I had the pleasure of moderating a panel on Smartphone Gaming at "Socialize - Monetizing Social Media" conference at The New Yorker Hotel in New York last week.

The panel included international experts providing international perspectives on the mobile gaming industry, which is growing at an alarming rate. Silicon Valley California, Japan, China and Germany were all represented on the panel, which revealed:

• the importance of an international strategy when creating a mobile game;
• how to build games easily for multiple platforms;
• how to take games viral to maximize downloads and users;
• how to monetize mobile games; and
• how to best use mobile games for brand marketing.

It was an extremely interesting discussion, and very topical considering the successes being registered by smartphone gaming companies, like Rovio, every day. Rovio is the developers behind the hugely popular game Angry Birds, which according to Wire UK, is played a total of 200 million minutes every day!

Rovio typifies the business successes being registered in the smartphone gaming business, recently raising over $40 million in funding to further advance its empire.

Anybody thinking of coming up with 'the next big thing' should stop and give some thought to games that may become highly addictive, international and monetize-able :)

The roads to virality hence success of the great internet startups that consume our everyday lives, like Facebook, Twitter and Groupon to name a few, have been less conventional than the roads to a similar result experienced by traditional startup businesses.

These great internet startups have proven that ‘quirkiness’ can replace the billions of marketing dollars spent by traditional businesses to build a brand and cult following.

Quirkiness comes in many forms.

Quirky could be the idea of virtualizing the everyday lives of Ivy League students like Facebook did to attract the majority of Harvard, then other College students before ending up with profiles of 1 in 14 humans living on planet Earth.

Quirky could be enforcing a 140-character limit on status updates like Twitter did before attracting a gigantic user base that includes world leaders, business tycoons and celebrities to its application.

Quirky could be coming up with win-win deals with local businesses and spreading them as cleverly-worded coupons to a bargain-hungry audience, like Groupon has done to become a company that rakes in over $1 billion in revenue per year after less than three years in operation.

None of these businesses spent millions of dollars on television ads, bus stop advertising or a Times Square billboard. Planned or not, quirkiness was one of their key means to go viral and attract a critical following of their business. They have built online empires that are today valued at between $10 billion and $65 billion, depending on who you ask.

When starting your online business, plan quirkiness. It is an affordable way to take your business viral and save critical marketing dollars.

When planning an online business (or mobile business), founders and co-founders must begin discussing 'location' as soon as possible. By location, I particularly refer to the launch and base location(s) of your online or mobile business.

The following are four pointers I'd like you to consider in your startup location, location, location discussion:

Firstly, is where you live the best place to launch and base your internet or mobile startup?

If you live in countries with modest populations, like Sweden or Australia for example, and you've come up with a business that could have global appeal, you must seriously consider if launching in your home country will be beneficial to your aspirations.

The United States, with a population of 300 million that mostly use the internet and smartphones, might be a better option. For example, Foursquare, launched in New York, would not have had the same appeal if launched in Beirut.

The fact is that there are not as many examples of non-American startups making it big as the other way around. But there are countless examples of non-Americans making it big with U.S.-launched web and mobile startups!

Secondly, you must consider if launching in a smaller market will leave you vulnerable to predators?

In this industry, we constantly hear that some multi-billionaire startup founder took his/her "inspiration" from another guy who lives in a small village in some unpronounceable country.

If you launch in a smaller market and register some success, others will hear about it and use their considerable resources to establish your idea in a bigger market before you have had a chance to get there yourself.

Thirdly, you must question whether your online or mobile business' location is the best choice to attract the talent you will need.

If your startup succeeds, as we expect all will ;), you are going to need talent. Depending on the nature of your startup, you may require Engineers, Business Development personnel, Project Managers, Designers, etc.

It is fact that there are certain hubs where such talent is more fertile than others. For example, I believe Engineering talent is best in Silicon Valley (USA) or some Asian countries (Singapore, Philippines, India, etc.), while some of the best Business Development personnel I have met have been from cut-throat cities like New York (USA) and Sydney (Australia).

Finally, and probably most importantly, do investors have preferred locations?

There is a great chance you are going to need money to grow your business. And it is a definite that you are going to want money when you exit your web or mobile business.

Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors and others with money will very likely judge your capacity to service the greatest-possible market for your business when deciding on whether they should or should not invest.


The above should not mean that everyone should launch their web or mobile business in the most populated, capitalist locations. First and foremost, the location has to be right for your business.

But once you have a list of what the right locations for your business could be, my advice is you make sure your capacity to service the largest locations is front-and-center in your planning.

I was at a prominent internet startup event in New York City last November, where one of the guest speakers was Justin Day, the Chief Technology Officer of huge web success story, blip.tv. He said that one should NOT build a web business with the goal of selling it, using himself and his friends as successful prototypes of that philosophy.

Blip.tv hosts the independent web shows of tens of thousands and is valued at over US$3billion. So they definitely are successful and power to Day and the rest of his team.

But they are geeks...

And the reason I mention this is because my belief is that the answer to the question: "to build to sell, or not?" is: "it depends who you are"!

Day is somebody who comes from a technological background, as does Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and many other web success stories. These guys, and I employ over a dozen of their type at KAYWEB (websites & apps company in New York, Sydney, Melbourne and Manila), are stimulated by a technological challenge.

Coding to them is like ice cream to a child, like cocaine to Tony Montana, like beer to Homer Simpson, like sex to Russell Brand, and like pizza to me.

Mastering the code of an internet project is achievement enough to most of these types. Therefore "building to sell" is the farthest thing from their minds.

The rest of us who are likely to be involved in web projects are entrepreneurs. For us, our programmers mastering the code is just the start. We want to have fun, and make money so we have more fun, with more projects and challenges.

Web business projects like YouTube, LinkedIn and Groupon will make money and scale to a degree. But the reason they get acquired by larger companies, or have a strategy to go public, is because that is where the bulk of their reward for an outstanding web project will come.

An entrepreneur can only take a business so far. There will always come a time that someone larger, better-equipped should take over and pay top dollar for that right.

For our types, "building to sell" is not such a bad idea, as you would plan your growth and sell at the right time, having assessed all your options.

Again, my answer to the question: "to build to sell, or not?" is: "it depends who you are"!

I had an interesting experience the other day. A client recently at KAYWEB called me and said:

"Haig, my business associate told me that I don't need the website I have commissioned you to build for my business. I can apparently simply create a Facebook page and bring in business in droves. And it's free!"

Having done business with hundreds of small business owners and entrepreneurs over the years, my attitude to all questions is to treat them with respect. The internet is a "newer" industry and assuming a level of knowledge in your clients is never advisable, as it will lead to important pieces of information not being passed on.

My response was:

"A Facebook page or presence on any social network is a wonderful way to spread your message as a business. But your website IS your message. It is your shopfront, where if someone comes to buy milk, you can also convince that customer to buy some bread and junk food."

A Facebook page is a great way to bring people to your website; your virtual shopfront and convert these people to paying customers and clients.

It is true that my company KAYWEB designs and develops websites, but please take this blog as advice rather than a sales pitch :)

The auDA Domain Names Policy Panel discussion paper and survey has been released and I encourage all domain name owners in Australia to take part and ensure you become part of the .au domain space policy-setting process.

You are asked your opinion on issues that concern you, such as the push by some (including myself) to have the 2-year minimum/maximum domain registration period extended to allow 1 year to 5 year registrations of .com.au domain names, like other countries allow.

Please click here and complete the survey BEFORE 21 January.

Groupon is one of the most profitable and definitely one of the fastest-growing internet businesses. But it is not operational in Australia under its globally recognisable brand because of a dispute.

groupon.com is a website where you visit, enter your locality, and receive an 'offer of the day'. This deal can also be emailed to you.

Providers of the deals range from corner stores to major retail and service chains. They know that Groupon has massive reach, therefore they offer a significant discount, expecting large 'group buying' to ensue. And it often does.

Groupon accept a share of all sales, and have pocketed a reported US$800million over the last year. The company also reportedly rejected a US$6billion offer from Google.

A representative recently revealed in a Groupon blog that the reason they are not operational in Australia, in their most typical form, is because of 'domain squatters' owning the domain name groupon.com.au. Moreover, the same individuals have a Groupon 'clone' website (scoopon.com.au) and have registered the Groupon Trademark in Australia days before the real Groupon people acted to do the same.

Groupon, in all their wisdom, offered US$286,000 to Messrs Gabby and Hezi Leibovitch (the brothers who own Scoopon, Groupon.com.au and the Groupon Trademark in Australia). In exchange, Groupon wanted the domain name and the Trademark. The Leibovitches agreed. Now they have changed their minds and apparently want to sell Scoopon as part of the deal.

Groupon have now started trading in Australia under another name and website: stardeals.com.au. They have also begun legal action against the Scoopon people.

Despite this, they say that the US$286,000 offer is still on the table.

I feel for Groupon.

Domain Squatters and people who deliberately go out of their way to ride on the back of growing enterprises like Groupon for a quick buck should not be condoned. It is not best practice, yet it is very prominent in the web industry.

I also criticise Groupon for offering this duo money in the first place.

If the Leibovitches broke the law, and Groupon want to criticise them for doing that, they cannot simultaneously offer them a reward for the alleged illegal act.

It is rewarding the perpetrator and it is sending mixed messages to potential supporters about what you really stand for.

Does Groupon stand for business legitimacy and doing no evil? Or does Groupon cave for the sake of a quicker resolution to a trademark dispute and .com.au domain name?

The fact that Groupon's representative stated that the US$286,000 is STILL on the table for the men they call 'domain squatters' is wrong.

Make a stand. Or don't. But don't do both!

In 2010, Twitter rose further up the prominence ladder due to the influence he micro-blogging social network began to have on public discourse in various countries.

• Hollywood Box Office successes (e.g. Inception, The Social Network) and failures (countless) were attributed to poor Twitter reviews;
• As were certain election results in Australia (Federal) and the United States (mid-terms);
• More celebrities (e.g. Steve Martin) and people of influence (Hugo Chavez, Bill Gates) joined Twitter;
• Television programs broadcast Twitter feeds (e.g. Q & A);
• And events (e.g. Chile Mine Disaster, Gulf Oil Spill, FIFA World Cup) were given true attention from citizen journalists around the world.

Click here to see the top 10 Fastest-rising Google searches 2010, Most popular Google searches 2010, Fastest-rising news stories 2010, Fastest-rising people 2010, Most popular celebrity weddings 2010 and much more, including a whole category dedicated to teenage pop star Justin Bieber.

'Facebook' was the most popular search on Google in 2010. I believe this shows that people still think Google IS the internet, and the Google search bar is used to navigate through the web instead of the URL bar on browsers.

Worryingly, 'google' was the third-most popular searched word on Google in Australia.

And it is very interesting to see that the top question people asked to Google in 2010 was "What is love?"

Might we Australians be preparing to soon take over Paris as the romantic capital of the world? Surely not!

Click here and enjoy the full list!