Brian L. Colbert

Archive for June, 2009

Building43 Launch at TechCrunch

Originally uploaded by jack’sdad

Yesterday’s Building43 Launch Party.

Took Caltrain down to Palo Alto to attend the Building43 launch at Techcrunch’s office.  The launch party

was fun, bumped into people that I haven’t seen in few months, some folks from Startup Weekend and had the pleasure of finally meeting Rob La Gesse in person.  Unsurprisingly, Rob was personable at the party as he is over the phone.  I know that virtual meetings are the rage, but nothing beats connecting face-to-face.  I even managed to join in a conversation between Nihal and Guy Kawasaki about his Alltop demo last night.

It will be interesting to see how Building43 develops as place for “people that are fanatical about internet.”  It’s certainly an interesting start and with Robert Scoble involved you that that there’s going to be a lot of attention paid to it.  I wish them nothing but the best of luck. Here’s a photo.

And  interesting bit of Building43 the focus on providing practical advice.  I was on call today, trying to walk some people through Twitter, FB, FF and Bit.ly integration and it went … nowhere.  Second nature to me, well probably 15th nature, but  was pretty clear that the people I was talking to were lost in space.  Or perhaps, I wasn’t communicating or — I shouldn’t have tried to do it over the phone.  Lesson learned.

A better conversation that I had today, was with old friend from grade School Brendan.  I probably haven’t seen Brendan in almost 25 years, but hearing on his voice was like seeing him yesterday in Bethel, CT.  It was a great way to start to the day and still leaves me smiling as I think about it.  Sometimes, it really is the simple things in life.

at the #building43 launch

Just got back from attending the lates SFNewTech here in SF.  Like all events of this type is can be a hit or a really, really bad miss.

Tonight’s was pretty good. Some interesting people to talk with and some interesting demos to see.  I was worth the hell ride on the 27 line.

The main attraction (I suspect) was Guy Kawasaki’s Alltop, Alltop is an “online magazine rack.”  Guy’s demo was fun, informative and he kept it to 5 minutes on the dot.  ALL demos should be 5 minutes or less.  The funniest thing that Guy said during the question and answer session (at least I thought it was funny) was, “people are cheap, technology is cheap, the problem is that nobody is buying.”  This is damn true.  Alltop is great for a one-on-one aggregation experience.  But if you’ve seeking a one-to-many aggregation experience talk to me about PagesPlus.   Some of the other interesting demos were Scoutlabs, Chartbeat and Blurb.  Wasn’t quite sure what Blurb was doing, but it never hurts to get the word out.

The most humourous moments came during a demo, when a fellow kept trying to pretend that the company was more that just him. I/we, we/I, it was funny, truth be told he’s a far better programmer that I’ll ever be in this lifetime.  But does the world really need another way to use Amazon’s API’s top find the best price on camera.  It’s not as bad all the brain power that poured into hedge funds, but it’s a bit dull….

At SFnewtech

I just recommended the Culture series of books to a friend http://bit.ly/M3JO2

• Listening to Candy-O and getting out some emails. Gotta get a jump on Monday #
• I’m attending 6/10 : Sizzling Hot Shots! With Woya, Notable, Blurb, Scout Labs,… — http://bit.ly/vbgrH #

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Finally back in SF.

I spent the last two weeks working and traveling in Hawaii.  One week on the Big Island and one week on Maui.  I’d been to Kauai a couple of times before, so I decided to mix things up this trip.  The Big Island was  — big, lots of different and stunning biospheres.  Did the volcano thing of course and breathed in a whole lot of sulfur.  Saw a ton of gorgeous plants and flowers, beaches and fish.  The best part was the hospitality and humor of our friend, who we stayed with outside of Honoka’a.  Best meal was probably probably Daniel Thiebaut, but I’ll always have fun memories of the malasadas at Tex’s, and the fresh liliko soda.

Spent a week on the Maui, soaking in the sun, sand, surf and snorkeling.  Sure there’s lots to see, but it pretty much pales in comparison after coming from the Big Island.

But  it wasn’t all fun and games. I kept the wheels making some connections and lining up things to get things going full blast again now that I’m back.  The sunshine is incredibly bright and strong during the middle of the day.  What better time than to connect with potential leads about the power of PagesPlus.

I’m attending 6/10 : Sizzling Hot Shots! With Woya, Notable, Blurb, Scout Labs,… — http://bit.ly/vbgrH

Listening to Candy-O and getting out some emails. Gotta get a jump on Monday