Snapchat, the three-year-old messaging app with disappearing photos, could become the world’s third-most valuable tech start-up according to Jefferson Graham reporting for USATODAY. Snapchat is reported to be in talks to raise as much as $500 million, which would value the company at $16 billion to $19 billion. Graham spoke to Brian Solis to discuss why the company is garnering such a high valuation. Why is Snapchat worth so much? Because it reaches the “elusive” market of teens and young…
USATODAY: Uber-for-kids is Shuddle’s parental pitch
Nick Allen, Shuddle’s 36-year-old founder, brainstormed his idea for the kid-centric company while working at ride-hailing startup Sidecar, whose drivers often called in saying they had requests to transport children. (Photo: Courtesy of Shuddle) Reporting for USATODAY, Marco della Cava introduced parents to the new startup Shuddle, best described as an “Uber for kids.” Busy working parents plus super-scheduled children equals car-shuttling madness and missed appointments. Shuddle, A new ride-hailing start-up hopes to improve that calculus. Shuddle, which operates throughout…
Companies Profit When Customers Suffer
You’ve heard it a million times, a happy customer tells a couple of people and an unhappy customer tells everyone. Yet to this day, executives tend to run business strategy with an emphasis on transactions over experiences. More so, business value is expressed in short-term performance metrics and reports to an audience of shareholders and stakeholders over the very people who keep them in business…your customers. It’s all a bit absurd when you think about it. I know, I know…it’s…
ContextMatters Episode 2: T.J. Miller and ‘Bitchgate’ and CNN’s Sex, Drugs and Silicon Valley
Welcome to the second episode of ContextMatters. My co-host Chris Saad and I are having fun recording this series. More so, we’re enjoying expanding the community beyond our world here in Silicon Valley to explore the things that affect business, tech and culture. In this episode, we take out our macro lens to look closely at the strange fascination with what could best be described as Silicon Valley’s unconventional behavior. Listen (also embedded below). Schedule Topic 1: We attempt to…
GetVOIP: The 35 Best Entrepreneur Blogs
GetVOIP published a list of the “35 Best Blogs” to help entrepreneurs pursue their dreams. Brian Solis was ranked number 1. Excerpt: The road of the entrepreneur can be challenging and exhilarating, frustrating and isolating, inspiring and exhausting, sometimes all in the same week. For people invested in starting their own business, the perspective of others who have been there, who are there right now, can be invaluable. Blogs play a huge role in sharing information, opening up experiences, and…
Broadcasting & Cable: Snapchat Gets in the ‘Not Social Media’ Game
Daniel Holloway, writing for Broadcasting & Cable, attempted to unravel Snapchat’s new Discover media platform. The company described it as “not social media.” As Holloway assessed, the partnership between old media and not-social-media unlocks new revenue streams and new growth potential for both, and does so with relatively little investment. Additionally, Holloway sought comments from outside experts including Brian Solis. Excerpt: “The incentive for Snapchat to do this is it monetizes,” said Brian Solis, principal analyst for Altimeter Group. In…
20 Blogs Every Content Marketer Should Read
Optixor assembled a list of 20 blogs that content marketers should read. Brian Solis is proud to be one of them. Excerpt… To help marketers stay updated and gain more expertise in content marketing, here is a list of powerful blogs that they can read and study. Brian Solis In the digital marketing world, Brian Solis is a big name. He has contributed much particularly in the social, content and conversational marketing field. Therefore, his stories and insights about content…
Attention is a Precious Commodity: Earn it and Spend it Wisely
There’s an oft-shared quote that I’d also love to share with you here, “If I had more time, I would have written you a shorter letter.” French mathematician, physicist, writer and philosopher Blaise Pascal essentially captured the essence of thoughtful and purposeful communication with a bold but confusing statement in 1657. At first blush, his words almost seem counter-intuitive. I mean after all, how can spending more time writing a letter equate to its downsizing? That’s the point. Think about…
Variety: Amy Pascal, A Cautionary Tale in an Age Without Privacy
Variety’s Brent Lang shared the story of Amy Pascal, Sony’s now infamous hack, and the lessons learned about digital privacy. Lang spoke with Brian Solis about Pascal, hacking, morals and ethics and even the recent news about Julian Edelman’s privacy violation. Quote: “There is no such thing as a reasonable supposition of privacy,” said Brian Solis, a digital analyst at the research and advisory firm Altimeter Group. “Privacy isn’t what it used to be, and in an era of Anonymous…
TheStreet: Live Video Becomes the New Selfie and More Social Predictions for 2015
TheStreet’s Jennifer Van Grove assembled a list of important digital trends for 2015. Among the experts she cited, Brian Solis shared his views on Dark Social, Live Social Video and Social Commerce Dark Social Dark social is one of the Internet’s best kept secrets,” Altimeter Group Principal Analyst Brian Solis told TheSteet. “It’s the undercurrent of the web. Once people really start to better understand the power and promise of dark social, we’re really going to treat social media a…
