Category Archives: Venture Capital

Advertising, Business Strategy, Internet, Jobs & Careers, Market News, MyOrbit Blogs, New Media, Online Marketing, People, Venture Capital

Bubble: Microsoft buys small stake in Facebook

Oct 24, Seattle:

  • Microsoft beat Google on Wednesday to invest in social Web site Facebook, agreeing to pay $240 million for a 1.6 percent stake in the Web phenomenon – thereby valuing Facebook at $15 billion (!)
    • Our thoughts: Is Facebook 10 times the value of YouTube (which definitely is growing as the largest media and information sharing community online)? This looks more like wanting to stay in the “online social-site play” than business value. Microsoft will of course like to believe otherwise because they have already bought it.
    • Microsoft is quoting the 50 million users of today (and projected 300 million in 2-3 years) as the source of value. With $240m, you can create similar user communities on CNN and BBC – potentially getting over 100 million on its own – and with majority stake. Wonder if these alternatives were explored at all.
  • Microsoft also got exclusive rights to sell ads on Facebook outside of the US as part of the investment (60% of Facebook users are outside US)
    • This is the real benefit. Its similar to how Google bought ad rights for MySpace for $900 million in August last year. Now MySpace was supposed to have 100 million users, but analysis revealed 43 million. Along similar lines, its possible that Facebook has about 25 million real users (or about 15 million non-US users).
    • MSN Ad Network (similar to Google’s ad network) will benefit with a captive demand – and will keep MSN Ad Network alive (maybe this was the real thought behind the deal – and also the reason why Google didn’t push it hard – as they already have what Micorsoft wanted most). Without considering any additional deals by Microsoft into Facbook, it will need $120 million of ad sales to break-even on this investment. We’ll keep an eye on this.
Business Strategy, Energy, Industrial, Innovation, MyOrbit Blogs, Venture Capital

Challenges in moving towards Renewable Energy

Most of us will happily switch over to Renewable Energy if its available at around the same price. Some Renewable Energy producers are seeking the “cap and trade system” to boost the eco-friendly energy. But a bill to cap carbon dioxide is not easy – conventional energy companies have made deep investments. For example, Mike Morris, the CEO of AEP (American Electric Power), feels the use of coal is still needed to meet the base energy requirements. Still, given the thrust for green and environmental friendly energy, and with certain VCs willing to invest in them in a phase by phase approach, we can be sure to see some good innovations within a 5-10 years. Manoush Zomorodi of Reuters reports. If you are interested in Solar Energy, head over to this site that is dedicated just to it: Solar Energy Review

Finance, Jobs & Careers, Market News, People, Start-ups, Training, Venture Capital

Business School for Kids – guess we can learn too

If you thought business plan discussions with teenagers felt strange, think again. Here’s an amazing video by Lindsey Mills in which you can see how primary school students are being trained in business start-ups, and how they start talking about Seed Capital, Venture Capital Rounds, Debt Capital and Income Statements…things which many of us learned sometime during our first or second job! The Start Em Up Business program gives students an introduction to business. Students learn the basic business concepts through playing fun business games, starting a real business, and making money. It feels like training numerous Tiger Woods for business – very interesting. The potential of something like this is immense because in 5-10 years from now, we could see start-ups from kids. You can learn more here: www.simplyoutrageous.org

Aerospace, Automotive, Biotech, Business Strategy, Contracts & Legal, Finance, IT Services, Market News, MyOrbit Blogs, New Media, Outsourcing, People, Retail, Sales & Marketing, Start-ups, Venture Capital

What is MyOrbit.tv

It’s the first post on this blog. We had maintained a blog on another domain so far, but now merged our blog with the main site, which means all the industry viewpoints and experiences- in text, audio, and video – will be available directly on this site.

MyOrbit.tv is a member-driven Internet video channel focused on business and professional development. Our viewers and members are worldwide, making this an attractive platform to view and share professional experience and promote new products and services – all this at a fraction of current costs involved in marketing, new product launch, and customer interaction.

Of course, this channel won’t solve it all for you, but we have a plan – to add beneficial functionality and information – few at a time, so that a majority of our members can benefit from them. The discussions and videos on this channel are by active professionals and business executives, and we believe it offers great value to our viewers and members. This video shows how you can benefit from this channel.

We will pushing the boundaries of Internet streaming video. Some of the benefits for our Members and Viewers will come from applications like:

  • Industry discussions and debates with members – this gives original content, which everyone wants to watch.
  • New product demos by companies (eg. a medical diagnostics company demonstrating the benefits of its new diabetes management product, a SOX consulting company showing their solution framework, etc)
  • Career Development (eg. sales training and commercial presentation videos, job candidates presenting through video; crash the recruitment process through private videos)
  • Promoting professionals or new businesses (eg. a warehouse business showcasing its premises, security facilities, and client endorsements)
  • Pre-approved advertisements (by our Member council) launched by the viewers
Business Services, Start-ups, Venture Capital

Angel Investors 101

A STARTING POINT

 

From the very conception of an idea for a new product or business, among the many questions that go racing through you mind should be “How will I realize this dream? Where do I go from here?” Often you may feel grounded with entrepreneurial roots yet lack the wings to make your idea soar into the marketplace, or better yet, create a marketplace.

Continue reading →