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Is Web 2.0 For Business Dead?

September 19, 2007 by Ben Yoskovitz

tombstoneThat’s certainly my impression after tracking the TechCrunch40 Conference. Of the 40 companies that presented, there was little in the way of real Business-to-Business (b2b) offerings. There was no shortage of Business-to-Consumer (b2c) plays with no business models…

A few of the companies at TechCrunch40 look very interesting: Xobni, Mint, MusicShake, GotStatus and orgoo. And there’s been plenty of great, in-depth coverage from the likes of Webware, Somewhat Frank, Read/Write Web and CenterNetworks.

Incidentally, the most amusing (insightful?) reviews of TechCrunch40 are from someone using Twitter.

Certainly there’s money to be made in b2c. The potential market in many cases for a consumer product is bigger. And video, mobile, mashups, and social networking are all the rage. But many of these companies bank on advertising as their business model (if that.) Advertising is booming, but I roll my eyes when I hear, “We’ll get critical mass and then find advertisers.”

I would have loved to see more companies tackling video, mobile, mashups, social networking, etc. for businesses. Web 2.0 for businesses. Take the principles and practices of Web 2.0 and apply them to business applications. I know those companies exist out there…

I’m not the only one that thinks there’s lots of opportunity for startups in the b2b world. And I’m sure plenty of b2b companies applied. But it looks like the people at TechCrunch don’t consider business applications sexy and interesting enough.

So what do you think? Where are the great Web 2.0 companies building business-related applications? Is Web 2.0 b2b dead?

Filed Under: Startups

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Ben Yoskovitz

Founding Partner at Highline Beta, a hybrid venture studio and VC firm that works with large, ambitious companies to identify new areas of opportunity through internal and external innovation.

Previously I was VP Product at VarageSale and GoInstant (acq. $CRM), and Founding Partner at Year One Labs.

Angel investments include: Breather, Spoiler Alert, SendWithUs and others.

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