Graeme Thickins on Tech

Reflections & analysis about innovation, technology, startups, investing, healthcare, and more .... with a focus on Minnesota, Land of 10,000 Lakes. Blogging continuously since 2005.

Category: Conferences/Events (Page 26 of 80)

Defrag 2010: A Chat About Yolink

November 19, 2010 / / 0 Comments

On the first day of Defrag, I stopped by to chat with Brian Cheek, Director of Business Development for TigerLogic, about his firm's product Yolink, which is a next-generation technology that enhances search by extracting information from behind links and inside of documents.  Yolink-graphic I was amazed I hadn't heard about Yolink until a few days prior to Defrag, and found it pretty amazing as I started to play with it.  See the following coverage for more about this technology: Yolink Helps Web Researchers Search Behind Links (Mashable) … Yolink's Next Step Search Pulls Info from Behind Links and Inside Docs (ReadWriteWeb) … and Yolink – A Search Accelerator for Deep Internet Research (MakeUseOf.com).

It's available as a plugin for all the major browsers. It's also available as a desktop app for Windows PC users. You can even get a Yolink widget for your site or blog (again, all the major platforms). Also be sure to look at some cool lab experiments created by Yolink engineers that showcase the use of the Yolink API. The API allows integrating Yolink into any web service. It can be used to enhance existing search engine results, or to provide site or app search functionality outright. The API is simple to implement and completely customizable.

• Download or listen to my interview with Brian Cheek of TigerLogic about Yolink… (MP3)

My Live Blog: Defrag 2010

November 16, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Defrag-StageSign I'm in Denver for my fourth consecutive Defrag conference, which is every one since it started in 2007.  This time, it's actually in Broomfield, CO, a suburb, at a nice place called the OMNI Interlocken Resort. I'm starting the live blog on Tuesday evening, as we're gathering in the hotel lobby to go to some sponsored dinners. (I'm headed to Boulder with Gist.)  The conference fires up in the morning, when my live-blogging will begin in earnest.  Check out the agenda.  In the meantime, I have my twitter stream appearing in the live blog, and that of the conference organizer (@defrag), Eric Norlin.  I also have it set up so that any tweets with the hashtag #defragcon will appear in the live blog window, at least for now. (I'll probably shut that off starting in the morning, or it would get to be too much.)  [UPDATE: Decided on the morning of day one to leave it all in! Makes for a more interesting live-blog, and archiving the whole conversation, in proper chronologial order, is pretty cool for anyone who may want to refer back. There were so many *great* Twitter exchanges going on during the event!  I know I made a whole bunch of new Twitter friends… 🙂 ]

I'm looking forward to a great conference!  When the event is completed, I'll archive this live-blog, which switches it around to proper chronological order. And the link for this blog post will remain pemanent for the live-blog archive. That's the big advantage for me to document a conference with this live-blogging tool, compared to just tweeting the event. (Have you tried going back to get an archive of your tweetstream for a certain day or event?  Good luck.) Plus the fact that I can do posts longer than 140 characters. Hope you like it!

‘Glue’ is a Cloud Conference That’s Different – It’s for *Developers* (and some interesting new twists on the next one)

November 4, 2010 / / 0 Comments

GlueConf-logo You may know I've attended the Glue Conference in Denver since its inception.  I've reported on both of those great events, in May 2009 and May 2010.  The last one I live-blogged, and that is luckily archived here.  The '09 event, however, I only covered by live tweeting — i.e., all my coverage was done on Twitter — so good luck finding that archive. And it was probably a couple-hundred "posts" long, too. Shees…

Anyway, the next Glue is coming up in May 2011, and I certainly plan to be there — live-blogging, not live-tweeting!  So, why would I be talking about that event now, when it's several months out?  Well, because I have some important *advance* news about it for all my developer friends, whether you're involved in a cloud-based startup or not.  Here's the deal:

Eric Norlin runs the event (and sister event Defrag, this month), and makes clear Glue is aimed at developers. That makes it different from other "cloud computing” conferences, which he thinks is a big echo chamber. "Glue seeks to explore the connective tissue of the web and IT infrastructure," says Norlin. EricNorlin-Defrag2007 "That connective tissue can be called a lot of things — service oriented architecture, web services, APIs, cloud computing, etc. Call it what you will, developers know that it’s not the name that counts, it’s the building of the application, and the underlying infrastructure that supports it."

Norlin says his goal with Gluecon has been really simple: to make it *the* gathering place for developers in the API/cloud space. "With that goal in mind, we’re setting out this year to change the game for developer conferences," he says. "And the only way that I know to change the game is to open things up in such a way as to get maximum involvement from the community. As such, I’m extremely happy to announce that Alcatel-Lucent is signing on to be the Community Underwriter and Partner Sponsor of Gluecon 2011."

So, what does that mean for the event?  It's this: Alcatel-Lucent (which runs OpenAPIservice.com) will be underwriting 15 companies to have demo pods at Glue 2011. The participation of these companies will be based solely on merit, not the ability to pay for an exhibit, says Norlin.

"We’re announcing that 15 companies will be selected to have completely free demo space at Gluecon. The demo pod will include passes to the show, signage, Internet — everything you need. Just show up with a laptop."

To select the companies, Norlin says he and Alcatel-Lucent have put together a top-notch selection committee: Chris Shipley (Guidewire Group), Mathew Ingram (of MESH and GigaOM), John Musser (Programmable Web), Laura Merling (Alcatel-Lucent), Alex Williams (ReadWriteWeb), Jeff Lawson (Twilio), Jeff Hammond (Forrester), Ian Glazer (Gartner), Ben Kepes (Diversity.net), Krish Subramanian (CloudAve), Vinod Kurpad (Best Buy), Seth Levine (Foundry Group), and Eric Norlin.

"The process will be simple," says Norlin. "We'll accept applications for the 15 spots, and every person on the selection committee gets to vote for their favorite 15 companies. The top 15 vote-getters will have a demo pod."  He points out that Alcatel-Lucent will have just one vote (two if you count Programmable Web, which is owned by Alcatel-Lucent), but not nearly enough to swing a decision. The company wants to maintain the credibility and neutrality of Glue, Norlin says.  He points out the selection committee purposely includes analysts (Guidewire, Gartner, and Forrester), journalists (GigaOM and ReadWriteWeb), a manager inside a large corporation (Best Buy), and even other company CEOs (Jeff Lawson of Twilio) to help run through this process. Alcatel-Lucent’s involvement, he says, is altruistic: enlarge the size and interaction around this developer community — "and everyone benefits."  Other exhibitors will be still be able to secure exhibitor space, Norlin adds.

But wait — there's more. "We’ll be doing some awesome things leading up to Glue — like holding 'hackathons' around the country, and then flying the winners to Gluecon to participate in a major league hackathon at the conference. And that’ll just be the beginning – stay tuned," he says.

PREDICTION:  Minnesota friends, I'm going out on a limb and predicting that one of these hackathons will be held right here in the Twin Cities.

"I’m excited because I feel like we have the ability to really change the game with this one." says Norlin.  "If you take away the company-specific conferences — Google I/O, Twitter, F8 — there really just aren’t that many national-level gathering spots for developers in the cloud/API space. There are a lot of 'business level' and 'workshop' conferences that happen around cloud computing, but we’re talking about developers.  And even where there are developer gatherings in the cloud/API space, the ability to pay has always been a limiting factor for startups and companies wanting to show their wares and exhibit. That ends with Gluecon 2011!  Now, developers in the cloud/API space will have the ability to participate in a pure meritocracy. Wow the selection committee, and you’re in."

Norlin sums up: "At the end of the day, what I want to see is 500-plus developers coming to Gluecon to build apps, figure out cloud infrastructure, scaling, security, and solve the tough problems around API construction, usage, and maintenance."

How does one apply?  The process starts here.

Gluecon 2011 will cover a broad spectrum of cloud/API topics that matter to developers — "from Hadoop to Clojure to Active API event processing to Cloud Scaling to Big Data databases (of both the NoSQL and SQL variety) to web protocols (activity streams, PUSH, etc)," says Norlin. "We’re going deeper, getting more technical than ever, bringing in a third day of workshops, just generally stepping up and kicking ass."

So, my developer friends, you think you can hang with the big boys and girls at Gluecon? Well, now you can apply for a Gluecon demo pod, and prove it.  (Want more info?  Email Eric at enorlinATmac.com.)

See you at Gluecon in May!

UPDATE: Just after I posted, this popped up on ReadWriteWeb: Weekly Poll: What Cities Should Be Chosen for GlueCon Hackathon Tour?  So, get busy all you Minnesota tech supporters out there, vote for the Twin Cities!!

 

 

My Adventures as a Connoisseur of the Fine Art of Startup Pitching

October 21, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Mobicart-DEMOfall2010 Can one learn anything listening to a lot of startup pitches?  I mean even if your job, like that of a VC, doesn't require it, per se.  Yes, I believe you can, and I've invested a large part of my time and attention over the years to this practice, betting that doing so brings value to my clients. 

I began attending and reporting on many of the large, national tech conferences (most in California, but some in other U.S. cities and resort locations) more than 12 years ago – as a way to juice my own knowledge as a tech marketing consultant and startup advisor, and to keep out in front of tech trends. (Not to speak of being able to meet and network with lots of heavyweights.) This pastime of sorts is what basically turned me into a blogger, and even an accidental part-time journalist — actually getting paid occasionally to write about what I learned at these events.  Imagine that.  (That was before the intrinsic value of a blog post starting going to zero. But I digress…)  After proving myself early-on as a good event reporter, the conferences began granting me press passes.

I've heard so many startup pitches over my career, especially during the last 12 years, that I've lost count.  But I have no doubt it's more than 1000.  And I've been lucky enough to document most of them — certainly hundreds — in my writings.  Twitter and live-blogging tools in recent years have only added to my output.  Someday, maybe I'll even turn my blog archives into a large coffee-table book. (Yeah, right, like I'd ever have the time! And a large percentage of these startups are now either out of business or acquired, so who would care?)  Just one live-blog I did of a two-day conference last month totaled 9000 words.  More on that below.

The many conferences I've attended include top events like DEMO (11 times), Esther Dyson’s PC Forum 2006 (the swan song), Under The Radar, TechCrunch 50, several O'Reilly events, those sponsored by leading publications (e.g., Forbes, Fortune, WSJ), Defrag and Glue, and many smaller, newer, or regional startup events such as CrowdPitch as well.  The collective intelligence I gather from this investment of time (and money) has been remarkably valuable to me personally, and to my clients. 

How?  Well, in several areas:  understanding and assessing trends, messaging, strategy, business models, and what I'll call style, or stage presence. By observing the best-of-the-best pitch their businesses (all these conferences closely vet applicants), I'm better able to understand not only where technology startup trends are going, but I can hear the best stories, the best messaging.  I get to see with my own eyes what resonates, what hits the mark — meaning the startups that best get people to pay attention, take action, elicit media interest, attract customers, and (not the least) cause investors to write checks.  Sure, not all these technology startups will make it.  But, because I'm getting extensive exposure to this cream-of-the-crop with the best potential, I've found that I'm in a much better position to help guide my clients back home in their own business planning, marketing and launch strategy, media strategy and tactics, and even in coaching the founders in their own on-stage startup pitches. I can also teach them to avoid the mistakes I see others make.

DEMOfall2010-graphic Just a few weeks ago, I attended my 11th DEMO conference, and my 10th in a row.  (The event is held twice a year, and the recent one, called "DEMOfall 2010," was held in Santa Clara, CA.)   Long ago dubbing itself "The Launchpad for Emerging Technology," DEMO is generally regarded as the inventor of the startup pitch fest, and certainly has the longest, continuous track record.  Launched in 1991 by Stewart Alsop (whom I've had the privilege to meet at more than one DEMO), this venerable event was acquired by IDG many years ago, and is still the gold standard.  It is extremely well run, and remains my favorite conference of them all.  It never disappoints. The main thing to remember about DEMO is that it attracts a large, prestigious press and blogger contingent, and generates more than 200 million media impressions for the collective participants of each conference.  Not to minimize the importance of the many investors that regularly attend, too –- it attracts those, and the presenting startups, from around the globe.  Over the years, startups pitching at DEMO events have collectively raised hundreds of millions of dollars — billions, I'm sure — in funding. And many of them, household names now, have been acquired or gone public. Check this list of DEMO alumni companies, and it only includes those for the years 2006-2010.

Last month, I live-blogged the entire two-day-plus DEMOfall 2010 program, an agenda made up mostly of rapid-fire, back-to-back startups pitches, some 70 companies in all, with several great panels and interviews mixed in.  (In that live-blog archive, scroll down to get to the meat of the pitches, since, on the afternoon of registration, I allowed all those on Twitter posting tweets with the event hashtag to flow into my live-blog, as people were traveling to and arriving at the event, including me. Part of the fun is the anticipation!)

In addition, I did nine audio interviews of some of my favorite startups while I was at DEMOfall 2010:  here's the link to all my blog posts for this event, which include links to those interviews. I started doing audio interviews of startup founders several DEMO conferences back. Two of the companies I interviewed even went on to be named among the DEMOgod Award winners.  My photos of the event are here on this Flickr set.

In Its 24th Year, Venture Conference Asks If Minnesota Has ‘Lost It’

October 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

MN_VentureFinanceConf2010 We’ll find out Thursday, because I’ll be there to live-blog it all: the proceedings of the annual Minnesota Venture & Finance Conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center, co-hosted as always by the Minnesota Venture Capital Association and The Collaborative.

(UPDATE: My complete live-blog of the event is archived here.)

TheCollaborative-logo MVCA-logo

 

The blue-suit crowd will turn out once more to hash over where, oh, where is venture investing going in our state, and whether Minnesota is holding its own or falling behind in relation to other states. 

This is great sport, people!  We can’t beat Wisconsin in college football for seven years straight, but, oh yeah, we got those cheeseheads when it comes to the game of innovation!  … Or do we?  (And, Gopher fans, I won’t even bring up South Dakota.  Shees.)

“Innovation?  Jobs?  Has Minnesota lost it?  Not for one day in October we haven’t,” says The Collaborative in one of its promos.  “2010 marks our second full year of the worldwide recessionary malaise.  Our state’s economy is also not what anyone is calling ‘robust’.  Our unemployment rate is higher than it’s been in decades.  On the plus side, we’re still one of the brightest economies in the nation,” the pitch goes on to say.

“The positive gap between our jobless rate as compared to the nation is at its highest in 30 years… Yet we also hear many reports of our state losing its way in innovation.”

Can you sense the drama, people?  I’m nervously doing finger and hand exercises right now, in great anticipation of the nuances I may be able to capture on my Macbook or iPad (decisions, decisions) as I contemplate the live-blogging nirvana that awaits me Thursday.  It has me breathing heavy.

“Last year, in the throes of the recession, 54 companies gave presentations, 400+ investors and entrepreneurs came, shared, and discussed growth in tough times,” said Dan Carr, CEO of The Collaborative, in his announcement of this year’s event.  DanCarr-Collaborative “It actually felt optimistic! These companies also go on to create jobs.  Lots of them.  Minnesota is 8th in the nation in venture backed employment: 365,000 jobs.”  (No word on how many of those people may have been laid off in recent times because those ventures couldn’t raise enough money.)

Carr continues:  “This year’s ‘homecoming’ promises another day-long celebration of ‘doing’ more than ‘hand wringing’.  It’s true that some of our greatest companies rise from difficult times.  Our annual conference has a knack for bringing together Minnesota’s best ‘Up & Comers’.”

The 2010 version of the conference will begin with a look at the current state of venture investing, by way of an opening address from John Taylor of the National Venture Capital Association.  That will be followed by 18 Presenting Companies giving seven-minute presentations, plus somewhere between 20 and 30 more startups in the “Entrepreneurial Showcase” giving one-minute introductions.  (I’ll be particularly interested to see if any of those entrepreneurs can make a impact in that minuscule amount of time.  I’ve heard several of the new 90-second “Alpha Pitches” at the last few DEMO conferences in California, most of which fail to impress, and they have 50% more time.)

Notable in the 2010 presenter group, says The Collaborative, is the mix of industries and stages… “reflecting Minnesota’s variety and also our strengths: Medtech (Inspire Medical Systems, Galil Medical, and InterValve) … Cleantech (EarthClean, tenKsolar and Packet Power) … Technology (Alvenda and Swift Knowledge) … and mouth guard maker Bite Tech … and more.”  (I don’t know about you, but I beam with pride when I tell people about Minnesota’s rich tradition in mouth protection.)

But wait, there’s more!  Panels and workshops during the day (speakers and panelists) will address these topics:

• Financing Innovation circa 2010:  Angel, Venture Capital, and Private Equity
• Medtech in 2010:  Innovating with New Science, Products, and Markets amid FDA and   Reimbursement Challenges
• Next Generation Technology:  Minnesota’s Unique Advantages and Opportunities
• Financing in a Challenging Economy
• Exit Strategies
• Intellectual Property and Financing
• Going Public
• Planning Your Long-Term Financing Strategy

You can still register for the event.  And (pssst) I hear the “MHTA” might even have a $100-off discount code.

Some 350 or more are expected at the confab, Carr tells me.  Sure, I know most of them already — but the thought that some in the group may be potential new social media friends for me makes me almost giddy.  And, doggone it, I don’t even have to drive to Wisconsin or South Dakota to meet them.  (This conference has been attracting more and more out-of-state attendees in recent years, which is commendable.)

The Twitter hashtag for the event is #mnconf.  I wonder how many of the blue suits might be tweeting.  Not holding my breath on that, but maybe I’ll set my live-blog software to display all the tweets attendees are blurting out during the event.  It’s time we loosened up this venerable conference a bit — thank God Twitter happened, huh?

Watch for the link to my live blog on Minnov8.com, in a post we’ll have up by late Wednesday.

(Note: This post first appeared at Minnov8.com.)

 

 

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