Why Mike McDerment’s Stoked About meshU
I’m excited – let me just put that out there.
I’ve spent the past seven years building FreshBooks (a Web business), and the past five years involved as one of the organizers of the mesh conference series. Over the past three years, I have also played a key part in organizing mesh University (or meshU, a one-day conference for people who want to learn more about building online businesses.
So why am I excited? Let me tell you about this year’s meshU line-up.
First, there are three important component you have to get right when building an online business: the design, development and management (of things like sales and marketing). This year, meshU will be hosting top-notch talent – people have helped build kick-ass Web apps. You may not have heard of them all but you don’t want to miss out on what they have to say.
Building a dev team? Who better to learn from than the chief architect who took Digg from nothing to something – Joe Stump, who just struck out on this own.
What about low cost marketing activities to acquire users? Have you heard of services such as Box.net, Xobni, or logmein? These services are all known for having touch-less sales cycles, and many are using freemium products. As well, they are among the most successful products that aren’t called Google, Yahoo!, Facebook or Twitter.
I’ll bet you didn’t know that one person had key role in making all these products viral by helping to design their registration processes: Sean Ellis. Don’t miss your chance to learn from Sean.
While we’re on the topic of sales, let me tell you about one of my favorite entrepreneurs. He’s hugely successful and you’ve probably never heard of him. He’s Isaac Garcia, the founder and CEO of Central Desktop, a massively successful online project management service. You may not know about Central Desktop but Isaac has built one hellevua business that’s based on profitable high growth. He’s going to teach you how to run an inside sales team. For any venture capitalists out there, get your portfolio companies to this one.
This is the first installment of the meshU lineup. It’s just the tip of the iceberg as we haven’t put the spotlight on the designers coming. Please pass along this post along to anyone you know who wants to build a Web business. At $289, meshU is a steal for this kind of high-quality content – get your ticket now.
Tags: isaac garcia, joe stump, meshU, sean ellis, Toronto
Posted in meshU | No Comments
The meshU/mesh Party Plan
As much as meshU and mesh are about the great speakers, thought-provoking keynotes, panels and workshops, and opportunity to mesh and network, it’s also important to celebrate and socialize.
On that note, here’s the “Party Plan” for meshU and mesh:
April 6
meshUp
The beer o’clock at the Drake Hotel brought to you by meshU and StartupNorth
Time: 6 p.m. to close
Where: The Lounge & Dining Room
Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen St. West (Click for map)
Everyone is welcome. Space is limited. There is no charge for this event.
Please note: As a participant in meshU, your package includes a complimentary drink ticket that you can redeem at the Drake Hotel.
Thanks to our hospitality sponsor and host: Drake Hotel
April 7, 2009
The Social
Hosted by: Hyndman | Law
Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: The Atrium, MaRS (private function for mesh09 participants)
mesh after-party at The Mod Club
Thank you to our sponsor Social Media Group
Time: 8 PM – close
Where: The Mod Club (Map)
722 College St.
College & Crawford
http://www.themodclub.com/
mesh09 participant: included in registration price (present your name badge at door to access event free of charge)
Transportation to The Mod Club will be provided by Expedia.ca.
Ticket Price (at door): $15 (Net proceeds to benefit a local charity)
We’d like your input. Please vote on your charity of choice from the list below. We’ll name the charity selected by you next week. Submit your vote by April 1 by sending an e-mail to info@meshconference.com
Daily Bread Food Bank http://www.dailybread.ca/
Habitat for Humanity
Little Geeks
Love of Reading
War Child
April 8, 2009
mesh09 wrap party
Sponsored by Edelman Digital
Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: TBA
Transportation will be provided by Expedia.ca.
To purchase tickets for meshU, register here. For mesh, register here.
Posted in mesh news, mesh09, meshU | 17 Comments
meshU Management Magic
While there’s a strong focus at meshU about the design and development of online applications, the third stream – management – is also important element as a part of corporate ecosystems. You can have the best players in the world but if the manager or coach doesn’t do a good job, it can be difficult to be successful.
This year, our management line-up is looking really good with speakers offering some different perspective on the key to success. Whether it ’s being able to implement agile development projects, bootstrap a start-up, or find and keep the right people, you’ll get the insight you need to do business better.
Our speakers include:
- Dominic Bortolussi from The Working Group, who will speak about “Experiments on selling agile development projects. Are Estimates the new ‘Spec’?”
- Carl Mercier from Defensio on “Lessons learned: How I founded, bootstrapped, grew and sold my Web start-up”
- Daniel Debow from Rypple on “Finding and Keeping Great Start-Up People”
You can purchase meshU tickets here, and check out the speaker line-up.
Tags: management, meshU
The Developers…at meshU
From the outside looking in, it has never been easier, quicker or cheaper to develop software applications.
Of course, developing high-quality applications that meet the high expectations of users, provide great functionality and, in many cases, scale is another story altogether. That’s why top-notch developers are just as valuable as ever.
At meshU, we’ve put together an excellent development stream that will provide fellow developers – and those just interested in the development process – with some great insight and perspective. The line-up includes:
- Chris Wanstrath, GitHub, who will talk about “Building a Business with Open Source”
- Ilya Grigorik, AideRSS, on “Event-Driven Architectures”
- Pete Forde, Unspace. on “Is that an iPhone in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?”
- Ezra Zygmuntowicz, Engine Yard, on “Building Scalable/Decoupled Web Architecture”
Tickets for meshU can be purchased here. meshU is happening on April 6 at the MaRS Collaboration Centre.
Posted in meshU | No Comments
meshU’s Kick-Ass Design Stream
At the inaugural meshU last year, the design stream was standing-room only with furious note-taking done by many people.
My sense is the design stream resonated so well because there’s huge interest in making sure that technology is user-friendly and accessible. In an age where it has become easier, quicker and less expensive to develop online applications and services, design is more important than ever.
To that end, being able to learn and receive insight from some of the best designers can be invaluable for anyone – whether you’re a fellow designer, developer, entrepreneur, public relations, marketing or senior executive.
We live within an online ecosystem where online competition is fierce and the attention span of many consumers is shrinking. What it means is a Web site or application may only have one shot to capture the attention of the user. If the design falls short, it’s doomed even if a company’s products/services are terrific.
Given this landscape, we’re really excited about the design stream at meshU this year. It includes:
- Ryan Singer from 37signals, whose presentation is “Value Judgements in Interface Design”
- Bruce Philp from GWP Brand Engineering, talking about “Ten Keys to a Branded User Experience”
- Luke Andrews from Dabble DB on “Responsiveness: the Perception of Speed in Web Applications”
- Joshua Porter from Bokardo looking at “Design for Virality”
If you’re interested in design and hearing from some leading voices in the business, a ticket to meshU is a solid investment. Tickets are going fast so may want to register sooner rather than later.
Tickets can be purchased here. By the way, meshU is happening April 6 at the MaRS Collaboration Centre in downtown Toronto.
More: One thing – and an important thing at that – that I forgot to mention about meshU was the terrific support form our sponsors, which include Microsoft, Edelman and the SMG Group.
Tags: bruce philp, joshua porter, luke andrews, meshU, ryan singer
Posted in meshU | No Comments
mesh Portraits
Rannie Turingan’s amazing series of black and white portraits shot at meshU and mesh08 are now up.
Tags: mesh08, meshU, photojunkie, Photos, Rannie Turingan
Posted in mesh08 news, meshU | No Comments
meshU is Sold out
It’s official – meshU is sold out!
There were not many tickets lef, but they went over the weekend. Thanks to everyone who is planning to attend and our sponsors for getting us to here – looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow.
Posted in meshU | 2 Comments
meshU Tickets Nearly Gone
With meshU looming on the horizon (Tuesday!), there are only a few tickets left so if you want to go, act now.
We’re really excited about the enthusiastic reception that meshU has received. The line-up featuring people such as Leah Culver, Ryan Carson, Daniel Burka, Reuven Cohen and Avi Bryant is top-notch, and we’re looking forward to a great day of discussion about design, development and management.
To check out the schedule, click here.
Technorati Tags: meshU
Posted in meshU | No Comments
Please join us at the Edelman mesh wrap party!
When we announced the meshU and mesh08 social schedule a few days ago we mentioned that an after-after party was in the works for the 22nd, after the second day of mesh.
Please come and join us after mesh for the mesh wrap party, hosted by our good friends at Edelman. Continue the conversation at L’espresso bar Mercurio at Bloor and St. George, from 5 to 7 p.m. on the last day of mesh – Thursday, May 22. See you there!!
Posted in mesh news, mesh08 news, meshU | 1 Comment
A Sweet Wireless Schedule!
Several weeks ago, we were approached by Sweet Caesar about the possibility of them creating a wireless application that would make the schedules for mesh and meshU available on a Blackberry and an iPhone.
Intrigued, I met with Sweet Caesar’s Yaeko Tong, who showed me some of the Toronto-based company’s work. It was so impressive that it was a no-brainer for Sweet Caesar to do something for mesh.
Without gushing too much, the Sweet Caesar/mesh application is super sweet. Not only are there detailed schedules for mesh and meshU but the application includes:
- A tool that lets you rate every keynote, panel and workshop (one to five stars)
- Bios and photos for every meshU and mesh speaker
- A floor plan for MaRS so you can quickly find out where the keynotes, panels and workshops are located
- A map that lists the locations of the meshU party at The Drake, the mesh party at the Rockwood and the after-party at L’Espresso Bar Mercurio
Yaeko and her team have really gone above and beyond the call of duty. We’re extremely impressed!
If you want to download the Sweet Caesar/mesh application, it will be available here on May 19 (Monday).
Technorati Tags: mesh, meshU, Wireless
Posted in mesh08 news, meshU | 1 Comment
