Austin News & Blogs
InnoTech Austin - This Week!
InnoTech – Austin’s Technology Innovation Conference & Expo
Thursday, October 16, Austin Convention CenterInformation and registration at www.innotechaustin.com.
A limited number of complimentary passes are available. Please register at www.innotechaustin.com
Use SING777 in the Discount Code field for complimentary admission.
(This pass does NOT include CIO Summit or eMarketing Summit, extra registration fee is required)
This year includes an impressive line up of national and local sponsors and supporters (all posted on the www.innotechaustin.com website...check it out!)
InnoTech Keynote Presented by Angelos Angelou – Open to allAustin's Technology Roadmap - Staying on the Right Path7:30am – Coffee outside Room 12B
8:00am – 9:00am, Meeting Room 12B, 4th Floor
For the past 10 years, Austin has been on an exciting path, leading the tech industry to new heights in Central Texas (and beyond) and spawning hundreds of new, innovative tech companies. So, how do we keep the energy, enthusiasm, innovation and dollars flowing?
Here are a few of the InnoTech conference tracks & special events (ALL great reasons to take part in InnoTech):
-Green IT Summit hosted by Green Technology Alliance
- Microsoft Solutions Theater- Beta Summit II – Demos of Austin’s Hottest Technologies-Application Track, iPhone presentations
-Virtualization with Sun, Cloud Computing with Google, Data Storage with XioTech, Security with IBM and much more-InnoTech Happy 45-Minutes (the perfect place to mingle over complimentary beverages, live music and exhibits)
-Developers Track – (Ruby, Agile, RIA and more)
-And more!
VizionWare Files For Bankruptcy
Startup Happy Hour on Monday
Just a quick reminder that Startup Happy Hour is on Monday (10/13) between 5PM and 8PM (feel free to show up anytime). I am buying the drinks, just doing my part for the economy! Love to see you there, please feel free to bring your friends (some of you brought your girlfriends last time, that is fine too). PLEASE RSVP on the Upcoming.org site here.
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.
What: Startup Happy Hour
When: Monday, 10/13, 5PM-7PM
Where: High Tech bar at the INFOMART (corner of Oak Lawn and I35)
Why: To meet entrepreneurs like you
Cost: FREE
VizionWare Joins Austin Deadpool
VizionWare, which made some amazing HD audio/video cabling and is a member of the AustinEmerging100, has joined the deadpool. Since 2004 the company raised over $20M from investors such as DJF Mercury, Novus Ventures, RPM Ventures, and others. VentureBeat reported it today, and the website is indeed down.
As venture capital gets harder to raise, how many more of these will we see? Startups better stretch their cash as far as they can in order to weather the storm. There will be a definite flight to quality from the private equity players.
Post Conference Cocktails
Next week we have the Texas Wireless Summit and Innotech Austin. Two great events all in one week. What better way to cap off all those sessions than to have a happy hour where we can socialize and discuss the day’s events with your colleagues?
Austin Tech Happy Hour and the Austin Technology Council are throwing a “Post Conference Cocktails” happy hour at Six Lounge at 5:30pm on Thursday October 16th. Tickets are $10 if you pre-register and $15 cash at the door.
We’d like to thank our event sponsor ProAce, a full service IT development and consulting firm, for their generous support. Come to happy hour, and you can speak with representatives from ProAce about your current IT projects. We’re also looking for one more sponsor for this event.
Registration Information
- Register for happy hour here, and save paying at the door
- Register for the Texas Wireless Summit here and use code TWS08100 to save $100.
- Register for Innotech here.
Fall Service Day
Painting, planting trees, and other maintenance was completed by the volunteers from the local technology companies. How cool it is to be part of a business community who cares.
Have A Great Day.
thom
Breakfast with Sam Wyly
Sam Wyly is a well known Dallas billionaire who founded/owned/owns University Computing, Sterling Software, Maverick Capital, Bonanza Steakhouse, Michaels Stores and Green Mountain Energy. Pam Gerber invited Scott and me to join Sam for a breakfast meeting this morning. The title of Sam’s book, “Entrepreneur to Billionaire, 1000 Dollars & an Idea” really sums up his story. Sam spent an hour talking about many of his startups - some successes and some failures (obviously more successes than failures). Publishers Weekly sums up his book like this,
“Country boy makes good in this down-home tale of self-made multimillionaire Wyly. In his humble post-Depression Louisiana roots, Wyly learned his first business lessons from football strategy, his father’s tiny newspaper business and his mother’s bargaining skills. A lucky meeting propelled him to the University of Michigan’s Business School and his first corporate job at IBM, where he had to work fast to keep from succumbing to culture shock as he discovered there ain’t no Bubbas in Michigan. Energetic and restless, he soon left IBM for Honeywell and then created his own technology companies, rescuing failing businesses, founding Green Mountain Energy and devoting himself to environmentalism. Citing Sam Walton as a hero and Ross Perot as a personal friend, Wyly stresses the power and privilege of self-creation and speaks honestly about what he’s learned: that failure is crucial to achieving success, independent thought is imperative, luck serendipitous and power useless unless it is wielded for good. Though the message is a good one, the meandering storytelling and not well-known author might make this book a hard sell to a trade audience.”
Looking back over my life in context with the current financial crisis, I couldn’t help but agree with Sam’s point, “failure is crucial to achieving success”. The willingness to take risk and suffer the consequences or successes is vital. The current market is being driven by fear, those who can look past the fear will see opportunity. Now is the time to open your eyes and start realizing that value can be created from the current chaos. Anyway, Sam is a very interesting man and an asset to our community here in Dallas.
Ublip Acquired By Numerex
CSIdentity Hires Two VPs, Adds Board Member
New Speaker Video
Have A Great Day.
thom
Click Forensics Links To PPC Networks
Tek-Tools Touts Growth
Strategic Value for Corporate Meetings
But with this forward motion also comes some contemplative assessments of how they spend their money over the next several quarters.
Think about corporate meetings. We often imagine the multi-million dollar a year meeting industry in the United States as only encompassing the large industry conferences and other mega-sized meetings that populate the halls of grand hotels and convention centers. However, business meetings cover the spectrum from the gigantic to the more intimate internal planning sessions for small and mid-sized companies.
Even in tough economic climates, the show must go on. I speak regularly people who are planning their company's end of year meeting or Q1 kick off, and they are still excited to be hosting their company gathering, but in many cases they are under tighter cost controls than they have had in the past.
Business leaders are looking to measure the strategic value that their conference is bringing to their team.... And they are seeking ways to curb some of the traditional costs (without harming the overall power of the event). Companies are looking to hire speakers who are willing to work with them to align their message directly with their 2009 action plans. Some are shortening their meetings to less days, and asking the outside presenters to commit to more personal interaction and participation.
I am finding meeting planners do not want to hire just anyone (no matter how good they are on stage), but instead they are seeking speakers whose personalities are in synch with the company. Much more time is being invested upfront to interview and understand the core soul of the presentation.
I am being asked to join the conference attendees for their meals and happy hours, and also participate in breakout sessions after my presentation where I can facilitate directly with their employees - assisting their focus more directly on the the nuts and bolts of cultivating their professional relationships. This means coaching personally with those who want to go deeper with creating their networks.
I am happy to do this, as I find that my message is better received when I do get the chance to network directly with the audience.
Some companies are asking their vendors or VARs to help them facilitate their meetings, inviting them to sponsor the cost of meals, golf outings, spa treatments (Hello!!! - AIG...you should have had a vendor cover that $400,000 expense last week!) or paying the speaker's fees (cool with me, I don't care who writes the check!!!). For their sponsorship the vendor / VAR is granted access directly to the company and all the employees at the meeting.
Corporate meetings are expensive, but they are still a valuable tool for educating, motivating and creating stronger bonds with employees. While the world is going digital, we are still human beings, and no webcast or teleseminar will ever be able to create the same experience as live interaction.
While companies will be cutting costs of meetings, they will still be holding meetings in 2009.
The smart ones are seeking input from their staff to discover what has been worthwhile at past events (and what has been a waste of time). They are looking for employees to recommend speakers that they have personally seen in action (I have two events this fall where the lead came from someone inside their company who saw me speak at another conference).
Additionally, it is a good idea for meeting planners to spend some time talking with speakers to discover what they are finding successful at other meetings where they are on the stage. A good speaker is more than just an orator who will entertain your troops then fly home. Instead the best are seasoned professionals who can be a trusted advisor to help you establish the best practices for your meeting.
In tough economic times when every dollar counts, you want to use every tool available to ensure the strategic value for your meeting.
Have A Great Day.
thom
Does Social Network Recruiting Yield Results?
Even in a time of macroeconomic uncertainty, growing companies are hiring. The best and brightest are always in high demand. Recruiting is difficult, and expensive yet it’s one of the most important things in any organization. A company is only made up of the people who are recruited into it, and the company culture is defined by those people (not by mission statements and motivational posters on the wall).
We provide you with an interesting case study, courtesy of our friends at Bazaarvoice. They recently executed on a social networking recruiting campaign, and a more traditional newspaper PR campaign. Then they compared the results, and shared them with us.
On September 8th at 10am, the company coordinated all their employees to send out “we’re hiring” messages to all their friends in their social networks. The timing aspect of the blast is interesting. For people who have multiple contacts at Bazaarvoice, they may receive the messaging multiple times, which would further bolster the recruiting messages. As people start spreading the word, it is potentially getting spread to people who also were aware of the recruiting drive and the word of mouth multiplies. (e.g. “Did you hear Bazaarvoice is hiring? — Yeah, I heard about that.”)
To give you some hard numbers, the timed social network campaign increased traffic to the jobs page 117% over the previous week. There was a 237% increase in job referrals, and a 33% increase in applications. Not bad considering that it was pretty much free just to coordinate the timing of the social network recruiting campaign.
Looking at the chart, the first spike is the social networking campaign. The second spike is activity from an article in The Statesman. The social networking yielded more views and slightly more referrals, and the Statesman article yielded fewer visits but more applicants. Food for thought when you’re trying to bootstrap your next recruiting campaign.
Philanthropy For All
When I began earning extra money as a professional speaker my wife suggested we earmark part of the income to help out a worthy cause. Together we created The Kate Singer Endowment for Cranio-Facial Surgery. The money is donate through the Central Texas Dell Children's Medical Center Foundation. It is not a lot of money at any one time, but over the years the small checks add up to thousands. Additionally on Kate's 6th birthday we hosted an online social media fund raiser which brought in an additional $1710 to fund research by local doctors who specialize in helping children in Texas who are born head and facial abnormalities (in February we plan another online social media fund raiser that will surpass $3000 in 2009).
I am not bragging, I am pointing out that anyone can help out a good cause. I believe the problem is that individuals believe one needs to give large sums of money to have an impact. But small amounts consistently given over time add up to make a difference. Additionally, when you band together with others, the numbers can really add up. It just takes action to make a difference.
The other mistake that is made in the world of philanthropy is that not-for-profit organizations tend to put out the image that they are only "elephant hunting" when they are looking for donors. Some seem to only focus on people who can write the big checks, making the average person feel like an outsider. The truth is that charities are usually welcoming of anyone who will donate to their cause. Again, the big grants and mega donors are nice, but having the grassroots people who are passionate about their cause is also very important.
I have recently joined the board of a great local charity, Heart House, which supports free after school programs dedicated to providing a safe haven and academic support to low-income children and encouraging them to become good citizens. The organization is young and still growing, and has become a great place for me to learn about the world of charitable organizations. We are about to launch a professional auxiliary group that will help the organization continue to raise money to expand their good works, while allowing members to network and create programs that will have a meaningful impact (More to follow next week on the Heart House HALOS program. I am the board liaison to this new group and look forward to getting people involved who are hungry to get involved with a local cause).
Austin, Texas has a local campaign to help those who want to learn more about giving back to their community. The I Live Here, I Give Here Campaign is on a mission to boost local giving by educating fellow Austinites about the needs in Central Texas and the organizations working to meet those needs. This is a great place to start if you have an interest in local charities.
I am also a huge fan of the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Central Texas. This community of entrepreneurs provides a financial vehicle for early stage companies to allocate inexpensive private equity to a donor advised fund, creating a source of cash for corporate community investments that doesn’t impact future company earnings or operating cash. In addition they organize the technology business community to participate in service days twice a year, which brings together hundreds of professionals to work on projects that improve local schools.
No matter where you live, if you have a desire to make a difference in your community, do not sit back and wait. Many think they will give once they are rich, but it may be better to start a regular philanthropic donating process early and let the small dollars add up. Many of us are fortunate, even if we do not have a fortune. To everyone whom much is given, much is also required (Luke 12:48). Find your cause and support it. You will make a difference.
Have A Great Day.
thom
Sequoia: Downturn will last YEARS!
According to Om Malik, ‘Sequoia Rings the Alarm Bell: Silicon Valley Is in Trouble‘, suggesting “Sequoia Capital, arguably the smartest venture capital investor in business, is sounding the alarm and asking its portfolio companies to buckle down for what could be the worst economic downturn of their relatively short lives.”
Mike Mortiz and Doug Leone, in a meeting yesterday, tried to explain to their CEOs that, “things could get a lot worse than people think, and it will be a more protracted downturn. They want the companies to cut costs, to figure out way to survive and emerge at the other end of this downturn, which could last years. The speakers went through each functional area of the business and told the companies how to cut costs.”
Update: Here is the slideshow from Sequoia.
Along those same times, Mike Arrington reprinted an email famed angel investor, Ron Conway sent to his portfolio companies:
——— Forwarded message ———-
From: Ron Conway
Date: Tue, Oct 7, 2008 at 12:12 PM
Subject: IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ASAP …..REGARDING CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS…Confidential
We have all been absorbed by the turmoil in the financial markets the past few weeks
Unlike the turmoil of 2000 when the “action” was centered right here in Silicon Valley this time is it centered on Wall Street…..but it has rippled to the west coast quickly and we will not be “immune” to its drastic effects.
I was an active investor in 2000 when the “bubble burst” and remember it vividly and want to give you the SAME EXACT advice I gave to my portfolio company CEOs back then.
I have pasted in the emails I sent on April 17th 2000 and May 10th 2000 and every word applies today.
Unfortunately history DOES repeat itself but I hope we can learn from history and prevent the turmoil from occurring again.
The message is simple. Raising capital will be much more difficult now.
You should lower your “burn rate” to raise at least 3-6 months or more of funding via cost reductions, even if it means staff reductions and reduced marketing and G&A expenses. This is the equivalent to “raising an internal round” through cost reductions to buy you more time until you need to raise money again; hopefully when fund raising is more feasible. Letting go of staff is hard and often gut wrenching. A re-evaluation of timelines and re-focus on milestones with the eye of doing more with less will allow you to live many more days, and the name of the game in this environment in some
respects is survival–survival until conditions change.
If you are in a funding cycle, you should raise your funding as soon as possible and raise as much as possible but face the fact that if you can’t raise money now you must cut costs.
While I do not own a large percentage of your company I hope you will consider this thoughtful advice.
I was here in 2000 and want to share what I learned through many years of experience and historical “pattern recognition”!
Here are the two emails from the year 2000 that I referred to above and all the statements apply in today’s market:
To: Angel Investors, L.P. Portfolio CEOs
Date: 04/17/2000 05:24 PM
From: Ron Conway
RE: Market Conditions Effect on Angel Investors, L.P. Portfolio
Companies
The down draft in the stock market sends us some obvious “signals” and we can’t help but mention them.
1. If you are in a funding cycle, you should raise your funding as soon as possible and raise as much as possible.
2. Many companies are ignoring certain VC leads we’ve provided in order to concentrate on the top tier only. While we have preached that in the past, this is no longer the case. Currently, top-tier VC
bandwidth constraints, coupled with the market down draft, make it very important to take meetings with any VCs where you can get their attention. We have been working hard to open up this new bandwidth.
3. You must aggressively examine and pursue M&A opportunities (unless you have over 12 months of cash reserves!) ro insure you have critical mass (including funding, customers, rolodex power, market
share, cash, synergy, etc.).
4. Be realistic on valuations - they will fall so be ready and willing to co-operate.
5. Look for corporate partners to invest so you can raise more money. You should also consider a sale of your company to your corporate partners.
6. If you are entering a funding cycle start raising money sooner rather than later.
7. While it’s safe to say entrepreneurs have had negotiating leverage with the “down draft” in the market, the VC community will start exercising their leverage.
—————————————————————————-
—————————————-
To: Angel Investors, L.P. Portfolio CEOs
Date: 05/10/2000 05:23 PM
From: Ron Conway
RE: Market Conditions Effect on Angel Investors, L.P. Portfolio
Companies
I want to “touch base” again; given the continued uncertainty in the capital markets.
As the market turmoil continues, we must underscore the advice that we have provided since mid April and it boils down to just a few points:
1) The capital market window is shut, including IPOs and VC Funding (VCs are looking at their existing portfolio funding needs - not new opportunities). Basically the market is now looking for PtoP (Path to Profitability) instead of BtoC, BtoB, etc! PtoE will prevail price to sales ratios! You must lower your “burn rate” to raise at least 3-6 months more of funding via cost reductions, even if it means selective staff reductions and reduced marketing and G&A expenses. This is the equivalent to ‘raising
an internal round” through cost reductions to buy you more time until you need to raise money again; hopefully when fund raising is more feasible.
2) If you have $10M or less in the bank you must do #1 above plus look at M&A options for your company; especially if your company is BtoC, content, advertising model, community, commerce, and even BtoB. An M&A transaction will allow you to gain critical mass and to get two sets of funding sources and rolodexes working on your behalf. M&A transactions take over 90 days so you need at least that much cash to fund your company. You must attend our M&A day on May 24th at the San Mateo Marriott at 3:00 PM. We will have investment banks there in addition to entrepreneurs who have
successfully accomplished M&A transactions. We will send you details.
We are still developing many new funding sources for our portfolio companies that are in funding cycle.
Freescale Completes Intoto Buy
a trip down memory lane, microsoft basic
Motive Acquisition Completes
Jack McDonald, CEO of Perficient, Speaks at ACG Luncheon
Most of the lunch and dinner speakers who populate the stages at corporate networking events, seminars and other gatherings are just average at the podium (many are horrible!). While they are "okay", most do not leave you with any interesting points to ponder.... they do not inspire the audience. It is the rare exception that you go to a networking event and walk away saying "WOW, that was a fantastic presentation".
Those are the exact words I heard from folks as I exited today's Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) - Central Texas Chapter - monthly meeting in Austin, Texas.
Jack McDonald, CEO of Perficient, Inc. (PRFT) was the speaker who both entertained and informed the audience of over 80 local business executives. His speaking style was casual, relaxed and conversational as he roamed away from the microphone and walked about the tables as he spoke at the Shoreline Grill.
He not only shared the stories and strategies of his own company, but did what most lunchtime business speakers forget - he coupled his examples with real life take-aways that other businesses can adopt in their own journey toward success. It was the applicable nuggets of knowledge that he gave which made his presentation shine.
He began his talk by pointing out that the news lately has been plagued by talk of recession and depression, but instead took his words in a different direction: He talked about growing a company in these turbulent times.
Perficient is one of Austin's best stories of a home grown success. The company, which launched in the late 1990s, had it's IPO in the heart of the boom-boom days has survived and has prospered under McDonald's leadership. Their strategy for defining their marketplace and discovering where they can compete and win has allowed them to beat their competition about 80% of the time.
Diversification of product offerings will make a company stronger over the long hall. In a tough economy, it would not be wise to have too many eggs in any one basket. Perficient has made sure that they are not too reliant on any one company or industry - and this has allowed them to continue to grow in an industry where 9 out of 10 of their competitors have gone out of business during the past 8 years.
The company now has 18 domestic offices in the United States as well as several overseas locations. They are creating good jobs at home and abroad. McDonald was clear that expanding internationally is not a zero-sum game in regards to jobs, and pointed out that by opening up and expanding internationally they have created MORE jobs in the USA.
"Continue to challenge your assumptions" was also a key point. Because something worked for your company yesterday is not reason enough when the market realities are shifting. Keeping fixed costs low, having flexible labor options and avoiding expensive "ego-driven" real estate are the best recommended strategies for a company that wants to be able to react to the fast changes that always around the next corner.
McDonald reminded the crowd that while we are facing a recession, it is not the end of the world. His company will still attain growth. The message was clear that other companies should also embrace the future and uncover ways to continue to grow, in spite the sour outlook for the economy over the next few quarters.
His conversation ended with discussion about the future of Austin. While many leaders of entrepreneurial companies do not venture beyond the walls of their company, McDonald serves as Austin Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 Vice Chair of Technology and Chair of the AusTech Alliance. Strengthening the tech industry in Austin is part of the Chamber’s Opportunity Austin five-year plan which has surpassed its goals to add 72,000 new jobs and $3.5 billion in payroll to the region’s economy.
Austin is an internationally recognized center for entrepreneurship and technology development with one of the country's best and most educated workforces. It is a diverse and tolerant community that is poised to continue to grow into the future.
While it is the individual entrepreneurs that make things happen, we owe a debt to the infrastructure that has been created over the past three decades that has allowed Austin to thrive. McDonald appealed to the audience to support the Chamber's new Opportunity Austin 2.0 push that is now underway with greater goals for expanding the local economy and growing over 117,000 jobs between now and the 2013.
Getting entrepreneurs involved to build the community now is how we can insure the future.
I have known Jack McDonald for a long time, and consider him a friend, but had never seen him speak before. Probably one of the best CEO speakers I have ever seen. But more than his verbiage, it was the reality of his advice that connected to the audience.
When business leaders take an interest in helping grow the community, it inspires others to do the same thing. Then it is a perpetual motion machine that cannot be stopped. I feel good about the future of Austin and the technology industries that populate our landscape, as even with some economic hiccups in the near future, we have the talent to keep growth in our sights. Both for companies like Perficient (and others) and the Central Texas region will prosper because of the leadership in place.
Have A Great Day.
thom