Alec Saunders SquawkBox

Like Jeremy, yesterday afternoon I headed up to San Francisco to the Business 2.0 Next Net Roundtable.  It was fun, and I was flattered to be invited.  A bunch of the best brains in Silicon Valley, and me, the lone Canuck hick from the Great White North.

Business 2.0 put on a great event.  The conversation was fast furious and fun; the networking fantastic.  Erick, with assistance from Om, Michael and Josh did an awesome job moderating the event, and moving the conversation from one topic to the next. 

But you know, I’ve been asking myself all day "why was I so underwhelmed"?  Don’t get me wrong, it was a lively and fun discussion.  So much of it, though, was obvious or old, as if the participants missed the 1990’s altogether.  For instance, I had a lengthy discussion with one individual who claimed that Writely, and other web based applications, leave Microsoft quaking in their boots.  What utter hogwash!  Larry Ellison and Scott McNeally said the same thing 10 years ago.  Office is still a multi-billion dollar business.  It’s likely to stay that way, whether it’s delivered as a service on a monthly subscription fee, ad-funded, or running locally on your PC. 

There were several discussions around business model.  Much of it was the old, recycled and presented as new.  And let’s be honest; isn’t debating business model little more than mental masturbation?  As one participant (I think David Hornik) said, "Build a great product, and you will figure out a way to monetize it".

A couple of times people joked that "you’d have to be crazy to put your best ideas out in a room full of 25 hungry entrepreneurs."  Was it a joke?  Or is the "Silicon Valley Echo Chamber" a real phenomenon?

Yesterday, TelTel announced that they had raised $8 million from three investors.  Red Herring published the story today, contrasting them with SIPphone, who raised $6 million recently.  A lot of people I talked with yawned at this announcement.  The typical reaction was "who needs another VoIP carrier"? 

I dropped by TelTel’s offices this morning to chat with them. Based on what I heard, I think the skeptics are 100% wrong. TelTel is the first pure Voice 2.0 carrier I’ve encountered, and that’s tremendously exciting.

The TelTel model lets:

• Users choose who they wish to buy originations and terminations from.  You can buy your terminations from any carrier.  You can buy your DID from any carrier. 
• Users choose which applications and services they wish to buy, from the applications and services which exist on the TelTel network.  TelTel will certify application vendors on their network, and it’s up to the vendors to push their services to the customer.  Want voice mail from Vendor A, but IVR from Vendor B?  No problem.
• Applications vendors to reach the TelTel user base on a revenue share model.  Certify your application on the TelTel network, share the revenue with TelTel, and they will provide access to the customer.  With 1.5 million subscribers on the network today, they have enough of a user base to provide an attractive target for an application vendor. 

TelTel provides the infrastructure, billing system, and a customizable softphone application. You provide the apps.  Customers have complete freedom to choose to purchase from whomever they please.   That’s Voice 2.0.

They also have a model where you can become a VNO, and just relable all the services from them.

This is a tremendous step forward.  This is the future.

Nicolas Ritoux, of Montreal’s La Presse, has been emailing me about the Montreal power outlet story.  He asked:

The PR lady for Aéroports de Montréal told me your story doesn’t make sense. She said they actually made it easier to plug laptops all around the airport, by installing outlets in the waiting areas at every gate of every terminal.

The thing is, I can’t currently go to Trudeau to check it by myself, so I have to get the story straight from its main protagonist - you ! :)

So, what’s your answer to the official reply ? Where did you find the AC outlets covered by caps ?

Hi Niko —

I’ve spent the last couple of days chatting with people about this issue.  Everyone can recall a situation where they’ve been desparate for power, and none has been available.  I’ve even heard stories of people fighting over the one available outlet.

So, it’s possible I was mistaken about Trudeau in general, but certainly there wasn’t readily available power at my gate.  Generally speaking, business travellers agree that this would be a nice thing to have too.  So, airports, are you listening?

Randy Morin has a new blog up — I Got Spam.  It’s a daily resource on threats from spam, splogs, and other kinds of spyware.  Worth a read!

Silicon Valley is an amazing place.  Last night I had three different opportunities to meet people.  I had originally planned to go to the Indie Film Camp in San Francisco, but somehow ended up back in Silicon Valley picking up Albert from the Under the Radar event.  Decided not to go back to San Francisco, having already driven 200 miles yesterday.  Albert wanted to hook up with Scoble, over in Palo Alto.  In we went to Bella Luna, on University, and there was Robert, and Shel, and a bunch of other bloggers.  The two were in town for a blogger event.  Where else can you find such a mix of folks in such close proximity?

Shel, by the way, is pumped about his trip to Toronto next week.  He couldn’t stop talking about it.  Monday’s blogger dinner is going to be a great event.  Remember: 6:30 at Shoeless Joe’s.  $3 beers, and free finger food.  Let’s see how many Canadian bloggers we can get out to the event.