GigPark's 15 Minutes of Fame

One of the collateral benefits of a conference like last week's Mesh in Toronto is the global exposure it brings some of the Canadian start-ups that participate. Toronto's GigPark was one such company. GigPark (previously profiled here) was lucky enough to present during the 15 Minutes of Fame session on Day One of conference. They used the slot to launch a major redesign of GigPark that included a visual face lift and hundreds of changes to make it easier for people to find the trusted handyman, accountant and everyone else their friends use.

As a result they met up with Techcrunch's Erick Schonfeld – he had seen GigPark co-founder Pema Hegan’s panel discussion the day before and was interested in learning more. During a demo, Schonfeld seemed to pick up on the idea that if you're looking to hire a service provider you can trust, getting a recommendation from a friend is a great way to go. He added GigPark to CrunchBase on the spot and said he might be interested in writing a story. The next day GigPark got Techcrunched. According to Hagan, traffic to GigPark was solid during and following Mesh and the Techcrunch post has sent them a couple of thousand visitors but the effect is still playing out.

There are also lots of blogs that see start-ups profiled on TechCrunch and write their own posts. That's happening right now and I hope it will continue over the next few days.

I think getting written about on TechCrunch is a great way for a start-up to get the word out. Lots of people show up and you hit the radar of some interesting people. I don't think TechCrunch should be your only focus though.

We've received more traffic by being featured in national newspapers and on a couple of breakfast television shows. And by far the most successful way we have grown is through members getting a lot of value out of GigPark and inviting their friends.

Sounds like GigPark is getting more than 15 minutes of fame out of Mesh.