The document discusses the landscape of various platforms like Facebook, iPhone, Twitter, and the web, analyzing their viability based on features, user engagement, and monetization. It highlights the success factors for platforms, trends in user interaction, and the challenges faced by developers in monetizing their applications. Key insights include the potential of Facebook and its connect feature to leverage user data across the web, while also addressing limitations within the iPhone platform.

1. ULTIMATE PLATFORM HOT NESS SMACK DOWN Startup2Startup / Boulder June 30, 2009 David Cohen, TechStars Dave McClure, Founders Fund Jeff Clavier, SoftTech VC Ryan McIntyre, Foundry Group Howard Lindzon, StockTwits/WallStrip

2. Platforms: HOT or NOT ? Facebook iPhone Twitter Native Web (Search) Social Networks : Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Twitter, Orkut, hi5, Friendster Email & IM : Yahoo, MSFT, Google, AOL, Skype Mobile : iPhone, Palm, Android, Blackberry, etc Gaming : Zynga, RockYou, Slide, Playfish, SGN E-Commerce : Amazon (1-Click), eBay (PayPal), Apple (iTunes) Dev : Amazon (AWS), Google AppEngine, Ruby/Rails, Python/Django, etc Other : SalesForce, Craigslist, Wikipedia, YouTube

3. Platform Viability Successful Platforms have 3 Things: 1) Features 2) Users 3) Money Users . . Money Features Growth Profit Profitable Growth Nirvana

4. Discussion Topics Distribution Viral? Paid? Monetization Gatekeepers & Trolls vs Support Stability / Predictability Reputation / Identity Demographic The Future ?

5. Facebook Platform & Facebook Connect: Big Pimping via Profiles, Apps, Feeds

6. Facebook Overview Users : 250M and counting (100M+ in US) Demographic : college -> everyone (moms, grandmas) Distribution : Most viral platform on the planet Monetization : up to you: ads, lead-gen, virtual goods Gatekeepers : not much, unless you get spammy Stability / Predictability : stable, but fickle? Invitations/Notifications: lot s of rules, changes often NewsFeed: amazing distribution, but algorithm continues to “evolve” Reputation / Identity : amazing access to social graph Facebook Connect : portabile identity across the web (+ payments?)

7. The Good Stuff Social Networks Viral Distribution via Friends Lists 1) Messaging, 2) Profile Surfing, 3) News Feeds Social “Gestures” & Communication (pokes, wall posts, emails) drive User Engagement & Distribution Social Content (notes, photos, videos) can be “tagged” with people data that also drives User Engagement & Distribution Social Applications are “carriers” for Content & Communication Facebook Connect enables “data portability” for logins, profile data, friend lists, and other social network content, data, & applications Facebook Payments is coming… soon?

8. Facebook Connect, Facebook Payments Facebook Connect Standardized User Login for use OFF-Platform (outside Facebook) Access to ON-Platform data (user profiles, friend lists) “ Data Portability” -> take my network with me, anywhere on the web Lightweight app framework for use OFF-network Possibility : 250M+ users across the web; “1-click” login / “always logged in Internet”, use of FB Connect use by branded sites & retailers Facebook Payments Not launched yet; “coming soon” (now in alpha) On-platform payment option (wallet? Micro-transactions?) Off-platform payment option (via FB Connect) Possibility : Social Commerce, “Viral” Products / Digital Goods

9. Jeff Clavier (aka @jeff) Managing Partner, SoftTech VC Disclosure: Whoopsie, I actually own AAPL iPhone: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

10. iPhone Platform – The Good 30M devices (iPhone/iPod Touch) as of 12/08(?) Over 1B downloads from AppStore Easy referencing (sort of), deployment, update Baked in monetization: premium apps, subscriptions, in-app commerce Zero-carrier friction

11. iPhone Platform – The Bad Limited discoverability among 56K applications Tough organic customer acquisition No internal virality (no contacts/graph) Challenging economics Apple’s 30% Only the head of the tail of applications makes money Like video, advertising only works for premium content/applications Proprietary development language

12. iPhone Platform – The Ugly Application developers are not managed like an asset by Apple, more like a necessary evil Lot of crappy apps out there

13. iPhone Platform – The Ugly Application developers are not managed like an asset by Apple, more like a necessary evil Lot of crappy apps out there Proprietary development language

14. Twitter

15. What is StockTwits ? StockTwits is an open, community-powered investment idea and information service 80,000 twitter subscribers Our "Human Ticker” adds context TweetDeck's functionality enables "Social Bloomberg" Eavesdrop on traders and investors in the “Now Web” Piggyback on Twitter’s reputation system Transparency assures meritocracy

16. Free Model

17. Tweetdeck Integration

18. Native Web (Search)

19. Web / Search: One Platform to Rule Them All Hotness Features (yes, all of them!) Users (1.6B and counting) Money (lots! GOOG is $22B, AMZN $20B, EBAY $8B) The search gesture carries more economic value than social/sharing gestures (for now) The über platform: all interesting apps built on web stack, whether FB, Twitter, iPhone, etc Big serendipity/surprise factor inherent in the web/search platform No gatekeeper, no approval process, widest flexibility in developer tools, ease of deployment Web’s ecosystem of ad networks, payment systems, affiliate revenues, etc. enable monetization for non-developers : publishers, retailers

20. Web / Search: One Platform to Rule Them All Coldness Growing more slowly than FB, Twitter, iPhone, etc You can build anything. Constraints imposed by FB, Twitter, iPhone platforms can actually benefit developers WRT stability, distribution, monetization De-facto gatekeeper: Search engine dynamics throttle distribution. Time/money required to build Google juice/SEO and to engage in SEM Pages not people (links are king, ignores the social, makes distribution hard) Then, not now (web is archive, not zeitgeist)

21. Discussion Topics Distribution Viral? Paid? Monetization Gatekeepers & Trolls vs Support Stability / Predictability Reputation / Identity Demographic The Future ?

22. Platform Viability Successful Platforms have 3 Things: 1) Features 2) Users 3) Money Users . . Money Features Growth Profit Profitable Growth Nirvana