We all know that the P2P loans startup Lending Club grew remarkably quickly because it launched on the Facebook platform but given that it now runs on its own site, I am wondering what Facebook gained from hosting and more or less incubating Lending Club. I ask because unlike many of the applications on Facebook, [...]

There are a number of fairly new web applications out there that have caught my attention. Each of them appears to be very useful in its own right but in my opinion if they were all combined into one super product, the whole could indeed be much greater than the sum of the parts. The [...]

Clues: people I meet, mobile phones, twitter, crossed paths, social network, offline or online, exchange

A recent problem with my headphones got me wondering why online videos like those on YouTube do not have subtitles like many programmes on TV. One answer is that the commercial case is clear on TV – subtitling firms provide the service to TV stations for a fee. On the net the videos are mostly user [...]

I see two fundamental problems with companies that I call startups for startups (SFSs), i.e. startups like Cambrian House, Cofoundr, Spigit, Startup Addicts etc that exist apparently to help other startups or people with ideas for startups. Typically, these companies (usually websites) enable their members to post business ideas online and have other members comment on [...]