Unleash the Old (and dead) People

Ancestry.com is not usually mentioned when people discuss sharing photos and making connections online with long lost friends, but in reality, they dwarf the competition with 1.5 billion profiles online.

In it’s current form, don’t expect Ancestry to make any disruptive market moves by dropping their fee based business model in favor of ad supported. As a public company reliant on these fees, long-term strategic thinking doesn’t always fit well with next quarters earnings report. For the same reason, you won’t read about Ancestry.com on Techcrunch or any of the other Silicon Valley blogs; the membership fees they rely on restricts them to a much older audience.

Monetize My Network

At close to a $700mm market cap, only a company with significant financial and technical resources could make this work. But there are a couple I can think of.

Due to questionable decisions by Facebook’s leadership, some ambitious young upstarts are attempting to seize market share by luring away disgruntled Facebook users. The iron is now hot, but it will be interesting to see how this space evolves over the next few years.

Does Facebook have anything to be worried about? Could Ancestry.com ever make a serious run at Facebook’s user base? Would love to hear what you think in the comments below!

Never before have so many had the opportunity to make their POV heard, TV 2.0 is here to change that. With our free software, you can send real-time feedback while your favorite American Idol is belting out tunes, when the CourtTV trial of Arnold Jackson’s doctor is hearing arguments or even when your favorite comedian bombs onstage. Our on screen widget also lets you track how are others are reacting in real time.

It’s like Showtime at the Apollo for all of your favorite shows (without having to suffer through Steve Harvey’s commentary).

Add our free app to your Android powered phone or your Logitech remote and give them a piece of your mind today!

To get an idea for how you can interact with our YellTV app, take a look at this clip from CNN during the 2008 presidential debates:

To find out more, check out these resources:

• Google TV
• Instructions for the Rapaille & Luntz Method
• frontline: the persuaders: interviews: frank luntz | PBS
• Google TV; it’s all about the data | Algorithm Matters | Search Engines

P.S. If you think the opportunity for you app is on mobile or PC devices, think again. TV has 4 billion (yes, billion) users worldwide; that’s more than mobile and PC combined.

P.S.S. This app is just the tip of the iceberg. Imagine the possibilities; Can’t miss your game shows? Have the friends over to compete against live Jeopardy contestants while you “buzz in” with your phone, (you actually won’t even need to be in the same country to enjoy this). Obsessed with your fantasy sports league? Track your teams real time stats at the same time you’re watching the big game. Into cooking? Put on the Food Network and automatically have the ingredients added to your grocery list. Stuck in another city and about to miss the big meeting? Throw on your “TV cam” (semi-fictional hardware) and join your team while having your full computer screen to work with. These ideas are all off the cuff, so if you have any apps you’d like to see, share your ideas in the comments below. If you’re a developer, Google has some interesting parameters that should help you think of a few of your own ideas, check’em out: http://www.google.com/tv/developer/.

Traditional sources of financing can be difficult to acquire for a young upstart with big dreams. Luckily, recent innovations have created a market for an entirely new class of lender for the small entrepreneur with interactions that are far more meaningful than traditionally in the past.

We hope to help cultivate these relationships here and provide resources for mentors, entrepreneurs and investors alike.