Technology & Cyber Strategy for the Mergers & Acquisitions Industry

No doubt, it is a hot, hot market and apparently somewhat recession proof. Video Games and, by extension, Virtual Entertainment(basically a game but based on a paradigm of experience rather than score/achievement) are a huge market with a worldwide projected value of $47Bn by 2010 under a CAGR of 14%(PwC, 2008). Great potential and a huge area for VCs to invest in. In 2008, funding alone for games & virtual worlds reached almost $1Bn from Venture & Angel sources which went into a approximately 110 firms(VentureBeat, April 26th 2009). With that in mind, it is a good market for any VC to be aware of so here are some thoughts about innovations that might make for good investments: Mobile Gaming / Wireless - not wireless game controllers, but actual wireless/mobile game versions that can be ported over to PDA/Cell device so that people can continue to play while on the subway or training to work or breaking for lunch. Packet or "chapter" technology that can allow for peo...

I was discussing the uses of social media for businesses recently with a VC contact of mine in NYC. A by-product from the disconnect that exists between social and business media, I feel there is a missing piece of the puzzle here that Facebook could crack and establish a more direct stream of revenue. Facebook is a person-centric platform in which a user's profile or "Face" is the brand which is the whole point of social networking. This differs from the MySpace strategy which simply allows homepages to be built around a business presence and allows almost complete customization. Facebook limits the changes but benefits from the user-defined & private network experience while still allowing a person to become a fan. What Facebook does not allow is the creation of actual facebook profile or homepages for a business (eg a company does not have a "face"). To this end, Facebook allows Pages or News Feeds or Events to be created as secondary tiers for a person...