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Money in Mobile Forum, 14th June. Attendee list.

June 10, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

We think we have four tickets spare for the Money in Mobile forum on 14th June due to some last minute changes of travel plans. Here is a word cloud of the job titles and the list of people and companies that are registered currently:
Money in Mobile Job Titles
If you want to join them for a great day of talks, company presentations and serious networking, get to it! http://moneyinmobile2011.eventbrite.com/
  • 10X Networks, Inc – Founder
  • 20@ – Co-Founder
  • Accel Partners – Associate
  • Advent Venture Partners – General Partner
  • Amadeus & Angels Seed Fund – CEO, Amadeus Mobile Seed Fund
  • appmarket.tv – Publisher
  • AVG Technologies – Senior VP of Corporate Development
  • Balderton – Principal
  • Bango – CEO
  • BDO LLP – Partner

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Money in Mobile Award 2011. The presenting companies are…

June 7, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

Thank you to our judges who have gone through the list of 48 entries for the Money in Mobile Award to be made at our Money in Mobile Forum on June 14th.
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BLN Award 2011 logo

Given the interest in so many of the businesses that entered, it was very hard to make a clean cut so we will make some additional time over on the day to allow 12 companies, rather than the original 10. We are also going to do what we can to help some of the other entrants meet and demo on the day. These are twelve companies that have been chosen to make a presentation on the day. We look forward to hearing from them. Thank you to everyone that entered. You made life far more difficult than we had expected!

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Please note, over 25 judges offered us input into the short list, investors, advisers and the press. The selection is therefore, as you would expect, eclectic but does not represent the view of a single individual.
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Money in Mobile Award 2011 – the presenting companies.

Cogenta

Eagle Eye logo

HyperBees logo

Masabi logo

ParcelGenie logo

paythru logo

Qriously logo

welivecricket logo

Screenreach logo

Strikead logo

Swiftkey logo

VouChaCha logo

About Money in Mobile Forum 14th June

We want to see how companies are making money from mobile today as we think the companies that take mobile mainstream will be among some of the most successful businesses of the decade. Putting some of the people that are making this happen together in a room and helping them share ideas, meet partners, investors and customers seemed like a sensible thing to do. Throw in some press for good measure and we have the ingredients for an exceptional day of discussion, business development, networking and mobile brain food.

Want to see who is coming? Have a look at the confirmed participants as of May 24th.

  • You will get to meet with senior people from companies playing leading roles in making mobile a business necessity.
  • Over 35 of the most active VCs in mobile will be there.
  • You will hear from ten businesses out of the 48 entrants who will make a case to be the winner of our Money in Mobile Award. This will be presented to the company who in the opinion of the judges has the greatest potential to make money for customers.

If you are making things happen in mobile – either as an entrepreneur or adopter of technology – you will fit right in. Pontificators, hangers-on and wannabes – not so much.

  • Please note, there are now six places left. If you want to join us, don’t delay, act today. We will be sold out.

  • More information & registration: http://moneyinmobile2011.thebln.com/

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Money in Mobile Award 2011. The presenting companies are…

June 6, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

Thank you to our judges who have gone through the list of 48 entries for the Money in Mobile Award to be made at our Money in Mobile Forum on June 14th.
.
BLN Award 2011 logo

Given the interest in so many of the businesses that entered, it was very hard to make a clean cut so we will make some additional time over on the day to allow 12 companies, rather than the original 10. We are also going to do what we can to help some of the other entrants meet and demo on the day. These are twelve companies that have been chosen to make a presentation on the day. We look forward to hearing from them. Thank you to everyone that entered. You made life far more difficult than we had expected!

.
Please note, over 25 judges offered us input into the short list, investors, advisers and the press. The selection is therefore, as you would expect, eclectic but does not represent the view of a single individual.
.
Money in Mobile Award 2011 – the presenting companies.

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The only thing stopping the relentless march of mobile is usability.

June 6, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

If you want any proof that mobile is going mainstream, consider what is happening at Google. Kunur Patel, writing in AdAge a year after Google’s acquisition of AdMob notes,

“Mobile first” was a mantra repeated many times by former CEO Eric Schmidt. New chief Larry Page is said to also continue the charge. But even on phones and tablets it’s largely a search game. When including search, Google is the mobile advertising market leader by far, holding 59% of overall U.S. revenue in 2010, far ahead of No. 2 Apple’s 8.4%, according to IDC Research. But in mobile display ad revenue, Google is neck-and-neck with Apple, which sells its own brand of mobile ads, iAd.

“In the mobile sphere, both search and display are growing exponentially, largely thanks to the millions of new smartphones hitting the market. “We’re seeing mobile as the fastest growing media in history,” said Karim Temsamani, Google’s global head of mobile. Google is seeing 50% of new internet connections globally coming from mobile devices.” One Year Later, AdMob Making Its Mark on Google

Kunur shares some numbers from Google
  • 300% – growth of traffic from tablets since October
  • 2.7 billion – display ad requests per day globally in April, up from 2 billion in January
  • $1 billion – in projected yearly revenue, according to Google last fall
  • 150 million – Apple and Android devices on the network, up 50% since January

Google is playing a key role in getting mobile into the mainstream. At a recent conference, I listened to Dan Cobley, VP Marketing for Northern and Central Europe at Google talk about trends in marketing and advertising. One thing made a huge impression.

He said that everything Google does is designed for smartphones and then reversed into tablets and PCs.

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GroupOn – Ponzi schemes, insolvency, the next Amazon and proxy valuations

June 4, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

It is rare for an IPO filing to be greeting with such a wave of negative sentiment but GroupOn is an exceptional business in many respects. GroupOn filed to raise $750 million in IPO. Headline revenue growth is massive: 2008: $94,000; 2009: $30.5 million; 2010 $713 million. The S-1 filings though have revealed some very interesting things about the business and a wave of negative sentiment (and as far as I can see very little positive coverage).

UPDATE: I have added some additional, positive, coverage at the end of this post.

GroupOn

Some examples:

GroupOn is effectively insolvent.

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OnMobile 100 – The most US-centric list of ‘global’ private mobile companies’ ever?

June 3, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

AlwaysOn has announced its view of the, “100 top, private companies — plus 14 to watch — that are creating a compelling, connected, and exciting mobile world.” We know that Europe has, sadly, lost the lead on mobile, but this looks like a suspiciously Valley centric list… Hardly scouring the globe.

From what we know from running the Money in Mobile Award where the winners will be announced at the BLN Money in Mobile Forum on June 14th in London, there are a lot of very innovative, compelling businesses with very aggressive growth plans in the UK, let alone Europe. I am itching to share some of the names that come to mind but as the judging process for the competition is still underway, it wouldn’t seem right to share right now but it will be interesting to see how the ten presenting companies, picked from the 48 entrants, compare to some of the companies on this list.

To give you an idea how valley centric this is, check the Wordle…

AlwaysOn Mobile 100 2011

Here is AlwaysOn’s list. See if you can predict the four European companies to feature in the top 100.

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Bubble or no bubble, this is what being an investment banker in Silicon Valley feels like right now.

June 2, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

I got LinkedIn, sort of. Reid Hoffman built a business over a long period of time that has slowly, methodically and carefully become a social network for the professional classes. It is really useful in business for lots of reasons and there are lots of ways it can make money from its activity over time.

AirBnB valued at a $billion? I can see the space being very valuable, but a $billion for a young company in a space where there is relatively little competition, but will be very soon, seems rich.

GroupOn files to raise $750 million in IPO. It better have a whole lot of impressive new stuff up its sleeves to make sense of that. Revenue growth is massive: 2008: $94,000; 2009: $30.5 million; 2010 $713 million. It lost $413m last year and spent $200 million on acquisitions including the Samwer brothers’ Citydeal.

These big IPOs are going to open the door for a whole lot of others too. One thing is for sure, if you want to know how the investment bankers in Silicon Valley are feeling right now, you should take a look at this insightful and thought provoking video that puts you inside their heads.

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BLN Growth Forum in the news. What you get out & who comes.

June 2, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

A short summary of recent press about our forthcoming BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011, plus speaker line up, session themes, previous attendees and reminder that Early Bird Booking discount is available until 8th June.

BLN and the Growth Growth Forum in the news:

From Business Weekly, ‘Why businesses should join the culture club‘, 2nd June.

“There are companies whose compass never wavers far from the bottom line of the balance sheet. Others – sustainable and successful – profit from a different currency: their people.

“People power is brought into sharp focus in a key session of the BLN Growth Forum 2011 in Cambridge on July 5 when Martin Leuw – former CEO and current non-exec director of software powerhouse IRIS – leads a ‘People’ session discussion with Peter Bauer (CEO Mimecast), Ariel Eckstein (MD LinkedIn EMEA) and Mark Gerhard (CEO JAGEX). It promises to be electric.” Read the full interview in Business Weekly.

From the FT, ‘Cable accused of gaffe on data‘, May 27th.

“Concerns have been raised about Vince Cable’s grasp of the issues facing entrepreneurs after he told a business conference that 90 per cent of British angel funding was made in Scotland.” Read the full article in the FT.

From Business Weekly, ‘BLN Growth forum a Catalyst for Growth’, May 18th.

“It’s one of the hottest business shows in this or any other town – and the BLN Growth Forum 2011 in Cambridge on July 5 is set to become the most effective catalyst for growth ever staged locally.

“The speaker line-up for the day event at the Hauser Forum is a veritable Who’s Who? of entrepreneurial greats. Delegates can’t help but learn from sharing their experiences of life at the commercial coal face.

“They include Warren East, CEO of superchip designer ARM Holdings; Jonathan Milner – CEO of antibodies supplier Abcam; Nigel Payne – Non-Exec Director, Sportingbet plc; Mary Turner – CEO, AlertMe.com; Ariel Eckstein, managing director, LinkedIn EMEA; Mohini Bulbrook, who is head of International Development, Cheapflights Media and Neil Gaydon – CEO, Pace plc.” Read the full interview in Business Weekly.

BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011. Themes:

  • Making it big – targeting big markets and maintaining your lead.
  • Successful sales– making profitable sales a core goal. How to sell against market leaders.
  • Putting people first – creating a culture to attract and retain the people you need.
  • Growth strategies – maximising value from startup to IPO and beyond.

BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011. Themes:

  • Jonathan Milner, Founder & CEO, Abcam
  • Warren East, CEO, ARM
  • Neil Gaydon, CEO, PACE plc
  • Stuart Miller, CEO, ByBox
  • Mo Bulbrook, Head of International, Cheapflights Media
  • Tim Weller, CEO, Incisive Media
  • Mary Turner, CEO, AlertMe
  • Martin Leuw, NED, IRIS Software Group
  • Mark Gerhard, CEO, Jagex Games Studio
  • Ariel Eckstein, Managing Director EMEA, LinkedIn
  • Peter Bauer, CEO, Mimecast
  • Nigel Payne, Director and Prev CEO, Sporting Bet plc
  • Andy Leaver, VP EMEA, Workday

BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011. Supporters:

BLN Growth Forum, 5th July 2011. Who comes?

This is the participant list from the 1st Growth Forum that will give a good indication of the kind of people you will meet.

  • 2e2 Group, Chief Executive Officer
  • Accel, Partner
  • ACIS, CEO
  • Adaffix, CEO
  • Admob Europe, VP Alliances

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Talk Snapshot: Making money from Social Networks – The MIG way. Barry Houlihan, MIG

June 2, 2011 by Mark T Littlewood

Talk snapshot, Money in Mobile, June 14th: Barry Houlihan, MIG

Barry Houlihan is the Founder and CEO of Mobile Interactive Group (MIG) named No.1 in the ‘Deloitte Technology Fast 50’ and EMEA Fast 500 in October 2010. At BLN Money in Mobile Barry will discuss how to take audiences from social networks and monetise them effectively. He will use some recent high profile case studies to show how this can be done.

MIG’s specialist disciplines include mobile technology and services provision; mobile billing, messaging and mCommerce; mobile advertising and marketing; multi channel digital solutions; the design and build of mobile internet sites and applications, and user experience design. Their clients include: ITV, O2, M&S, Walkers, Sky, Barclaycard & The Telegraph.

See what else is in store and come along: BLN Money in Mobile, 14th June

There is so much guff and hype about mobile that it is hard to see the important stuff. Our one day Money in Mobile Forum on June 14th will help you see the wood from the trees.

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