ServePath Blog

Yesterday we inaugurated with co-host Orrick a new event in San Francisco called StartUp SF. The idea behind StartUp SF is to bring together like-minded technologists, entrepreneurs, startups, Web 2.0 companies and others to engage, learn and network. The “special mix” of socializing, company demo tables and a guest speaker proved to be the perfect environment for this to take place. All proceeds from the event are donated to charity. For this event, $400 will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

The 100+ audience not only received invaluable information on how to “kick-start their startup,” they also received the Orrick Emerging Start-Up Kit CD-ROM (containing important legal tools and document templates to help any business) as well as a $100 coupon towards GoGrid.

Speaker & Demos

After about an hour of socializing, meets-and-greets and mini-demos (by Triggit, Askpedia and MotivePath…and GoGrid, of course), attendees listened to and participated in a through-provoking and information presentation by Jonathan Cobb (CTO and Founder of Kiptronic - a long-time ServePath customer). The presentation, “Genesis of a Startup…from concept to company,” covered a wide range of important topics that anyone thinking about starting a company should consider, including:

• Early Validation (pitch, customers, risks)
• The Basics (capital, agreements, timing, records)
• Validation (milestones, customers, research)
• Core Team (people, network, skillset, compensation)
• Fund Raising (tight ship & stay hungry)
• Term Sheet (valuation, plan B)

The full presentation is available for download here.

The Audience and Photos

We took a few photos last night. They are located on the ServePath Flickr photostream. A few highlights…

John Keagy (CEO/ServePath)

Michael Sheehan (Tech. Evangelist/ServePath) Pete Cashmore (CEO/Mashable)

View from the Orrick balcony

Daniel Lieberman (CEO/bitpusher) & Robert Ficcaglia (Founder/MotivePath)

Jonathan’s presentation

In the future, we also hope to begin doing live videocasts of the event as well as make these videos available for viewing later.

More information about StartUp SF

StartUp SF will continue every other month, with the next one planned for June. Speaking topics will be geared towards different tools, techniques, methodologies and strategies to help start-ups and emerging companies grow successfully. Companies or individuals who would like to speak, be media sponsors or host a demo table are encouraged to fill out the Contact form on the StartUp SF site.

Sorry for the late post, SFbeta was so good, I had to go on vacation to “recover.” Once again, SFbeta proved to be a resounding success and we have the photos to show. Not only did two ServePath customers (SurfCanyon and Cooliris/PicLens) have demo tables there, we also held numerous demos of GoGrid, our latest product that is revolutionizing on-demand server hosting. It was great to hear such resounding positive feedback on GoGrid. Be sure to check the GoGrid blog for timely information.

Here are a few photos to get you going:

The rest can be viewed on our Flickr account. Be sure to give GoGrid a spin so that you know what all the hype is about!

This was a very special SF New Tech for us at ServePath. Last night we demo-ed our new product, GoGrid, to a packed crowd. It was actually the world’s first public demo of the new instantly scalable, on-demand, web-based hosted server offering (whew, lots of adjectives there).

At SF New Tech, companies sign up to give 5 minute demos of their product and service. The list of companies presenting were: GoGrid/ServePath, Surf Canyon, Buddy Fetch, Xeequa, and Askpedia.

GoGrid was the first demo to be seen with Paul Lappas (VP of Engineering) and Paul Lancaster (Business Development Manager) showing how a server could be created and a series of servers load balanced within the 5 minute demo window. To make matters even more interesting, “Murphy” was in the audience somewhere, causing the Internet connection to crawl, thus chopping a minute off of our demo time. That hiccup didn’t prevent the demo, and actually Lappas was able to not only initiate the creation of a server, but also clearly demonstrate how an F5 BigIP load balancer could be created and load balance 2 existing web servers in less than a minute!

I also spoke with a few people who have already signed up for GoGrid trial accounts, including one user who had successfully deployed 5 servers. The general consensus was that the service was “great” and the user interface and ease-of-use “fantastic!”

After the successful demonstration of GoGrid, Surf Canyon, a ServePath customer, showcased their powerful search-engine “enhancer.” Surf Canyon creates a “tiny browser extension that is installed in the user’s browser - either FireFox or Internet Explorer.” When a search is initiated on either Google, Yahoo! or MSN, much more targeted and relevant results are presented to the user, enabling them to truly see the results that they wanted, significantly accelerating the search process.

There were several photographers on hand for this event. My photos can be found on ServePath’s Flickr photostream.

The 6th Annual UC Technology Exposition was held on March 3rd, 2008 at the UC Berkeley campus. ServePath was among the notable companies participating in this event.

As described from the event site:

“The annual technology exposition is a chance for students to discover the latest technologies, as companies unveil and showcase their latest innovations. Representing diverse industries and products ranging from databases to video games, the Technology Exposition provides an accurate cross-section of the computing industry and everyone is sure to find something of personal interest to them.”

The companies participating were: Apple Computer, Cnet Networks, Dell, Discovery Engine, FotoFlexer, Hooja, JAJAH, LinkedIn, Livescribe, Meebo, Merchanized Propulsion Systems, Perforce, ServePath, SongBird, Thompson, The Scholar’s Workstation, Vyew, WooMe and Xerox.

ServePath Table

JaJah Table

FotoFlexer Table

LinkedIn Table

Meebo Table

WooMe Table

More photos from the event have been posted to the ServePath Flickr account.

Another solid SF New Tech meetup took place last night at Mighty in San Francisco, and once again, ServePath was there, and, as a sponsor. Companies doing demos included: Utterz, Triggit, Blogbard, ClickTale, Tripit and YowTrip.

A full photostream is now live on Flickr and here are some highlights.

Myles Weissleder (founder of SF New Tech) getting ready for the demos

Paul Lancaster & Steven Buelow (ServePath) talking to Devin Holmes (Startupers.com)

Denise Vardakas (TheConversationGroup) and Alexandre de Boni (ServePath)

Harris Loeser (ServePath) & Zach Coelius (Triggit - a ServePath customer)

A captivated audience

Zach Coelius (CEO - Triggit) giving a very impressive demo of the technology

Paul Lancaster gets interviewed by Vator.tv

Paul talks with Meliza Solan (Associate Producer - Vator.tv)

After a successful interview!

Check out the rest of the photos on Flickr.

While, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend last night’s SF New Tech Belly Up at Mars Bar, others from ServePath, a sponsor, were there and we got a few photos. Turnout was pretty high (over 100 people) showing up.

Without further ado, here are some snapshots.

Marko Gargenta (Marakana), Meli James (Nirvino) & Noel Chandler (Mosio)

Steven Buelow and Paul Lancaster (ServePath) at old ServePath building

Pascal Guinchard, Erin Clark (Eastridge Infotech) and Steven Buelow

Not sure who these guys are (anyone?)

Justin Kitagawa (ServePath), a guy from “down under” and Paul Lappas (ServePath)

Paul Lancaster (ServePath) and Liz Dizon (Doppleganger)

Pictures are also viewable on Flickr for all events and other photo ops. This event is here.

Hope to see some of you at next week’s SF New Tech meetup “Pimp Out Your Blog and then Take a Vacation”!

SFBeta was a hit last night with several companies presenting their services and offerings. ServePath was there, strategically positioned in front of a wall of photos that I will refrain from commenting on. I spoke a bit with Christian Perry, who told me he was “impressed” with the turnout.

Below is a selection of “amateur” photos that I snapped throughout the event. Enjoy!

The Crowd - at the peak of the event

Seero - very impressive demo linking GPS and Live Video Streams

MadeIt.com - the next generation of eVite

Dipity.com - View your Facebook activity in a timeline

The “Art” - the wall of photos behind the ServePath table; censored by yours truly

Christian Perry (SFBeta founder) & yours truly

The Crowd #2 - more shots

Paul Lappas & Steven Buelow - working the ServePath table; shouting is the only way to communicate at SFBeta

Stephanie Gausby & Steven Buelow - talking about ServePath products and services

Steven & The Wall - admiring the Art

Mosio - ask/answer questions using SMS

Christian & Steven - pointing out the camera