SOMEWHAT FRANK

Israel Startups To Tour Silicon Valley

Israel is known to be a hotbed for Internet startups. Though I have never visited Israel thanks to the California Israel Chamber of Commerce 15 Israel companies will be visiting Silicon Valley starting February 4, 2008 as part of a week long road show called the IsraelWeb Tour.

Someone Please Buy Digg Already!, Mozilla Weave News, Evan Williams On Product Ideas, Fraxi Digg Cloner & 50 Sports Social Networks

Photo of the Week: I took this photo of the Christmas tree in front of the Hancock Building while working from Chicago, Illinois this past week.

Somewhat Frank Weekly Tidbits: 12.23.2007

Neulio Online Education Platform Launches

Are you particularly good at something and want to tell the world just how to do it? Or do you work at a company looking to setup some free online courses but don't know where to start? If so, you might want to check out Neulio. Neulio, an Orlando, Florida based startup, recently launched to offer a free platform for anyone looking to create an online course to educate via distance learning.

Video: How to Start a Company with $25K

What's it take to start your own company these days? Everyone has their own opinion on this question. Recently the GigaOm network site FoundRead sat down to video interview Art of the Start author Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a known for his Silicon Valley "innovation evanglism" as well his books about startups. In the ten minute interview Guy talks about how to bootstrap and start a company with limited resources.

Video: Here Comes Another Bubble?

Are we in another Web bubble? The Richter Scales has produced a parody video that my friend just sent me that takes on an old Billy Joel tune to convey some Web 2.0 bubble thoughts. Regardless of if you think that another Web bubble is about to burst or not, it is a very well done video and will most likely make you grin.

TECH cocktail Chicago A Sixth Great Time

I co-hosted a sixth TECH cocktail in Chicago last night and co-host Eric Olson and I had a blast doing it. With 500 plus attendees at John Barleycorn in Wrigleyville there was so much energy and love in the room it was an amazing feeling. I got to see many familiar and as well as new faces as we continue to try and build a better and more tightly connected community in Chicago.

Leading up to TECH cocktail Chicago 6 was super, as there was lots of TECH cocktail related action. For example, DC TECH cocktail demoing startup PatentMonkey.com was acquired by Patents.com. Songza launched and then demoed at TECH cocktail last night. Also, TECH cocktail demo alum GrubHub got funded by repeat TECH cocktail sponsor Origin Ventures. TECH cocktail got a little local Chicago press love. Oh and I almost forgot, we now have a Twitter account so you can follow TECH cocktail on all its adventures in helping to amplify the technology signal in under-served communities.

 

A Trend TV Somewhat Frank Interview

I got interviewed by trend junkie and entrepreneur Greg Cangelosi of Trend TV this week while at the The New New Internet Conference. Greg is a podcasting expert and just authored a book titled The Business of Podcasting. I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy. Greg and I sat down and chatted and he captured the casual interview on Trend TV.

Leverage A Virtual Personal Assistant

Finding the ability to do everything you want to in your 24 hour, 7 day week can be a struggle. As the use of Web productivity tools has risen, many of us still try to do MORE with the time we have freed up from leveraging these tools. Email, Instant Messenger and mobile device usage has caused us to look for more instantaneous actions and reactions. How can you get everything done? An intriguing approach that I have recently seen on the rise is the usage of a virtual assistant. This article will look at a few of the current online personal assistant options.

You Be The VC: Could Get You Funding

Do you have a startup idea but are looking for funding? A couple of weeks ago YouBeTheVC.com launched to offer up a creative "reality funding" approach similar to that of American Idol. YouBeTheVC.com, created by New York-based VC firm Bang Ventures offers aspiring entrepreneurs to compete for a chance at some funding. The top 3 selected companies/product ideas will be given $15,000 living stipend and office space in the Boston area and additional guidance and services.

TECH cocktail Boston Was Wicked

TECH cocktail Boston took place last night in the shadow of Fenway Park and brought the Boston tech scene together. With about 400 people in attendance, TECH cocktail Boston brought together a number of startups, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts for an evening of food, drinks and passionate conversations. It was pretty wicked!

Planypus Group Plans Site Gets Funded

Planypus (planyp.us), a startup co-located in Chicago and Washington, DC, offers friends and family the ability to create collaborative plans. Think of it as a wiki for your social life. Today Planypus announced the closing of its Series-A financing.

Organized by my events, my city and my friends, Planypus makes it easy to keep track of local events. From movie night to simply meeting up to catchup with friends, Planypus makes it easy to plan meetups with groups of friend or family. Planypus also displays events, movies, restaurants, and happenings in your local area.

TECH cocktail In Beantown Sign-up Now

Last week I mentioned that TECH cocktail, an event I co-founded with Eric Olson, was coming soon to Boston and now I am pleased to announce that you can now sign-up for TECH cocktail Boston.

spigit Simulates To Help Innovation

Spigit launched into beta in mid-July to offer up a startup simulation game to help entrepreneurs showcase new ideas and innovations and in the process connect with a network of professionals. Spigit seems to have blended a multiply player online simulation game with a social network while aimed at creating a new company. Spigit can act as a testing ground for new ideas by helping to predict if they will succeed or fail with less invested.

Spigit is said to have developed a technology that measures and quantifies interactions on group platforms to extract wisdom from crowds. The spigit simulation game which is made up of three phases (incubation, innovation and emergence) narrows the field of ideas and winners are added to a virtual stock market and traded like real companies. By creating a reputation profile for every user, the spigit community is able to create an environment filled with metrics to help find good ideas and good users. Spigit already has 30+ startups leveraging the consumer facing platform and plans to offer an enterprise edition for companies looking to uncover employees with good ideas.

Amazon Buys Into Amie Street Approach

Amie Street, Rhode Island-based music startup with an interesting online  music business model by allowing prices to be based on artist interest and demand, has taken a Series A round of funding led by Amazon.com. Though many were skeptical of Amie Street's model, I thought Amie Street could disrupt the music industry and it turns out Amazon.com is buying into it as well.

Vlogging Wine Expert's Conan TV Debut

Add Somewhat Frank Weekly Video to your page

As I highlighted earlier this week, Gary Vaynerchuk of the popular wine video podcast Wine Library TV made an appearance on the NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien television program this week. In case you missed watching it on Wednesday evening you can watch it now thanks to YouTube. Check out the video of Gary's entertaining appearance above. Great job Gary on attempting to train Conan O'Brien's palette.