Category: Startups

Streaming pile of doo

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

Funny – I just read this :: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6215246

Notice that most of the list is not really about making anything better for users.

Back to the post…

As I am in the states I have been messing around with all the streaming services available in the states. Amazon, iTunes, Hulu, Netflix across a variety of devices like TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Sony Blu Ray, Xbox, iPhone, iPad, and who knows what else. Its amazing all the innovation but yet everything is generally a pain in the ass to use and all suffer from edge cases. Nothing is really awesome and nothing works well across all use cases. 

As a precursor to all of this I know the general issue is that the content owners just don’t allow for innovation. It plain and simple how clear that is. So unfortunately I think the whole industry is held back by the owners of the content. This is why piracy is so rampant and in some sense the best user experience because product people can do amazing things with files, networks, and user experiences. Legal services cannot do anything they want and are mostly held back. Such is life. I don’t think this will change anytime soon.

It’s clear to me that even guys like Jason who is building https://www.vessel.com know this which is why they are focusing on user generated content since if they get it right they can do anything they want in reality. Of course there will be markets economics driving some decisions and they have to compete with YouTube while attracting content makers but still the playing field is much less restrictive than real content or shall we say trapped content. I have no idea how vessel will do but I think it will shake the market up some. YouTube is huge but the search experience, the curation and some of the viewing experiences are really broken. They are so big though they don’t care. Vessel has the time, money and experience to make a go of it.

In my own experience of using services while I am in the states I find that the best device to use is still Apple TV but it really could use an update. The remote sucks, the home screen is too cluttered and it needs more apps but the overall experience is better. On a technical note even if I am using Netflix I would rather use it via Apple TV cause it partially deals with one of my Netflix pet peeves which is streaming only and sucks on bad connections. Yes – America is full of shitty connections. However the way the Apple TV works, and it is the only Apple device that does this, the movie is essentially downloading as you watch it which means it does not pixelate or buffer much providing the viewing position is behind the download. If you use the Netflix app, Netflix on the web or Netflix via a smart TV app the streaming only issues will crop up. I need to dig into Roku more but I think it still streams versus downloading. All in all I prefer Apple TV and Netflix.

Problem is though Netflix is pretty shitty content wise. Sure you get the big Netflix hits and a few others but almost all new TV shows are not on it and the movie selection is dim. Which means that as the family gathers around the TV and we want to watch something new – we have being using the Apple TV to purchase movies on iTunes. The selection really is the best for movies and TV shows. Yes it costs money but if 15 of us are sitting in the room and we want to watch a new release, paying 4-10 bucks is still cheaper than going to the movies. So it is actually an affordable deal. Not everything is yet released on it but there is way more new content on iTunes than anywhere else. With Netflix I have to know what I want to watch cause there is no awesome way to sort movies by rating or by other characteristics, it is mostly just genres and then lists in the order that Netflix wants you to see it. I also find that I either want to use the Netflix app on iTunes or I connect my phone to the TV to use the iOS app. The Samsung Netflix apps are shit, the Roku one is okay and the Sony BluRay one is okay. None are amazing. In summation Netflix is the best for streaming, subscription and amount of content all wrapped up into one.

Just a quick side note – Sony makes the worst software ever. No wonder they lose money and are easily hacked.

The big issue I have is Netflix is streaming only. Which sucks if you are on a bad connection, are mobile or want to prep stuff for your kids. There is no way to download anything or cache anything so once you hit the road Netflix is useless. For this I turn to either YouTube or iTunes. YouTube cause I can stream easily on mobile and find lots of kids stuff but of course this is using mobile data. I can’t offline or download YouTube yet. For iTunes I can buy and download stuff and keep it on my device. This is awesome for road trips. It sucks that Apple does this but they can’t seem to figure out streaming. Again this is where any one service cant fit all models well. Netlfix won’t download and iTunes won’t stream. This stuff is not rocket science and it sucks they both can’t figure out how to combine these functions but my guess is that the content guys are part of the problem. I know from my own experience with Spuul that content people can dictate tech or product features. Sad but true.

All this means that there is no perfect service or device – well apart from just pirating whatever you want to watch. I like the Apple ecosystem more than others but it is also ripe for disruption if Apple does not ship a new Apple TV and figure out the cloud. Netflix is obviously the big service for streaming but the inability to control bandwidth, download and sort is such a big miss for me. It will be interesting to see how Netflix conquers new markets with these limitations. Google is in the mix but I honestly don’t use it apart from YouTube – Chromecast is cool and all but Apple TV works better for me. Mostly cause I am into iOS. 

I am sure there a better solutions ahead but the content guys hold the keys I think. So the product guys can innovate all they want but the end result is content is king. The content guys are in the tech dark ages. This is why I am convinced that Vessel is focusing on user generated content first – this way the product can shine.

Merry streaming!

 

Attitudinal Anomalies

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I was reading this post from Om and was thinking a bit :: http://om.co/2014/11/21/aereo-fab-kaput/

You can skip the whole thing and go to the end of the post to ponder this:

PS: I think both those companies failed the “will I miss them or the service they provide” test!

In the end no matter what happens if people don’t need or yearn for the service then the service probably won’t make it.

For both Fab and Aereo though, the only thing I recall is hearing about the two CEO’s and the negativity around them. The Fab CEO was the I can do no wrong and I will spend huge sums of money to win. In the end it doesn’t look like it worked. He also pushed out a lot of core, early people and continued his very aggressive strategy to win all the way down.

With Aereo I actually feel like it was a neat invention and might have survived but the CEO started out picking a very public fight with the very people who owned the content versus maybe starting out by saying disruption was needed but he would kick revenue back to broadcasters versus make money on them while bad mouthing them. Whether the service was needed or not the company was tainted by the loud mouth of the CEO. Also didn’t work in the end.

Of course there are exceptions to all of this – Uber is good one. Company is killing it even though they have an exec team that appears, but I don’t think they really are, tone deaf to moral issues.

Here is Om again with a perfect post on this dilemma :: http://om.co/2014/11/26/technology-and-the-moral-dimension/

What happens when I dive into all this reading is I think a lot about what I am working on. Does the stuff I do really matter? Will anyone miss it when it goes away? Are my customers delighted? What’s tough for me is sometimes I see people or products succeed even when the people behind them have no moral compass. I know I should not look at it what way but sometimes envy can cloud my own moral compass. I have to remind myself that I should always strive to do the right thing by my product, my co-workers and my customers. 

I do believe Karma wins in the end. 

 

Thinking more about the PM and self-managed teams

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

I know I need to follow up on this :: http://www.nokpis.com/2014/08/20/how-i-try-to-product-manage-part-1/

BTW – still loving Desk…

There are so many discussions to have about how to PM – this was a good spot on it as well :: http://www.nokpis.com/2014/11/10/evolution-of-the-product-manager/

I try to encapsulate more about how I do things at Spuul and then I read this article today :: http://www.inc.com/chuck-blakeman/why-self-managed-teams-are-the-future-of-business.html

There is some good stuff in there and it slightly hints at how I try to do things at Spuul but we do try to task manage things some but many times we just have large goals, people to organize around them and dates to try and make. Roll all of them together and it feels like a hybrid of product management with self management. I can see from reading this article it could go a lot further but sometimes the startup mode makes it difficult.

This list is good and I want to try to dig into it more and see how I might put it into play:

1) Form a team around an objective (i.e. 4-12 people)

2) have them FIRST clearly define the desired result,

3) then the process(es) needed to get that result.

4) Then THEY set metrics for steps in the process and

5) for pay based on the result desired (quality, quantity, speed, etc.,)

6) finally THEY decide what happens if the metrics aren’t met and how to move team members along if they are not contributing appropriately.

7) Leadership approves.

8) Run it.

I love the small team thing, the result driven approach and the metrics – something to aspire to. Seems one could apply this to running the entire product team and then see how one could push it across the company.

 

Gotta crunch on this some more…

 

Android first

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Marco is obviously a very successful guy but I think this is where he and a lot of people from the states and Europe miss the boat sometimes – they clearly don’t understand the emerging markets and the freedom developers have around Android when it comes to telcos and bizdev. Given this – for some apps going Android first may make a ton of sense.

http://www.marco.org/2014/11/07/business-insider-maintains-usual-level-of-quality

Evolution of the Product Manager

~ michael_msft ~ 1 Comment

I am late to posting this but the article about the full stack developer got me thinking about the subject again.

From time to time I get questions and even have coffee with folks wanting to be a PM and asking how.

This article has some good info about the thesis behind it, the education some folks acquire and the experience that helps in becoming a PM :: http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2683579 .

There are so many angles to the role of the PM and of course the startup PM differs highly from the established company PM. Take Spuul for example – we don’t have an eng manager nor do we have a proper PM. We are just too small for this kind of headcount. Other places will have a head of PM to manage other mini PM’s – given this the definition of the PM is quite fluid in my opinion.

That being said, picture in your mind – the PM role in startup land to be a simple Venn diagram – the startup PM is that small spot in the intersection of customers, management and engineers. That is usually where I find myself on most days given the day to day duties I normally encounter.

I am sure there are many other ways to portray this but this is the one that keeps me focused on delighting users, trying to make money and keep a team of product people moving forward.

It’s a delicate but useful dance.

More on the full stack conversations later.

The taxi nuttiness in Singapore

~ michael_msft ~ 2 Comments

Adding some of the tweetstorms that roll in:

https://storify.com/dreampipe/conversation-with-bleongcw-and-dreampipe

In reading this article yesterday I was thinking a bit about the whole taxi situation in Singapore. First off in general I have always been impressed with the taxi ecosystem here – apart from the price but that just goes with Singapore. Let’s not get into that but when it comes to the system generally working I mostly don’t have complaints. I tend to use the comfort SMS system and it has been working fine since the moment I got to town. I find it funny that all the “app” people talk up how apps are better and SMS is old skool. Really? If you are carrying an iPhone you probably have your SMS app open all the time. It’s called iMessage. I can simply text one line – book 528686. That is the zip for my condo and in seconds I get a reply saying it is booked and on the way or sometimes you wait to get a all taxis are busy message. Other times it is busy and you wait a while to get a response. I think it would help the system if you got a reply right away to say it is working on it or something. Sure if taxis are all busy which is during rain or peak times or the dreaded shift change then chances are you won’t get a taxi. Usually during those times you never get a taxi though. No matter what system or app you are using.

But back to the SMS system – there is no simpler method. Every app, all of them, takes more steps to book a cab. Many of them want your destination, have a shitty search function and only work when you have a good connection. At the base of my building I have problems with 4g but SMS always works. Also when I plug in an address versus a zip or a taxi station code, the system usually figures it out anyway or replies telling me it is not exact enough but normally I can edit it to make it work. Still faster than an app.

Which leads me to ask why don’t the other taxi apps add this feature? Even if it only works in Singapore it would offer them another leg up on the apps that don’t. Would be awesome if Uber or Grab implemented this so I simply say – book home. Book work. Dead simple. Faster than fussing with an app. Might also force them to implement the zip code stuff which many are not doing well. For those outside of Singapore – every address in Singapore has its own unique zip code which means no matter where you are the zip code is all that is needed but try plugging in the zip code into Uber or Grab and it normally can’t figure it out but yet the Singapore government offers this data so not sure why they can’t solve it.

For all the haters – make an app that works better than Comfort SMS booking if you want to make some waves in the taxi app race.

Moving on from that the other issue is payments. On this subject, as with the SMS, we can discuss this from a regional angle or from a Singapore angle. To be fair the zip code thing is all about Singapore but SMS can work anywhere if implemented right. On the payments subject we know that credit cards are fine in Singapore. The main reason I stick with Uber today is I don’t have to fuss with money. Sounds silly but I don’t know how many times I take a normal taxi in Singapore and when going to pay I get the dreaded look from the uncle. I don’t have change, my machine isn’t working – shit like that. Well uncle – that is your problem. Not mine. The ATM gave me a 50 – what the hell do you want me to do? Whip out my swiss army knife and cut it in half for you? Carry some freaking change. As to the machine not working – why don’t you tell me when I get in the taxi so I can choose to not take it knowing I have no cash on me. Silly shit. Uber wins cause I never have to give a crap about money. I take the ride and I get out. I know some of the other apps offer it but normally when I cannot book a normal taxi I can get an UberX.

Let’s talk about that later though since we are still on payments. So in Singapore the credit card is fine but regionally it will be a problem. Given that, one of these guys needs to work on some payment systems that will work without cards. Maybe some top up card with loyalty points or hooks to telcos. This is where the telcos don’t get a clue at all. I already get billed via the telco – work out something to allow me to use my phone, which I am using to book the taxi, to pay for my taxi. Throw in some loyalty points for it and lock me in. So the taxi app race is going to be somewhat fought on payments and Singapore will look different than say – Thailand.

Back to the UberX comment, the bigger issue I see in Singapore is that the taxi app race in some sense has exasperated the taxi situation a bit in that if utilization is higher but there are not net new taxis coming into the scene than it makes getting a taxi scarcer. I can see how some folks who are not using the apps might feel left out cause they can’t seem to get a taxi when they want one because the taxis are booked via the apps already. I don’t have the stats on this but it feels credible and hence the call for legislation might be needed. This is one reason why Grab and Uber who are brining other cars into the system are helping but to me only the UberX pricing is affordable to be used daily. The rest of the cars are too expensive. I am not sure where this all goes but it feels like we need more capacity while keeping utilization high which benefits the drivers. It is a delicate dance but the apps, and the startups, are key to making this all work. The competition is great but there will be growing pains.

Not sure if everyone noticed but around the time Grab and Uber entered the scene the comfort SMS booking reply started to share the taxi’s phone number. They never did this before. This allowed me to SMS them with location or other info as needed. Funny thing was talking to the taxi drivers who were asking me how I got their phone number – seems Comfort didn’t tell them they were doing this. For sure this is Comfort trying to compete a bit. I would tell them that I could Google them to find their number. 😉

The other issue I notice is that since all these systems are not integrated I think there is some availability inflation at times. Simple example. Many times you will see when you open the Uber or Grab app that it shows you there are a ton of taxis around you. However when you try and get a booking you get nothing – even though Grab will say there are 45 drivers around you and on the Uber app I see 7 yellow cars driving around. What is happening? My guess is that they are already on a ride with their Comfort system, remember all Comfort drivers are obligated to take a certain amount of Comfort bookings per day, but the Comfort system is not connected to the Grab or Uber app which is just running on their phones. So the Uber and Grab app will show taxis but of course those drivers will not take your booking cause they are already on a ride. I have stood on the street and watched the taxis on the map to see their red lights are on. Even looked inside one at a stop light. So the availability the apps are showing is largely inaccurate.

Lastly – let us get to the “rain” issue which we all know in Singapore can happen at any moment. Most people think the taxis are busy cause everyone who might normally walk, ride or motorcycle are suddenly wanting a taxi. However that is not what is happening. The taxis are actually sitting still due to the insurance issues. There is not a lot of information on this subject but I had confirmed with a few drivers before the deposit issue. The nice thing for this situation is services like UberX tend to help get around this since there is no “company” involved.

All that being said. I am no expert but I use taxis a bit and I am a product guy. So I think about this too much but the app guys could do a lot more to lock me in. Right now only payments are the thing locking me in but I still find the SMS booking to be the easiest to use. The apps guys should think about that more when designing their apps. God knows investors are throwing money at this space but so far I don’t see a lot if innovation – just marketing.

carry on…

The next, new thing is …. Mobile.

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Great deck by Benedict Evans :: http://a16z.com/2014/10/28/mobile-is-eating-the-world/

Video of the presentation :: http://a16z.com/2014/10/29/how-mobile-is-enabling-tech-to-outgrow-the-tech-industry/

He strikes me as the new Mary Meeker but needs to make longer decks first. 😉

Some good factoids in the deck but the common refrain from Benedict that one easily picks up on is that mobile is the next thing. Sure there will be other inventions and trends – health stuff, space stuff and so on but for the everyday person and the everyday product person the biggest thing to work on is mobile.

A great quote for this:

For the first time, tech is selling to everyone.

and

Everyone gets a pocket supercomputer.

We honestly have not built yet a world that could exist when everyone has a supercomputer in their pocket with fast connectivity.

So people always look at me funny at work when they ask what’s the next thing. I always say making mobile insanely better than it is and figuring out what new things we can do with mobile that we haven’t thought of yet.

Much left to do and to be fair most apps are still pretty shitty.

Other thoughts about Singapore As the Startup Hub

~ michael_msft ~ Leave a comment

Added tweet conversations as they come :: https://storify.com/dreampipe/conversation-with-dreampipe-and-bleongcw

From here on out I am calling this SASH – yes. SASH. Saves me some keyboard time since I do a lot of posting from my phone one handed.

I will even add a blog category for it. So it’s real folks.

One of my most recent Singapore posts in reply to TIA (penn olson if you look at their social media account) :: http://www.nokpis.com/2014/10/25/singapore-the-aircraft-carrier/

I am all in on Singapore – just FYI.

I wrote this today – mostly out of frustration :: http://www.nokpis.com/2014/10/29/stripe-is-cool-too-bad-its-not-in-singapore/

But it made me think about it more deeply – something I conversed with Andy on twitter :: https://storify.com/dreampipe/conversation-with-dreampipe-and-andycroll-1

Btw this is the easiest way to get a twitter conversation link – easier than using Storify directly. Use tweetbot to see a conversation and the tweet it to get the link. I am sure other nerds have an easier way – please share.

In many ways Singapore is rocking when it comes to support or in the list of companies who support Singapore that sell picks and shovels to people building startups. I won’t go through the list here but I will point out a glaring omission – the payment infrastructure options suck huge ASS in Singapore. Please someone from banking or the government read this. Let me repeat the payment infrastructure options available to startups in Singapore is horrendous.

Yes I know some companies work around it. They become a merchant, then get some gateway provider to help smooth over the shitty API options from the bank or merchant accounts but it is a serious amount of work and costly. The bill is normally out of reach for most early stage startups. Even if you can afford it you have to set aside capital for it but you may also find you can’t get approved. At Spuul a lot of the banks could not deal with subscriptions for digital goods. Yes – something like that they were hung up on. Pathetic.

Before any of you slam me to say their are options please note that I write this stuff to learn as much as to complain. If you know of better options please spell them out since the purpose of the blog is to learn as much as to share, but I know from talking to real companies, real devs and our own experiences – that this is a hard road to ride on. Very experienced devs and startups are flummoxed daily.

What I don’t get is with Singapore being such a banking center, the government throwing money at SASH, and with all the “accelerators” here – why is no one working on the problem? Could it be that everyone is just waiting for Stripe, PayPal or someone to solve it but no one willing to risk it? Stripe says they are coming but been hearing that for a while. All the braintree stuff from PayPal is really for just US accounts so none of that is helping. So we all wait but sometimes I wonder if it will get fixed.

Anyone with deeper knowledge on the subject please chime in.