Monthly Archive for December, 2007

Dec31st2007

StartupHouston visits FireSabre Consulting in Second Life

Published
by
kurt
on December 31, 2007
in Conversations, General, IT and Web 2.0, Interviews and Video
. 2 Comments

firesabre_logo1.jpg 

Recently myself and Josh Tabin interviewed the founders of FireSabre Consulting who have built a business in Second Life constructing virtual environments for businesses, schools and nonprofits.  The founders, Fred Fuchs and Kevin Shaum, who go by their avatar names of Gus Pliskin and Tinker Lafollette, are based here in Houston and took us for a tour showing us some of the worlds and models they have created.

http://www.vimeo.com/462611

One of the great things about using Second Life for school environments is the ability to demonstrate physics concepts in 3D space. Gus and Tinker showed us some of the recent projects that they have been working on, which include projects on both what are called the Main Grid and Teen Grid (separate areas with different permissions and protections for the age groups involved).  One of FireSabre’s biggest projects, and most long-running, is the Suffern Middle School on Ramapo Islands, a private estate in the Second Life Teen Grid. The Ramapo Central School District Suffern was the first school or school district to develop a presence in Second Life.

FireSabre represents what the future could look like for schools and other training institutions. The Future Room (which you can see in our video) is another example of an environment that FireSabre created to demonstrate different communication methods and concepts in Second Life.  Based on what we saw and heard, we look forward to seeing more of what FireSabre and Second Life will bring in the near future.

You can see the latest news on what FireSabre Consulting is up to here.

Dec31st2007

The Planet and AptConnect get Chronicle Coverage

Published
by
kurt
on December 31, 2007
in General and IT and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Operating about as far apart on the spectrum as you can get for two technology companies, both The Planet; the Number 1 privately held, dedicated server hosting provider in the world, and AptConnect; a social networking startup for apartment communities, both got coverage in a recent article by Chron.com real estate reporter Nancy Sarnoff.

theplanet-logo1.jpg

The article spoke about The Planet’s new headquarters at Bayou Place in downtown Houston (which we covered here).

aptconnect_logo1.gif

and also talked about the inroads that AptConnect is making in providing social networking services to Apartment and other living communities.  (We also covered AptConnect previously here)

You can access the full Chron.com article here.

Dec31st2007

Building A BEST Place To Work Company in 2008!

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 31, 2007
in Events
. 1 Comment

The BEST Places To Work

Startup Houston invites you to explore what is possible inside your organization with two FREE Workshops from Houston based The BEST Places To Work. Each are designed for you and your team to have a breakthrough in the way you view your business such that 2008 could be the start of a whole new way of doing things, producing remarkable results for the bottom line!

The first workshop:Building A BEST Place To Work Company with a Culture of Engagement & High Performance is for any Business Leader at the executive level within your company, who authentically wants to have a direct impact on employee engagement and bottom-line performance, including:

  1. Higher levels of revenue and profit
  2. Greater management and employee trust
  3. Higher employee commitment
  4. Lower employee turnover
  5. Improved customer support

Workshop: Building A BEST Place To Work Company with a Culture of Engagement & High Performance

Thursday, January 10th, 2008
9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
For more information and to register: http://buildabestplacecompany.eventbrite.com/

 

The second workshop: The Source of All Results Workshop will wake you up, put you in charge, and create your plan for:

  • A Clear Vision;
  • An Executable Strategy; and
  • Unprecedented Results.

The Source of All Results Workshop
Thursday, January 24th, 2008
8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
For more information and to register: http://www.thebestplacestowork.com/workshop-source.html

Dec23rd2007

Free Job Postings from GlobalPitch - Limited Time

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 23, 2007
in General
. 0 Comments

GlobalPitch

GlobalPitch has offered our readers free job postings on the GlobalPitch site for January and February. GlobalPitch is a Houston-based startup that is trying to transform how job seekers and employers leverage rich media technologies to improve the recruiting and interview process. We ran a feature about them here.

Job Postings (usually $249 per month) are free to all Startup Houston readers - to redeem your free postings simply enter our discount code (”StartUpHou”) when you post your job at http://jobs.globalpitch.com. When you get to the payment screen, enter the “StartUpHou” discount code and you will not be charged. You will not be required to enter your credit card information.

Help a local startup and get a great value in return. Your job will be posted on the GlobalPitch job board, AND distributed to a number of other job sites for posting.

Dec20th2007

Start Your New Year off right with The Houston Startup Happy Hour

Published
by
kurt
on December 20, 2007
in Conversations, Events, General, IT and Web 2.0 and VC and Angel Funding
. 1 Comment

houston_startup_happy_hour_logo2b.jpg

Our first Houston Startup Happy Hour was such a smash that we decided to make it part of a full time schedule.  From now on the happy hour will always be on the first Thursday of every month, starting with our next event on Thursday, January 3rd.  For now we will be calling Sonoma’s Wine Bar our home base (unless we get a more attractive offer from some other venue - hint,hint).

This now makes for two events that we are organizing every month (The Houston Startup Happy Hour on the first Thursday of each month -and- The Houston OpenCoffee Club on the third Thursday of each month) to give everyone in Houston’s startup community an opportunity to get together and compare notes, learn about what’s new, and meet new people who are doing great things in Houston. 

So here is your chance to meet Houston’s growing network of emerging startups, entreprenuers, investors, and technology enthusiasts to share drinks, tips and beta invites. Swap business cards and war stories and watch your network grow!

Here are more of the specifics:

When:  Thursday, January 3rd, 6pm - ?
Where: Sonoma’s Wine Bar
Map:    Click Here
RSVP:  Click Here

SEE YOU THERE!

Dec19th2007

Natuba Re-released With a New Look and Feel

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 19, 2007
in IT and Web 2.0
. 1 Comment

Natuba

Houston based incubator, Hush Labs, has re-released their first product, Natuba, with an entirely new design and mission: to make it easy for people to get content off of their phone and on to the web to be shared and enjoyed by all. This represents a shift from the RSS-based version that was launched earlier this year but seems to focus on a much larger market opportunity in mobile content.

I spoke to Richard Yoo, founder of Hush Labs about this shift earlier today. While evaluating the initial model focused on RSS aggregation and use, Richard and his team noticed that the adoption rate for RSS was not developing as expected. This was the same time that the iPhone was launched.

“The majority of people today have some sort of fancy cell phone, whether it is a smart or regular phone, that allows users to record video and audio as well as capture pictures through their phone. However, most owners of these devices had their content locked into the phone because of the challenges that non-technical people have with getting it off of their phones,” Richard said. “We believe that there is a market for an application that unlocks this content to share with the world.”

Richard was quick to point out that Natuba is not a social networking site in the sense of Facebook or others, although having Natuba as a destination site is part of their long term plans. “Our short term mission is of unlocking content; as we develop more features, the path will include some ties to social networking.”

There seem to be a lot of similarities to both YouTube and Flickr, although it feels a lot more like YouTube because content is available to all.

Check it out for yourself at Natuba.com where you can import your content from Twitter and Flickr today.

Dec19th2007

HTC Energy Tech VC Conference - Deadline Extended

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 19, 2007
in Energy, Events and VC and Angel Funding
. 1 Comment

Houston Technology Center's Energy Venture Capital Conference

We first mentioned the call for presenters here. The deadline for application has been extended. Executive Summary must be submitted no later than: Friday, January 11, 2008, 10:00 AM CST. In addition, the keynote speaker will be John Hofmeister, President of Shell Oil Company.

I have uploaded the call for presenters here. This is a premiere event so get on the roster as soon as possible.

Dec18th2007

Got Social Media?

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 18, 2007
in Events, General and IT and Web 2.0
. 0 Comments

Got Social Media?
Houston’s own Erica O’Grady is coordinating Houston’s first Got Social Media Conference on January 24, 2008 to be held at the Houston Technology Center from 10:00 am - 7:00 pm. To quote Erica on this event:

“It’s predicted that by 2012 Social Media/Community Marketing Budgets will outweigh Traditional Marketing Budgets - and I’m not the least bit surprised. If you are currently working in Marketing, PR, Advertising, or Journalism - chances are you’re already feeling the effects of Social Media. People no longer respond to the pushed message marketing of the past several decades. Today consumers and clients want to feel heard - to feel like they are a real part of the buying process. They expect and crave dialogue - they want companies to engage them. The Got Social Media Conference will teach you how to use Social Media and Community Based Marketing to gain clients and get the edge on your competition.”

Featured speakers for the event are:

Plan on attending and register early here.

UPDATE: Startup Houston readers will get a $15 discount by using the discount code: STARTUPHOUSTON

Dec17th2007

Santé Ventures Raises $130 Million Debut Healthcare Venture Fund

Published
by
Josh Tabin
on December 17, 2007
in BioTech/Life Science and VC and Angel Funding
. 0 Comments

Santé Ventures

Santé Ventures, an Austin based venture capital group focused on medical technology, health services and health care IT raised $130 million for its debut fund. Although the fund is new, the group has been investing in companies for some time now. Santé is not stranger to Houston having invested in two local companies: Tyrell and Intercede Health.

Dec13th2007

The Planet has landed in downtown Houston

Published
by
kurt
on December 13, 2007
in Events, General, Houston Venture Capitalists and IT and Web 2.0
. 3 Comments

ThePlanet_logo1

I received a press release Wednesday morning announcing that The Planet would be holding a ribbon cutting ceremony at their new World Headquarters at Bayou Place, and since even the Mayor had proclaimed that Wednesday would officially declared as “The Planet Day,” I decided to drop by to see what it was all about.  For those of you who aren’t familiar The Planet is the Number 1 privately held, dedicated server hosting provider in the world (second only to publicly held IBM) and the Fourth-largest hosting provider of Web sites (3.1 million). You can find more stats here. 

Even more interesting to me was the fact that the press release said that Doug Erwin, CEO of The Planet would also be presenting the Houston Technolgy Center with a check for $25,000 to help kickstart their online Startup Business School (which will be led by Marc Nathan of the HTC and which StartupHouston will also be participating in ). Walter Ulrich, President of the HTC was there to accept the check, and if you’ve never heard Walter speak before, he is a very motivational speaker, with grand plans for both the HTC and Houston.  In his speech, he anticipates Houston passing Silicon Valley in terms of recognition for startup activities within 5 - 6 years (as he has said in the past, this will be due to innovation within the Nanotech, Biotech, Energy tech, and IT/Web tech areas combined). 

I have captured both of their speeches on video which you can watch below.

Here is Doug Erwins complete speech on the opening of The Planet’s new global headquarters (about 20mins):

http://www.vimeo.com/433378

Here is Walter Ulrich’s speech (4 mins) on The Planet’s contribution to the HTC and Houston’s technology and startup communities:

http://www.vimeo.com/433763

As I have heard in several other discussions, for their to be any viable startup community, a city has to have several anchor companies that attract technical, business and creative talent, which then have the potential to spin out later and start other new projects.  I see The Planet as being one of those technical anchors for Houston that will do this very thing and we can see that they are already playing a very important role in helping to foster Houston’s startup community.  I am looking for other great things to come.

If you want to get an even greater insight into The Planet’s new digs, you can visit their blog site for the complete tour. Go here.