Innovation Was Dead In 2006. 2007 Will Change That

Don’t get me wrong, 2006 was an amazing year for the Tech and Web community as a whole. Acquisitions were happening, startups were being created like wildfire, and a lot more. If you boil it down to the core though… Innovation was dead in 2006. Here’s a few reasons why:

1. Me-Too, Me-three, Me-TwentyFive!- That’s right, it was nothing, but a gold rush to be the next youtube, flickr, delicious, or myspace. How many clones popped up in this time? there was zero innovation as well. Adding a twist or adding a niche, is not innovation, sorry people.
2. Widgets- Widgets rock, I love them, and think they have a bright future. once again, widgets are nothing new. I’s the exact opposite: take something you have somewhere and transport it. Everyone was focused on harnessing MySpace that they forgot it’s possible to build a company of your own.
3. Business Models- The business models were horrible. They were either: adsense, flip to google, or live off of VC money and figure it out later. This doesn’t work. Your product should be as equally as innovating as the way you’ll be making money. Remember… you are still running a business.
4. What the hell do you do?- Too many startups that are unfocused and can’t even figure out what they do, let alone innovate. I’ve been down this road before (not with publictivity), it sucks.
5. Bloggers- They’re writing just to appease the blogger A List. The same way press releases are/were filled with hype, crap, and glossy quotes is the same way companies are building their products around what bloggers think. cmon.

Here’s why 2007 will bring innovation:

1. Deadpool- Most of the companies doing things on the list above will enter the deadpool. Weve already seen a ton of companies enter the deadpool in the past month or so. It’s the economy, and yes startups bust their ass, but yes some fail.
2. Focused Venture Money- the Venture guys finally know what they want. Yay!
3. Acquisitions Pay Off- The whole acquisition frenzy by GYM finally starts to integrate. That whole peanut butter mess is going to be cleared up. The innovation we saw in 2005 will now enter the DNA of the big guys. Sweet.
4. We’re At The Dawn of a New era- Does anyone else have that gut feeling? The really big and important things are about to happen.
5. Web 2.0 Dies out As a Term- I hate this term, and try to use it as little as possible. It’s used once in our investor pitch, and i only tag my blog posts Web 2.0 because it gets more readers. No term will replace it… hopefully.

[tags] web 2.0, innovation, startups, blogging, publictivity, 2006, 2007, tech, venture capital, deadpool [/tags]