Archives
Busy Startup Week in Dallas!
February 27, 2010 | Filed under Events, Startups
Ryan Roberts posted the roster of next week’s events (via LaunchDFW):
Monday March 1st – Dallas Startup Happy Hour
The first Monday means Startup Happy Hour. The Dallas Startup Happy Hour is the talk of the startup community in Dallas. Check out the coverage in the Dallas Morning News here. As a result of the events, several [...]
Three years of pinewood derbies. . .
February 22, 2010 | Filed under Personal, Startups
Ethan and I finished his latest pinewood derby car for Cub Scouts this evening. He decided to build a car to commemorate the Olympics, complete with a snow and tress (don’t get me started on the whole ‘drag’ conversation - my son is the one that made his first car with all 50 state flags). [...]
MIT Enterprise Forum @ Architel
February 12, 2010 | Filed under Startups
Architel is hosting Bootstrapping 2010 by the MIT Enterprise Forum on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 from 5:30PM to 8:30PM. The event will be held in Architel’s community room at the Dallas INFOMART (1950 Stemmons Freeway, Suite 2019, Dallas, TX 75207). Registration is $20 including dinner (discounts available for entrepreneurs - proceed to registration or ask [...]
Negative Target Acquisition
February 7, 2010 | Filed under Startups
If you have ever been in a hang glider you know about ‘Negative Target Acquisition’. The concept is pretty simple, if you focus on the obstacles you are more likely to hit them. Hang gliding instructors will tell you, “Don’t focus on the power lines or the trees, instead focus on the path.” Of course [...]
To clarify a few things. . .
February 7, 2010 | Filed under Startups
The Dallas Morning News ran a nice piece about me this morning, but while it was generally correct there were a few errors and omissions. I think my biggest problem with the article was that it failed to mention my current business partner Scott Ryan. Very few entrepreneurs have the ability to succeed without great [...]
My seemingly ’suite’ deal that turned sour. . .
February 6, 2010 | Filed under Blog
Over the years I have tried to share my experiences as an entrepreneur in this blog - some experiences that make me seem smarter than I actually am and others that make me seem downright stupid. Unfortunately this week I find myself in the latter position. Eventually most entrepreneurs will find themselves involved in a [...]
Paying to Pitch (revisited again)
February 3, 2010 | Filed under Startups
Two years ago I asked, “Should Startups Pay to Pitch” and last year after reading a post from Jason Calacanis titled, “Why startups shouldn’t have to pay to pitch…“ I revisited the issue. Earlier this week I got several emails from a group called youngStartup Ventures that called my attention to this issue once again.
Koby [...]
Startup Happy Hour on Monday
January 30, 2010 | Filed under Events, Startups
Architel is the 2010 sponsor of the monthly Startup Happy Hour. The regular get together of between 20-80 entrepreneurs began in 2008 when Alexander Muse, my friend sent an email to a few of his friends suggesting they invite a few entrepreneurs to the High Tech Bar in our building for a get together. Over [...]
Global Warming Solved for $250MM
January 13, 2010 | Filed under Politics, Startups
What happens when you take entrepreneurs and give them a global problem like ‘global warming’ to solve? They build a business. Tens of thousands of them have started companies focused on making money around global warming, but a few have actually tried to solve the problem. Microsoft’s ex-CTO, Nathan Myhrvold is one the few who [...]
Online Polls and Voting
December 31, 2009 | Filed under Personal, Startups
Since launching ShopSavvy back in 2008 we have participated in one or more online polls or votes each quarter. I groan a little each time, but at the end of the day we need the exposure winning might create. For example, last year we were nominated for a Crunchie by internet voters, but [...]
Where should we draw the line?
December 18, 2009 | Filed under Startups
I was driving to Nacogodoches (network coverage is spotty at best on Highway 175) when I saw a Google alert for ShopSavvy (our barcode scanning price comparison application). One of my heroes, Tim O’Reilly, had written an article titled ‘Why Using ShopSavvy Might Not be So Savvy.” When I tried to click on [...]
ShopSavvy 1.1 Released (better iPhone scanning)
December 15, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Just a quick note that ShopSavvy 1.1 has been released for the iPhone. Here is the download link: ShopSavvy 1.1 for iPhone. The latest version includes:
easier scanning (with aiming bars)
scanning hints (progress and tips)
support for Europe (international bug removed)
support for Touch (we heard you loud and clear)
all user reported bugs (price alerts and others)
Here is [...]
Would Your Startup Be Better Off in Silicon Valley?
December 10, 2009 | Filed under Startups
By Guest Poster: Sanjay Sathe, Founder and CEO, RiseSmart
When I was looking for a change as a senior executive at Dallas-based Sabre in 2006, I got firsthand experience with outplacement services and with searching the Web for jobs. I was surprised by how frustrating and time-consuming it was to use the major job boards (even [...]
Austin steals Gowalla (Gowalla Raises $8.4M)
December 9, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Josh Williams left Dallas (Southlake actually) and moved Gowalla, his social location based mobile application, to Austin. Previously the company had raised $1.6M and combined with the latest $8.4M round the company has raised a cool $10M since 2007. Investors include Greylock, Maples and Shasta. According to the company “50,000 users have joined the service [...]
Startup Happy Hour Tonight (in two hours)
December 7, 2009 | Filed under Startups
You may have noticed I haven’t been publicizing our regular happy hour events very far in advance. Last month I was in San Francisco and couldn’t make it and this month we have been swamped with our iPhone app launch. We are, indeed, hosting the Startup Happy Hour tonight at the INFOMART. The drinks start [...]
The CueCat is Back! (just spelled differently)
December 7, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Remember the :CueCat? The company devised a non-standard barcode that could be placed anywhere. If a user scanned the barcode they would be redirected to a website. Of course the CueCat was a commercial failure. It was dubbed “The 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time” according to PCWorld Magazine.
Well the CueCat has been reborn [...]
Partners and Hardware are hardwork!
November 30, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Michael Arrington the king of tech blogs announced that he would be building an internet connected touchpad he would call the CrunchPad. Today he announced the ‘end’ of the CrunchPad in a post titled, “The End of The CrunchPad“. The project was ambitious for the lawyer turned blogger, but admirable. The net/net of the story [...]
ShopSavvy this Black Friday!
November 26, 2009 | Filed under Startups
If you are like millions of Americans you will head to the mall tomorrow to take advantage of all of the holiday sales. Of course, Black Friday doesn’t have to be for suckers. Make sure you bring along ShopSavvy. ShopSavvy can help you determine if you are getting a good deal. If ShopSavvy shows a [...]
Help us keep ShopSavvy free!
November 25, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Obviously I have been busy promoting ShopSavvy for the iPhone and my posting has suffered. I will be back in the game in December. Anyway, in the meantime I could use some help with the promotion. If you have a blog or website and can spare a few pixels we would love it if you [...]
Note to App Developers: Always test in the wild!
November 24, 2009 | Filed under Startups
We have been working on ShopSavvy for more than a year. Initially released on Android a year ago we finally released our iPhone version last week. Yesterday we went into Best Buy and watched more than 20 people try to scan barcodes with ShopSavvy. We learned a lot! Why didn’t we do this a week [...]
ShopSavvy Users at Best Buy
November 23, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Video I took of ShopSavvy users at Best Buy (more details here):
We need your help to punk Best Buy!
November 23, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Last week we were notified by Best Buy that we exceeded the cap for their product API. ShopSavvy is the FIRST remix partner to exceed the usage caps (despite the fact that we have tried to filter and cache queries to reduce load). When we got the call from Best Buy we were a little [...]
ShopSavvy wins Under the Radar!
November 23, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Last week I jumped on a plane and headed to Mountainview (Microsoft Campus) to present at the Under the Radar Mobility Conference. ShopSavvy was head-to-head with very cool iPhone applications from around the country. Guess what? With a perfect score from the judges ShopSavvy came out on top. As the winner of the ‘best app [...]
Seven companies in 48 hours!
November 22, 2009 | Filed under Startups
Entrepreneurship is rocking in Dallas this weekend. As many of you know we hosted Startup Weekend Dallas this weekend. Mike Orren has the full story here. This evening six startups debuted including:
1-800-LAW-GUNS is a legal referral system that uses a telephone system to match people who need a lawyer with lawyers available to talk to [...]
Startup Weekend Starts Tonight!
November 20, 2009 | Filed under Startups
We still have spots available. The event starts tonight at 6PM (you can’t be late). Register here: Dallas Startup Weekend.
We are hosting Startup Weekend Dallas the weekend of November 20th - 22nd at our offices in the INFOMART. Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists [...]
