I was surprised to learn that ShopSavvy (formerly known as Big in Japan) has one of the top 20 most awesome offices in the world. We were ranked alongside other companies like Google, Facebook, AOL, Red Bull and YouTube. Nice. I don’t know much about the source, but I am certain they are qualified to judge us as awesome. Check it out for yourself HERE.
Big in Japan and Architel announced today that speakers for the inaugural Startup Happy Hour 2.0, to be held Wednesday, Oct. 27, at Campbell Centre, will include Blake Burris of CoHabitat; Gabriella Draney of Tech Wildcatters; Danica Mathes of Ignite Dallas; and Joey Pomerenke of Startup Weekend.
More than 250 entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs and others interested in the Dallas/Fort Worth startup scene have RSVPed for the event.
Here are bios for our speaking lineup:
Blake Burris, CoHabitat
Blake is the founder of CoHabitat, a startup community and hacker co-working space that’s become a hub for startup entrepreneurs, developers, and creatives. Blake also founded Dynamo Labs, where he and his team develop solutions for the rapidly changing clean energy marketplace. Dynamo Labs was the first recipient of fbFund, a grant fund operated by the Founders Fund, Accel Partners, and Facebook. Blake has long been involved in the Dallas startup scene, having helped organize the first BarCamp Dallas in 2005.
Gabriella Draney, Tech Wildcatters
Gabriella is co-founder and managing partner of Tech Wildcatters, a Dallas-based seed accelerator. Previously, she was with HP Growth Partners, an early stage venture fund in Dallas. She co-founded an aircraft scheduling software company in 1998 that ended in a profitable exit. Gabriella went on to work for Morgan Stanley in private wealth management. True to her entrepreneurial roots, she left to follow her passion for nutrition by opening a specialty foods retail store, while simultaneously consulting with numerous Dallas-based startups on strategic planning and finance.
Danica Mathes, Ignite Dallas
Danica is an entertainment, intellectual property and new media attorney with Bell Nunnally & Martin LLP. She represents and counsels clients with respect to traditional trademark, copyright and other intellectual property protection and exploitation matters, preparation, review and negotiation of contracts, and formation of appropriate business entities. Danica was an adjunct professor of entertainment law at Washington University School of Law for five years, and she has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America since 2007. She is one of the inaugural organizers of Ignite Dallas and is actively involved with the Dallas International Film Festival.
Joey Pomerenke, Startup Weekend
Joey is an entrepreneur, startup enthusiast and travel junkie. He currently manages events for Startup Weekend, the Seattle-based non-profit organization that has become one of the leading catalysts for startup creation and entrepreneurship education in startup ecosystems around the world. Startup Weekend is currently represented in over 100 cities in more than 25 countries.
The first three Startup Happy Hour 2.0 events will be held Oct. 27, Nov. 24 and Dec. 22. The events will run from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with speakers beginning at 6 p.m. The location is 8350 N. Central Expressway, Suite 250, in the north tower of Campbell Centre.
To RSVP and/or join the discussion about Startup Happy Hour 2.0, visit http://www.meetup.com/Dallas-Startup-Happy-Hour.
We announced today that we’ll be sponsoring our third Startup Weekend Dallas next month at our new Campbell Centre offices. Here’s today’s press release:
Startup Weekend Dallas to Give Budding Tech Entrepreneurs a Crash Course in Going from Idea to Launch
The three-day event, sponsored by Big in Japan and Architel, takes place Nov. 12-14.
Startup Weekend and Big in Japan today announced that Startup Weekend Dallas, a 54-hour event that provides networking, resources and incentives to help aspiring technology entrepreneurs go from idea to launch, will take place Nov. 12-14 at Big in Japan’s new offices at Campbell Centre.
“This is the third Startup Weekend Dallas since 2009, and with each event we see growth in attendance and the emergence of new businesses as a result,” said Marc Nager of Startup Weekend, a Seattle-based non-profit that has organized events in cities worldwide. “This speaks to the energy and quality of the Dallas startup scene.”
“Big in Japan and Architel have been working to create networking and learning opportunities for Dallas entrepreneurs for years, and partnering with Startup Weekend is a great boost to these efforts,” said Alexander Muse, Big in Japan co-founder.
Muse, along with Architel CEO Scott Ryan, also sponsor Dallas Startup Happy Hour, which will have its next get-together at Campbell Centre Oct. 27.
Startup Weekend Dallas will open with a presentation of new ideas for startup ventures. Participants then choose their favorite ideas and form teams around them. The teams spend the weekend getting advice from professional mentors and building a proof of concept, demo — and sometimes even a finished product. Most ideas are Web and tech-focused.
Tickets to participate in Startup Weekend Dallas can be purchased at dallas.startupweekend.org/tickets. For more information about Startup Weekend Dallas, including sponsorship opportunities, visit dallas.startupweekend.org.
About Startup Weekend
A non-profit organization based out of Seattle, Wash., Startup Weekend’s primary mission is to provide unparalleled experiential education opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs around the globe. Its model is event-based, community-focused, interactive and results-driven entrepreneurial development. As a result, Startup Weekend has become one of the leading catalysts for startup creation and entrepreneurship education in startup ecosystems around the world. Startup Weekend is currently represented in over 100 cities in more than 25 countries. Learn more at http://startupweekend.org.
The guys have been busy working on the 4.0 release of ShopSavvy for the iPhone and I was getting a little bored. I was talking to a developer who was interested in licensing our barcode scanner SDK and it occured to me that I could hire someone to build a barcode scanner app using our SDK without bothering our guys. Lots of ShopSavvy users have asked us to release a standalone QR code scanner – something our guys thought was rather silly since ShopSavvy will scan QR codes just fine. I was able to hire a developer to include our SDK into a standalone QR scanner for $300 about a month ago. I was surprise to learn that the app was number 43 in Utilities! So for $300 one can build a simple app and get in the top 50? Amazing stuff. Here is the screen grab from AppFigures:
Jake noted that there were a number of bugs in my app and mentioned that my icon sucked so he spent an evening making my app suck less (actually his update is really great). I submitted it to iTunes and hopefully it will get accepted soon. In the meantime you can download my version 1.0 QR Code Reader and Scanner.
Lots of ShopSavvy users have asked us to release a standalone QR Code Reader so I asked one of our barcode scanner SDK licensees to build a simple QR Code Reader using our SDK. It took him about an hour to put it all together (it took Apple three weeks to approve it). All it does is read QR Codes (it does have a banner ad at the bottom providing a link to ShopSavvy). ShopSavvy users should remember that ShopSavvy reads QR codes as well as 1D UPC/EAN codes found on products. You don’t really need two scanners. Anyway, feel free to download (it is free) from iTunes.
We have talked about our QR Code program before, but I thought it was worth a mention. The adoption of two-dimensional barcodes in marketing and advertising has been hampered by proprietary standards. Too many companies have spent too much time attempting to monetize a very simple, but powerful feature. Ironically, there has always been an alternative, open standard called a Quick Response or QR Code. Anyone can generate a two-dimensional QR Code pointing to any website for free. Additionally, millions of mobile phone users already have QR Code capable readers like ShopSavvy®.
The biggest problem with QR Codes is that American consumers don’t know what a 2D barcode is. They need some help understanding how to react to a QR Code printed on a billboard or in a magazine advertisement. Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program was designed to solve this problem. Millions of ShopSavvy users already use the application to scan 1D barcodes, but many of them have no idea that ShopSavvy will scan open standard 2D barcodes (i.e. QR Code), but they do understand the concept of scanning.
Our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ program allows brands to leverage our ‘trained’ user base by including our ‘Scan with ShopSavvy’ badge anywhere they print a 2D barcode. Consumers can use ANY QR-capable scanner (50+ today), but the program attempts to short circuit the call to action by showing the user he can use an application he already has on his smartphone.
The program is free for almost all brands. Our goal is to promote QR Codes, ShopSavvy and build great relationships with brands. Interested? Brands simply need to emailsales@biggu.com and explain the planned usage of our badge prior to use. Permission will be granted to almost all brands. Camera-ready art of the badge is available for download:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/109866/scanwithshopsavvy.zip
Basic tracking is included for FREE as part of the QR code generator and includes:
Enhanced programs area available including geo-targeted content. Use the consumers location as a trigger for alternative content. Show a user in a specific store or city a different experience. Please contact our sales department for more information.
…from the press release:
Big in Japan, the leader in barcode-powered shopping by mobile consumers, announced that Heather Brown-Smith, 44, of Valencia, Calif., has won the company’s first “Tweet to Win” contest by helping to spread the word about ShopSavvy®, the local retail shopping app for the iPhone, Android and Nokia smartphones. More than 220,000 Twitter users entered the contest. Brown-Smith was awarded an HTC EVO 4G smartphone.
Big in Japan also launched a second “Tweet to Win” contest, beginning today and accepting entries through Sept. 30.
“ShopSavvy is much more than a price-comparison app; it is a community in which users add value to the shopping experiences of others and share information about the savings they’ve received,” said Alexander Muse, co-founder of Big in Japan. “In this spirit, ‘Tweet to Win’ engages social network users to spread the word about ShopSavvy — with great results.”
To participate in the second “Tweet to Win” contest, entrants must follow ShopSavvy’s Twitter account (http://twitter.com/shopsavvy ) from their own Twitter account. Entrants must then issue the status update from their Twitter account shown on the “Tweet to Win” contest page (http://biggu.com/promo ). One winner will be selected randomly from all valid entries.
If you were like me you would have asked why Microsoft was bothering to build yet another smartphone operating system (aka Windows Phone 7) to compete with blockbuster hits like the iPhone and Android. If you worked on WinMo 6.5 you might be even MORE jaded. But I want to suggest that, in the end, it won’t be the operating system that is relevant it will be the apps. It is ALL about the apps now. If developers embrace a platform and great apps emerge an operating system will succeed. After seeing our own team’s work on the Windows Phone 7 version of ShopSavvy and other developers work I am more and more bullish about the platform. Microsoft really has a shot at making something really great. Check out a video of the USGA app:
There are almost a hundred thousand apps that shouldn’t be in Apple’s iTunes App store. They look a lot more like SPAM than apps and we all have seen them (30 apps with almost the same logo with slightly different names are just SPAM). I have a solution for Apple (and all other app stores): charge a yearly maintenance fee to keep an app in iTunes. Right now Apple charges developers $99 to have a developers account, but there is no limit or cost for adding apps. I propose a low $99/app/year fee to keep an individual app in the market.
Wondering what ShopSavvy will look like with full ‘Metro’ styling? Wonder no more. If you want to get on the wait list for the Beta (or just get notified when it is available) sign up here. See all of the screenshots on Flickr:
Jaime, one of the Gamerator guys, sent me an update on our unit today. If you missed my post last week, we are getting a Gamerator (Kegerator + Video Game) for our office. They are still working on the joystick and keg system, but it is almost done. They should be able to ship on August 17th (whohooo!). Here are some pictures of our unit under construction:
