Archives for September 2009

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the first Founder’s Feast & Poker 2.0 Tournament at Stonebrook Court.

This is a private and exclusive event for company founders, CEOs and VCs is set to take place on October 19th, the night before the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

If you can claim you’re one of the aformentioned, you’re invited to click here for a chance to be invited.

Who’s in?

October 19, 2009

5:30 PM – Midnight

♠ Cocktails on the Ballroom Terrace ♠

♣ Gourmet dinner in the Grand Ballroom ♣

♥ Poker games by the fire ♥

♦ Conversation Everywhere ♦

The Founder’s Feast & Poker 2.0 Tournament at Stonebrook Court is an invite only event and is exclusive to company founders, CEOs, VCs (and a few special guests) and will be limited to only 100 attendees.

The event will commence at the private residence of Stonebrook Court, an architectural masterpiece that has played host to presidents and kings, movie stars, and celebrities. Originally built in 1914, this magnificent home is one of the greatest estates in California. (Click here for more photos.)

World renowned landscape architect Stephen Suzman designed the majestic garden, which includes follies, rolling lawns, a focal point of a grassy Tudor mount, knot garden, boxwood parterres, and long perennial borders filled with roses. The pool features a stone fountain surmounted by an antique bronze statue of Neptune.

Dinner will be served at 6:30pm in the Grand Ballroom, which features 16th Century gilded Venetian ceiling paintings from the Palazzo Grimani.

Directly following dinner, the optional No-limit Texas Hold’em Tournament will commence.

The game will conclude by approximately 11:30 pm.

Participation in the tournament is completely optional. Those who wish not to play are encouraged to continue enjoying spirits and victuals with good company deep in to the evening.

For those who wish to play (54 players maximum, first RSVP’d, first served), the tournament buy-in is $10 with unlimited re-buys for the first 4 rounds. At the end of the buy-in period there will be a $15 add-on. 100% of the player buy-ins will be distributed among the tournament winners and Bounties and Pot Sweeteners will be provided by event sponsors.

Top finishers will receive trophies and other awards. The blind payout structures will be announced at the start of the event.

We look forward to seeing you!

Woodside Capital Partners

With special thanks to:

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working with Chris Heuer, founder of the Social Media Club, and J.R. Johnson, CEO of Lunch.com, on a thought-provoking event series called "Lunch For Good" to help better understand how and why people contribute online — and how we can take steps to improve online communications and online participation to help make the world a better place. You can read more about the mission and participate in the conversation here. (You can also tune in at #lunch4good on Twitter.)

Yesterday was our first of three events and some of the most forward thinkers on the subject of online communities gathered together to discuss what it really means to be a "responsible participant" online. (See the RSVP list below.)

The event began with light networking and culminated to break out discussions and then to consensus reporting about the ramifications of what it means to participate in online communities and why there continue to be issues that surround comfort levels of participation, access to participation, etiquette, as well as problems inherent in the digital landscape that can hinder inter-personal communications.

The questions on how to ease the fears while transitioning from community participation in the real world into the online world aren’t new — but many of perspectives brought to the table yesterday were, and the conversation is just getting started.

We’ll be posting videos from the event soon and you’re encouraged to chime in with your own thoughts on these very important questions!

I’m proud to have been able to play a role in bringing such an amazing group of people together for this discussion and am looking forward to round two in late October when we’ll dive a little deeper and seek solutions to how to better spark "critical thought" online.

If you’ll be in San Francisco in late October and would like to be considered for an invitation to the next Lunch For Good event, please click here.

RSVP list for Lunch for Good #1

    * Elizabeth Chien, Attorney, Baker and McKenzie
    * Marla Schulman, Founder, DVINIDEAS
    * michal strahilevitz, Professor of Marketing, Golden Gate University
    * jeff weissner, Media Strategy Consultant, Self-employed
    * Henry Oh, Co-Founder, Hong Kong Startup Association
    * Chris Anderson, General Manager, Principal, Freshout
    * Julie Greenberg, Co-founder, Jobnob
    * Davin Miyoshi, CEO, MesmoTV
    * Richard Ault, Founder, u8what
    * Tina Liao, Media Director, Orange22
    * Jon Wollenhaupt, Vice President, Excel Meetings and Events
    * Katherine Webster, ceo, Storytelling Media
    * Marita Roebkes, Social Media Manager, Social Media Academy
    * Michelle Fairbansk, Account Executive, Brightidea.com
    * Valerie kameya, Sr. Consultant, Valkra
    * Dom Sagolla, Author, 140 Characters
    * Maria Niles, CEO, ConsumerPop Marketing
    * Rachel Weidinger, Consultant, Weidinger Consulting
    * Sarah Dopp, Community Manager, Genderfork.com
    * Susan Tenby, Online Community Director, TechSoup
    * Violet Blue, Community Development, Swordfish Corp
    * Thomas Knoll, Community Development, Swordfish Corp
    * Navi Ganancial, Outreach Associate, Netroots Nation
    * redg snodgrass, Vice President, Skout
    * Ryan Hupfer, Communicator of Awesomeness!, HubPages
    * Kenny Lauer, Executive Director, Digital Experience, George P. Johnson
    * Amanda Cey, President, ABCey Events
    * Jan Grotenbreg Grotenbreg, Founder, Silicon Valley Link
    * Melody McCloskey, Manager, Content, Current TV
    * Taylor Norrish, Founder/CEO, Govit.com
    * Derek Overbey, Sr. Director of Marketing & Social Media, Roost
    * Rebecca Reeve, Publicist, Rebecca Reeve
    * Ben Metcalfe, Founder & Lead Consultant, Swordfish Corp
    * Amy Muller, Chief Community Officer, Get Satisfaction
    * Thor Muller, CTO, Get Satisfaction
    * Cathy Brooks, Raconteur, Other Than That
    * Jennifer Lindsay, Principal, Jennifer Lindsay Digital Consultancy
    * Melissa Dodd, Marketing Director, Ask Me
    * Jason Johnson, VP Marketing & Business Development, Via Licensing
    * kristy graves, independent agent
    * Travis Murdock, Senior Account Supervisor, Edelman
    * Harry McCracken, Editor, Technologizer
    * Lisa Sculati, Community/Social Media Manager, Sweden Networking Group
    * Adrian Chan, owner, gravity7
    * IdaRose Sylvester, Founder, Silicon Valley Link
    * Tom Foremski, Editor, Silicon Valley Watcher
    * Richard White, Founder, CEO, UserVoice Inc.
    * Dana Oshiro, Writer, ReadWriteWeb
    * Schlomo Rabinowitz, Creator, VideocampSF
    * Mariva H. Aviram, writer & entrepreneur, Mariva Media
    * Eric Wagner, IT Director, Kyte
    * Brian Zisk, Co-Founder, Collects
    * Elisa Camahort, Co-founder and COO, BlogHer
    * Vinnie Lauria, co-founder, Lefora
    * Paul Carr, Hack, PaulCarr.com
    * Alexandros Pagidas, Founder, Idea Contest 2.0
    * Caroline McCarthy, Staff Writer, CNET News
    * Diane Bisgeier, Director, Product Marketing, Soar BioDynamics
    * Axel Schultze, CEO, Xeequa
    * Chris Heuer, Founder, Social Media Club
    * Ken Yeung, Blogger/Photographer, TheLetterTwo.com
    * Adina Levin, VP Products, Socialtext
    * David Cohn, Founder, Spot.Us
    * Jake Saxbe, Founder, Toobla
    * Pat Diven II, Founder, AddToAny
    * Fredric Paul, Publisher / Editor in Chief, bMighty.com, TechWeb
    * Adam Jackson, Evangelist, Self
    * Melissa Cunningham, VP, Brand Marketing, Lunch
    * Chia Hwu, Community Manager, 23andMe
    * David Spark, Founder, Spark Media Solutions
    * Tamara Mendelsohn, Community and Marketing Manager, Eventbrite
    * Gil Heiman, Director of Community, Clarizen
    * J.R. Johnson, Founder, Lunch.com
    * Myles Weissleder, Founder, SF New Tech

I don’t know about you, but when I’m in a room filled to the gills with people excited about what they’re doing with their lives, it makes me smile.

That’s how I feel at SF New Tech. It’s a monthly ritual of entrepreneurial goodness.

Seems like folks really enjoy talking about how they’re trying to do cool stuff. Around the room conversations abound. I’m a firm believer that markets are conversations and you guys who were there last night knew how to get it on.

I love when you can get past the 30-second elevator pitch of your new tech, and then find yourself shooting the shit about something totally random, only to suddenly circle back to some real world ramifications playing at hand because of your new tech… there’s magic going on.

Relationships begin — and thrive — when the mind is open and relaxed. SF New Tech strives to produce an environment that’s dedicated to promoting a highly social, yet academic experience.

It’s simple. Drink up, eat some free yummy REAL tacos, meet new people, uncover a lead, a possible job opportunity, meet a money guy, a blogger from the WSJ, a cute girl (or guy) who knows …? And then sit down, shut up, and listen to others share with you what they’ve been working on. It’s a wonderful dynamic, if you ask me!

Also, we place a strict five minute limit on the demos because everyone should be accountable. The 5 minutes of Q & A is designed so anyone can connect with the CEO on stage and put him on the spot. And the CEO finds himself on stage because he’s not only looking to show off his baby, he’s looking for feedback … and the circle remains unbroken.

So — enough out of a guy who buys crazy shirts on eBay.

Here are some nifty links concerning last night (and then some…)

Real Time Ratings (starting on Friday)

60 – Second Spots

Apply to demo at SF New Tech

Annual Membership Info

And don’t forget … check out 8KMiles awesome Thrivabil-IT Challenge, that’s giving start-ups a leg up in the downturn. Enter for the chance to win free IT for a year and over $15,000 of software, hardware, IT services and unlimited job postings. Check out Thrivabil-IT.com .

If you’re the least bit interested, I’m speaking on an awesome panel at Sandbox Suites about how to put together Kick Ass events next Tuesday, September 22nd. It’s going to be a hoot – you should come! 🙂

And if you’re around on Tuesday, September 29, the Elance Team is hosting an event for all providers, employers, fans, newcomers, fresh faces, and all elancers alike to come join them at Varnish Fine Art (77 Natoma Street) from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and have a drink (on them) and chat about how work as we know it today is changing in a big way. And don’t forget to bring a business card – they’ll be giving away some swag and will be giving away $500 in Elance services. Click here to RSVP.

Finally — for all you Founders and CEOs … if you’d like to be considered for an invitation to the exclusive Founder’s Feast and Poker 2.0 Tournament on October 19th at Stonebook Court, please let us know! Click here.

Archives for September 2009

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