StripGenerator: Naked Comicversations

Hat tip to OrangePly's dev blog for exposing me to StripGenerator, a handy blog comic strip generation tool. I have no idea whether there's a business here, but the design and implementation were terrific. Pick from dozens of characters and objects, and let speech/thought bubbles do the talking. I'd love if there were easier embed options and sound elements to set the tone. This is great for those days when you don't have much to blog about, but you still want to put a smile on your reader's face...

(For those of you who don't know about WebKinz Movie Studio -- ask your kids to show you)

Market Your Blog -- On PPP's Dime

My FVCC recap post mentioned some portfolio work that kept me from a yacht wine tasting and gambling. Some called me crazy, but the tradeoff was well worth it...

PayPerPost launched a monster release that same night including in-post disclosure badges and a variety of segmentation options marketers have been asking for -- taking Consumer Generated Advertising to another level of ROI with scalable targeting. I may cover those segmentation options in another post, but I wanted to share a fairly stealth, but powerful piece of that PPP release: "Review My Post" (RMP).

PPP has already been called a virus by some, but they haven't seen anything yet. RMP is PPP's proprietary, viral affiliate program (a viriliate program, if you will ;-)) taking DFJ/HotMail's "P.S. I love you, get your free email account at Hotmail" viral marketing to a whole new, blogosphere level. Now, having grown up in the Draper system, I shutter every time I hear the term "viral" for programs that aren't truly viral, but are referential at best. I also never quite liked that most viral programs focused on "infecting" people without providing win-win value along the way. Thus, the birth of "Review My Post".

Every single minute of every single day audiences are reading posts of interest, but less than 1% ever post/trackback their thoughts/perspective. Even that small % is valuable, but greater than 99% of audience feedback/marketing is lost today because there isn't an institutionalized "call to action" to solicit conversation. I've seen the simple act of promising a linkback drive 200+ blog reviews, demonstrating that huge amounts of audience knowledge and perspective are currently untapped. If there was such an institutionalized "call to action", a blogger would see an explosion of marketing and good/bad feedback to help them hone their craft, grow traffic and bring value to their audiences.

So how does RMP unlock this goldmine in a win-win fashion?
1) A blogger/affiliate inserts the "Get Paid to Review My Post" button into their post template -- most likely at the bottom as I've done here at FVB so every post is fair game for feedback.
2) An audience member reads one of the blogger's posts, has some perspective to share, and clicks the RMP button to get compensated for providing that valuable marketing/feedback/linklove at their blog.
3) When that newly referred blogger's post is approved for affiliate payout, both the referring blogger gets $7.50 and the referred blogger gets $7.50 -- pretty simple.
4) Result: Win-Win-Win-Win. Referred blogger gets concrete compensation for sharing their feedback. The referring blogger gets concrete compensation, but even more importantly, gets valuable blog marketing/feedback -- all on PPP's dime. Audiences win because they are introduced to new blogs that interest a blogger they follow and they win by RMP bloggers improving their writing/design/topics. And, last, PPP wins as new bloggers experience the power of blog marketing.

Like all viral offerings, there will be those who try to abuse/game the system, but I'm also confident RMP will unlock value for the entire spectrum of bloggers, large or small. With this value in mind, for the first time ever, PPP has opened their affiliate programs to any blogger, not just those who get paid to blog. Every blogger can benefit from this program -- in fact, it's already happening for Posties and non-Posties alike. The sooner blog templates include RMP, the quicker the feedback loop begins...

So what are you waiting for? Click my ReviewMyPost button and get started!

(charity post: as part of my New Year's Resolutions to blog for charity, this post has generated an American Red Cross donation on my behalf)

Florida Venture Capital Conference Recap and Best of Show

It's been a couple weeks since my last post and I feel really bad about it. I'm hoping to make it up to you by awarding a couple "Best of Show" KangaRuas in today's post.

2007 Florida Venture Capital Conference wrap-up

Boca Resort venue was awesome, particularly for those who participated in the resort course golf tourney. For those who didn't hit the links, there was even a manicured croquet course (sweet!). I guess the drawback of such a nice place was the $300-$500/night room cost -- something I solved via HotWire (5 minutes away, $84/night).

Day 1 started well for me, thanks to my golf scramble team and a 2nd place, 62, on a blustery day. We're also claiming 1st place because the winning score, 59, was delivered by a team including two scratch golfers shuffled together at the last minute. Jon Cole was on that team so I'm sure it was no accident ;-)

Monday night included dinner, wine tasting and gambling, aboard a yacht docked behind the resort. I was looking forward to the evening, but some late portfolio company work consumed my night (see why here). Those that did attend had great things to say, even if some of the poker tables deteriorated into who could pull off the biggest cheat. Between golf, wine, and gambling the venture banks Square 1 Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and RBC Centura sponsored a great kickoff to the conference.

Day 2 was a whirlwind of meeting new companies, seeing old friends, and discussing existing portfolio companies. Speaking of old friends, one of the publications I remember reading when I was a kid growing up in Tampa was a presenter: Creative Loafing -- kinda weird to see a 20+ year old company at a venture conference. Our lunch speaker was Florida CFO Alex Sink, who did her best fielding venture-related questions less than 30 days into office. Questions about the state's emphasis on entrepreneurship and legislative efforts to promote venture capital were answered with a hearty "I'm supportive and want to learn more."

The morning and afternoon company presenters did well overall, with very few needing the music to accelerate their closing slide. The opportunities were pretty diverse, with a few concentrations around business process automation, telecom services and online lead generation. My "Best of Show" KangaRua for Day 1 goes to Kelly Smith of Pasteuria Biosciences, for presenting a big but obscure opportunity (nematode control) in a clear, interesting way. Congrats Kelly! Hopefully, CFO Sink's lunchtime reference to nematodes led to some extra investor interest.

Dinner was great, but political satirist/pianist Mark Russell could have been better. I really enjoyed last year's Capital Steps show, but found myself checking my Treo too often this time around.

Day 3 went pretty quickly with only a half-day of activities. The morning "State of Venture Capital" panel was full of the usual fund sales pitches, but included some nice tidbits around growing exits. As a VC who typically builds with entrepreneurs to strategic M&A or IPO, it was interesting to hear how other firms have sold their positions to private equity/LBO/hedge funds. I'm not sure if that is a growing trend or a geographic anomaly for funds looking to exit quicker and raise their next fund.

The day's presenters also did well, with a couple Inflexion companies, WiDeFi and PayPerPost, fielding significant inbound interest -- maybe it was Ted's Michael Jackson leg-flip. Taking my companies out of the mix, I'd have to give Peter Pezaris of Multiply.com a "Best of Show" Kangarua for his business-like, but compelling presentation of the company he's built. I will share that I'm biased because I've covered Multiply a couple times at FVB before -- they continue to grow with their focus on connecting real-world networks.

Final thoughts: This FVCC was the largest one ever, with over 1300 attendees. It was very well run, thanks to the terrific leadership of Robin Kovaleski and her team. I still believe the forum's board payola scheme puts service provider and later-stage fund interests ahead of entrepreneurs, and I heard similar sentiments from peers at the conference. I also heard that the 3-day length was tough for many investors to commit -- although I'm not sure how to shorten it without a golf/presentation day (tough) or fewer presenters. Some of the conference's panel content could have been stronger, but overall it was a great showcase for Florida startups. I look forward to the 2008 Florida Venture Capital Conference, January 29-30, at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort and Golf Club in St Petersburg, FL -- save the date now!