Wrapping up 2005
Well what can I say? 2005 wasn’t a bad year. My wife and I were reasonably healthy and we appreciate our fantastic group of friends in Seattle more than ever. For a couple in our mid 30’s we sure don’t feel like we’ve slowed down. Sometimes it feels like our friends are the life of the party in Seattle and it makes us smile. The other night at a holiday party I was listening to a friend tell us that he was interviewing for a VERY senior job at a major wireless carrier. It ocurred to me that getting older isn’t always a bad thing. It’s a lot of fun to watch my friends move up in their careers, gain more respect, make more money and get what they want out of life. So, in many ways 2005 was about finding a new respect for our friends and family.
On the tech side, here’s what I’d like to see happen in 2006 in no particular order.
1) I want a major hollywood studio to get serious about releasing their archives to the net. NetFlix is a great service but its a crutch. I can burn my own DVD’s! Let me download what I want and I’ll pay you.
2) Streaming video needs to be a better experience. Let’s see a P2P or grid-based breakout in 2006. I’ll give props to my boys over at GridNetworks.
3) I’d like to see a real breakout in website building tools. I maintain this site. I dictate it’s style. But I know most people cannot do this. Most people must live with poor authoring tools and no real creative control. Even my friends who are longtime VC’s with decades of tech experience either have no websites or poor websites. And the reason is because there are too many tools for the job but too few that let people do what they want.
4) Most web navigation schemes are long in the tooth. For example, on dating sites, let me navigate based on faces I think are attractive. Not drop-down boxes.
5) Check out www.milliondollarhomepage.com This 21 year old kid did something interesting and made more money than most of us in the second half of 2005. Ive been following him since he made his first $5,000 dollars with this site. I learn two things from this. First, don’t EVER EVER EVER think that all the unique ideas are gone. Never quit. Always brainstorm. Second, transparency, efficiency, and relationships in the online advertising business needs to work better. Here’s a true (albeit simple) advertising marketplace that leverages efficiency, honesty and confidence from all parties. The online ad business today is like a black box that always seems to require some kind of secret key. It should be simpler, easier and more straight-forward.
6) I’d like to see more “Flickrs” happen. That is, lightly funded, forward thinking companies with young visionary founders who may not have sterling resumes but nonetheless make a significant mark on how the web will evolve into it’s next chapter.
Happy New Year everyone.
Off to ski in Sun Valley.
Hopefully all my bones will be in one place when I resume these posts.
comments
-
Rainbows
-
Vanishing America
-
Friends from Monaco
-
Cadillac
-
Old stamps
I’ll make #3 happen for you. Hopefully, with your help.
I know! I thought of you when I wrote that! Go get em Sampa!!