Here are my notes from Wednesday, Sept 3rd Meet-Up. Disclaimer - these are my notes, so please do not think the speakers actually said or claimed anything I wrote down.

Santa Cruz New Technology Meet Up

September 3, 2008

Message from Doug Erickson -

• Agenda
• Silicon Valley Meet Up next Tuesday
• House Keeping

Sponsor - Soquel Group

• Local patent agency

New Technology Presentation

1. Next Space - Jeremy Neuner -co-founder and ceo
2. Michael Rubin
3. User Voice - Richard White
4. VendorRate - Rick Schaefer

Presentation 1 - Next Space - Jeremy Neuner

Community - Co-working plus innovation - Collaboration - corner of Copper and Pacific - the old Cisco downtown space - above Pacific Wave - 11,000 square feet space

Create community that allows for creation

aka “Health Club” for geeks

Co-working space - Shared Space office rental in downtown Santa Cruz at the old

Three ways to join:

• 24/7 access for all members - key card access - eventually will have reception
• 600 square foot conference room
• Café membership - access to meeting rooms café tables - kinda like a living room
• Carol Space - 3×4 work space
• Office Membership - around open space enclosed office - overlooking Pacific - aprox 170-200 square feet - good for two people
• Basic office services - fax and printers - projector for conference rooms

IMHO - Wow, I want to do this.

Presentation 2 - Michael Rubin

Michael gave a presentation about Netflix’s Community development effort from 2005 through 2008. Here is his Linked in data:

Director, Product Management

Netflix, Inc.

(Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; NFLX; Motion Pictures and Film industry)

January 2006 — May 2008 (2 years 5 months)

Netflix is accutely focused on connecting people to movies they’ll love. My particular exploration is how connecting people to each other helps them all find movies they’ll deeply enjoy. Consequently, this extends to work in online communities, social networks, RSS, blogs, APIs, and the implications of “Web2.0″ on our business metrics.

Notes from presentation

Netflix and Community - former director of website - networks / community (left Netflix in May)

Netflix created Friends - allow users to share information about movies - community

“word of mouth” from friends accepted more than computer recommendations. (85% acceptance rate)

Launched 2005 - 10% of members had at least one friend through 2006 - how could they make community matter?

• Demographics
  • Older client base (not under 18)
• Value Proposition
  • Less than 30 seconds on line
  • Not conducive to community development
• Walled Garden
  • Video rental companies cannot tell who is on their site - “Judge Bork Law”
• User Behavior
• Completion

But Unusual Advantages

• Trusted Brand
• Clear central concept
• Capitalized and Ad-Free
• Not From Scratch
  • Pump is primed; captive audience

Why Community

• Connecting
• Status
• Voyeurism
• Communion
• Taste Sharing

Testing - Statically

2008 - Decided to build API that allow other social sites to use the community aspect (Netflix got out of the community business) - all that work flat growth (still 10% of membership

IMHO - Best talk to date at Meet-up

Presentation 3 - User Voice - Richard White

How to manage conversations with customers - forum entry system

Feedback system based upon market values (90% of people will have one good idea / 10% will have multiple) - system allows people to “vote” on features with limited number of votes

Business Model - Two Scenarios

• Service Centers - customer service - subscriptions based Enterprise

Presentation 4 - VerndorRate - Rick Schaefer

“Know the score”

Reducing risk when business buys IT

• Identity
• Trusting “social networks”
• Verifiable

75% of IT implementations are considered unsuccessful

Create centralized vendor comparison information

• Engine fueled confidential ratings
• Rated by credential

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Announcements

• Soquel Group looking for part time paralegal
• Santa Cruz Geeks - info - beach dinner at Black’s Beach tomorrow night (near 14^th) - next dinner in October