marcellus » Riff Khan

Natural Evolution: PaaS to SaaS

Riff Khan — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:14:06 +0000

If we are to oversimplify the evolution of the value chain in the computing industry, it broadly breaks down to: from hardware to operating systems to software applications (a little of the chicken/egg fallacy there).

Using that storyline to examine the current online video platform market, we are starting to see platform providers evolving into application providers, or platform providers beginning to focus on the solution stack they are providing.

PermissionTV has gone through a make-over and tries to find some viability as Visible Gains.

The evolution is good and we wish Visible Gains the best of luck!

Google to buy Brightcove. Not.

Riff Khan — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:10:52 +0000

I got my first email at 12:28 pm – “rumor: Google to buy Brightcove.”

I got my second email at 1:07 pm – “rumor false: Google to buy Brightcove.”

I spent the time during those emails scratching my head – What is wrong with the Brin/Page/Schmidt triumvirate? Does it really make sense for Google to invest in an up-market (at those price points Brightcove is no Walmart) white-label video streaming provider?

Google has an audacious goal – organize the world’s information. I guess it does make sense for Google to acquire tools that publish that information… but Brightcove? Seriously? Some reports went on to expand that it would create synergies with Youtube. Um… you mean the same synergy that Brightcove and Brightcove TV created?

Sometimes the sum of the parts is less than the parts themselves… what these speculators are missing out on is: the white-label video platform space is different than the UGC video portal space. Publishers in the white-label video have different needs – they are not looking for platforms that market their content.

They are looking for tools that let them publish, manage and track their content at affordable price points. Then they are looking for a platform that lets them scale up and scale down on-demand. Simply put, IMHO – Google + Brightcove makes as much sense as Pizza + Ketchup. Sounds exciting for 39 minutes… and then you wake up.

Adobe announces DRM for Flash

Riff Khan — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:30:25 +0000

Recently, the artist formerly known as Macromedia – Adobe plugged the most obvious hole in its Flash platform by announcing DRM in the form of Flash Access 2.0.

What can we take away?

Premium content comes at a premium and needs to be treated differently.
Adobe has effectively killed the Adobe Media player – browser-based streaming is the future.
The competition for adoption by premium-content owners is going to heat up… and for now it looks like it going to be Microsoft versus Adobe.

The bigger question: DRM serves a tactical purpose, but is it sound strategy?

The money question: How many publishers out there are interested in DRM?

What is Marcellus’s stand? Well we couldn’t say it any better than Mr. Jobs:

“Convincing them (publishers) to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly.”

There is no "Secret Sauce"

Riff Khan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:59:07 +0000

In the recipe for entrepreneurial success one comes across an oft used phrase: “secret sauce.” Venture Capitalists talk about it, in fact they look for it. When we were fund hunting, we were asked about it…. hell I even wrote a post about it.

It even came up last week in the self-SWOT analysis… and if our meeting notes were ever leaked, you would see that someone said:

“If you can provide your customers with products that are solutions to their problems at affordable price points then you are adding value in a market place. As long as you’re adding value in a market place, you survive. You don’t need sauce, gravy or toppings for that.”

And forget “the recipe”, this is the reality. The real litmus test you should take, or the self-assurance you should seek when designing a “business plan” is: are you adding value to the marketplace? If you are, then you are in the same boat as 37signals, animoto and Facebook… no secret sauces but real, meaningful value-addition to the marketplace.

No denying secret sauce has its value… odds of achieving success are increased. Secret sauce also helps (to an extent) to answer scalability, makes positioning easy, mitigates competition and exponentially increases profitability (G-O-O-G-L-E). And all factors you will find in those assessment sheets that VCs use to grade your business model.

But the “el dorado”dinian search for the secret sauce should not lead to paralysis. There are other ingredients that also help with increasing the odds in your favor.

Customer-driven development helps.

Short product development cycles help.

A good team definitely helps.

And adding value to the market really helps.

And all of that is scalable as well.

What we’re all about

Riff Khan — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:48:03 +0000

Hey everyone.

Riff here… let’s deviate from the “what’s happening?” and “what will happen?” to something more relevant for you – the publisher: what does all this mean for you?

As I sit and think about how to introduce the team (friends to me) and the service (passion for me) to the rest of you, I am reminded of the long, arduous and fun journey… we really set out to create a service that will change what you can do with online video.

I don’t think we’re anywhere close to fulfilling our goals, but I do believe we’re bang in pursuit.

Marcellus is a service that is, in every sense of the word, designed for you, me and everybody we know.

You have 20 videos that you shot over the summer and want to create a portfolio for someone looking for an ad designer – this service is for you;

You are a sales manager and have a sales demo that you want to share with twenty members spread all across the world – this service is for you;

You are a car company and want to launch a viral campaign centralized around a web site with a look and feel that you will not get on Youtube – this service is for you.

We’ve made it very simple, very accessible, and most importantly, very affordable.

If you read on our post on pricing a few days ago, you’d have noticed that we’ve basically gone and commoditized online video.

Our business model is not centered around grabbing thousands of dollars from you every year. It’s based on the fact that if we help you realize a significant ROI as you scale up, then there will be a cash bonus for us in there somewhere.

It’s one of those “we-help-you-help-us-help-you-help-us-….” models.
Welcome to Marcellus.