words and pictures by Brian Solis

Alexandra Monkh, Nicole Jordan, Vanessa Camones

TechZulu celebrated its first birthday this week in Los Angeles at the famed Beverly Wilshire Hotel.It was a well-attended event, and aside from having to explain to security every 10 minutes that I wasn’t your typical Hollywood paparazzi photographer, it was representative of the thriving tech community that TechZulu spotlights and helped shape.

Happy Birthday TechZulu!

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Efren Toscano

Anaiis Flox

Mike Macadaan

Marjorie Kase

Joe Said, Anaiis Flox, Vanessa Camones

Sloane Berrent

Nicole Jordan, Stephanie Agresta, Frank Gruber

Geoffrey Emery

Christopher Darbro

Alexandra Mokh and Nicole Jordan

Mark Politi

Brian Solis by Alexandra Mokh

Francisco Dao

Tyler Crowley of Mahalo

For more pictures from the TechZulu birthday party, please visit my album on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

words and pictures by Brian Solis

The dynamic team over at Dealmaker Media hosted Startonomics LA, a one-day workshop designed by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs on how to create simple, actionable metrics; and how to use them to make better product and marketing decisions for long-term growth and startup success.

Emceed by Jason Nazar of Docstoc (who is an amazing speaker), Startonomics literally sent startups back to school. The event was hosted at UCLA’s Anderson School of Business and attracted entrepreneurs from all over the country to learn and share experiences, strategies, and tactics to cultivate companies from conception to profitability to even acquisition.

“The difference between startups in San Francisco and LA is that we are driven by making money AND innovating,” exclaimed Nazar.  And the discussions throughout the day supported that definition. They were incredibly valuable.

I spent the the entire day in “my office.”

I was one of three service providers participating in “Office Hours,” a very special series of segments during the day-long conference. My job was to help startups understand the new world of marketing and PR to both determine strategies and tactics for DIY programs and also learn how to better manage, guide and measure internal and external resources as they grow.

The after party was hosted at The W Westwood by Media Temple.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Debbie Landa

Jason Nazar

Wm. Marc Salsberry, Debbie Landa, Kristen O’Brien

David Sacks, Yammer

Neil Patel

Shira Lazar

For more pictures from Startonomics, please visit my album on Flickr.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

How-to content by pros and members that can make some cash by writing content from home.

eHow is one of the most well known how-to resource on the web. Its mission is to offer realistic solutions for everyday questions – from how to organize your desk to how to prevent global warming. With a database of more than 300,000 professionally written and editorially directed articles, more than 100,000 how-to videos, and a rapidly growing library of member-contributed articles, eHow caters to an audience of people who seek practical knowledge.

he eHow community is one where users are educating and learning from each other. Community members write their own how-to articles with easy-to-use publishing tools that let them share their knowledge through text, images and video. They can write and publish articles on their topic of choice and, through their Writer’s Compensation Program, automatically earn extra cash. eHow members can also interact with each other through a robust set of social media tools.

Questions from our Twiistup panel:

Brian Solis: I love the idea about socializing resource communities. How are people finding out about eHow and what’s the incentive for them to contribute content?

eHow: eHow: About 27 million unique visitors come to eHow every month (Google Analytics).  The majority of those are from searching topics like “How to Boil Water” and our articles show up at the top of their search results.  But we are also finding that a growing number of people are coming to us via direct navigation.  This information, combined with our growing number of registered members (now at 300,000), lead us to believe that more and more people are telling their friends and family about eHow as a place to not only find information, but share their personal knowledge and make money.

TechZulu: How did you manage to get users to submit content when you first started the company?

eHow: Great question. When we acquired eHow.com, it was a decade old and hadn’t been touched in many years.  It had thousands of professional articles and a few million visitors.  First our development team rebuilt the site, with social media tools that allow people to create profiles, publish articles and make money.  Then a couple community managers, who are also editors, started to cultivate the few folks that had found the site.  We guided them through the process. They gave us feedback and we iterated our tools to make them better.  They told their friends and colleagues.  And it grew, and grew to hundreds of thousands of people – many making hundreds of dollars a month – contributing to the site.

Brian Solis: How is eHow planning on reaching more people to boost/share the valuable content within the community? It seems that sites like Yahoo Answers are among the first results when people naturally search for information.

eHow: We are just coming off a year of explosive growth, almost 1000% YOY (Dec. 07 total compared to Dec. 08), and with the current economic climate, we have seen the number of articles written by our community increase 128% since last July.  We have some great tools on the site that can help our members to write compelling articles and make money.  Our editorial team specifically requests titles that can be “checked out” and written.  In addition, our community has set up groups to support each other and share tips on writing and socializing their articles.

For more info on Twiistup 5 and the other ShowOffs, be sure to visit the main site.

Connect with Brian on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

My fellow judges and I huddled over 100 applications submitted by hopeful, innovative tech companies, to select the top 10 “showoffs” for Twiistup 5 in Los Angeles this February 2009 – an event so huge, that it has to be hosted in an airplane hanger.

Judges include: Sarah Lacy, Jackie Peters, Peter Pham, Andrew Warner, Richard Wolpert, Will Jessup, Frank Gruber, Devlyn Steele and yours truly.

Introducing the top 10 companies for Twiistup 5:

Causecast

Causecast, dubbed “a one stop philanthropy shop” by TechCrunch, is a platform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.

Cogi

Cogi set out with a simple goal – give professionals a way to effortlessly recall and track everything in their important conversations through the use of an intuitive, browser-based service that seamlessly transcribes the important parts of conversation – the ‘COGent Ideas’ or Cogi.

eHow

More than 27 million people visit eHow.com each month to search more than 300,000 articles that are professionally written with clear and concise directions on how to do things. It also has a rapidly-growing library of articles created by eHow’s members and a large library of professional instructional videos.

FixYa

FixYa empowers individuals to repair and improve upon their already-purchased possessions. The company also offers business services to manufacturers and retail businesses through its custom partnership opportunities.

GoGreenSolar

GoGreenSolar is global group of professionals dedicated to improve the distribution of renewable energy products, services and financing for people everywhere.

Meebo

Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web.

RoboDynamics

RoboDynamics is built by passionate people who want to use technology to shift the status quo and leverage state-of-the-art technology in robotics to change the way people live and work.

TheScene

The Scene connects individuals to the hottest places, people and events in their area. The Scene’s trendsetting community is on the pulse of nightlife and entertainment in various cities throughout the world.

Viewdle

Viewdle is a facial-recognition powered digital media platform for indexing, searching and monetizing video assets.

Yammer

Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’

Congratulations to the final companies. In February, they will demo their products live and will also compete for the Fan Favorite and Judge’s Choice awards.

Secure your spot for Twiistup 5 before it sells out.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

Last week, the Microsoft BizSpark team, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), celebrated Southern California startups and the spirit of innovation at Ingnition-LA. Hosted at the beautiful Beso, owned by Eva Longoria, in Hollywood, 300 entrpreneurs converged to demo, network, and forge alliances that will carry them forward for years to come.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a tremendously successful event!

San Francisco, you’re next! See you on 12/16 at the beautiful Carnelian Room, 52 floor above the city!

RSVP for the San Francisco event here.

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Shira Lazar and Geri Hirsch

Anand Iyer of BizSpark

Tyler Crowley of Mahalo

Efren Toscano and Linda Sherman

Kedric Van De Carr, Arad Rostampour, Jacob Mullins, Anand Iyer

Streamy.com

Girl Gamer

Dan Portnoy

Shira Lazar keeps people in line

Rock Band

Robert Yang, Lolita Carrico, Jim Lin, Matt Singley

Stephanie Agresta and Nina Bargiel

Kedric Van De Karr, Misty LaChance, Angela Costa Roque Baptista

Raj Chauhan of Rubicon Project

Hayden Black and Michael Pilla

Marc Russell Hustvedt, Jessica (need last name), Taryn O’Neill, Michael Davies

Jessica Wilzig Gottlieb and Erin Kotecki Vest (QueenofSpain)

Dragana Ognenovska & Wm. Marc Salsberry

Todd Sawacki

Frank Sinton of Meefeedia

Stephanie Agresta

Kurt Daradics and Heather Meeker

Linda Sherman and Amanda Coolong

Blackberry Storm

Jason Nazar of Docstoc and Shira Lazar

Jonathan Dingman

For more pictures from Ignition-Los Angeles, visit my album on flickr. Within the set, you’ll also be treated to a few pictures from the after party at Bao, Hollywood, where we also celebrated @queenofspain’s birthday!

Here are a couple of pics to get your started…

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

Join us at Beso in Hollywood toight for free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and also the opportunity to network with some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

Beso
6350 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Make sure to RSVP here.

Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), is bringing together the tech innovators in Southern California to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.

San Francisco, you’re next! See you on 12/16 at the Carnelian Room, 52 floor above the city!

RSVP for the San Francisco event here.

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

The spirit of entrepreneurialism is what drives all of us to innovate and excel. Economics aside, there is no better time than now to pursue and invest in that next big idea. This is your time to shine and we want to celebrate you, your vision and help you succeed.

Announcing Ignition Los Angeles.

Microsoft Startup Zone, in partnership with The TechSet (Stephanie Agresta and yours truly), is bringing together the tech innovators in Southern California to celebrate the launch of BizSpark, a new program for those who contribute to a dynamic ecosystem that helps startups flourish.

Join us at Beso in Hollywood for free hors d’oeuvres and drinks, and also the opportunity to network with some of the most influential technologists around. All attendees can participate in a “twitter raffle” to win an XBox 360 Elite.

Beso
6350 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Make sure to RSVP here: http://ignition-losangeles.eventbrite.com/

If you’ve missed our previous events, you can relive the experiences below:

New York

Austin

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.

by Brian Solis

When a good friend of mine, Kurt Daradics, gave me a call and asked if I would help him organize a tech holiday party, I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant – time has been a bit tight lately. But, when he shared his vision for connecting pioneers of 1.0 with the catalysts for 2.0 wrapped in a holiday theme, I was more than inspired to contribute.

His vision: The Digital Family Reunion (DFR).

On Thursday, December 11th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, the Digital Family Reunion is uniting Southern California technology and business communities for the holidays at the Skirball Cultural Center. In association with some of the region’s top trade associations and real world social networks, the DFR will reignite old relationships, spark new alliances, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new hope and a headstart.

The DFR creates the optimum conditions for 1.0 + 2.0 to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large.

“If we knew how connected we all are, how would that change everything?”

Join us for this unique business networking event, which includes a leadership panel forecasting 2009, a conversation with the recipient of the DFR “Outstanding Achievement Honor”, promotion of an important non-profit initiative, showcase tables from over 25 technology associations and networking groups, entertainment and much more.

Register now…

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook

Subscribe to the bub.blicio.us RSS Feed.