As an entrepreneur trying to get a fledgling startup off the ground in these challenging times, having the opportunity to meet and interact with awesome people is essential to spreading the word. There are many events in the local Seattle area and the tech scene is alive and well.
However, each year, there is one single event that rises up above them all. While I've only had the privilege of attending one of these events, I can tell you with certainty, that Gnomedex is a special event. Chris Pirillo takes it to new levels each and every year. Now granted, there have been some controversial talks, and heated discussions in years past, but what he's put together over the past 10 years is truly special (has it really been that long?).
I was quite upset that I missed the opportunity to attend last year's Gnomedex event due to a conflict with my summer vacation. That said, I'm definitely going to be around this year, and look forward to attending.
The reason why I feel I deserve to Tungle with Chris is that I'm pouring every last bit of effort into getting my startup (StratusQ) off the ground. We are self-funded at this point, and our battle-scarred team of four are pouring every extra penny we can spare to grow the business. As such, it's harder and harder to hop on the conference circuit without having the backing of an employer or other source of funding to help subsidize costs. I'm not a serial entrepreneur, but I've been waiting patiently for over 10 years for this opportunity (see: The Art of Bootstrapping in 2010) and having the ability to network with other like minded individuals at an event like Gnomedex is what I live for.
I also happen to be a user of Tungle.me (see: http://tungle.me/brianeisenberg) , which hopefully puts me in a favorable position to win a free pass to Gnomedex. If not, I'll continue to save my precious pennies and maybe scrape up enough $$ to purchase a conference pass.
Kudos to Chris and the rest of the Gnomedex volunteers for putting together the 10th installment of this special event.
Respectfully yours,
Brian Daniel Eisenberg
@infinitelymeta
Last Thursday at 1:26pm Pacific Standard Time, I received an email from my boss, who had just gotten off the phone with an exec from HQ asking if our team could possibly pull of a small miracle and build a demonstration that showcases the value of our company's products and solutions for a VIP press and media event at the CeBIT conference.
Meeting this challenge required 4 near sleepless nights, working through the entire weekend and around the clock with a virtual team distributed around the globe. While it was a pretty intense and tiring effort, we were able to put together an impressive demo showcase and I'm happy to report that the entire management team was quite pleased with our execution and delivery.
The demo showcase we built was delivered earlier today by Software AG CEO Karl-Heinz Streibich to German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger at a VIP press & media event at the CEBIT conference in Hanover, Germany.
Here are some pictures from the event. You can see one of demo pages we built being shown on a 60" Flat Panel touchscreen monitor that was used to "deliver" the demonstration.
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Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO Software AG, meets international leaders at CeBIT 2009
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Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO Software AG, meets international leaders at CeBIT 2009
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Karl-Heinz Streibich, CEO Software AG, meets international leaders at CEBIT 2009.
Image source: http://www.softwareag.com/Corporate/Press/photos_artwork/events/pg_cebit_2009.asp
Now that this mini-project / event is over, I'm going to try and catch up on some much needed sleep. It was a privilege and honor to work with such dedicated colleagues around the globe, with a near impossible deadline, to pull this off. Now I can add a new line to my list of accomplishments on my resulme: "Built a demo for the Terminator!"
Hasta la Vista baby!