Fred Wilson wrote two articles in the last few days about globalization and its effect on the Internet. When Union Square Ventures raised its most recent fund, Fred told investors

“The Internet is getting more global, more mobile, more social, more intelligent, and more playful.”

These are many of the same sentiments Workstreamer was built to support. Our Macro thesis is essentially that work is changing: it’s increasingly project based with talent and opportunities dispersed globally. Workstreamer is meant to be a platform to facilitate the connections, collaboration and ultimately the marketplace we expect to evolve from this new world.

Apparently Fred has some quantitative data to support his case! The following are numbers for total Internet audience by location:

Worldwide - 853mm (up 10% from 772mm last year)

North America - 185mm (up 4% from 178mm last year)

Europe - 240mm (up 8% from 223mm last year)

Asia - 323mm (up 14% from 283mm last year)

Latin America - 63mm (up 19% from 53mm last year)

Middle East/Africa - 43mm (up 23% from 35mm last year)

In a second post by Fred called upon some collective intelligence – asking for someone to find a chart of revenue per user by location. Fred assumes that the United States would represent ~80% of the total revenue. However, Fred also said that he and his fellow venture friends see this figure as rapidly changing. As such they are in the process of allocating resources to internet-based ventures in emerging, or more non-traditional Internet markets. In fact, Fred has spent the last month in Europe exploring opportunities there.

It’s a very difficult balance trying to invest on a longer time horizon. Fred is looking to invest in a still-developing future while also retaining current rates of return. We agree with the USV strategy and look forward to keeping an eye on what he does.

Hi there! If this is your first time, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed and signup for the Beta Thanks for visiting!!!!

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Fred Wilson, Globalization, Union Square Ventures, VC, Venture Capital, web 2.0

Paul Graham of Y Combinator just published a list of 30 types of startups he and his crew are interested in funding. The range of ‘fundable’ companies is large, even though many are simply taking existing products and giving them web 2.0 updates. The types of companies include enterprise 2.0 (go Workstreamer!) photo-sharing 2.0 and somehow devising an end to the music-stealing era. For me, perhaps the most interesting thing about Paul’s list is the industry variation. It almost seems like Graham is calling for the rethinking of almost every industry!

I also really admire the proactive approach Graham is taking as an investor; blogging about companies you’re looking to invest in is brilliant — especially when it’s from an established venture capitalist. Here’s why: people respect Paul Graham and believe that if they execute one of his fundable ideas that he – or someone he knows — will invest. More importantly from Graham’s perspective, this strategy likely gives him the first investment opportunity because people who read his blog and create a startup based on one of this ideas are predisposed to seek his capital first! Graham now gives himself an edge on the competition by having a first look. To an extent, Fred Wilson has used this same ‘first investor advantage’ strategy successfully for years.

Plus, at the end of the day those who elect to execute against one of Graham’s suggested areas know that they are addressing markets that smart investors are talking about. So, even if Y Combinator doesn’t invest, they are at least catalyzing the creation of products that have potential to really make a difference.

Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Fred Wilson, Paul Graham, Startups, Venture Capital, web 2.0, Y Combinator