Making Ideas Come To Life

The next Web Startup Group Meeting is this Thursday (June 11) night at 7:00PM in 374 TNRB!  

Here are some of the details…

BizTech: Google I/O participants will be sharing some of the interesting things they learned.

FastPitch: ideas and venture updates from the group will be shared. As always, anyone attending can take 1-minute to share an idea or need. If you would like a formal 5-min FastPitch slot, then send an email to: fastpitch@webstartupgroup.com

Lastly, if anyone would like to sponsor the event by providing some food, then that would be appreciated. (email sponsor@webstartupgroup.com)

See you there!

Please spread the word! This is a great opportunity for students!

The Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum (UVEF) is seeking to recognize the best emerging companies established by entrepreneurs in the state of Utah. We are currently looking for the Top 25 under 5 years. The purpose of this event is to promote those companies who may become leaders in their field in the state, the region and globally. The winners will be selected by a panel of the Board of Directors of UVEF.

This is an excellent way to get recognition for your business! Novell is also awarding free incubators to the top businesses.

Here is the link to the application: http://bit.ly/zy7XV

Let me know if you have any questions,

Tim Enger
timenger@hotmail.com
801-815-4944

Tonight, starting at 7pm, we will be hearing from seasoned entrepreneurs and discussing the following WSG projects:

• TinyFlock
• SimpleSlice
• PageMass
• Skribbls (only if time permits)
• TwitterCapital (only if time permits)

We look forward to this exciting event!

The next Web Startup Group meeting will be held this Thursday night at Brigham Young University in the Tanner Building (TNRB) in room 374 @ 7:00pm (Map). It should be very fast moving and interesting. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Position Description:

The Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at BYU is looking for a great webmaster to help us evolve to the next level. Our immediate need is to merge two pre-existing web sites into one. This will require not only the integration of existing platforms and resources, but also the creation of new features. We also will have ongoing development needs after the web site merger is completed.

Qualifications:

• HTML, including HTML forms and processing posted submissions
• Working knowledge of PHP
• Experience with MySQL
• Familiarity with JavaScript
• Web 2.0 savvy (especially social media)

Benefits:

• Boost your résumé
• Expand your network
• Fun and exciting work environment
• Training from the Marriott School Web Team

Additional Information:

Pay: $12+/hr, negotiable (regular opportunities for pay increases)
Work Hours: 20-40 hrs/week
Work Days: Flexible

We want to hire as soon as possible. The deadline to apply for this position is Friday, May 22nd. If you are interested or want more information send an email to jeff.brown@byu.edu, call (422-2815) or stop by our office in room 470 of the Tanner Building.

The meeting originally scheduled for this Thursday (May 14) has been changed to May 21 instead. All of the other meeting details remain the same, except the SimpleSlice will presenting instead of Instructure.

On May 14 May 21, we will be having our first ever 50/50 meeting where a group of seasoned web entrepreneurs will take the first half of the meeting to talk about what they see as being hot right now. Next, members of the Web Startup Group will showcase their current startup ideas. Feedback, questions, and discussion will provided throughout. Here is a little flyer about the event. (Note: the Date should be updated to May 21 on the Flyer)

The meeting will be held at Brigham Young University in the Tanner Building (TNRB) in room 374 @ 7:00pm (Map).
Download March Flyer (PDF)

Here is a webcast on “How to Build a Lean Startup, step-by-step” that O’Reilly hosted last Friday. In case you missed it, watch it here:

Here is a press release that we would like to re-publish about our recent Launch It event:

Provo Technology Xelerator Debuts by Awarding Five Scholarships

Provo, April 24, 2009 – With some still tossing off their graduation robes, young entrepreneurs ran to the finals for the Web StartUp Group’s Launch It competition (www.webstartupgroup.com.)  Held just hours after BYU commencement on April 23, founders presented overviews of their tech-based ventures to judges.  Five teams were competing for one scholarship to be presented by the newly-formed Provo Technology Xelerator.

However, judges were so impressed by the caliber of the presentations, that all five teams were awarded scholarships of space and services. Roger Andrus, Director of the newly-formed Provo Technology Xelerator, explained, ‘Because this scholarship has some scalability and because each of these teams demonstrated significant merit, we opted to bring all five into the Provo Tech Xelerator pipeline. These awards for space and services will make it possible for these teams to complete the development of their companies with the help of mentors, coaches, and qualified service providers but without the burden of overhead expenses.”  The scholarships will provide workspace for three months at the Technology Center at Novell along with other supports and business services.  At the conclusion of the three months, companies will have the opportunity to present to investors at a Funding Universe Speed Pitching event.

Winning teams include PageMass, an online process for assessing brand visibility and popularity (www.pagemass.com); Skribbls (www.skribbls.com), a web-based writing resource for professional bloggers, authors, students, and researchers; Twitter Capital (www.twittercapital.com), a system of analyzing the value of social connections; Everest Event Planning (www.eventplanningeasy.com.), and Zachary Douglass, a photo editing service for creating memorial tributes (www.zacharydouglass.com.)

The Provo Technology Xelerator is the result of collaborative efforts of the  Provo Business Development Corporation, the Technology Center at Novell, and Broadweave.  Other sponsors of the scholarship include Funding Universe, Griffin-Hill, Squire & Company, CFOWise, and others.

For additional information about either the Provo Technology Xelerator or the Technology Center at Novell, please visit www.ProvoTechX.com or go to www.novell.com/startup.

PRESS RELEASE
Contact: Shauna Leavitt Theobald
Direct: 801-318-2764
Email: stheobald@novell.com

We would like to thank Provo Technology Xelerator (PTX) for their gracious support of the Web Startup Group!  The resources (and wisdom) provided to our young teams/startups as they launch could not come at a better time.  Thanks!

Here is a direct quote from the email sent via Facebook and LinkedIn (in case you missed it):

Hello Everyone,

Here’s the deal. About a month ago we had a kickoff event for Launch It. We had a few people out there and it was a pretty fun kickoff with good food. This Wednesday we will be having the closing event to which all of you are invited. But the find doesn’t end there.

For the final event, we will having food, mingling with your fellow tech entrepreneurs, and the chance to meet the events judges who are out in the industry right now. The event will be happening this Thursday, April 23 beginning at 6:00 p.m in room 374 of the TNRB.

Now for the real kicker. We want to show a good turnout for the event, so we will be allowing ANYONE present an idea at the final so long as you message me (Nate Graves) before hand. The winner of the event will win a pretty serious “scholarship” from the Open Source Technology Center which will include the following:

* 3 months of FREE office space at the OSTC in the Novell buildings
* Free Internet access from Broadweave
* Free mentoring from Funding Universe
* Free presentation mentoring
* And we’re trying to get a couple more services in place.

This will be a great opportunity to get into one of the hotbeds for tech startups in the area and not have to pay anything for rent.

So, to recap, we will be holding the final event on Thursday at 6:00pm in room 374 TNRB. If you’d like a chance to eat some free food, mingle with some great students and leaders in the Utah Valley tech community, then come on out. If you’d like a chance to win the first ever, prestigious Provo X Scholarship, then message me (Nate Graves) by Wednesday night and we’ll get you more details.

Thanks everyone,

Nate

Hope to see everyone tonight at 6pm!

As mentioned previously, the next WSG meeting will be on Money:

We’ll see everyone then!

Here is a PDF to print and post in your building: April WSG Flyer (PDF)

The next Web Startup Group meeting is going to be all about money!

We will be having a BizTech talk focused on Online Payments and Integration including Google Checkout, PayPal, Amazon FPS. Additionally, we are talking with TwitPay and will likely have someone from their startup company presenting, as well.

It should be exciting and help close the loop for many of us!

Shannon Johnson prepared a some notes on Twitter For Business that you might find useful. Shannon presented on Twitter at the last WSG meeting.

For more information, see the eBusiness Day Website.

Launch Up (not to be confused with Launch It!) will be a great event that combines the grass roots efforts of the Web Startup Group with seasoned industry professionals. A few of us have been involved in the event planning and we are excited to attend. We offer a special invitation to all Web Startup Group members as well as others that would like to be involved in this unique initiative. For complete details, see LaunchUp.org. Furthermore, if you plan on attending, then tweet: I’m going to #LaunchUp on March 25, are you?

Here is the footage that was successfully recorded from tonight’s meeting. Unfortunately not everything was recorded due to some technical difficulties… however we intend to improve a be even more prepared next meeting. Thanks to everyone who presented and all the people that worked together to make this possible.

First part of the meeting…

More stuff…

We’ll see everyone tonight!  Here are the meeting details, again:

Date: 12 March, 2009 (Thursday) at 7:00PM in 1170 TMCB

BizTech: (15 min each)
“Twitter for Business” – Shannon (Twitter: @whataboutmom)

FastPitch: (5 min each)
“LingoTek” – Scott Bateman
“Izeni” – Jordan Gunderson
“Creative and Functional Design” – Mallory & Rich Robinson
“Neighbor Know How” – Kyle Freebairn

GroupGab:
* 1-minute ideas (All)
* Discuss ideas and eat

Meeting Sponsor:
LingoTek will provide food and drinks! (lingotek.com)

If you’ve already registered for these lectures, no need to do so again. But if you haven’t, please join us tomorrow for ‘Pro-active Product Development for the Enterprise Market.’ Don’t miss out on information that will add so much value to your venture.

Also, I asked Josh how we could best express our appreciation for his willingness to share of his time and expertise. (another award? another press release? more pizza?) He suggested that interested parties contribute to the local women’s shelter. That’s a ‘win’ for everyone. Learn more at http://www.cwcic.org/cwcic_how_to_help.php.

Upcoming lectures in the Coates’ Venture Startup Lecture Series….
– Pro-active Product Development for the Enterprise Market (Mar. 10)
– Hiring the A-Team: Rocks and Clowns (Mar. 17)
– Practical Internet Marketing (Mar. 24)
– Personal Liquidity and Financial Exits (Mar. 31)

These no-cost lectures are hosted at the Novell Cafeteria (Bldg G.) from noon to 1:30. Sponsors include the Utah Valley Entrepreneurial Forum, the Provo Technology Xelerator, the Technology Center at Novell, USTAR, and SiliconSlopes/Omniture.

About Josh Coates: Josh began his career doing research in parallel computing at UC Berkeley and went on to found two venture backed startups related to large scale data storage technology. His extensive experience ranges from high performance computing and data center operations to venture funding, financial modeling, marketing and mergers and acquisitions. Coates has been honored for his innovation by MIT and Ernst and Young and featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He currently volunteers as an adjunct instructor in the Computer Science department at BYU.

If anyone is interested on working with us to create the worlds first interactive journal, please contact me at olifont@gmail.com. If you have any skills with sending and harvesting email content, we are looking for you. Find out more about Olifont at Olifont.net.