Startup Rockstars (tm) » startups

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 News, Videos & Blog Posts Roundup: demos, creativity, innovation

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:59:24 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

Tuesdays are startup news days here.

This week the attention is on the DEMO event, which is being streamed live. Our own Startup Rockstars alumni Diditz is there, along with dozens of other startups. (see articles at the bottom of the post)

And in other news, the economy (at least in the US) continues to show signs of improvement.

Recent articles & blog posts:

4 solid ways to engage a venture capitalist – Smart Planet
(the above found via: Social Networking May Help Entrepreneurs Connect With Venture Capitalists – Gaebler)

What Have VCs Really Done for Innovation? – TechCrunch

Venture Capitalist At Your Service – VentureBlog

They’re drinking it up in New York – LA Times (about success selling bottled NY tap water)

Videos:

Entrepreneur advice: break down brick walls - Vator.TV – Bambi Francisco interviews Lorenzo Carver (Sept. 2009)

Tapping In To Creative Potential – George Kembel in the clip below explores the question: Is creativity available to all of us, of just the gifted? This video about the d.school explores the idea of latent creativity:

Startups With Big Dreams

Chief Startup Officer — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:14:02 +0000

Every so often on this site we will celebrate the big-dreaming entrepreneurs, those who have seemingly impossible dreams. Without these people, there would be no inventions, no innovations, and no breakthroughs in human accomplishment.

You’ve heard the saying “What would you do if you knew you could not fail?” (Robert H. Schuller), and for some people they appear to not worry about failure. In many cases it is true – they were too busy, and they had confidence that their dreams were destined to materialize.

Many of us consume information in the area that we want to grow and develop in. People who are pursuing their dreams are drawn to stories, resources, and other information sources that help them.

Much of the focus on this blog is on ventures platformed on the social web and companies who have online services and products.

And like many leaders of 21st century web startups, they are inspired by the crowd.

“There go the people. I must follow them for I am their leader.“ - Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

The dreams of the crowd can inspire individuals to act to make those dreams become real. Perhaps those dreams are the biggest of all, as they are the dreams of many.

And in writing this post, it occured that the reverse is true – and is part of the business model of companies such as Genius Rocket: to take the dream of one and allow the crowd to help fulfill it. (Genius Rocket presented at our June 2009 event, and their community creates media for others in a crowd-sourcing type of way).

And the video for this post is Beyoncé‘s “Sweet Dreams“ (as opposed to The Eurythmics 1980′s hit “Sweet Dreams” [are made of these]):

The video is about 5 minutes long.