SRnext - Safa Rashtchy

There has been countless analysis of the Microsoft bid for Yahoo, many of them very thoughtful and thorough, but none that I have seen has looked at the issue from the viewpoint of the consumer. Hence, having written about the User Revolution, I feel obliged to take up this task. First, we must accept the fact that Microsoft has failed massively in creating a value proposition for Internet consumers, and hence has failed to gain any share of heart, regardless of how many unique visitors it has. The simple fact remains that Microsoft has very close to zero brand loyalty, or even recognition, with consumers, as an Internet property. To be sure, Hotmail and a few other MSN properties have some followers, but that’s about it. The reason for this is that Microsoft and MSN, despite the efforts of it’s able and skilled leaders and managers, failed to create a value proposition for the consu [...] read more >>

I got this question quite often, as expected, once I announced my retirement from the sell side in June of this year. In an email to my contacts, I promised that while I’ll be taking some time off, I will be looking at starting some investment opportunities in 2008. SRnext is going to be my website to inform my business friends on what I am up to next. (But as you can see, this site is a work in progress, and it’s just this boring intro from me for now [...] read more >>

The Fragmentation of the Web- There is Still Room for both Old, stale site, and the new smaller sites to grow. The Web remains highly fragmented. Nearly 50% of the time spend on line is on the very small websites. While the increasing popularity of Facebook and Youtube and a few other have shifted a few percentage points away from the smaller sites, the fact remain that the time people spent online is still highly fragmented. Overall, there are three category of site [...] read more >>