SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 5: Facebook - too big to fail?

Andrew Roskin, a noted authority from the DealBook fame of NYTimes recently released a book on how the interconnected businesses between banks make them too big to fail. AIG has become the defacto case study for this phenomenon, since the Government was compelled to save the insurance mammoth in lieu of spending the money on creating more jobs or offering them back to the common man.

[Andrew Roskin's book is quite an interesting read. The amazon link is here. The phenomenon is explained here

Of course, too big to fail can also be used in other industry areas too, and notably Google has been often compared to being too big to fail, primarily since the internet is largely indexed by Google, the path to your online experience taps on Google one too many times every day across the internet-o-sphere.

[Google - too big to fail? or actually I think its too evil to fail - its become a necessary devil]

Now, Facebook seems to be slowly becoming a ‘too big to fail’ case study in their niche of connecting people and getting people into the social realm of things. May be, people can live without Facebook once the fad settles in, but still its slowly inching to becoming a great engagement channel for business and marketers alike, not to mention the number of hours spent on Facebook by the millions every day. Some stats from the Facebook universe:
» Continue reading ‘SIME Talks Season 2 Episode 5: Facebook - too big to fail?’


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SIME Talks Season 2, Episode 4: Understanding the private shopping club space with Brands4Friends

Private shopping clubs have become extremely popular of late. Inspired by the likes of Vente Privee , Guilt Groupe and BuyVIP, it is a closed community where end-of-sale branded goods and unsold inventory are sold at 30-70% discount to the members of the community.

E-Commerce with a twist

Called E-commerce with a twist, private shopping has caught on like a wild fire, bringing scores of consumers to sign up with their details to receive alerts when a particular sale of a branded good happens. Typically the sale lasts for around 72 hours by which the consumer should make up his / her mind and then make a purchase of the item. Else, of course he / she misses the sale.

What makes it different from plain old vanilla e-commerce?

- For a start, it is exclusively branded goods only at 70% retail. May be not the branded goods in vogue at the moment, but still a Gucci is a Gucci.
- It is exclusive, meaning, only community members can invite community members - like how Gmail was when it started out for instance.
- More brand loyalty since consumers more or less like a platform and wait for branded sales to happen

It has inspired new niches such as exclusive house designer private shopping club such as One King’s Lane and a lot of clones across different countries, with each country in for instance Europe having their version of the Vente Privee. Of course the barrier to entry is tremendously low since its the location and the accessibility that counts as much
Read Tech Crunch’s coverage on One Kings Lane

Private Shopping clubs

Although most private shopping clubs are actually private (yeah wtf), some communities have decided to strike the private part off, and stick to branded shopping clubs alone. For instance, Brands4Friends, backed by Mangrove Capital Partners is an open community that allows people to find and track branded sales and be part of the group to exercise their purchasing power. May be a bit of a brand conflict when it comes to keeping branded items accessible to everyone at 70% the rates, yet it is still interesting as the concept reaches critical mass faster and comes to a saturation where the best deals are given at better rates - consumerism at its best

» Continue reading ‘SIME Talks Season 2, Episode 4: Understanding the private shopping club space with Brands4Friends’


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SIME Talks Season 2, Episode 3: What’s the next entrepreneurial hub / hot spot in the world?

Last year at SIME, a series of people were asked to name 1 city / place they thought would be the next hot spot / hub (in the next 2 - 3 years) for the digital scene in the world. Answers ranged from “Silicon Valhalla” (Scandinavian tradition), Berlin, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Beijing, Barcelona to a multiple other cities. And most entrepreneurs chose their own home / region they operate from as the next hub, either because they really like the place or they have not explored other options. I am guessing knowing the DNA of the crowd at SIME who are typically go global entrepreneurs, they would want to marry opportunity with capital and network. European cities being closer than other cities in Asia or South America for instance have a spill over effect probably helping smart entrepreneurs gravitate to the city.  Of course there were insights such as “I like all places since it helps me meet new kind of entrepreneurs”, and the bottom of the pyramid segment makes a lot of sense, but if we quantify it with hard numbers the usual suspects are revealed again.

What do you think? We are developing an in-house matrix of parameters that we can use to understand the vibrancy and buzz of the city - lets call it the “SIME Vibrancy Index” and we plan to present it soon. In the meantime go ahead, voice your views, do not let facts stop you from talking your gut out.

SIME participants are wondering about the next Hotspot in the world from 23tv.de on Vimeo.


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SIME Talks Season 2, Episode 2: Young entrepreneurs, listen to this.

Young entrepreneurs, listen to this.

There is no secret recipe to reach the top, but listening to this might atleast give you inspiration, help you correct your mistakes faster, understand what makes things work, the value of partnerships and business alliances, risk taking approach, the importance of finding the right team to work with, learning quick from failures and ultimately putting in those long hours day and night. May be the usual run of the mill if you read the text, but listening to these experts and entrepreneurs talk might atleast rekindle that lost memory, the hidden thought and hopefully supply some fuel to excel in these cold long days. The first advise I got from my mentor couple of years back was “Having a great idea is a liability without the right execution”, and these are such very valuable insights that reshapes the way you think about your business. This is a great resource, thanks to 23business for interviewing the folks at SIME 2009, editing and putting all the thoughts cohesively.

SIME Stockholm 2009 - Tips and advices for young entrepreneurs from 23tv.de on Vimeo.


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SIME Talks: Season 2, Episode 1 - an introduction about SIME and plans for SIME 2010

SIME Talks, inspired by a similar version from TED features interviews, expert opinions around things digital from friends of the SIME house. We started the weekly routine of featuring an expert and focusing on a take home message revolving around different topics since last July, and the concept has quite much caught on.

We love the whole routine of putting up the show since it gives us the chance to revisit old interviews caught amongst dusty tapes (not that they belong there, but because they didn’t connect with the right medium as yet) and realize the messages conveyed by various thought leaders who have been to SIME. Particularly interesting is if you look at predictions made, from how Tom Crampton and Michael Oreskes connect media content, freemium and quality back in 2007 to the cloud computing movement by SUN, it is fascinating to actually realize these guys figured out the solution before people could understand the problem.

Last year, we featured 15 talk shows and 1 digest edition putting together them all under the banner of ‘all things digital’. And true to our nature of spreading digital knowledge, being inspired by the latest revolutions and innovations and hence inspiring our readers, we feature an introductory talk to kick off this season’s episode. Ola Ahlvarsson, the soul of SIME, moderator and catalyst for the whole brand talks about SIME to the folks from 23 Business (who have a great set of interviews btw at their vimeo channel) about SIME, the various editions of SIME in different cities and plans for 2010.

For those who  are new to SIME, this is a great start for you to get a tweet-vator pitch (not quite, but almost). Welcome to SIME and the family!

You can catch all the SIME Talks, Season 1, all Episodes here
A digest edition if you want to save time (I bet!)

Ola Ahlvarsson about SIME 2009 in Stockholm from 23tv.de on Vimeo.


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SIME 2010 - here’s to a great year of digital inspiration!

Howdy friends, it’s been long and we at SIME just got back all revitalized to share with you some behind the scenes work we have been upto instead of covering ourselves in the snow. We enter this year with a vision of bringing to you the best of knowledge, inspiration, entrepreneurship, awards, workshops, academy, innovation days - all in the realm of the digital stream.

A great year for digital

It’s been a great year for things digital. Internet ad revenues are slowly picking up, but the bad year fueled new innovations, new ad. models, new formats and new channels. Web 2.0 has become so 2008, and its all about people networking. Facebook and Twitter grew, oh yes, they did, but real time search and open API seems to giving them the jump. Right when you thought smart phones and laptops are good, out came the inbetween to fill the perceived gap, the iPad. Telecom companies are fighting the game hard, and so are media companies. From bundling and giving away spectrums for MVNO’s, the dump pipe phenomenon seems to be a tag the telcos are desperate not to hold on to. Media companies are being rekindled and so is consumerism. Everything is getting better for the consumer, new devices, new toys, new games, new channels, new friends, cheaper, faster and better.

With such a platter being shaped, all things digital cannot get any more interesting, yet at the same time confusing. Is there a secret recipe to master the new channel to make money? Is there something apps and app developers can do to solve the hassle of developing on multiple platforms only to get lost in the jungle? Is the e-book phenomenon a mere hype? Will the tablet kill that game? How about real time? Can we monetize the content? What about Cable TV operators? Can they go online? How about quadrple-play - a mere buzz word analytic?

SIME  is about everything digital, to inspire corporates and entrepreneurs alike and present to them thought leaders, visionaries from different parks, different fields, different games all under one roof to showcase their ideas. And with a lofty year ahead for all of us, we thought SIME should aim big too, with more cities lined up, this year promises a lot of hard work and hence a lot of inspiration to share and be a part of.

SIME Barcelona, Stockholm, Helsinki and San Francisco …

SIME Barcelona : June 16, 17;

SIME Stockholm on November 17,18;

SIME Helsinki and San Francisco lined up.

Rest assured there is more to come

sime-photo

Here is to a great 2010 from the SIME crew, and looking forward to meeting you at a SIME close to your city.

Missed SIME 09? Check out the highlights here


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SIME thanks Berghs School of Communication for producing the SIME Movie Posters and billboards

If you had been to SIME this year and found movie like posters outside the Rigoletto cinema depicting the SIME speakers as movie stars, I bet you stood by for a minute at least, snapped a picture and went in thinking that was cool. Actually, passers by thought they were movie posters until they paused for a minute and read the text again. Well, we thought we should do a featured post about the folks who came up with the idea.

SIME Poster 2

Meet the students from Berghs school of communication

Berghs School of Communication, Sweden, is a school in Stockholm that offers strategic and creative educational programs within market communications at several levels and formats. Interactive Communication at Berghs is a one-year education that gives students a broad and intensive year in marketing strategies and how they relate to digital communication. Students learn how the contemporary techniques of interactivity work regardless of language, geography or culture and how to integrate interactive communication with other channels and best communicate with a range of target audiences. Working with digital technologies such as the internet, intranet, e-business, viral marketing, mobile telephony and digital TV divides education into a series of courses in: interactive branding, interactive campaigns, computer technologies, technical development, design management, web management, content management and information design. In short these folks are “interactive integrated communicators”.

The task with SIME was to highlight the speakers and celebrate them, make them the rock stars, the heros of digital knowledge. The solution? Use the movie billboards outside of the cinema. On these bilboards we put up prints where the speakers were highlighted in fictive newspaper billboards of some of Swedens biggest and most influential papers, like IDG, Internetworld and Aftonbladet. These papers were also partners of the SIME conference. A neat idea that the folks at Berghs School of Communication came up with and implemented it to perfection together with our in house logistic team.

SIME Poster 3

A gazillion thanks to the manager of the program Peder Rotkirch and his students Clara Grelsson, Fredrik Arrelid, Markus Andersson, Axel Tagg, Jonas Åhlén, the creative heads from Berghs School. You guys are fine integrated communicators!


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SIME 09: Interviews with the audience

At SIME Stockholm during November, we had a diverse set of folks from all over the place who were keen on exploring digital opportunities together with us. From top level managers, city councils / government organizations to first time entrepreneurs, from the traditional business to the artistic ones, people came in all forms and shapes. We did quick 2 minute interviews with some of the folks. You can find the videos below.

1. Interview with Myngle, a portal that helps you learn languages online + promo code

Myngle.com is very cool I think. Spreads the power of languages right to you at the comforts of your home. The concept has been spoken about from since the days of the dinosaurs, but none I think have implemented them as well as Myngle. Founded by Marina, an Italian living in Netherlands, the concept has caught on in Europe and is slowly taking flight.

With some great networking and business opportunities created during the SIME week, Marina is quite vociferous in her thank you to SIME. She has given all the SIME folks a discount code for you to learn languages at a discounted price. So to tingle the vernacular love in you, we suggest you go to http://myngle.com and enter the code “sime09″ to learn languages at a discount.

2. Chat with the winner of the SIME, 3 - Android Developer Challenge

You look at the app and you realize, how come I lived without it? And the man behind the app is quite straight faced when I ask him the motivation behind the app. He says “he needed it”, and you go inside your head, a classic geek reason ain’t it? The app helps you find the cheapest products near your current location, displays them on the maps, and allows one touch calling. With the info slurped from Hitta.se a directories site, this intelligent catalogue is your companion for your last minute “real time” shopping needs.

Jonas Petersson, the winner and the man in the video below feels that the app scene is too crowded and it is tough to go through various approval process, and have different walled gardens to work in. And of course, the lack of good distribution power for developers like him with the noise in the scene quite much reduces the expectation to live off apps, but instead follow more of passion and develop the app one has always wanted to.

3.  Friends of Barcelona

We had a lot of friends from Barcelona as part of their SIME journey to experience action from the mother ship. For a little bit of history lesson, the City Council of Barcelona helped SIME organize the Barcelona version this year (in May) with great critical acclaim to find stars within the Spanish digital industry and co-inspire the scene with Scandinavia. With more than 8 hand picked companies joining the folks from Barcelona Council and Chamber of Commerce to attend SIME Stockholm, we were more than happy to have them with us, participate in the various workshops and awards.

Below is an interview with the folks behind the Barcelona City Council and Chamber of Commerce who help Barcelona companies set up locally and help find partners abroad, and help international companies help establish in Barcelona. And the second interview is with a company called Nettranslation that helps translate large corporate websites into different languages.


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SIME 09: Highlights

Relive the SIME Magic, the SIME Inspiration through some recorded footage and pictures

SIME 09 was all about the 4 dimensions of digital opportunities: business, knowledge, inspiration and fun, the 4 pillars or the corner stones for this year’s SIME. And we took every step to make sure during the 2 days you got your best business opportunities, learnt as much from the sessions, workshops, drew inspiration from the speakers and the participants and, most importantly had riveting fun before, during and after the conference.

Looking back, we did quite much shake the SIME cover. From coming up with a new format, an agenda that boasts of covering most verticals within the digital landscape, and a revised Awards format, we did have quite an uphill task to package them the best and add the SIME touch at the end. At the end, if you had as much fun at SIME as we had arranging it, we think it’s a job well done :)

The Highlights section is here

Some very good footage from the whole show is here

Interviews with SIME speakers and Participants here and here (thanks folks from 23business, Germany).

Pictures from Tom Solo (SIME’s “legend behind the lens”)

SIME Pool at Flickr (user uploaded)

And stay tuned for the year ahead. SIME is going even more international, so get ready to welcome SIME to your city!


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29K unique web views last week, that was cool!

So the small showers of glitz and glory do come from unexpected corners.

First, the second most tweeted word in Scandinavia during the event day (the first was #googlewave, second was #sime09 followed by #youtube).

Second, we had more than 35K web views, of which 29K were unique, last week alone. We slowly noticed the web traffic taking off right from September, October but never did we realize that it would snowball into something of such sort. And last year, we had 1200 average web views during the conference too, again, testimony to the effort gone in this year to give you all the best we can.

Again, we are quite proud for all the effort that went in to the site design, the maintenance, the blog etc. We think the SIME juggernaut has just started, and the journey has not ended, it has begun. We are very eager to see what we can do for the year ahead of us.

Truly thanking all the readers and well-wishers, you are great


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