The news this week was dominated by announcements coming from Google’s two-day I/O event, some of which was highly applicable to startups. The most popular story by far this week was the Big G’s introduction of their big data APIs, which may make the process of sophisticated computations easily attainable to startups. Aso this week we discuss some ideation tips from Twitter’s Jack Dorsey, a program linking college interns with startups and some factors for the success of mobile coupons. Additionally, we pour over some data from a survey of over 500 mass customization companies, as well as building communities around co-working spaces.
Google’s New Big Data APIs a Big Gift to Startups?
The flood of news from Google I/O continues as the company has announced a pair of services available to developers that provide public access to some of Google’s internal data-analysis tools. BigQuery, a service for analyzing massively large sets of data, and Prediction API, an interface for utilizing Google’s prediction algorithms, are now available to developers in the Google Code Labs. To break down these heavy new tools, we spoke with former Apple engineer and big-data geek Pete Warden.
Warden believes these new tools from Google could commoditize previously close-guarded technologies, allowing startups to quickly and easily leverage things like sentiment-analysis. “Assuming it does what it says on the label, this opens up a lot of technology problems to bootstrapped startups that previously required serious funding to tackle,” he told ReadWriteWeb.
Draw It Out, and Other Tips for Success from Twitter Co-founder Jack Dorsey
Having a great idea is one thing. But being able to realize and execute on that idea is what matters.
At the 99% Conference last month in San Francisco, Twitter creator and co-founder Jack Dorsey gave a talk on how he was able to do just that: take a good idea and turn it into a flourishing company. In his talk, Dorsey identifies the three keys to success as he built and launched both Twitter and his latest project Square:
Online Community YouTern Links College Interns and Startups
YouTern, an online community to link interns with startups, has launched their pilot program in California, with plans to expand nationwide.
While there are many programs that assist students with finding internships with large, established companies, until the launch of YouTern, there was no similar service helping entrepreneurial-minded students find a position with a startup. And now in turn, startups will have a resource to identify and recruit talented students for internship positions, a move that may help build a “startup culture” so college graduates don’t feel as compelled to only seek employment with major corporations.
Success for Mobile Coupons Begins at the Register
One of the more interesting discussions I had with attendees at the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit a few weeks ago was about the future of location-based mobile advertising and why it has so far failed to take off. The speed-bumps we uncovered during that session included the burden of building an ad network and finding unique ways of engaging users, but one other key hurdle that stands in the way is the physical interaction at the point-of-sale.
Survey of 500 Mass Customization Startups Reveals Fascinating Trends
A growing startup trend that we have been keeping a watchful eye on here at ReadWriteStart is mass customization and co-creation. Startups in this sector provide customizable products to the end user, like t-shirts, bags, jewelry and even food. Back in March we suggested that the U.S. may be on the verge of a co-creation invasion from Europe, where these kinds of startups are more prominent. This week the Smart Customization Seminar is being held at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts and some fascinating stats and trends have emerged from the discussions and talks.
Co-working Spaces: Building a Startup Community
As our “Never Mind the Valley” series demonstrated, startup communities are thriving outside of Silicon Valley. A panel at WebVisions 2010 today in Portland< Oregon made a strong case for fostering community not merely in a city in general, but in specific working environments. Bac’n.com‘s Jason Glaspey, Silicon Florist‘s Rick Turoczky, Urban Airship‘s Scott Kveton, and Nedspace‘s Josh Friedman shared their experiences with co-working.
