May | 2009 | briangorbett.com

microsoft gallery at internet week

this monday kicks off internet week and we are ready with our gallery space right smack dab in the meatpacking district on w14th (between 9th and washington). it is only a block away from the official hotel of internet week, the standard and across the street from a certain fruit store.

we spent the day there setting things up and getting ready for the open on monday at noon. we will be having regular tweetups, coffee, wifi enabled hp touchsmart computers, and sessions throughout the week. we will also be showing off the microsoft touch pack for windows 7 for one of the first times.

geeks in the city

after many months of trying to pull together the resources and time, i have finally launched geeks in the city. the new web show will be slightly different than most in that i will not always have a regular schedule but will be interviewing interesting people whenever i get the chance. the best way to follow the show will be to subscribe to the feed.

there is still work to be done on the format and some of the editing work (i am a one man team here), but it will all come together over the next few months. check out the first episode where i have the opportunity to talk to 4 pretty amazing women at the php|tek conference in chicago.

touch me

only a pc can get away saying “touch me” in public. the hp touchsmart is a great machine especially when taking advantage of windows 7 multitouch features. this one at midway is still running vista but will definitely welcome the upgrade to windows 7.

twitter tees by threadless

i was chatting it up yesterday evening at php|tek with my friends harper and dylan from threadless when they told me about this crazy cool new idea threadless launched. twitter tees.

threadless is bringing its crowdsourcing expertise to twitter with the launch of twitter tees by threadless at twitter.threadless.com. twitter tees will feature notable tweets submitted and voted on by twitter users, with art direction and design of each t-shirt by the in-house creative team at threadless.

in case you have not seen me at many events proudly wearing my threadless tees, you know i am already a big fan of not only the quality of products they make, but the fun and cool designs submitted by their passionate users. i am excited to see all those same passionate people voting on their favorite tweets now.

phpwomen rock

while attending php|tek this week i had the privilege to meet many incredibly talented php developers. in particular, i had the opportunity to sit down and talk to 4 women who demonstrate not only a passion for technology, but also extending their passion to women looking to embrace technology by founding and/or participating in phpwomen.

the phpwomen mission:
our aim is to provide a network of support and mentorship to women, help women become more involved with PHP, increase our numbers at conferences as speakers and attendees, and provide a “female friendly” atmosphere.

at microsoft, we have similar programs and initiatives and it goes to show just how much of a difference women can make in the field of technology.

i will be posting a video of an interview i did with these incredible women later this week.

making bizspark easier for startups

we just launched a newer friendlier version of the bizspark site. if you are a startup developing software and want to take advantage of sweet software, check it out. if you are already an accomplished entrepreneur and helping startups in your community, you can become a network partner.

phptek this week

i am really excited for php|tek this week. i love conferences where i have the opportunity to learn from the community in ways i don’t always going to microsoft conferences.

follow all the activities on twitter with #tek09

startups with passion

being one of the ambassadors to microsoft’s bizspark program, i have the opportunity to talk to many startups and hear all about really cool ideas. at my core, i am software developer and i love listening to people that are excited about their software ideas.

today i talked to 2 startups with 2 very different ideas and at 2 very different places in their startup. it is great talking to entrepreneurs that are really passionate about their ideas, but sometimes ideas are just not enough.

here are a few things i have learned along the way when trying to figure out how to bootstrap a software business into the next big thing.

cash is king. at the end of the day, if cash is leaving faster than it is coming in, your idea may never be realized
have a business plan. flashy powerpoints are good, but without a good business plan the hope to sustain your business is not likely
make sure you know how to make money. if you think that companies like twitter have not thought about this, think again. they wouldn’t get capital if that were the case
if you decide to take vc or angel money, you are going to need some sort of exit strategy. that could include ipo, aquisition, or financial success of a sustained business model (see #2 above). investors are going to want to know how they are getting their money back
have a trusted board of advisors. there are many resources online that talk about making the right choices here (here is one good article), but it is very important especially if you are embarking on something you do not have much experience in. some advisors will charge a percentage of your company (typically a fraction of a percent) or some will provide advice for free. what is important is that regular meetings happen with the advisors and you listen to and challenge them. you would not have asked them to be an advisor if you did not believe in what they could provide you
stealing this one from guy kawasaki – ship, then test (i’ll add, iterate). you may have a very grandiose idea of what you want to create, but unless you ship something you will never start bringing in cash (see #1) and won’t be able to solicit feedback for your next big thing
do not hire people too fast. this has to do with the whole cash thing as well as being able to be agile and nimble at first
understand your market. there are many resources out there to tap into market analysis. make sure you understand the demographic you are targeting and cater to them

there are tons of resources available to entrepreneurs. one of the best collection of resources is available on microsoft’s own startup zone.

with the current economic climate, there is no better time to get out there and start something cool.

teched creepy characters

the source force characters at teched are a little creepy to me. here they are dancing and being… well… creepy.

however, they do represent great resources available online at the technet virtual labs and msdn virtual labs. this gives people an excellent way to check out microsoft technologies before buying or upgrading.

boxers from teamprise

this has to be the best booth giveaway at any event. boxer shorts that actually have a connection to the product. listen to martin from teamprise at teched explain the connection. oh yeah… i will be wearing these babies tomorrow!