Sign-up for the TechVenture Workshop April 15th & 16th

Are you looking to start the next big thing? Startups have a better chance of success when they leverage the resources and experience of their community.

TechVenture is a peer-to-peer training program created by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to help early stage technology entrepreneurs build their ideas into successful high-growth business ventures.

The emphasis is on building practical strategies for startup success and connecting technology entrepreneurs to the best resources available in our community.

Pinellas County Economic Development is recruiting both early stage and experienced technology entrepreneurs to participate in the FastTrac® TechVenture Program.

Details:

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Fee: $99 per person (includes all materials)

Sign-up now, space is limited to 20 companies.

To register, contact Kurt Forster at KForster@PinellasCounty.org or (727) 464-8113

This year”s BarCampOrlando is taking place Saturday, April 3rd at Wall Street Plaza, and registration for the event is NOW OPEN.

As always, BarCamp Orlando is Free, but don”t just show up for the T-Shirt. BarCamp is successful when people come ready to participate, present and become involved in fostering the growth of the local tech and creative community.

Schedule:

Saturday, April 03, 2010
9:30 AM – Doors open, people can sign up for talks on the big writeboard.
10:00 AM – Talks start
1:00 PM – Lunch is served, we take an hour break
2:00 PM – Talks resume
6:00 PM – Barcamp ends and the afterparty starts at Slingapour

Where:

Wall St Cantina       Map
19 North Orange Avenue
Orlando, FL 32801

This past weekend Tampa’s tech community gathered for the annual unconference known as BarCamp. Not your typical convention or seminar, BarCamp’s are organized and hosted by volunteers and feature presentations given entirely by the attendees. Easel-sized Post-It notes act as the just-in-time agenda and in the first 30 minutes are quickly filled in with topics spanning a wide range of tech and tech business interests.

Local press coverage of BarCamp Tampa:

Creative Loafing article & video (by Miss Destructo)

TB Business Journal pre event coverage (by Michael Hinman)

Short Fusion (Blog by Jason Olmsted)

Examiner.com (by Mihael VanDervort)

The topics shared included the latest IT & web development technologies (Saturday) and everything you ever wanted to know about social media tools and media strategies (Sunday). Intermixed with the ultra-geeky technical sessions were a few business oriented sessions to help those thinking of taking the next step and turning their idea into a start-up. I hosted two discussions, one which was co-hosted by STAR Tec was on turning ideas into start-ups and where to find the resources needed for success. The second discussion was on coworking, but that quickly broadened into a group rant on overall tech community development and how Tampa Bay and Orlando stack up to other metro areas that have or want to have a major tech component as part of their economic landscape. The goal for BarCamp is to share knowledge and further collaboration within the community. This has implications not just for the advancement of technology, but also for the grass roots economic development potential that is embodied in the ideas and the innovators that host and attend these events.

This was my second year participating in Tampa’s event and my fourth BarCamp overall (including two in Orlando) and I can safely say that they just keep getting better. Attendance was up significantly from last year (hoping to see actual numbers soon) and the overall buzz of the unconference was a refreshing break from the usual stale seminars and networking that pass for technology events in Tampa. Thanks again to USF College of Business Administration for hosting the event and opening up their great facility to the tech community.

If you participated this year, thanks! If you missed it, set you sights on next year and check out the local Web Tech Meet-up that is always looking for more volunteers to share the effort.

This weekend (Sept. 26th & 27th) is Tampa’s 2nd annual BarCamp. Once again the event will be held at the College of Business building on USF’s main campus (see campus map). BarCamp is a worldwide movement with events being organized on a local level by volunteers and local businesses that want to see their tech community collaborate and grow.

Unlike typical tech conferences or seminars, the participants are also the presenters and anyone with an interesting idea or tech topic is encouraged to present (show up early, speaking slots fill up fast). Topics range from interesting approaches to product development to the actual development tools / platforms for programming and social media. As I like to say, BarCamp is an event sponsored by geeks, for geeks. These are not marketing sessions or opportunities for companies to sell their goods. Product pitches and even demos are discouraged and blatant self-promotion typically results in heckling or mass exodus by the audience.

Our first Tampa BarCamp in 2008 was a huge success with many interesting speakers and topics. Stop in and join in the power of this great collective sharing and learning experience.

Details:

Dev Day – Saturday September 26th 9AM – 6PM

Social Media Day – Sunday September 27th 9AM – 6PM

USF College of Business Administration

4202 East Fowler Ave. (follow signs to parking lot west of Sun Dome)

Event registration is free, but we strongly encourage participants to throw a little donation in the kitty to help with the cost of supplies, signage and food.

The Eric Schoenfled TechCrunch article on Top VC Blogs got a fair amount of play on Twitter last week, but the background for this post originates on Larry Cheng’s site where there is a much more comprehensive listing of 100+ VC Bloggers (ranked by number of subscribers).

The posts on these blogs range from superficial insight and self-promotion to deep dive management advice and personal insight into the strategies, challenges and pitfalls of early stage tech ventures. Don’t be mislead by the rankings, sometimes the large following is due more to star-power or volume of posts and not quality of content. Continue reading this post…

I found a great post last week @ GenYstartup.com:

As far as Start-ups are concerned, a Mentor is someone who has been in the industry for much longer and has been involved in a number of startups himself/herself. The duty of this person is to advice you based on their experience and also help you out courtesy of the connections they have built while gaining that experience. Okay, that’s just a primary overview of what a mentor does. There are many other things a mentor brings to the table that could be invaluable and I will get to that in a minute. When looking to find a good mentor, make sure you look for someone who will add value to you in every way possible. A person who pays for servers and hardware for your start-up doesn’t automatically become a Mentor. There have been several scenarios where investors have become Mentors but it’s paramount that these people have been involved in other start-ups in the past as well. Finding a good mentor is not the easiest thing in the world but it’s not climbing Mt. Everest either.

You should read the whole article…A Good Mentor Is A Must For Every StartUp, Sep 2009

Over the years I have had  mentors help me navigate the product, process and political issues in both large companies and emerging start-ups. I have also tried to give back to the tech community by mentoring, coaching and hosting workshops for those looking to test their ideas and start their own companies. I directed a mentoring program for a short time and that is when I realized that all mentors are not created equal. They often fall into three categories which I have dubbed Mentors, Managers and Mongers.

Continue reading this post…