Category: Business

  • Boomtown Accelerator Demo Day Spring 2018 showcases our 10th Cohort

    Boomtown Accelerator Demo Day Spring 2018 showcases our 10th Cohort

    Last Friday, May 18th, I was proud see Boomtown Accelerator’s 10th cohort showcase their businesses at Demo Day, part of Boulder Startup Week. As Investment Manager at Boomtown, it’s always a satisfying experience seeing the companies I helped to bring into the program finally graduate, with the growth and success of their businesses on the right track.

    BizWest had a quick writeup:

    Boomtown has graduated its 10th cohort, with companies solving problems like the miscommunication between doctors and patients before surgery, growing camaraderie in the workplace and creating a better search engine for businesses.

    Of the 11 companies in the program, five were part of the partnered accelerators Boomtown has: a patient safety health tech accelerator it has in conjunction with COPIC and a hardware and connectivity accelerator it has with Upramp, the CableLabs accelerator.

    BizWest attended Boomtown’s investors’ preview on Friday, the final day of Boulder Startup Week. During the investor showcase, companies were able to ask for funds and specific support.

    Continue reading “Boomtown graduates tackle specific issues in latest cohort” on BizWest. 

     

    A few pics from the event…

     

  • Ethan Zoubek’s Six Steps to Make Room

    Ethan Zoubek’s Six Steps to Make Room

    Boomtown-Accelerator-LogoToday at Boomtown Accelerator, we were treated to a presentation by mentor Ethan Zoubek, who spoke about key concepts in relating to people and making room in your life and mind for things to just… happen. Here are a few notes from Ethan’s talk.

    1. Practice slowing down
      1. “Shower thoughts”
      2. `Recognize that a sale is not an event, it is a sequence of events.
    2. Practice naming the source
      1. Only two sources of things – either Love or Fear
      2. Fear of not getting something you want, or fear of losing something that you have. (Like getting freaked out about fund raising)
      3. Be aware of motive and intent.
      4. Before starting a call, meeting, or talk – slow down for a second, and define your intent. Consider shifting from fear to love.
    3. Practice detachment
      1. Try to get ahold of and eliminate the practice of “future-tripping”. Don’t get flipped out about the future. Give a deal etc everything you’ve got, but once you’ve given it your all, detach. Let it happen
      2. Detachment does not equal Indifference
    4. Practice giving
      1. Give with no thought of what you’ll receive in return
      2. A moral and spiritual cleansing
      3. Example – corporate content marketing, white papers, etc. Although there’s a lot of calculation involved there.
      4. Geek Squad how-to videos are a great example
    5. Practice not knowing
      1. Remain teachable
      2. Build vulnurabiliy to foster connection
      3. Just ask – Make no assumptions. No guessing
      4. “Ask the second question”
    6. Practice the next indicated action
      1. We operate in dense of furious activity, and have huge to do lists. Slow down, breathe a bit, consider source, detach a little bit, and then the next action that you should take will make itself clear.
      2. If you give it room, the next thing that should happen will present itself
  • What Youll Be Able To Do With The Next iPhones New NFC Antenna

    What Youll Be Able To Do With The Next iPhones New NFC Antenna

    Very interesting roundup of all of the uses for the new iPhones NFC Antenna. If Apple does in fact include an NFC antenna in the new iPhone, and if implimented correctly, the implications are quite exciting..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KY8H61TKDUE


    Word just leaked that the next generation of iPhones will come with a special kind of antenna, designed for something called Near-Field Communication. Here are the coolest things you’ll be able to do with it.

    What Youll Be Able To Do With The Next iPhones New NFC Antenna.

  • Good Timing: NYCs Made in New York Digital Map lets you see whos hiring in the tech field

    Good Timing: NYCs Made in New York Digital Map lets you see whos hiring in the tech field

    And just in time, from The Next Web:

    New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has just announced the Made in New York Digital Map, an online map that shows off the city’s tech startups and job opportunities, at Internet Week New York‘s headquarters. The map tracks over 500 startups and investors to help designers, developers and college graduates find jobs.

    NYCs Made in New York Digital Map lets you see whos hiring in the tech field — Engadget.

  • How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet

    How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet

    A sad, but true tale about what could have been at Flickr.

    Because Flickr wasn’t as profitable as some of the other bigger properties, like Yahoo Mail or Yahoo Sports, it wasn’t given the resources that were dedicated to other products. That meant it had to spend its resources on integration, rather than innovation. Which made it harder to attract new users, which meant it couldn’t make as much money, which meant (full circle) it didn’t get more resources. And so it goes.

    How Yahoo Killed Flickr and Lost the Internet.

  • Bring Your Own Desktop – My Kind of Workspace

    Bring Your Own Desktop – My Kind of Workspace

    Today, Xigo published this interesting graphic on the “Bring Your Own Desktop” office scheme. Your company provides you the office space and desk space, and you’re free to bring whatever tech you need to get your job done.

    This rings true for my current work setup. At my current job, I use my own Macbook Air, my own phone and Skype account, and more or less have complete control over my setup. My employer generally picks up any incedental charges – account credit, etc. I love working this way, because I have things setup just the way I want them. On the flip side, the companys overhead is a lot lower, at the slight cost of trusting their employees with having more personal access to more data. And speaking of data – since our file server is currently Dropbox, our mail, calendaring, and document creation handled by Google Apps, and our billing handled online, there’s actually no local data kept at the office – so we don’t need to have any specially configured hardware to access our company “in the cloud” – just an internet connection.

    Here’s the infographic:

    Three in four companies support BYOD schemes [infographic] | TabTimes.

  • Working remotely from Loosecubes HQ

    Working remotely from Loosecubes HQ

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamfan2/7116230945/
    Taking the Fueled office mobile with Fueled Senior Editor Brady Donnelly at the Loosecubes headquarters. Love their canvas army tent, and open, friendly office space. Booking was a breeze, and they were well setup up to address the most common new office worker questions – Wifi password, water, and bathroom.
    Look for more Loosecubes post very soon.. ;)

    photo 2

    Previously, I wrote about Loosecubes being like AirBnB for office space.

    Fueled at Loosecubes photoset on Flickr

  • How About A Rent-By-Day Office to Accompany your AirBnB apt? Loosecubes.

    How About A Rent-By-Day Office to Accompany your AirBnB apt? Loosecubes.

    Good friend Kelly just shared this new site with me. Loosecubes is like the AirBnB for officespace. Companies can post their free desk and office space on the site, and workers of all types – freelancers, travelers, etc can find temporary working space at those open desks.

    Loosecubes’ blurb:

    What is Loosecubes?
    Loosecubes is a global office sharing community. We connect members who have an empty desk, studio or sofa with other members who need a productive and inspiring place to work. Loosecubes makes it easy to find the right people to share your workday with.

    How does it work?
    Loosecubes matches business owners who have extra space to share by the day with members who need a place to work every now and again. Entrepreneurs, travelers, remote workers and independents can find a great workspace wherever and whenever they need it.

    Things seem to be going well for Loosecubes. They were written up in JWT’s 100 Things To Watch in 2012, and were recently featured in a Smart Planet Blog Post. I’ll definitely be signing up, as a renter right now, and possibly a host soon, depending on how my new office’s space shapes up.

    I love this new-ish concept of open space sharing. People have extra space not being used, and can put it up for use on an open marketplace. Market forces dictate the pricing, and people who need space get it. Keeps things lean and optimized. I’m a huge fan of AirBnB, and use it frequently with my own space.

    Find shared office space by the day or month on Loosecubes.

    (more…)

  • Fueled’s New Home is 568 Broadway

    Fueled’s New Home is 568 Broadway

    Pando Daily has gotten wind my company Fueled’s impending move, and we’re as excited as they are. This week we’re still at General Assembly, but next week we’ll be in our shiny new office at 568 Broadway, right along side Foursquare, and a number of others. Excited!

    Next month, the building will become home to several more tech companies. Fueled, a mobile app development company with 45 employees, moves in. As will Indaba Music, a social network for musicians, 20×200, an ecommerce site for art collectors, and, I’m told, Bitly, the URL shortening company backed by betaworks. The building is home to some of New York’s fastest growing startups.

    via 568 Broadway Now Home to 10 Hot Startups | PandoDaily.

    More on my role at Fueled.

     

     

    Update 2023-10-19 – Fueled has moved to 430 W 14th St, New York, NY 10014

  • Movers in the Rapidly Changing Startup World

    Movers in the Rapidly Changing Startup World

    These days in the tech scene, startups are everywhere – new companies developing new products or services, trying to make it to the bigtime. It seems like every week there’s a whole new host of companies out there. To stay updated on the landscape, here are a few resources I frequently look at:

    Startup Accelerators and Incubators I Pay Attention To:

    • Techstars – “TechStars provides seed funding from over 75 top venture capital firms and angel investors who are vested in the success of your startup, as well as intense mentorship from hundreds of the best entrepreneurs in the world.”
    • Y Combinator – “Y Combinator runs two three-month funding cycles a year, one from January through March and one from June through August. We ask the founders of each startup we fund to move to the Bay Area for the duration of their cycle, during which we work intensively with them to get the company into the best shape possible. Each cycle culminates in an event called Demo Day, at which the startups present to an audience that now includes most of the world’s top startup investors.”
    • Sequoia Capital – “Sequoia Capital is a venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine in 1972. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital “one of the highest-caliber venture firms” and noted that it is “one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture-capital firms”. It invests between $100,000 and $1 million in seed stage, between $1 million and $10 million in early stage, and between $10 million and $100 million in growth stage.” – Crunchbase. Of note – Sequoia’s tips on writing a compelling business plan.
    • i/o Ventures – “i/o ventures is an early stage startup program that focuses heavily on mentorship. We work closely with founders from product launch through the next stage of company development, sharing what has proven to work for product scaling, revenue growth and fund raising.”
    Co-Working
    • We Work – “WeWork is revolutionizing the traditional definition of work place by providing a collaborative and creative environment where innovative businesses and individuals can flourish. We provide all the basics, so you can focus your efforts on getting the job done.”
    • General Assembly – “General Assembly is a campus for technology, design, and entrepreneurship. We provide educational programming, space, and support to facilitate collaborative practices and learning opportunities across a community inspired by the entrepreneurial experience.”
    • The Summit SF – “The Summit presents an artisan approach to modern café culture; featuring Blue Bottle Coffee, offering craft beers and local wines, and serving conceptually creative cuisine – democratically priced. As a gathering place for like-minds, The Summit also functions as an art space called Peek Gallery, celebrating the connoisseur as curator and craft as art. … Located in the unique I/O Ventures incubation space, The Summit is home to 40+ telecommuters and numerous startups, which receive mentorship and funding from leaders in the tech industry. I/O Ventures is backed by the founders of seminal tech companies: MySpace, BitTorrent, etc. The Summit is their public living room.”

     Startup News and Support

    • Startup Threads – “Startup Threads is a merchandising service for startups. We want to make it easy for you to get the merchandise you need, so you can focus on the rest of your business. Let us know what ways we can serve you and we’ll do the work to make it happen.”
    • Startup Digest – “StartupDigest publishes the best articlesvideos, and weekly event digests in 81 cities all around the world. Each digest is curated by a collective force of over 100 curators who are all founders, investors, or hackers themselves.”
  • Notes: Startup Jobs – Find Your Path with Charlie O’Donnell at General Assembly NYC

    Notes: Startup Jobs – Find Your Path with Charlie O’Donnell at General Assembly NYC

    General-Assembly-LogoTonight I attended an interesting talk at General Assembly by Charlie O’Donnell, discussing finding pathways with startup jobs. A few brief notes:

    Notes:

    •  In the world of startups and startup skills that are applicable to emerging startups, it’s possible to teach yourself the skills you need in one to two years. Even if you want to be a mobile developer, it’s easy enough to get good enough to work at a startup in 1-2 years. It’s all about making the upfront investment.
    • With business skills – with commitment, it’s possible to get the skills you need fairly quickly to get in at a startup.
    • Specialization – Use a concept like “pricing” or “globilization” or “scaling and people management” as a field to become an expert in, and make yourself extremely valuable to startups. Find a specific niche and get really good at it.
    • Once you have specialized in one specific niche of the market, you can approach companies with your specific competency and tell them how you can make them money, rather than asking them what they need you to do. Start a blog about the thing you’re getting really good at. Key differentiator when a potential employer is looking at your resume. (more…)
  • Morgan’s Rock Featured in Departures Magazine

    Morgan’s Rock Featured in Departures Magazine


    In this month’s Departures Magazine, Morgan’s Rock Ecolodge is featured in the article on Nicaragua. I visited Morgan’s Rock a few years ago, and had a great stay. It’s great to see the great photography from around Nicaragua, and read about the country. My family has been there a few times in the past years. The article isn’t fully online yet, but will be available soon.

    Departures Magazine Print Scans of Morgans’s Rock Article

    Photos from my most recent trip to Morgan’s Rock
    (more…)

  • DigiDay:Apps Mobile Applications Strategy Conference

    DigiDay:Apps Mobile Applications Strategy Conference

    I spent the day today at the DigiDay:Apps Mobile Application Strategy Conference.  Agenda on Digiday’s site.

    Below are my brief notes from a few of the talks.

    App Show and Tell Part II: Presenter:Gabe Dorosz, VP & Management Supervisor, Interactive, Cramer-Krasselt

    • Downloading apps currently is difficult because there are too many handsets/platforms, lack of platform detection infrastructure.
    • Consumers don’t necessarily care whether utility is served as app, web app, etc – as long as it works.
    • Installable Mobile Applications
      • Pros – Always on – no network necessary, depth of engagement, leverage of device features and full power, trafficking in app store
      • Cons – Cost of development (up to 250K), platform fragmentation, time to market (approval process), distribution and maintenance channels, increased competition (currently)
    • Cross-Platform Apps are by far the most popular and successful aps
      • Top application platforms in international markets: iPhone, Android, Symbian, Web.

    (more…)

  • SEO Moz Advanced Training Seminar Notes Wrapup

    SEO Moz Advanced Training Seminar Notes Wrapup

    SEO Moz LogoA few weeks ago I attended the SEO Moz Advanced SEO Training Seminar in Seattle, Washington. Below are my notes from a few of the talks we had, covering a wide variety of SEO topics. If you’re interested, most of our seminar should be available on DVD.

    (more…)

  • Search Engine Strategies 2008 – 2 Questions

    Search Engine Strategies 2008 – 2 Questions

    Search Engine Strategies 2008 LogoLast week was then annual Search Engine Strategies New York conference. It’s billed as “the intersection of search, marketing & commerce”, and includes talks, panels and discussion on many aspects of the online search world – both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). I work in SEO, and attended most of the SEO-focused talks on Thursday, March 20th.

    I sat in on the Images & Search Engines talk. The talk description was:

    Regular search engines can’t understand text trapped within images, and this session looks at strategies to combat this problem for the image-intensive site. It also examines how to generate traffic using your images via image-specific search engines.

    It was moderated by Anne Kennedy of Beyond Ink, and the speakers were Liana Evans from KeyRelevance, Chase Norlin from Pixsy Corporation, and R.J. Pittman from Google.

    During the Q&A session, I asked R.J. Pittman of Google about assigning SEO-relevancy to images hosted off-site and served dynamically to e-commerce platforms. I mainly had in mind Adobe’s Scene7, which integrates into ecommerce platforms, and will automatically resize and re-serve product images, based on what section the site and conversion process the user is in. I personally think this is a cool technology – and I’ve even bought from a site that uses it – eBags. Take a look over at eBags, and you’ll notice for many of their product images, you can click and zoom in to a super high res image. This high res image is the same that’s being shown in thumbnails – but it’s being resized to the appropriate size dynamically by Scene7.


    I also sat in the “Meet the Crawlers” talk, which featured Sean Suchter from Yahoo, Evan Roseman from Google and Nathan Buggia from Microsoft. At the Q&A, I asked Sean and Evan about the specialized news indexes of the major search engines, and what the criteria/process is for getting content indexed and shown on sites such as Google News and Yahoo Finance. Here’s the audio.

  • Yahoo soaring on $45 BILLION MSFT bid!

    Real quick.. what’s been going on with Yahoo! lately?! This is insane!

    Quick wrapup of the last few days for Yahoo!….

    Totally amazing. And look at Yahoo!’s stock price.. soaring. This deals a huge blow to the likes of AOL, and even Google…if this acquisition goes through, it would be a major consolidation of key tech and net superpowers…