How Internet is changing the investment landscape and what are the emerging opportunities for startups.

1. Democratization of
Entrepreneurship
Bipul Sinha
@bipulsinha

2. The Changing Landscape
Emergence of infrastructure-as-a-service platforms
Deep domain experience not a pre-requisite
Advent of a new class of seed investors
Disruptive distribution channels
Iterative product-market fit experiments
Multitude of early exit opportunities

3. An Age of Acceleration
A - New capability
B – Integration
C – Limits
D – Decline
Source: Tom McKendree's 1994 Singularity diagram

4. Platforms
2B global internet users
670MM global mobile 3G subscribers and growing fast
Apple: iPhone/iTouch/iPad 120MM+ users
Facebook: 600MM+ users
Twitter: 200MM+ users
Foursquare/Instagram/Pulse: several million users
Source: Morgan Stanley Research, International Telecommunication Union, Informa WCIS+,
Facebook, Apple, Google.

5. Opportunities
USA: eCommerce ~5% of the total retail
USA: Time spent online = 28%; online ad spend = 13%
Mobile devices: real-time connectivity 24X7
Open social graph
Integration of the offline commerce into the Internet
economy
Technology driven online media transactions
Source: US Dept. of Commerce, Morgan Stanley Research, Yahoo! 2010 analyst day.

6. 2011 Internet/Media
Focus Areas

7. Social Utilities
Online businesses built on social graph
Leverage social distribution to reach scale
Focus on reduced cost of transaction
Emotional resonance for users
Value for all [active/passive] participants
Travel, commerce, dating, classifieds, recruiting….

8. Discovery Traffic
Google aggregates intent
Social platforms aggregate discovery/awareness
Discovery traffic represents deferred monetization
High growth in the near term
Leverage engaged followings and connections
News, games, deals, social feeds…..

9. eCommerce
Utility -> Fun
Mall experience: social, discovery, impulse, sharing,
recommendation, and emotional
Treasure hunt: bimodal consumer behavior
Big brands to consumer direct
Verticalization: shoes, jewelry, make-up, dresses….
Crowd focused, fully distributed online-offline

10. Localization
Location based discovery
Local experience sharing
Marketplace, flash mobs, intent, augmented experience
Foot traffic pattern mapping
Discounts, offers, demand signaling, geo-fencing
Next generation location-gamification, traffic aggregation

11. Premium Content
Search/discover streaming web content
Discover TV content
Socialization of TV experience
Contextual augmentation
Video advertisements
Lean-back content consumption on tablets

12. Thank you