Topic: 4) A Random Walk
Hats off to Marc Freedman, Founder and CEO of RazorPop, for organizing a great DallasBlue (http://www.dallasblue.com) luncheon talk and networking event this past Thursday at the Blue Mesa Grill in Addison, TX. Ran smoothly, on schedule, and with good attendance. Excellent job, Marc!
Lunch talk was by Michael Greeson, President & Principal Analyst at the Diffusion Group. Lots of stats, strategy, and branding talk made Michael's talk unique - it was the first comprehensive dialogue I had participated in that covered the converging space of broadband, networking, PCs, home entertainment, and consumer electronics. If I had to sum up three perspectives that will make convergence interesting, they would be 1) increasing power of the service provider (I got my home network from SBC/Ameritech), 2) saturation of the traditional PC market with excess horsepower (when will I ever need a new PC again? And did anyone notice the recent announcement by Intel on capping the clock speed of the Pentium for the near-term?), and 3) importance of brand name in terms of winning in the living room (I love my iPod and Sony stuff). I think we are seeing signs that partnering and M&A plays will become more and more prevalent in this space.
As for the networking environment at DallasBlue, well if you are a networker, DallasBlue is great because Marc has allocated good time for people to socialize. And this is important because networking takes time. Networking is more than doing lunch. It's more than getting business cards. It's not about selling to people. And networking is definitely not about getting business from your friends. Networking is first about developing rapport and helping people. The rest may follow given time and dedication.
Steve Shu
Managing Director
S4 Management Group
Email: sshu@s4management.com
Web: http://www.s4management.com
Posted by sshu-s4 (c) S4 Management Group LLC
at 11:13 PM CDT
Updated: October 17, 2004 11:36 PM CDT
