Monday: Startup Happy Hour + Mobile Monday Developer Event
July 31, 2009
Join us for a regular (i.e. monthly) startup happy hour (5-8PM) and then come upstairs to our offices for the Mobile Monday event.
The Dallas Startup Happy Hour is the talk of the startup community in Dallas. Check out the coverage in the Dallas Morning News: http://tinyurl.com/sshhdfw As a result of the events, several startups have found a) employees, b) co-founders, c) angel investors and d) had a few free drinks.
Are you interested in connecting with the local startup community? We are working to build a vibrant startup community here in Dallas every bit as interesting and dynamic as San Francisco, Boulder, Boston or Austin. The first step is engagement.
Sponsored by SpringStage - you are invited to attend. Please RSVP.
Capital Factory Demo Day Sept 9!
July 30, 2009
We just got our pre-invite to the Capital Factory’s Demo Day in September. Here’s the info:
Capital Factory will be producing Demo Day 2009 to showcase the 5 companies in our program this year, and to foster discussion and peer interaction with technology investors, executives, and entrepreneurs.
Company Demos include:
- Cubit Planning
- FamiGo
- Hourville
- PetsMD
- SpareFoot
Mike Maples, Jr. will also be the keynote speaker with panel discussion following.
There is only room for 250 folks but luckily they’re going to be streaming the entire event online.
Startup Profile: iPic Innovations
July 28, 2009
iPic is a socially-inspired Internet ecosystem and service - a better way to interact and share with people online. It builds on the growth of Web Services and Social Networking and delivers a more personalized and life-like online social experience.
A new desktop design concept combined with the associated iPic Cloud Service provides more intuitive access to web-based applications and raises online security, privacy, and sharing to higher levels than were previously possible. Instead of a single-person browser-based experience, the Internet becomes an application-independent multi-player community experience.
Q. Why did you start the company? A. We saw an opportunity to capitalize on the emergence of several significant enablers to create a new ecosystem for online recreational activity. Our goal is to develop the infrastructure for a new kind of online experience and then open it up to the user community to evolve it and to use it as a platform for lots of new socially-oriented apps.
Q. What blogs do you read regularly? A. I read thefunded.com, engadget, gizmodo, cnet, techcrunch, techdirt, and wired pretty regularly. I listen to or watch geekbrieftv, tekzilla, TWIT, This week in Start-ups, and Macbreak Weekly.
Q. What was your least favorite job? A. One summer I worked as a groundskeeper at a golf course. Lots of manual labor in the hot sun! I think that experience started my mantra of “There must be a better way to do this.”
Q. What is unique about your company’s culture? A. We’re a global start-up, which is pretty rare. However, with the power of Skype, it’s pretty easy to stay in close touch. There’s an 8-hour time difference between Dallas and Istanbul so we try to keep to a routine of checking in at the beginning and the end of each of our days, even if there isn’t anything significant to discuss, to keep the communication lines open.
Q. What are your goals for the company? A. As mentioned previously, our goal is to establish an infrastructure for a new kind of hybrid hosted+local Web services platform and then open it up to the user community to make it what they want. As far as the future is concerned, we think that the ecosystem we’re developing will be pretty compatible with the strategic goals and operational strengths of a lot of Service Providers (of many different types) so we’ll be nurturing those relationships as we grow.
Q. Anything you want to make sure is included in your startup profile that I haven’t asked or covered? A. Even though we launched our company right before the worst economic meltdown of the last half century, it was still the right thing to do at the right time. We’re well positioned to lead our market as the economy recovers.
| Where is your startup based? |
Dallas, TX and Istanbul, Turkey
|
|---|---|
| Name | Gordon Quinn |
| Title: |
CEO & Co-founder
|
| quinn@ipicinnovations.com | |
| LinkedIn Profile: | http://www.linkedin.com/in/gordonquinn |
| Company: |
iPic Innovations, Inc.
|
| Web Site: | http://www.ipicinnovations.com/ |
| Company Founded: | Monday, April 28, 2008 |
| Key Executive: |
Gordon Quinn, CEO & Co-founder
|
| Key Executive: |
Tunc Kahveci, CTO & Co-founder
|
| Funding to Date: |
$300K of seed funding from our development partner, ARDIC, Inc., plus too much bootstrapping!
Preparing to seek our next investment round beginning in August, 2009. |
| Number of Employees: |
6
|
My Twitter Updates for the Week
July 26, 2009
- Back in Dallas, need a vacation from my vacation. #
- @LovePjs The goal is to talk about the startup community in my area. Where are you from? in reply to LovePjs #
- Running a bit behind this morning, sort of the ‘day after’ vacation syndrome. #
- Ag Sec. Vilsack: ‘Purchased 760,000 Lbs of ham at cost of approximately $1.50 per pound’. FOOD LION: $.79 Lb. (it wasn’t his money) #tcot #
- Did you know that the ’swine flu’ is now a pandemic? The WHO says its continued spread is inevitable: http://bit.ly/secretpandemic #
- @smcguinness Absolutely. They have reached out several times. You want to chair the event? We will help host. in reply to smcguinness #
- NBC wants to interview a local ShopSavvy user tomorrow around 10AM at our offices. Ping me if you are interested and can make it. #
- Dallas Interactive Meetup at Big in Japan tomorrow: http://bit.ly/EPW9p #
- On our way to $23 trillion in bailouts: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25164.html #
- Headed to bed. “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” - Orwell #
- NBC in the house doing a story on ShopSavvy http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/3742380935/ #
- FYI - I left my cell phone at the house today. 214.550.2003 is the only number that will work right now. #
- @rondawes I normally just give out my office number. It rings simultaneously on my cell and office (but no text - hence my note). in reply to rondawes #
- Just found out a good friend just opened a bank. Suddenly feel like I need to get busy… #
- Guys night dinner tonight. #
- Best new restaurant in Dallas… http://flic.kr/p/6HsDsQ #
- Long day today, but I got quite a bit done. Hope you all have a great weekend! #
- Scott’s bachelor party starts in 1 hour… FYI - cameras have been banned. #
- Headed to dinner - guys, don’t be late - we are going to sit down at 7:30… #
- Made it in early… Fun had by all… #
My Twitter Updates for the Week
- Back in Dallas, need a vacation from my vacation. #
- @LovePjs The goal is to talk about the startup community in my area. Where are you from? in reply to LovePjs #
- Running a bit behind this morning, sort of the ‘day after’ vacation syndrome. #
- Ag Sec. Vilsack: ‘Purchased 760,000 Lbs of ham at cost of approximately $1.50 per pound’. FOOD LION: $.79 Lb. (it wasn’t his money) #tcot #
- Did you know that the ’swine flu’ is now a pandemic? The WHO says its continued spread is inevitable: http://bit.ly/secretpandemic #
- @smcguinness Absolutely. They have reached out several times. You want to chair the event? We will help host. in reply to smcguinness #
- NBC wants to interview a local ShopSavvy user tomorrow around 10AM at our offices. Ping me if you are interested and can make it. #
- Dallas Interactive Meetup at Big in Japan tomorrow: http://bit.ly/EPW9p #
- On our way to $23 trillion in bailouts: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25164.html #
- Headed to bed. “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” - Orwell #
- NBC in the house doing a story on ShopSavvy http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/3742380935/ #
- FYI - I left my cell phone at the house today. 214.550.2003 is the only number that will work right now. #
- @rondawes I normally just give out my office number. It rings simultaneously on my cell and office (but no text - hence my note). in reply to rondawes #
- Just found out a good friend just opened a bank. Suddenly feel like I need to get busy… #
- Guys night dinner tonight. #
- Best new restaurant in Dallas… http://flic.kr/p/6HsDsQ #
- Long day today, but I got quite a bit done. Hope you all have a great weekend! #
- Scott’s bachelor party starts in 1 hour… FYI - cameras have been banned. #
- Headed to dinner - guys, don’t be late - we are going to sit down at 7:30… #
- Made it in early… Fun had by all… #
My Twitter Updates for the Week
- Back in Dallas, need a vacation from my vacation. #
- @LovePjs The goal is to talk about the startup community in my area. Where are you from? in reply to LovePjs #
- Running a bit behind this morning, sort of the ‘day after’ vacation syndrome. #
- Ag Sec. Vilsack: ‘Purchased 760,000 Lbs of ham at cost of approximately $1.50 per pound’. FOOD LION: $.79 Lb. (it wasn’t his money) #tcot #
- Did you know that the ’swine flu’ is now a pandemic? The WHO says its continued spread is inevitable: http://bit.ly/secretpandemic #
- @smcguinness Absolutely. They have reached out several times. You want to chair the event? We will help host. in reply to smcguinness #
- NBC wants to interview a local ShopSavvy user tomorrow around 10AM at our offices. Ping me if you are interested and can make it. #
- Dallas Interactive Meetup at Big in Japan tomorrow: http://bit.ly/EPW9p #
- On our way to $23 trillion in bailouts: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0709/25164.html #
- Headed to bed. “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” - Orwell #
- NBC in the house doing a story on ShopSavvy http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/3742380935/ #
- FYI - I left my cell phone at the house today. 214.550.2003 is the only number that will work right now. #
- @rondawes I normally just give out my office number. It rings simultaneously on my cell and office (but no text - hence my note). in reply to rondawes #
- Just found out a good friend just opened a bank. Suddenly feel like I need to get busy… #
- Guys night dinner tonight. #
- Best new restaurant in Dallas… http://flic.kr/p/6HsDsQ #
- Long day today, but I got quite a bit done. Hope you all have a great weekend! #
- Scott’s bachelor party starts in 1 hour… FYI - cameras have been banned. #
- Headed to dinner - guys, don’t be late - we are going to sit down at 7:30… #
- Made it in early… Fun had by all… #
Doing well by doing good. . .
July 22, 2009
I think the coolest thing about being an entrepreneur is the ability to quickly focus resources on new problems or opportunities. Ev and Biz were building a podcasting business and one day they began shifting more and more of their resources to focus on a small internal project called Twitter. Does anyone remember what the podcasting business was called? (FYI - Odeo)
Earlier this year Adrian Grenier approached Big in Japan to build a green version of ShopSavvy called EcoHero and we decided to shift some of our resources to work on it. It wasn’t core to our mission, but we thought it was an important problem and a great opportunity. More recently a group working with the Gates Foundation approached us to leverage ShopSavvy’s scanning ability to help solve a technical issue they were having reading the results from Aids tests.
Aids is a horrific problem in Africa and testing is a major issue. Evidently, many new mother’s in Africa have AIDS, but their children may or may not be infected with the HIV virus. The existing tests available in Africa work well for adults as they look for HIV antibodies, but infants who are still breast feeding from an infected mother will have the HIV antibodies regardless of whether or not they have the HIV virus. This new test only looks for the virus allowing doctors to save the lives of countless children in the process. This is where we come in - they needed a way to ’scan’ the test results to determine, with very great accuracy, whether not a test was positive or negative. Needless to say, we jumped all over the opportunity to create a) something so cool that b) could make such a big difference in the world.
We call the application BioSCANr (placeholder name) and it should be released later this year on Android and the iPhone 3Gs. Of course, this application won’t be useful to anyone outside of medical professionals in Africa (an Android-based phone will be included with each shipment of test strips), but we will put it in the app markets nonetheless so you can check it out. I love being an entrepreneur! Here are a few pictures of the test strips and our scanning mechanism (i.e. not on the phone yet):
Entrepreneur Camp - Houston 8/6-8/7
Our friends at Werkedoo recently sent us info about an Entrepreneur Camp being held next month. If you’re an entrepreneur in Houston you might want to check out the upcoming Entrepreneur Camp the first week of August.
Entrepreneur Camp is a BarCamp style event with the goal of bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, VC’s, business leaders, and anyone interested in starting a business to network, share ideas, and explore opportunities.
For more info and registration info check out the website.
VC Investment Up (But Still Down)
July 21, 2009
Back in June we posted about the shrinking VC Market noting it has been harder and harder to find a fund. The positive side is that according to a report by Dow Jones the second quarter of 2009 showed a 32% increase of deals from the first quarter. The start of 2009 was the lowest since 1998 at just $4 billion.
Not only are the combined totals lower but if you do a little bit of math with the numbers in the graph you can see that individual investments are smaller. The Dow Jones report indicates the median deal size is at $5 million - which is the lowest seen since 1999.
Another change is in the investments themselves. According to Jessica Canning, Global Research Director of Dow Jones they’re also seeing less IT and software investments. She explains, “[I]nvestors are diversifying their portfolios away from traditional investment areas like biopharmaceuticals and software toward segments like medical devices and information services while also pulling back on how much they are willing to invest in each deal.” This is fairly consistent with the new fund in San Antonio we highlighted last week.
One final point of interest is that the report indicates the bay area still attracts the majority of VC investment. We’ve got nothing again San Francisco but that is crazy when you consider the current state of California’s economy and the high cost of living.
Stop Brain Drain in Texas
July 20, 2009
Four years ago Mike Maples, co-founder of Austin-based Motive, fled Texas and headed to the Valley to start his own venture capital firm. Why did he leave Austin? To find a community with ’startup culture’. Silicon Valley is THE brand for startup culture and that is where Mike set up shop. He has invested in companies like Twitter, Digg and YuMe. Ironically, Mike has made even more investments in Austin-based companies like SolarWinds, Bazaarvoice and Spriceworks.
Lori Hawkins recently interviewed Mike and here were some of his quotes:
Mike on the startup scene in the Valley: “There are tons of great founders pursuing great ideas, and we still get more than 100 business plans a week. I think this is a very good thing and underscores why Silicon Valley has such a great startup culture. I am seeing as many great opportunities now as at any time I can remember.”
Mike on investor activity in the the Valley: “The very best startups are finding it easier than ever to raise large amounts of money because of a “pile-on” effect among people wishing to place larger bets on the clearest winners. On the downside, for a larger percentage of startups, the venture capitalists are too risk-averse to fund them without very compelling early signs of success.”
Mike on VC models: “I think the ‘old’ venture capital way was a great model! It’s just that most firms have quit practicing it. They have raised such huge funds that they have forgotten how to be venture capitalists. I think venture capital will get its groove back when it rediscovers its roots and focuses on early stage, capital-efficient, disruptive opportunities.”
Mike’s advice for entrepreneurs: “(1) Only the really huge opportunities are worth the time and sacrifice of being an entrepreneur. (2) Develop products and customers in parallel, rather than one after the other. (3) You only go out of business when you run out of iterations. … So keep your (cash) burn rate super low and iterate as often as you can.”
Why do we keep losing people like Mike to Silicon Valley? Mike started his career in Austin with Tivoli and then at Motive - why would he leave in his thirties after experiencing success in Texas? How can we keep people like Mike, homegrown entrepreneurs with experience, in Texas?
My Twitter Updates for the Week
July 19, 2009
- Headed to the grocery store - my weekly trek. #
- Back from Ice Age, slow… Ethan and Pierce liked it… #
- Last week to find a Porsche Cayenne for Michele. Did the Porsche dealer on Lemon move? #
- Great updates from Lance at the Tour: http://digg.com/u18E5a #
- Working on a name for a network of political blogs (conservative blogs). Any ideas? #
- Watching nomination hearings. Need? Send me a text. #
- @hudsonette Using the terms ’salsa’ and ‘pinata’ in context with #sotomayor is rather offensive, why keep using them? in reply to hudsonette #
- @THincAboutIT Palm SDK? Still not ready for primetime. No support for camera yet - they are considering opening it up. in reply to THincAboutIT #
- @hudsonette I am confused. You deleted your tweet about #sotomayor that referred to ’salsa’ and ‘pinata’? What are you hiding? in reply to hudsonette #
- Wondering if my lunch date is still on… #
- Doesn’t look like #sotomayor is going to meltdown on the witness stand today. Holding her own. Not going to admit bias. #
- @dmburrows They are spending more time on #sotomayor than they did on the largest spending bill in history not to mention the climate tax. in reply to dmburrows #
- Chris’ wounded puppy… :( http://flic.kr/p/6ENxJH #
- So, need ideas for Scott’s bachelor party (Scott is my business partner of 9 years). Any suggestions (DFW-based)? #
- Need photographer for bachelor party on the July 30th. Only professionals need apply. #
- Finally got Michele her Porsche - thanks for your help (i.e. those of you who helped me get a great deal). http://flic.kr/p/6F7ELg #
- Took my Mom and her friends to lunch today at Fearings - good stuff. http://flic.kr/p/6F8r3m #
- RT @shopsavvy Should Amazon allow their prices to be shown on mobile applications like ShopSavvy? http://twtpoll.com/4p6lkn #twtpoll #
- Hope to see you at http://bit.ly/tqgKX
(mobile developer event in Dallas) # - @happygiggles We think his front paws got hit by a weedwacker - nightmare. :( in reply to happygiggles #
- RT kirkballou Mobile Monday event August 3 @shopsavvy http://bit.ly/tqgKX Topics Eclipse foundation and App Stores @momodfw #
- Evidently we are supposed to mention Wal-Mart today. Note it is the second most popular trending topic. #
- RSVP for Startup Happy Hour: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/3081373/ (Startup Happy Hour and Mobile Monday in one night) #
Startup Happy Hour + Mobile Monday Developer Event 8/3/2009
July 16, 2009
Big in Japan will be hosting Mobile Monday Dallas on August 3rd immediately following the Startup Happy Hour.
Wayne Parrot and Greg Amerson from Genuitec will be presenting on the current climate of the mobile application marketplace.
Click here for more info on the happy hour and Mobile Monday Dallas.
San Antonio Venture Fund Launches with First Investment
We received word today from San Antonio that local VC,Targeted Technology Fund I, LP closed it’s first round of funding in Vidacare Corporation.
Vidacare Corporatation was established in 2001 and specializes in technology focused on medical procedures using intraosseous space (inside the bone). Their headquarters is in San Antonio but their patented technology has not only won them awards but has already been used by 300,000 patients worldwide.
Targeted Technology Fund I was formed to capitalize on the growth of the biomedical device sector in Texas, Alabama, Colorado and Georgia and the rapidly expanding investment opportunities in these regions. Investing in Vidacare comes as no surprise considering San Antonio’s large medical technology presence.
It’s exciting for us to see new VCs moving forward with funding during these challenging economic times. Medtronic recently opened a facility in San Antonio creating 1400 jobs. Additional funding and growth adds to this number.
My Twitter Updates for the Week
July 12, 2009
- Hope to see you at the Startup Happy Hour tomorrow: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/3012068/ #springstage #startup #dallas #
- Big in Japan team growing rapidly, check out team: http://www.biggu.com/company/ Still need a Dallas-based full-time iPhone developer! #
- Thanks for ShopSavvy mentions! You Rock!!! @GadgetGuruTech @rchatburn @mattdowding @SusannahDawn @KYLESAURUS #android #
- Rumor: Texas Startup Blog blocked in China. Awesome. Can someone verify or is Twitter blocked too? #
- Startup Happy Hour starts in 7 minutes (feel free to show up late): http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/3012068/ #
- @ajangus Seems to be working for me. What feed are you trying? in reply to ajangus #
- I hate when someone’s theory is built on a faulty premise. I can’t let it go. FYI, Amazon is profitable and their stock price is doing well #
- @smcguinness glad you enjoyed it, my advice? Don’t write one. Build a deck instead. in reply to smcguinness #
- Apple requires a 12+ rating for the bible. Hm… The word of God is too graphic for 11 year olds? http://flic.kr/p/6CT3dE #
- @wilshipley Maybe we could give you ShopSavvy’s non-Amazon feed for Delicious Library for the iPhone? #
- Thought we had a Ruby on Rails developer for WB, not so, know anyone good in Dallas? DM ASAP. #
- Tried to buy ad spots on hulu.com, but after several tries can’t get anyone to return my emails/calls. No wonder they aren’t making money. #
- Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #startup, #entrepreneur, #android #
- @smcguinness Lots, why not hang out at the office one day and talk to some of the guys? Friday’s are best. I usually get in around 9AM. in reply to smcguinness #
- @kjmcgurn Rock, I love twitter (and Hulu BTW). Thanks for getting back so quickly. Email sent. in reply to kjmcgurn #
- @mavrevMatt sort of flattering that ShopSavvy hit Amazon’s radar - iPhone VERY close to submission. in reply to mavrevMatt #
- Spending the day in lovely Bentonville, AR - home of Walmart. #
- Is it a criminal act for a business NOT to deposit employee designated funds in 401K and HSA? #
- Back in Dallas. #
- In the office, just trying to catch up on email. Only 56 to go! #
- 53 emails to go (1 per hour not that great). #
- Being an entrepreneur is sometimes a contact sport. Can you take the hits? It gets harder when you get older! #
- Obama caught in the act. Not another one… :) http://flic.kr/p/6DvTV1 #
- Back in the office for some more face to face combat. (i.e. continuing the ‘entrepreneurship is a contact sport’ meme) #
- GM is now out of Chapter 11. I have never heard of a company coming OUT of bankruptcy that loses more than a billion a month. Hm… #
- @gabrielladraney @micah Hows the weather in Boulder - scorching here. Hope you guys are having fun. in reply to gabrielladraney #
Amazon killed feed to ShopSavvy and Delicious.
July 7, 2009
MG Siegler broke the news that Amazon is ‘Killing Mobile Apps that Use its Data‘. ShopSavvy is not immune. Here is our post on the matter:
We love Amazon. What they have done for online commerce has been truly remarkable. In many ways, they set the stage for apps like ShopSavvy.
Unfortunately, we have had difficulty incorporating Amazon products among the more than 20,000 retailers and 2 million products that are part of ShopSavvy. It’s not a technical issue; with access to Amazon’s product API, we could include all Amazon products in the ShopSavvy database immediately. But for reasons that are unclear to us, Amazon has not yet given us this access.
For a while, we have been able to work around this problem, because a number of our partners had access to Amazon’s API, and we were able to display Amazon results through them. But now Amazon has essentially cut this option off, meaning that only a small percentage of Amazon products now display in ShopSavvy results.
We’re not sure why Amazon is reluctant to be part of ShopSavvy, but we know that our 1+ million users would benefit from having access to Amazon’s prices as they comparison shop for books, movies, music, games, electronics and many other types of products.
We intend to plead our case directly to Amazon again soon — and we will need your help. Let Amazon know that you want their product results to be part of ShopSavvy. Tell Amazon they should join Best Buy, Wal-Mart and the 20,000 other retailers who allow their products to be accessed by ShopSavvy users.
