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.

Tag: Minnesota startups

Wow, It’s Wiki-Wiki Week!

March 15, 2007 / / 6 Comments

First, I hear that MindTouch, which was presenting at the Community 2.0 conference this week in Vegas (which I’m bummed I couldn’t attend), announced the re-launch of its free.pngki site under the new name (and actual Internet domain) “Wik.is”. You can read the press release here. Wikishomepagewmhtalogo The company’s wiki-hosting site was previously located at Wiki.com, but, due to a licensing issue with the domain name operator, MindTouch had to scramble to get its customers’ wikis migrated rather quickly over to a new domain. [More on that later.] I had the opportunity to catch up with Aaron Fulkerson, VP of Product at San Diego-based MindTouch, to do this brief Q&A:

Tech~Surf~Blog: What’s the new site for? And who is it for?

Fulkerson: MindTouch Wik.is gives an organization or individual the ability to integrate a fun and easy-to-use community tool into their existing web site. We offer a free, ad-driven version but, for only $60 a year, users can have an ad-free community wiki that has a consistent look, feel, and navigation with their existing online properties. It’s been my experience that, by giving users a consistent look-and-feel, they’re more inclined to use the technology and participate in the community. The benefits to users of Wik.is include additional and fresh content, community growth, and much more. Wikistypes

Tech~Surf~Blog: Why does MindTouch sponsor this site? What’s in it for you?

Fulkerson: Well, for starters, $60 a year for every organization that upgrades to the Pro version! Seriously, though, we priced the Pro version in order to make the most basic functionality accessible to any organization. We believe that every web site should have a community wiki embedded into it. Wikis are such a powerful and easy-to-use tool that every organization’s web site should have one. At only $60 a year, that’s now a reality.

And, if a user opts for just the free version, we’re still building awareness about MindTouch and our other products. Whether you’re a non-profit or an individual interested in a simple and fun community site, a small business or a large enterprise looking for a community-driven Intranet, or a major media or publishing company seeking a user-generated content strategy, MindTouch has a product that will provide proven benefits. MindTouch is the most comprehensive vendor of wikis, and we’re proving it again.

Tech~Surf~Blog: Explain the “re” launch of this site — what was it before? What will it have from the original site? How is it similar or different?

Fulkerson: Wiki.com was a site that previously licensed our software. MindTouch severed relations with the operator of this site in early November 2006, but, in order to not hurt the end-users of Wiki.com, we allowed Wiki.com to continue to use our software for communities that were already created. Later, in January of this year, when a community member of Wiki.com informed us the operator planned to pull the plug on Wiki.com in 72 hours, we offered to migrate all the content to our servers. We were very concerned that people were about to lose their community and content. It turns out the operator of the site, too, was clearly concerned about this and approved the migration. We worked very hard, almost around the clock, over 48 hours to migrate the sites.

Tech~Surf~Blog: Who is now running Wiki.com (which just also relaunched), and does MindTouch have anything to with it anymore?

Fulkerson: I don’t know the details. We have no involvement with this.

Tech~Surf~Blog: On a side note, how are you and the others who relocated from St. Paul to your San Diego office enjoying your new home?

Fulkerson: I can’t speak for everyone, but my wife and 14-month-old daughter really like Little Italy, as do I — that’s the district where we reside in downtown San Diego. In fact, I love it! It’s a three-block walk to the new office, and I can walk the whole way with a wi-fi connection! There’s a real sense of belonging in the community.

Tech~Surf~Blog: Will you be visiting the Twin Cities again soon?

Fulkerson: I’m really excited to be presenting on a panel at the upcoming Minnesota High Tech Association Spring Conference, on Tuesday, April 10, 2007. I’m looking forward to being back in Minnesota and connecting with friends. [Note: Yours truly is moderating the panel.]

Tech~Surf~Blog: What’s the reaction been to your new Wik.is site so far?

Fulkerson: Traffic has been stellar. [The chart here I grabbed from Aaron’s Flickr page.] We had almost 400 sites register just on March 13! I was suprised. Wikistraffic031306 I really believe the Pro version is exactly what every organization and web site needs in features, and because you can give it a consistent look, feel, and nav. I think about all the organizations I’ve been involved with in the past and know this would be a big help.
[End of Q&A.]

Anyway, back to “Wiki Week.” On the same day as MindTouch makes its announcement, TechCrunch comes forth with a story about another fairly significant development in the wonderful world of wikis: WikiSeek Launches Community Edited Search Engine. WikiSeek is no upstart — it’s two years old and funded to the tune of $5 million by Sequoia Capital.

Just a few days prior, as if to pre-empt the above, the much-hyped new venture of Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales planted another media story: Wikia plans editable Web search engine.

Then, as if this wasn’t enough to make this week extremely wiki-ish, Business Week up and publishes a CEO Guide to Wikis, with several feature articles on the topic — more than you thought you ever wanted to know about wikis. It’s as if someone declared this National Wiki Week!

Meantime, just today, Jimmy Wales’ new Wikia.com venture took a pretty good bashing from one commenter. Search Insider’s Gord Hotchkiss didn’t hold back on his skeptical view of the whole thing in this Mediapost piece: Jimbo Wales And People-Powered Search: A Long Shot.

We all know the human being can only scale so far, but how far can a collective of them scale? I guess that’s the question when it comes to wiki-based search. Can people really ever be expected to do as well or better for search as algorithms can, at least with any speed? And can they be free of politics, as algorithms surely would expect to remain? 🙂 What do you think, is this Jimbo guy smoking something exotic with that “other peoples’ money” he scored for this new deal?

MEETUP! Before Guy Kawasaki’s Talk This Friday…

January 15, 2007 / / 9 Comments

To everyone I know or anyone who reads this blog: meet me at the University of Minnesota McNamara Alumni Center at 11:30 am this Friday, January 19th. Let’s get to the Guy Kawasaki talk early and schmooooze!!! I blogged about the event earlier here. (It starts at 1:00 pm.) The event quickly sold-out, but I’m sure many of you already have tickets. Even if you don’t, show up anyway! You can always try for standing-room-only space, or maybe you can nab somebody’s no-show ticket. Hey, Guy’s worth it! He packs ’em in everywhere he goes. Guykawasakistanleycup

We can talk about all kinds of stuff in advance of the talk: why Guy would come from California when we’re freezin’ our asses off here right now (it’s to play in the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships on Lake Nokomis)….what his topic is (it’s his classic “Art of the Start” talk)….or anything else you want to talk about, including my BlogHaus experience in Vegas last week. And getting there early should help us get locked-in for the best seats, or maybe those of you who need tickets can get on the list early for the no-shows.

Should be plenty of room to gather in the lobby area that’s closest to the auditorium where Guy will speak. (Check the signage on the way in.) And maybe we can even get coffee there…

Please spread the word to your lists and communities!
Let’s show Guy we’re one great startup community here in Minnesota!!! Indicate your interest here on my blog by adding a comment, and I’ll forward the whole thing to Guy beforehand. One of my VC friends tried to get me into a special lunch being held for Guy prior to the talk, with the local U of M muckety-mucks, etc, but I missed the cut. Who cares! This meetup will be lots more fun for me — and you! And maybe we can even continue the blog comments afterwards to tell Guy what we thought of his talk… See ya Friday!

Tags: Guy Kawasaki, , , , ,

More Good News re: Minnesota Startups

December 5, 2006 / / 0 Comments

Another of our local startups has announced a $5-million early-stage funding. The Mpls/St. Paul Business Journal published this article online on December 1 (may require subscription to their print edition–booo!), about Swarmcast receiving an initial round of funding from Japanese VC firms. Why Japan, you might ask? Well, because there’s even higher interest in the company’s technology for downloading HD-quality video in that country than in the U.S., which is behind Japan in broadband technology and adoption.

I’d actually known about this funding for close to a year — which would make it the worst-kept secret in the Minnesota startup community. But I chose way back not to break any news about it, deferring to my friends at the company, who had some reason for delaying the announcement. Perhaps their thinking was they were way out in front of the market, anyway, so why not let it catch up a bit? Or maybe they picked up on the fact that BitTorrent was announcing its own financing on the same day — this one for $20 million — and decided they should synch up with that, for better PR value or something. [Note: regarding BitTorrent, the Business Journal article states that the swarming technology developed by SwarmCast’s predecessor company, Onion Networks, “has since been modified and used by popular peer-to-peer file-sharing company BitTorrent,” but that “the product Swarmcast now plans to launch is based on entirely new technology.”]

Swarmcastsiteclip

Whatever, this is more great news for Minnesota’s startup community! It proves again that money finds us, and that such fundings don’t always mean startups have to move to either coast to get their growth-fueling booty. [You know I’ve been chronicling the determination of another startup, Flyspy, to also disprove this commonly held theory.]

SwarmCast’s funding comes on top of two other $5-million+ Series A rounds for MN companies, which were announced almost back-to-back in the early summer: Jumpnode and HotGigs. I blogged about both companies here. Which makes me think…let’s see, that means at least three pretty big deals were brewing as much as a year ago (such financings typically are in the works for months before they’re announced). And — with the vibrancy of the tech sector having picked up markedly all year — just what all else may now be going on behind the scenes here locally as far as renewed venture financing interest in Minnesota’s Internet and IT startups?

That, my friends, is where a large part of my focus will continue to be. In fact, I’m already onto one such story you will find very interesting — another positive sign that the climate is indeed getting better. [Okay, I’m not talking about our weather! 🙂 …]

In the meantime, congratulations to my friend (and former client) Justin Chapweske, founder of locally grown SwarmCast, for making Minnesota proud. Justin, SwarmCast rocks!

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MinneDemo Rocked, But Format Needs Help

September 6, 2006 / / 1 Comment

The first one last night was a big success turnout.pngse. The registration list was close to a hundred. Heck, even a couple girls signed on towards the end! It maxed out the room, basically shoulder-to shoulder. No room for chairs. The schmoozing was great, as was the food (thanks to the sponsors), and it was fun running into old friends — like Dan Grigsby (one of the event organizers), Justin Chapweske and Kim Garretson of SwarmCast [watch for news soon on that one], serial entrepreneur Tom Kieffer [insert multiple company names here], Derek Peterson of very stealthy college-demographic site Younison.com, crack startup attorneys John Roberts and Harold Slawik….and meeting some new friends, like our local indefatigable Garrick Van Buren of the great MNteractive blog…Jeff Pester, founder of Urban Radar [interesting dude!]…Aaron Fulkerson, co-founder of Mindtouch.com [and “VP of encouragement”], and Tom O’Neill, who manages development at a very interesting, fast-growing web apps firm called SierraBravo in Bloomington [and he surfs, too! yeah, with a name like O’Neill, I guess I coulda figured.. 🙂 ]

But the format of the meeting, quite frankly, sucked. Not for socializing, but for demos — seeing them or giving them. Way too noisy, and a bad sound system to boot. Nice room, trendy Uptown location [hey, no one got shot!], but not a room for this. That’s right, MinneDemo was such a success, it’s already outgrown the place after one meeting! Unless you were way up in front, it was very difficult to hear — especially for us older, hearing-challenged guys — let alone see. Too many heads and backs in the way. Even an eight-inch stage woulda helped… Lucky for Robert Metcalf of Flyspy that he was first, because the noise only increased in direct proportion to the brewskis being consumed…

But, hey, it was a good time! And a great way to get the local IT and Internet startup community together. We all benefit from stuff like this. Many thanks to the co-organizers, Dan Grigsby and Luke Franci, and everyone who contributed. I predict the next one will be even bigger…

p.s. I woulda taken some pix, but I washed my RAZR in my jeans over the weekend. Damn things, so small you forget you have ’em! A new battery and she worked fine, but the camera screen was still foggy (better today). My pix woulda looked like underwater shots, so I skipped it. 🙂

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