Best Buy CEO Interview on Use of Social Media
Friend of Minnov8, expert in web design, Randy Geise – and a guy who was design director for the first launch of BestBuy.com — sent along this link to a video interview about social media with Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson. Thought you’d like to have a chance to view it (thanks Randy!):
From this post by Peter Hischberg
Minnov8 Gang Podcast - Episode 8
Hosts: Steve Borsch, Graeme Thickins, Garrick Van Buren, Phil Wilson
Scattered geographically once again, the Gang comes together for another show where we chat about:
+ Our potential economic meltdown and what it means for internet and web startups and companies
+ What’s up with Best Buy? We chat about how this behemoth retailer has now suddenly burst onto the scene with a whole range of internet-centric initiatives (see Minnov8 posts here and here)
+ Tim O’Reilly’s Web 2.0 Expo keynote where he denigrates developers seemingly focused on trivial applications like throwing sheep
+ The “Unsummit” going on as an alternative for those unable to get in to the MIMA Summit (it’s sold out).
Mashup Best Buy
Best Buy has released Remix at the Web 2.0 Expo in New York City, allowing anyone to create a mashup with Best Buy online catalog content. An application programming interface (API) — documented though light on code or examples — allows queries into Best Buy’s online catalog and results to be returned from those queries.
As they say on their site, “Remix is an API that gives you access to BestBuy.com’s product catalog data. What you do with it is up to you.”
Really? I’d assume that some sort of terms of service would be forthcoming.
Joshua Michele Ross over at O’Reilly Radar (O’Reilly is the brain trust behind the Expo), has this excellent post about the import of Best Buy doing this:
“Best Buy is thinking much more strategically about the value of the Internet by allowing anyone to reinvent their entire online store. With “access to all the data that feeds Bestbuy.com” imagine the potential of creating your own, curated site on top of Best Buy’s catalog and supply chain. Imagine top Blue Shirts running their own online stores with select merchandise that they stand behind or imagine a thousand home-theater geeks and “go-to-guys” (and girls) extending their expertise and word-of-mouth via their own online stores.”
I’ll throw in one more: imagine you run a price comparison site that allows an online shopper to instantly compare pricing to another (though this can be done with screen scraping, but this API makes it much easier).
I must say that with BlueShirtNation, their prediction markets, what we experienced over at the Social Media Breakfast (specifically with this video), I grow more impressed by the week with the calculated risk, openness and forward-thinking this retailer is pursuing. Kudos Best Buy.
Social Media Breakfast at Best Buy
The Twin Cities Social Media Breakfast group met today at Best Buy Headquarters to connect about social media and to hear from our hosts who’ve created Blueshirtnation, Giftag and something we hadn’t heard about before, Spy (video of Best Buy’s Spy in the lobby of Best Buy HQ is after the jump).
Social Media Breakfast’s Rick Mahn was the emcee and did a great job keeping it moving. While you can read many of the tweets from today here and draw some conclusions, suffice to say that Best Buy is doing one thing in social media and doing it well: they’re on the field and playing the game.
Minnov8 Gang Podcast - Episode 6
Hosts: Steve Borsch, Graeme Thickins, Phil Wilson
We covered a lot of ground this week even though there were only three of us who could make the call.
Mentioned in this weeks show are:
+ Why Broadband Matters: A MN Senate Full Committee Meeting on September 16th at 10am. ”The Committee will receive testimony regarding the consumer benefits of broadband service in areas such as education, job opportunities, telemedicine, and access to government resources.” If you have an opinion or care about broadband in Minnesota, you should be there and/or testify.
+ Apple and the controversy over the rejection of an iPhone application from the app store called “Podcaster” (You can see a video of Podcaster, and/or order the application, here).
+ Graeme’s recap of Techcrunch 50 and Demo 2008. In particular, he brings up Best Buy’s Giftag launch (If you’d like to watch a video of the Best Buy Giftag launch at Demo, click “Continue Reading” below) as well as Grokit.
+ The Minnesota Cup showcased the winners and finalists last Thursday evening.
+ A mention of open source Moodle and the launch of Flowgram.
Best Buy Shakes Up VC Liaison Group
The longtime head of the group within Best Buy Co. that served as liaison to the venture capital community is out, replaced by two senior VPs. Martin Nyman told me his position was eliminated June 30. He had been with the company for approximately seven years, with a recent title of Director-Global Innovation Network. At one time, Nyman had a staff of four, but that group was cut in April 2006 as part of a headquarters staff reduction.
A source inside the company described the recent moves as “the usual restructuring.” I was told that all VC-related activities are now under Rick Rommel, SVP-Emerging Business. Rommel reports to Kal Patel, whose title is EVP-Emerging Business. Also within Patel’s organization, I learned, is a second SVP-Emerging Business, Neil McPhail. My source tells me McPhail’s responsibilities are “less direct VC-related, although there is some overlap.” His main responsibilities relate to the stores and to the company’s “growth accelerator” initiative.
Yet another group within Best Buy is one that deals directly with the company’s own VC funding investments. That function has been headed for some time by Kuk Yi (first name pronounced “cook”), and is a part of the Finance function, specifically the Treasurer’s office. Yi also has a “dotted line” reporting relationship to Patel, I was told.
Late in March of 2008, a story broke via the blogosphere that Best Buy was forming a new VC fund of its own — actually two funds — which I later learned was an initiative headed by Kuk Yi, and it was seeking to hire Principals and Associates for those VC funds (as many as four positions). Here’s a blog post I did about the blog buzz and speculation going on at that time. The local Business Journal weekly broke the story in the Twin Cities media on March 28, picking up on the earliest blog reports.
No Action Since March?
The most surprising thing I learned from my sources recently is that no one has yet been hired for any of these positions. So, the question remains: just what is Best Buy doing in regard to formalizing its own venture investing function? And what changes, if any, can be expected in the liaison activity with the VC community at large, based on Nyman’s departure?
One thing is certain: Marti Nyman leaves Best Buy with a wealth of relationships with scores of VCs, including many of the most successful ones in Silicon Valley, where he spent much of his time. While assessing his next move, Nyman is doing business development consulting with a Twin Cities-based technology startup that had previously raised $5 million in venture capital and, he says, is on the verge of achieving significant adoption of its technology.
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