Startup Rockstars (tm)

Startup Rockstars #9 video announcement

Chief Startup Officer — Mon, 10 May 2010 11:39:13 +0000

Here’s a quick announcement video we did for the next event… the audio was a bit changed by the editing software. You can sign up for the event using the links here. Just announced was the presentation by Tweetion. The hashtag for the event is #SR9.

The image below is from the video clip of Startup Rockstars #8.

Thanks to our sponsor Intelligent Office.

Local web startup-friendly incubators – DC, Maryland, Virginia

Chief Startup Officer — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:40:55 +0000

This post is a challenge of sorts… in trying to find local places that would be web-startup friendly, there wasn’t a handy list. As opposed to biotech, general incubators, etc., the list is an attempt to show physical locations that people can work. Not all of these places below may have rentable facilities, and it will be updated. So this is a start:

Affinity Lab – two locations currently in Washington, DC (disclaimer: host of some great events, including a Startup Rockstars event in 2009)
Emerging Technology Centers – Baltimore, MD
Montgomery County Department of Economic Dev – Maryland
bwtech @UMBC – Baltimore
Technology Advancement Program – University of Maryland
Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (Virginia) – navigate to the Community Business Partnership’s Business Incubation Center, which offers office space by the month, or even by the day, along with conference rooms and mailboxes.
Mason Enterprise Center at George Mason University
Fairfax Innovation Center
The Entrepreneur Center @ NVTC
Teqcorner – Fairfax, VA – has office space and other capabilities. (disclaimer: host to Startup Rockstars in 2008)

There also is the Maryland Business Incubation Association. This article in Chubby Brain has an analysis of Maryland incubators.

MOBILE TECH cocktail DC event comes to town

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:28:45 +0000

Next week on May 5 is the next TechCocktail event – of the mobile variety. The MOBILE TECH cocktail DC event is coming to the area, via a gathering at Current Sushi in Washington DC.

The attendees – mobile techies, gadget junkies, & others – will see a showcase and some development how-to’s for the new Windows Phone 7 Series & mobile platform. App developers and startups are encouraged to show off as well (the event link above has a link to the form to apply).

TechCocktail aims to help amplify the mobile & technology development community, including via their events in many cities.

Update: There is more information about the event here.

Social Matchbox spring 2010 event

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:26:48 +0000

This Thursday, April 29, 2010, there is the next Social Matchbox event at the US Navy Memorial Heritage Center in Washington DC. The night will feature startups, along with networking and awards. The list of presenters was announced & updated today by Social Matchbox and is:

Brewery Fans
cardagin
CardStar
Couples Spark
Heliograph
Replyz
Ringio
Shout Reel
Starfish Retention Solutions
Webtaps
Where Mark

There is expected to be several hundred attendees to see some of the most exciting technology start-ups in the area. (We’ve previously highlighted some of the Social Matchbox presenters in the 2009 DC startup showcase list).

Startup Rockstars #9 Announced

Chief Startup Officer — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 04:29:41 +0000

The next Startup Rockstars event is May 12, 2010, in the large auditorium at the Arlington Central library.

The lineup includes several startups, including FeedbackArmy. More details as they are released, and also on the event signup page.

Startup Rockstars 8 – DC – Recap

Chief Startup Officer — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:11:04 +0000

A mix of about 100 entrepreneurs, media, investors, and others gathered yesterday for the eighth Startup Rockstars event. It was on the swank 12th floor space at Latham & Watkins in downtown Washington DC.

Between slices of pizza, slices of conversation, and servings of startup demos, the crowd enjoyed the night.

The preso’s started with contact synchronizer CYNCZ, with a premise to “Access all your contact details, anywhere, anytime on any device.” It’s a huge market, and like all of the presenters CYNCZ has a monetization model. The audience Q&A targeted their competition (real or percieved), and also some technical questions about functionality.

The second demo was from Inside Job, a Startup Rockstar alumni showing an improved Facebook app that links up people looking for work and companies looking for hire. (And there were also companies looking to hire in attendance at the event).

Wandermark followed up with a slick iPhone app allowing geo-coding of photos. A live demo of the functionality impressed many, and the iPhone demo cradle was also a hit.

And hits are what SeeJoeRock wants to help enable, by letting musicians & bands network and showcase their music & merch online. The demo needed more Q&A time because of the interest in the concept.

All of the demos went off without a hitch. (We lie). With very few technical hiccups, the flow was smooth, and was followed by a modified networking session that allowed people to listen to the interests of the people in the room and meet the people that shared interests.

Some photos of the event:

CYNCZ

Inside Job

Wandermark

SeeJoeRock

One of the views from Latham & Watkins rooftop deck

3 Questions To Start Up Your Mornings

Chief Startup Officer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 05:39:11 +0000

A new company takes care to plan their start-up phase very carefully. It’s the beginning, and setting direction is important. And every day we startup ourselves, but perhaps don’t usually think much about it. Is there any guidance for entrepreneurs on how to kick off a new day? And can these tactics be used by non-entrepreneurs?

There always has been lots of advice on great ways to begin each day. The common themes are stretching, eating well, and generally clearing the mind out (using music, meditation, and other techniques).

Among the off-beat methods include starting your day with a puzzle, such as a flying alarm clock (watch the video demo). There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are even more ways to kick off your day (and 33 listed here, including “write a thank-you letter” and deleting old emails).

The web and social media have allowed us to create new routines, and the trend will grow as more apps and tools are available. Checking your online status every morning is routine for many. Waking up and checking in online before a shower or breakfast is common. Loic Lemeur of Seesmic blogged about how he starts his day online about one year ago. And via GapingVoid you can get Hugh MacLeod’s daily frickin’ cartoon every morning.

Morning Mojo Tactics:

Start your day - perhaps not every day – with questions to challenge where you are, and where you are headed. Whether for your own personal strategy, or a business, or a cause, here are some questions that may get a useful answer in the calm of the morning.

What from yesterday should I leave in the past? - and then picture it fading away and moving farther away.
Will today have a theme… what is motivating me right now? - what mini-goals are you setting to keep you focused?
Tonight when I look back and ask… what will I tell myself was the awesome thing I did today? - another way to keep your priorities in the forefront of your day’s activities.

Besides asking questions, capture some of the natural results from the night’s sleep. Your brain is in a different state, allowing you to:

get your stream-of-consciousness thoughts captured – capture a brain dump at the top of the morning so that you can help keep important thoughts from being overcome by the interruptions of the day, and then forgotten

The clip below shows best-selling author Marianne Williamson with thoughts of how to start the morning right, shedding the mental dirt from the day before.

Add thoughts on how you start your day or would improve it.

The music video to end this post is Thievery Corporation’s Until The Morning:

Another natural song for the topic is the Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up.

Startup Rockstars 8 Announced – Washington DC

Chief Startup Officer — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:46:36 +0000

Startup Rockstars #8 will be in Washington DC, on March 3, 2010. The line-up of presenters for the first Startup Rockstars event this year will be announced later this month, along with other participants in the event. The location is Latham & Watkins, in downtown DC.

The sign-up for the event will be available on Eventbrite and also can be done on the event page here.

Eventbrite’s Kevin Hartz – Vator TV Interview

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:41:54 +0000

We’ve used Eventbrite for ticketing for events, and have watched over the years as it has become a more popular platform. Below is a video from Vator TV in which Eventbrite founder Kevin Hartz is interviewed, including discussing Xoom which he also founded. One of his quotes is to not spend too much time looking at the competition – focus on building a great product and delivering it to your customers:

The video is about six minutes long.

Follow List For Startups & Small Biz on Twitter

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:23:00 +0000

Here are some tweeples on Twitter who tweet about startups. Follow at your own risk – we think they are currently some of the best out related to starting and growing your business.

The list was started before there were Twitter lists, and future versions will be put in places such as our twitter lists.

The criteria for the list was simple: a search for tweets containing “startup” was monitored over a period of time, and people whose posts were usually about entrepreneurship, startups, and related areas were included… *if* they didn’t auto-DM (direct message) or have too much content of questionable value (affiliate links, etc.).

This alphabetized list includes tweeters who are varied, from entrepreneurs, to advisors & strategists, and perhaps a bot or two. The listings should appeal to a range from the solo home business owner to the funded startup executive. Several pictures were included when formatting the post and time prevented including all.

@danmartell – Dan Martell of DanMartell.com – Strategies for Fast Growth Entrepreneurs
@DavidCrow – ”Technology and Community Evangelist”
@HomeBizStats - home and small business tweets
@hovo - Digilite Web Solutions (Canada) – tweeting on entrepreneurial, tech/platform, ecommerce
@OfficeDivvy - many tweets related to small businesses
@startupcrunch - startup, angel, venture capital tweets
@startupprincess – Kelly King Anderson of StartupPrincess
@SVstartupjobs - tweets a mix of tech articles and job openings
@thinkvaulter - “Infopreneur: all about how to find & use information to maximum, business-building advantage “
@TiStartups - from down under (Australia) comes updates related to startups, some tech, funding, and TWiST.
@Venture_Capital - (no name) – tweets news related to startups and venture capital
@venturebin - “Web ventures & internet business report. Internet startups”
@whuntpartners - updates related to startups, getting acquired, technology, entrepreneurship

Have another favorite who usually posts about startups & small business-related updates?