Content, Community, and Commerce. Those of us who were part of the internet bubble in the late 90’s remember our three C’s. The funny thing is that it might be the only spin that came from the bubble that still holds true today.

Last night at the SDForum Venture Finance SIG, Norwest Venture Partners shared their insights on the Web 2.0 – what technology is hot, who is getting money, and what exactly is Web 2.0. I sat back and listened as someone described Web 2.0 as “community building, end user contributed content, and advertising.” It sounds like Web 1.0 to me.

The real difference as was pointed out by Jim Lussier, Managing Partner at Norwest Venture Partners,  is that the web of today is driven by the consumer. Think about the popular internet sites people use …The communities are self forming by consumer interests – Facebook for college buddies or Myspace for teenagers.  Content is being contributed by end users in the form of ratings on Amazon, Blogspot for personal press, SocialText for colloboration , and photo sites like Flickr for sharing our memories. Commerce is selling your goods on eBay or purchasing music you like on iTunes.

The unique technologies and business models that are being developed to serve the consumer driven web include everything from vertical search engines for things we want to purchase such as travel and shopping, and search engines for the user driven content such as Technorati for blogs, and Loomia that helps you search for music your friends like based on their recommendations.

And don’t leave out the fact that the growth of broadband has enabled companies like BrightCove to tap into the power of the Internet and transform media – they have an open Internet TV service that empowers video producers and programmers to build broadband businesses while giving viewers more choices and control over their use of video and television.

The real difference between the content, community, and commerce of today and that of the internet bubble……Web 2.0 = The Consumer Driven Web.

Open source is a part of almost every conversation in the software industry today. We asked our resident expert on Open Source, Andrew Aitken, Founder and Managing Partner of the Olliance Group, to share some of his insights.

Open source, the software, the distribution mechanism and the social movement, is most definitely a catalyst that it drastically changing the dynamics of the software industry as we know it. Today it is commoditizing inefficient proprietary vendors, beginning to move up the stack into applications and starting to provide innovation in areas such as mobile computing and virtualization. The history of computing is full of disruptive technologies, mainframe computing, pcs, client-server, the internet. But never has something come along with such a combination of social, technical, and financial impact.

I’ve been asked recently by entrepreneurs and VCs about the current craze around open source. Is it a bubble, are there sustainable business models, how do you create value around free software, what do exit paths look like. I’ve been thinking about these questions for awhile now. In most cases it is far too early for many definitive answers but some patterns are beginning to become clearer.

One of the more common questions I get is; “How important is it to control your own intellectual property for something where you make the source code publicly available and maybe even free?” Easy answer, very. In open source, intellectual property can be enforced in two ways, legally and by the community. The most important method is to have a robust community built around your solution with you retaining the core legal intellectual property rights. I believe the most effective way is to have a community that enforces your intellectual property in return for the value you have provided them, and that community “goodwill” is backed up by full copyright ownership of the software. Goodwill is built up in a community by first and foremost providing quality code that solves a common problem or market need efficiently, offering a venue that makes the code easily available and supported and facilitates engagement by community members, and by giving commercial supporters of your solution a way to make revenue around the edges of your offerings. For perhaps the best example take a look at SugarCRM, a company incubated by SDForum.

--Andrew Aitken

SDForum had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Moira Gunn on Tech Nation. Ann Winblad, co-founding partner of Hummer-Winblad Venture Partners and Laura Merling, CEO of SDForum were interviewed for a 15 minute segment. The interview was fairly broad and addressed the global reality of both funding new software and then building it.

Moira asked Ann a great question about what has changed in the industry since the “bust” and Ann provided some very interesting insight to entrepreneurs. Ann mentions that existing software companies, primarily large ISV’s, focused on their existing product strengths during the market slump – with limited focus on innovation. She noted that this left holes in the marketplace for young companies to capitalize. Ann goes on to note that large enterprises are looking towards innovators for solutions to missing pieces of their business.

Listen in to Tech Nation to hear more ...

We are all active to some degree or another in the web based craze of Social Networking - can you say...blogs?...or social networks such as Friendster, LinkedIn or maybe even MySpace.  Well, it appears to be going mobile.  Everything from connecting with friends and business associates via a mobile community to dating and plogs (picture blogs) - what is next?  There appears to be a strong push to take communities mobile.    Earlier this week, SDForum hosted a conference on the Mobile Software Value Chain  and on the Emerging Technology panel, we heard from  Intercasting who is creating communities around blogging - and eventually plans to leverage the same platform for mobile dating and other social activities we do on the web today.

We have seen several other companies over the last few months including PartySync who allows you to create private mobile groups - with a focus on teenagers who leverage text messaging.  They have plans for other subsites including DateSync and others.  Then there is 6thSense - a new service that allows you to find people through your cell phone who share your common interests - in real time.  You create a profile for yourself, and then with a Bluetooth enabled phone, you will be connected to those who fit your profile - business or personal.  
We have also heard from Common.net who is building something called MORCA which is similar in concept.  MORCA is referred to as a mobile icebreaker.  The concept is to have it be used during conference breaks, at networking events, at the beginning of sales calls, and in virtually any social or business venue.

What about your identity within these mobile communities?  We clearly have ways of managing our identity in most web based communities - but what about mobile communities?  Have you heard about TalkPlus - formerly CallerIP - they allow you to have various identities through your mobile phone based on who you are interacting within each community you participate.  Keep this in mind as you go mobile with Social Networking.

It will be interesting to see how these mobile social networking tools play out.  Who will use them first - will it be the teenagers who want to connect with their friends, will it be people who have tried Match.com and not found their love or will it be the business users who hope to connect with potential business partners at conferences?  

SDForum is hosting the first Social Networking 2.0 -Going Mobile event on October 13th.   The speakers include  Jonathan Abrams, Founder, Friendster, Kevin Efrusy, Partner, Accel, Anu Nigam, Founder, PartySync and Derrick Oien, co-founder and President, Intercasting Corp.

We are looking forward to hearing and learning more - and hope to see you there.