Edmonton Startup Semanti Corp. recently demoed their new product at DEMO 08. Semanti is a Firefox plugin that sits on top of Google allowing users to search based on word's semantic meaning, the results are shown in a box above your google search results and are based on what other sites users have said belong in those categories. Check out their presentation at DEMO 08 (embeded below).
Check out www.semantifind.com to sign up for their beta.
Happy Blog Day 2008!!! Here are 5 blogs that I love to follow and you might find interesting on this fine, sunny (in Edmonton), blog day.
I hope that you find a blog on here that you haven’t heard of before. I would love to hear what blogs you find interesting.
STIRR Canada ran its first Founders’ Table event last night in Calgary and it was great to be able to attend and join in. The goal of the Founders’ Table events is to bring founders of newer tech startups together in an intimate social setting with people who have gone through the startup process before, and are potentially looking to advise and invest. The hope is that newer founders, and pre-startup innovators, will be able to connect with and learn from the more seasoned entrepreneurs and investors.
The event was kept fairly small and was invite-only. This was done so that quality "up and coming" founders would be able to get the most benefit. The seating at the tables was pre-arranged so that people would interact with others that they might not have met before. Most of the attendees came from Calgary, however there were about five or six people from Edmonton who were invited down.
The first part of the evening featured Garrett Camp, the co-founder of one of Calgary's most successful startups, StumbleUpon. The first few minutes of Garrett's talk was about how StumbleUpon came about and grew. One of the most interesting things that came out of that talk was that his first angel connection actually contacted him because he was a frequent user and loved the idea.
After Garrett's brief talk, he opened the floor to questions from the attendees. Perhaps the question that most people wanted to have answered was: “Would he have been able to take StumbleUpon to where it was had he not moved to the Valley?” Garrett figured he would have been able to but "it would have been much harder, and required more travel back and forth from the Valley." Ultimately he felt as though the connections and mentoring that he was able to get from Silicon Valley were vital to the success that StumbleUpon has had. This is one of the biggest reasons that Pat Lor, Claudia Moore and the STIRR Team have worked so hard to bring STIRR to Canada. They hope that the connections, mentoring and startup experiences that exist in Canada will be able to be shared with the next flock of startups.
After the talk, dinner was served and it gave a chance for everyone to interact. It was great to be able to hear some of the people who had run successful startups talk about what had taken them there. Also for those who would potentially become investors they were able to learn more about both the founder and their idea, and it gave the newer founders a chance to find out what investors were really looking for. Each table had a STIRR organizer facilitating the conversation so that everyone was able to discuss some of the topics that they were interested in.
Overall the event was great. STIRR has done a fantastic job in the Valley and it is great to see it here in Canada. Hopefully the event will continue to grow and the format will be expanded to other cities. It was really awesome to see the conversations that were being had, and the relationships that were being developed. STIRR Canada will be running more Founders’ Table events, as well as larger Tech Mixers. If you think that you should be invited, contact them and let them know why; likely you will find yourself at a future STIRR event.
With the inaugural Founders' Table dinner on the evening of May 15th, STIRR will have begun its entrance into the Canadian tech scene. Originally co-founded by Sanford Barr in California as a way to connect entrepreneurs, it has become one of the most popular organizations for founders in Silicon Valley. STIRR is now coming to Canada, with Calgary as its base location. Once again, the dedication of Pat Lor and Claudia Moore in building the Calgary (and Canadian) tech community is shown as they will be heading up the STIRR Canada team. One of the most important aspects of STIRR is that it is organized and attended by entrepreneurs that have gone through the process of founding and running a tech company. This gives them direct knowledge of the things that entrepreneurs desperately need (such as funding and guidance), as they attempt to help provide access to those essential elements.
The first STIRR Canada event will be held this Thursday (May 15th), and will be a Founders' Table. It will bring together a small group of local founders, emerging innovators, and funders around a dinner table for a facilitated conversation, interaction and relationship building. Garrett Camp, founder of one of Calgary's most successful tech startups, StumbleUpon, is scheduled to be the guest speaker at the event. I had a chance to chat with Sharon McIntyre (part of the STIRR Canada team) on the phone and she said an important difference between this event and other founders and funders type events is that there will also be an "emphasis on bringing very early stage individuals into the event and connecting them with mentors." While most founders and funders events are primarily trying to connect people who need money with those who have it, this event will also bring innovators to the table who may not be ready for financing. The event is invite-only in an effort to connect the right people together, as Sharon put it: "It's a bit like planning a wedding party; you need to make sure that the right people are sitting at the same table together in order for things to go well." STIRR Canada will also be running larger Tech Mixer events in the near future that will encourage more entrepreneurs to join in and interact.