The Ubiquitous Microsoft

I belong to a generation that grew up alongside the personal computing industry. In the year I was born, Apple computers officially banned typewriters from all offices. While I was taking my first step Atari games like space invaders and frogger were taking the world by storm. And by the time I had uttered my first word, Bill Gates and Paul Allen had signed a joint partnership agreement to form the Microsoft Corporation.

So at age 30, having grown up with the big M, what do I think of it? What subjective, controversial statements can I make about the organization that so clearly epitomizes corporate power, market dominance and monopolistic practices? Frankly, nothing truly disparaging springs immediately to mind.

The fact is that Microsoft and MS Products like Windows, Excel, powerpoint, and Word are not only symbols of corporate greed and a highly valued stock price. These "institutions" have marked our personal and professional growth throughout our lives. Like the door where mom and dad would fastidiously mark down your height year after year, applauding their ability to keep you safe, healthy and growing, so to did each iteration of Windows represent a change in our own lives. In 1990 when I was 11 years old, Windows 3 was released to the masses. In primary school I was proud to tap into the mysterious world of Microsoft Word, and in high school, when I prepared my first XL spreadsheet and powerpoint presentation, I began to understand what would be demanded of me in my future professional career.

Microsoft is a brand that has paved the way for a generation of copycats and naysayers, but it is also a company that has impacted how we work, live and experience information in the modern world. The ubiquitous Microsoft is so ingrained in our habits, our traditions, our daily lives, that it becomes almost impossible to seperate it out and look at it as just another big company.

Does Microsoft seek to help the world through the open exchange of information? No. But through the pure integrity of capitalism, Microsoft has taken our world into a new direction with higher function, providing the human race with tools that have serviced millions of people around the globe.

FOURSQUARE

Foursquare is an app that I have heard a lot about over the last year or so but had yet to check out until this weekend. Essentially, it allows you to log where you are hanging out at any given time, and then upload this information both to Foursquare itself as well as Facebook/Twitter and other social networking sites. In practice, wherever you go: out to a restaurant, to a club etc, you use foursquares mobile app to let other people in your network know what you are up to. The "model" includes promotional offers at certain locations and prizes when you become the most frequent visitor to certain locations. Obviously it has already caught on, with over 1 million users but will it be sustainable as a business? I'm not sure. I think it has great potential for a buyout from Twitter (for example) but I don't see the company growing exponentially and for a long period of time.

Whats my problem?

Two fold!

1) To date the foursquare business model (not customer usage model but its means of generating revenue) is fluid to say the least. While there are a number of avenues they could go down, including payment from the venues they advertise and drive business too, I would much prefer to see the company come up with a long term data aggregation and analysis service. According to some sources the company does plan, to focus on data sales in the future but their is no reliable information on how they will package and sell it.

2) The company offers an application that makes it very challenging to invite new users. As a fairly savvy user of social networking tools, I expected to have no problem with this application. And its true that my initial foray into foursquare was highly intuitive and easy. Unfortunately this was not the case when I tried to invite my friends to join. I found the process so cumbersome that I eventually stopped trying. I simply could not find an easy way to blanket invite other friends to join. In contrast to WhatsApp, the iphones latest hot messenging tool, which automatically picks out the data from your address book and tell you which of those phone numbers belong to active Whatsapp users, Foursquare seems (dare I say it) dumb in comparison.

Where is the Value?

Ok, to be fair, the company currently has over 1MM subscribers, a strong brand, a valuation in excess of 100M and an intuitive product....not to mention Mark Zuckerburg flying in for weekend talks and Yahoo fighting to get a piece of the action. This however does not a good company make. As we saw with the founders previous incarnation of Foursquare...the mobile app Dodgeball was purchased by Google only to be shut down in January of this year. If Foursquare is to do more than become an internet darling that puts money in the pockets of its founders, we need to see an innovative business model that drives revenue and creates a unique mechanism for harvesting, managing and delivering valuable data to clients around the world.

As I have said before, what is probably the most valuable aspect of Foursquare is the data they are collecting. I would love to see them begin aggregating reviews and creating all sorts of "best of" lists for "best brunch spot" or "strangest place to take a date in Madrid". I think that understanding buyers preferences has become such an integral part of marketing that these guys at foursquare should begin looking for ways to harvest more data from their users and then create interesting means of leveraging it. . . Then we will REALLY have something to talk about!

Don Simon

An Introduction

So here we are, starting a new blog in Madrid, Spain. In this blog I will focus primarily on my shift from entrepreneur to student. I'll also post pictures of my past experiences to provide points of reference and maybe throw in a few anecdotes here and there.... but I will primarily write about what its like to go back and get an MBA. *Pic of me and VP JB in '09*

Last year, as those of you who know me may recall, was quite intense. I learned a lot about American politics and spent a good deal of time trying to improve the perception of a certain Eastern European country in the United States. I made some great friends, had some amazing experiences, succeeded in some areas and earned a few bruises along the way. In short, I learned how far the power of networking could take me.


Many of my former colleagues, business partners and clients have asked why I chose now to go back to school. Simply put, I wanted more. Its great to be able to start a company from scratch or build relationships in foreign countries. But the reality is that your ability to add value is tested each and every day with every transaction made and every relationship built. I did not want to find myself in a position in which a hearty laugh and big smile masked a dearth of knowledge. Understand me...I didn't find myself in that situation (hehe how defensive I sound!) but i did find myself wanting to ensure that I could continue to excel in what I do, not just today by 5, 10 years from now. To do that, I felt I had to expand my network outside of Eastern Europe and the United States, and consolidate my skills as a marketing professional. There are many way I could have done this. But I believed (and still believe) that an MBA would strategically place me with people who will effect change for years to come.

OK...I promise this blog will, from this point forward, focus on today and not linger entirely in the past.