What do you have?

[Chris Saad]

Most of the threads so far have focused on what we want or what we
don't have as a community. So I thought I might ask another question.

What do you have? What resources do you have in your company that many
of us would be surprised to know. They might be human resources,
skills you have, people you know, access you have. They might be
technology resources. They might be capital resources or maybe even
land or office space that you could share or rent.

Surprise us. Tell us what hidden power/capacity/resources exists in
this small but growing group.

[Ash Angell]

Unrelenting passion for Attention.

:)

Ash

[Stephen Kelly]

I am probably one of the few Angel investors in Australia willing to
take a risk on WEB2.0 companies haveing made three investments so far,
and all are going very well (www.peepel.com, www.Faradaymedia.com and
www.emotf.com). I am actively involved with all three business usually
on a daily basis.

I also have a development / Consulting company (sjk.net.au) which
means that I have a wide range of in house skills to help support
these startups.

So basically there are Four things that I can offer for the right
project

1) Money
2) Experience
3) Development resources
4) Contacts

By looking through the introductions there are a few people that I
will be reaching out to in the next few days as there was some
interesting things in there.

I am friendly and approachable, so please feel free to contact me if
you have any questions or just want a chat - or a coffee.

St...@sjk.net.au
Stephen Kelly

[Chris Saad]

It's telling that the threads about a deficit are more active than this thread about surplus.

Are we underestimating what we have? Are we afraid of being a tall poppy? Why do we not have resources to shout about? To share?

Chris

On Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 4:09 PM, Chris Saad <chris...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
Chris Saad

FaradayMedia - For Audiences of One
Particls - Are You Paying Attention?
Engagd - The Open Attention Platform
Media 2.0 Workgroup - Social, Democratic, Distributed
APML - Your Attention Profile
DataPortability - Connect, Control, Share, Remix

[Sriram Panyam]

All,

   First of all Apologies for the late intro.  I am Sri.  A Software Engineer.  and a Desperate Wantrepreneur!

Chris,

   I think the fear of being a tall poppy is one aspect.  But I am wondering if economics are playing a bigger role?  With a population of a mere 20 million, nice markets dont have a chance to become big.  Which means startups which (I think) for economical reasons need to start by attacking a niche and then expand, may not find a sustainable market segment to do so.

So ofcourse, if you cant cater for the tiny, why not cater for the large.  But how easy/hard is it to sell something to Telstra?  "But Telstra is a beauracracy!!" I hear?  well ok, how about other big companies?  We end up seeing a similar pattern where risk aversion by management means sticking to the norm rather than betting on an emerging technology. 

Ofcourse Mike-Cannon Brooks would disagree, and the like of Atlassian is something Id like to see a lot more (and ofcourse who would NOT want to be as successful as them?  Id kill for it!!!).  But I wonder, how much of their local market was "promoted" by their foreign market?  What other market factors helped them out?  No I mean it, Id love to find out!

I guess what we really need is the ecosystem that can bring together startups and wantrepreneurs.  I hope sillicon beach is one of those mediums that can blast off that ecosystem!!!

Cheers
Sri

--
Blog: http://panyam.wordpress.com
URL: http://www.geocities.com/spany_1

[Chris Saad]

Hi Sri - welcome to the list :)

I understand and empathize with what your saying - but that's exactly why I started this thread.

I am asking - putting all our limitations aside - what do we each HAVE that might be useful to others.

Maybe I should start with a few bullet points. These are things I *have* that could be used by other startups in this ecosystem if they reached out to me. I am not listing these to show off - I am listing them to help creative visibility and a feeling of abundance in our little corner of the world. I'm sure many others have many other resources that I'd love them to share.

For example if you are a journalist, mention that you have an audience of X people interested in Y thing. That is a resource!

Here are a few of mine (or the company I work for):

• I have a growing index of the web, analyzed for semantic themes and topics (could u use it?)
  
• I have more than 100,000 thousand transactions an hour going through my system (could you add value to them?)
• I am often in the US (will be back there as of Saturday - can I do a meeting for you?)
• I know a lot of valley people (would you like an introduction?)
• I can design things (sort of) - I made the Silicon Beach logo for example.
  

This is what I am talking about - anyone else want to contribute?

Chris

[Myles Eftos]

Ok, I'll bite,

* I'm a Ruby on Rails, PHP and JavaScript expert
* I'm a bit of a go-to man locally when it comes to solving obscure web-tech
problems
* I'm on the committee for the Web Industry Association, so I've have
contact with a number of web developers and designers
* I also do all of the web industry association events, so I can tee-up
speaking gigs and meet ups relatively easily.

----------------------------------------------
Myles Eftos
Mobile: +61-409-293-183

MadPilot Productions
URL: http://www.madpilot.com.au <http://www.madpilot.com.au/>
Phone: +618-6424-8234
Fax: +618-9467-6289

Try our time tracking system: 88 Miles!
http://www.88miles.net <http://www.88miles.net/>

[Geeksville]

What we have through our Geeksville Incubation Programme....

Probably least import, but still nice is we have offices in The Rocks
with great views of the bridge and Opera House (Silicon Harbour??).

We aim to take all incubatees and put them at a desk here. Our aim
for these offices is to be the "coolest" in Australia. Yes we have
the obligatory plasma's, wii's, foosball tables and arcade machines,
but more importantly we have a collective group of talent at the
disposal of the business ideas we are incubating:

iMega - specialists in online performance marketing.
Belong - mobile communication solutions and content aggregators.
Returnity - leading email marketing company.
Love - strategic communications company, building brands by creating
deeper emotional connections.
Naked - innovative and commercially effective communication strategies
based on consumer and brand insight.

Also what Geekdom has is project management, legal, and development
resource...

What we need are your ideas, passion and determination to see your
business succeed...

I'm available anytime for coffee, foosball or chat, please feel free
to contact me or drop in...

Geekdom.com.au/Geeksville

[Sriram Panyam]

Howdy,

    My last couple of years has been a huge focus on python, django and flex... so if you need any help there I can try...  Currently trying to leverage of the AppEngine platform. 

Cheers
Sri

[Sriram Panyam]

Howdy,

   Id also like to add that I am pretty shocking with all things UI and design, so would like to see more design people here...  I heard we have some of the best designers in the XXX.

Cheers
Sri

[PaulM (WebEquity.com.au)]

I have ideas.
--
Paul Middleton
www.webequity.com.au

[Bart Jellema]

I'm a database/SQL wizard and hardcore coder with experience in pretty
much everything except Rails...
I have supplies of advice for other startups based on nothing but my
own limited experience (to be dispersed every Friday night at the
Shelbourne)
I have a press list I use for sending out Press Releases
I have an unlimited supply of great business ideas for wantrepreneurs
without an idea (I can only work on so much at once...)
I love to help...

[mbalara]

Sri said he wanted to hear from designers, so...

I have 15 years of digital media design experience. I have plenty of
practice thinking a design through from vague idea to scribble to
photoshop to launch, and also fixing broken designs. I have a sharp
eye and can analyse and improve interfaces effectively. I can develop
online branding, and maintain a consistent brand style across
thousands of pages. I've done user-tests and know how to organise and
analyse them. I know how to identify the core of a web app, can
seperate wheat from chaff, and am stubborn enough to get people to
listen. And I can throw together a pretty swanky presentation, and
present it so that it's not only enjoyable but also interesting, and
maybe even entertaining.

And I'm looking for interesting things to get involved in....

[Tim Bull]

* Lots of Enterprise experience and am very focussed on what will (and
won't) work for large (100,000+) enterprises. I'll tell you why, and
why not, I think an idea will float at the big end of town. And as
Chris knows, why we won't pay for it :-)
* Working group member of the Microsoft IEC (pushing for
interoperability in Microsoft applications), I can promote emerging
standards in this forum if I think they add value in the Enterprise
space.
* Various contacts in IBM and Microsoft with some development teams --
maybe useful if you want to make a play to "traditional" vendors
* Passion for all the emerging web technology and a real interest in
pushing adoption further into Enterprises.
* Like others, lots of ideas, usually best expressed over a beer, but
too little time and energy to do much with some of them.
* On the boring side, but perhaps relevant for some members of the
community, I can provide introductions to various experts in PwC that
specialise in the entrepenuarial space and helping inidividuals grow
their businesses and their personal wealth (that's it, my one and only
advert and corporate obligations fulfilled now) :-)

[Kain Tietzel]

I always feel awkward introducing myself as I don't want to come
across as a pretentious wanker. I guess i'm scared of the Tall Poppy
Boogerman, but i'll give it a shot anyway.

I'm Kain, former Creative Director at MassMedia Studios, and about-to-
be wantreprenuer (@Sri - nice phrase!).
My background is working on start-up (esque) projects and building
them to the point where they're self sustainable (and often boring)
which i've been doing since '95.
My strengths are in creative thinking, problem solving, design, mixing
media and a passion for trying new things.
I vodcast, I twit, I make online games and I have 5 wordpress
installations and no-time to write anything.

The problem of being a Wantreprenuer: is not knowing where to start.
How do i begin to get my idea off the ground when i'm bogged down in
analysis paralysis?

The most exciting idea around siliconbeachaustralia is the idea that
we could be sharing a space and sharing our skills on a daily basis. I
know Mick's been talking about a shared space and I'm chomping at the
bit to be involved. I think the incubator ideals at Geekdom are very
exciting, but my initial (and probably irrational) thoughts are that I
wouldn't want to hand over my ideas to the belong group for fear of
being swamped by the opinions and business requirements of 15 other
companies...

http://entrepreneur.meetup.com/ is a great idea, as is http://www.technation.com.au/

I'm keen to be a part of the SBA.org movement and am open to
discussions with everyone.

kain tietzel
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kaintietzel
http://twitter.com/kaintietzel
http://swansupporter.com/

[Elias Bizannes]

Kain,

 

Something I've said, and which I think I might make a rule in this group to ovecome the exact problem you describe (Australia tall poppy and modesty) is the toot once rule.

 

That is, you are entitled to toot your horn telling us whatever you want, boasting about your achievements like there is no tomorrow. BUT, if you KEEP doing it, you are officially designated, a "tool". It is akward telling people about yourself (but on the reader side, it's interesting), but hopefully by mandating people do it once, they can overcome their reluctance - but by describing the boundary, it manages peoples expectations and creates a reasonable standard of behaviour.

 

So rules so far

1) You MUST introduce yourself to this google group

2) You MUST toot your horn at least once (either in the intro or relevant places).

3) If you toot more than once with relevance to the discussion, you are a "tool".

[Nick Ramage]

Bart hi - how are you going.  Firstly, I am frankly stunned at the levels of conversation in this group - where do they get time to work I'd like to know!

You sound switched on and just slightly busy also.  Here in Adelaide we have made a good search/resources site for the South Australian legal community - foolkit.com.au - that also has powerful tools links built in -  plus editorial - anyhow we thinks its pretty good  - just into final stage of doing our editorial side into it to grow return traffic and ads.

We managed to convince some of our wealthier clients to invest in our venture for one year so the pressure's on :)

Naturally quite keen to build the word on it as its unique legal tool for profession and the general public. Any print media specifics or contacts would be great - and inroads to online media clearly also really welcome. ANY contacts particularly online would be welcome. About to kick off media campaign as we complete the site with the new  editorial section.

The database idea kicking around yesterday makes sense for sure. A media listing resource for the SB group also makes great sense too. Thanks again Bart and all @ SB.

Cheers

Nick Ramage
Editor
foolkit.com.au

2008/7/30 Bart Jellema <ba...@planthedive.com>

--
Kind regards,

Nick Ramage
Promotions Manager
Foolkit - Australia

visit www.foolkit.com.au

e:: foo...@gmail.com
m:: 0419 824 915

Foolkit - A Lawyer's Toolkit

[Stephen Collins]

What do I have? Hmmm...

- lots of ideas that don't fit with the standard view of things - If I
could align myself with people in the SF scene that I relate to, I'd
like to think people saw me as an Aussie equivalent to Tara Hunt and
Stowe Boyd.
- lots of experience working in large, conservative organisations
including Federal Government - I understand how they work and can talk
"suit".
- public speaking ability - ask around, I'm more than capable of
prepping and presenting for you if that's something you might struggle
with, or I can provide some public speaking/presentation training.
- facilitation skills - I can prep and run
workshop/brainstorm/innovation stuff 'til it leaks from your ears.
- change, innovation and implementation management - important stuff.
Seat of the pants isn't always ideal. I'm used to working in programs
to make this stuff happen.
- web and social media/networking strategy - particularly for larger
organisations where I have a lot of experience.
- Enterprise 2.0 understanding - I've worked in apps development, IT
management, IT security and understand how this stuff goes in
business. Web 2.0 *is not the same* as Enterprise 2.0 and the same
ideals don't apply.

Steve
--
Stephen Collins
Cell +61 410 680722
Skype trib22
www.twitter.com/trib
www.linkedin.com/in/stephencollins

www.acidlabs.org

acidlabs - strategies, tools and processes to empower knowledge workers

[Derek Clapham]

Ok, this is what we have at PhotoMerchant (slightly technical):

1. Dedicated people. We have no funding. We have spent $4k in the 10
months since we embarked on this project and are just a few months off
launch. No one has been paid a cent and yet we have had a number of
skilled professionals who have agreed to work for us purely because
they're excited about our product. (Our code base is close to
1,500,000 lines of code)

2. An amazing open source PHP development framework that has allowed
us to churn out a professional grade online application in 1/10th the
time.

3. A small but good network of contacts and professionals who have
been able to give us great advice and share their experiences.

4. Amazon EC2 and S3 - Without these services things for us would be a
lot more expensive. (Our product deals with high resolution photos
from professional grade Digital SLRs, sometimes 20Mb per photo or
more. We store 100s - 1000s of these per customer) At 0.15c per GB
month, we're saving a fortune when compared to traditional data
storage methods.

5. I have a comfy chair, 1/2 decent internet connection and a trusty
laptop... That's 99% of what I need.

On a side note. In our experience the 2 most restrictive aspects of
running a startup aimed at a global as well as an Australian markets
has been the Australian Banks and the state of broadband in this
country... I won't go into it here, but these 2 things alone have
caused many issues (the banks especially).

- Derek

[Maxim Shklyar]

- A lot of knowledge and experience in web applications development,
internet technologies, creative solutions for any internet project

- Unique technology for interactive and multimedia websites development,
allowing fast and simple creation and maintenance of complex Flash-based
sites and interfaces. It's allowing to provide much better user experience
in fraction of a cost.

- Knowledge and experience in start-up/small business operation, project
management, internet industry, etc

- Interest in new ventures and ideas

---
Maxim Shklyar
kisla interactive
0414 776463
  http://kisla.com
  http://ximl.com

[Geeksville]

Hi Kain

I understand your concerns with respect to being a passenger in your
own start-up, this is certainly not our intent. Whilst we have a
great group of company resource to pull upon it is not a prerequisite
that they all, or any get involved. Bare minimum we give you a desk
and space to work and mentoring from entrepanuers who have gone
through your pain, everything else is on a case by case basis, purely
down to your requirements.

If you would like to discuss anything, I am happy to do so under an
NDA and certainly not outside of the Geeksville programme with other
group companies, ping you if you think relevant.

Ian

[Kain Tietzel]

I guess I should have re-read this post before I rambled extensively
in the other "Hi" post.

thanks Ian. let's hook up soon. should I contact you through the
geeksville website?

[Viki]

Stephen, your name has come up many times when I've been in Australia.
I'm bringing our FocUS Marketing Workshops to Australia again this
month with Chris Shipley (of DEMO fame) - you may want to have some of
your portfolio companies consider attending -
http://www.anzatechnet.com/page-2/parent-2/section-2.html - if they
are thinking about the US Market. Viki (CEO, ANZA Technology Network).

On Jul 29, 3:02 am, Stephen Kelly <steve2000...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am probably one of the few Angel investors in Australia willing to
> take a risk on WEB2.0 companies haveing made three investments so far,

> and all are going very well (www.peepel.com,www.Faradaymedia.comandwww.emotf.com). I am actively involved with all three business usually