Tretakoff Musings

From the folks at VentureBeat , this juxtaposition of articles says it all: Yeah, one company focuses on forward vision, a strong product line, and a mature, strong relationship with Wall St., so speculation on their future drives them to the most profitable and valued company. The other spurned the investment community, brushed off concerns about their core business, has leadership that is the poster child for immature, and, while actually focusing on growth categories, failed to give good guidance to the financial gurus, and is on the verge of being punished to the point of humiliation. What have we learned here? Don't take on Wall St. You will lose. Play by their rules if you want to play in their sandbox. Going public is not for everyone. For all we know, Living Social might be experiencing much of the same, but you don't hear a peep about them. You don't have to have the most innovative product (the iPhone ain't), but you have to execute really well (iOS

One of the hottest trends this year has been the rise of the flash sale.While Gilt gets a lot of the credit for mainstreaming the concept, the truth is that Fab.com really took it to the next level, spawning the "curation" craze. The value proposition remains high, and continues to see stratospheric growth. Just one thing...I know success begets imitation, but it's time for a look at the e-mail templates. The truth is that most of these sites rely on e-mail as their primary traffic driver. And yet, all seem to be stuck in a bit of a creative rut. The formula seems to be "four squares:" Gilt City's version. Stark, straightforward. PopSugar gets in the mix; kudos to them for adding content to the squares., as well as good  headlines. ScoutMob jumped in this last week, and they appear to be taking no chances. Odd, when you consider their brand is so hip and a bit edgy, but their Shoppe (complete with retro naming) emails sure aren't. Th