2007 Florida Venture Capital Conference

Just a get-your-reservations-now reminder for the upcoming Florida Venture Capital Conference at the Boca Raton Resort & Club, February 6-7, 2007. Note that February 4th is Superbowl XLI, being played in South Florida so hotel rooms could be in short supply.

Now is the time to apply if you'd like to present. As a past attendee, sponsor and volunteer ping me with any questions about the conference, presenters, tickets or sponsorship. You can also get the official word at the conference home page.

For a taste of the 2006 conference, check out my recaps here, here and here. FVF Executive Director Robin Kovaleski always runs a great show and 2007 should be no exception!

blogorlando -- Partial Recap

I was asked by some to summarize my experiences at blogorlando. Unfortunately, I was closing an investment the same day so my observations are limited. I'd welcome and appreciate sharing from others.

I will start with some kudos for blogorlando sponsors:
- Hyku organized, co-hosted the event;
- Rollins College for helping host the event;
- Blogzerk for providing the domain name (and schwag); and
- Jeremy Harrington for the logo design.

The three sessions that didn't lose me to urgent deal-closing items were Legal Issues, Off the Record and Media Blogs.

The Legal Issues session, led by Andrea Weckerle highlighted a number of questions facing bloggers, from copyright infringement, to parodies, to even Polk county, FL enforcers going after web publishers regardless of geography. My key takeaway is that few issues are black-and-white. Whether something is infringement or fair use has a lot to do with the context of that use. A claim of parody can shield many questionable references, but some obvious flameblogs have taken that excuse too far.

A nuance I haven't face yet is how comments play into liability. This seemed particularly important to the corporate bloggers in the room, but it applies to everyone. The basic question is "if a comment creates liability, is the blog publisher liable?" As with most of these questions, I heard a bunch of "it depends". However, there did seem to be a bright line between purely arms-length third-party comments versus those that are prompted, endorsed and/or embellished by the publisher. For example, saying "I agree with commenter X, Sponge Bob Squarepants does purposely promote devil-worship and the creator did steal the entire show from my grandmother" probably gets closer to the publisher-liable line. Comment moderation adds a twist of complexity because allowing a comment to publish could have implications as it relates to DMCA safe-harbors for service providers that are not editors.

The Off the Record session, led by Josh Hallett went better than expected, with plenty of lively conversation. Anytime you start a session with "let's talk about the things nobody likes to talk about", there is a risk the whole session will be a dud. I shouldn't share too much here, but I think one discussion is worth relaying without attribution: the stalker discussion. It was an eye-opener for any blogger who has wondered about how much/little to share their family/kids via their blogs. At least one blogger in attendance had to be careful about stalking ex-husbands, while others shared an open-book policy regarding their family. This is a very personal decision, based upon style, trust, paranoia and audience. One thing that is clear is that public blog posts are NOT a private conversation with a small circle of readers -- they become the very fabric of the web, found by plenty of people you don't know and may not want to know.

The Media Blog session, led by John Cutter of the Orlando Sentinel was pretty interesting, because John wears the hats of both professional journalist and blogger. He shared that the Orlando Sentinel now has 26 blogs, including tips, political, crime and entertainment topics to name a few. Although they launched blogs as an attempt to get more involved with their readers, they're surprised at how few comments they get. The traffic impact has been substantial, resulting in 70% growth in uniques to their site since launching blogs. I asked about how they measure success (and/or justify additional expense/marketing for blogs) and it sounded like there isn't a lot of science behind their efforts yet. They focus on enjoyment (bloggers and audience), news tips, story ideas and customer loyalty. On the whole, it was an informative session and blogging (and participating in conferences like this) really does present a more friendly, cooperative face from the newsroom.

So there you have it, only a few sessions for me, but well worth the time. It sounds like I missed some really fun debates earlier in the day -- read some other recaps here. I look forward to similar events across the state and comments from others in attendance.

[NOTE: please join the FVB Community and leave comments so we can all start putting some faces to names...thx!]

blogorlando -- I'll Be There!

I'm attending the blogorlando "unconference" tomorrow afternoon and hope to see ya there. They've got a nice schedule , blog and multiple sessions planned:

Corporate Blogging

Leaders - Dave Coustan

Can a corporation blog? Each day more corporations are entering the blogosphere, some get it right, others get it way wrong. As users/consumers/bloggers what do you want to hear from corporations? Session leader Dave Coustan is the corporate blogger for Earthlink. It's his job to represent a company in the blog world, so he can provide the perspective of the suits (although Dave doesn't wear suits).

Hyperlocal

Leaders - Tommy Duncan & Joey Marchy

Can bloggers cover communities more effectively than traditional media? Two Florida bloggers that run local blogs will lead the discussion. Tommy Duncan, of Sticks of Fire, is 'the' Tampa blog maestro. Tommy has scooped both local papers in the market and has a number of local bloggers contributing to the site. In Jacksonville, Joey Marchy runs Urban Jacksonville, a blog the focuses only on a few neighborhoods, providing content that might otherwise be overlooked.

Legal Issues

Leader - Andrea Weckerle

Libel, slander.....what are the legal issues facing bloggers? We'll discuss a variety of topics.

Media Blogs

Leader - John Cutter

John is a Senior Editor at the Orlando Sentinel and oversees the Crime Blog, as well as posting frequently on the Hurricane Blog and Space Blog during shuttle launches. Using an overused phrase, John is a reporter that 'Get's It' when it comes to blogs. John will talk briefly about how the Sentinel approaches blogging and then engage the audience. What do you want from a newspaper blog? What are they doing right? What are they doing wrong?

Politics

Leader - Bob O'Malley

There is a hotly contested Florida gubernatorial race and a number of critical local races...which candidates are blogging (or being blogged about). How have blogs impacted local and national politics? Working in public affairs and running a popular personal blog allows Bob to bridge the gap between politics and blogs.

Public Relations and Blogs

Leader - David Parmet

How can public relations practitioners work with the blogosphere? Those that are doing it right have found a tremendous benefit in communicating directly with their customers via blogs. Unfortunately though, some in the industry have not done it right and we all live with the consequences. PR/social media good-guy, David Parmet, will lead this discussion. It might just be PR people in the room, or perhaps we'll have a mixture of bloggers & PR folks and have a conversation about the relationship between PR and blogs.

Off the Record

Leader - Josh Hallett

This session will be an experiment. We'll turn off our laptops and other recording devices and talk off the record about things we can't blog about. For example have you ever started a post and then said, "I can't post this". Sometimes it's emotional, other times it's job security. You know you've been dying to get it off your chest. Now is your chance. This might be the best session, or the worst...we'll see.

Tools

Leaders - Andrew Odom & Mark Jaquith

What blogging platform do you use? Why? What other tools help you blog? Flickr, Evoca, Qumana? This sharing session well expose best practices and tips & tricks that can benefit everyone.

Video Blogging

Leader - Vlad Mazek

How hard is it to create a video blog? What are the strengths and limitations of the medium? We'll look to discuss all these issues.

Where Is This All Going?

Leaders - Chris Heuer and Josh Hallett

Simple question, difficult answer. We'll conclude the day by looking forward. What impact will social media have on society. How can it be used to for benefit?

Women Blogging

Leader - TBD

Silent minority or vocal majority? Blogs have empowered women to connect and speak about issues in powreful new way. Just look at BlogHer as an example. We'll be posting more details about this session shortly.

Wow, The MyBlogLog Guys Have Done It Again

I introduced MyBlogLog to everyone here back in early June, with the "I Want My FVB!" table of visitors on the left. I believe a company like MBL could herald a new age of social networks, social media, social surfing and social commerce that is distributed across thousands of domains (a Social Internet) instead of residing in walled gardens like MySpace (a Social Intranet). The network effects of such a platform boggles the mind.

While some could mistake MBL for a tools company with neat widgets, their latest app demonstrates just one more way that a Social Internet is a fundamental shift. I've gotten my hands on MBL's super secret, super cool Comment Faces function (alpha Blogger version) -- putting faces right next to every comment on my blog. Now, to be honest, comments are only recently beginning to tick up here so the larger impacts are still to come. But, what does this provide and where can it go?

What it provides is a face and a clickable profile behind every comment, flame and opinion expressed at FVB. You already had MY face and profile, but this unlocks true conversations among those who visit. Where it can go is to group comments (for those who want it) across the Social Internet from a single commenter -- providing even more perspective and context for our conversations. It can also provide a much easier way for commenters to track/continue the conversations they've engaged in across the Social Internet without wasted revisits to the commented sites. All of this MBL function isn't there today and may not even be part of the plan, but I think this is where it should go -- making the blogosphere easier, more personal and more useful.

A handful of those who have already joined FVB are below (thanks FVBers). If you haven't already joined MyBlogLog and the FVB community please do so now. If I know who is listening, I'll do a better job of sharing things you care about. There is also just a fun rush seeing your face on a site or comment -- try it and I think you'll love it!

Mobile365 (Inphomatch) Acquired for $425 million by Sybase

Seeing your babies grow up is often sad, but seeing them marry off for over $400 million can really take the sting away. Mobile365 (formerly Inphomatch) announced this evening a deal to be acquired for $425 million by Sybase.

I still remember the first time I met the Inphomatch team in 2000 at a business plan competition in Virginia. They were young, brash and full of passion for what they could do in the nascent mobile data space. The technical founder, Terry Hsiao, was smart, but a handful. Kirk Tsai helped create the first prototypes and plan scalability. The new CEO, Colin Matthews, served the role of grey-hair but he was much more than that. Colin saw a way to leverage Inphomatch's mobile data technology into a real business solution -- bridging text messaging across carriers that launched SMS as unconnected islands. The two Bill's, Bachrach and Peters, were scary operators who learned their craft at GE and would help a small unknown Virginia company named InphoMatch become the traffic cop for intercarrier SMS in the US and beyond.

If I didn't make the investment in the company, someone else would have. But I'm sure glad I was the first. That hunt and rare find are what makes this business such a drug. It was fun watching text messaging explode from behind the scenes and helping make it happen. It was also fun introducing follow-on investment from partners like Draper Fisher Jurvetson who saw the promise and added financial fuel to the fire. Coopting MobileWay along the way to create Mobile365 solidified the company as an international force to be reckoned with.

I mention Terry, Kirk, Bill, Bill and Colin here, not because they rode the wave all the way to Sybase signing, but specifically because they didn't, and I wasn't there throughout to remind everyone who founded the gravy train. Those guys are all off doing different things now, but they deserve as much mention as anyone for being the spark that ignited a world-changing company. Can you imagine a world that only allowed AT&T (first customer) or VoiceStream (second customer) subscribers to text in-network, but not other networks? I sure can't, American Idol sure can't and those guys unlocked the SMS potential for all networks.

Congratulations Inphomatch founders, you were the spark that made it possible, and I appreciate the time we shared building it together! What can we do next??

Goodbye Steve Irwin

Just a short post to note Steve Irwin's passing, it is a shock to all of us. My kids and family loved his passion and enthusiasm. Entrepreneurs can take a lesson from Steve on the heights that can be reached when you inspire others. Our thoughts go out to the Irwin family.

Culture Matters

If I invested in restaurants, I'd want a piece of Satchel's Pizza (the company AND the food). Satchel's philosophy is laid out on their website:

People always say that a restaurant is "location, location, location," but I never believed that. Besides, it begs the question, "What's wrong with this location?"

If you make good food and serve it in a comfortable setting, people will come. Our success is based on this philosophy. Another lesson that restaurant work has taught me is that there is more to success than making money. I want my place to provide a living wage for the employees. I want them to know that their work is valued. Everyone gets as good a wage as I can pay and we pool tips. The employees make it happen every day.

And then there's the art of making pizzas. I like to say, "Every pizza is a work of art." The pizza makers here are expected to share this philosophy. One of the employees, Dale Rimkunas says, "The secret ingredient is love." You'd think he was just kidding but he really takes his work seriously. Tim Taylor, our resident comedian says: "Satchel's Pizza... Where you're sorta like family." Our pizza man, Bill Clower says, "You can buy perfection but you can't rush it." Our pizza is not fast food. If you're in a hurry you may just want a slice. Enjoy some music, relax, and we'll make it worth the wait. Thanks, Satchel.

My family and I found Satchel's a few years ago -- it's hard to find -- and have enjoyed watching it flourish ever since. You should go for their ambiance, but you'll keep coming back for their salads and pizza. That said, their ambiance is reason enough -- a mix of art, gardens, used furniture, playgrounds, and the favorite table for us -- an old broken-down van. The clientelle is a mix of entrepreneurs, hippies, families and college crews.

Satchel's has gotten so popular that they converted a neighboring building into Lightning Salvage -- a combination of junk shop, museum, waiting area and live music. They sell (with high margin) and display crazy stuff, including collections of pine cones, floating pens and cement sculptures. Lightning Salvage was a great addition that my kids ask to visit even when it's not mealtime.

If you're an entrepreneur who wonders whether culture and work environment matter, check out Satchel's. You'll see a great example of what attention to culture can create, and you'll enjoy a great meal. Heck, you might even pickup a one-of-a-kind duct tape wallet while you're there!