What I hope is the first of many: Compete Consumer Services (the stuff I’ve been deeply involved with @ Compete) is a finalist at the 11th Annual MITX awards in the Community/Blogs category! Great job team!

The finalists:

1. Spherion Career Blog – The Big Time
   Backbone Media for Spherion
2. Compete Consumer Services
   Compete, Inc.
3. HeyLetsGo Web site
   Corey McPherson Nash for HeyLetsGo
4. New Site Launch July 2006
   Gather.com
5. Complex.com
   Pixel Bridge Inc. for Complex
   

Good luck to all!

A little background about MITX:

Held annually by the Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange, the MITX Awards recognize excellence in the creation of interactive technologies designed, produced or developed in New England. Begun in 1996, the MITX Awards have grown to the largest and most prestigious awards competition in the country for technology innovations and celebrates the best creative and technological accomplishments emerging from New England. For more information go to www.mitxawards.org

In case you’re interested:

MITX Awards Ceremony
Wednesday, November 8, 2006
6:00pm – 9:00pm
Boston Copley Place Marriott
Get tickets here

“Good Entrepreneurs Are Missionaries” – John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins

What distinguishes companies led by mercenaries from those led by missionaries? While the two might seem similar at first glance, they are in fact very different, Doerr points out. “Mercenaries are driven by paranoia; missionaries are driven by passion,” he says. “Mercenaries think opportunistically; missionaries think strategically. Mercenaries go for the sprint; missionaries go for the marathon. Mercenaries focus on their competitors and financial statements; missionaries focus on their customers and value statements. Mercenaries are bosses of wolf packs; missionaries are mentors or coaches of teams. Mercenaries worry about entitlements; missionaries are obsessed with making a contribution. Mercenaries are motivated by the lust for making money; missionaries, while recognizing the importance of money, are fundamentally driven by the desire to make meaning.” (Source)

Originally published on the Compete Blog on 5 Oct 2006

Yes, I confess. I am a YouTube AND Google Video addict. Heck, so are a lot of other people! In August, 23.7 million US people visited YouTube, while 7.8 million people visited Google Video.

Do I think one service is better than the other? Absolutely. Which one you ask? YouTube for sure. Why? It’s just better. It has a more involved community, more obscure videos, more interesting videos, better interface, faster uploads, and of course – YouTube IS home to LonelyGirl15. Need I say more?

But seriously, enough of what I think. What is the people’s verdict?

• Back in November 2005, Google Video was more popular than YouTube. A whopping 400,000 more people visited Google Video.
• In August, 15.9 million more people used YouTube vs Google Video! Quite a turn-around!
• YouTube has grown 483% since January, while Google Video has grown 279%. Wow.
• Verdict: YouTube is the clear winner in terms of Visitors to the site.

• People come back to YouTube.. again and again. In August, on average each YouTube user visited the site 4 times over the course of the month. While Google Video visitors returned just 1.6 times.
• Verdict: YouTube is the clear winner in terms of Frequency of Visits.

• In August, on average YouTuber’s spent 10 minutes on the site each time they visited, while Google visitors spent around 8 minutes.
• Verdict: YouTube is again the clear winner in terms of Average Stay per Session.

More people visit YouTube, they come back to the site more often, and spend more time on the site each time they visit. That is a certifiable triple whammy and a knockout punch rolled into one. The winner of this battle is clearly YouTube by a mile, and then some!

The company I work for – Compete, Inc – was named the 3rd fastest growing company in all of New England by Deloitte. This is great affirmation to the great work everyone does at Compete, and a great morale boost right before Compete launches a slew of new consumer facing web services this month. Great job everyone. Keep a look out, there are many more great things to come soon.

The complete New England Technology Fast 50 company ranking follows:

1. Litle & Co. (Lowell)
2. Arbor Networks, Inc. (Lexington)
3. ***Compete, Inc. (Boston)
4. Idenix Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge)
5. Data Intensity, Inc. (Waltham)
6. Constant Contact (Waltham)
7. Agiltron, Inc. (Woburn)
8. Evergreen Solar, Inc. (Marlboro)
9. Coley Pharmaceutical Group, Inc. (Wellesley)
10. Picis Inc. (Wakefield)
11. athenahealth, Inc. (Watertown)
12. Salary.com, Inc. (Waltham)
13. Vistaprint (Lexington)
14. CardioTech International, Inc. (Wilmington)
15. Jets International (Quincy)
16. iRobot Corporation (Burlington)
17. NeuroMetrix, Inc. (Waltham)
18. Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. (Waltham)
19. Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Lexington)
20. ImmunoGen, Inc. (Cambridge)
21. OpenPages, Inc. (Waltham)
22. Click Tactics, Inc. (Waltham)
23. Network Engines, Inc. (Canton)
24. Infoscitex Corporation (Waltham)
25. Buyerzone.com, Inc. (Watertown)
26. Smarter Living, Inc. (Charlestown)
27. ITA Software, Inc. (Cambridge)
28. ViaCell, Inc. (Cambridge)
29. BridgeLine Software, Inc. (Woburn)
30. Double-Take Software (Southborough)
31. Curis, Inc. (Cambridge)
32. Sentillion, Inc. (Andover)
33. Sepracor Inc. (Marlborough)
34. Deploy Solutions, Inc. (Auburndale)
35. Outcome Sciences, Inc. (Cambridge)
36. InteQ Corporation (Bedford)
37. Palomar Medical Technologies, Inc. (Burlington)
38. Virtusa Corporation (Westborough)
39. Matritech, Inc. (Newton)
40. Clinical Data, Inc. (Newton)
41. Repligen Corporation (Waltham)
42. iCAD, Inc. (Nashua, NH)
43. Eze Castle Software (Boston)
44. Unica Corporation (Waltham)
45. Nucryst Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Wakefield)
46. Nuance Communications, Inc. (Burlington)
47. Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Exeter, NH)
48. IPG Photonics Corporation (Oxford)
49. eCopy, Inc. (Nashua, NH)
50. iBasis, Inc. (Burlington)

The Technology Fast 50 program is presented by Deloitte & Touche, Mass High Tech, and others.