Random Musings
this year, i will be moderating a great panel at sxsw called “online content: transforming piracy into profit” featuring jameson hsu, ceo of mochi media, matt robinson, vp of biz dev at attributor, roy schwartz, vp of biz dev at politico and jason oberfest of myspace. piracy on the web is here to stay. period. so how to do we improve upon the process, build collaborative relationships and even, gasp, profit? profit is not a dirty word contrary to the opinion of some, but figuring out the right way of doing it while staying true to your product and community is another challenge.
this should be a great panel – stop by and check it out on tues, march 17 at 11:30 am.
interesting news from my friends at Daum. with the expiration of current-ceo Seok Jong-Hoon, the board has announced the appointment of their CFO into the CEO position. what does it mean when a web company places a CFO in the top dog position? is it a sign of maturity or weakness? daum has had an uphill battle against #1 ranked Naver, which accounts for the lionshare of search in korea, and has been actively exploring web 2.0 trends. over the past year, i have had the privilege of sitting down to dinner with outgoing ceo mr. seok during his last two visits in the US. on each occasion, i found him to be an intellectually curious and open minded executive who was carefully watching online trends. he communicated genuine interest in embracing user involvement in product, as evidenced by his push for more UCC-focused development.
i hope incoming-ceo Choi Sae-hoon exhibits a similar curiosity and passion about his products as Seok Jong-Hoon did and does not focus so much on revenue that it undermines the product and community. i am not against the idea of a CFO leading a tech company as i have seen a few other examples of CFOs successfully taking the helm, but more often that not, the CFO in question was a major tech geek from the start. so maybe we just need to find out, how much does mr. choi love his gadgets? 
best of luck to the daum team and to Seok Jong-Hoon and Choi Sae-hoon!