Wednesday talk was from Iñaki Arrola, Founder and CEO of Coches.com.

The first motivation and ideas he started to launch business were “two cars were merchandised in two different prices”. 

This is quite simple phenomenon but he had an eye on it and launched this business. I think unique & interesting business models are scattering in our daily life, therefore, we should take care our life, as he did, and once we find unique phenomenon or problem, we should tackle on it immediately. Otherwise, this might be scooped by someone else….

He started this business with 28,550 euros and no tech person in the team in the first 3 years. I was surprised because in this kind of internet business, I thought the role of CTO is inevitable…. But, he did business without CTO….

What I am impressed most from his lesson/message were

●  Don’t start business with friends

I think this might be true. Actually, some of my friends started venture with friends and mostly failed. As an entrepreneur, Iñaki Arrola taught us the importance of finding good business   partners according to the roles.

●  Motivate for employee

Almost all employees join the start-up hoping to dream…. Even if the salary is low at first stage, the entrepreneur should give them some equity and challenging responsibility.

Entrepreneur can make employees highly motivated.

●  Listen to customers

This is the basic business concept and everybody knows it. But, it does not always work well…. Coches.com makes out.

The questions I want to ask ,,,,

● Coches.com dos not turn over other goods, such as used jewelry, watches, and home electronics, besides cars ?

● Cohes.com has no plan to expand business in different countries ?

Thanks Enrique & Iñaki for exciting lectures!! 

Managing the Tech Startups session4 Iñaki Arrola

I just finished reading mini case of COCHES.COM.
Used car auction through the Internet looks pretty saturated market, but I am interested in his final decision and entrepreneurial spirits.
( In spite of severe competition and existing of strong competitor... )
 I want to listen today's lecture , focusing on how Coches made a promotion to customers, approached first customers, and established brand awareness...

Managing the Tech Startup class- session2

Wednesday was the first session of Guest Speaker in Managing the Tech Startup class. The speaker was Julio Alonso from Weblogs SL(http://www.weblogssl.com/). I am really interested in Web marketing & Internet business, so, for me, it was perfect and really fruitful session!!

The birthplace of this service was in US and Weblogs SL treats blogs written in Spanish for Spanish readers.

Weblogs gathers a number of blogs vertically in a network. Weblogs earns profits from web advertisement, mainly from Google Adsense. The blogs are covering a broad range of topics, such as consumer electronics, economy, fashion, and foods.

They focus on 1) user behavior, and 2) revenue.

By making use of Google Analytic, they gather a number of information and analyze them 
- what pages are popular for users ?
- estimate user traffic in web site
- what is effective keywords?
- where user comes from
- calculate of cost-effective of advertisement

 etc...

In my opinion, Weblogs make use of inbound marketing method and this business model meets the needs of today’s web/internet times. Weblogs utilize many Google products, including Google Adsense and Google Analytics, and have succeeded well.
For Google itself, the more these kinds of business spread, the more Google earns revenue. Does Google keep win champion ship of this kind of Internet advertising business? 
For me, it is “Yes” in a few years but, from the perspectives of long-term, I am not sure….Facebook or Twitter might be a competitor for Google a little bit,,, but their core business model is different… 
So, anyone knows Who is the most threat for Google in this kind of business, please let me know.

Julio Alonso Weblogs

Today is the first guest speaker session - Julio Alonso.
I read short business case on campus online and this business model looks pretty interesting and getting ahead of times.
I have questions about...

1) how much advertising revenue Google itself can earn from  Weblogs
2) what is the next strategy for Weblogs to keep long sustainability....

Anyway, I am looking forward to taking today's class.

Managing the Tech Startup

Monday was the first session of Managing the Tech Startup.
Although I wanted to attend this class, due to the big earthquake happened in Japan, I was stuck in Japan and took this class virtually via Skype.
Thank you for warming support - Jacobo & Enrique!!.

Japan is now facing terrible disaster.

On March11th, this massive earthquake( M 9.0 ) occurred and tsunami  struck our country.
So far, more than 3,000 people have passed away and more than 10,000 people have still missing in Tohoku, Japan.

Tthe problem of nuclear nightmare has not yet solved.

A lot of aftershocks have followed in eastern Japan.

To make up for power shortage in Tohoku area, scheduled blackout has started in Kanto area since this Monday.

I'd like to offer my deepest condolences and truly hope Japan will get over this disaster.