Navtej Kohli Business Blog

Navtej Kohli shares views on Cloud Computing.

The latest word that is creating a buzz in the world of web has to be Cloud computing. Cloud computing uses virtualization to allow users to dynamically prepare servers over the web as per their requirement and pay only for the resources they use.

There is a define buzz being created by cloud computing. As per most people, it’s just marketing hype, while others feel it’s old wine in new bottle and is the same as distributed computing. Either way Cloud Computing is on the rise, with biggies like IBM, Google, Amazon, RedHat etc, all launching Cloud based solutions.

So, for now…it is a cloudy web ahead!

A new start up venture has emerged - Mochilla, a marketplace for individual newspaper, magazine and other articles.

Let me explain how it works - If VentureBeat wants to run AP stories, for example, we can go to Mochila and pick out individual Associated Press stories, run them on VentureBeat for free — and share any resulting revenue with Mochila and AP. It is a 40-30-30 percent revenue split, with AP getting the 40 percent. AP is a customer of Mochila’s, as are a number of other big publishers, including Hachette Filipacchi Media US, which owns cars and drivers and many others.

AP gets to dictate various terms, such as embargos, or geographies where the story may or may not run. If it doesn’t want to offer its content for free, then it can choose to sell it for a price to buyers.

This a la carte publishing model is new; we haven’t heard of anything like it. Until now, VentureBeat would have to wade through lots of paperwork to acquire rights to AP content, and typically buy for monthly periods or longer.

Mochila has raised $8 million in a second round of funding. Charles River Ventures, led the round, while Mochila’s previous investors, Mission Ventures, The Greenspun Corporation, and Jerry Colonna, also participated.

The only catch is that we’d have to run the advertising in a set, central spot within the AP story — a format dictated by Mochila’s platform (see screenshot below for example). Mochila chief executive, Keith McAllister, says the company will soon provide other advertising possibilities. It opens its free platform Thursday to the public for the first time. Mochila’s marketplace includes print, audio, video, and photo content.

Mochila did not provide VentureBeat with a full list of publications offering their content for free (via advertising). However, it claims it has more than 100 big publishing companies — operating more than 1,500 newspapers, magazines, wire services and websites — participating through either the paid or free model.

-Navtej Kohli

Small businesses are being sold more frequently than in the past. Statistically, on any given day, 1.7 Million small businesses are for sale in the United States. Yet, business brokers report that in many industries there are more buyers than sellers.

In the past, the vast majority of small business owners either started their companies or inherited them. The way in which small business ownership comes about is changing.

The trend of purchasing existing small businesses will be driven in part by older workers who have left corporate America (see the Graying of Small Business trend). Fortified by stock options, retirement buyouts, and severance packages, many will prefer to keep working as their own boss.

Impact:

A thriving market for the sale of small businesses will help grow their total number. There will always be those who start from scratch, just as there will always be businesses that make it into second- and third-generation hands.But a healthy market for the sale of small businesses will give owners additional exit-strategy options. Businesses that might have withered or have been absorbed by competitors will be sold to people who will bring new energy and in many instances new capital.Service providers who assist in putting together buyers and sellers, such as business brokers and M&A firms, will find good times ahead. More M&A activity will also mean more business for lawyers, bankers, consultants, and others who help make sales happen.For vendors, service providers, and market partners, businesses changing hands will mean a shifting landscape. A carefully constructed relationship has no guarantee of surviving when a new owner takes over. Relationships well become a constant concern that require more time and resources.