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.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area tomorrow (April 30th) we hope that you can attend StartUp SF, a meetup designed to help you “kickstart your startup.”

Speaker and Demo tables

Jonathan Cobb – Founder/CTO of Kiptronic (http://www.kiptronic.com)

Topic – “Genesis of a Startup: from Concept to Company”

• Early Validation — Before you start in earnest, you might wonder — What makes a good idea? Is yours worth pursuing? How do you size your opportunity?
• Covering the Basics — A handful of best-practices recommendations for general company administration: corporate formation, capital structure, legal, accounting, etc.
• Building the Core Team — How do you attract talent at this very early stage? What kinds of players will you need pre-funding? Post-funding?
• Market Validation — How do you execute to prove you have a winning idea? What milestones make sense for your business?
• Fund Raising — When should you raise money? Who should be your target funding sources? How much should you raise? What are common investment terms?

Demo table companies: Triggit, Askpedia and MotivePath. Also come see a demo of GoGrid, a definite “must have” for any startup.

Every attendee will receive:

• $100 GoGrid service credit which enables you to deploy, scale and load balance server networks instantaneously – More info about GoGrid

• Orrick’s Startup Kit CD which includes legal documents critical to every startup Venture – More info about Orrick

Quick Details:

When: April 30th, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, 405 Howard St, SF at the 8th Floor Cafe
Who: Technologist, Entrepreneurs, Startups, Web 2.0-ers (over 21 years of age)
Bring: Business cards, elevator pitch, curiosity, legal dilemmas and hosting needs
Cost: $10 in advance / $20 at the door (all proceeds go to charity)

Register at: http://startupsf0408.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!

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.

It’s that time of month again. Time for the glorious SF New Tech Meetup, a ServePath sponsored event. There are two subjects at hand: “Pimp Out Your Blog!” & “Take a Vacation!” which definitely sounds like an interesting combination (I may take some tips for pimping my blog…can’t afford a vacation right now).

So if you had a good time last week at the SF New Tech Belly Up or at last month’s SF New Tech, I encourage you to come to this month’s Meetup.

This Meetup is at the Mighty (located at 119 Utah @ 15th Street in San Francisco). Date & Time: Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 @ 6:30pm.

Here are the companies taking advantage of the 5 Minute Demos (and if you don’t know what this is, essentially you are given 5 minutes for an elevator pitch and demo on your company or service) – descriptions taken from the Meetup page (thanks Myles):

PIMP OUT YOUR BLOG!

Utterz
Randy Corke & Simeon Margolis, Co-Founders
Utterz is the first way for you to instantly share your thoughts and experiences with the world — or just your friends — using all the capabilities of your cell phone; voice, video, pictures and text.

http://www.utterz.com

Triggit
Zach Coelius, CEO
Triggit is a brand new web application allows you to place media and ads on your blog with simple clicks and drags.
http://www.triggit.com

Blogbard
Manoj Bist, Founder & CEO
Blogbard is a browser based product that turns any blog to a personalized radio.
http://www.blogbard.com

ClickTale
Tal Schwartz, PhD, Co-Founder & CEO
ClickTale captures and analyzes customer interactions inside web sites, revolutionizing traditional web analytics that measure activity between pages.
http://www.clicktale.com

TAKE A VACATION!

Tripit
Gregg Brockway, Co-Founder & CEO
TripIt is a personal travel assistant that automatically organizes all your travel plans.
http://www.tripit.com

YowTrip
Felipe Coimbra, Founder & CEO
YowTrip is a social network site that connects you with other world travelers in your town or wherever you’re traveling.
http://www.yowtrip.com

And, if you feel up to it, you can take your chance at the 60-Second Soapbox.

Look for the ServePath table at this event. Also, I will be roaming the crowds taking pictures. Find me and give a good pitch on your company or service and I might write it up on the ServePath blog.

Hope to see you there!