We’ve graduated!

Today Jordan* and I finished fiddling with servers and moved into new digs at Media Temple. For those of you subscribed to the WordPress.com feed here directly, please follow us over to the Feedburner powered http://blog.bootuplabs.com/feed.

*yep, Jordan Behan is working with us here at Bootup. That needs a longer post, which we’ll do over on the new site.

Bring Caterina, Stewart, and Sonnet Home!

Brendon threw up a facebook group.

Jordan created a Strutta game: Most compelling reason for Caterina and Stewart to move back home contest!

So, upload your video to Strutta and let’s get them to move back.

Also, you’ll be able to find everything here: www.bringcaterinaandstewarthome.com soon.

 

 

Loud3r Launches

Here’s a very cool concept for a site that can generate a ton of equity value vs. the effort put into building it.  I actually know that Lowell has put a lot of energy into building out Loud3r, and it shows, but compared to what DWave is trying to do, it’s no huge technical accomplishment.  It just works.  On the web, what matters most is a fast, clean, easy to use site that give me only the information I want. In fact, I’m sure my friend Brian Sugar over at Sugar Inc (home of the popular site popsugar.com among others) would agree with Lowell’s approach to chunking up vertical content sites based on domain name vs sub-domain name like Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop.  Regardless of what you think, you should check it out, bookmark/subscribe to the sites that are relevant to you, and see how it goes.  As for me, I’ve pointed my RSS reader to found3r.com.

PS: I’m still holding out hope for similar, more personalized, feeds to starting coming out of the Something Simpler offices.

Write-up about tech industry in the Province

Donat Group’s Rochelle Grayson was profiled in the article on Sunday.

“What I love about the tech industry is that it’s incredibly creative. It really thrives on creativity and innovation,” says Grayson, 39. “You have to be adaptable and prepared to re-think things all the time.”

Lypp adds Outlook conference calling automation

I was talking to Eric Lagerway, CEO of Lypp.  He mentioned that they released their Outlook plug-in for Lypp today.  You simply schedule a meeting like you normally would, and then press the conference button, which sets up a call in number for you and informs the attendees all in one shot.  A very cool addition to an already easy to use and low cost conference calling solution.  

Disclaimer: I’m a board advisor to Lypp

Launch Party pre-party

We’ve had some complaints that we party too hard at Launch Party.  So much so, that investors and entrepreneurs can’t hear each other talking.  Even when we turn down the music all the way, people can’t hear very well over all the mingling.  So, we have a solution.  If you’re an Angel, VC or Blogger, please let me know and I’ll put you on the list for the sneak peak portion of the event, which simply starts an hour earlier.

 

LPV4 companies announced

Check out the list at the Launch Party Blog

Featured Companies at LPV4

 

 

Clear the air – 90% of VCs are good

I’ve been getting some heat about my video I did for my friend’s company FundFindr.tv.  Some people believe that I’m a VC hater, but that could be no further from the truth.  Some of my best friends are VCs.  I admire and aspire to be more like them.  I’ve had some really good experiences from VCs.  Rex Golding, formerly MobiusVC, was my most respected role model at the time.  He took the time to understand our overall corporate strategy, and before he made recommendations, he thought about how it effected the big picture.  That said, I’ve had my share of VCs that were not so great, and shall remain nameless.

But all in all, if you’re starting a company, you will most definitely benefit from VC cash, credibility, connections, and a sounding board.  Just make sure that you know when to take it and when to leave it.

 

YourTechOnline acquired by SupportSoft

Last night I got an email from Steve Wandler, CEO of YourTechOnline.  He told me the deal had closed and I can now finally blog about it.  I had the inside info because I’m an advisor to the company.  I instantly emailed Rob over at Techvibes to fill him in on the scoop, since I couldn’t get to blogging until tonight.

I was introduced to Steve through a mutual friend, Dale Fuller, former CEO of Borland, McAfee, WhoWhere, among other things.  I know how hard Steve has worked for this, and I’m very excited that he has found a home for his baby at SupportSoft.  Funny story about that… I met SupportSoft’s founder, Mark Pincus back in 1999 when my brother’s wife used to work for him there.  Mark and I now keep in touch via facebook from time to time, but I’m pretty sure neither of us had anything to do with the acquisition.  :-)

Great job Steve, and thanks for proving once again that BC is growing hotbed of tech startups.

Our Third Musketeer Arrives

Time flies when you’re starting companies, and the time has come to bring someone on to help us get Bootup Labs moving faster. We’re happy to announce that Brendon Wilson has joined as us as Bootup Labs’ first employee!

Brendon just returned to Vancouver from four years in Silicon Valley as a Product Manager. He brings a wealth of experience as both a software developer and a business geek, and is generally the kind of “let’s get things done” guy we wanted to have involved with Bootup Labs. He’s also not shy about getting out there to stir things up – see his recent posts on TechVibes to get a flavour for that.

Over the coming months, Brendon will be the attention to detail guy, pushing forward the documentation of Bootup Labs’ investment process, helping to vet potential Bootup Labs recruits, and generally getting things moving. So ladies and gentlemen, start your pitching!

Along with employee #1, we have other announcements to make in the coming weeks about the first recruits to get “booted up”, dates for some planned events, and more.

P.S. Don’t forget that Rick Segal from JLA Ventures is coming to visit this coming Monday, April 21st at 4pm in our offices. You’ll need to signup for Vancouver.