ForbesOnTech

TechCrunch50 to Overlap DemoFall 08

Some say, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” For others, however, imitation is merely a shortcut to a bank’s merchant window without investing first in creativity, original thought, or shouldering the load of those who popularized a category or event.

            All of which brings news that a competitor to Demo has announced its event will overlap DemoFall08, in early September. The competitor is TechCrunch 50, the second incarnation of a show that first appeared on the scene last year after its founders, Jason Calacanis of Tech Crunch and Michael Arrington, used Demo 2007 to announce that they too were hosting a technology showcase. One big difference between the two shows is this: Unlike Demo, Tech Crunch doesn’t charge its featured stage presenters a Demonstrator’s fee..

            Let me digress a moment and make a mandatory disclosure: My name is Jim Forbes and I am a retired Demo producer who developed DemoMobile (now known as DemoFall) and helped Chris Shipley, the executive producer of Demo, select companies for and produce the larger Demo shows. I had a stroke moments before I was to have opened Demo in Phoenix and am now retired. I have no fiduciary relationship with Demo or its direct and indirect parent entities: IDG (which owns Network World) and the GuideWire Group, which Chris Shipley co-founded.

            In a statement posted on the GuideWire Group’s blog Wednesday, here Demo’s Ms. Shipley questioned the timing of Tech Crunch50, suggesting it would force entrepreneurs to chose one event over the other and suggesting that forcing start-ups to make such a choice wasn’t a good decision. Ms. Shipley also posted that Demo08 generated more than 200 million media impressions for its hand-selected spots and explained how Demo supports its companies in preparing for the event. Ms. Shipley also questioned why TechCrunch50 was copying Demo’s “rulebook and other guidelines.”

Michael Arrington says that he and Jason Calacanis “liked the Demo model but don’t like the ‘payola’ idea of demonstrators paying.”

A call to TechCrunch 50 co-sponsor Jason Calacanis was not returned.

In various blog postings on sites such as ValleyWag last year, other writers have come to acknowledge the benefits of Demo’s high production values as well as the effort its support staff take to train demonstrators. Last year a ValleyWag editor suggested Demo’s demonstrator fee showed audiences that its companies had “skin in the game” and were well prepared for the event.

At 18 years, Demo is the oldest technology showcase. TechCrunch isn’t the first competitor that’s tried to unseat Demo.  Three other events have come and gone, and Demo now also faces some competition from the Wall Street Journal’s All ThingsD conference, which is produced by WSJ staffer Walt Mossberg and former WSJ staffer-turned-author Kara Swisher. Another contract staffer involved in AllThingsD previously had been the president of IDG Executive Forums, which produced Demo before it was incorporated into IDG’s Network World business unit.

            Both Demo and TechCrunch appear to have the same format: stage presentations by companies with products grouped by category, and panels of VC or business development executives. In its first five years, Demo had a slightly different format that allowed audience members to ask onstage demonstrators questions (a format borrowed from Agenda, which like Demo was also started by industry pundit Stuart Alsop but was produced through much of its life by IDG Executive Forums).

            Under Ms. Shipley, Demo has become a “community” with a high number of returning attendees and serial entrepreneurs who have used the show to launch multiple companies. One of the major changes Ms. Shipley has made to increase Demo’s presence and sense of community has been the addition of a video library of Demo presentations that can be viewed at www.Demo.com.

            Competition makes for better products. While Demo may be the oldest show, there’s still enough room in the technology industry for new blood. I have no problem with competition, the real issue here is when competition is based on cookie cutter marketing plans that don’t give credit where its due. —Jim Forbes 04/02/2008

Microsoft Expands DreamSpark Academic Evangelism Program--Wouldn't it be Nice if Others Joined In

Microsoft pulled another of its feet onto the academic computing bandwagon with the announcement this week of DreamSpark, a philanthropy program aimed initially at college students but which will eventually include high schoolers as well, according to the online version of PC Magazine.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates announced new details of the program during a speech at Leland Stanford Jr. University on the San Francisco Peninsula earlier this week. DreamSpark has already provided software to about 35 million students worldwide, Gates said, adding that the program will be enhanced to include more college and some high school students in the future.

click here for PC Mag's original story.

Some of the titles that will be given to students free of charge include the 2005 and 2008 editions of Visual Studio, 2005 Developer’s Edition of SQL Server and the Standard Edition of Windows Server, according to PC Mag. Students will also be given access to Microsoft X-box development tools and the company’s game developmenyt community, the magazine says.

While much of Microsoft’s philanthropic efforts have been aimed at individual colleges and universities, the company has a long history of academic evangelism and has been a co-sponsor with hardware maker Hewlett Packard of large academic computing grants in the past.

DreamSpark’s sheer size-- more than 35 million students have benefited from the program-- is astounding.

Academic evangelism isn’t limited to immediate gratification. In decades past, companies such as Hewlitt Packard and Techtronic helped create entire generations of equipment buyers and brand specifiers by exposing young students to professional-level test and measurement systems through academic evangelism programs. In the 1980’s Apple made significant inroads into academic computing through its conspicuous evangelism.

The two companies in today’s market that have active and high profile academic evangelism programs are Hewlett Packard and Microsoft. Both companies have dedicated staff members who run their companies programs in this category.

The pay-off associated with academic evangelism isn’t immediate. Rather it happens years later when former students enter the job market and begin buying IT or engineering test equipment on behalf of their employers.

However, I believe there is at least one category of computer technology that could reap an immediate benefit from academic computing evangelism. That category is pen-based computing. And, looking out over today’s landscape the one company I hope jumps directly or indirectly on this bandwagon is Demo 2008 standout Live Scribe,

here

makers of the Pulse Smart Pen. -- Jim Forbes 02/19/2008

Follow Up on Demo 2008 Now!--Getting a Bigger Bang For Your Buck

The absolute best way to get the most out of your Demo 08 experience is to take the time to review the people your company met with at Demo and systematically begin follow-up conversations.

Here are some tips that can help you get the biggest bang for your Demo 2008 buck.

1.   Organize the business cards and contact information you gathered at Demo.

a.   Do not limit your contact lists to reporters, editors, bloggers, and venture capitalists.

b.  Wherever possible make sure the member of your company that met with someone initiates follow-up contact.

2.   Designate one person to monitor and track conversations with people you met at Demo.

a.  Make sure you monitor blogs for mentions of your company or its technologies.

1. Treat bloggers the same as reporters. Make contact with them and stay in touch after the show.

2.     Don’t be afraid to offer press and bloggers additional information on your company or its technologies.

3.     Bloggers are more apt to focus on single companies or technologies, than print reporters.

4.     Reporters, editors and bloggers who attend Demo write “trend” stories that may include your and other company’s products that serve a common market or need. Make sure you can differentiate your product when it’s part of a larger crop of products.

a.     Trend stories often appear weeks and months after the end of Demo.

b.     Be prepared to provide writers with information about your technologies or news about your company that occurred after the show.

2. Meet with all of your Demo 08 attendees as a group to discuss follow-up conversations and activities.
3. Make sure third-party marketing agencies that may have supported your Demo08 presence are included in follow-up activities

4.           Stay in touch with the producers of Demo. Let them know of funding events, product updates or licensing agreements.  This information is published regularly in the electronic version of DemoLetter.

Now that you’re home from Demo, breathe deep and get back to work on your products and technologies. --Jim Forbes 02/07/2008

*Becky Sniffen of MCPR2.net contributed to the original version of this post.

(Mandatory disclosure: I was a Demo producer and editor of DemoLetter and DemoMobile Letter before I retired several years ago. I am not now affiliated with Demo. See you at DemoFall 2008.—jmf)

Demo 2008--More Favorites: Aternity, FlyPaper and SpeakLike

Some of the technologies at Demo 2008 made an impression on me when  they were on stage but their real impact hit home when I spent five or ten minutes with them in the demonstrator pavilion.  One such product was Aternity Inc.’s Frontline Performance Intelligence Platform.

            What I really liked about this IT tool is its interface and the fact that it’s a tool that lets corporate IT professionals quickly see what programs users are running and how they’re using enterprise information and how individual or groups of users are consuming IT resources. I like that this set of IT resource monitoring tools combine to give IT decision makers a birds eye view correlating both current and historical data; proving management with emerging user trends as it relates to mission critical tasks and corporate goals.

            When I looked at Aternity I was impressed by the fact that the company has already received two rounds of financing which includes money from Genesis Capital, Intel Capital, and Vertex Ventures. With the current trend in corporate IT having to justify expenditures against return on investment projections, I think Aternity is a great example of the right company with the right technology at the right place and time.

            Flypaper Studio was another Demo 08 company whose technology caused me to visit their Pavilion station not once, but twice. What captivated me about Flypaper are tools that let its users create quality rich media, web-based, presentations without having to take the time or effort to learn a graphics design program.

            Flypaper is the sort of program and technology that stands out Demo. It simplifies what until now has been a complex process and provides its users with new capabilities. Funded under the name Interactive Alchemy two years ago, Flypaper has enormous potential and is the type of product that fits nicely in the emerging cloud computing model—which I think makes this company and its technology a strong candidate for acquisition by any of the titans now committed to web-based applications.

            English may be the lingua franca of the international aviation community, but it still has a way to go when it comes to the business world. And SpeakLike, at Demo 08 pioneered a new category, web-based translation services, that fills an important need. SpeakLike has an instant message like front end. It’s users type in an English phrase or question and recipients see the text in their native languages. The new service combines automated and human translation and is less costly than existing translation services.  SpeakLike archives translations in case the information can be used for subsequent sessions involving the same languages.  At the end of the session, SpeakLike users are provided with transcriptions of the conversations.

            The service can support simultaneous translations into multiple languages.

            I like SpeakLike’s translation speed and it’s use of an instant message format, something that’s familiar to most business computer users. Furthermore, SpeakLike should be appealing and useful  to the thousands pf global companies who do business everyday in countries where languages other than English are spoken.

            I made a quick stop at this company’s booth and experimented with its English to Spanish translation capabilities.  I intentionally used an example that the company was very unlikely to have a canned version of and which could cause the translator at the other end of the IM session to think hard about.  I was surprised at how the translator avoided using a Spanish word that if spoken in the presence of my mamacita, would have guaranteed my mouth being washed out with Lava Soap. Instead the translator came back with a completely sanitized phrase that left me laughing. He ended the session however by messaging me back ”pleas tell me there’s no one behind you watching this?”

            I chuckled and typed, “Just your CEO, but he’s not a gabacho like I am.”

            SpeakLike can redefine Internet translation services. It’s relatively inexpensive ($US.10) for each translated message and its fast and accurate.

            I probably will have one more post on some other companies at Demo 08 but I want to think some more about that category before I post anything. Jim Forbes, 02/03/2008.

            

My List of Great Demo 2008 Companies Continues to Grow

I came home from Demo 2008, took two Tylenol for a blown out left knee and promptly went to bed; for almost a full day. Now that I can hobble around ising my trusty five year old shillelagh It’s time to finish my thoughts on a couple of the companies I saw at Demo this week.

            First up is Education.com’s School Finder. A product I wish I had access to in 2002 when my beautiful daughter, the lovely Miss Amanda, was getting ready to go away to college.  School Finder is a parent’s dream: it lets you match your kids’ needs to college offerings and the local environment. When School Finder goes live in about two months, it will have information on about 100,000 public and private schools. I was impressed by this start-up’s deep well of information on various colleges and their locations.  I quickly realized how valuable this site and tool would have been back in 2002, when (based on bad advice) she chose a Boston area women’s university whose classes were seldom transferable. School Finder is just one of Education.com’s offerings. It also offers modest on-line tutoring, and electronic learning. This site already has great traffic numbers. The addition of School Finder to its offerings will bolster both its position and usefulness, creating even more unique visitors. I think Education.com and School Finder may be one of the jewels of Demo 2008.  I really wish it had been around five years ago, when I was a parent trying to help my soon to fledge daughter pick a college that met her needs and expectations.  Oh, prior to moving to go to school in Boston, my daughter had never experienced a real snowstorm.

            I’m a sucker for mobile applications and Ribbit’s Amphibian, a web telephony application made me realized just how important the personal information provided in our profile information files have become when we connect with friends or potential business associates on the phone. Imagine getting a phone call from a potential client and suddenly being presented with personal information from their FaceBook page. I understand the need to connect with people in order to sell or convince someone of a value proposition, and Ribbit’s Amphibian is the first example I’ve seen of an application that gives me access to someone’s web presence, while I’m talking with them on my mobile phone.

            It’s this type of application that highlights the need for new mobile phone plans that offer affordable internet access as part of business or high-minute plans. I believe that platforms like Ribbit and apps like Amphibian also work best with cell phones with large screens, which facilitate more complete information displays.

            CellSpin is another mobile-based application I liked at Demo 08. This startup is one of the several companies that have been in development for almost two years. What CellSpin does that’s unique is it allows you to post and synchronize you posts to multiple outlets with an absolute minimum of user intervention. For example, if you wanted to post something to Blogger, eBay, FaceBook, Flickr, Live Journal, Picassa or YouTube, you could do so with a minimum of clicks and all your files would be automatically synchronized. Of all the products at Demo 08, I had the most experience with CellSpin. I like its ultra clean interface, and its promise of simultaneously posting virtually all media types (including video and audio) to multiple sites with one or two clicks.

            I love great mobile technology and Skyfire, a downloadable browser for mobile phones just knocked my socks off. My ongoing complaint with the Internet experience on so-called phones is that it just plain sucks. I’ve sat by and waited, and waited for freaking ever for some pages to load on various smart phones and in many cases just walked away from the experience rather than endure the tedious experience of taking advantage of the web on cell phone. Skyfire changes that. I was blown away by this company’s pavilion-demonstration that after only two minutes left me wishing that my antique cell phone would support the Skyfire browser.

            Unlike other browsers for mobile phones, Skyfire supports dynamic Flash, Ajax and Java technologies, which allows smart phones running this new browser to deliver a desktop-like computing experience.

            If there was one technology and company from Demo 08 that is worth watching, it’s Skyfire.

            A quick note pertaining to CellSpin and Skyfire.  Both of these companies are tying their success to third-party cellular networks and smart phone manufacturers. It’s one thing to develop and introduce a product with obvious advantages and little cost adders and an altogether different thing to score a huge win with that product.

            The problem here is that start-ups are ill equipped to navigate the treacherous rocks and shoals that provide safe harbor for key decision makers that can guarantee and provide a safe birth in this industry segment.

            What I’ve seen over the years is a long line of entrepreneurs network with B-School buddies who work for telcos, thinking such people will become their allies in driving adoption.  The problem with this thinking is the ultra conservative nature of telco management.  That B-school chum who is your champion may have a sexy title, but the  reality is not very promising: the champion’s name on an org chart is five cells off center and at least as many levels down from the decision makers and check signers.

            There are at least three domestic cellular network companies that appear to be aggressively courting new technologies: AT&T, Sprint and Verizon immediately come to mind. I rank Sprint at the top of this list followed by Verizon and AT&T.

            Well, I’ve run out of time for this post, so up on ForbesonTech it goes.—Jim Forbes, recovering from my favorite technology show, Demo on 1/31/2008.

{ mandatory disclosure, I am a retired producer of Demo shows as well as the editor of the printed and electronic versions of DemoLetter. I have no fiduciary or other ties with Demo, or any of its parent organizations. But I am one of the few people who has run a Demo show and sat through thousands of meetings with companies during the selection process of the show.  There, I’ve said it. I’m still proud of it—jmf}