Opinion | Enterprise Guys in a Social World

So we are at TechCrunch Disrupt in NYC this week. K3 demo’d as a finalist in the Disrupt Battlefield Competition yesterday to an ocean of MacBooks. As far as we can tell we are only one of two enterprise applications here. Everything else? SOCIAL. Social Consumer, Social Media…social…social … social… (Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!)

Even among the social apps there is something of a dark specter lurking amongst the Startup Alley tables. How much more can the “C” category actually consume??? And moreover, how can you MONETZE it???

We enterprise apps guys live and die by “value prop” and monetization strategy. K3 reduces maintenance costs of interfaces by 50% and virtually eliminates lost data problems associated with custom code interfaces. It’s a $300 Billion dollar market. That’s how we built it. That’s how we sell it. That’s how our clients come to love it.

So, let’s think about the social value prop. For most of these apps it is about harnessing a social community of trust. But, if you can’t monetize the community of trust it boils down to simple entertainment/advertising model. Pinterest…love it…its entertainment. Facebook…love it, but its entertainment. Unfortunately, the rabbit like propagation of social entertainment, based entirely on advertising revenue, has bit the hand that feeds it by turning advertising into total white noise.

Let’s look at Facebook. I’ve created a highly trusted community there. My buddy Daniel is a prolific reader. When he finishes a book on Kindle, I don’t even look at the title. I just buy it. But what’s FB getting out of this? Nada. But that’s the trusted interaction social apps HAVE to monetize.

If there is anything I believe in, it’s the creative power of the people at this conference. The next Google, the next Facebook is going to have to come up with a brand new revenue model that taps the trusted community.