Reid Hoffman and James Slavet wrote a guest post on AOL Techcrunch today rationalizing their very late stage investment in Groupon.

Their post is a attempting to be a justification and self promotion of their involvement in Groupon.

What was striking to me about the post was the focus on opportunity of data not normal BS around the “zillions” Groupon is making.

I love the “data storm” that we are experiencing. All around us entrepreneurs are energized by the prospects of new opportunities of technology applied to “data driven” platforms and business models. I was the first to write about data as a platform last year. Today, it’s more than fashionable – it’s the real deal.

If you look at all the signals from Facebook to Twitter and from Groupon to Cloudera, the power of data is gaining stream in all facets of venture creation – in every vertical. [See editor’s note for disclosure. ]

It’s not just startups either. The biggest innovators like EMC are on data platform track. EMC recently bought Greenplum and have new stuff in the works to enable enterprises to leverage “data”. It’s all not just about big data but also “smart data” and “fast data”.

Data that is left alone and undeveloped becomes “Dumb Data” and “Slow Data”. Dumb data and slow data is a wasted asset. Now more then ever is intelligent insight gathered from data more important to businesses. The customers are all online with mobile as the new user interaction point for internet consumption and retail transactions.

The Dark Data of London

Next week I’m flying out to a big EMC event in NYC and London to hear what will be a “data” announcement. Data is not just associated with old boring online storage markets. Data is sexy just like storage is sexy. Data is the center of the value proposition for business and their customers.

From Reid and Jeff’s post they hit the market when they write:

“Local advertising is a $100 billion annual business in the U.S. and consumers spend something like 80% of their disposable income within a couple miles of their homes. Many local businesses still try to attract new customers through that heavy yellow book that gets dropped on your front doorstep until it rots or gets tossed in the recycling bin. ”

“There is the opportunity for inconceivable growth in new markets, subscribers, business customers and revenue…… ways to use data to power future consumer- and merchant-facing products….offers to consumers can be intelligently served up based on a person’s demographics, buying history and location. The merchant side of the equation is just as interesting. Local businesses need to be able to do more than just run a sale once or twice a year. The theater on Main Street or the children’s museum across town should have the ability to revenue optimize, like United Airlines or Hilton, by appropriately pricing and marketing unsold capacity. When the theatre is showing “The Tourist” to a half-empty house, it should be able to sell discounted tickets for $5 a pop.”

Data as a development platform is intoxicating because it taps the power of computer science and network technology. Now with mobile completely mainstream we are seeing new “trackable” user interactions at the edge of the network in real time…this translates directly into new advertising and retail business models.

Groupon is the first startup to emerge in grand scale in this new wave (not bubble) of big and smart data. As the old saying goes the biggest future successes will be from ideas and companies that no one saw coming. Those startups are out there, and the big companies like EMC are also on the task.

My Angle: Data is a Disruptive Enabler

I like the premise of the post by Reid and Jeff. I would add that in my humble opinion.. “Data” is and will be as a disruptive enabler will be as powerful as client-server was in the 80s”. As I said in 2009 ” with cloud and mobile data is the new development kit”.

Check out our coverage of the big data conference Hadoop World in NYC on SiliconANGLE.tv.

Also if you’re interested in data you have to register for the O’Reilly Strata Conference – the industry leading conference on data driven innovation.

[Editor’s Note: Groupon is a customer of Cloudera who powers the commercial Hadoop movement, and SiliconANGLE HQ and Labs are located in the Cloudera offices]