- Posts tagged utah technology
- Explore utah technology on posterous
Big Kickoff Event - Web Startup Group/CEO Networking and Food
When:
Oct 23 at 7pmWhere:
BYU, in the (Talmage Building) TMCB auditorium 1170.What:
See belowWho:
Entrepreneurs, angel investors, and anybody who's interested in entrepreneurship in or around BYU. A note from the guys at the Web Startup Group (Matt Smith, Sam Curren, Brian Whitmer, and Devlin Daley):Meeting Format
The overriding emphasis will be on interesting, relevant information quickly disseminated. It should have punch. We feel that shorter is better. The officially organized portion of the meeting will be between 30-45 minutes. A typical meeting has three parts: 1. BizTech 2. Fast Pitch 3. Group Gab Two BizTech talks, 1-3 Fast Pitches. The open Group Gab (with food) is left open ended so that everyone can mingle for as long as they like.BizTech
These talks will be 15 minutes in length. They will be on topics technical in nature while emphasizing how the technology can be applied to business, or how it affects startups. Some possible topics: • Amazon Web Services/App Engine • Android/iPhone • What's happening with the browser and javascript performance: v8/tracemonkey/ squirrelfish • Hybrid applications betwen web & desktop (Prism, Fluid, chrome, air (dynamic language:desktop lua & adobe, rubycocoa, pycocoa) • How to hire good employees (what to look for in a marketer, developer etc.) • Facebook/OpenSocial application development • Ajax vs. Flash/Flex The state of Ajax -- what you can do and what you can't :) • Making your website mashable (amenable to greasemonkey, and mashing up with other services) • Leveraging LinkedIn/Facebook • Making usable applicationsFast Pitch
Fast Pitches are short 5-minute mini pitches made to the whole group. The idea being you an pitch an idea, something you need feedback on or if you are looking for collaborators. Five minutes means they've got to be to the point. These can be startup ideas, or, like a tech talk by a techie looking for how to make money off a tech idea.Group Gab
Group gab is designed to facilitate networking, but also to find birds of a feather. Anyone wishing to talk about a specific topic, whatever it may be, writes the topic on a 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper. They then have one minute at the microphone describing what the topic is, why others may be interested etc. The meeting MC then basically assigns that "idea" a location in the hall to congregate. The paper is taped to the assigned wall and after all the ideas have been announced, the formal portion of the meeting is completed. Everyone can grab some grub and then participate in the self-forming groups. After that, there will be food and a little bit of time to talk, have some pizza and drinks, and get to know other tech entrepreneurs in the area.Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum was great - Dennis Wood from vSpring came
The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum was excellent, as usual. Dennis Wood from vSpring spoke about the process of hiring the right people at the right times in a startup's life. It confirmed some of the things I already knew (in a tech startup, at the beginning all you need is a couple of awesome technical founders and a visionary CEO who's not afraid to go out and make connections, sales, etc.)
Dennis Wood's story is pretty cool. He moved out from CA to SLC to work on an executive search firm startup with his friend. After landing a few major deals (a Coca-Cola executive and a few other big companies' executives), he started to get more attention in the press, etc. He knew some people from the venture capital firm, vSpring, and after hearing them talk over and over again about how important human capital is (ie solid management), he called them up and said, "If you think human capital is so important, why don't you have somebody in the firm who's sole role is to hire management for the companies in your portfolio?" They liked his pitch, and hired him. The rest is history - he's a really nice guy.
He and I sat at lunch together at the UVEF before he gave the keynote address. Before the meeting started, we all go around the room and talk about why we're there and what we're working on. When time came for me to stand up, I said, "I'm with the CEO club at BYU and I'm spearheading an effort to reach out to software entrepreneurs and connect them with the resources/tools/contacts they need to start and build great companies." After the meeting ended, several people came up to me to express their interest in what I was doing.
Business cards from investors and entrepreneurs flooded my wallet. I think I've hit a nerve - and it's really exciting. Today I went out to give my first announcement to a CS class (looking for software entrepreneurs). 5 people responded! In just my first announcement! If I can get the info for 5 software entrepreneurs or future-entrepreneurs every time I make an in-class announcement, we can find some great talent on campus, and help them build some awesome companies. Facebook came out of Harvard, Google out of Stanford. Some awesome software/tech/web companies have come out of BYU also - Omniture for example. I'd like to see the next big thing come out of BYU, and I know the ideas and the people are here. I just have to look hard enough, and I'll find them.
