What will the next phase of internet development mean for small businesses?
David Grayson – London Bill Gurley: I think the small business of the future will be dramatically aided by technology. First of all, I think any small business will simply have laptops and a printer all connected via WiFi. Everything else will live in the cloud – e-mail, storage, PBX, applications. Salesforce.com is a great example. New VOIP solutions will allow all members of the small business to be distributed, yet it looks to the outside world like they are not. Plus, with good graphics and creativity, you can look as large as you want to be on the internet. Richard Waters: eBay and Google have already shown the way. eBay is already one of the greatest single forces for small business creation there has ever been – that $30bn of gross merchandise sales that flows through its markets each year supports hundreds of thousands of businesses. And for small publishers on the web, theres no need to run your own salesforces – just plug into Googles ad network. The scope for other services,
