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: Interviews (Page 10 of 13)

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with Workface

March 3, 2011 / / 0 Comments

Workface-DEMOspring2011 I stopped by late on Day 2 to chat with my friends from Minneapolis, Workface Inc. I wanted to hear more about  their very successful DEMO experience. The company was founded in 2006 "to pioneer human-to-human selling on the Web."  On the morning of Day 1, in the Enterprise Technologies category, the Workface guys introduced to the Workface-logo-175wworld their "Customer-initiated Engagement Platform," which connects sales professionals with new prospects that are looking to make high-value, considered purchases on the Internet. They call it a "pre-CRM solution." It's cloud-based software accessible in any modern browser (no plug-ins required). The enterprise customer has no software installation expenses, and subscription costs are as little as $25 per month per sales person. Here's the DEMO Conference video of their pitch.

Workface_Profile-150w The Workface profile (at left) is media-rich and searchable, featuring video, text, images, links, files, and two-way chat tools that enable prospective customers to initiate meaningful conversations (anonymously or not) with the most appropriate sales person at the company whose web site they're visiting. A key point is that these profiles are highly portable, in that they can appear anywhere on the 'Net, including on Facebook. The Workface duo showed the latter in their on-stage demo.

 

• Download or listen to my interview with Lief Larson, CEO (left in the large photo above), and Tanner Thompson, Marketing Director, of Workface Inc…. (MP3)

 

 

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with SocialEyes

March 2, 2011 / / 0 Comments

SocialEyes-RobGlaser

SocialEyes is a social video service to instantly connect you to friends and groups of people who share your interests. Think video chat, but you connect via Facebook, so it's your real identity, unlike previous services. It really looks good!

Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman, was actually manning the laptop on the stage for this DEMO pitch!  First time I've seen a VC do that. (He's a partner at Accel.)  Cofounder Rob Williams gave a great pitch (video). SocialEyes-logoThis one will be huge. Hey, it better be with the amount of money behind it! (Read more about SocialEyes on this TechCrunch post.) And go sign up. Millions will, I'm sure!  Maybe already have.

• Download or listen to my interview with Rob Glaser, cofounder and chairman of SocialEyes… (MP3)

DEMO Spring 11: A Chat with PhotoRocket

March 1, 2011 / / 0 Comments

PhotoRocket-founders One of the DEMO presenters I had on my must-see list was PhotoRocket. It was one of the first companies I noticed last week tweeting they'd be here, so I immediately downloaded their iPhone app (alpha, now beta) and started using it. I loved it, and have shared several photos over the past few days. After they pitched on the first morning of DEMO (video), I stopped to chat with the cofounders, Scott Lipsky and Gary Roshak, at their Pavilion stand.  These guys have done a really excellent job with this launch. Everything is just, well…clicking! Here's the news release. PhotoRocket_logo And here's a brief description: PhotoRocket lets you share any number of photos to any number of people in an instant. Share with family and friends, post to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, or other favorite sites and archive your photos for safekeeping, all in one breathtakingly simple step. When you share with PhotoRocket, you give your family and friends instant gratification. PhotoRocket requires no registration and has no restrictions on downloading full resolution images. PhotoRocket is available now for Windows, iPhone, and Mac, with iPad and Android to come.

• Download or listen to my interview with Scott Lipsky (left) and Gary Roshak, cofounders of PhotoRocket… (MP3)

Photorocket-Graeme-Sharing

Stealth MN Startup CRAM is Thinking Big…Really Big: How About Disrupting the Whole World of Digital Home Entertainment?

December 17, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Cram-logo You say you want unrivaled access to movies, music, television, and educational programming at a price you can afford?  Well, Twin Cities-based CRAM™ Worldwide is taking you up on that. I recently interviewed CEO and cofounder Daren Klum (see MP3 link below) to try to learn more about what he’s up to.  His new startup is out to prove it’s possible to unlock the largest content catalogs in the world so you get true, unlimited content anyplace, anytime — free of tethered connections.  Hey, does that get your juices flowing?

CRAM™ plans to do that with a next-generation digital content delivery device and platform that provides Cram_device consumers with a unique, simple, and interactive approach to accessing digital content. The company has been quietly developing its patent-pending technology and simultaneously planning the launch of a content network that will position it against some of the largest content distributors in the world, such as Comcast, Redbox, and even Netflix. The key is this: the CRAM™ device will provide content in real, actual HD.  My colleague Steve Borsch did an interview of Daren a couple of months ago on Minnov8.com that delves further into the company’s technology. 

Darenklum CRAM™ says its content delivery system not only gives customers a far better user experience, but it’s “a fun way to interact with content.”  And Daren tells me it will be available for a very affordable monthly subscription.  I sat down with him yesterday to talk about his background, how he came to cofound CRAM™, and what the current status is of his startup, as well as his plans for next few months. (For more on Daren and his team, check out the firm’s About page. It is one impressive assemblage of talent.)

• Download or listen to my interview with Daren Klum, cofounder and CEO of CRAM™ Worldwide… (MP3 – about 18 minutes)

Defrag 2010: A Chat With Atlassian

November 19, 2010 / / 2 Comments

On day two of the Defrag conference, I wanted to stop by the booth of Atlassian, a Gold Sponsor of Defrag. I was anxious to learn more about what I was hearing is a pretty freaking amazing company. Atlassian-logo You have to love the story: a couple of 22-year-old university dropouts in Sydney decide to start a company together, because they see problems with the state of enterprise software — it's expensive, difficult to configure, and requires huge investments in consulting to implement and years to deploy. So, they launch Atlassian in 2002, ship their first product, JIRA, and become profitable that first year. Fast forward to today: Atlassian has more than 20,000 customers and some 250 employees, on three continents. A few months ago, the company raised its first outside funding, to fuel even more growth: a $60-million investment from Accel Partners. You just don't hear too many stories of such rapid software startup success as this, certainly not coming out of Australia. (My own home country, I'm proud to say!) The company does so much to give back to the community, too, which is touched on in my interview, linked below. Atlassian-products Atlassian is really a different kind of software company, one that's rewritten the rules of enterprise software development and sales. Its bug tracking, collaboration and software development tools allow companies to work smarter and faster — and these tools are especially attractive for startups and small teams. Altassian offers a special package of six of its products, generally for up to 10 users each, for just $10. It's called the Starter program. But, get this: at Defrag 2010, I picked up on an even better offer for cash-strapped startups: how's free? Yes, lucky readers, it's the Free Starter program, which gets you fully functional licenses to all six products, including 12 months of support and updates. The promo code is ATLDEFR10 (and note the offer expires April 1, 2011). Now, let's get right to my interview so you can hear more about this amazing new breed of sofware company: Atlassian….

• Download or listen to my interview with Matt Hodges, a Product Marketing Manager for Atlassian who is now based in San Francisco… (MP3)

(UPDATE: For more on what Atlassian is doing to give back, I meant to inlude this link to a post on one of their blogs: Freemium is Dead…Long Live Causium.)

 

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