Writing / Notes & perspectives
Ideas in progress. Questions worth asking. Notes from the intersection of technology, business, and possibility.
97 essays · Newest first
Blog
What do Amazon’s recommendation engine, Tesla’s self-driving data advantage, and Google’s search monopoly have in common with a Canadian SaaS company serving digital agencies? More than you might think. Meet…
9 min read
Blog
Productivity is no longer about how much you do, It’s about what you do. In a world where 30 percent of back-office roles are projected to be replaced within five years, companies are already putting a hold on hiring…
9 min read
Blog
The moment you stop accepting “that’s just how it works” is the moment breakthrough innovation begins. Most companies reason by analogy, by assumptions, locked into the way that other people have been doing things.…
7 min read
Blog
Please forgive the length. If I had more time, it would be shorter. While I am currently spending a ton of time “in the business,” of Vendasta I am still maintaining some time for higher-level strategic thinking.…
9 min read
Vendasta
At Vendasta our core purpose is to drive local economies. 50% of the world’s employees work for small and medium businesses. Small businesses fuel the world’s economies, they invest in our communities, they unlock…
3 min read
From the archive
Ideas on Tap / Real Estate Industry
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media / Social Software
I have been busy. I haven’t posted for a long time. I needed a shot in the arm to make me post. I got it today when I read Julie Brooks post on StreetFight titled “Why Mom-and-Pops will no longer pay for “Social…
2 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Culture / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media / Vendasta
….. and I’m back. It’s been a while since my last post. I took a year off blogging to try Twitter instead. I don’t think I will stop tweeting but I find I need more words to express myself. Let’s see if I can find…
6 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Personal Experience / Social Media / Social Networking / Vendasta
In 1989 fresh out of university I started a business with a college buddy. I remember those early days fondly. Our business only had a handful of employees. We worked long hours for very little but we had a great…
4 min read
From the archive
Brendan King
Greg Sterling asked the question, “Is Groupon the new Yellow Pages”, and then went on to make compelling argument as to why Groupon could indeed be seen as the “new” yellow pages. Basically the analogy is that in the…
2 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Culture / Projects / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media / Social Software / Vendasta / Voices / Web 2.0
At VendAsta we have been working for the better part of a year and a half on projects that fall under our www.SocialConnections.com umbrella. VendAsta has a team of world class software developers, but building…
5 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Productivity / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media / Social Networking / Transparency / Vendasta / Voices / Web 2.0
I recently attended the Kelsey DMS2009 conference to learn more about they YP space. There is certainly a lot to learn. I am very interested in better understanding how the real estate industry’s relationship with YP…
9 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry
No matter how much effort, time and money a company spends they are sure to make mistakes. When you do it is important you handle it properly and respond with honesty and transparency. In fact, when you own up to…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Personal Experience / Vendasta / Voices
Almost a year ago I wrote a post called “Dream Like A Child”. I watched a video today that captured the sentiment of my post in much more elegant way. Take a look: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6MhAwQ64c0]
1 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Reputation 2.0 / Search / Social Media / Social Networking / Transparency / Vendasta / Voices
In the last few days Google has announced some really cool things. The most significant is that Google is leveraging their search engine dominance to give their Google Profiles (see mine here – Brendan’s Google…
2 min read
From the archive
Culture / Hijinx / Real Estate Industry / Reputation 2.0 / Social Software / Vendasta / Voices / Web 2.0
I am out a Web 2.0 Expo with Jeff and Allan from our company, MyFrontSteps.com. Between meetings and sessions we thought we would do a little filming. I have put together this video of us asking people the question:…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Hijinx / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace
Automated valuation systems like those from Zillow or Cyberhomes are very objective. They take data and render an non emotional decision. Most people can understand that home owners certainly have a tough time doing…
1 min read
From the archive
Culture / Real Estate Industry / Vendasta / Voices
A lot has happened in the last few months. We have been totally engrossed building www.MyFrontSteps.com and I have been neglecting my blog. We participated in a Canadian Trade Mission, released new versions of our…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Real Estate Industry / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media / Vendasta
It is almost the end of January 2009 and VendAsta is now a year old. It seems like just yesterday we that we were moving into our first office. We have gone from a group of 8 people to 29 of the best and brightest.…
1 min read
From the archive
Culture / Vendasta / Voices
Google is now one step closer to sticking a knife into Microsoft and twisting it. Google has quietly released Native Client, and moved an incremental step closer to to the promise of a web operating system. Simply…
1 min read
From the archive
Culture / Hijinx / News / Photos / Productivity / Real Estate Industry
So we just moved into our new office this week. lots of offices, lots of common space and lots of designated scrum space. Huge paint on white boards. Fun people. What more could you ask for? I have a much longer and…
1 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience / Productivity / Projects / Vendasta
I am a big advocate of Google Docs. The collaboration, sharing and simplicity of “one document” are brilliant – at least to me. So brilliant that I have been coercing anyone I interact with to use the tool. Bragging…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Vendasta
Last week we closed our first round of VC financing for MyFrontSteps and I have been too busy to blog! The release hit the press Thursday and we were very fortunate to have it picked up by many publishers. Here is an…
1 min read
From the archive
Vendasta / Voices
I have been meaning to post about Saskatoon and the tech sector for some time but Ginger Koolick beat me too it with this great post aptly titled “Tech Community in Saskaboom, SK“ . I have been involved in the tech…
3 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience
Every once in a while I have a random rambling thought. I think I will start publishing them, here is a recent one. I have five children ranging in age from brand new to 17 so I have a lot of exposure to the young…
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Things are starting to come together at MyFrontSteps. We have been selected as a participant on a panel to discuss new real estate technology. The panel is appropriately titled: Changing the industry: 5 ideas at a…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Social Media / Social Networking / Social Software / Web 2.0
I was working on a post to recap GSP East conference. However, I just noticed that Frank Mashraqi of Fotolog posted a great recap. So I am just going to link to it here.
1 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Reputation 2.0 / Social Media
Finally made it to GSP (Graphing Social Patterns) East in Washington. Jeff and I were supposed to arrive Sunday night. The hot weather sparked a thunderstorm in Toronto so we couldn’t land and had to to on to Ottawa.…
3 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Some interesting news from the news people at Inman. Jessica is moving on and Joel and Glenn are moving up. All of us at VendAsta are going to miss Jessica.We have gotten to know and appreciate her over the years.…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Reputation 2.0 / Search / Social Software / Web 2.0
Looks like I am not the only one that likesPiclens (see my Trulia Snapshot review ). YouTube’s head of monetization Shashi Seth has left YouTube-owner Google to become the chief revenue officer at Cooliris to head up…
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace
I really like Trulia Snapshots. Congrats Pete and Sami and the Trulia team for a nice job. Those of you who follow my blog (and Jeff’s) will know that we have been yammering for years to anyone who would listen about…
3 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Social Networking
I have always been a fan of free and providing value . Done right this doesn’t mean you can’t make money (maybe you can even make more). I really like the idea of transforming a paid subscription (web 1.0) into a…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Reputation 2.0 / Transparency
I am not surprised to see Rich Barton involved in another startup, especially one with a social networking concept. I am also not surprised to see this new venture, Glassdoor , hit the scene in stealth mode as his…
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Reputation 2.0 / Social Networking
Last night I posted a video on Reputation 2.0 and Identity 2.0 we made on NoMoreDoorKnocking and am getting a lot of email from people asking me questions. Jay Thompson posted it and Joel Burslem included it in a…
4 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Social Networking
So AOL purchases Bebo for 850 Million – cash. For those of you that don’t know Bebo is the number 4 social networking site in the world. Bebo is huge in Europe and has a big base of users in California. Not to long…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Websites
We are heavy users of Google Docs and other free services. but the fact is we don’t use them because they are free – we use them because they are the best choice for us. I have always believed that “Free”, in the…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Real Estate Industry
Google has unveiled the re-worked JotSpot and I am loving the new Google Docs “Sites” feature. This is truly a Microsoft Sharepoint killer. I am going to step out on a limb here and predict that Microsoft Office…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / Personal Experience / Photos
… And were back! I had a brief blogging hiatus as I was busy with far more important things. Things more important than anything else. In fact, I just had the best Valentines present I could ever ask for! Coni and I…
1 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry
What more can I say about this.
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry
Going to work shouldn’t be this much fun. I was thinking about our environment at VendAsta last night and trying to put my finger on what makes it so fun. Why is it so easy to get up in the morning and come to work?…
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Websites / User Interface
So I was looking for an easy to use self manged website tool and I found www.weebly.com I am impressed with this super easy to use free product with no strings attached! You can drag and drop videos, use custom forms…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Two brand new T2000 Stainless Steel Tornado Foosball tables arrived yesterday. I want to put down a challenge right here and now. If anyone comes and visits us and beats us on these tables we will pay for you’re…
1 min read
From the archive
Brendan King / News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Starting a new company is both challenging and rewarding but most of all it is refreshing. Imagine, for a second, that you could walk away from whatever it is you are doing for a living. Really walk away. Not just…
2 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace
Sometimes you have to think different to understand things. The video below illustrates this point. I really believe the real estate industry is poised for significant change and that change can be good. More about…
1 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry
It is super cold outside but things are starting to heat up inside! Not many people going outside for a smoke break, in fact, not many people going outside at all! If anyone wants to come and visit us we promise we…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Marketing
I was going to put up a little video of Guy and Jeff installing our new refrigerator but then something much more interesting came along. Robbie Burns day! My roots are Irish and Scottish so Robbie Burns day is a…
1 min read
From the archive
Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
So Jay Thompson has introduced me to “meme’s” I had never heard of them until now. Here is how they work according to Jay “ someone with too much time on their hands thinks up some question (typically personal) and…
2 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry
We bought a new camera the other day. I hate how it makes me look and sound. Darn Camera. Anyway, we did a little bit of horsing around at lunch today so we thought we would put up a video on YouTube and see how it…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Search
Interesting news on the House Values 2.75 Million investment in Active Rain today. On the face of things it certainly appears to be an ironic relationship. However, upon closer inspection it may make a lot more sense…
3 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry
It’s truly amazing how much the surrounding environment affects your life, attitude and outlook. Yesterday we moved into our new digs at Innovation Place Research Park in sunny (if cold) Saskatoon. WOW! This place…
1 min read
From the archive
Blogroll / IDX / MLS / News / Point2 / Real Estate Industry / Vendasta
Many of you reading this will already know that group of Ex P2ers have started our own company. You can read about it at www.VendAsta.com . That said, I realize that you really can’t tell from our website what it is…
2 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace
As most of you reading this post will already know I have resigned as COO of Point2 Realty. Since the inception of Point2Agent I have lived and breathed the product, dreamed about the strategy and direction and…
2 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry
I am proud and honored to announce that I have been included in the Inman News “100 most influential real estate leaders” list. That said, I would like everyone to know that this honor is not one that I can claim as…
3 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Syndication
Here is a little NLS presenation about “Complete Control and Choice”. Hope you enjoy it!
1 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
An article in Inman has just reported that Zillow has now announced that they have added neighbourhood pages and according to a Zillow spokes person “The pages are seeded with rich local demographic and real estate…
3 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
The “60 minutes” story; the DOJ and FTC; Redfin and Co-Mingling”. Wow. What does it all mean? It seems to me that the issues are being conflated and the waters are being muddied to the point where nobody can…
8 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
In real estate we often talk about property as a “house”. In my opinion real estate professionals that sell the “house” are not doing their sellers any favors. Why? Because simply put; buyers don’t buy houses – they…
6 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace / Syndication
Conspiracy is in the air! What am I talking about you ask? I am talking about a presentation given by Blanche Evans of the Realty Times to the NAR Realtor Association Executives Institute held in San Diego this…
3 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
We released a new site today called “Reliberation” and the posts are flowing in. The site is in beta and there will be many more features to come. Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!
1 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Search / Syndication
So we did it, the Point2 NLS was released. If you didn’t happen to see the release you can, here’s one of the links: http://news.point2.com/inman_010407.asp . We announced it a couple of days before Inman and it made…
5 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace / Search / Syndication
In April 06 I wrote a blog about the idea of a “National MLS” Much has happened since that time. Zillow, for instance, has been held up a potential threat as a “new national MLS”. It seems funny to me that people,…
9 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Hey, I will be in New York Speaking at Inman January 8-10th. If anyone reading this is going to be there feel free to email me so we can connect at connect. Here is a link to the speakers…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Websites
On November 30th or, or thereabouts our member base was spammed by a competing website company. The email had this subject line: Does Point2 Agent Provide What You Thought You Paid For? We had made a mistake in our…
2 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Syndication
Wendell Willick and I were in San Diego this weekend Visiting Internet Crusade.
1 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace / Real Estate Websites / Syndication
So at Point2 we syndicate data for real estate professionals. If you’re a Point2 Agent you already know that you can enter your listing and have it show up on your website. You also know that your listing will, via…
2 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Photos / Real Estate Industry / Search / Syndication
Consumers expect real estate professionals to market their properties as best they can. To this end many real estate professionals go to great lengths and great expense to market listing in a variety of media. Often…
2 min read
From the archive
Blogroll / News / Personal Experience / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace
Sometimes “stuff happens” and things go wrong, it can and will happen to event most diligent people and organizations. In my mind it is how these situations are handled that define the people and the organization.…
5 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Websites
I read a lot about “Custom Sites” and how much better they are then a “template” site. Usually the reasons for them being better relate to:· SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits· Look and feel – all template…
4 min read
From the archive
Blog
The Public Comments from the story below are quite intersting.
1 min read
From the archive
Blog
Check this article that was printed in the Globe and Mail, Canada’s national newspaper, Monday Sept 18th Realtors battle over access to listing service Rift between full-service, discount brokers may lead to higher…
4 min read
From the archive
News
OK! We had a busy summer and I have been neglecting this blog. I am looking foward to getting back at it. If anyone has real estate marketing topics to discuss lets hear ‘em!
1 min read
From the archive
News / Personal Experience
Sometimes you get a message/email that brings out a sense of nostalgia that reminds you of where you been, who you are and what makes you what you are. I received one of those today. It was a bit of a blast from the…
2 min read
From the archive
News / User Interface
Did you know that 80% of new feature requests from Microsoft Office are for features they already have? It’s true. This must have ticked off Gates and Balmer. They are completely revamping the interface for Microsoft…
1 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / News / SMS
Okay so it has been a while since my last blog. I have been busy, life is like that sometime. At point we have released our sms/text messaging notification system. We are calling it “Real Alerts”. Cute. Our members…
2 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace / Search
Steve Murray closed out the first morning with research and observations from talking to many brokers. He had some very insightful comments and some obvious comments. In the obvious column is the observation that the…
5 min read
From the archive
Photos / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing / Syndication
News from the front! I am attending the Real Trends “Gathering of Eagles” and am going to attempt to provide updates and tidbits, here goes: A little birdie told me that the Inman news article titled “Prudential…
2 min read
From the archive
Blog
Isn’t it funny how sometimes the best commercials have the lowest budget? This commerical, at least to hockey and beer lovers, fits into the model of Seth Godin’s “remarkable”! Give it a click! Any Thing For Love
1 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Real Estate Industry / SMS
So here are some facts for you. 65% of consumers expect a response to an online request within 4 hours and 65% don’t even get a response within 12 hours and fully 45% never receive a response. This from a Homestore…
2 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Real Estate Industry / SMS
We build a lot of functionality and some of them have benefits that are easier to see then others. A recent bit of work is currently in beta. It allows our members, real estate agents, to set triggers for certain…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketplace / Search / Syndication
The idea of a “National MLS” has been floated around for years. Lately, with the arrival of Google Base and consolidation of some large MLS’s the talk of a National MLS is heating up again. Hmmn, it makes one wonder…
5 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Marketing / Search
There are some pretty novel search applications beginning to shape up. One of the more novel applications is in experimental mode at Microsoft. This new technology would make it possible for a consumer (buyer or…
1 min read
From the archive
Blog
“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman.”
1 min read
From the archive
Blogroll / Real Estate Marketing
Any ideas on how we can get people to sneeze about Point2Agent like this? http://www.techcrunch.com/?p=181
1 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Mapping / Real Estate Marketing / Real Estate Marketplace / Syndication
Many people are impressed by the map searches at sites like www.redfin.com , www.trulia.com , www.homepages.com, www.zillow.com, www.realestateabc.com, . I do agree that these sites are fascinating and are generally…
2 min read
From the archive
Photos / Real Estate Marketing
I had a conversation the other day with an old friend who is not involved technology. As we talked the conversation moved toward technology and its role in society. In particular he felt that we were getting close to…
1 min read
From the archive
Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
Sometime next week we will hit 78,000 signups for the Point2Agent product. This after just slightly longer then 3 years after the product release in January of 2003. Of course I am proud of that number but what the…
2 min read
From the archive
News / Real Estate Industry / Real Estate Marketing
I heard second hand a comment attributed to Carey, one of the big brains in our creative department, that “Transparency is the new black”. As usual I think he is right on the money. So what is transparency? According…
4 min read
From the archive
Syndication
There seems to be a lot of confusion in the real estate industry surrounding Google Base. Having personally spent time at Google and with Google people I thought I would share some observations and conjecture about…
3 min read
From the archive
Blog
Here is what our listings in Google Base look like
1 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture / Syndication
Just thought I would give a little update on our data syndication project. We are currently pumping listings out to www.Point2homes.com , www.Oodle.com , www.Trulia.com , realestate.yahoo.com and base.google.com .…
2 min read
From the archive
Blog
I don’t subscribe to many blogs but Seth Godin’s is one that I do. The Idea Virus and Purple Cow are a couple of my favorite reads. For those of you that haven’t seen the video where Seth addresses Google you can…
1 min read
From the archive
Blog
Apparently people read Inman news. I can now add Ben Clark from Zillow, Lloyd Graves from House Values (Soar), and Scott Levitt from Oakley to the list of people that have made fun of my picture. Don’t worry guys – I…
1 min read
From the archive
Blog
Unless you are an Inman subscriber you can’t get to the Inman article any more. I can’t say that doesn’t please me as the picture of me was ridiculous. You can still read the article (sans picture) here:…
1 min read
From the archive
Lead Capture
Here is a stat for you: The California Association of REALTORS® 2004 Internet vs. Traditional Home Buyer Study says that 71% of Consumers Interviews only one Agent. Often this stat is quoted as “71% of Consumers deal…
2 min read
From the archive
Blog
Early this morning we upgraded to .NET 2.0 – so far so good. In fact, it appears we have some good performance increases. J
1 min read
From the archive
Blog
So we just hit 75,000 signups – rock ‘n roll! We also have a new support site at www.p2a.com . Have a look at it. We are exposing some important stats. It makes some people around here a little nervous. We had…
1 min read
From the archive
News / Syndication
Looks like we had a post on Iman News today: Man I need to get a new picture for them! See it here: http://www.inman.com/inmannews.aspx?ID=50313
1 min read