Today was a proverbial ‘rip snorter’ of a day.
Aside from the fact I almost landed on my backside (due to some icy pavement) exiting the Front Populaire Metro station, it was a brilliant start to the week.
LeWeb’s organisers certainly rolled out the big guns early on. After the obligatory welcome speech things got rolling right away.
And over the course of the day there were two people in particular that made my brain synapses fire a little more than normal…
Of course there were dozens of speakers today, each with a wonderful take on things to come. From Aldebaran’s NAO robots to the Uber taxi service there was nothing but innovators and technologists.
But two really shone for me. One of them was Fred Wilson. The other, Phil Libin.
Fred is a Director of Union Square Ventures (USV). USV is one of the leading Venture Capital firms in Silicon Valley. Fred was an early investor in Twitter, Uber and the only investor in Kickstarter.
So Fred knows a thing or two when it comes to seeing a billion dollar company in the making. But it was the principles he said USV apply when looking for amazing technology companies to invest in that really made an impression.
When thinking about the future USV looks at big macro trends and how they come together. Then with these trends they create a framework. With this framework they look at what companies are investable. It’s not necessarily the technology they invest in, but the great companies that exist within the big trends.
And when it comes to trends, one in particular caught my attention. It was the number one trend Fred believed was crucial to the next decade. Funnily enough, it’s a view we share with him.
Technology to Lead the Decentralisation of Power
He describes it as the, ‘transition from bureaucratic hierarchy to technology driven networks‘. In short, it’s decentralisation. It’s shifting of power from government and big business to individuals with the power of technology.
Technology driven networks are the very fabric of what society will evolve to over the next 10 years. Social networks are the beginning. The maker movement, the quantifiable self and immersive technology. These are a few examples of how it works.
As I mentioned, the other speaker to capture my thought processes was Phil Libin. He was mightily intriguing. Phil started Evernote back in 2008. The company has only just moved into its sixth year of operation.
You can expect Evernote to go public in two or three years’ time. And I’m telling you now it’s going to be as big as Wal-Mart. Actually, one of the best things you can do today to ensure you’re a part of Evernote’s success is to set up an Evernote account and start using it.
If you do one thing after reading this today, make sure it’s to get on the Evernote bandwagon. Why? Because Evernote is the definition of the new business model. It’s best summed up by the company principle, ‘We’d rather you stay than that you pay.‘
What that means is Evernote would rather you used their free services than left them and stopped using. And this is coming from a company that does no real marketing or advertising.
Hang on a second, so how does that make them a good company? Well ‘old school’ thinking would say that’s a flawed business model. Non-paying users eat up resources and time. But remember, Evernote is more than just a service…it’s quickly becoming a lifestyle brand.
A Brand, Not Just a Productivity Tool
Evernote started as a way to give ‘knowledge workers’ greater productivity with a little bit of elegance. But they’ve evolved. And from what I can see they’re gearing up to take on the likes of Kmart, Target and Officeworks.
You see Evernote recently launched a revenue-generating stream of business, Evernote Market. And in Evernote Market, you can buy socks, t-shirts, document scanners and tote bags.
The funny thing is when Evernote launched Market only three months ago it took them one month to reach $1 million in revenue. And in the last three months, they’ve increased their total revenue by 55% just due to Market.
How is that possible? Because they’d rather you stay than you pay. And 51% of their free users (the ones that don’t pay to use Evernote) make purchases from Evernote market.
Right now Evernote can’t keep up with the demand for the products in Market. So it stands to reason Market will grow. More products and more revenues. Evernote is a lifestyle brand, not just a productivity tool.
And with the way Evernote is heading I can see them getting big enough to take on major retailers in the next few years.
Now of course between Fred and Phil there were many more speakers with crucial information about the next 10 years. Too much to go through in one email.
But as I cover the next two days of LeWeb I’ll bring you what I see as the most important stories from the day. I’ll bring you more details in next Monday’s Pursuit of Happiness.
And if you haven’t already, join me on Google+ for exclusive content, pictures and video from the week here at LeWeb.
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst
