Last night at the NY Tech meeting, the companies who presented came back on stage for a 5-minute panel discussion. Below is a video of their advice for startups in NYC. The panelists included:

• AlleyCorp (Kevin Ryan, CEO)
• DailyCandy (Catherine Levene, COO)
• Etsy (Rob Kalin, CEO)
• Huffington Post (Betsy Morgan, CEO)
• IAC (Joey Levin, SVP/M&A)
• The Ladders (Marc Cenedella, CEO)
• Meetup (G.Whalin, CTO & M.Voskoboynikov, Lead)
• Mimeo (CEO Adam Slutsky)
• Thumbplay (VP/BD Chris Phenner)

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Tonight at the NY Tech meeting, Kevin Ryan presented the set of companies he manages under the AlleyCorp brand. The companies aren’t investors, instead they come up with the ideas themselves and build the companies from scratched. Kevin received a bonus two minutes — pretty interesting if you ask me. I wonder how many startups would have loved an extra two minutes during their demo?

They have raised $40 million for the six companies but he didn’t provide a breakdown.

Here are the comments that Kevin noted for each of the six companies:

• Silicon Alley Insider - already beating PaidContent in pageviews (here’s their Meetup demo)
• ClusterStock - new site launching soon - looks like this is a stock site that Blodget is editing.
• Gilt Groupe - private auction sales - they sell out daily (here’s their Meetup demo)
• ShopWiki - they have 500k stores where shopping.com has only a few thousand stores
• Panther Express - CDN (content delivery network) which Ryan says powers most of the other presenters of the evening
• Music Nation - talent competitions online in the U.S., U.K and France - they are also signing artists now to the Music Nation label
• 10gen - cloud computing company - Silicon Alley Insider is on the 10gen network

Here’s Kevin Ryan’s presentation of the Alley Corp companies:

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Before I rip, I’d like to say that the growth that Silicon Alley Inisder (SAI) has seen since their launch is amazing and eye-popping. In less than a year they have already pushed into the Technorati top 50 blogs online and their traffic growth has been spectacular. In a chat with Federated Media VP Neil Chase, he called the blog an, "amazing story." Hats off to them!

Now let’s get down to this discussion about their latest list. They are out today with their, "SAI 25: The World’s Most Valuable Digital Startups." Clearly this is a linkbait list and it’s worked. Erick Schonfeld at Techcrunch takes a look at the valuations and calls the list a "guessing game." Erick suggests that the list is based on the top 25 private Web companies. Perhaps that would have been a better name for the list but clearly wouldn’t be as sexy as to rip off the "startup" moniker.

I asked the CN readers back in January how they define the term "startup" and most seemed to suggest it was based on time, funding, ipo, etc. But c’mon Blodget, Kafka, Frommer, is Facebook really still a startup? Funding in the $300 million range, hundreds of employees, worldwide offices and they are a startup?

I’ve read all the pages on the site (your welcome Sun) and I don’t see any definition of startup. It’d be great to learn how you decided who to list and who got left off. Even at the most basic definition, once you raise a considerable amount of funding, startup no longer applies.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of real startups here in NYC alone: BricaBox, BeenVerified, UpNext, Hakia, Aviary, KickApps, Magnify.net, Snooth, Blip and Mogulus.

Other notes:

• I like how Powerset made it into the Top 50 — sans the TC pimpings, no one would even know about this un-launched startup.
• Mahalo at $150 mil? Where’s the calculation for this?
• Isn’t TheLadders a SAI company? Live 4 years, hundreds of employees, etc.?
• No eBuddy, Meebo, Zoho, Prosper, PlentyofFish, CafeMom? I could go on for hours…

It is good to see some non-U.S. companies on the list and I applaud your efforts to try to determine valuations on companies where English isn’t the first language. Overall though, I am disappointed and was looking forward to this list to see what the SAI team came up with. Perhaps CN will need to put together a call for the top 25 "real" startups.

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Microsoft wants to buy Musiwave, a company specializing in mobile music services. The deal, among other things, would lay the foundation for a Zune wireless store, matching Apple’s iTunes Store for Wi-Fi that lets iPhone and iPod Touch users download songs over the air. This copycat move is just one more sign of what’s wrong with Microsoft’s Zune strategy. It can’t settle on one — so it just winds up latching onto whatever is the hot topic of the day. Here’s what Microsoft should be doing instead of copying Apple.

Microsoft’s Facebook-inspired Zune Social interface wasn’t a bad idea — it was just poorly implemented. (Honestly, limiting users to three plays from a wirelessly shared song? That may be enough to know if you hate something, but not if you actually want to buy an album.) Microsoft should beef up the Zune with some serious music-recommending algorithms. It could create some form of lending library so those without subscriptions can borrow tracks or albums from friends for an extended period of time. That could gain it some converts. Copying Apple? All that gets Microsoft is users who want the iPod, but lamer, later, and costlier.

Source:Valleywag

Phony press releases have become the grist for the newest Internet profit mills. If you’re like Chris Anderson and us, you don’t read press releases. But several tech blogs were taken in by a dubious press release issued by a nonexistent company allegedly backed by real investors who may or may not have invested in several fake companies. Huh? Exactly. How the scam was uncovered, how it works, and how to avoid falling victim after the jump.

Although there’s evidence of many fake press releases floating around the Internet, the scam first came to the attention of Silicon Alley Insider because one particular release mentioned Internet television, a must-cover topic on its beat. But “the world’s first broadcast-quality Internet television service” raising an alleged $45 million, profitable and yet no one’s heard of it? SAI managing editor Peter Kafka’s eyebrows were raised.

Alas, no eyebrow raisings took place at VentureBeat or PEHub, which were suckered despite PaidContent’s observation that the HD AmeriTV announcement was a ripoff of a Joost release.

The confusion was exacerbated when these bloggers contacted First Mutual Credit, the only real company listed as an investor for confirmation. Two separate sources initially confirmed First Mutual’s investment, but the New Zealand company has since denied any involvement. (Maybe it was that strong Kiwi accent.)

Several other fake companies and fake press releases have been identified. But what is the scam in advertising a nonexistent company? Peter Kafka, who has been closely tracking the story for Silicon Alley Insider, is stumped, but we think he’s already stumbled upon the answer: Fake press releases get picked up by a host of PR-aggregating sites that profit off of Google AdSense ads.

Fake blogs already remix existing blog posts to generate nonsensical pages that nonetheless turn up in Google search results and display Google-sold ads targeted to relevant keywords. Press releases filled with buzzwords make even more lucrative fodder for AdSense.

So who makes money here? Press release aggregators like PR Leap would never admit it, but their cash register rings whether or not their press releases are accurate. And the perpetrators of the HD AmeriTV press release? There’s no proof, but we smell a search-engine optimization scam, where they get paid by clients to try to improve the ranking of websites by seeding the Web with fake pages.

There’s a simple solution, of course: don’t read press releases … real or fake.

Today I headed down to the meatpacking district and met with Drew Rayman. Drew is the founder of a new search tool named Attendi. When the PR firm first sent over the information about Attendi a few weeks ago, I checked out the site and passed on writing about it because frankly I was confused as to what the tool does. It was pitched to me as a "people search" which it clearly wasn’t after searching on several names and finding not one result. What I learned today is that Attendi is not a people search but rather a social knowledge management tool. Drew seems very motivated to make this concept work, now it’s all about the execution.

Here are my notes from the coversation with Drew. Attendi is attempting to build an index of insights in each of us and not an index of websites. The very basic idea is that each of us is an expert at something and after creating an Attendi profile, we wait for someone to need our expertise. Once called upon, we chat with that person about their questions on the topic and provide help. After the chat is complete, it gets archived in both users profiles, other users can rate the quality of the information provided and then the search function indexes the chat.

Once you get the idea of indexing chats between expert and infomation seeker, the system works well against that concept. You signup, create a page about your expertise and then someone can ping you for a chat when the need arises. The chat client works like any other chat client and notes that the chat is public. I would like to see that note be expanded to be noticeable during the entire chat. Drew says they are working on Facebook integration and an interface with other messaging tools including AOL Instant Messenger. You can select how you want to interact - both via IM and email, etc.

Drew defines their message as ABC:

• a - define your aboutness
• b - broker availability
• c - connect people

The tool is currently in a private beta, self-funded and has 4 full-time developers and 2 part-time marketers from Drew’s interactive agency, i33.

Drew has to work on defining the target market and making sure that the messaging hits that target appropriately. I believe moms and older people would be a great "expert" pool for this type of knowledge management tool. But to do that, the site has to be responsive to their needs. Tag clouds work well for geeks, but not so much for my mother. And Attendi needs to make sure that they have as many topics covered as possible - if I search once and find nothing, will I return? Probably not.

Lastly, the messaging has to create a strong RTB (reason to believe) — that is "why should I use this" for both the user looking for advice but more importantly for the expert. The latter is lacking as of today but Drew said they are getting ready to launch a new home page which will address my concerns.

If you would like an invite to the private beta, signup through this link on their home page. Drew said they would fast-track any users coming from CenterNetworks.

Source:CenterNetworks -

The new "Julie" of ConceptShare, Will Pate sent over some info about their new contest today. The contest is to design a tshirt for ConceptShare to use as a promotional giveaway (I am guessing at events, meetups, etc.). Why is this a brilliant move? Simple, it gets people using ConceptShare. And not just anybody, but part of their target audience — designers.

While this tactic won’t work for every Web app, it is something for you to consider as you promote your own Web app - "How can we leverage our platform to market our platform?"

Check out their contest blog post and entry details for more information. Also check out our audio interview with the ConceptShare founders earlier in the year.

While I was Twitter’in the conference call between Microsoft and Facebook yesterday, several comments came up that I thought were worth sharing as they are pretty interesting. I listened to the archive again and here are my notes. Comments come from Kevin Johnson, Microsoft and Owen Van Natta, Facebook. Let me just say this clearly - a "win" for advertisers will most likely never be a "win" for users - the two can’t coexist. It’s like two magnets - you can get them close, but they won’t touch. Kevin said over and over how much this is a win for both users and advertisers and while its a nice spin, it’s just not accurate.

• Kevin - there is potential future cooperation, 60% of Facebook users are outside the U.S.
• Owen - Facebook’s focus is on innovation and growth
• Kevin - This deal is a major advertising win for Microsoft and is a win-win-win with win for Microsoft in increasing inventory, win for Facebook with a strategic partnership with MS and a win for users/advertisers because of the increased value proposition (Allen: HA!)
• Kevin - "Round of financing that MS participated in" - could lead to today’s posts about additional funding from other investment groups
• Kevin regarding future partnership opportunities - Both parties agreed not to disclose certain parts of the agreement but sit back and watch because there is more to come
• Question from Caroline at CNET - "Are we going to see FB inside MS properties" - complete silence for 19 seconds - could be wondering who should answer or they weren’t sure how to answer - "We are only here today to talk about our exclusive 3rd party ad partnership"  (Allen: basically didn’t answer the question)
• Kevin - this deal builds on the aquantive acquisition and enables both companies to collaborate on new ad types
• Any minimums guaranteed? Kevin - we are very pleased on the economics of the partnership alone and the strategic partnership is another part - both companies have responsibilities in the relationship
• Owen - we are all about creating a richer experience for our users - we are doubling our user base every 6 months
• Owen - socialization of the Internet requires innovation between users and advertisers
• Owen - FB has an an salesforce (Allen: Why??)
• Brian from Adweek asked about targeting ads and whether they would use their profile data  - Owen - user trust is core to what we do and focus on at FB - we want to make sure our users don’t feel like we are violating their trust (Allen: yet yesterday I saw an ad for "30 yr old singles")
• Kevin added that at the end of the day this deal is a win for users and advertisers and that win is from highly relevant targeted ads and that deliver a great ROI - the program is all about delivering on that ROI.

Call ended.

Source:CenterNetworks -

The new "Julie" of ConceptShare, Will Pate sent over some info about their new contest today. The contest is to design a tshirt for ConceptShare to use as a promotional giveaway (I am guessing at events, meetups, etc.). Why is this a brilliant move? Simple, it gets people using ConceptShare. And not just anybody, but part of their target audience — designers.

While this tactic won’t work for every Web app, it is something for you to consider as you promote your own Web app - "How can we leverage our platform to market our platform?"

Check out their contest blog post and entry details for more information. Also check out our audio interview with the ConceptShare founders earlier in the year.

For the record, j’adore le Peter Kafka, managing editor of Silicon Alley Insider, the New York-based tech blog from disgraced stock analyst Henry Blodget. But seriously, girlfriend needs to loosen up. First of all, last time I was in town, the former Forbes writer totally ditched a little cocktail hour I threw in an East Village bar. Now, he freely admits to missing out the drunken, gossip-laden “debauchery” at a party thrown by TiVo and RealNetworks. I wasn’t even there, and I got a story out of the party. I hear Blodget is a taskmaster. Hank, baby, for your readers’ sakes: Let this guy roll into the office a little later. (Photo of Kafka by Glen Davis)

Silicon Alley Insider ventures into the vaguely icky territory of sponsored-post advertising. It’s one thing to thank one’s sponsors by name, as is Valleywag’s practice. Quite another to pen a gushing blog infomercial, in this case for a service called Vintage Filings, that looks like regular content. Surely Henry Blodget doesn’t need the money badly enough to risk adding “disgraced tech blogger” to his list of unseemly epithets. [Innonate]