I’m back with Part 2 of my favorite podcast, an interview with Tom Huseby, Managing Partner, SeaPoint Ventures, which also marks the start of MSG’s new series of interviews with VCs and early-stage and emerging startups. In fact, I’m in touch with the great line-up of 20 early-stage and emerging startups presenting at the Mobile Peer Awards (which I also judge) for similar podcasts, and hope to circle back with the best and brightest of the pack after the event.

In the meantime, I encourage you to listen in to Tom, who offers entrepreneurs valuable advice and the inside track on the mobile companies and concepts highest on his radar. Some good news in these challenging economic times: There is plenty of money and opportunity, but it’s up to entrepreneurs to structure their good ideas so VCs get it. What pitches are getting the most traction? The Apple App Store and similar schemes from Google (Android), RIM at one end of the spectrum, and Qualcomm and Amdocs at the other (check next week for an MSG exclusive on Amdocs app store strategy), have – as Tom put it – “changed the entrepreneurial landscape.” Open systems, open storefronts and open operators. Now all we need is the apps.

Listen to the podcast. [10:34]

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CREDIT CRUNCH: Not in this market. As Tom put it: “The credit crisis has not hit venture capitalists yet. We don’t have a window that people can pull up to and say give us our money back please. We have very low liquidity expectations in general. So, on the whole, venture capitalists have not run out of money. The bars are high and it’s difficult, but my gosh, my advice to entrepreneurs is keep working on your idea until it does appeal to the money, or don’t use the money to do it.”

MOBILE SOCIAL NETWORKS: Great opportunity but a big risk. The trick: Deciding what is going to be viral and picking services that have the necessary ‘cool’ factor. His advice: “I think that there are [openings] to take advantage of successful mobile social networking opportunities. I think there’s a chance to co-market once they’ve succeeded. There are some very cool things that large groups of interconnected people can do together, and there are some tremendous opportunities to help them do it.” (An example he offers is Ontela, a company he’s invested in that is getting serious traction with an offer that unlocks the photos users save on their phones by allowing them to automatically save them to their email, a “My Pictures” folder on their PC, and a range of online Web photo albums. The offer is a boost to mobile operators and Web-based image services because it gives them a center spot in the exchange, with an offer to deliver people’s picture where they want them.) As Tom sums it up: “One click, take the picture, and it’s gone. And that’s pretty cool. That opportunity wouldn’t exist if there weren’t large groups of mobile social networks [and members].”

DEAL MAKING: Between three finds Tom has “10 to 20 ideas that are moving along towards what I think could be very large opportunities.” In fact, one of them is an enablement tool for mobile social networking. It would also enable a brand to have a personal relationship with consumers – a hint that 2009 may indeed be the year of engagement.

If this is indeed the year of engagement and two-way conversations between brands and people on their mobile phones, then we’ll surely need some guidelines to make sure it’s a dialogue built on trust. Good timing as this is also the year Every Single One Of Us, a global effort aggregating knowledge, and authorizing best practice and methodologies that ensure optimal mobile advertising user experience, moves a huge step forward with a research project to identify growth opportunities in the emerging mobile advertising marketplace, and thus help ensure content is delivered in accordance with the 3Ps: Permission (people will decide what brand messages they interact with); Privacy (people will decide where there data is collected and how it is used); and Preference (people will decide what content they find relevant).

Another big opportunity is measurement. Everyone – particularly mobile advertising companies -  needs good analytics, and Tom tells me the demand for companies that can deliver has never been greater.

Disclaimer: MSG is closely alligned with Every Single One Of Us.

Tags: Engagement, Every Single One Of Us, Mobile Advertising, VC

This entry was posted on Friday, February 6th, 2009 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Mobile Advertising, Mobile Social Networking, Personalization, Podcasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.