Can You Build A Business On Browser Extensions? (cont)
Back in July, I wrote a post about browser extensions and wondered if you can build a meaningful business by simply extending the browser. I got a ton of great comments on that post that has shaped my thinking on this issue ever since.
Now it turns out there’s a whole conference dedicated to discussing this issue. It’s called Add-on Con and it takes place on December 11th in Mountain View at the Computer History Museum.
There’s a great list of speakers including quite a few of my friends and colleagues in the venture business. And, of course, there will be execs from Google, Microsoft, and Mozilla there to talk about the future of the browser as a platform.
The cost is $150, but readers of this blog can get in for $100 with the discount code "fred".
If you are building a business on the browser, I think it’s well worth the time and minimal cost to attend.
Comments (Archived):
One more example of somebody building a business via browsers….Yahoo! acquired Inquisitor which was a browser “extension” for Safari and now available for FF and IE as well.http://www.ysearchblog.com/…David Watanabe (founder) of Inquisitor was building a nice little business for himself with Inquisitor before we acquired it.
Ariel – it would be awesome to have you and David attend the conference. There are a number of add-ons that would benefit from hearing the Inquisitor story.
Of course you can, one has only to look at the $60 M paycheck that Google cuts to the Mozilla foundation to realize that. I have been marketing and monetizing toolbars for 8 years, and personally have generated over 100M total downloads and revenue (and profits!!) in the 8 figures. I can tell you how a toolbar vendor will NOT however do well in business…spend there money to go to a conference called Add0on Con during these lean-mean times. One need only look at the speakers and attendees to realize that the potential networking and deal flow value there is minimal compared to the overall cost.www.twitter.com/A_F
The cost is 100 bucksI don’t think you are right about that andy
My comment was more about conferences in general, not about AddOn Con specifically. And yes, I would agree with you if as an entrepreneur I resided nearby the conference. Then it would be a must attend. But for most, I imagine they send a whole team of people, put them up in hotels, plus airfaire…etc There is a much bigger cost here then just the $100 admission.I have become disenfranchised with most conferences now days A majority of keynotes I have heard are from people who simply want to tout their own horn (or product), instead of teaching something of value to the attendees.My original comment was posted after I visited the “speakers” list for AddOn not just a blind determination. I suppose the comment should have been…valuable for some, but not for others 🙂 ?
Hi Andy – the conference was born out of the need for a stronger community and better collaboration in the add-on industry. So far the response has been wonderful.We’re firming up commitments from speakers and the list has been revised over the past few days. You may have visited the site before some great names were added and you may have also missed a few – let me highlight people who are involved:- representatives from the browser vendors – Mozilla, Microsoft, Google- developers and marketers from top browser add-on groups – Delicious, Cool Iris, Foxmarks, etc.- VCs from firms that are actively investing in Add-ons: First Round Capital, Bessemer, Spark, etc.We realized that in the first year of the conference, and given the economic climate, it may not make sense to travel a far distance for the event. That’s why we decided to hold the conference in Mountain View, Ca — there’s a high density of individuals involved with add-ons local to the bay area.The conference is $100 to attend. We thought this was a fair amount for the one day event – it’s affordable for companies as well as individuals yet it’s an amount that if you register you are likely committed to attending.I believe that you are not local to the bay area, correct? Given your accomplishments with toolbars it would be great to have you participate in the event and to help contribute to the community. I realize that these are lean-mean times but your voice would add a lot of value and if you’d like to attend please email me fraserATadaptiveblueDOTcom, I’ll set you up with a complimentary pass.
I guess my earlier rebuttal (to my original comment) was not worded strongly enough. In hindsight, after viewing your speakers this is a MUST attend event for anyone in the space. Best of luck with what I am certain will be an excellent conference.
Sure, it would be nice.. wish we have some sort of these events on our side of the world.Chandra.