Opentable IPO

A quick trip to Sardinia to lie on the sand and swim in transparent seas, and I almost missed the Opentable furore. I have to admit to having followed this intently - as soon as Silicon Valley grinch Sarah Lacey poured scorn that it would never float let alone fly. And has it flown...

Here's VentureBeat's summary:

Online restaurant reservation site OpenTable (trading as OPEN) has stunned the market with the best IPO performance of any company since 2007 (Orion Energy Systems), reaping a 59 percent gain with share prices closing at $31.89 on the Nasdaq — a staggering upsell from its anticipated $20.

The stock spiraled as high as $35.50, a 78 percent gain, as market analysts watched, both concerned that it was overstepping its bounds and positing that the small size of the offering was buttressing its price. Only 3 million shares were sold. In its success, OpenTable defied the economic downturn — not only the recently frozen IPO market, but also a dip in business from its core customerbase: restaurants.

So far, the San Francisco company seems relatively untouched by its reported 10 to 15 percent drop in reservations between 2007 and 2008. The recession has eaten into consumers’ dining budgets and restaurants are clearly feeling the pinch. As mentioned in previous articles, the main reason OpenTable was even poised for an IPO is its consistent revenue stream from restaurants, which pay for the installation of its software system and monthly subscription fees. But the downturn cuts both ways. The site says more restaurants are actually signing up these days, viewing the service as a convenience that could lure more customers. Overall, OpenTable’s revenue rose 36 percent in 2008 (despite a net loss), and 21 percent in the first quarter of 2009 (bringing it back to black).

It's tempting to equate the UK's toptable with OpenTable, but that would be to overlook some substantial differences in the two companies' business models. Toptable has concentrated its efforts beyond the convenient and transactional to providing a much richer consumer experience for its user base. There's very clever personalisation going on behind the scenes - even more so since the launch of its bigger, multi-lingual site some weeks ago. The proof is in its revenue streams that include a healthy slice of third party advertising on top of restaurant booking fees and marketing. If toptable can break across borders to capture audiences in Europe, as it has set out to do, it will be a very serious force to be reckoned with.

Death of the Word

If you haven't read it and aren't yet sick of all things social media, Throwing Sheep into the Boardroom is a good place to get your head around the roots and branches of this explosive tree. Author Matthew Fraser is an academic at Insead and has one of those highly polished domed foreheads Victorian phrenologists would have loved. I'd also recommend his blog. His latest post about the demise of newspapers and more serious magazines isn't original but it's a useful summary of where things are.

We're about two weeks' in to the launch of digital magazine, Smart People. It's very American in that loud yet improving sense and on current form won't be getting my $25 sub, but it's good to see people getting together to launch digital, interactive alternatives to newspapers. Richard Addis, who knows a bit about newspapers, has been arguing for digital innovation in news for some time, while he goes round the world relaunching papers of the traditional kind. I'm a firm fan of la Huffington whose digital organ continues to do what it does better than the competition.

Suwender to Twitter

Yesterday I finally gave in and got myself a Twitter account. To be honest I don't really get it yet, but within a few hours some 30 people I have no connection with are my followers. Some of the time it feels as though you are at the centre of a massive crossed line eavesdropping on conversations that you barely understand: the next you plug into something unexpected, immediate and wonderful. I have drawn the line at Denver Real Estate, web-dating and half a dozen earnest female Christians pushing out depressing messages of hope that belong on motivational posters of sunsets and seascapes. I mean really. Forster's "only connect" may be the motto de jour, but surely a small degree of editorial control is permissable.

Here, in a life-affirming paean to the power of a laptop and a few microphones, is a Twitter find. The digital world bringing raw street music together.

Stephen Fry has almost half a million followers, and no, I don't understand how he has time to breathe let alone tweet.

Do I have a witty, ironic avatar? No - if you really want to see me dribble, I'm lizbolshaw. As usual

A Butt of Sack

There is something rather wonderful about Carol Ann Duffy finally being appointed Poet Laureate, after she was apparently rejected last time round by a Tony Blair, nervous of the impact of her sexuality on a blushing Middle England. The anachronistic royal appointment famously carries remuneration in the form of a £5,000+ per year stipend (which Duffy has asked to be donated to the Poetry Society to endow a new prize) and a butt of sack. Interviewed on Radio 4 this morning, Duffy said that she had discovered that outgoing Laureate Andrew Motion had yet to receive his quota of sherry so she had asked to get hers up front. A butt = 600 bottles.

It may have taken 341 years to get here, but raise a glass with and to her.

If, for any reason, you don't know her work - start with Rapture, her astonishing collection of love sonnets.