Recap: Amazon Web Services Startup Tour DC
May 29, 2009
Reading time: 3 - 4 minutes
As many of you know, or maybe not, I am a huge fan and proponent of Amazon’s Web Services. A couple of years ago, Amazon started its offering with S3 (Simple Storage Solution) and has continued to add another great service after another. Back then I even went so far as to dream up a startup idea based around S3 and created my own web service on top of it, MyDropBin. Since then I have gotten much more involved with many of their other offerings and now do some consulting to help other small startups in the area build an utilize these cloud platforms.
Some of there other offerings include
- EC2
- SimpleDB
- CloudFront
- CloudWatch
- DevPay
and so on. If you are not familiar, make sure to head over to aws.amazon.com to check them all out, and if you need any help, just let me know. In any case, I was excited when I saw they were doing a startup tour around the country. Talking about the products and also showcasing small, and large companies that are utilizing their products to build really cool companies. The great thing about the products that Amazon is offering, is they allow the smallest of businesses and individuals the ability to become large, or seem that way, without the hassle and huge costs associated with that. Withing 15 minutes if I wanted to, I could have over 1000 servers up and running at 10 cents an hour for each. 3 years ago this would have never been possible. Then when I am done, they shut down and I pay for only what I used.
It was a really great event with a lot of really smart people there to learn and share. Below are some videos of the event, including Adam Selipsky the Vice President of Amazon Web Services, Matt Corgan Co Founder of Hotpads.com and others. Pay particular attention to Matt’s talk as he really breaks down the numbers and shows how Amazon helps out him and his developers.
When.com Supports Local Events Like TECH cocktail
May 20, 2009
Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes
Special thank you to When.com, our premier sponsor for TECH cocktail DC 5. When.com is the hyper-local guide for your hyper-active lifestyle. When.com helps you to pinpoint restaurants, events and activities in your neighborhood. Its unique tools for Hot Tickets and Dining Deals can help to save you time and money. When.com also throws user-generated events into the mix for extended coverage of everything that’s going on in your city. For example, check out the listing for TECH cocktail DC 5 in Washington, DC today.
Watch the video (above) as I chat with When.com’s Abha Dasgupta. Also be sure to check out When.com next time you are looking for something to do and if you are in the DC are be sure to see them tonight at TECH cocktail DC 5.
TECH cocktail DC 5 Preview
May 19, 2009
Reading time: 8 - 14 minutes
The newest installment of TECH cocktail here in the DC area is right around the corner, and as usual we have an incredible set of local companies, in and out of beta, who are going to be showing off their products for everyone there to see. That is what TECH cocktail is all about, getting people out and amping up the local tech scene and giving these local companies the opportunity to show you what they have been working on. Remember, we are switching it up a bit from our regular Thursday night setup and hosting the event this Wednesday, May 20, 2009. While the regular tickets are sold out you can still donate any amount to the cause and get into the event - RSVP.
Last time, we had a great set and this time is no exception. So take a few minutes to look through a quick preview of the companies you will be seeing on Wednesday night at the Left Bank in Adams Morgan.
We want to first take the opportunity to thank the main sponsor of TECH cocktail DC 5, When.com. When.com is the local search engine to discover things to do! when.com helps you quickly find out what’s going on, wherever you are. Find local events, movies playing nearby, the perfect Indian restaurant, or where your favorite band is playing next. Not sure what you want to do? That’s okay - browse by category, date or location and we bet you’ll find something that grabs your attention!
If you’re an event promoter or organizer, when.com is a great (and free!) way to distribute information about your events.
When.com will help you realize how much is going on right on your doorstep… and quickly give you all the information you need to find something you want to do! So, no more “There’s nothing going on tonight” excuses.
Our demoing startups are as follows:
Think of tweetmart as classifieds for Twitter. It is a free an easy way to buy and sell “stuff” on Twitter. We had ease of use in mind when we created tweetmart. Have something to sell? Login, click on “List an Item” and in a minute or two you are finished. Your item will remain active for 7 days. We will send a tweet out to all your friends letting them know you have listed something and at any time you can re-tweet the item (to your heart’s content we might add). If one of your friends likes what you are selling, they can send you a direct message letting you know they are interested. Even better, for those that are not on Twitter but like what you have to offer, they will be able to send you an e-mail letting you know they are interested.
FitFeud is a competitive wellness platform that gives individuals,
groups, and organizations the ability to harness their competitive
nature as a motivational tool for weight loss, wellness, and a
healthier lifestyle. With FitFeud, you can challenge friends, family,
and co-workers to a weight loss competition without having to worry about tracking spreadsheets and weigh-ins.
FitFeud is based on the idea that what most folks really need to reach their goals is a kick in that ass rather than a pat on the back. With FitFeud, competition and the desire to win serves as that motivational kick.
Diditz is a new photo sharing application on Facebook, where users share their coolest experiences of their lives: their “Diditz”. Diditz allows Facebook users to discover the best Facebook albums in the topics they are passionate about and watch those albums in a beautiful slide show. Users can also convert their albums to blogs by embedding videos or writing notes, and share their “Diditz” using widgets, twitter, digg and other social bookmarking websites. Diditz also provide brands a new tool to engage their fans by putting a ‘Diditz” tab on the public profiles.Link: apps.facebook.com/diditzapp
Arlington Soho has developed InSide Job, a Facebook application that now allows users to contact people who have interviewed, worked, or are currently employed at the places you want to work at next! They have created a tool that replicates the best features of business sites like LinkedIn.
InSide Job users can also:
• Get the inside scoop on their prospective employer before the interview;
• Network with people in similar fields; and
• Find the right people to hire as service providers.
PointAbout wraps robust web applications with a thin-client springboard to harness the power of a native application while maintaining the flexibility of the web, creating mobile applications across multiple phone platforms without any ramp-up time, no need for proprietary programming expertise and little or no re-development of your current site.
Wegora is Creative Darwinism.
People come to wegora to read, write and remix posts. Remixes compete against the original and other posts for the attention of users. Interesting posts, whether originals or remixes will continue to be read and remixed. They will be rated well by users and they will survive. Less interesting posts, whether remixes or originals will find themselves moving ever farther into the ether until one day, by random chance, they are read and remixed into something more interesting.
messagepub is a web service to allow communication from your application to your users. It provides a simple API to communicate via email, IM, Twitter, SMS, and phone. With messagepub, you can start sending multichannel messages in minutes with a single interface across many platforms. It lets you save a lot of development and testing cycles so that you can focus on your core business and competency.
Messagepub provides client libraries in many programming languages: Ruby, C#, Python, Java, PHP… It supports escalating messages, scheduling of messages for future delivery, and automatic handling of replies.
BuddyCast is a virtual theater that allows people to program their viewing and to watch movies and TV shows together simultaneously over the Web. Founded: January 2007 We bring people together! BuddyCast is a platform enabling a new business model that offers a Social Networking and Community Collaborative service to view Premium Video content. People work together to program their Internet Theater and they get together to watch it and interact among themselves. Our service offers paid as well as free movies and TV show, whether they are Hollywood Blockbusters or Niche-Foreign content.
MPowerPlayer is the leading provider of online mobile game trial and merchandising solutions to mobile operators and publishers, allowing consumers to easily try, buy and share mobile content on any website or social network. Our web-based technology platform enables the rapid deployment of online app stores, social networking strategies and integrated marketing programs designed to help our partners drive mobile content sales. We partner and offer white label solutions for carriers, MVNO’s, mobile game and application developers, OEM’s and mobile content providers to engage consumers more effectively.
Earth Aid has developed a free service that measures your monthly energy use and pays you based on how much you save.
- We review your household’s energy use from your utility company and use it to create a “baseline.”
- Earth Aid then provides you with customized advice to become more energy-efficient, and then measures your next year of energy use.
- Last (and most importantly), Earth Aid sends you a check based on the amount of energy you have conserved.
Consumer Healthcare Advisers Inc. is a Maryland company that offers consumer-oriented health management products and services to large self-insured employers. The focus of the enterprise is maintaining a robust flow of reliable information to employees and their dependents, who now face a new set of expectations about financial responsibility and self-management of their health and health care benefits. In this new environment, consumers need help to make better healthcare decisions for their families and themselves.
The foundation of the firm is a web-based technology platform called the Consumer Health Data Center (CHDC). CHDC is directly licensed to plan sponsors as an employee benefit.
A unique aspect of the enterprise is the availability of a wide range of on-demand coaching and counseling services in conjunction with CHDC. The on-demand advisory services will be paid for by the consumer.
Well I know it’s a lot but I know you will all have a great time networking and checking them all out. See you soon!
DC Web Women Social Media Extravaganza
May 11, 2009
Reading time: 6 - 9 minutes
What a name, right? I was honored to be invited as a member of the panel (with such an exciting name!), talking to local businesswomen about social media last night at the TRAK office in downtown DC. Here’s a recap of the experiences I relayed, some pictures (yes, I whipped out my extra-large camera while on the panel to get some shots of the event) and links to my fellow panelists who were all fantastic. Big thanks to Deborah Agor and Deanna Mcneil for organizing the event and to Jill Foster for creating this direct link to all the twitter posts around the event (we used #smExtra): http://bit.ly/Xmba6.
Social Media from the Corporation to the Scrappy Startup
My history is working in product development. I’ve worked on building social media/community tools but also leveraged social media for other products I’ve worked on.
Story:
In 2006 I was mananging RSS products at AOL, trying to advise others on syndicating content and beginning to build out a new myAOL product.
- We had an innovative team, including a new hire who was already known in the blogosphere
- Our team was at the forefront; we charged forward and asked for forgiveness later if we needed to (with great support from our direct management)
- We started with blogs - our own and participating with others - getting involved in the space well before the launch. We did the Facebook page, videos on YouTube, got great coverage across the blogosphere, which then led to traditional media coverage such as the Washington Post. It was great for awareness and trial and internally it led to more friends in CorpComm and across other product teams within the company.
I left AOL at the end of last year to start work on Shiny Heart Ventures as well as some photography and writing projects. The variety of tools out there has made this transition very successful and comfortable for me:
- Linked In and Plaxo were like announcement to the world of the changes in my job status
- My personal blog is where I showcase my various projects and make myself accessible to others
- Through Facebook and Twitter I’ve been able to stay in touch with all my old coworkers and industry friends
- I’ve slowly introduced SHV to my network to begin building supporters and advocates
- We just launched the SHV blog and are planning to use it for communication about our company but also to start a dialog about building a company with great values. We want to use it to highlight other companies we admire, share our discoveries and challenges and hopefully get some good input from the community.
Takeaways:
- mportant not to just charge into conversations but to observe, introduce yourself and then join into relevant conversations
- Excitement can lead to dozens of accounts across social media tools - and the downside can be lack of follow-through and ownership. Abandoned blogs and conversations.
- In a large company it’s easy for those details (which sites are we on, account access, etc) to get lost but if it’s your business, you must own all the accounts and be responsible for them.
- Don’t begin to build a community area and then leave it. Bad bad bad - but very easy to let happen.
- As a company you must decide how transparent you want to be.
- Within a company, if the boundaries aren’t clearly defined, people are left to make up their own rules
- Have seen some companies empower their people on Twitter to use it for promotions (like Kodak, Starbucks, and several others)
- There’s always a challenge between the “brand” and the “individual” - what’s right for you?
- Just like a door to door salesperson, every online social media interaction is real human to human contact. Powerful opportunity - people always remember how you make them feel. We’ve seen brands erode because people don’t feel connected anymore. The opportunities to make people feel heard, important, appreciated are endless! Be responsible for your interactions and how you treat them online. Figure out where you need to be, how often, develop your plan and follow through - make it part of your daily operations.
- Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO who has been all over the media lately, has talked about the importance of having greater purpose in life (person and company) and ultimately tying it all back to happiness (my favorite topic!). Zappos interactions with customers have a goal: to make the best impression possible. You can watch him in action here.
I ended on the happiness note because I truly believe when your motivations are right and paired with a great business, you can’t go wrong. My talk was live-streamed - here’s the video if you missed it!
You can find my fellow panelists at their sites - make sure to follow them on twitter too.
- Beth J Bates at BethJBates.com @bethjbates
- Jill Foster at Women Grow Business @jillfoster
- Terri Holley at Creative Blog Solutions @creativeblogs
- Mayra Ruiz-McPherson at MayraRuiz.com @marketingMisfit
TECH cocktail DC 5 - May 20th RSVP NOW
May 8, 2009
Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes
It’s that time again and we’re ready to TECH cocktail in DC. In case you missed our last DC event it was well covered by the Washington Post. This is our 5th event in the Nation’s Capital. Hope you can make it out to LeftBank digital bistro in the Adam’s Morgan neighborhood of DC. Here is the important information:
TECH cocktail will offer a handful of startups an opportunity to show off in an expo-style to the rest of the community.
When: Wednesday Wednesday Wednesday, May 20, 2009 - 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. EST
Where: LeftBank in Adams Morgan (venue photos)
What: A “cocktail of TECH people”
If you are interested in supporting TECH cocktail please sponsor our events as we cannot put them on without your support. If you are interested in demoing a product or service please comment on this article or reach out to us at TECH cocktail. Look forward to seeing you there.
iStrategyLabs Launches Apps for Democracy Community Edition
May 5, 2009
Reading time: 5 - 8 minutes
I’m pleased to announce that DC.gov, under the leadership of Interim CTO Chris Willey, has empowered us to launch Apps for Democracy “Community Edition” which has just been announced by Mayor Fenty. AppsForDemocracy.org as been revamped to reflect the new campaign and $35,000 prize pool available to citizens interested in building a better DC through technology (full blog post explaining it all).
You can submit ideas/problems here (and call or txt 202-683-9980) and sign-up to compete in the application development contest here.
Full details are below - or skip all that and watch the full video walk through here.
Apps For Democracy - Community Edition (aka APPS09)
$35,000 Prizes Over Two Months and Insights From All Neighborhoods
The first edition of Apps for Democracy yielded 47 web, iPhone and Facebook apps in 30 days - a $2,300,000 value to the city at a cost of $50,000 (all apps created are here). This time we’ve got equally ambitious goals.
Our mission with APPS09 is two fold:
1) Engage citizens in ALL neighborhoods of Washington, DC to ask for their input into the problems and ideas they have that can be addressed with technology; and
2) Build the best community platform for 311 service requests.
Ways to Engage:
1. Add Your Neighborhood’s Insights & Vote (call or txt 202-683-9980 as well)
2. Sign up for Social Citizen Sunday and compete for $1000 (details below)
3. Build Apps for Democracy (First Code Jam will be in June)
4. Tweet this or forward to a friend
For the first time, we’ll put the “Cradle to Grave Framework for Citizen Driven Innovation” to the test. Here’s what the framework entails:
The prize pool is split between a Social Citizen Award and 3 rounds of development:
The contest calendar is as follows:
TECH cocktail Community Contributed Knowledge
Peter Corbett is the founder and CEO of iStrategyLabs. Peter has won multiple industry awards, including 3 Addy’s in 2008, the Great Washington DC Board of Trade’s “One To Watch” award for being “A rising entrepreneur who has a bright and sustainable future in Greater Washington”, and has been named one of the most influential Washingtonians under 40 by WashingtonLife Magazine. Washingtonian magazine included him in their Tech Titans List of the top 100 people shaping the technology industry in the Greater Capital Region. You can connect with Peter on Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter.
DC Startup Business Plan Competition for $100K
April 22, 2009
Reading time: 1 - 2 minutes
If you have a D.C. based startup or business idea you might want to enter yourself into the Washington, D.C. Economic Partnership’s PremierPlan Business Plan Competition. There have been a couple of recent updates to the competition details which include:
First, the application deadline for the intent to apply application has been extended to April 27. Second, funding is now available to both business concepts and existing businesses. This has been done in an effort to give worthy DC-based businesses the opportunity to compete for a $100,000 investment and pro bono business development assistance.
For more information and application details visit the Washington D.C. Economic Partnership website. Good luck!
TECH cocktail DC 4 Rare Video Surfaces
March 12, 2009
Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes
TECH Cocktail DC4: Washington DC area techies meet up from Mark Fitzpatrick on Vimeo.
TECH cocktail DC 4 took place last month in Washington, DC and attracted quite a crowd to LeftBank in Adams Morgan. TECH cocktail made the front page of the Washington Post business section. But we just were just made aware of this rare TECH cocktail DC 4 video (above) that was leaked to the Internet. It offers a bit of a play-by-play of the latest DC event recorded through what may have been a hidden camera.
2009 Kellogg Technology Conference
March 11, 2009
Reading time: 2 - 2 minutes
TECH cocktail is a media partner for the 15th Kellogg Technology Conference and we are happy to share the event information as well as covering the conference itself.
The 15th Kellogg Technology Conference will explore trends shaping the next wave of technology innovation. The best and brightest minds from industry and academia – including senior executives, visionaries, entrepreneurs, venture investors, world-class faculty, and students from the nation’s top business schools – will gather to discuss the following topics:
» The Future of Mobile: A look at the changing landscape, opportunities and challenges in the age of the smartphone.
» The Commercialization/Monetization of Technology: What are some of the best practices and pitfalls to commercializing or monetizing new technologies?
» Digital Marketing: How are non-tech companies leveraging the power of new Internet-enabled media and altering their plans and even organizations to capture these new opportunities?
» VC & Entrepreneurship: How have entrepreneurs and VC’s been impacted by current economic conditions and how are they adjusting?
Event Details
Date: April 15, 2009
Time: 8 am-5:30 pm (CST)
Location:
Northwestern University
Kellogg School of Management
2169 Campus Drive
Evanston, Illinois 60208
It should be a great event and hope to see you there.
TECH cocktail DC 4 Live Videos
March 1, 2009
Reading time: 1 - 2 minutes
Thanks to DC TECH cocktail Nicholas Tolson for stepping up and hosting our UStream live broadcast of TECH cocktail DC 4. We leveraged the broadband speeds of the WiMAX network facilitated by Intel and Sprint XOHM. Check out the video interviews from TECH cocktail DC 4 (below).
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Preferred Accounting Services Provider: Frost, Ruttenberg & Rothblatt, P.C. 
Preferred Legal Services Provider:
Hinshaw & Culbertson
Preferred Charity:
Teaming for Technology
Preferred Creative Service Provider: Jess3 
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