Meet the Team, Follow Progress and Enjoy the Ride

This blog is about the lives of a few entrepreneurs who are aiming to establish the next trend in social networking and the concept that will make it happen. Since our venture is all about connecting people together, we want to be involved and connected to you and we want you to be involved and connected to us. We'll be sharing with you: who we are, how we got started, how we’re doing and where we’re going...we're taking you along for the ride!!

Monday, July 30, 2007

What do your Friends Know About the Web 2.0

As I venture into starting Why Go Solo, a social networking site and company rooted in web 2.0 technology and functionality, it’s dawned on me, that one of the major benefits on my side is that my friends, acquaintances and family are pretty clueless about the Web 2.0.

Obviously, I’m not referring to my network of friends I run around on the web with, I’m referring to my friends from school, from the Marine Corps and my other business venture. The majority of them have little to nothing to do with the web besides using the internet for online searches/shopping and using email. This also included Martin, just a few months ago. Per his post yesterday, when I approached Martin he didn’t know much about the web 2.0, however, he still saw the full potential of Why Go Solo.

Same goes with my friends, acquaintances and family. They really haven’t thus far participated in any online communities, or blogs and they don’t know much about feedbruner, twitter, pownce, digg, delicious…etc.

While for many of you reading this post, this might be pretty absurd, since you can’t live without those applications and yes, there are millions upon of millions of other people who are in the same boat—many people are still uninterested and untouched by the web 2.0 movement.

The reason why? Nothing out there has really answered a real need they have in a simple fashion through web 2.0 applications.

So when I pitch Why Go Solo to people who are not web 2.0 savvy and they absolutely love it and then add…will I be able to do this, and this and what about that; I get really excited. Now, I’ll admit, that the funny part is some of the features they are looking for already exist on the web in other areas however, Why Go Solo will apply those features in a format that provides value.

Martin’s dad is a retired Reserve Marine First Sergeant and Corporate America business man who traveled a great deal and when Martin explained Why Go Solo to him, his first thoughts were “This is perfect for the baby boomers”. Our banker, also a baby boomer, thought the exact same thing.

I hadn’t thought of the baby boomers…a mistake many generation X and Y folks do, because Why Go Solo is web 2.0 type company, but once again, the light bulb went on—this will be attractive to those who haven’t participated in the web 2.0 arena because we are providing real world applications that meet and fulfill a need.

Every day that I meet more web 2.0 savvy people and gurus the more I learn and enjoy the interactions, but I’ve also realized how important it is for me to keep looking into the web 2.0 from a bird’s eye view and to keep talking about my thoughts with people, who know nothing about, what I’m about to do. They are very valuable resources and they will keep me from losing focus on who I want to serve and how.

This is also called “avoiding working in a bubble”.

4 comments:

Petri I. Salonen said...

Amen... I think that there is far too much apps that do not make any sense and even I kind of "misuse" my personal http://drsalonenworldtravel.blogspot.com as a vehicle to keep track of my travel around the world. It does absolutely nothing to anybody... it is my diary to my kids when I get old and they can see where I have been during the years.

I read some of your pror comments and I agree with you that some of the venture funded companies are absolutely with no business models and still get funded... I am sure that will change in the future...

Martin Saenz said...

Moreover, many companies with strong business models do not receive funding. When I make it to Angel Investor status, I will make darn sure I will have a full staff thoroughly reviewing plans for opportunities. FF42

Petri I. Salonen said...

Would not agree more! My business is to bring technology companies from Europe to US and Latin Americas and some of these really need strategic positioning and other help in marketing initiatives

Candice Pendergast said...

I am finding that this is a bit of a double edged sword though - when I try and run people through what I am doing they think it sounds cool, but then they are like "how on earth do you make money out of this stuff" and I often end the conversation as it leaves me feeling a little flat.

So on the contrary for me I am trying to actually get more involved in the web 2.0 community just so that I don't feel so isolated!