Future of Woof Apps

Ted Rheingold just gave a suitably ‘cool’ talk about the business of Dogster and Catster. As an aside I have just noticed that all the flaxen haired ladies are students which bodes well for the Future of Web App Conferences, which is a conference I intend to stage on Christmas Day in The Maldives, because as my Mother always says, ‘you can never have enough fish’.

Despite Ted’s baffling cap sporting a design as if he had been run over by a bike that had just cycled through white paint he gave some good insights into subscription models, basically, ‘don’t bank on it, but make it feel exclusive so people join the club to feel a part of something in the same way you buy a Gucci bag’. I’ll tell my wife that, she likes bags.

He also used the phrase, ‘if a coin drops into a toilet dive in after it’. My imagination got the better of me at that point and I failed to take in the explanation for that urinal pearl.

Next up Robert Kalin, founder of Etsy, which I’ll crudely sumarise as home made stuff for sale with a revolutionary flash interface. He presented a real passion and deep seated philosophy as the core to his business approach, you could see people actually shifting in their seats to listen to what he had to say. Certainly a guy to watch, he talked of an expansive virtual Etsy world, and creating a virtual currency. I need time to digest his talk, but I think he inspired me, so much so that I went up to him and suggested he write a book.

Oh crap mullet man has sat next me, he may be monitoring this post.

Rob used the phrase ‘internet fuckwad mentality’, ie people who use the ability to remain anonymous online as an excuse to be an asshole. That sort of chitter chatter is a rallying cry, Robert Kalin is a modern day William Wallace, he’ll have us all searching for homemade stuff by colour (which you can on Etsy, it’s addictive). He’s also ginger, which means he’s probably a little bit Scotch.

I think mullet wants to hurt me, he’s chewing gum aggresively, I’d better go.

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