Instant Affinity

During a bout of insomnia last night I realized that I know three married couples - each met their eventual spouse while sitting next to each other during an airplane flight. There must be a business/service somewhere in this randomness - Maybe a type of speed dating or blind date while on an airplane? A website with a visual seating chart (Hey, I'm going to be on flight 812 on Thursday and here is my Match.com profile. Just think instant affinity, short time investment, visual confirmation... if I could remember what it is like to be single (that was over 11 years ago) I'm sure this list would be longer.

Chuck (think of the movie Night Shift), call Virgina America and tell them they should pilot (pardon the punn) this on all Vegas bound routes.  

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Ad Sponsored Quickbooks Online

As I review the May month-end financial statements for Circos I hits me that Intuit could probably increase their revenue with an ad sponsored online version of Quickbooks. At 19.95$ per month for a three user online edition Intuit could easily make more money 'giving' access away for free.

Here's the thesis:  The number of page views and ad impressions per month alone may justify the 20$. Granted - there are only two of us using our three user license of Quickbooks online and we only use it about 8 days a month- But I must have tonight alone clicked one hundred times on the site while reviewing AP and checking some equity entries.  So lets assume, 2 people x 8 days of usage avg per month x 100 page views per day = 1600 page views per month. A eCPM of 12.50$  recoups the lack of a 20$ monthly fee.  Sound too high? OK how much do you think Office Max would pay for an ad that is a direct compete against the invoice I'm reviewing from Staples?  Or how much an ISP would invest when they know they are only putting their ad in-front of businesses that us a competitor's product that costs more than their offer.  My hunch is that there is a real business here. All that aside, imagine the database of entrepreneurs and business owners you'd capture. (Ok, Intuit already has the db) 

This one seams to be written in the clouds for all to read. Use some open source ERP light accounting software, toss it up on Amazon's EC2/S3, and call Circos to help you monetize the user generated content. *smiles 

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Upscoop

Not even close. I tried a new feature on RapLeaf this weekend. The portable reputation company created Upscoop, a service that is supposed to let you upload contacts and find out what social networks your contacts are in. Well it didn't work. Not even close. What is worse is the error message is useless. It is too bad as I really do like the concept of portable online reputations and this was my first impression of the company.

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IM aggregator could be better

I was introduced to a service called meebo.com about two months ago and thought nothing of it. Essentially the site allows you to aggregate all of your IM sign accounts and access them from any Internet connection. That in and of it self is worth something but in my book falls into the cool category not the essential...

Last week I notice Jeff Nolan's Venture Chronicles has a meebo widget on the blog template. I've since added one to my blog. The widget tells my blog visitors when I am online (nothing new there as Yahoo has allowed the online smiley for sometime now. What is interesting is the fact that an anonymous visitor is able to IM me. Not only that but if I am offline they may leave an msg too.

So that all falls into the cool category for me but not essential or anything I could make money with (call me shallow).  I would like to see meebo add two features:

1- I am almost never logged into meebo.com and there for my widget (on my blog) tells visitors that I am offline.  There are many times I am indeed online and on IM. My default (if you will) is Yahoo. I would like to see meebo add its 'guest user' to each of my IM accounts as a 'friend'. After it is added then meebo would know if I am indeed online and what my status is. I would not have to log into meebo.com for my blog users to know my online status.

2- I'd like to see meebo get into the email marketing game (or vise versa for that matter). Imagine sending a email to somebody (think email marketing), the marketer today knows if you have read (opened) the email, clicked through, and all the bread crumbs you leave behind on the site. Now imagine the IM widget is on the landing page. You could proactively invite the email recipient to chat with you. "Hey, Chuck. I see you received my email and are checking out our website. Let me know if you have any questions. Just type them here. We are here to serve you." Kinda spooky to think about at first but I could see this becoming an expected interaction from prospects/consumers.

 Anyway, check out meebo.com or leave me an offline msg at the lower right hand site of my blog to get an idea of how this may work.

 UPDATE- meebo is here to stay. You'll find it at the TOP of my blog.

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Why take a beater when you could sell a new car?

Having a little one that is attends a private school and a wife that works for one we are no stranger to annual giving campaigns. What has bothered me as of late is the 'donate your car' programs many not for profits run.  I would much rather buy my car from the not for profit.

Here's the half baked idea:

Non-profits that have endowments get into the Automobile Leasing business. Use the endowment to acquire the asset (e.g. cars), lease to your constituents, collect above market interest rates, and let your constituents take the 'interest' as a charitable donation. There could even be some opportunity in the 'buy off the lease' option.  Of course I don't know one not for profit that could manage this type of process but there lies the for profit business opportunity.

Maybe the CPAs out there in the blogo-sphere can round out why this wouldn't work as a win-win. 

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Long time favorite start page to be retired

The headings say it all. I've been using My Yahoo as my start page for what seams like forever (5 years- is that possible?). Today I have started the transition to Google. I've been really impressed with Gmail, the Google Toolbar, the spreadsheets and now the My Google Homepage and Reader. Two things I am not sold on yet are the calendar and the whole privacy thing.  Net Net I trust Google and don't have much to hide so Google is the winner. 

I've been waiting for Yahoo to get their act together for quite some time. I have my domain hosted by yahoo but that too may only be a matter of time....

So, why do I hold YHOO long in my portfolio? Simple, it is under-valued, has a positive catalyst on the way...

The better question may be why haven't I invested in GOOG?  I've ignored this one for too long and will dive into the numbers this weekend.

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Google Toolbar is Impressive and Scary

So I had it with the lack of spellcheck on this blog and for that matter may web forms (comments I blogs specifically) that don't have spellcheck....so I finally downloaded the Google Toolbar. It is great. The spellchecker and Bookmarks are the two primary features I use. The spellchecker will review any form on any web page that allows user entry. It is fantastic.  The scary part is that there is a personalized search feature that while I could see this being really helpful e.g. how many times does a Google search for "TYC" need to give me Texas Youth Commission before it figures out I am interested in TYC's stock price? Google is pretty upfront about the fact that they will need to capture your web usage statistics in order to personalize your experience. I opted out of this feature.

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Mobile BioDiesel and Hydrogen Stations

My neighbor called the other day with a half-baked business idea (a habit we have developed over the past few months). During our discussions we concluded this is a good idea but a crappy business (for us to pursue).

Deliver fuel at night, on a weekly or twice weekly basis, to households and fill the cars' tanks. As a household that has our dry-cleaning picked and delivered I was all over this as a great service. As an entrepreneur...well... it is riddled with issues and generaly speaking it doesn't fit my criteria for pursuing therefor I posted in this category. *smiles

Although the original idea we discussed was for delivering unleaded fuel I suggested the focus start niche on alternative fuels as a means of reducing capital costs while increasing reach thereby expanding the market and that the service be on-demand rather than scheduled delivery.

I maybe on a limb here but let's assume most men drive until the fuel gage is really close to Empty then they pull into whichever station is closest. If there is more than one station we may have some brand loyalty but for the most part it is convenience, price, and then brand. So, if say Chevron decided to have a delivery service like this they would capture 100% of my fuel wallet and probably 98% of my wife's (we would take her car on any long trips with kids which could have us filling up somewhere other than our home). Compare that to the 50% of my spend they have now merely because they are closest to our home. 

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What do lame blogs, weight gain and low golf handicaps have in common?

It struck me today as I was purusing SAP SDN that SAP's stock price moves inversely proportional to the number of Shai Aggasi's blogs posting (sign-on required). Of his 8 blog postings, the first of which was in Dec. 04 and the last Sept. 11th 06, 6 of the posting occured during a period when the stock price was essentialy flat. Once he stopped posting regularly (get me some creative license on the definition or regular) SAP's stock price has risen.  *smiles

There was once a consultant who worked for me that commented the more weight I put on the more secure he felt working for me. His observation was the more meals I was eating out and the less time I had for working out in the gym the larger our sales pipeline must be. He was indeed correct.

I recall readind about Jeff Raikes of Microsoft some years back. While it wasn't this Business Week article it was something similiar that pointed out the fact that the lower his golf handicap the higher MSFT stock price. The thought being he must be on the golf course to close deals- not on the golf course then he must not be with customers.

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Cool It Campaign

Last night my wife and I attended a school function that featured a guest speaker from Acterra. No matter what you think of global warming there is no arguing that we in the USA are responsible for the largest portion of carbon emissions. Interesting website cool-it.us has a carbon calculator. While I am not certain I understand how the air travel carbon is calculated it does give a starting point for households to start measuring and managing their carbon emissions.

So, the (definitely) half-baked product ideas:

1) A zillow.com like mashup for carbon emissions i.e. Google maps that blackens in each property on the map based on their carbon emissions- the more you emit the blacker your property is displayed (public shame).

2) A device that plugs into power outlets that measures electricity usage per appliance. The goal being to see in real-time how much power we are utilizing when we perform everyday tasks like use the toaster or microwave oven. The scale could be kilowatts or some other more tangible metric like pounds of carbon.

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Enterprise Software After-market for Excess Licenses

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For some reason in our house I am responsible for the installation of the child car seats. Having two kids, two cars, and a nanny we have a quite a few car seats and still we move then around weekly. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a car seat that easily latched to the car then automatically adjusted itself? It would not only need to tighten the straps automatically but test for levelness, seat position etc.  First time parents (us included) are zealous about child safety to an almost irrational degree ($). We even took our car and seat to the local police station to get a lesson on installation safety. 

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Time to get serious about blogging

In an attempt to seperate my personal meanderings from my professional POV I've created a new blog to accompany my book Mastering the SAP Business Information Warehouse: Leaveraging the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SAP NetWeaver (WIley 2006). In this new blog there will be a section called perspectives where posts on the Business Intelligence industry will be made. In this 'Happenings...' blog I'll continue to add posts about SAP and technology related issues as long as they are not BI specific (or at least that is the current thinking).

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Sling Media :: Welcome I am a recent purchaser of Sling Media's SlingBox. It is a device that you set up with your DVR/Sat/Cable TV and it enables you to watch your home TV from a computer. While the video quality isn't the best and there is a bit of latency when clicking remote controll buttons it is really very cool.

I am a recovering CNBC addict and we doing well with my weekly meetings and all until....I bought the SlingBox. Now I'm back on the juice. So, you maybe asking yourself, "what does this have to do with half baked product/business ideas?"

Well here goes: How about somebody creating a website that aggregates all the slingboxs so they may be accessed via one website, the site would control access (as it is a one computer to TV at a time), the site would also catelog all the DRV shows that could possibly be viewed at one time (again, first come first serve)... I know it is halfbaked and there is this tiny tiny issue about making money..... but I can't give all my ideas away on this blog....

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It never fails that while playing golf someone in the foursome will have the not so original idea of creating a Never Lost golf ball. Some of these bright ideas go so far as to embed RFID chips into the ball while others are focusing the discussion on something similar to a metal detector but for Surlyn or Balata style balls (3 or 2 piece composition).

While I am not much of a golfer (> double bogie) and would love to find a few more balls per round, there is not a very large market for such a Never Lost ball. Golfers probably fall into three segments, those who golf often and care about their scores, those who golf a few times a year and wish they were better but really don't have the time or haven't made it a priority to improve, and those like me who play a few times a month and would like to improve. The later in my opinion is the smallest segment. Why is it the smallest segment? Because you either improve and really start to care about your score and following every rule of the game or you become frustrated and fall back into the 'play a few times a year' segment. The golfers who care about their scores wont use any product that isn't PGA approved. The golfers who golf a few times a year don't spend very much on the accessories of the game. The middle segment is small and transitional.

It wont make anybody any money until it is PGA approved. I don't see that happening any time soon.....

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Holiday lights for all occassions

How is this for an anoying product idea? Holiday lights that automaticaly change colors based on the calendar to provide seasonaly appropriate decoration to one's house. Christmas in white or multi color, 4th of July in red/white/blue, Halloween....you get the picture. Hang ones and anoy your neighbors all year round. (P.S. Maybe an experienced blogger can help me out here. Where is the spell checker? I understand blogs to be a more casual form or writign but spelling mistakes like this last one are really anoying to proofread. Are there any built-in spellchecker add-ons for Movable Type??

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eBay derivatives market or just an insurance product?

During the past five years, information-based services have become a critical part of business processes in the financial services industry (think fraud protection and anti-money laundering). I can foresee a whole new set of information-based business services being made available as the adoption of enterprise services architectures continue.

One not-so-far-fetched example could involve eBay. Imagine you are purchasing a digital camera on eBay. With the entire historical marketplace data eBay collects on sales of digital camera they could train a predictive model to evaluate the probability of a specific digital camera, selling for less than the amount you have just entered as your maximum bid. Based on very low probability of the camera auction closing at a lower price, eBay could offer a type of price protection insurance to bidders. The insurance coverage and premium would scale up and down based on the results of the historically trained model with all its variables (day, time of day, merchandising options, auction closing rates, and so on) and the real-time marketplace data for other cameras currently being offered. Of course, not every camera being auctioned would qualify for the price protection insurance.

It is this type of real-time adaptability (which auctions qualify for the insurance offer and at what bid prices) that could enable the auction site an opportunity to increase revenue, while not upsetting their sellers with ever-increasing posting fees, and increase buyer satisfaction by providing piece of mind that they are not irrationally overbidding. 

Taking the concept a bit further their could feasibly be a derivatives market for some of the more comoditized categories where puts and calls are sold and bought. Of course this would require market makers but I wouldn't be too suprised to see some auction drop type businesses step up into that role.

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