Foursquare looks to merge check-ins with coupons
Thanks to supportive venture capitalists with deep pockets, some of the most prominent startups in recent years have been able to put off the 'making money' part of creating a new business.
But no business can survive forever without a revenue model, and for Foursquare, it looks like it's time to make money.
Alibaba.com focuses on quality, sees net profits drop 25%
Doing the right thing long-term isn't always easy for companies. Just ask Alibaba.com, China's ecommerce giant.
Last quarter, the company made some strategic changes to its business model, and focused in on improving the quality of its marketplace. The result: slower growth which, combined with higher expenses, contributed to a 25% drop in net profit.
Note to entrepreneurs: sometimes "free" sucks
When comedian Louis C.K. decided to produce his own event and sell video of it to consumers directly online for $5, little did he know that his experiment would spark a trend. But then again, little did he know that his experiment would produce hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit in a matter of days.
Louis C.K.'s ability to profit significantly while retaining creative control over his event, ownership of his content and the relationships with his fans is, not surprisingly, of interest to other established comedians.
Microsoft to launch Windows Store for apps
Windows 8 is coming, and it's going to bring more than just a new operating system to users. Perhaps inspired by Apple, Microsoft will be delivering an app store dubbed the Windows Store with the newest version of its OS.
The Windows Store, which Microsoft wants to be the primary distribution hub for Metro style apps, is clearly something Microsoft has high hopes for. In fact, it's one of the reasons Microsoft is calling Windows 8 "the largest developer opportunity, ever."
Movie theatres kill interesting movie rental experiment
Traditional media companies, like movie studios, are often criticized for their lack of innovation. But an experiment planned by Universal highlights just how tough progress can be.
Last week, it was revealed that the company planned a limited experiment in two mid-size cities in the United States. The experiment: for $59.99, consumers would be able to rent the movie Tower Heist while it was still in theatres and well before it became available as a traditional VOD rental.
AirBnB: PR crisis, or business model failure?
The blogosphere has been abuzz with the news that an individual renting her apartment through AirBnB was the victim of a heinous property crime.
The strong reaction to the incident isn't just a result of the nature of the damage that was done to someone's apartment, it was a result of the fact that AirBnB is one of the hottest internet startups at the moment. In fact, it's so popular that some startups have opted to describe themselves as "the AirBnB of x."
Rolling Stone founder: "generations" before tablets meaningful for mags
Magazines may not have the best track record when it comes to adopting the newest technologies, but when the iPad launched, it was hard to find a magazine chief who wasn't excited.
Print publishing is particularly tough these days, and the iPad represented hope. As a result, many magazine executives were eager to give the iPad a try. That was a good thing.
Unfortunately, businesses don't run on hope, and despite the fact that the iPad and tablet devices are still very nascent, magazines have thus far found that tablets aren't a panacea for their industry's ailments. Some are even cutting back on their iPad plans.
Can a pay-what-you-want type foundry work?
Typography is a huge but often overlooked and underestimated component of effective design, particularly on the web.
Fonts are often sold through foundries, which are sort of like the record labels of the typography world. While many produce their own fonts for sale, they also serve as distributors for independent designers and studios, earning a royalty each time they sell a font.
Five ways to fight commoditization of your business
What's a company's worst nightmare? There are probably a few of them, but one of the worst is commoditization.
Finding your market filled with competition that looks almost identical to your business is a frustrating, disheartening experience, but it's a common one.
Thanks to the ease with which web-based applications and business models can be 'duplicated', most new internet companies will find themselves protected by narrow moats at best.
Content as an appreciating asset
Content may be king. At least that's what many companies in the business of producing content think for obvious reasons.
Take Demand Media, for instance. It's so confident that its content is an appreciating asset that will produce value over a long period of time that it amortizes the costs of producing content over five years.
