Starting a new venture with Jonathan MacDonald: Indicatr provides Insights for Investors

Every once in a while you meet some people that seem instantly familiar and are 'cut out of the same cloth'. I had been following Jonathan Mac Donald's work for quite some time, via his companies JMA and ThisFluidWorld, his blog, presentations and tweets, but when we finally met face-to-face while doing a joint speaking engagement at Nokia Siemens Networks in Munich it became clear that we have much more in common. Like me, Jonathan has been around the block a bit, from Blyk to Ogilvy to the Ministry of Sound.

A passion for music and obsessive guitar-playing (me, here... yes, that was some time ago, and Jonathan, here), passion and fire for public speaking (me, him), a deep curiosity about 'the future of ..............(fill-in blank here)', and a vast network of great connections to some very interesting people, around the world (see Jonathan + himself, me + myself)   

So over a few beers i.e. 'Mass' and Brezels & Ente (aka duck) at the Oktoberfest, it transpired that we both also have a serious passion for entrepreneurship and startups, and both of us are constantly talking to interesting new companies, trying out new services and ideas. Post beer-guzzling, we met in London and decided to launch a new company together - and thanks to the likes of Wordpress, Twitter and Blip.tv, today we proudly present Indicatr.

Indicatr's mission is simple: it's a service for investors that highlights the most promising opportunities, based on a deep understanding of the technology, internet, media & entertainment. For our clients, we identify major trends and immediate future scenarios, and then suggest startups that will do well, based on these insights.

All our posts about new companies will be in video format; ranging from 2 to 5 minutes. We call this 'our hunches' and you can subscribe to all videos and thus our newest hunches (hopefully, at least one per week), over at our blip.tv channel. Our new Twitter channel, broadcasting our news and many more 'hunches', is here.

Indicatr can be booked for these services - just ping us.

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Artists and Audiences in a connected World: my presentation at the Scottish Audience Development Forum in Edinburgh ("Getting Attention 2.0")

This was a really invigorating event, with lots of nice, smart and open people that were really interested in what the future holds for the Arts, i.e. the creators, the creative industries and the organizations that want to serve them. My task was to address how the broadband-enabled, always-on world of digital natives equipped with 4.5 billion mobile devices impacts on emerging cultural practice.

It is always a great pleasure to speak to a crowd of people as diverse and well-prepared as was the case here! As it says on the event site, Partnerships 2.0 set out to explore how to develop audiences for the arts, film and the wider creative industries by maximising (Web 2.0) technology and new partnerships - and this goal was pretty well accomplished I would say. Hopefully they will have some videos available, soon, as well - be sure to check their site for details (and this blog). For now, here is the PDF:  4.5 MB PDF (low res) * get the high-res PDF via Slideshare, below. artists_and_audiences_in_a_connected_world_gerd_leonhard_futurist_low_res.pdf

Artists And Audiences In A Connected World Gerd Leonhard Futurist

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: scottish arts council scotland)

Sequoia Capital Slideshow on the Economic Downturn - and what startups should do, right now

This is a remarkable slideshow - thanks to Eidon, via Slideshare for putting this online. There is a lot of good stuff in here - great financial analysis, and very tough conclusions. Found via Joi Ito's feed. Below is my favorite image from the show - it's brutal but spot-on I guess - what do you think?

Sequoia Capital on startups and the economic downturn

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: depression recession)