DemoCamp Calgary 11 - Thursday October 23rd

DemoCamp 11, already?

This Thursday at 6:30pm is DemoCamp 11. It hardly seems like any time has passed since the last DemoCamp and we are already getting set to watch another group of founders show us what is new in Calgary. Come out and join everyone at Critical Mass (map), I hear there is even going to be beer!

Also, the Calgary UX Meetup is taking place at Vicious Circle at 5:30pm. Stop by on your way to DemoCamp, they are only a few blocks away from each other.  Convenient, or just good planning?

For more details head over to the BarCampCalgary page. See you on Thursday.

Cambrian House - For the record: we’re not dead

Comic books are great!TechCrunch managed to post another incorrect story over the weekend.  Serkan Toto made it to the last paragraph before he misspoke, calling Cambrian House “now-defunct”. Let me tidy up some facts: VenCorps, for those who follow these things, is a site built by the not-defunct Cambrian House.

Luckily, the “not-defunct at all” Cambrian House team was on top of the situation and released this blog post to combat the misinformation. This post contains an official letter from their counsel, a detailed FAQ, and the wit and humor we have come to expect from the Calgary company.

Thanks for clearing things up... again!

 

 

DemoCampCalgary: Success!

Congratulations to Sarah Blue and crew for hosting another successful DemoCamp in Calgary! Four startups had the pleasure of exhibiting their applications to a packed house of interested individuals. Despite some interesting Wi-Fi problems at the outset, things came together nicely for the demos. 

After a failed attempt from the first startup of the evening, Kent from AllianceOne showed us how easy it is for corporations to overspend on employee cell phone plans. With access to over 200 nation wide plans, AllianceOne offers metrics and tracking that are sure to save companies money. The coolest part about AllianceOne was their pricing model: They take a percentage of the total savings as payment!  So if a company doesn't save any money using AllianceOne, they don't have to pay anything. Now that's a confident revenue model. 

Marcus from SharingBooks was up next.  He has provided a medium for children’s book authors to get their works into the hands of the eager public. The book that he showed to the group was interesting and involved an increasing number of sheep exploding from a small child's ear canal. Things will start to look up once this funded company starts getting some high quality books into its repitore. 

Finally, Matt Dorey from Curve Dental gave us a view into the company’s new clinical software. His demo involved giving a patient a sparkling collection of gold teeth, "grill" procedures may be a competitive advantage with the new Curve software!  With impressive focus on user experience and UI, Curve seems ready to take on the old guard in all aspects of the Dental Software business. 

Thanks again to DemoCampCalgary and everyone who had a hand in organizing the event. 

 

DemoCampCalgary - Next Week!

DemoCampCalgaryAnother demo camp is ready to go in Calgary next week on Thursday, September 25th. The event will be taking place on the middle floor of Melrose Cafe and Bar.  If you are like me, and despite your best efforts, can't really remember what the inside of Melrose looks like, there will be people and signs to direct you to the appropriate place! Those helpful organizers think of everything!  

Official Demo Camping starts at 6:30pm with drinks and networking before and after the event.  Check out the DemoCamp Calgary page for more information.   

Blog Day 2008: My Favorites

Blog Day

Hi everyone!  Hopefully your blog day is going just as well as mine.  I am writing from a sunny hotel room in Vancouver and my view of the pier could not be better!  To go along with my great view and relaxing vacation, I thought I would share some of my favorite blogs with you:

1. Got Cheeks! - This artist focuses a lot on cartoon and comic inspired art, which happens to appeal to me.  I love how he draws and creates images.  I am hoping to pick up a few prints from him soon!  

2.  Michael Brooks - Michael has a great blog with very concise posts about topics ranging from modern design to web applications.  Michael also happens to be from Regina, Saskatchewan and is one of my best friends!  Check out his site to see a perfect example of how the blogging platform Tumblr can be used.

3. Mercury Grove - Mercury Grove's tagline is "Naked Development".  I hope that is a reference to their ideas about how development should be simple and not a reference to their dress code, haha.  This group from Ottawa have great insights into software design and business decisions.  I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I have.  

4. Patrick Lor - Patrick Lor became a big name in Calgary after the success of iStockphoto. Now his blog talks about investment advice as well as upcoming events in Calgary.  Patrick is a part of STIRR Calgary and BarCampCalgary.

5. Post Secret and IFoundYourCamera - These last two entries are just for fun.  Post Secret is a site where people can anonymously write postcards with secrets on them. The postcards are then published for everyone to read.  There are some very intense entries along with some very humorous ones.  A must read. 

I found your camera is a blog where people can post the pictures from digital cameras that they find anywhere in the world. The idea is that the owner of the camera can claim the photos and get their camera back.  Cool idea and a fun site.   

Well, I hope that some of my favorite blogs have been interesting.  Happy Blog Day!

 

Calgary Host’s i-Technology Series

On Monday August 11th, Long View Systems brought the i-Technology Series and a great group of keynote speakers to the Telus Convention Center in Calgary, Alberta. These speakers, led by Tom Mendoza, Vice Chairman of NetApp, imparted their wisdom and experience on a packed house of 1000+ attendees.

The event started off with a big announcement from Long View Systems. They have become the newest Large Account Reseller with Microsoft. Only one other company has reached this milestone in the past 5 years. Congratulations Long View!

When Tom Mendoza stood up in front of the group, it was hard to tell – he is a fairly short guy! He had some very insightful thoughts on business and the culture that businesses create:

  • Business is made harder than it should be by most people. If business is done right, it should be easy.
  • Company Culture is easy to keep positive when everyone is making lots of money. You find out if you have a great culture and great partnerships when that stops.
  • Normally, Enterprise customers don’t care about disruptive technologies. But, when there is a recession, similar to right now, all companies are looking for a better and cheaper way to do things. This is a great time for new businesses.
  • Nothing great has ever been done by people who didn’t want to do it. You need to make sure you have the proper attitude to be successful.

Finally, the two things that Tom Mendoza thinks are key to the success of any business are:

  1. Execution is more important than the idea.
  2. Be able to explain your idea without resorting to PowerPoint slides

I would have to agree with him, especially about the PowerPoint slides!

Great People, Products, and Stories: BarCampCalgary2

Last Saturday, Mount Royal College was the gracious host for roughly 35 people at BarCampCalgary2. This was my very first exposure to the local tech scene in Calgary and I didn't know what exactly to expect. When I arrived (just on time!) I was quickly introduced to a large number of very friendly and helpful people. What a great first impression.

BarCampCalgary2 was true to its definition. It was a free flowing unconference. There were a number of great product demos for Smibs, Zigtag and a sneak peak at something new called "Sticky Flow", and it isn't what you are thinking!

Also, Timo, the founder of Nexopia, gave an inspirational talk about his experience with his startup and where he is now. A lot of the questions focused on scalability and how Nexopia coped with growth and how they will be managing it in the future. This scalability discussion led perfectly to the next session focused on Twitter and some of the common apps that can make your experience much better.

In this session it was mentioned that the Twitter community in Calgary is sorely in need of a jump-start. So everyone head over to Twitterlocal and search for the active members in Calgary. Also, feel free to add me to Twitter (Rfelgate).

Finally, I just want to thank everyone I met over the weekend. You guys were great and I am looking forward to next time. And a special thanks to Patrick Lor and Sarah Blue for organizing another successful event!

BarCampCalgary2 Almost Here

There is only one day left to sign up for BarCamp #2 in Calgary. With a group joining us from Edmonton (including Techvibes’ Cam Linke), this will definitely be a great event for everyone who attends. Sign up on the Calgary BarCamp page and make sure you come out on Saturday June 14th, from 10:30 am – 3:30 pm at the Bissett School of Business on the Mount Royal College campus. This is an event you do not want to miss.

BarCampCalgary2 Fast Approaching

On Saturday June 14th, the second iteration of BarCampCalgary will be held at Mount Royal College. This event runs from 10:30am-3:30pm at the Bissett School of Business. Visit their site for registration and directions.

Since this is my first blog post on Techvibes, I thought I should introduce myself. My name is Ryan Felgate and I am the newest city contributor for Calgary. I'm 24, enthusiastic about local start-ups and ready to see everyone at some of the upcoming meet-ups in the city. You'll start to hear from me on a regular basis when I highlight interesting start-ups and events in the Calgary area. The only things I will ask for in return are interesting conversations and comments on the posts you see here.