Archive

Posts by Mike Boland

September 4, 2019

Can Apple Resuscitate U.S. Mobile Payments?

This is the latest in LSA’s Skate To Where the Puck is Going series. Running semi-weekly, it examines the moves and motivations of tech giants as leading indicators for where markets are moving. Check out the entire series here. Mobile payments have been one of the great disappointments of the smartphone era. Though they’ve gained some traction, they’re…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

September 3, 2019

What’s the Best SMB Website Builder?

Data Scout is LSA’s series that curates and draws meaning from third-party data. Running semi-weekly, it adds an analytical layer to the industry data that we encounter in daily knowledge building. For LSA original data, see the separate Modern Commerce Monitor™️ series. Several SMB marketing components start with presence. You need somewhere for all those…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 29, 2019

What’s Behind Yelp’s New Personalized UX?

This is the latest in LSA’s Skate To Where the Puck is Going series. Running semi-weekly, it examines the moves and motivations of tech giants as leading indicators for where markets are moving. Check out the entire series here, and its origin here.  Yelp announced a new feature on Tuesday that will create a personalized…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 28, 2019

PlaceIQ Secures Growth Funding: A Lesson in Product Focus

PlaceIQ has announced a strategic investment from Experian (yes, that Experian). The size of the investment isn’t disclosed but it represents a growth round for the nine-year old location intelligence firm, whose CEO Duncan McCall will speak at LSA’s October Localogy Place conference (more on that in a bit). Specifically, the investment comes from Experian’s…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 26, 2019

SMB SaaS: Redefining “Local”

This article excerpts the executive summary for an upcoming LSA report. Stay tuned for more on the report’s release. Local is expanding. The media and tech sector dedicated to localized audience targeting has for decades primarily focused on small business (SMB) advertising as a source of monetization. But adjacent areas of SMB needs are starting…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 22, 2019

Skating To Where the Puck Is Going

This is the latest in LSA’s Skate To Where the Puck is Going series. Running semi-weekly, it examines the moves and motivations of tech giants as leading indicators for where markets are moving. Check out the entire series here. What can we learn from the moves and motivations of tech giants? This is a thought…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 20, 2019

Automattic Enters the CRM Game

The WordPress universe just got a little bigger… again. Following last week’s acquisition of Tumblr WordPress.com owner Automattic has acquired CRM plugin, ZBS. The latter is a top plugin on the WordPress platform and will now join Automattic’s arsenal of software. The amount of the deal was not disclosed, but we do know that ZBS…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 19, 2019

Will Amazon Enter Local Food Delivery? Part III (Video)

This is the latest in LSA’s Skate To Where the Puck is Going series. Running semi-weekly, it examines the moves and motivations of tech giants as leading indicators for where markets are moving. Check out the entire series here. What’s a cloud kitchen and why is it important? As we’ve covered over the past few…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 15, 2019

WeWork: A Tale of Two Businesses

A dirty little secret in tech-obsessed Silicon Valley is that most revenue in the startup economy goes to non-tech companies. We’re talking legal fees for IP and incorporation; or meals for programmers in the hyper-competitive and perk-driven technical jobs market. It’s things like HR services and real estate. While most startups fail — an accepted…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »

August 14, 2019

Unpacking Automattic’s Tumblr Acquisition

The WordPress universe just got a little bigger. And the once high-flying micro-publishing darling known as Tumblr has found a home that finally makes sense. WordPress.com owner Automattic this week acquired Tumblr from Verizon Media for “well below $20 million,” according to Axios. Tumblr’s value was once much greater when a Marissa Mayer-era Yahoo! acquired…

Contributed by:

Continue Reading »
Close

First Name

Last Name

Company Name

Email Address