Comments for Great Falls Ventures http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com Investments in and Assistance to Emerging Companies Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:14:08 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on “True Grit” matters – on the raising of children in today’s self-esteem-over-performance culture by Weekend Reading http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/true-grit-matters-on-the-raising-of-children-in-todays-self-esteem-over-performance-culture/#comment-1446 Weekend Reading Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:14:08 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/true-grit-matters-on-the-raising-of-children-in-todays-self-esteem-over-performance-culture/#comment-1446 [...] True Grit Matters: by John McKinley. “In a world where we celebrate everything in a child’s life, the real lessons of hard work, persistent, and long-term payoff are often overlooked.” [...] [...] True Grit Matters: by John McKinley. “In a world where we celebrate everything in a child’s life, the real lessons of hard work, persistent, and long-term payoff are often overlooked.” [...]

]]> Comment on Why MapQuest has lost its way, and how to fix it by Juan Carlos Perez http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/why-mapquest-has-lost-its-way-and-how-to-fix-it/#comment-1338 Juan Carlos Perez Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:33:50 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-1338 Hi John, As someone that participated in the Due Diligence of AOL's acquisition of MapQuest and as the Operations lead overseeing the migration of their infrastructure from Denver to Virginia, I couldn't agree with you more. The issues you highlight with AOL's management of the MapQuest brand are quasi-systemic at AOL. Similar stories can be told regarding: -Netscape -Moviefone -Spinner But there's no doubt that MapQuest is the lead story here. FYI - I landed in a small Financial Services company in Gaithersburg while my wife (Maureen Jules) is still at AOL. We are routing for AOL's revival and still working hard to make it happen. Hope things are going well for you. What are you up to these days? -Juan Hi John,

As someone that participated in the Due Diligence of AOL’s acquisition of MapQuest and as the Operations lead overseeing the migration of their infrastructure from Denver to Virginia, I couldn’t agree with you more.

The issues you highlight with AOL’s management of the MapQuest brand are quasi-systemic at AOL.

Similar stories can be told regarding:

-Netscape
-Moviefone
-Spinner

But there’s no doubt that MapQuest is the lead story here.

FYI – I landed in a small Financial Services company in Gaithersburg while my wife (Maureen Jules) is still at AOL. We are routing for AOL’s revival and still working hard to make it happen.

Hope things are going well for you. What are you up to these days?

-Juan

]]> Comment on Why MapQuest has lost its way, and how to fix it by Rocky Agrawal http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/why-mapquest-has-lost-its-way-and-how-to-fix-it/#comment-1299 Rocky Agrawal Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:42:50 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=148#comment-1299 John, Good to see you at CES!. It's definitely disappointing to see what's happened to Mapquest. I think at one point I counted more than 45 ads on a single map page. I'm curious if the Hitwise data include Google Maps API usage. If they don't, the real numbers would be much more lopsided in Google's favor. Google (and to a lesser extent, Yahoo!) have done a great job of crawling the Web and finding geocentric data and putting it on the map. They've also done a great job of encouraging people to create and contribute geodata. Mapquest should own that. Mapquest still has its brand going for it -- at least it did a couple of years ago. Whenever I did market research and asked people "Where would you go to find X" on the Internet, the answers was Google. The only X that got a different answer was maps and directions. John,

Good to see you at CES!.

It’s definitely disappointing to see what’s happened to Mapquest. I think at one point I counted more than 45 ads on a single map page.

I’m curious if the Hitwise data include Google Maps API usage. If they don’t, the real numbers would be much more lopsided in Google’s favor.

Google (and to a lesser extent, Yahoo!) have done a great job of crawling the Web and finding geocentric data and putting it on the map. They’ve also done a great job of encouraging people to create and contribute geodata. Mapquest should own that.

Mapquest still has its brand going for it — at least it did a couple of years ago. Whenever I did market research and asked people “Where would you go to find X” on the Internet, the answers was Google. The only X that got a different answer was maps and directions.

]]> Comment on About and Contact Info by Steve B http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/about/#comment-1272 Steve B Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:53:03 +0000 #comment-1272 I had a blast reading your stuff. Looks like life has treated you well. Belated congrats on the Powerset and MessageLabs sales. You need to buy the drinks the next time we see each other! I had a blast reading your stuff. Looks like life has treated you well. Belated congrats on the Powerset and MessageLabs sales. You need to buy the drinks the next time we see each other!

]]> Comment on True Innovation Sighting: The Mobile Man Machine Interface And MIT by Chris Williams http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/true-innovation-sighting-the-mobile-man-machine-interface-and-mit/#comment-1261 Chris Williams Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:12:42 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=123#comment-1261 BumpTop is still better than these if just because it has the hypemachine err I mean hip videos backing it BumpTop is still better than these if just because it has the hypemachine err I mean hip videos backing it

]]> Comment on True Innovation Sighting: The Mobile Man Machine Interface And MIT by amit shafrir http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/true-innovation-sighting-the-mobile-man-machine-interface-and-mit/#comment-1256 amit shafrir Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:09:16 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=123#comment-1256 this is unbelievably cool! wow! this is unbelievably cool! wow!

]]> Comment on True Innovation Sighting: The Mobile Man Machine Interface And MIT by Matt Jacobson http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/true-innovation-sighting-the-mobile-man-machine-interface-and-mit/#comment-1255 Matt Jacobson Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:53:16 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=123#comment-1255 Cool and very intuitive. Amazing what some smart developers and open software platforms might enable. Making it look so simple is brilliant and artful. Simplicity of use will be key to success. Cool and very intuitive. Amazing what some smart developers and open software platforms might enable. Making it look so simple is brilliant and artful. Simplicity of use will be key to success.

]]> Comment on LaunchBox Digital – Ready For Applications For Our 2009 Incubator Program! by Welcome to LaunchBox09 - A DC Incubator | iStrategyLabs http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2009/02/01/launchbox-digital-ready-for-applications-for-our-2009-incubator-program/#comment-1254 Welcome to LaunchBox09 - A DC Incubator | iStrategyLabs Mon, 02 Feb 2009 12:55:46 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=95#comment-1254 [...] you’re thirsty for more, John McKinley (form CTO of AOL and LaunchBox Digital Co-Founder) has a great post up about the accelerator program here. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...] [...] you’re thirsty for more, John McKinley (form CTO of AOL and LaunchBox Digital Co-Founder) has a great post up about the accelerator program here. Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

]]> Comment on Facebook thinks my friends want to know when I buy hemorrhoid cream – the culmination of a bad month for privacy, and my views on the solution by Nowheet Owl http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/facebook-thinks-my-friends-want-to-know-when-i-buy-hemorrhoid-cream-the-culmination-of-a-bad-month-for-privacy-and-my-views-on-the-solution/#comment-1246 Nowheet Owl Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:09:00 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/11/06/facebook-thinks-my-friends-want-to-know-when-i-buy-hemorrhoid-cream-the-culmination-of-a-bad-month-for-privacy-and-my-views-on-the-solution/#comment-1246 well, online privacy is difficult to get now. unless you anonymouze everything and make sure that you don't enter your private information online at all. but facebook's issue is new to me, i never expect them to be that careless with our information. well, online privacy is difficult to get now. unless you anonymouze everything and make sure that you don’t enter your private information online at all. but facebook’s issue is new to me, i never expect them to be that careless with our information.

]]> Comment on The impact of the debt markets and AOL’s future – it’s time for new thinking by The impact of the debt markets http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/the-impact-of-the-debt-markets-and-aols-future-its-time-for-new-thinking/#comment-1232 The impact of the debt markets Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:10:44 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/the-impact-of-the-debt-markets-and-aols-future-its-time-for-new-thinking/#comment-1232 [...]Valuing AdCo is probably the heart of matter in determining AOL’s future. If you focus on the display ad sales business, solving for a combination of sales within AOL’s own properties[...] [...]Valuing AdCo is probably the heart of matter in determining AOL’s future. If you focus on the display ad sales business, solving for a combination of sales within AOL’s own properties[...]

]]> Comment on Our First Nine Companies Graduate The LaunchBox Digital 2008 Incubator Program by 12 weeks, nine companies, seven lessons from an incubator fund | WeMedia http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/our-first-nine-companies-graduate-the-launchbox-digital-2008-incubator-program/#comment-1217 12 weeks, nine companies, seven lessons from an incubator fund | WeMedia Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:26:52 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/?p=71#comment-1217 [...] co-founder John McKinley was one of our judges at last year’s We Media Pitch It competition - and we’re planning a major [...] [...] co-founder John McKinley was one of our judges at last year’s We Media Pitch It competition – and we’re planning a major [...]

]]> Comment on The impact of the debt markets and AOL’s future – it’s time for new thinking by SEO collection links on optimization competitions http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/the-impact-of-the-debt-markets-and-aols-future-its-time-for-new-thinking/#comment-1207 SEO collection links on optimization competitions Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:58:10 +0000 http://greatfallsventures.wordpress.com/2007/08/09/the-impact-of-the-debt-markets-and-aols-future-its-time-for-new-thinking/#comment-1207 I think you have pegged the real lever in any AOL valuation discussion. I think you have pegged the real lever in any AOL valuation discussion.

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