Wow, what a fantastic event we had earlier this week at the last Gambit public forum at Cass Business School.
SEPA and PSDs were investigated in depth (yes, some part did go over my head!) but as ever, the conversations were really in depth, frank, and direct.
I personally learnt a lot, and for those that were present, the audience all also enjoyed the
sometimes "heated discussion".
It seems a few actions were created as part of the gathering for the bank, acquirer and the gaming firms to share and be more transparent in the future. Great result!
Please go to official Gambit website to see the full event report in the next week or so.
Friday, 23 May 2008
Thursday, 24 April 2008
Social networking within the enterprise | Information Age
Social networking within the enterprise | Information Age
gosh, time flies,
didn't realise information age was purchased by Vitesse media, the acquisitive media group, great job Sara Williams.. challenge is how to make the business model works of the media/publishing sector, as barrier to entry is low comparatively.. and it would take years to become likes of forbes/economist.. I do like the bunch of people at Vitesse though, very friendly .. and so, I am supportive!
I digress...
this piece of journalism on social networking and its adoption/applicability for enterprise is very interesting read.
gosh, time flies,
didn't realise information age was purchased by Vitesse media, the acquisitive media group, great job Sara Williams.. challenge is how to make the business model works of the media/publishing sector, as barrier to entry is low comparatively.. and it would take years to become likes of forbes/economist.. I do like the bunch of people at Vitesse though, very friendly .. and so, I am supportive!
I digress...
this piece of journalism on social networking and its adoption/applicability for enterprise is very interesting read.
User-Generated Content & Social Media
User-Generated Content & Social Media
very interesting report (not that I got time to read it all...) but key is that this will become a viable but trusted (from consumer's point of view, if their friends recommend certain products/services via these platforms)...
yet, it is also outside of company's control of how they portray the products/services.
saying that, success of i-mode is in fact the consumers that decided that they like it (as it was originally designed for business people!)...
so, power to the people.. amen. ;)
very interesting report (not that I got time to read it all...) but key is that this will become a viable but trusted (from consumer's point of view, if their friends recommend certain products/services via these platforms)...
yet, it is also outside of company's control of how they portray the products/services.
saying that, success of i-mode is in fact the consumers that decided that they like it (as it was originally designed for business people!)...
so, power to the people.. amen. ;)
The Forbes Tax Misery Index - Forbes.com
The Forbes Tax Misery Index - Forbes.com
fascinating stuff
no wonder HK/singapore/taiwan are used as hubs going to acess China..
surprising that we don't see the 'tax heaven' juristitions/countries being listed or compared...
good report and worth checking out that is for sure!
fascinating stuff
no wonder HK/singapore/taiwan are used as hubs going to acess China..
surprising that we don't see the 'tax heaven' juristitions/countries being listed or compared...
good report and worth checking out that is for sure!
Thursday, 27 March 2008
PacificNet saddled with involuntary - TheDeal.com
PacificNet saddled with involuntary - TheDeal.com
This is indeed sad if this was the case, I was looking forward to meeting with Tony this week in Hong Kong.
Without referring to this specific case, but I am happy to share some of the key points I raised at a separate meeting with another firm here (with positive cash flow and profitable business) regarding raising capital. I discussed the pros & cons of listing for a gaming market focused firm.
Key points are:
1.) Listing on the public market makes more sense for transparent and well understood sector (in terms of revenue/profit/KPI, and industry life cycle and multiples, plus ideally several cycles of boom and busts)
2.) If access to capital is key (for exit of share holders or for acquisition purpose), one can easily access Equity/VCs for a well proven business no matter what sector it is in (although VCs/PEs that specialise in remote gaming are comparative few)
This is indeed sad if this was the case, I was looking forward to meeting with Tony this week in Hong Kong.
Without referring to this specific case, but I am happy to share some of the key points I raised at a separate meeting with another firm here (with positive cash flow and profitable business) regarding raising capital. I discussed the pros & cons of listing for a gaming market focused firm.
Key points are:
1.) Listing on the public market makes more sense for transparent and well understood sector (in terms of revenue/profit/KPI, and industry life cycle and multiples, plus ideally several cycles of boom and busts)
2.) If access to capital is key (for exit of share holders or for acquisition purpose), one can easily access Equity/VCs for a well proven business no matter what sector it is in (although VCs/PEs that specialise in remote gaming are comparative few)
3.) Non-relevant news and short-term jitters may adversely affect share price & stock holder confidence of a gaming firm (esp. remote focused) may not be ideal for firms that 'needed' a calm foundation to focus on growth. mostly due to the fact of sheer lack of well known/proven KPIs and industry life cycle data, especially for the remote gaming gambling sector (in some ways KPIs for offline casinos are different for different markets like Macau vs Las Vegas)
4.) Gaming firms need three things in order for growth, namely: A.) trust and confidence in its brand, B.) reach to future/new customers and leverage this trust/encourage play, C.) differentiate and provide something special hopefully to retain/keep the clients. Therefore, unless the company is in a growth market/verticals within the developing phase of industry life cycle, the fluctuation of revenue/profit and lack of understanding of sector means Private Equity owners might be more patience to look for medium/long term growth (within reasons) if gaming firm has A-C covered above.
5.) Fundamental business, gaming firms is unique, my analogy is that it is running a combined 'grocery store-bank'.. key is how it induce and keep the trust and confidence and how it can 'expand', see how Tesco or indeed Waitrose built up in the offline/online retail store in UK is a good example. Its a cash flow, profit margin play, therefore, how to be efficient in cost and how to increase top line growth is key.
Therefore, my suggestion to the firm was that if they had a good market positioning and can 'scale' up and reach clients, means that its much better to grow as a private company than being 'listed', as the general market sentiment is now more focused on the high capital expenditure offline gaming gambling play, therefore, those people that invest in remote gaming firms are more speculative investors (unless it is for likes of 888.com holdings or PartyGaming main LSE market stocks, which even some pension funds would buy due to portfolio strategy).
Consequently, the success/failure of the company could too much dependent on the 'mood' of the speculative investors, which means it does not generally provide a good foundation for these remote egaming firms for growth.. and it may become too much a management distraction.
Of course, if there is no other ways of raising the cash, then sure, one might argue that these are the firms that one might/should avoid in the first place!??
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
University Study: Poker is a Game of Skill | Poker News
University Study: Poker is a Game of Skill | Poker News
this is interesting read... yes, the methodology is plausible, but we need much bigger sample.
Surely, one can use the vast number of players information available across many poker rooms, one just need a bit of independent information of background/history of each player..
we can then draw some useful insight by 'datamining' player information of the market.
this insight can then be used as representative data to support/refute the poker as skillgame argument..
Interesting indeed..
this is interesting read... yes, the methodology is plausible, but we need much bigger sample.
Surely, one can use the vast number of players information available across many poker rooms, one just need a bit of independent information of background/history of each player..
we can then draw some useful insight by 'datamining' player information of the market.
this insight can then be used as representative data to support/refute the poker as skillgame argument..
Interesting indeed..
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Gov. Eliot Spitzer's Addiction - Forbes.com
Gov. Eliot Spitzer's Addiction - Forbes.com
Is the moral of the story is either
1.) don't get famous/successful to avoid addiction to the super-dopamine high?
2.) as one is planning or as one becoming successful, plan for some form of dopamine management process/course??
seems to me this could be a business opportunity or university research project subject that can be explored.. or maybe even books to write about how to manage success! ;0)
Is the moral of the story is either
1.) don't get famous/successful to avoid addiction to the super-dopamine high?
2.) as one is planning or as one becoming successful, plan for some form of dopamine management process/course??
seems to me this could be a business opportunity or university research project subject that can be explored.. or maybe even books to write about how to manage success! ;0)
Monday, 10 March 2008
TheFunded.com: The Resource for Entrepreneurs.
TheFunded.com: The Resource for Entrepreneurs.
pretty good resources for fellow enterpreneur
However, there should be a rating for the enterpreneurs that put up comments themselves.. reason being that there are some people that are just not cut out to do it.. and sadly some of those might use this forum to 'avenge'...
but if managed this should be a pretty good resource! I need to look at it in more details to be able to fuly judge!
pretty good resources for fellow enterpreneur
However, there should be a rating for the enterpreneurs that put up comments themselves.. reason being that there are some people that are just not cut out to do it.. and sadly some of those might use this forum to 'avenge'...
but if managed this should be a pretty good resource! I need to look at it in more details to be able to fuly judge!
Wednesday, 5 March 2008
Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy (Dealscape)
Ziff Davis files for bankruptcy (Dealscape)
gosh, maybe yet another over leveraged business going out of business!?
really hope they can save PCMag, one of the most trusted PC magazine that run independent testing...
fingers crossed...
gosh, maybe yet another over leveraged business going out of business!?
really hope they can save PCMag, one of the most trusted PC magazine that run independent testing...
fingers crossed...
Sunday, 16 December 2007
Casino Gaming/gambling/betting format(trust) war: "on vs offline"
--- this happened last week.. This blog thing is taking much longer for me to send out.. ---
I had a lovely lunch with an ex CEO of a poker network, didn't ask him if I can use his name, maybe I should have as I and no doubt him have nothing to hide. But just in case, I shall not reveal unless I got prior agreements.
Saying that, I didn't thought I would want to blog about this, I still can't believe how people can make time to blog, I certainly feel like its a chore.. But I promised myself that I would persist.. Although very sporatically...
Here it goes...
We had a lovely lunch and touched on various occassion where our remote gaming gambling sector will go. (I should only touch on the business stuff.. )
I'm soooo surprised and pleased that unlike many contempories of our sector, he totally agrees with me regarding the future developments of our sector:
Namely when some external event(s) happen, most likely a G8 nation start regulating the remote gaming properly, then most major household brands will jump in the bandwagon and the present "big name online" brands might be blown out of the water... By likes of online establishments like Yahoo/google or offline casino household names like Hurrahs/Cesars, Venetian, etc.
However, we stopped agreeing when he thinks offline and online gaming would diverge, rather than converge due to dramatic difference in gaming experiences (social vs solitude, fast vs slow, not dressed up vs dressed up) general expectations etc.
He reckons that online (I would call it remote, namely via internet, mobile or TV) has so much more different experience that its a totally different addressable market.
I would agree in so long that he is STILL talking about existing gaming gambling audience! I'm referring to the majority of population who don't yet do casino gaming, gambling... They would still need to be convinced/educated via online/physical or via TV means.
Therefore I would argue that the real and biggest opportunity is for those that can bridge the trust & confidence gap (maybe by brand, physical location, or sheer fact that a trusted celebrity already do it!).
Consequently, its more likely for brands that has BOTH on and offline real estates rather than pure online/remote play...
No time to check/double check grammar.. Do give me your thoughts.. And yes, I might be wrong, but its what I believe firmly on so far.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
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