PODCAST: VC Thomas Huseby Sounds Out On The Long Tail Of Apps & Opps In The Year Of Mobile Engagement (Advertising)
I’ve done dozens of podcasts to date, but this one stands out as the one I can listen to again and again. In fact, rather than edit it down, I turned it into a two-part series. Why? Because Tom Huseby, Managing Partner who formed SeaPoint Ventures back in 1997, is an industry veteran who calls them as he sees them. (My personal thanks to Jeff Fishburn at OnPR for connecting us. Jeff is identifying more major VCs for the series, so please check back.)
A browse through Tom’s bio, and it’s clear he’s not one to follow the crowd of lemming investors who rush to the next new thing, only to drop it when the cool factor has gone cold. To the contrary, Tom is convinced early-stage startups can pay-off big if investors stick with them for the long-term. To identify the do’s and don’ts for startups in a downturn, he started off talking through the business basics, such as the best exit strategies and the opportunities for “kitchen-table startups” – as he calls them – and app developers. Tom’s answers are insightful and entertaining – all the more reason to listen in.
But the main attraction is Tom’s take on what mobile advertising really needs: Engagement. In his view, it’s all about providing and managing a one-to-one conversation between brands and people, and he’s looking for companies that “get” it. As he puts it: “There are a few agencies that appear to get it, but they und up getting slotted as a mobile agency…What you want to be is a creative advertiser [agency] that uses mobile.” Since there are so few on the horizon, the time may be right to start one yourself.
Listen to the podcast here. [19:16]
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I’m smiling to myself as I write this post, since Tom’s outspoken views on engagement echo the principles of Every Single One Of Us, a venture set up by colleague and co-collaborator Jonathan MacDonald to “unite a cross-section of mobile operators, mobile companies and big-name brands to educate the market and encourage discussions about emerging business models, industry issues, and areas of growth that will help companies, stakeholders and shareholders engage with potential consumers and ultimately drive mobile advertising revenues and positive results.” Every Single One Of Us is gaining serious traction, counting over 100 supporters (aptly called Collaborators), including the CEOs of large brands and advertising agencies, mobile influencers, and citizen activists. (Disclosure: I am also a Collaborator.) In the few weeks since the launch meeting, Every Single One Of Us has achieved some exciting milestones (and formalized its relationship with MSG), developments which I am documenting in a press release as we speak for distribution next week. All good, as Jonathan would say..
Among the interview highlights:
M&A: It’s THE exit strategy. “But along the way, you should build the company as if you are absolutely going to be ready to go public.” It’s important if you want to structure your company properly, “but you can’t have a specific company as your M&A target; as you acquire a target. If you ever do that, you’ve narrowed the universe of potential buyers so extremely that I don’t think your odds for success are very high.”
GROWTH: Tom recalls the milestones he’s seen in mobile, including the expectation that mobile would reach over one million (yes million) subscribers by 2000. The fact that we are well past this shows that mobile is and continues to be the highest-growth sector there is – even in a downturn. “Anyone who’s been participating in mobile for the last 15 years and hasn’t experienced unbelievable growth has had their head under a log.”
APP OPPORTUNITIES: Thanks to iPhone and a new interest in openness among mobile operators “there’s suddenly an opportunity for entrepreneurs that have been using mobile phones in a very widespread way.” Who is likely to benefit and make a lot of money in the process? “They’re kitchen table start-ups that can make individual developers quite a bit of money, as long as they don’t sell most of their company to venture capitalists with very high expectations.”
SPONSORED APPS: Thanks to the iPhone there is a new market for what Tom calls “sponsored apps” that allow people to interact with brands in a personal way. “There are a lot of opportunities to develop these sponsored apps…and I have been investing in companies that would provide the sponsored apps, the one-to-many communications capability.”
MOBILE ADVERTISING & ENGAGEMENT: Cross-media is the key here. As Tom puts it: “I’m very interested in a number of opportunities that involve the heterogeneous mix of talents and services that’ll aim at using mobile in quite comprehensive personalization campaigns, as opposed to looking at platform plays where mobile is all that the platform looks at. I think it has to be a combination.” To be clear mobile advertising is not about technology. It’s about “individual engagement between a consumer and the brands they will grow to love as opposed to this notion of targeting.” Is this a business model or a warm-and-fuzzy concept? Tom has no illusions. Big ideas can be “baloney” but this is an idea whose time has come. Engagement is the “ultimate goal” of most brand advertisers. “If you told any large brand that you were going to offer them the opportunity to have a cost-effective personal engagement with their consumers; they would all say ‘tell me more’.”
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE: Tom and I enjoy a meeting of the minds near the end of the podcast when we debate engagement, and question whether we might have to start a company that “gets” it. But it’s more than fun; it’s a blueprint for change – if you’re game to transforming how you do business.
Check back for Part 2 next week, when Tom is back with valuable advice for entrepreneurs, and his pick of top trends for 2009.
Tags: applications, behavioral targeting, Every Single One Of Us, Investment, iPhone, Mobile Marketing, Personalization, podcast, SeaPoint Ventures, targeting, VC
February 2nd, 2009 at 4:23 pm
[...] all the interest in the new MSG series of podcasts with VCs and industry-watchers, timing is perfect to promote the Mobile Peer Awards, a must-attend event on [...]
February 6th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
[...] DEAL MAKING: Between three finds Tom has “10 to 20 ideas that are moving along towards what I think could be very large opportunities.” In fact, one of them is an enablement tool for mobile social networking. It would also enable a brand to have a personal relationship with consumers – a hint that 2009 may indeed be the year of engagement. [...]