Adding some (mobile) SaaS to Hoovers

There's a demo of a new mobile app for Hoovers (here - note it requires Safari to run). As I was looking at it I wondered how else you could achieve the same result on multiple mobile platforms vs. just one.

So I built a quick demo. It required about 20 minutes of work and as you can see from the screen shots below runs exactly the same on a Blackberry as it does on Windows Mobile. I bet it even looks good on the iPhone browser.

However there are some subtle differences.

1. The app is not really an app - it's a Mobile Web Service
2. The app menus have been built into the Web page and are driven by the contextual data coming directly from the device (e.g. GPS, User Data etc.)
3. It (the Web service) knows Who I am, Where I am, and What device I'm running - all in real time
4. It looks, feels and runs exactly the same way on two different Mobile Platforms and will work exactly the same on other Mobile platforms
   
5. To make the whole thing real all you need to do is hook each of the icons or the contextual menus directly to Hoovers current Web service API's. You could do that in less than 30 days
6. This approach scales AND it adapts to changes in business logic dictated by changes in the Web service offerings
7. And finally - you only need an ultra thin client on the device - all the heavy lifting is done on the web server.
   

Screen 1 - Opening page (link)


Screen 2: Contextual Menus inside the browser menu


Screen 3: Opening screen on Windows Mobile


Screen 4: The same set of contextual menus



If you want to see how we do the contextual menus go to http://www.5o9mm.com/hoovers.htm and do a right click and view source in your desktop browser. Look for the meta tags which start with:

<META NAME="5o9data" CONTENT="

Good old fashioned HTML which can be delivered dynamically via the Web Service.

Hoovers is now looking a little extra SaaS-y

Mobile SaaS - Hamlet and AOL's Mobile announcement

First the announcement:

" We have decided to halt further investment in AIMWorld and will sunset MyMobile next year in order to focus on our core revenue producing products (i.e., mail, messaging, portal and mapping). Along with these core products we will focus on developing for key devices like the iPhone and the Blackberry. We will also leverage open services through OpenMobile to engage third party mobile developers in order to create new applications and experiences, which will expand distribution without additional internal development costs."

 

Second Hamlet's take on Mobile SaaS vs. monolithic mobile app development:

Decisions,decisions...

Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the slings and arrows of having to develop, support, maintain a different monolithic client for every platform, lose the ability to send flexible HTML SaaS, and still be limited on the client side...

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and, in so doing, defeat them with one small client-side cross-platform component and consistent server-side SaaS.

Hamlet
Act I, Scene II

Anyone going the monolithic route should be aware of what AOL has announced today. Even with all their resources they have decided it's "Too hard."

 

And finally a thought about Mobile development:

Mobile is hard work.

We are watching a natural process take place. This process will separate the men from the boys.

In the end, the answer will be the same as the standard folklore response to the question "who settled the American West"...

"The timid never tried and the weak died along the way."

Welcome to Mobile.

Location Based Search inside the browser - the future of Mobile SaaS

Here is a screen shot of a simple (25k) GPS app running on Windows Mobile. Not that remarkable (although 25k is pretty small). You can clearly see the GPS data being collected via COM1 and displaying the current lat and long.



Now this screen shot is very remarkable... the data (lat and long) is now showing up the browser window... specifically at a Web page that allows you to do real time GPS enabled local search. (here's the link - it's a simple mash out to True Local as they current accept GPS coordinates for Local Search)


So how did the data get from the Mobile device to the Web service? It's elementary - we simply add it to the actual web request... (for the techies we add it to the outgoing HTTP request headers). The net effect here is to take the current "Extensible HTTP" and actually extend it to support any data you want to send from the mobile device.

This screen shot shows the actual headers going to the web service. You can clearly see the lat and long coordinates who and where I am.



This design works the same for any mobile device with an HTTP connection to the web. The future of the web is really going to be centered around Web services. It's a proven business model.

What no one has done is extend the model to Mobile. This solution integrates seamlessly with your current infrastructure via a simple server module - Mod_Mobile (very similar to Mod_Gzip which we also invented). This allows the data to be passed via CGI to any web service that needs it.

One platform - the web, one interface - the browser, and multiple data sets supply the context.

All you need to do now is modify the browser menu to support contextual menus. More on that in another post.

I Can - Can You?

If you think you are beaten, you are.

 

If you think you dare not, you don't. If you'd like to win, but don't think you can It's almost certain you won't.

If you think you'll lose, you've lost, For out of the world you'll find Success begins with a fellow's (gal's) will. It's all in the state of mind.

If you think you're outclassed, you are. You've got to think high to rise. You've got to be sure of yourself before You can ever win a prize.

Life's battles don't always go To the stronger or faster man (woman), But sooner or later the man (woman) who wins Is the one who thinks he/she can.

 

(From a Gal who is rowing the Pacific)

Why companies fail (in five words)

They run out of money!

There's an interesting blog that's being passed around Monitor110: A Post Mortem (link)

In it the author cites (with details) the 7 deadly sins of a startup which are familiar to most of us who have done startups. However I would argue that Warren Buffet has it right when he states as his number one rule "don't lose the money".

When VC's (or any other type of investor for that matter) invest in a company the critical thing to remember is that it's "all about the money". Sure the care about customers and burn and all that "stuff" - but what they care about more is "the money". So rule number one is always "don't lose the money". Rule number 2 is of course see rule number 1.

I spend my time worrying about the money. The best way to do that is to really align yourselves with customers and figure our what problems they have that they are willing to pay for. Remember customers don't buy technology - they buy solutions to their wants.

So to not run out of money solve customer wants. (Deadly sin #5). Once you have the customer figured out the rest is to ensure alignment with the remaining stakeholders (Deadly sin #7).

Think about this one - John Chambers (CEO of Cisco) was a VP of Sales before he became CEO - he knew what the customer wanted and therefore had incredible influence over what got delivered - why? because by knowing the customer and solving their problems you drive revenue which solves the money problem.

The Problem with the Ad-Supported Startup Model

Great post from a VC. Entrepreneurs need to confront reality as it is, not as they want it to be and sticking ad's on something that was never meant to have ads on it is not the way to go.

Plus building a media play is often out of alignment with the core technology at hand and requires a different mindset.

The Problem with the Ad-Supported Startup Model « VCMike’s Blog

A Picture Paints a Thousand words - 5o9(R) Me vs. Gypsii

Here's the test... I downloaded Gypsii's Windows Mobile client - almost 3MB (requires .NET framework) and then compared it's "Place Me" feature with our 5o9-Me capability. We support either GPS, Local address or Zip code. (Download size is 25k for the GPS widget and 205k for the app).

I then just ran the defaults and said find me.

5o9-Me is spot on (the GPS coordinates are sent to a local service "deSabran" and they are then mashed out to Yahoo Maps)


Gypsii has me about 250 miles to the west of my actual location



and please note the other major difference in these two screen shots - one is a mobile app - the other is Mobile Software as a Service delivered to the customer via the browser.

5o9 (R) MobileMe for Windows (and for Blackberry too)

Now the Web can really know Mobile Me - and customers can use this across multiple platforms. The following images show how to deliver real time GPS information to a web server so it can be mashed up with a search engine.

Image 1... Local Mobile search web page being displayed in the browser


Image 2: Web site already knows Who I am and Where I am in real time (and also lots about the exact capabilities of the device)


Image 3: GPS widget on the mobile device streaming real time lat,long and altitude information - this data is picked up by the browser when it makes a request to the web server (see picture 1)


Now for the actual search - Pizza using the above coordinates...


And presto - back comes the answer and it can also if required deliver a mobile coupon.


For more information on how all of this works visit our web site at www.5o9inc.com

An interesting intellectual exercise

Something I do when researching competitors and or looking at other VC investments.

I take the following slide presentation template and layer it over said company/investment.

1. What problem are you solving AND who is the customer?
2. How are you solving it?
3. How big is the market?
4. How will you make money?
5. What is your edge?
6. Who is on your team?
7. What is the budget for the next five years?
8. How much money do you need and why?

The goal of the exercise is simple - can you figure out the answer to those eight questions from reading either the web site or the investment press release. I tend to focus on 1, 2, 4, & 5. Once I have that figured out I then look at the money involved.

Sometimes it's tough to get past item 1. Everyone has a problem - the key is understand exactly who the real customer is and are they willing to pay for the solution you're offering?

That's it - 8 simple questions - layer them on to any press release or web page and see if you can answer the questions. If you can't it means the message isn't clear and probably means that the customer isn't yet clearly defined - all of which means means shareholder dilution as you race to figure out the real answers (assumes you're working at that particular company)

Fannie Mae's Golden Goose: A Lesson In Moral Hazard

This is a great post on the problems and how they got started at Fannie Mae. 

It's easy to spot the design flaw - good old fashioned greed.

Link

Admob is about to mint money??

Fascinating read - especially the back of the napkin math which I've been waiting for someone to do. Here are the high level numbers...

• Total employees - 80
• Fully loaded employee in the Valley -  $180k
• Ads served in May '08 - 3B
• Ads server per year estimated - 36B
• Estimated burn - $1.2m p/m = $14.4m p/a
• Click through rate - .75%
• US revenue estimated - $2.2m p/m
• Outside revenue estimated -  $1.3m p/m
• Total worldwide revenue estimated - $42m
• Less revenue share - $27.6
• Break even - $14.4m

Summary - 36 billion ads server per annum, generates $42m in gross profit less revenue share of 65% (27.6m) gives a break even of $14.4

Now what do they have to do to get to IPO?

Benchmark Capital have 15 companies in their Portfolio that are doing $50m+ a year in revenue. None of these have gone public. If the magic revenue number is $100m then Admob will need to just over double their current revenues and not explode their burn rate.

Ads served to do this would have to go over 80B - let's call it 100B ads served with a click through of .75%

Now for the $64 dollar question - can ads scale to over 100b just from this one company on a "sustainable" per annum basis?

I have no idea - however if it's that lucrative there will be other entrants in this swimming pool... and then I wonder what will happen to the total Admob ad number?

Link to Venture Beat Article