Mark Dowds

Startup Camp and CIX

I am just starting to recover from an outstanding week at Startup Camp Toronto and CIX. Jevon and Jonas did a great job of pulling together Startup Camp. All the seats were full and it was standing room only at the back. I gave the first public Brainpark pitch and got off quite lightly when it came to after-pitch hackling. Leila Boujnane didn't let me off too easily about not showing more of our product. It was an interesting moment to think about the differentiation between barcamp, democamp, and startupcamp. My understanding was that at barcamp we project code on the wall, at democamp we detail aspects of our product, and at startupcamp we show why it makes sense in the marketplace and how we plan to bring value. I think that will be a good conversation some of us can have soon.

Global TV showed up and recorded the presentation and interviewed a few of us. I believe the results will be shown on CEO TV on Global next Saturday at 11.30am. I will confirm if I am contacted by them before hand.

The morning after startup camp I presented Brainpark at CIX. I did an OK job in my opinion but was lacking my normal groove. You can see a glimpse of my bald head in the middle of the top video on the CIX website.

CIX was excellent. It was very beneficial to us at Brainpark as we made some important connections we would otherwise be lacking. Austin and Benjamin had classic presentations...those boys know how to create a good deck, maybe it's the Montreal air.

The final gathering was hosted by Peter Evans and the crew over at MaRS where many of us will meet up again for some Meshing mid May. I will be planning on going back to CIX next year and supporting Robert and crew who did an excellent job and worked hard to make it happen.

I have started to gather some of the articles of the aftermath of this week on this Delicious page

Tomorrow morning it all starts over again at Startup Camp San Francisco which I am really looking forward to. I am looking forward to making some new friends and getting to know my new neighbours...O yea, that's right, I have never officially blogged that we are moving to San Francisco. Well this is the official news. It all happens in the next 60 days.

Internet Dream

I was thinking about how the original dream of computers and the internet was about setting us free to be more creative with more space to think and be human...Then I stumbled onto this video which made me smile:

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

MeshU

Everytime I say MeshU I think of a big tough Scottish guy in tartar slurring it as he deals a Glasgow kiss...but then again, I have a disturbed mind. Surprisingly enough it has nothing at all do do with the Scotts (even though Stuart does carry the MacDonald shield). It is a great new event being held by the mesh guys on May 20 in Toronto.  It's a day of workshops for "developers, project managers, designers, usability engineers, hands-on technology business leaders, early-stage entrepreneurs and technical leaders of all stripes". I will not be missing it.

Band of Coders

Image from Wikipedia

I am over at Blue Mountain with the crew from Band of Coders for a planning retreat. 10 of us have arrived so far and a bunch will show tomorrow. We have avoided all tech talk so far and have just enjoyed good food and wine. I am looking forward to tomorrow when we get into thinking about the future and and potential opportunities. They are a brilliant group of guys...

Business of Software

For the guy who isn't really into conferences my actions are currently contradicting me. I just signed up to the Business of Software conference in Boston September 3/4. It's a Joel on Software conference so I couldn't resist. Brydon went last year and came back raving about it. Check out the list of speakers/contributors for this year:

• Joel Spolsky, founder of Fog Creek software, author of several books and the man behind the joelonsoftware blog
• Seth Godin, Business Week's "Ultimate Entrepreneur for the Information Age", is the best-selling author of 7 books (including Permission Marketing and Purple Cow) as well as the most popular eBook of all time.
• Eric Sink, founder of SourceGear, author of "Eric Sink on the Business of Software" and the person who coined the term "Micro ISV"
• Steve Johnson of Pragmatic Marketing and winner of last year's Software Idol competition
• Richard Stallman launched the development of the GNU operating system, now used on tens of millions of computers today. Stallman has received the ACM Grace Hopper Award, a MacArthur Foundation fellowship, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer award, and the the Takeda Award for Social/Economic Betterment
• Paul Kenny is one of the UK's top sales trainers, consultants and speakers. He has worked with many customers in three continents, including IBM, Perot Systems, The Guardian and tens of others.
• Dharmesh Shah is a geek, serial entrepreneur, founder of HubSpot and blogger at OnStartups.com
• Jason Fried is founder of 37signals (developers of Basecamp and Ruby on Rails) and Signal vs Noise blogger

Mesh '08

There is light at the end of the tunnel of this long dark winter. The Mesh crew just put tickets up for sale today for the gathering on May 21/22 at MaRS Toronto. I hopped on and bought a couple of tickets as soon as I got wind of it on Twitter today. Last year there were so many folks missed out by lagging behind so I didn't want to take the chance by delaying.

Mesh is my favourite gathering in Toronto every year (except for the St Patrick's Day Luncheon). I enjoy it so much because all of the likely suspects in the Canadian technology scene show up. I am not exactly the poster-boy for conferences as I rarely ever show up to presentations. I think last year at Mesh I heard Tom and Austin speak and showed up to a workshop I was leading. The rest of the time was spent loitering in a constant flow of conversation in the lobby area. I think this is why I like Mesh so much as I enjoy the relational side of things so much.

It looks like an interesting line-up of speakers. It looks like there is more to be announced soon.

Canadian Innovation Exchange

I have been very quiet on the blog front over the last season but am going to break the silence and get back in the game by mentioning the Canadian Innovation Exchange gathering on April 29/30 at the Carlu in Toronto. This is a gathering where start-ups meet angel investors and venture capital. It will be an education into what is happening in the Canadian start-up scene and a live experience of seeing founders and investors do their thing.

It is being promoted as an innovation marketplace with a special focus on technology transfers from leading learning institutions and an action-packed two-day event that showcases Canada’s hottest new  and innovative technology companies.

It is the first time I have seen the Brainpark logo among others and it feels very exciting to say the least. I hope to be pitching and showing what we have been up to over this last season of silence...

Does History Always Repeat Itself?

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a couple of very interesting articles on the apparent technology boom. The forecast of a new bubble is laid out by the New York Times. The article certainly does make a lot of sense in light of the apparent madness of recent acquisitions. At the same time VentureBeat is showing a statistical decrease in VC participation. It is for sure an interesting time and it feels like it is about time we have some more life in the technology sector. As much as the last bubble had negative effects the infrastructure it created for things like VoIP were positive. No doubt there will be many who get carried away but at the same time there are many of us who still feel the sting of the old and have not lost our sensibilities yet...

Getting (Anti-) Social, the Web 2.0 Way

I had to post this one from wired. Classic stuff to say the least. It's about time we got a counter-social movement

Second Life has its First Life, and now Web 2.0 darling Facebook has its own parodies in the form of Enemybook and Snubster.

In addition Techcrunch listed a beauty called Hatebook today...The games begin

Yoga for Geeks

Its not everyday that something as wild and idea like yoga for geeks comes along. Sarah Pullman who has been doing her Yoga moves in Vancouver with Bill and the crew at Workspace has relocated to Toronto and is putting on an evening at Indoor Playground on July 31st. This is an evening that is really open to anyone and an excuse for a bunch of us to connect, stretch our joints in a more appropriate manner that twister and then head out for some more social chats over a beverage. I have included Sarah's details from the facebook group below. I hope to see you there...

Have you ever suspected that sitting at your desk all day isn't very good for your body?

Do your shoulders ache, or your hips feel stiff? Is your back ever sore?

Do you have trouble chasing after your kids - or your partner! - when it's time to play, because you're feeling old and stiff?

Do you feel like you spend too much time in your head?

If you can relate to any of the above, then please join us for the Toronto launch of Yoga for Geeks! You'll learn some stretches to address common complaints, and enjoy an opportunity to relax. It's never too late to begin making friends with your hard-working, oft-ignored body.

what: a short "yoga" class, specifically tailored for people (male or female) new to yoga, and/or people who would never in a million years set foot in a regular yoga studio. After class, we'll retire our relaxed selves to a patio nearby for beverages (can't have you getting too healthy all at once!)

where: Indoor Playground - 364 Richmond St W, Toronto

when: 6:30pm - 8pm, Tuesday July 31st

how much: pay what you can – $10 suggested donation

who: YOU, and all the geeks you know. (forward this email, or blog about it!)

the fine print:

- please don't eat dinner right before class – though a snack an hour or two before is fine (this won't be strenuous)

- suggested attire – as long as it's not tight, you're fine. shorts would be good, especially if it's a hot day

- if there is sufficient interest, i will consider running a regular or semi-regular class

Please RSVP to info@yogaforgeeks.com

Thanks and I look forward to seeing you there!

Sarah Pullman