in-house ventures
connecting people through web technology
In general, our focus for a while has been on connecting people through web technology. For example, we do spend quite some time thinking about
- safe ways for people to connect everywhere on the web and not just on dedicated social networking sites,
- innovative foundations of dating sites that meet user needs in new ways and
- uncharted niches of online activities to add a social component to, such as video games that are commonly perceived as anti-social.
We are most interested in Internet ventures that are driven by
- innovative uses of core web technologies such as short links, emails, or web search,
- cutting-edge software technology and sophisticated algorithms and, last but not least,
- yet unclaimed, original user demand.
methodologies
In terms of project management and development methodologies we strive for
- effective use of web technology to minimize management overhead,
- venture models that require little capital,
- technology and components that can be re-purposed easily and
- web development and maintenance models based on on-demand, distributed labor.
technologies
We have used technologies such as the following to realize our in-house ventures:
- the Java programming language in highly multi-threaded apps as well as apps with highly parallel asyncronous I/O,
- Google App Engine (GAE) including efficient, location-based services on GAE,
- Python with Django, in particular as supported by GAE,
- PostgreSQL and PostGIS, MySQL (and ready to use Oracle, too),
- plenty of external services including, but not limited to: Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, AdWords, AdSense; Facebook Pages and Ads; Twitter; WordPress; GetSatisfaction and UserVoice; Mouseflow; AddThis; Pingdom; GeoNames.
We've also had our (small) share of iPhone development to test out what's possible in mobile.
current ventures
Stealth Mobile Venture
Since early 2011, we focus on an innovative venture in the Internet/mobile space that will allow our partners to offer a truly new service to their clients. The service innovates in one of the most attractive new media industries yet. The venture is based on some of the key insights gained in our long-term market analyses and prior business and technology experiments.
past experiments
anonyme
anonyme, "get in touch with me anonymously," is about making the web more social by letting people connect safely wherever they meet and not just within social networking sites. It's based on the Connect first, think later™ principle and a real simple technique to let others get in touch with you without having to reveal any personally identifying information. The experiment has successfully served its purpose and is about to be discontinued.
SC2Mate and Mailefix
These were some further experiments aimed more at exploring up and coming technologies in practice rather than establishing new businesses. Today, fast-changing technologies and third-party web services become more and more important to understand to gain competitive advantages. So, to be innovative, it's important to know more than just business models and the theory behind buzz words such as cloud services and social gaming.
Besides, Mailefix has dominated its market in a lesser known (and smaller) region of France. SC2Mate has had an independent following of more than two and a half men across more than six countries.