August 19, 2010 Posted by alan jones

Startmate: Australia gets a new kind of startup capital

I’m part of a new technology venture launching today at Sydney’s Tech23 conference. I’m one of many startup founders who’ve bemoaned the lack of Y-Combinator-style investment in Australia, so when Niki Scevak asked if I’d like to get involved in something similar (with tweaks for the local market) and told me how he’d already done the bulk of the difficult strategic... read more

December 14, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Don’t sweat the small stuff, but make damn sure you remember it

Clients sometimes mutter “he’s crazy…” behind my back, because I’m forever taking photographs and short videos; of conversations, people coding, diagrams we’ve sketched on whiteboards, and anything else that will stay still for long enough. Why crazy? I understand that sometimes those messy, chaotic moments in startup life seem like the very things you want to forget.... read more

November 18, 2009 Posted by alan jones

I don’t want more iPhone apps, I want better iPhone apps

Fred Wilson writes in The Power of Instant Approval that Apple is risking its lead in the smartphone app market by forcing app developers to wait on approval from Apple before publishing their apps on iTunes Store. It’s a growing industry concern — does Apple risk being overtaken by competitors? I think Apple understands the consumer relationship better than any competitor in the smartphone market... read more

October 22, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Let your users show you the money

To paraphrase William Gibson, “The street always finds its own uses for things.” If you’re starting an online marketplace, or a social messaging platform, or an online community, one of the big challenges is to stay in touch with your users, to learn more about how they use your platform. Why? Often ‘the street’ (your customers) will use your platform for surprising purposes.... read more

October 21, 2009 Posted by alan jones

My Charity Water: case study in homepage conversion

My frequent readers (hi Mum!) will know I’m a sucker for charitable causes. In particular, I love Oxfam Trailwalker, MSF, Kiva, Pathways Foundation, MS Australia, and JDRF, However, the charity sector as a whole is not a great source of online marketing inspiration. If you need to find examples of poor online marketing, there are many great examples among charities (and SEO optimisation experts,... read more

October 17, 2009 Posted by alan jones

Six tips for making a better demo video for your startup

There comes a stage in any new web startup when the founders complain, “It’s so hard explaining all this on the homepage in words and pictures! Wouldn’t it be easier and better if we just showed it to them in a video?” Well, no. Compare Hollywood box-office takings and the top 100 videos on YouTube and it illustrates how anyone can get a large audience, but it takes talent,... read more