Home Leadership Turn Archives Me RampUp Solutions  
 

  • Categories

  • Archives
 

If the Shoe Fits: Mobile Feeding Big Data

Friday, May 3rd, 2013

A Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here

“It’s shocking we don’t see more engineers and entrepreneurs interested in enterprise. (…) In the last 10 years, there have been 56 IPOs in the enterprise space that have gotten north of a billion [dollars in market capitalization] and just 23 in consumer.”Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital

5726760809_bf0bf0f558_mI cited Goetz’s comment in a post last fall chiding entrepreneurs for trying to be the next Facebook instead of solving enterprise problems.

Six weeks later I asked Walter Paliska, marketing VP at long-time client EMANIO, to attend a Big Data conference and write about it. I turned to EMANIO because 1) I no longer live in the Bay Area and 2) EMANIO recently pivoted and is building a truly disruptive big data product.

Mobile is considered the hottest field, but many of its most innovative apps are a result of the explosion of big data; on the flip side mobile is feeding big data inspiring yet more innovation in that area.

When the Data 2.0 Summit came along I turned again to EMANIO and asked Randy Hyshiver, Director of Delivery and Services to give us an update on the effect of big data on innovation.

Big Data: Inspiring Innovation by Randy Hyshiver

It’s clear to me that the Big Data movement is inspiring a new wave of Innovation and the birth of a new set of entrepreneurs.  The pace of growth of ideas and the proliferation of new companies dedicated to solving big data problems is amazing.

The massive growth in data that is spurring the big data movement is leading to an increasing degree of interest not just from technologists, but also from investors looking to capitalize on the technological breakthroughs.

Big Data touches our lives in numerous ways in an effort to help improve how we work, how we live, travel and just about every other aspect of our daily existence.

The massive adoption of mobile devices has also been a huge driver in big data interest.  As mobile devices generate massive amount of data, a whole new set of applications has emerged in just about all business sectors, to take advantage of the data generated.

  • The fitness industry is marrying concepts from the gaming industry and bringing portable sensors into the mobile space creating a dynamic data collection model that can be leveraged to help users accomplish fitness goals through competition with friends.
  • The automotive industry is using sensor data to understand driving behaviors and to create better driving environments in new generations of vehicles.
  • Big data is also helping the environment as ecological companies use massive amounts of sensor-generated data to help farmers, travelers and ultimately to help us understand how our actions impact our World every day.

The growth and rapid adoption of Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms during the past decade has also helped drive demand for the usage of evermore readily available data in new ways.

Concepts like Data as a Service (DaaS) are beginning to drive a democratization of data to help build radical new consumer and business applications using now widely available resources.

The World of technology and innovation has found a new impetus by the growth of data.

The collection of vast amounts of data is driving the adoption of new technologies and is inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs.

Mobile devices, cloud services and the widespread adoption of sensor-based applications are all just the tip of the iceberg in the drive to generate more data – data that can be analyzed and leveraged to improve our lives.

Image credit: HikingArtist

Entrepreneurs: Venture Summit Silicon Valley 2012

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

kg_charles-harrisVenture Summit Silicon Valley 2012 really brought home to me, yet again, the importance of being in the “right” crowd in order to move forward as a startup CEO.  This event was packed with a mixture of entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, bank and debt financing partners and press.  All the things necessary to succeed.

However, one of the most important issues seems to be the ability to network.  While all the necessary people were here, gaining value from the experience was more related to being able to meet the right people.  To do this should be easy in this environment, but I saw a lot of people who had difficulty going up and introducing themselves to other participants, or who didn’t have their 10-second explanation of what their company does clearly articulated.

In fact, it was quite interesting to see how many of the entrepreneurs present had difficulty with one or both of these issues; to aggressively introduce themselves to others and who couldn’t smoothly describe what they did in a few sentences.

How is it possible to be willing to pay so much money to be in the right place and still stumble on the goal line?

The density of interesting persons was sufficiently high where this may not have been a significant problem, but as a startup CEO it is absolutely essential at all times to be able to say what the company does, in a simple and easy to understand manner.  Especially to people who are not experts in the area you are working in, which describes most investors and partners.

I’d like to laud Tony Perkins and AlwaysOn to have put on a conference that brings together entrepreneurs and potential funders in such an intimate setting.  The surroundings were beautiful at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, the people interesting, and the keynotes, presentations and breakouts well thought out.

Mobile, cloud, big data, industrial internet – up

Social media – down

The most interesting aspect of AlwaysOn Venture Summit Silicon Valley was getting a perspective for where the technology industry is going and what’s being funded.  There are a number of major trends that entrepreneurs need to be aware of while building companies and investors have clarity around if planning an investment to drive towards a profitable exit.

AlwaysOn VSSV is an annual gathering of some of the leading entrepreneurs and investors in Silicon Valley and beyond, focused on understanding investment themes and technologies that will drive the future.

At this particular conference, it was clear that one of the most important trends was the significantly reduced presence of Internet and social media startups among the speakers and on the panels.  The seemingly unstoppable social media storm has slowed down quite a bit.

One of the factors cited for this was that there was a saturation of these types of startups and another was that investors, having invested heavily in these companies over the past few years, were looking for investments with more predictable outcomes.

The effects of the GroupOn and Facebook IPOs (among others) resulted in negative investor sentiment toward these types of businesses.

So, what’s in vogue these days?

Mobile and big data companies seem to have taken over where Internet and social media left off.  The opportunity in the mobile space is a result of a movement that started about a decade ago when people moved from the desktop to the laptop.  The interaction with computers is now iterating to handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets, which are with us most of the time and collect data on what we do, where we are and who we interact with.

All this collected data forms the basis of the big data opportunity.  The ability to use this data to deepen our understanding of customers, manufacturing processes and many other areas has been a dream of business people, politicians and technologists for many years.

I’m personally very happy about these trend shifts.  Partially because EMANIO is perfectly positioned to take part of the development of this new industry of big data and analysis, but also because it has been difficult to understand the business basis of the social media phenomenon.

It has been difficult to discern a pattern for success within social media, but with mobile and big data this is much more logical.

KG Charles-Harris is CEO of Emanio and a special contributor to MAPping Company Success.

Entrepreneurs: Big Opportunity in Big Data

Thursday, November 29th, 2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinkrejci/6259499293/

I no longer live in the Bay Area, but as a center of entrepreneurship I am still very connected. Big data presents enormous opportunities for entrepreneurs, so I asked Walter Paliska, a senior marketing manager at EMANIO, Inc., to share intel what is means to the enterprise startup community.

By Walter Paliska:

Between November 13th and 14th I had the opportunity to attend the Big Data Business Forum in San Francisco, CA.  Over the course of two days several companies, both large and small, were able to display their wares and discuss how “big data” is impacting us.  Some of the key takeaways from the conference, especially for CEOs and executives in start up organizations, are directly related to how big data is driving innovation and on the opportunities available for startups.  The rapid growth of data is driving a core set of new problems that businesses are trying to both understand and cope with:

  1. The technology part is growing, but the business value is not keeping up.  One of the interesting takeaways from conversations with a number of attendants was this: while the IT side of the house understands the problem that the rising amount of data is causing, the business side is having a hard time grasping the value that analyzing all this data will provide.  Some small software startups are beginning to try and address this challenge by deploying tools that are easier to use and that bring data analysis “closer” to the business user – but clearly there is still a large gap between IT and the business side.
  2. Big data is hard – very hard – and expensive.  Once again a key takeaway from the conference was that solving big data problems is both technically and fiscally challenging.  While Fortune 500 companies are clearly looking for ways to exploit their copious amounts of data, actually doing so still requires an exceedingly high level of expertise and tools that are still costly and difficult to use.
  3. The “platform wars” make things harder.  Should a business standardize on Hadoop? HPCC? SAP Hana?  How do available solutions work with any of these platforms?  What are the differences and business implications of each?  Depending on how one answers these questions and on the selections one makes, the available software tools and solutions vary.  The world of big data is not nearly as clearly defined and understood as server operating systems, enterprise ERP systems etc., and that means opportunity for new solutions that help bridge the gaps.

These are just some of the challenges that businesses have today with big data.  The implication for startups is clear, helping business users understand the value of their data and providing tools that make the process of using and benefiting from big data easier, less expensive and more uniform – regardless of platform – can begin to bridge the chasm between IT and the business side to finally realize the benefit of “big data” for everyone.

Enterprise startups are hot and ideas relating to big data will fuel many of them.

SUBMIT YOUR STORY
Be the Thursday feature – Entrepreneurs: [your company name]
Share the story of your startup today.
Send it along with your contact information and I’ll be in touch.
Questions? Email or call me at 360.335.8054 Pacific time.

Flickr image credit: Kevin Krejci

RSS2 Subscribe to
MAPping Company Success

Enter your Email
Powered by FeedBlitz
About Miki View Miki Saxon's profile on LinkedIn

Clarify your exec summary, website, etc.

Have a quick question or just want to chat? Feel free to write or call me at 360.335.8054

The 12 Ingredients of a Fillable Req

CheatSheet for InterviewERS

CheatSheet for InterviewEEs

Give your mind a rest. Here are 4 quick ways to get rid of kinks, break a logjam or juice your creativity!

Creative mousing

Bubblewrap!

Animal innovation

Brain teaser

The latest disaster is here at home; donate to the East Coast recovery efforts now!

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation or call 00.733.2767. $10 really really does make a difference and you'll never miss it.

And always donate what you can whenever you can

The following accept cash and in-kind donations: Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, Red Cross, World Food Program, Save the Children

*/ ?>

About Miki

About KG

Clarify your exec summary, website, marketing collateral, etc.

Have a question or just want to chat @ no cost? Feel free to write 

Download useful assistance now.

Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.

Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
while $10 a month has exponential power.
Always donate what you can whenever you can.

The following accept cash and in-kind donations:

Web site development: NTR Lab
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.