Throw away the rabbits.

Current TV Video Featuring Techstar Teams Ignighter &...

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:32:00 -0600

Current TV Video Featuring Techstar Teams Ignighter & Foodzie

Great job Megan!

The Clever Devver Dudes

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:10:00 -0600

David and Jill Cohen hosted a “End of Techstars” party at their beautiful Victorian home on Friday night to properly bid farewell to an amazing summer. It was definitely a bittersweet night because many of the Techstars are leaving to go back to their homes and families. We’ve got another Demo Day in San Francisco next month that some companies will be presenting at, but Friday was the official end.

I feel like I’ve gotten to know most of the Techstars very well throughout the summer, which is why some of the events of Friday evening surprised me. I knew the Devver Dudes are heavy Ruby guys, have a clear understanding of CPD, and really like Batman. I DID NOT, however, know that their list of redeeming skill sets spilled over into the arts, particularly acrobatics and pop dancing.

I’m not sure exactly how it all started. It seemed like one minute we were all carrying on quiet, group conversations about what’s next and how important this summer has been for all of us, and the next minute Dan and Ben were wagering .5% equity (and a majority stake in the company) on Dan’s ability to do a back flip in David’s backyard. Despite a few near misses, Dan successfully made it over without landing square on his head or worse, breaking a coding wrist or two.

As if this wasn’t already enough excitement for the evening, the Devver Dudes had another surprise in store for us. Apparently Ben has a rather successful past (17,488 views of his video on YouTube alone) dancing and singing with props….and he has a particular affinity for Britney Spears.

Ben made a second debut of his original perfomance shown below. He’s a little taller and a little older, but let me tell you….he still has a way with a broom.

Thanks Devver, for making Friday night a memorable farewell to Techstars. You guys are awesome and any investor reading this should clearly fund you for this display of raw talent alone.

Techstars LibDub Video Sadly, I missed the recording because I...

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 22:26:00 -0600

Techstars LibDub Video

Sadly, I missed the recording because I was at an investor meeting. Thanks to Andrew Hyde’s bad ass planning and filming, this was made in little over an hour and in one take!

"So, here’s to the crazy ones… Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the..."

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 15:25:00 -0600

“So, here’s to the crazy ones… Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.”

- Apple / Think Different (complements of Ben Casnocha)

Generation Think Tank - Thought Leaders

Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:51:00 -0600

What do you get when you put a bunch of chocolate bunnies in a frying pan? Ask Generation Think Tank (GTT). This group of out-of-the-box creative thinkers has made it their full time job to drum up the most obscure marketing strategies that happen to cater to a specific demographic——Generation Y——-hipsters between the ages of 13-35 that are hard to please, hard to understand, and hard to reach. But somehow GTT has figured it out..and companies pay them handsomely for it.

Part of the reason GTT is able to successfully market to this tough demographic is because they are part of it. Brett Jackson, Daniel Lim, and Connor McCue started GTT because they saw a need for a different breed of a marketing company that didn’t think like all the others out there. GTT gets assignments that would terrify the more traditional (read: old) marketing and advertising agencies. A typical project may involve developing an unconventional marketing strategy for an unconventional product —— namely, the AVX Aircraft Company, manufacturers of a small, lightweight helicopter that can fit into a garage!

My high regard for this company derived out of my respect for their fearless leader, Brett Jackson. As the second youngest mentor in Techstars (Ben Casnocha has him beat by a few years), Brett has made quite a name for himself right out of the gates (or the diapers, depending on how you look at it). He started working for Crocs at the age of 16 and spearheaded the evolution from Crocs as a ‘boat shoe’ to the Croc as we know it today (i.e., every person in the world wears them, along with their 4.5 kids). He started an investment firm called Getch Companies at the ripe old age of 18, and started making seed investments in other businesses. Nowadays he runs GTT and provides non-traditional marketing advice to the 10 Techstars companies. He offers a fresh perspective to our teams, partially due to the fact that he has the practical business sense of a veteran entrepreneur, combined with the imagination and energy of a younger person. He’s just sort of an anomole, to tell you the truth.

Brett and his pals at GTT have been extremely helpful to Travelfli as we’ve developed our business this summer, and we can’t wait to work with them more as we roll out our marketing strategy for capturing frequent flyers in their infancy. We’re pitching for his company next week prior to Investor Day, and we can’t wait to hear their offbeat, yet valuable advice and recommendations.

P.S. Brett is also a treasure hunter. Yes, that’s what I said. He hunts for treasures that others buried ages and ages ago. Ask him about it. This guy is full of surprises.

GTT’s Marketing Strategy for Gellazzi... www.savethebunny.org

Moving Mayhem....and Goodbye Turts

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:07:00 -0600

I have been horribly bad at keeping up with my personal blog, mostly due to the fact that I’ve been pretty good with the company blog and feverishly planning for Investor day—-which is just over a WEEK AWAY! I’ve had great intentions to post a bunch of different blogs, so I’m just going to play catch up.

I moved. Again. One would think that moving gets easier with time but that’s a lie. It sucks each and every time. That being said, I am now located in North Boulder and live in the basement of my landlord, who is an older real estate agent. The 10 minute bike ride to work has turned into twenty, and it’s a bit weird living with somebody twice my age. But there are some positives that came out of the deal: I now have a bath tub! I have laundry! My closet is a walk-in!

One of the conditions of my move was that I had to obey the “no pets” policy of my landlord. This means that I had to find a new owner for Rambo and Rudy, my turtles. This presented a bit of a problem for me because I’ve recently been wrestling with the injustice of keeping turtles in captivity. Austin calls my aquarium a “turtle spa” because they have different lighting options, sunbathing logs, and all the food they want. But it is 20 gallons of water that is shit in all day long by two dirty turtles. It never seemed like heaven to me. So after much internal debate and a reasonable amount of research, I decided to let them go in the Colorado University Pond (C.U. Wildlife Control, if this is breaking a law it’s all a farce and nothing I’m saying actually happened).

Last weekend my entire family accompanied me on a special trip up to the pond with the turtles. We staked out the best possible spot on the lake and I let them out of their bin and they INSTINCTIVELY KNEW WHERE TO GO! They weren’t even facing the water but they both took a quick u-turn and headed down to the shore and into the lake. We hung out for awhile to get a lay of the land and saw a ridiculous amount of wildlife in that pond…and they all looked like they were on steroids. Turtles, fish, ducks, more fish. They all seemed happy, plump and able to co-exist peacefully. I think this is the right decision and although I miss them more than I expected, I feel good about letting my kids out of the nest. Go visit them if you have a chance.

Up For The Gyminee Challenge?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:14:00 -0600

Gyminee just announced it’s first Techstars CHALLENGE that ‘runs’ from yesterday to August 15th. The winner is the person who runs the greatest accumulative distance during the period of the challenge.

This couldn’t be better timing for me because I am in the midst of training for a half marathon from Georgetown to Idaho Springs that takes place on August 9th. I ran one half marathon (13 miles) last weekend on a training run so I feel pretty confident that I’ll be able to finish the marathon. It is mostly downhill and is going to be rough on the knees (which are in extremely bad shape due to hard snowboarding in my glory days) but I think the elevation is going to be the biggest challenge. In training I’ve been running up Boulder Canyon and back down to try to get a feel for the elevation. My time is always in the mid 7:00’s, with an average of 7:56/mi on my half marathon run. I am going to try to increase it a bit before the race so I can finish in the lower 7’s.

As for the Gyminee challenge, I am currently leading the ‘race’ in first place with 13 miles. Peter from BuyPlayWin is trailing me with a distant lead of 6 miles. I may sound overly confident and there’s one overriding reason why: Brad Feld has yet to enter the race. Repeat: Brad Feld has yet to enter the race. If he partakes, I might be toast. He runs 20 miles a weekend for the helluvit. However, I am extremely motivated by prizes and will do almost anything for them. The winner of this challenge receives a free pair of Zamberlan hiking shoes…so I’m gonna go down fighting…or running.

P.S. If you haven’t ‘sprinted’ by Gyminee and registered, now is the time. It’s an awesome site for tracking fitness goals, dietary plans, and initiating other fitness challenges like this one with your friends. They are part of the Techstars group this summer and rocking it out with 30,000+ registered users! They also have a cool challenge widget that is displayed proudly on my blog for all to see…

Fling it Girl Launches Today!

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:02:00 -0600

Fling it Girl announced their public beta lunch today at BlogHer. I met Kary Rivera, the co-founder, through Boulder Women Engaging Technology and got to play with the site before it launched. I am so excited it’s now available for all to enjoy!

Fling it Girl is the best place on the web for you to stay in the know regarding the latest trends and products. The platform is similar to Digg, in that you can ‘Fling Up’ items of interest (clothes, books, health, travel, etc.) and then other users can “Fling It” (i.e., vote) to send it to the top of the lists. It relies solely on user generated content so it’s a great way to find out about products that you wouldn’t normally dig up on your own.

There is something for everyone on the site, so even if you don’t care about fashion or health, you can still find the latest tech gadget or garden tool on Fling it Girl. It also has a special section for just guys, so don’t let the name fool you. Guys can play too!

Stop by Fling it Girl today and show your love. I guarantee you will find something unique on the site that you wouldn’t have found on your own!

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his..."

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:22:00 -0600

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

- William James

BHARD in Boulder

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 09:52:00 -0600

It appears as though there is a new kid on the block in the Boulder tech scene. David Cohen posted a nice write up on the BWET (Boulder Women Engaging Tech) group, of which I am a member. Then he introduced a new organization named BHARD (Boulder Hunks Achieving Righteous Dividends). At first glance, it remains unclear as to whether or not the word ‘hunks’ is an appropriate descriptor of this new group. We would like to politely suggest the use of a more fitting noun, such as Hippies, Hillbillies, or Haters.

Furthermore, it seems as though the group’s focus is on BeingHARD at all times. Then why, may we ask, do they have meetings at the YMCA? To us, this is a poor choice in location and is a sure sign that these men are very soft around the edges.

It sounds like a lack of direction also plagues the group. They talk about their ability to penetrate the market and achieve (righteous?) dividends for their group, but an insider source has confirmed they are having issues getting it up and in front of the right people.

It appears as if BHARD also suffers from the BSMALL syndrome. Size is important to them, as it should be, but they are struggling to grow rapidly. It can be construed that their current girth is the reason for poor group confidence, internal strife, inability to perform, and complete failure to engage other groups, such as BWET.

We wish the best for BHARD and hope these men can make an impact on the Boulder community.

iPhone Afterthoughts

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:24:00 -0600

I was initially eager to blog about my horrendous experience in the Apple store on Friday. My team made the unwise decision to stand in the iLine for the new 3G phone, and I think we learned our lessons. Other people, such as Julie Penner, made a more thorough evaluation of the situation at hand and decided it was a waste of time. We did not.

Three days later the pain has lessoned while the love for the iPhone has only strengthened with each passing moment. I am looking back on those stressful hours in the store with a sort of bittersweet feeling….like maybe it was worth it. And I must admit it was fun being part of the hard core group that arrived early on Thursday night to play rock band, eat pizza, learn bike tricks, and tell ghost stories (full disclosure: I was not part of the hardest core group that stayed all night - I left at 1:30 AM and came back at 6:30 AM with ~~donuts~~ bribes).

Matt orchestrating a Rock Band Sess

Sara+Aaron=HARD

There was a solid showing by several people, including Matt Emmi with his Smart Car, Aaron Kellerberg and Sara Czyzewicz (from DandyId).

I had minor issues with my iPhone experience, which involved a two hour call to get my voicemail to work. We did, however, have two people who were ineligible, although one ended up getting his ‘corporate’ account lifted (he never had an account) and just recently remedied the mystery number he was somehow assigned.

Overall the experience could have been better, but it also could have been a whole lot worse. And we did get a standing ovation from the people in line as we all exited…iPhone bag in hand.

Can’t say I’d do it again though.

Techstars In The Flesh

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:46:00 -0600

After much internal debate, the Techstars 2008 group has decided that transparency is the best policy. So without further adieu, I present to you David’s birthday video as well as the new company video.

P.S. We are looking to raise a series A (5 million common stock at 5 pre and 10 post)….and all of the frontal flesh you can handle. Seeking serious inquiries from professional investors. Please email: showmetheflesh@techstars.org.

David's 40th Bday Bash

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:58:00 -0600

David Cohen turns 40 on Saturday (remember to wish him a happy bday) and the Techstars teams couldn’t think of a better gift for him other than another Startup…naturally.

Unfortunately, in order to protect the intellectual property of this mind blowing new collaborative effort, I cannot release the full business plan. But I can confirm that it integrates Flux Capacity’s photo manipulation algorithms with Ignighter’s ~~shady~~ sexy fixation with groups of hotties having ~~sex~~ fun on the beach. It also contains bits and pieces of the most effective aspects of every other ‘08 Techstars company. The end result is impressive to say the least - which is why we’ve all made the executive decision to concentrate all our efforts into making this company succeed. I hope David agrees that this is the right focus. The full name is a mouthful, so you can just call it Buyverfoodmurfligym-x Software Company for short. The company will launch on Investor Day in August, so stay tuned for details. Sending a special shout out to Ignighter & Flux for a sweeet preso.

Secondly, we all created a quick video spot with a personalized happy birthday message to David. Andrew Hyde edited the video and added all of the hilarious references to old people (a.k.a. David), and all the other teams added their unique pieces. Foodzie ate David’s bday cake, Ignighter gifted their own team with Techstars equity, Samantha from Highway Girl sang a beautiful happy bday acapella, and Travelfli got their asses kicked by Brad and David in the inaugural 40th Bday Travelfli Tennis Match. It was an exciting night, to say the least. Second shout out to Foodzie for organizing the bday surprise….

Happy Birthday David and cheers to all of the teams for being creative and HILARIOUS.

Brad got cold…

David got tired…

The Product Guy

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:51:00 -0600

TravelFli had our second meeting with Niel Robertson today. He’s been a great mentor since we first met him and has provided us with tons of industry information as well as some pretty awesome introductions into major loyalty programs. Today we focused predominately on Product Management. Although Niel is a tech guy at heart, he also has this innate ability to help people solve real problems with their processes and this is evidently where his true passion lays.

Niel thinks that product management is “The most important thing most startups forget to do.” I agree. It often gets pushed aside as ‘something we’ll do when we have more time” or “part of the plan after our Series A.”

Niel not only emphasized the importance of including a product management process from the very beginning of development, but he also illustrated how easy it can be. Basically it’s all about developing a process for delivering the right features at the right time. Here’s the major points to remember:

1. The job of a product manager is to clarify the situation and learn when (and how) to say NO.
2. You should choose ONE product manager and they should be the most empowered person in your company.
3. Everybody needs to participate in the process and everybody (even the developers) need to write things out.
4. Write the requirement > clarify it verbally > have everybody write it out. This will cut down on the chances of misinterpretation before the team risks wasting time building the wrong thing.

So when you set out to write out a product requirement and spec, here’s how you think about it:

The user should be able to X (fill in requirement)
The user can do X by (fill in spec).

It’s pretty damn simple. Niel is a badass (I mean, look at his picture). We’re really excited to get this all inked and implemented. Thanks for all the help, Niel!

Warning: Segway in Bunker

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:34:00 -0600

We had an entertaining afternoon visit from Paul Berbarian. While Paul is an extremely interesting guy on any day of the week, he added a new layer today by bringing The Segway. Yes, that’s right. The Segway.

After a brief demo from Paul (who has become a professional Segway-rider in a matter of a day), he let us all have a quick turn on it to zoom around the Founders Room.

I’ve never been on a Segway and I assumed the handles conducted the steering.. I was wrong. The steering is negotiated by the weight you put on the foot pads - so to go forward you put your weight into your toes, and to stop you just lean back on your feet.

Paul turned up the heat when he turned up the speed and soon we were zipping rapidly about the room; which by the way, houses all of the important hardware that in turn houses all of the important IP and technology for every company in Techstars (I’m not sure if he got Cohen’s permission). It was risky but we escaped any major disasters (although I got close to careening directly into Flux’s hard core computer station.)

This picture was taken as I was coming up on a turn at a serious pace. I think I’m a natural.

Paul purchased two Segways with the very clear and confirmed understanding that they have a 90-day return policy. So catch him before October and maybe he’ll take you on a spin.

No 3G in Boulder?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:46:00 -0600

The countdown to the 3G iPhone continues as people wait in line (already) in eager anticipation for the release on Friday, July 11th at 8:00 AM. I hate to (partially) burst your bubble if you are a fellow Boulderite like me, but it appears that the 3G network only works in two cities in Colorado: Denver and Colorado Springs. This obviously doesn’t dissuade me too much, because I am sure AT&T will eventually expand to the Republic of Boulder. That being said, I am buying an iPhone for the first time so I’m getting it either way. But for those of you who are thinking about swapping out your 2G iPhone on Friday, you may want to check out the AT&T 3G coverage in your city or places you travel a lot. Suprisingly there are still quite a few cities (including Boulder…crap!) that are still on the slow Edge data.

Here is a list of the cities that have 3G data. AT&T, get your 3G a** into Boulder!!!!

Twitter Trouble

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:55:58 -0600

I just read Andrew Hyde’s post about Twitter spammers and felt compelled to post as well in hopes that somebody from the twitterdome will read this (ATTN: Biz Stone & Evan Williams) and do something about it.

Here are the spammers who have started following me in the LAST 24 HOURS:

Angelina 1986: post deleted (this is a good sign)

Maggie1986: following 4,000, 3 updates

Angelina 1987: following 15 people, post says “I want to meet people” with a link to a spammy site that probably just put spyware on my computer. Ugh.

FuckGasPrices: Following 4,191, 2 updates. This could be a political statement but it looks spammy to me. Not testing the link - sorry folks.

I guess it’s not the end of the world because I don’t reciprocate with a follow and the relationship quickly fizzles, but it’s still annoying and something could/should be done about it.

Colorado Biz Techstars Video

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 18:19:00 -0600

Check out the Colorado Biz Interview with David and Brad about Techstars.

Dreading the Domain Name

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 18:40:00 -0600

One of the most frustrating aspects of starting any new business is going through the hassle of figuring out what to name it, based entirely on the availability of domain names. I have experienced this firsthand with the advent of myplacemat > the tripdoor > travelfli and probably own about 100 domains just because we thought they might be a good idea. Domains are a dime a dozen so every decent one has been claimed and millions of them are just being squatted on with no real value to their owners or anybody else. It’s an inefficient marketplace and a huge hassle to businesses fighting to go online.

According to ICANN (the organization in charge of overseeing the domain registration process), this is all about to change. The group has approved a law that will allow anybody with enough money to become a registrar and offer their own top-level domain extensions. However, the cost of getting into the business will reportedly be quite expensive at first (in the six figures).

At the end of the day one could argue that this will be a good thing because it will result in millions of new addresses; which will in turn, reduce the high asking prices for the finite number of domains in the marketplace today. On the other hand, it could also end up costing some companies a ton of money just to protect their brands because they’ll have to register every single top level domain related to new trademarks before somebody else does. Furthermore, the premium top level domains will likely get snatched up by major domain registrars or speculators and then just be sold off at a premium to the highest bidder.

My advice to startups - even if you clearly can’t budget 100K+ to register your top level domain before the next guy does, make sure you at least trademark your name and anything else related to your business. Although trademarks won’t be automatically reserved, there will be some mechanism for trademark owners to object to the registration of their trademarked TLD’s by another entity.

FYI - if there is a wealthy Krista out there who is planning on buying my top level domain, .krista —- back off…you’re infringing on my brand and I will fight you for it.

New Tech Meetup...and Horse Porn

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 21:27:00 -0600

Another first Tuesday, another New Tech Meetup. Each month I am inspired by the talent that seems to take root in the Boulder community, and I love how we have a common place to share it with each other. Thanks to Robert and Julie for all of their hard work on this event.

Five awesome companies presented their ideas to the community this month, amidst a bit of good-natured heckling from the crowd. In this order:

Gnip - doing really cool stuff aggregating datastreams for web services - none of which I understood entirely. Lots of fdne <###**7>fdlsd

mobileXware - demo’d ‘xfit’ which is a set of exercises you can download to your phone. Interesting idea…way too pricey.

Dizgo, Inc - second time I’ve seen this company. Integrates local advertising with your mobile phone - like adwords for iPhone. Cool idea but needs a critical mass before it will gain enough traction to be relevant to people. Love the logo.

DandyId - badass new company that aggregates personal identifiers in one place for use by third party sites. AWESOME t-shirts Sara, Arron and Anthony!

mShopper - missed this one (on a wine run), but I gather they have something to do with mobile shopping.

Lijit - one of my favorite sites ever. Introduced their new ad platform for publishers. Ads will display in search results just like they do in Google.

blitzlocal - very interesting overview on Facebook’s ad platform. Seems like a good option for advertisers wanting to reach that specific demographic - especially now since it’s early in the game and it’s not being widely used. Loved Dennis’ use of acronyms…..CPM + PCR =… huh?

The night was entertaining as usual, but the grand prize undeniably goes to Micah for his absolutely priceless retort when somebody challenged the usefulness of their sponsored ads….

“Well, all the advertising is contextually relevant. So you’re not going to see an ad about Horse Porn in the results.”

Um, yeah. Just what I was afraid of seeing…..