Ben Werdmuller

Tag: business models

  • Making billions of dollars from the federated social web

    Diaspora was pretty exciting. A Kickstarter campaign that promised it all: a platform created “for everyone to have full control over their data and to empower people in to become responsible, secure, and social Internet dwellers”. They raised over $200,000, which at the time was the largest Kickstarter funding round ever. Neat! Yesterday, Diaspora announced […]

  • Living sustainably in a digital society: is it even possible?

    I had an interesting conversation about sustainable lifestyles on Twitter this morning. I believe that climate change is a major threat to our planet, and that we’re in danger of reaching a tipping point beyond which there is no return. More generally, because my personal mission statement is to have a positive impact on the […]

  • Some lessons from the startups at TechCrunch Disrupt

    Be clear. Know what you’re selling. Our backdrop set it out plainly: “Send video fast. Make video easy.” More than a few journalists said we had the best poster of the day. Build value. If your company allows other companies to build value more efficiently, you’re onto a winner. Mostly this has meant creating advertising […]

  • Patronism and monetizing the social web

    This post is adapted from something I wrote on Google+. There are more comments over there; also see Evan Promodou’s riff on the same idea. Google+’s combination of streams and circles works. So here’s something I’ve been mulling over for a while: I really like Patronism‘s central idea. Rather than buying an album, you subscribe […]