These guys are all over the web advertising their top secret algorithm, which they claim can predict not only if a startup is successful or not -- but their overall fate over a short or long scale. Their sample predictor is getting worldwide buzz, but I'm not so convinced it is a good thing. 

Oxford dropout Bob Goodson, left, claims that his idea can help out our economy crisis by in advance predicting successful companies -- but it seems like marketed quicksand to me. First of all, I don't believe that its possible for a math equation to predict the fate of a company -- that's purely in the mind of the general public itself to decide if it will be useful in their lives.

Second, if proven to work (or somehow convincing to everyone) this idea will be like pulling fruit out of an ecosystem -- it will not only be imbalanced, but everyone else will eat each other. If YouNoddle becomes the standard for all startups -- then they essentially will decided if they fail or not. The public will believe that whatever they say will come true and that will stop many ideas from coming through. 

They will, in a sense, form a blockade between the office and the world, beta and public, and most importantly, a dud and a bloom. And looking far ahead, if YouNoodle is a proven winner and the public trusts them, they will be able to decide the fate of any new company. YouNoodle would act as a tollbooth that decides whether the company can go on or not. The public, in the end, will not invest if the idea seems good or the CEO is promising -- but solely on what YouNoodle says about it. And by then, YouNoodle can just drop their mystery math algorithm and basically hire teams to hand pick companies they like and dump the ones they don't. They are really dangling the fate of anyone who crosses their path -- and I think that's wrong. Thank goodness the general public has its doubts too.

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Every founding team needs individuals that add value in different ways, which means that a team full of idea-makers is a team that goes nowhere. Execution is key. Founders (like myself) are constantly looking for people who bring a skill(s) to the table. Find them at any of these places and start selling yourself!

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The video below has Tim 'O Reilly himself defining what exactly is a WEB 2.0.

TIM 

So, web 2.0 constitutes of blogs, mashups and so on and so forth. Its always been said of guys who don't try to change with the tide end up left behind. And it 'd take only a luddite of a guy to not to use the scrumptious theme of things that this technology offers. Lets just try to get a bigger pic of the scheme of things.

Everything on your Desktop:

Using web 2.o is so fantastic that you feel a lot at home its literally kind of using things off your desktop and into your browser. For instance, take the umpteen number of social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, younoodle and so on which help us to make new friends and also be in contact with our old ones literally just from our hot seat. And if you are getting itchy about a buzz word just google it and there you will have on your screen millions of websites showing you the more info. than you had anticipated and then there is this new thing called cloud computing which gives you access to data from anywhere to anything. So, this is nothing but the morphing of our PC into one big power house of information.

Business networks:

One might've well guessed by now, why the WEB 2.o is called Enterprise 2.o. With the rapid proliferation of the companies that are vying to grab the loyality of the customers WEB 2.0 plays a predominant role in not only providing a platform for online advertising but also provide solutions to their customers within hours if not months. Add to these the umpteen of these social networking sites such as Myspace, Younoodle, Facebook, to name a few using which companies can zero in on their customers individually which will help them in establishing a sort of a sentimental connection with their candies and also as most of these companies have their target audience in the age range of 15-35 so its pretty easy to get them on this platform.

Its not only this but few of the social networking sites can even land you a job. Sites like Younoodle and LinkedIn have these resume posting kind of things which a really helpful according to a survey. So, the age where in social networking was for fun or when you might get chided for is a passe and now its vice-versa.

This has also laid a platform for a two-way communication as the CEOs and the top dogs of various organizations are burning in their time to get personal with their customers.

Blogging:

If there is anything that has really revolutionized the internet age is Blogging. Everyone seems to be so smitten by this that you can hardly find any site or for that matter any guy addicted to this wired thing not really having this four letter word in his profile and then add to that various incentives being provided for merely eking out yourself on to the wires that many are just taking this not only as a passion but also as a profession. Log into any site and you will find the employees hitting on the keyboard on multifarious issues ranging from the work culture to the recent movie they've been to. Being a passionate blogger myself I'm pretty glad that many companies are actually allowing their employees to blog which is quite contrasting to some companies. I'm pretty happy my company encourages blogging and has indeed recently started a blog to get closer to students.

The proliferation of the blogging sites has seen the growth of wikis which is being advocated by many corporates.

Hacker-Proof:

Many are still quite pessimistic about the way the technology is being used. On one side it is quite intimidating to think about the caveats of hackers and on the other side if left behind it 'd just be to our own peril. So, everyone is just tending to take on the latter route as the threat of hackers is perennial. Though they are quite concomitant security related issues getting surfaced as time moves on everyone is just as ready as to take on the risk than being edged out by their rivals on the techie front. So, that's a huge gain point for these sort of services.

And as few companies are still staring into the blue on porting onto web 2.0 the many of the geeky companies who've helped themselves away from the luddites have suddenly found themselves caught in the eye of another technological storm called web 3.0.

Web 3.0 is defined as the creation of high-quality content and services produced by gifted individuals using Web 2.0 technology as an enabling platform.

Web 3.0 if simplified is nothing but a slight improvement over web 2.0.

In precise terms its a spin-off from the head of Nova Spivack whose Radar Networks is trying to upset another giant. The first product off the radar is the Twine, a tool for collecting and organizing data which is pretty hatke from Google.

An example of how Twine works: A user uploads a text document to their Twine account. Twine then parses the document to find the words with meaning — names, places, concepts and so forth. Those terms become tags, which the person can use to access related information.

Twine’s underlying technology gives the computer a measure of intelligence. Using tags, a computer can distinguish between, say, a reference to the kind of bird that flies and the kind that flips people off. Once it has, it can give users a wealth of other information, drawn from their own accumulated knowledge base, other users and the outside internet. Where Google crawls the entire web and ultimately pollutes your search results with different kinds of “birds,” Radar picks from a smaller universe of sources and tries to automatically discard the ones you don’t want. Having said that, the search is more stream lined when compared to Google as you don't have to google through a chiliad of sites.

As the companies gear up for web 3.0 I'm quite periliously trying to wade myself through all these technological revolutions and thus trying to see myself clear off these things. Yeah OK! I can hear someone calling me a luddite!

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Now playing: Jim Chappell - Baby's Escapade
via FoxyTunes

Until a couple of months ago, I had admittedly only dipped a toe into the morass of social innovations now available. Screening companies for DEMO and providing analysis to The Guidewire Report monopolizes my time and I tended to try out a service for a week or two, only to leave my profile languishing afterward. But as I wade deeper into emerging tech and blogging - and present myself as an expert on startups - I'd be remiss not to immerse myself fully into key services. So I've dove headfirst into FriendFeed and Twitter, Twine and PlaxoPulse, Persai and YouNoodle, Facebook and LinkedIn, and some 10-15 others I won't assault you with. The problem isn't that these services are faulty. It's the exact opposite - I'm loving them. They're delivering so well on their promises that I continually add them as must-visit sites. The fabulous little Firefox add-on Morning Coffee now opens up 10 tabs every morning, each with links to read, comments to make and interesting tidbits to submit to my network. To keep things as simple as possible, I've struck my banking and financial sites from the Morning Coffee list and now wonder from afar if my e-bills are up to date. (On second thought, this could come in handy should my money start tanking; I'll just blame my social graph.)

Everyone's been raving about FriendFeed in recent weeks and I couldn't agree more. I only just joined Persai and am hugely impressed with its learning capabilities. Plaxo Pulse may lose the war to FriendFeed but they've designed a great interface. And Twine - well, I can't talk about Twine until next week but it's good stuff. It now appears though that we need a bigger umbrella technology, something to scale the firehose back down to a drip but still retain the sophistication of the current innovations.

The opposing side of the Economist debate was John Maeda, president-elect of the Rhode Island School of Design. His view is that, seeing as how all of these technologies - especially the ones I mention above - are in their infancy, it would be foolish to write them off as complicating life until they've reached maturity. It's a strong point and one of which I must continually remind myself. True early adopters must be willing to endure complication in order to one day reach simplification. So maybe my question shouldn't be, "where does the social graph end?" but "where is it going to take me?"

YouNoodle launched last week to plenty of blog discussion, with everyone caught up in the idea of predicting the future. Goodson says that's not exactly what the company is aiming for. (That's a fine line to walk, though, in the hot field of prediction markets. When you claim the ability to valuate a startup three years in the future, you can't blame journalists for going where they did.) Goodson asserted that the company never aims to replace humans in investing; the idea is simply to create an industry of tools that should already exist in the startup world. Though he won't share specifics on what information is needed to crunch the numbers, others have stated that the algorithms may focus on the people within a startup and how connected they are.

The current YouNoodle community was in private beta for close to a year before launching and it shows. There are about 1000 companies in the community, each with their own contingent of team members and followers. Though it's difficult for a newcomer to get acclimated, the site begins to gel once you really start swimming around in there. As someone knee-deep in startups, it's already proving an excellent resource for me for company leads. (In fact, I stumbled on this company as I was writing this. Definitely worth investigating...) When YouNoodle launches the actual startup valuation tool, planned for next week, the site will likely merit an upgrade to my bookmarks toolbar.

Here's why I'm not declaring it FAIL just yet (you're missed, Ted), as others have been quicker to do. I doubt any of us in the tech sector - pundit, blogger, investor, or entrepreneur - think the current method of vetting and funding is foolproof. Forget foolproof, how about just plain enjoyable? If a recent heavily circulated VC-wear site is to be believed, the startup firehose needs a funnel. It remains to be seen whether YouNoodle's AI can deliver that help but I'll be keeping a close eye on the company. Like others in the space of idea/product/company valuation - Spigit, Virtual Ventures and Ideablob to name a few - the technology they're honing could have significant ramifications for the tech landscape as we know it.

Earlier this week, Andy and I submitted our application for Web Mission 2008.

The event will see 20 UK Web 2.0 companies travel to San Francisco to explore new opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley. It will be showcasing innovative UK web talent, seek meaningful assistance for companies ready for expansion, and provide a platform for those involved to gain valuable media and business exposure.

Serial networker and entrepreneur Oli Barrett has joined forces with social impact facilitators Polecat to organise the event which runs from 19th-25th April.

The chosen companies will have their trip subsidised, and partners of the event include UK Trade & Investment, Doug Richard (Dragon’s Den and CEO of Library House), TechCrunch, HSBC and Make Your Mark. Also assisting with the event are Bob Goodson, Kirill Makharinsky and the guys at YouNoodle, Michael Birch (CEO, Bebo) and various other ex-pats who are now making a name for themselves in the Valley.

Having visited Silicon Valley last year, Andy and I have some idea of the value of these sort of experiences. Michael’s comments affirmed this:

“The Web Mission represents an amazing opportunity for the best of entrepreneurial UK talent to visit Silicon Valley, and learn for themselves the differences that make the US a breeding ground for innovation and more importantly successful execution of ideas.”

And I particularly like the point about execution. How many UK Web companies have successfully executed ideas on the global stage in recent years? LastMinute.com, Last.FM, Skype (not UK founders though). How many other technology-based Web companies? There are embarrassingly few. How about the US? Well, already this year we’ve seen MySQL exit to Sun Microsystems for $1 billion, Microsoft bid $44 billion for Yahoo! (albeit in vein so far), a TechCrunch source says that an acquisition of Bebo (built and executed in the US) for $1 billion is “definitely happening”…and we’re only just over half way through February!

With the right network of contacts – the right investors, partners and market specialists, there’s no reason why the UK can’t produce successes with much higher frequency. Web Mission is a firm step in the right direction.

We want GroupSpaces to be further evidence that it’s possible to build globally successful companies from the UK. We want to be part of this event.

Wish us luck!

Uma startup (vejam só), a YouNoodle  promete com Inteligencia artificial, prever o sucesso de qualquer startup até 5 anos a frente por exemplo se lhe forem fornecidos dados suficientes.

Google stood out though - it recently beat McKinsey to #1 in Fortune magazine's annual list of the top 100 MBA employers (arguably the most reputable ranking of employers available). With their gyms, games rooms, unlimited free exotic cuisine, campus environment and density of super-smart people working in sunny Mountain View, it's not hard to understand why. Having been started up by Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998, they're now a $210bn company and are still growing fast 9 years later!

One of the Y Scraper's residents and someone we spent a lot of time with was Sumon Sadhu, the Co-Founder of Imperial Entrepreneurs and Lightbox , and also a Board Member of Seedcamp. Last year I was introduced to Sumon by my (then) girlfriend and I like to think we've become pretty good entrepreneurial buddies since - we certainly share a lot of opinions on the European ecosystem and how it can be developed. Along with his co-founder Jamie Quint , Sumon was staying on the top floor of Crystal Towers, overlooking Alcatraz. Andy and I worked round at their apartment a few times during the week and also had the pleasure of attending a British Founders event which Sumon organised:

Left: Bob Goodson, Co-Founder, YouNoodle - a social network for student entrepreneurs
Centre: Andrew Davies, Co-Founder, Idiomag - a personalised digital music magazine
Right: Andy Young, my co-founder on ClickUni and GroupSpaces

Later on in the week, Sumon invited us to a Happy Dev Lunch at Facebook - an event focused around platform applications. We saw Mark Zuckerburg, and also bumped into Alex Tew, Creator of the MillionDollarHomepage - another British founder. The quality of conversation at the event was high, and unlike many events in Oxford or London, most of the attendees had a very good understanding of Web start-ups, raising funding and how it all fits together. I was fortunate enough to meet Eddie Codel, the Internet video producer and Co-Founder of GETV. We got talking and he really liked the vision for ClickUni. This resulted in him inviting us to be interviewed on the Podtech show LunchMeet:

[podtech content=http://media1.podtech.net/media/2007/08/PID_012104/Podtech_LM69_ClickUni.flv&postURL=http://www.podtech.net/home/3775/lunchmeet-clickuni-manages-social-groups&totalTime=831000&breadcrumb=bdefae0f26e947bea65552b19ed251a1]

Andy and I both enjoyed shooting the video and it's a nice souvenir to take home from the states. Cheers Eddie!