The first day of the Florida Venture Capital Conference typically involves investor activities, and this year was no exception. It started with a 4-person team scramble golf tourney at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort Course and ended with an investor cocktail cruise. You couldn’t have asked for a better day for golf — not a cloud [...]
Florida Venture Blog
by Dan Rua…just a VC, living vicariously thru entrepreneurs…
Monthly Archives: January 2008
Jan 24
Florida BioDatabase
A friend of mine, Mike Schmitt, has been collaborating with the University of Florida for some time on a database for Florida’s biotech sector. Some early results from that work are now available via the Florida BioDatabase, hosted by the Sid Martin Biotechnology Incubator. According to the new site, companies included are: “Florida companies that [...]
Jan 21
Presenting Companies at the 2008 Florida Venture Capital Conference
The following companies were selected to present at the 2008 Florida Venture Capital Conference. I was on this year’s selection committee and have to say the competition was fierce. Congrats to all those who made it through — you deserve it! 2008 CONFERENCE PRESENTERS TO DATE: AccuDraft, Inc is a 2-year old Software-as-a-Service company that [...]
Jan 21
Florida Venture Capital Conference 2008: It’s Gonna Be Big, Again
The 2008 Florida Venture Capital Conference is gearing up for another record year. If you are an entrepreneur, investor or startup service provider in the Southeast, this is a can’t-miss conference. Last year’s conference had over 1,200 attendees (record attendance), including over 180 investors. You can see my wrap-up posts from the last two conferences [...]
Jan 19
SBSS Week 2: 10 Reasons to Talk to Your Customers Early
We had another great week of the Success Breeds Success Series. This week covered Markets and Market Research — with a focus on sizing your market and understanding what customers want. Randy Scott, CEO of NovaMin, was the guest speaker and did a fantastic job of summarizing his efforts to select and size NovaMin’s market. [...]
Jan 16
VC, So Easy a Governor Can Do It
While reading SoutheastTechWire this morning, I was surprised by the headline that Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue has launched a venture capital fund. My first images were of a Governor fitting Partner meetings and startup board meetings in between lobbyist lunches and political battles with his legislature. That’s not quite the reality, at least I hope [...]
Jan 15
Cloverfield Reviews from 1-15-08 Screenings
OK, blame it on my BLOG260 commitment or my love of ARGs, but this is yet another post about Cloverfield. Specifically, my 1-10-08 Cloverfield review is about to get some blogosphere company from a flood of 1-15-08 screenings — still 3 days before national release. If you attended one of tonight’s Florida screenings in Tampa, [...]
Jan 14
SBSS Week 1: Entrepreneurs Need Passion
I’m helping facilitate the first FastTrac TechVenture program in North Florida, called Success Breeds Success Series (SBSS). It’s an intensive 8-week bootcamp for entrepreneurs, including “secrets of success” from most of the top entrepreneurs in the area. We have a fantastic group participating and our first week focused on the Characteristics of Entrepreneurs. Jamie Grooms, [...]
Jan 11
Even the Cloverfield Monster Does Endorsements
Maybe it’s because I’ve seen the power of respectful, well-done product placements, but I noticed a few brands (when my eyes weren’t shut) at my recent pre-screening of Cloverfield. Kudos to those marketers who managed to secure prime brand placement without hurting the story in the middle of a first-person war zone formerly known as [...]
Jan 10
1st Cloverfield Review: It Will Make You Sick — But It Will Be Worth It!
My wife had to stop watching multiple times. The first girl we spoke to after the movie felt queasy. Someone was throwing up in the bathroom afterward. What movie could have this effect, and yet people exited with stunned smiles on their faces? The movie without a name…Tagruato’s Revenge…Slusho Brain Freeze Makes Monster Eat New [...]
Jan 09
IZEARanks.com Alpha Now Live: Open Analytics Arrives
It was announced earlier today that IZEARanks.com has been released in alpha. Ted’s post at the IZEA blog provides plenty of context, including details on the open analytics, smooth graphs, and API. In short, social media deserves a transparent ranking system that measures true traffic and influence, based upon primary data (via on-site analytics) rather [...]
Jan 08
Cloverfield: A Building ARG Climax
News reports surfaced yesterday about a Tagruato Oil Rig collapse (Chaui Station), with possible T.I.D.O. Wave involvement. If you haven’t already done your research on Cloverfield, now would be the time. Something very big is heading our way 1-18-08, and I’m not talking about a monster-sized Slusho. Related images: cloverfield, tagruato, tidowave, 1-18-08, cloverfield movie, [...]
Jan 07
Blog260, the Weekend-Lover’s Blog365
I’ve seen a couple posts recently about Blog365, a group of bloggers committing themselves to blog every single day of the year (actually Feb 29 is a Blog365 day of rest). I really like the idea and should probably join in. However, I know myself too well. I get too much enjoyment from my family [...]
Jan 04
Awash in Social Graphs and News Feeds, Happy Birthday felt great!
Yesterday was my birthday and it was good. My wife and girls treated me to a great lunch, a great dinner, a sparkler-filled Krispy Kreme donut cake and plenty of presents along the way. They even gave me an early present last week, allowing for some family Wii karaoke on the tail of Christmas vacation. [...]
