Tag Archives: Boulder

TedxBoulder

Posted on by sarah

I spent my afternoon and evening yesterday at the first TedxBoulder. It definitely lived up to my expectations, which were incredibly high knowing some of the organizers. I had originally planned to write this post last night after returning home, but it was too fresh and there was too much to process. There were 22 presenters last night speaking on topics as diverse as romance novels and donating your body to science, including video of a human dissection & display of a real human heart–those 4th row seats seemed less desirable during that particular talk. There were many talks that followed the theme of finding and loving your true self. There were talks out to save the planet and its people. There was a former professional triathelete, Buddhist monk, school board member, venture capitalist, improv theater owner, astrophysicist, graphics designer, and much more (all the speakers). This wasn’t the kind of night that you happen upon–unless you happen to live somewhere like Boulder.

Here are a few of my favorite talks from last night:

David Thomas, a video game journalist (jealous?), talked about what makes a place fun. His thesis? We think a place is fun if it is and isn’t at the same time. Huh? So, he thinks that we think buildings like Lucy there to the right are fun, because the building is an elephant but it’s not. It’s an interesting way to look at the world and how we can introduce more fun into it.

Peter McGraw, a marketing and psychology professor at CU Boulder, talked about what makes things funny–a similar topic to David Thomas. Does this say something about me? :) This is actually the second time I have heard Peter speak, the first being Ignite Boulder. He posits that things are funny if they are both benign and a violation, like someone falling down the stairs but not being injured. This might help me with my goal of one day doing stand up comedy–which was a fairly well guarded secret until now.

Grant Blakeman, a designer and developer, had a simple message, but his talk was beautifully crafted. Through a mile-a-minute walkthrough of his day (which could be anyone’s), he highlighted the lack of negative space aka free time in our lives. It was simple. It was beautiful.

Nathan Eagle, CEO of txteagle, spoke about the state of mobile devices in Africa and how in many ways, the western world is being leapfrogged by developing nations. I was somewhat aware of this, but one example in particular struck me: ditch diggers are organized by SMS. They look for texts to see where the job site is for the day. That is the very definition of ubiquitous to me.

Diane Israel, former professional triathelete, was simply heart-touching. I don’t mean to go all after school special on you, but of all the talks, she made me feel the most. Some of the other speakers had cheesy little ice-breakers that I did my best to ignore. Diane was genuine from the moment she stepped on the stage. Her message of being embodied and accepting and loving yourself is something we could all hear more often–especially in such an incredibly unvarnished way.

Brad Feld, early stage investor and entrepreneur (and guy with cool shirts), had an unexpected topic. When I’ve heard Brad speak before, it has exclusively been about startups and venture capital. Last night, he got personal. He spoke candidly about his marriage and all of the things that can get in the way. His solution, or perhaps more accurately, his wife’s solution? A quarterly week off the grid. No phones. No email. No contact with the outside world–just time, solitude, and each other. This is quite a lovely idea, and this idea may have been the most practical of the night. It’s also the one I heard most discussed afterwards. My husband and I (married 6 years, together 14) have played with the idea of weekends off the grid. When we even have a few hours of this, we love it. It sounds so hard, but the rewards on even such a small scale are great. It’s something we’d like to give a longer try.

My takeaway: The talks were fantastic, but my biggest takeaway of the night was that nights like this need to continue.  In order for them to continue (and to spread), people like you and me have to make them happen.  That’s my TedxBoulder pledge–to do my part in bringing events like this to the community that I love.

Techstars Class of 2010 Roundup, Part II

Posted on by sarah

I just got back from the final round of the Community Demos for this year’s TechStars class. I am abuzz! These guys (& gals) are building some seriously cool stuff! Tonight’s demos:

Vacation Rental Partners – Much like Rent Monitor from yesterday’s set of demos, Vacation Rental Partners is trying to solve the headaches for a niche market.  This time, we’re talking individual home owner’s renting out second homes for vacations.  They’ve made things easy for owners while creating a solution that’s just as easy as booking a hotel for guests.  It looks like a slick solution, but this isn’t a market that I know a lot about.  I can tell you that the numbers that they presented looked very good.

ADstruc – I love these guys.  With their (first ever) marketplace for outdoor advertising, they are creating efficiencies in an otherwise very inefficient market.  Instead of dealing with brokers all over the country, large advertisers can buy coast-to-coast by clicking from the comfort of their office–or home–or coffee shop.  This looks like a win-win proposition for all involved.  Bonus: These guys have awesome partnerships already with more to come!

Spot Influence – This is another team working advertising, but this time, they’re helping advertisers identify influential people on very specific topics through calculations based upon how many people follow, listen to, and engage with these people on particular topics. It’s interesting stuff, but the lead in to their presentation made me think that they were helping everyday people connect with experts in their community on particular topics.  Once I realized that it was helping advertisers reach me inside my social circles, I was less excited–at least personally.  These guys offer a definite value, I’m just not their market.

Kapost – Kapost has created a virtual newsroom where anyone can write content to be purchased by publishers.  It’s really a marketplace for words–definitely interesting.  I’d like to learn more about their competitors already in the marketplace.  My biggest concern is that the tech isn’t easily defensible.  They will need to get a foothold into the market to make this a go.

GearBox – Hands down, GearBox won out of all the TechStars grads for fun!  This was definitely a great way to round out the two nights of presentations.  GearBox has built a ball that you can control with your smartphone.  Here, you just have to see it.  It sounds like the ball is just the beginning.  They’ve built an API that will allow manufacturers and software developers to use their tech in any way imaginable.  Back to the balls: if these guys would have had these on hand in the hallway afterwards (concert-style), I have no doubt that they would have sold out.  A developer kit should be available in a few months.  This did remind me of the Star Wars Force Trainer and similar toys, which haven’t been very successful.  There are a few key differences, though.  1) The price point is better – expected to be $40.  2) This is portable.  You already have your phone, and you can slip a ball into your pocket.  3) You’ll look much cooler using this than wearing some dorky headset.  Oh & this is much more fun to watch than someone staring at a ball.

Where would I put my money?  Omniar (my writeup from last night’s demos) & GearBox.  To be fair, I think most of these guys are going to build profitable companies, but in Omniar I’d be looking for a quick return on investment & in GearBox I’d be looking for steady income and a fun time doing it!

Now you have it–my thoughts on the TechStars Boulder Class of 2010.  I can’t wait to watch these companies develop.  Their success so far has put a fire in my belly to get to work on my own side project!

Techstars Class of 2010 Roundup, Part I

Posted on by sarah

One of the first things that attracted me to Boulder was the TechStars program.  I haven’t applied to the program and have no plans to do so (although it seems like the very best summer camp ever!), but I loved the idea of living in a town with TechStars as part of the ecosystem.  The people, the tech, the energy–I’m enjoying the entrepreneurial contact high.

Tonight, I had the utmost pleasure of being introduced to a few of this year’s class of TechStars grads at the Boulder Denver New Tech Meetup.  The rest of the class will be presenting tomorrow night in a second session.  All of this is in advance of the TechStars Demo Day on Thursday.  Here are some of my thoughts about tonight’s crew.  Note: I’m not including anything that I think will be a ta-da moment for these guys on Demo Day.  I don’t want to steal their well-deserved thunder.  Onward!

Rent Monitor – This is an on point solution for a niche market that’s definitely feeling the pain.  Having experience in the property management business, this team built an app to take the pain out of being the landlord–automating and tracking everything.  I’d go one further, I’d want to rent from someone using this app.  I don’t think most bad landlords are bad on purpose–just overwhelmed.  I think these guys could take local markets by storm.  On the founders: I met Deanna Bennett a a couple months ago (I was ‘gate crashing’ a Tech Stars event) and keep running into her at local events.  I’m just getting to know her, but she and her hubby & co-founder Brett Yates seem like the kind of folks you want in your social circle.  This should be an asset when raising capital.

RoundPegg – This is the only product that I’ve used prior to tonight.  I’ve heard so much great stuff about RoundPegg already that I didn’t realize that they were a TechStars company this summer.  I thought they were already very well established.  RoundPegg helps you filter potential employees based upon fit with the company, team, and manager.  It also helps employees find employers that would be a good match.  You can go on their site right now and do a free assessment on yourself.  For me, it was dead on.  I’d love to give this a try in hiring and test myself against it.

Omniar – Omniar wants to “make the world clickable”.  They’ve built an API that allows users to take a picture of an item and learn more about it.  If I had some cash set aside for investing, this would be my pick of tonight’s presenters.  All of the teams were fairly solid, but I think these guys have the potential for a quick and very large exit.  Their model is licensing the technology, but it also means it’s been built in a way that it would be easy for another company to buy and make their own.  There are many possible applications of their tech, too.

BlipSnips – I want to love this tool, but I don’t think I’m the market for it.  Very rarely do I share videos with others, although that might change with BlipSnips.  I don’t know, but I’m going to give it a try.  I can definitely see this being a great tool for videos of family events, though.

Statsmix -These guys have built a drag-n-drop, plug in as you see fit dashboard for all the analytics, metrics, and reports you can throw its way.  On top of that, the tool points out insights based upon aggregating this data together and helps you visualize what’s important.  I’d love to get my hands on this and give it a go.

ScriptPad – Hands down, these guys had the best demo of the night.  They’re facilitating electronic prescriptions.  I love that they are putting this in the hands of docs.  I think they’ve bought themselves close to first to market advantage in what will probably be a crowded marketplace very soon.  If they can ramp up quickly and get a foothold, I think they will be in a very good place.  One thing to watch out for–consolidation of the medical industry.  I designed a similar application for pharmacies about ten years ago but bailed because of consolidation there.

If this is what TechStars Boulder 2010 has to offer, I can’t wait for tomorrow night! (Read the rest here.)