Shared Learnings
Future Summit 09: Positive, Constructive
I've been fortunate enough to be invited to attend Future Summit in Melbourne over the next two days. It's exciting, imposing and slightly intimidating, and I'm proud to be a part of it. Future Summit is associated with the Davos World Economic Forum, granting...
read moreThe danger of “free” in irrational economics
In "Premiree- More Premium, Less Free" Mick wrote that many startups hit trouble by aiming to deliver a free product and delivering something in which the value matches the price. But why do so many startups choose free as a price? What happens in a competitive market...
read moreDeveloping and launching products at Product Talk 2
I've been a web product manager for what is beginning to feel like a long time, perhaps somewhere in that history there are some helpful experiences I can share with other product managers. Product management consultancy Brainmates was kind enough to invite me over to...
read moreOur Man in Europe: Amir Suissa Joins Us
We've been working a lot in Europe for the past year and the time has come for us to pitch a tent on the ground. I am really pleased to announce that Amir Suissa has joined our team and will operate a Pollenizer HQ out of Zurich, Switzerland. Like all Pollenizer...
read morePosse: Making Great Burgers Before We Open McDonalds
Over the weekend, we released Posse. Here's some coverage in the Australian newspaper. The idea came to Posse CEO, Rebekah Campbell, when she was struggling to sell Evermore tickets in Perth. Recruiting the fans to work for the band quickly fixed that problem and...
read moreStatistics in Five Dimensions
I wormed my way into Google AdSense Partner Day in Sydney today and got to sit in on a great session about Google Analytics. Having such an amazing tool at the disposal of (what should be) every single website regardless of size is a game changer. Yes, too much data...
read moreThe Market Building Dilemma
Having a strong market based business is great. You are a power-broker and can often profit from both sides. But how do you get over the chicken and egg problem? Market based businesses are when you need to bring together two different parties to perform a...
read moreForty thousand citizens have a question for Obama
A friend and ex-colleague has just started in a new role building a team to run social media for the Obama administration. One of their most interesting initiatives is to ask the community to contribute questions to an online town hall in the US tomorrow. So far,...
read moreHave a Quarterly End-of-the-Line Meeting
Is today the last day of our web business? Should we pack up our stuff and do something new? Has this idea failed? Will it ever gain momentum? Image thanks to Zoomar Have a meeting once per quarter and put this proposition to the team. It's not about being negative....
read moreThe Web is a Broken Operating System. Shall We Fix It?
I've been involved with the idea of 'data portability' for a while now. Data Portability is the principle that data on the web should be easy to securely move around by those that have the rights to do so. At Ad:tech09 in Sydney I participated in a panel discussion...
read moreWhich engine do you choose to power your web business?
Don't be tempted by the 98 octane hi-revving twin-supercharged speedster; sometimes it's a simple, reliable, well-understood and easy-to-repair diesel you need. One of my favourite episodes from Top Gear is the “Big Trip To Africa”. Jeremy Clarkson and his two...
read moreNew Technologies At the Service of Civil Society
Pollenizer's focus is on building web businesses, you can see that through the focus of our site, our blog posts and our experiences. However, something you might not know, is that many of us are also quite interested in the impact that technology has on civil society...
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