Update 7:30: 1) how did you seed the site? it was done all virally with no marketing spend 2) is language your edge? yes, being global early has helped us grow 3) building platform? yes, we are building one and will partner with google on open social 4) mobile strategy? yes, working on one especially since we are international around messaging and notifications 5) money? from advertising only 6) how did you pick your countries? looking for early market adoption and then focus on it, spanish language was key to expand once it stuck, adopted local features like search to each country 7) chinese? end of year - challenges around firewall and young advertising market 8)) how did you plan for hosting infrastructure? it’s tough but need to borrow from other areas when traffic spikes, been fairly reactionary with lose planning 9) how many people? 50

Time for Q&A . . .

Update 7:25: Lessons learned - learn from many failures, order of execution on what is important matters, thinking big is the only way to think, build your mastermind, no magic answer for when or how much money to raise.

Update 7:20: Much more global audience and ethnically diverse than competitors, 30% in Europr, 23% US/Can, 26% Latin America, adopted partnership model in each region to monetize locally, has major global advertisers (but focused on Latin America strong user base), only raised VC money in the last 4 months, 20M from Mohr Davidow, feels that they actually excel during the “thin” times so this will be new for them.

Update 7:10: Started July 2002 in the “Internet quit period”, wanted to compete with Match.com but on a global basis, launched January 2003 serving South Asian market, 250k was seed round (piece-meal from relatives). Relaunched service in early 2004, 1 million users by July 2004, may have focused too early on monetization, but got profitable by October 2004, 15 employees end of 2005, 30 end of 2006.

Now, it’s the keynote from Ramu . . .

Update 7:01: MineKey - iThink app that creates communities around self-expression, send out “opinions” to other members for comments, share the opinions you see with others, build similarity matches with others (meet new people you want to argue with), MineKey also has a reputation widget that it monetizes, funded by NEA Ventures.

Update 6:54: TripWiser - “leader in social travel”, think of FB + Expedia, has FB integration, launched 10 days ago, social graph contributes to the recommendations.

Update 6:45: ImThere - mobile event services, can indicate to others when you’re at a certain real-time event, send pictures and messages, will have a FB integration, ability to subscribe to feeds instead of just looking at listings.

Update 6:39: SocialURL - aggregating social networks into mashup, toolset allows it you to expand social functions on SocialURL, ability to better manage your friends, 50 sites they can manage in service, has event service as an extension, SEO-friendly, 50,000 beta users with no marketing, “the trillian of SNs”, interest in it being a white-label platform.

Update 6:32: iPling - “first free iphone-only social app”, let’s you get to know people around you, mobile service to connect people with shared interests, maps by location and interests, “growing database of data to monetize”, launched beta same day as iphone, real-time of people when you login, anonymous SMS communications, wants to charge for anonymous text messages sent, debit through Skype, can opt-in for targeted ads for free service.

Update 6:25: MadeIt - “invitations that keep the party going”, online invitation with pictures and comments, “aftermath” shows what happened at the party, looks like a multi-media rich invitation service, has widget option for SNs along with its own SN functionality, make new networks from your party-life, their shtick is connecting people after the party.

Update: 6:21: The College Freeway - notes/test sharing service for college students, started by Cornell students, easy integration into Facebook, pre-populates class details based on their school, wants to get professors involved (hmm, tough sell), says they are leveling the playing field for all students, they want to be the missing link between professors and students.

Update 6:15: Pollection - “Sex Appeal” widget owner, you can vote for things, “wisdom of the crowd” service, access and message through mobile on their widget, their poll says hair is the most important thing people think about, has analytical tools, they are making revenue from advertising

Update 6:09: Gigya demo - widget distribution network, partners with 300+ web publishers, tracks 2B (huh?) widgets, user doesn’t have to leave site to embed widget, beta partner for Hi5, Friendster, mid-Dec FB widget publisher, Q108 for Open Social, all tools are free, funded by BenchMark.

Update 6:03: InnerCircle demo - “cc” your inner circle, distribution list that can be used privately or publicly (only you or designates can send to the email ID, send pictures from phones by one email

Only 3 mins per demo!

Coming to you live from the halls of Plug & Play Tech Center, Sunnyvale, it’s the Plug & Play November Web 2.0 Meetup. The main speaker will be Ramu Yalamanchi, CEO and founder of Hi5.

There will be demos from: Gigya, SocialURL, Imthere, Pollection, MadeIt, Tripwiser, InnerCircle, iPling, MineKey, and College Freeway.

Updates will come as things seem interesting . . .