TECH cocktail 4 Videos on BusinessPOV

April 27, 2007

In case you missed TECH cocktail 4 in Chicago a few weeks back you can now catch-up by watching it on video. BusinessPOV is a Chicago-based video blog focused on profiling companies, people and products that display elements of innovation, entrepreneurship and creative culture. BusinessPOV was in attendance at TECH cocktail 4 and has begun to release videos highlighting the evening.

Here are the first handful of episodes:

The Forces Behind Tech Cocktail
TechCocktail 4 Product Demos, Part 1: TimeXchange.net
TechCocktail 4 Product Demos, Part 2: Menuism
TechCocktail 4 Product Demos, Part 3: Text2Store
TechCocktail 4 Product Demos, Part 4: Zaplee.com
More to come…keep checking back… or subscribe to the BusinessPOV feed.

Special thank you to Executive Producer, Mark Scheffler and the rest of the BusinessPOV team for a job well done! Thank you.

Posted by Frank Gruber | Filed Under Chicago, Eric Olson, Event, Frank Gruber, TECH cocktail, Video, techcocktail4 | Leave a Comment

TECH cocktail 4 In The Bag

April 13, 2007

Thank you to everyone that came out to John Barleycorn Wrigleyville in Chicago last night for TECH cocktail 4. We had a great turnout and enough room to maneuver in the great upstairs space at JB’s. We hope you had an enjoyable evening.

Special thank you to our sponsors! We couldn’t do it without your support.

SingleHop: SingleHop provides great dedicated hosting and they are a great group to work with. SingleHop was responsible for the Wii baseball homerun derby challenge at the event with the top ten scorers getting a pair of tickets to see some Chicago Cubs baseball at Wrigley Field. If you are looking for a dedicated server be sure to check out SingleHop.

Transwestern: Not only a top notch real estate group who can help you with your growing office space needs, Henry Lee in particular is the guy who came to us and really wanted to support TECH cocktail. Thank you Transwestern and Henry Lee. They believe in what we’re doing with TECH cocktail.

The Saper Law Offices: Looking for a lawyer? Daliah Saper is a great lawyer and she knows her stuff regarding issues you’ll face as an entrepreneur. She works with a lot of good clients already and you could be one of them. Our apologies, two of signs at the event last night accidentally omitted the Saper Law logo - a great reason why we should not create TECH cocktail signage very late at night. Sorry. Either way, if you are looking for a lawyer be sure to check out The Saper Law Office.

Digital Bootcamp: Digital Bootcamp is super at teaching you what you need to know. They offer courses ranging from PHP to CSS to Business Blogging and they are well worth your time and money. If you’ve been looking to refresh some skills or just learn something new check out Digital Bootcamp. Interestingly, Digital Bootcamp event sets you up with personalized dog tags too!
HTD Law: HTD Law brought the roulette table to TECH cocktail 3 and Wii sports to TECH cocktail 4. They also flew a lucky winner to Las Vegas for a weekend and gave away a Wii. Love the giveaways! If you need some corporate law guidance give HTD a ring.

MK Capital: MK Capital has been a supporter since TECH cocktail 2, which makes sense as they are very community focused. MK continues to assist entrepreneurs in the Midwest and around the country. If you’re looking for money to fund your company, please let us know and we can get you in contact with the right people at MK.

Origin Ventures: If you are in the early stages of with a startup and need some funding then you might want to contact Origin Ventures. Props to Origin Ventures for early stage funding local startups.

FR&R: FR&R is the accounting firm for TECH cocktail. Basically they make sure we don’t end up like Enron. We highly recommend FR&R if you need some accounting help - they are thorough.

Thank you to all the entrepreneurs that showed off their products demos.

Meniusm: Menuism offers users the ability to rate any restaurant. The site is well designed and a lot of fun. It was rated by the guests as the best in show demo at the event thanks to Interactive Mediums (another great startup).

ParkWhiz: ParkWhiz helps you find parking before you leave. ParkWhiz came to TC4 to demo fresh off of winning the Navtaq LBS Award. ParkWhiz is hot!

Interactive Mediums: Did you see the live text message voting for the best demos (won by Menuism)? Interactive Mediums was behind the text message voting system. This startup is a Chicago company that is poised for success.

timeXchange: timeXchange offers an excellent application for independent consultants or anyone that needs to keep track of and bill time to clients. By adding a few social networking features to the mix time sheets are a little bit more fun!

text2store: Text2Store offers the ability to get coupons sent directly to your mobile device for the stores you are shopping at. Text2Store also alerts you to deals at stores you like as they come up.

Zaplee:With Zaplee you can set-up a call center powered by skype. Brilliant! It is a quick and simple solution to any call center issues you may have.

Check out some of the buzz about TECH cocktail 4 here:

Another Successful TECH cocktail Event
Recap of TECH Cocktail 4
TECH cocktail 4: Wrap-up and Thank You
TECH cocktail 4: Wow, that was fun!
TECH Cocktail 4: Fun in Chicago with a Dancing Llama

If you have photos from TECH cocktail 4 be sure to tag them: techcocktail4
Check out the photos from TECH cocktail 4.

Thank you all for your support — we could not have done it without you. Cheers to all - see you at the next TECH cocktail!

Posted by Frank Gruber | Filed Under Chicago, Eric Olson, Event, Frank Gruber, TECH cocktail, techcocktail4 | 8 Comments

TECH cocktail Channel on SplashCast

April 12, 2007

SplashCast Media ROCKS! In case you haven’t seen it yet, we recently aggregated all of the fabulous videos from the past TECH cocktail events into a slick SplashCast media player which is displayed on the right rail of our site. To view a video, simply click to select a video title from the list and the player should play the video.

SplashCast Media offers a Flash-based player that enables users to upload video from YouTube or your local machine, photos from the web or Flickr, audio from your local and a bunch of other format options to create a personalized channel for all your media. We created the TECH cocktail Channel. It is currently featured on the right rail of the SplashCast Media web site as well (check out a screen-shot). I hope you enjoy the show.

Don’t forget TECH cocktail 4 is at John Barleycorn in WRIGLEYVILLE (NOT LINCOLN PARK) in Chicago tonight. If you are a videographer and want to create a short video capturing the essence of TECH cocktail 4, we would love to have you do so. We would of course add it to the TECH cocktail Channel with full attribution to the videographer or production company.

Finally, just as we have been helping to connect the tech community we also like to help other groups, so tonight we will also be helping Multiple Sclerosis by offering a 50/50 raffle (i.e. you can help charity and potentially win money). Tickets will be $5 or 5 tickets for $20 - help us help out.

Posted by Frank Gruber | Filed Under Chicago, TECH cocktail, Video, techcocktail4 | Leave a Comment

ParkWhiz Wins Navteq LBS Challenge

April 2, 2007

I was excited to hear this morning that one of our own, ParkWhiz, just won the Navteq LBS (location based service) Challenge. The competition for this award was fierce. The pool started with 208 entries which was the whittled down to the top 15 which included this year’s European LBS Challenge grand prize winner Jentro and VC-backed Loopt.

When the dust settled ParkWhiz came out the winner in the navigation category. If you want to see the product that took home the prize make sure to check out the ParkWhiz demo at TC4. You can also click on the ParkWhiz button to the right to play with the application and find TC4 parking for your ride. Congrats guys!

Official Press Release

Posted by Eric Olson | Filed Under Chicago, TECH cocktail, techcocktail4 | 3 Comments

TC4: Sold Out in Under 24 Hours

March 13, 2007

Sold Out Whew! I honestly never thought that would happen so quickly. Simply unbelievable. OK - now to regroup.

Since we’re sold out I would ask that you please e-mail me if you realize you’re not going to use your pass and/or your +1 so we can make those slots available for others who may not have been able to RSVP.

Also, perhaps we can start a waiting list for the event for those that did not get a formal slot. The whole downstairs of Barleycorn’s will be open to the public so there would be a good place to wait. How does that sound? I figure if people don’t get there by 8pm they’re not coming so we can start letting in folks on the wait list in around then. If you would like to be added to the wait list just click here to RSVP.

Note: the wait list will get you in at 8pm if we have no shows and is first come first serve. This does not cover you if people are leaving and you want to get in and take their space. Why you ask? We pay per head at Barleycorn’s and if, for example, 200 hundred people leave and another 200 hundred go in we pay for 400 and we can’t afford to do that. You can pay $10 (our per head cost) to us at the door if you’d like to get in as others leave.

Lastly, I forgot to mention that Daliah Saper of Saper Law will be at the event and she’ll be ready to talk about legal issues entrepreneurs need to plan for. She’ll even have a sheet that details some quick points on what you need to know about the law as an entrepreneur. Thanks Daliah!

Well, thank you all again for your support. Frank and I look forward to seeing you on the 12th of April and, apparently, we’ll need to find yet a bigger venue the next time around. Cheers!

Posted by Eric Olson | Filed Under Chicago, TECH cocktail, Uncategorized, techcocktail4 | 1 Comment

TECH cocktail 4 Announcement

March 13, 2007

Yes, you read right! This is the official announcement for TECH cocktail 4 (RSVP here). This time we’ll be holding the event at John Barleycorn’s in Wrigleyville where we’ll have the entire top floor of the venue.

We’ve also worked out a deal with Barleycorn’s that will allow all of you to drink beer and wine for free from 6:30 - 9pm so you won’t have to worry about paying for anything unless you want a cocktail or food.

As always we’ll have demos which at the time of this writing will be from:

Parkwhiz - Innovative parking search and parking spot marketplace.
Menuism - Rate not only the restaurant but also the specific dish or dishes.
TimeXchange - Manage your consulting time in a social setting.
Text2Store - Get great deals from local stores via text message.
Zaplee - VOIP call center software built around skype.

The details for the event are as follows:

Venue: John Barleycorn’s in Wrigleyville
Address: 3524 N. Clark Street
Time: 6:30pm - 9pm
Date: Thursday; April 12, 2007

RSVPing for TECH cocktail 4 is a must. We can only accommodate 500 TECH cocktailers this time around so make sure to RSVP as soon as you can to ensure you get in. Also, make sure to RSVP using the link below. Note: You will not be placed on the guest list if you RSVP in the comments section.

Click here to RSVP for TECH cocktail 4

Frank and I are looking forward to seeing you all at TC4 and if you have any questions you know where to find us. Oh - and make sure to check out our sponsors at the top left of techcocktail.com. Without them there would be no event and no free drinks. They definitely deserve your support.

Photo Credit: Megan Johnson from Flickr

Posted by Eric Olson | Filed Under Chicago, Event, TECH cocktail, techcocktail4 | 1 Comment