Guidewire » Citiport

An Eye on Taiwan

carlacthompson — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 21:05:36 +0000

Since Chris and I are wrapping up our final report to III in Taiwan, I thought I’d share some impressions from the trip we took to Taipei in December. Contracted through the Taiwanese government to meet with startups and counsel them on succeeding in the US market, we met with 12 companies that week. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the Taiwanese tech sector and am happy to report that it is thriving. The majority of the companies were extremely savvy about the tech sector in general, as well as specific ideas and themes in Silicon Valley. We had planned to invite one of the 12 companies to demonstrate at DEMO 08 but were so impressed by the level of innovation and ingenuity that we ended up choosing two. Citiport and atlaspost were big hits at DEMO 08, with atlaspost even winning the People’s Choice DEMOgod award. (I must admit to feeling a bit of the proud parent as they accepted the trophy.)

Though several of the companies are too early-stage to discuss publicly, VooEasy has since launched in beta and received a bit of coverage in Mashable. I like the philosophy of VooEasy – spinning the social network into a networking one-stop-shop for mass-consumer adults – and expect to hear more from them in coming months. Other teams were equally as impressive in identifying holes in the US market and developing engaging products to fill them. An intriguing approach to citizen journalism, mixing in prediction markets for good measure; a drag-and-drop community platform in which all content is reproducible across individual sites; a recommendation engine powered by data mining and semantic analysis; and a really exciting app that could turn the world of Twitter upside down – just a few of the technologies we were introduced to in Taiwan.

It’s yet another example of innovation occurring outside the realm of Silicon Valley. Our week in Taiwan couldn’t have been more enjoyable or the tech talk more stimulating. Our hosts were beyond gracious and the country itself comfortable and welcoming. And its geographical and cultural proximity to China makes its business community an invaluable resource regarding inroads to the mainland. Any investors, executives or like-minded entrepreneurs looking for the next hot tech hub should take a closer look at Taiwan. With such energetic, sharp innovators in its midst, this tech community is due for a growth explosion.

A few to watch at DEMO 08

carlacthompson — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:31:38 +0000

As you saw from Chris’ earlier post, we have a host of groundbreaking, just-plain-cool technologies debuting next week at DEMO 08. The first day of DEMO always brings a big exhale, as we can finally talk publicly about all the fascinating products we’ve been knee-deep in for months. I’ll have to keep holding my breath for a couple more days but couldn’t resist telling just a bit more about what’s on tap next week in Palm Desert. If you can’t join us onsite, stay tuned to the brand new DEMO site (launching Monday) for videos of all the live stage demonstrations.

Keep an eye out for a rather large delegation that may show signs of jet lag. Following a trip Chris and I took to Taipei in early December, the Taiwanese government is bringing 11 companies to DEMO, showcasing an impressive level of innovation from this small island. Two of the companies, atlaspost and Citiport, will present onstage. All are proof that tech ingenuity isn’t confined to Northern California.
Collaboration is a nut that simply hasn’t been adequately cracked. We keep chipping away though and have found some eye-catching and never-before-seen takes on the solution from Huddle, Chalex, and KonoLive.
Search engines aren’t just for the mass consumer. The heavy researchers among us are constantly looking for tools that will reduce time spent scouring data for relevant content. You won’t want to miss Silobreaker or Jodange, two companies I now consider indispensable to my work.
As for the just-plain-cool category, Capzles, Rove Mobile, and Yoics are good ones to keep an eye out for.

It’s always interesting to see what clicks with the audience; there are inevitably a few that I didn’t see coming and a few favorites that don’t click as much as I’d hoped. Chris and I will be blogging throughout DEMO; add us to your feed reader so you don’t miss a thing.

Look Who's Coming to DEMO 2008

chrisshipley — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 15:17:23 +0000

It can now be said…at least in part.

Throughout the Fall, Carla Thompson and I spent uncountable hours sifting through DEMO applications, turning over stones, and interviewing hundreds of companies to come up with the 77 who will launch products next week at DEMO 2008.

At one point in those intense 90 days from late September through Christmas, Carla asked, “Is this just a better group of applicants? There are so many great candidates.”

We did have a tough choice. After all, when you cast the net as wide as we do — looking at every type of product from core components to consumer entertainment — you find yourself weighing the market impact of, say, an advance in enterprise application development against an implementation of a unique consumer search algorithm. Then again, that’s what makes DEMO unique and exciting . . . there’s something for every interest and often, these interests intersect in serendipitous ways leading to unexpected results.

Now, though, the DEMO organization has released the names of the 77 companies introducing products next Monday. The envelop please. . .

2Win Solutions, Ltd.; Raanana, Israel

800 PBX, Inc.; Fremont, CA

Acesis, Inc.; Mountain View, CA

Asankya, Inc.; Atlanta, GA

Aternity, Inc.; Westborough, MA

atlaspost.com; Taipei City, Taiwan

Avistar Communications Corp.; San Mateo, CA

BitGravity, Inc.; Burlingame, CA

blist, Inc.; Seattle, WA

Buzka, Pty Ltd.; Subiaco, Australia

Capzles, Inc.; Culver City, CA

Catalyst Web Services, LLC; Alexandria, VA

CellSpinSoft, Inc.; San Jose, CA

Celsias, Ltd.; Wellington, New Zealand

CHALEX Corp.; Grasonville, MD

Circos.com, Inc.; San Mateo, CA

Citiport, Inc.; Taipei City, Taiwan

Citrix Systems, Inc.; Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Cozimo.com, Inc.; Berkeley, CA

Ecrio, Inc.; Cupertino, CA

Education.com; Redwood City, CA

Eyealike, Inc.; Bellevue, WA

Fabrik, Inc.; San Mateo, CA

Flypaper, Inc.; Phoenix, CA

GoldMail, Inc.; San Francisco, CA

good2gether, Inc.; Melrose, MA

Green Plug, Inc.; San Ramon, CA

HealthPricer Interactive, Ltd.; Vancouver, BC

Hubdub, Ltd.; Edinburgh, Scotland

Huddle.net; London, England

Iterasi, Inc.; Vancouver, WA

iVideotunes, Inc.; Alpharetta, GA

Jodange, LLP; Yonkers, NY

Kaazing Corp.; Mountain View, CA

LeapFrog Enterprises, Inc.; Emeryville, CA

LegiTime Technologies, Inc.; Westport, CT

LiquidPlanner, Inc.; Bellevue, WA

LiquidTalk, Inc.; Chicago, IL

Liquidus Corp.; Chicago, IL

Livescribe, Inc.; Oakland, CA

MANDIANT; Alexandria, VA

MOLI, LLC; West Palm Beach, FL

Movial; Helsinki, Finland

Nirvanix; San Diego, CA

NotchUp, Inc.; Los Altos Hills, CA

Notebookz.com, Inc.; Berkeley, CA

Pathworks Software Corp.; Mountain View, CA

Redux, Inc.; Berkeley, CA

Review2Buy, Inc.; San Francisco, CA

Ribbit Corp.; Stanford, CA

Rove Mobile, Inc.; Ottawa, Ontario

Santrum Networks, Inc.; Taipei, Taiwan

SceneCaster; Richmond Hill, Ontario

Seesmic; San Francisco, CA

Semingo, Inc.; Herzliya Pituach, Israel

Silobreaker, Ltd.; London; England

Skyfire; San Jose, CA

SpeakLike, LLC; New York, NY

Sprout, Inc.; Honolulu; HI

Squidcast; San Francisco, CA

StackSafe, Inc.; Vienna, VA

Standout Jobs, Inc.; Montreal, Quebec

STEP Labs; San Jose, CA

Sterna Technologies, Inc.; San Mateo, CA

support.com; Redwood City, CA

SupportSpace, Inc.; Redwood Shores, CA

Symantec Corp.; Cupertino, CA

TimeTrade Systems, Inc.; Bedford, MA

Toktumi, Inc.; San Francisco, CA

TubeMogul, Inc.; Berkeley, CA

Vidyo™, Inc.; Hackensack; NJ

Visible Measures Corp.; Boston, MA

Voyant, Inc.; Austin, TX

xtranormal, Inc.; Montreal, Quebec

Yoics, Inc.; Palo Alto, CA

YouChoose, LLC; Thornton, PA

Zodiac Interactive; Valley Stream NY

It’s not to late to join the conference in person (register with this link to get the “Friends of Guidewire price”) or via Web video (check out demo.com for information on live streaming). We’ll also give you a “backstage pass” to the event, posting behind the scenes stories as the event unfolds.