Paul Kenny gave the single best talk about sales and software I have ever heard at Business of Software 2010. The audience of die-hard techies turned business people agreed. If you involved in any sort of technology business, software, hardware, whatever, you should make some time for this. It will increase your revenue and profit or your money back.
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What a great thought.
We had a lovely note from John Knox, founder of Moving Average Inc, who develop mobile applications for the Android™, iPhone®, and iPad® mobile devices, who has been a long time attendee at Business of Software. He has clearly been putting what he has learned to good use and in the spirit of helping others he wrote,
"BoS would have been a life-changing experience for me right out of college. I was hoping that you folks might already have some potential candidates. 🙂 If it's not too late, can I help contribute some funds?"
John, thank you from all of us. What a great thought. We want to make your scholarship money available to four founders of software businesses in the Boston area who are: able to attend the event on October 24-26; are less than two years out of college or didn't do college because they wanted to do something entrepreneurial; are unfunded; would not otherwise be able to attend Business of Software.
If you fit the criteria, and would like to come, please email me directly by October 11th at mark @ businessofsoftware . org Tell us what you are doing and what you hope to get out of coming. We will be in touch on October 12th to get the winners signed up.
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A great thought from Auren Hoffman, CEO of Rapleaf in his blog, Summation. Go and read the full post, the table is just a taster.
"Here are some things that will be less valued in the future and some things that will be more valued:
| Less-valued | More-valued | Why? |
| General knowledge | Judgment | Search engines will be attached to our brain |
| Knowing more than one major spoken language |
Sales in any language | We’ll have universal translators |
| Coding | Art | Building things will be much easier. Designing aesthetics will always be hard. |
| SAT scores | Combining left-brained and right-brained thinking |
Systems-thinking will be easier to outsource |
| Majoring in business | Majoring in philosophy | Learning to “think” will be more valued that just learning |
Reminds me of Seth Godin's answer to a question from the audience at last year's Business of Software Conference where he stated baldly, (no pun intended but now I come to think about it):
"If there’s any job that could be written down, it gets done by freelancer. Because if we can write down exactly what we want, why on earth we need a brilliant person to do it? We get a competent person to do it. There are no competent people that work at our company."
Business of Software 2011, Boston, MA, October 24-26th 2011 https://businessofsoftware.org For people growing sustainable, profitable, software businesses. If you book by 13th October and use the code, BoSAug, you will save $350 on the full ticket price.
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This is a great talk because it explains why ‘company culture’ is an important thing in any business, the five principle kinds of company culture, and what you can, and cannot do to manage company culture successfully.
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“I have to say if I have, to be in a business during this economy, I would want to be in a software business. A service led software business. Because it’s the most flexible. It’s the most, it can run to value faster than anything else on the planet.”
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Seems that Cambridge England is sending more people to BoS this year than are coming from Boston. That might just be something to do with the fact that Red Gate and the BLN, who run the event, are Cambridge based. By the way Toronto, you rock! Thanks for makeing the effort!
Fantastic to see Moscow, Sydney, Christchurch, Dublin, Tartu, Edinburgh and other places so well represented. Bring it on!
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As Business of Software has developed over the years, more and more organisations have asked how they can sponsor the event.
The simple answer is we have never taken sponsorship at the event as we have always been concerned that it will change the nature of what we are doing. Business of Software is the antithesis of the kind of event I went to recently where a dull session ended with the announcement that after the break there would be the, 'sponsor panel'. This consisted of four marketing/sales managers from the largest sponsors of the event talking about something. I don't know what, and neither did 180 of the 200 or so delegates who chose to carry on networking while the panel blew its course. This kind of thing doesn't do a sponsor any good and it doesn't do anything for the reputation of an event.
There has to be a better way of running and sponsoring events. Sponsors ultimately reduce the cost of events for delegates. We want to find a better way to help make Business of Software sustainable in the long term, help interesting organisations reach get known by our delegates and readers and allow us to invest in the long term future of the business. We think that is a good thing for everyone.
Organisations want to sponsor Business of Software because we have an extraordinary group of decision-making delegates and a blog that is read by people that matter. We want to let more people to share the learning from Business of Software and have been considering the possibility of live streaming the event this year.
This year, we are going to offer a single option for sponsorship of Business of Software. Sponsors will never have control of the content of the event. If you would be interested in raising your profile at Business of Software, please get in touch. We don't sell speaking slots, but we would love you to help us spread the BoS word more widely and raise your profile.
Business of Software Sponsorship Package
Please contact me directly if you would like to discuss further mark.littlewood@businessofsoftware.org
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Date and venue: October 24th-26th 2011 at the World Trade Center, Boston.
Workshops: Running on Monday afternoon and Wednesday lunchtime/early afternoon. List of workshops here. Long list with details of Monday workshops here. Long list with details of Wednesday workshops here. Help with workshop registration here.
Want to make music with the BoS BOS Big Band on Monday night? Sign up here.
Business of Software 2011 on LinkedIn and Lanyrd.
Accommodation: The conference hotel is the Seaport. There is very little space left so act soon or you will be relying on AirBnB.
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Please take a moment to let others know you are coming and add your name to the LinkedIn and Lanyrd event pages. You will be able to see who else is coming and identify people that you want to spend time with at the conference.
We also have a BoSConference Twitter account where you can follow latest news about the event.
You can also follow a list of some of the #BoS2011 attendees. If you are coming and want to be added to the list, send a message to @bosconference.
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Quick reminder to let you know you should be booking your hotel accommodation at the Seaport Hotel if you are planning on staying there. With over a month to go the the conference, we have exceeded our allocation on a few nights of the conference already and have less than 10 rooms available at best on any night. (You can of course choose to stay elsewhere but don't leave it too late to book accommodation. Boston is a great place to visit and this is a busy time of year).
Business of Software 2011, Boston, MA, October 24-26th2011https://businessofsoftware.org For people growing sustainable, profitable, software businesses.
Don't forget, if you haven't yet booked your place, if you book by 22nd September and use the code, BoSSep, you will save $450 on the full ticket price.
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Here are some instructions to help you register for the event workshops. I am sorry there are a few clicks involved. We will not be using the same registration software (RegOnline) next year.
From your confirmation email, ‘Click here’ to review your detailed event record. If you don't have a confirmation email handy, go direct to the site and you will be asked for an email and password.
When you are logged in, click, ‘Change your registration.’
Then click, ‘Event Fees.’ (Don’t worry, the fees are set at zero). Workshops are a part of the conference, the event management software just doesn’t understand…).
Choose one workshop on the Monday, and one workshop on the Wednesday (or leave the session blank if you don’t want/can’t attend a session.
Click ‘Continue’ Will ask you to click continue to save.
Click ‘Continue’ Fees will be $0. Click Finish.
You are now done. Sorry it was not simple. You will now receive a confirmation email.
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The folk at Cambridge University Entrepreneurs asked me to jot a few words down about what I expect from a business plan
I decided to draw some pictures too.
You can download my rant from http://dontmakemyeyesbleed.com (warning – it containts mild nudity and violence)
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Here is the final list of Business of Software Workshops.
If you are already registered for the conference, you should go and register for your first choice as soon as you can. As these are workshops, space is limited and demand is likely to be high. You can sign up for the workshops by editing your agenda settings.
For instructions on how to register for the workshops, see here.
Please note that the workshops will be allocated on a first come first served basis so make your choice quickly!
Monday Workshops – FOR MORE DETAILS.
Wednesday Workshops – FOR MORE DETAILS.
If you haven’t yet registered, get going! Hope to see you there.
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Much excitement at Business of Software Towers with the news that Alexis Ohanian, (@knothing), co-founder of Reddit, investor, founder and all round activist in Hipmunk, (the only flight search engine that I can actually understand and a thing of such beauty that even my wife thinks it is cool).
Alexis gave a killer Lightning Talk at few years ago at Business of Software. We are delighted that he will be closing Business of Software and will be talking about how software makes the world suck less.
Reddit just got a great mention from Chris Anderson at TED this morning where there is a very active discussion about the best TED talks and TED speakers. I am really, really pleased to see that both Alexis Ohanian AND Rory Sutherland, who are both speaking at Business of Software this year, are mentioned in the list of top 12 speakers of all time. Awesome work!
If you are planning on coming, register quick! Hotel space is running out and we have 40 delegate places left. If running out of space isn't bad enough, the price of a ticket rises on 21st September by another $100 so get going if you are going!
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Since I’m the Chief Sumo of AppSumo.com…. I know a thing or two about getting your company massive exposure.
Interested?
Well if you wanna get your company more attention at BoS, then I have two important requests from you:
1.) Go to the BoS buffet quickly…because I WILL finish it.
-and-
2.) Send me software or memberships that you want given to all the attendees at BoS 2011.
THIS CAN BE SUMO-SIZED EXPOSURE FOR YOUR COMPANY.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have your company spotlighted in this bundle?
Wouldn’t it be nice to have industry-giants have your company name highlighted in their brain?
Thought so.
We’ve done this a few times including once at SuperConf. The bundle got over 2,000 downloads from industry-only people. Talk about razor-sharp demographics targeting.
HERE’S HOW TO TAKE ACTION:
If you think getting fat-exposure at BoS 2011 is a GOOD THING…..then click the link below to find out how.
BUT I WARN YOU….this fat Sumo is providing this bundle out of the goodness of my cholesterol-filled heart….so please be prompt with your submission.
Submissions close Oct. 10th.
After that, this free exposure offer is GONE.
So clicky-clicky below to get started:
Click here if you’re interested in getting our company massive exposure at BoS 2011 →
In case you didn't already realise…
A guest blog from the team at App Sumo. They want to let 200,000 developers and entrepreneurial people know about your software…
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Scott Farquhar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Atlassian, an innovative, award-winning enterprise software company. Atlassian produces tools that help technical and business teams collaborate, plan projects and build software.
After this talk at Business of Software 2010, Atlassian achieved the remarkable accomplishment of reaching $100 million in sales despite employing no sales people.
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Today’s guest blog post if from Alex Osterwalder, author of the Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers.
Drop us a line if you want to run a guest blog. we would love to hear from awesome people with great things to share!
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Eric Ries had a busy weekend as he launches his book, The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
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If anyone wants to get involved in the music at Monday night's event at the Whiskey Priest, please get in touch. We have a really good core of guitarists, bass, keyboard, bongos etc but would welcome more of the above or other instruments.
We need more cow bell. In fact, we currently have no cow bell.
I was particularly entertained to hear from Jeff Gibson at Intercept Solutions who sent me this picture of him at a previous gig in July. Jeff has since been co-opted, willingly into coordinating the music. Thank you very much. To be honest, I was expecting something a little more homestyle for Business of Software and if you play an instrument and want to get involved, we would love to hear back. Reasonable equipment will be provided on the day.
If you want to get involved ping an email to BoSBOSBand@businessofsoftware.org and let us know what you play.
No agents please.
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Last year at Business of Software 2010, Young Me Moon gave a talk called, 'Different'. It was.
In a brilliant talk, she talked amongst other things, about the evolution of bottled water…
How can you differentiate between 50 brands of bottled water in one supermarket? In almost every instance, the managers of each and every one of those executives can tell you EXACTLY why and how their brand is different to the others. Sadly, for real people, no one cares very much. It doesn’t start out like this.
Choice – sparkling or still?
But soon escalates…
Water water everywhere but which drop to drink?
And then the supermarket looks intimidating…
Supermarkets are not consumer friendly anymore. They are intimidating.
I took this in my own mind to be a bad thing. I really cannot find it in my mind to give a carp about 99% of the bottled water on the shelves even if there is a brand and product marketing team behind every one who truly believes their product is a gift to the world. I don't care. Maybe you do. Then I saw these shelves with a whole bunch of fizzy drinks on them.
© Martha Benedict
This is John Nese's store. It only stocks soda pop but it doesn't stock Coke or Pepsi. It is not intimidating. John Nese made me realise that I had got it wrong, Young Me Moon's message was more subtle.
Peldi at Balsamiq brought John to my attention and said that if we could get him, he would do a talk with him. Peldi and I love John's approach to business, life and the world. We think you will too. John wasn't hard to track down once we realised that he doesn't do email (so should have no place at a technology conference). He has a thing called a telephone that enables him to talk to people in the outside world.
We are delighted to announce that John Nese and Peldi will be talking at Business of Software 2011. If you run a software business, are not Microsoft or Oracle, and don't learn something useful from John and Peldi, I will eat a straw hat.
© Martha Benedict
About John Nese and SodaPoPStop.
Devoted to the art of soda pop and supporting the small businesses behind each bubbly drink, Galco’s Soda Pop Stop features more than 500 flavors of soda at its Los Angeles storefront and nationwide through its website at www.sodapopstop.com. Beginning in 1897 as an Italian grocery store, Galco’s changed “flavors” when son John F. Nese took helm of his father’s store in 1995 and lined the shelves with classic, small-batch, exotic and hard-to-find sodas.
With a mission to support small soda makers, Galco’s motto is “Freedom of Choice” which mirrors Nese’s determination that customers have the right to choose from more than just a handful of mass-produced, big-business selections.
Today, sodas from all over the world can be found at Galco’s – brewed from Brazil to Jamaica, from Germany to Australia – and sought out traditional brands that use 50s, 60s and 70s recipes with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Walking the aisle, sodaphiles can find flavors as diverse as cucumber, coconut and rose petals as well as traditional colas, ginger beers and sarsaparillas that are brewed by hard-to-find smaller bottlers. Galco’s features 450 unique micro beers and 60 types of bottled water.
For more information on Galco’s Soda Pop Stop visit www.sodapopstop.com but beware, here are the system requirements for the website if you want to have a look. I kid you not.
| Q: What are the minimum system requirements? |
| A: You must have Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.01 or later running on the Microsoft® Windows® 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Microsoft Windows NT® version 4.0, or Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Hardware requirements are 16 MB of RAM and any Intel 486, Pentium, or Intel-compliant processor, or any DEC Alpha processor. |
About Peldi
Giacomo 'Peldi' Guilizzoni is the founder and CEO of Balsamiq, makers of Balsamiq Mockups, the instantly-useful, forever-lovable wireframing software. Balsamiq is a tiny, nine-person multi-million dollar multinational, based out of Italy, France, New York and California. A programmer turned entrepreneur, Peldi lives to learn new skills and to share what he learns, be it via his blog, giving public talks or mentoring other software startups. More at http://balsamiq.com/company
The Business of Software conference will be held in Boston, October 24-26th October 2011. Use code BoSSep to save $450 on the full ticket price until 21st September.
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