Working with developers all over the world
1401_ 6/24/13 - We're talking with Ian Spinelli, marketing coordinator for Canopy, an innovative technology company based out of Minneapolis. We spoke with Ian last year at the Glue conference, and Ian tells us that Canopy's latest flagship product is called Sensus. This is a really exciting product, it is an app enhancing, touch sensitive case that allows you to interact with the back and sides of your phone on applications that integrate Canopy's SDK without having to obscure your view of the screen. Ian said, "It's interesting. There isn't anything in the market quite as disruptive as our product in the mobile phone accessory products. You see a lot of things that are handheld and separate, but not a lot of things that take the benefits of the case that's already going to go into your pocket - and combining it with enhanced technologies." Larry notes that Canopy seems to continually come out with a string of new ideas, products and applications... "Is there anything they were focusing on in the future." Ian tells us, "We're focusing on Sensus and branching out not only on building the hardware and getting that out to market, but also on building the software for it too! Making sure all that infrastructure is built. And then working with third party developers to make sure that the adoption is there and consumers are going to love what they can do with the product. Canopy works with developers all over the world, they're signed up with the SDK and excited about Sensus. If this sounds interesting to you, you can go to Developer.GetSensus.com there is a free private signup for our portal and you can request an SDK as well as our developer kit."
RELATED LINKS: Canopy || Glue 2012 || Defrag || Software Channel || w3w3 Blog || KEYWORDS: Ian Spinelli, Canopy, Sensus, App, Glue Conference, Touch Sensitive, SDK, Hardware, Software, Infrastructure, Developers, bytes=2590409
LISTEN TO: LISTEN TO: Ian Spinelli, Marketing coordinator, Canopy

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Speaking of Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes
1347_ 2/11/13 - We are here with Molly Hughes and Kendall Colman, discussing one of Larry's favorite subjects, entrepreneurism and the current challenges and opportunities. Colman & Company was founded and started 13 years ago by Kendall. She said, "It was really a result of a passion of hers at a very early age, based on the idea that people really do have potential that lies in them like a seed. With the right skills and talent and encouragement really can be developed." That was her personal experience as a competitive athlete; she found the coaches in her life made the biggest difference of all. Of course we all recognize Molly Hughes from Channel 4 News. After leaving CBS about a year ago, Molly joined forces with Kendall and is handling the speech and media preparedness aspect of Kendall's executive coaching firm. Molly says the Kendall found she was working with a lot of executives who then were doing great on the leadership front but there was still some work that needed to be done on public speaking. That is how their work fits together, Molly works with their clients on speech development and really anything related to communication, whether it is through the lens of a camera, one-on-one or to a large group of people. Larry asked what are the biggest challenges for companies today. Kendall believes most of us have some terrific ideas. "It doesn't take much to notice in our society, areas that can be improved. Gaining support and getting those first few people... It's always those first few people, for an entrepreneur, that make the biggest difference, who jump on board with the idea and say, I see it too. The challenge is putting an organizational structure in place so that the idea can be successful, before the home equity loan runs out." Then Larry sought out the great opportunities. Molly said, "What we're finding in the work we do is the Internet is huge, no matter what your business is. One of the best ways businesses can engage with their clients or consumers is through the use of video. It is one of the ways that all of our sensors are all at play. More and more people are turning to video as a way to really get their product or service out there. There is just explosive growth in this field right now."
RELATED LINKS: Colman & Company || Colman & Company Events || Economy Builders || Podcast Directory || KEYWORDS: Kendall Colman, Molly Hughes, Colman & Company, Speaking, Coaching, Organizational Psychology, Behavioral Sciences, Culture, Channel 4 News, CBS > bytes=7774357
LISTEN TO: Kendall Colman & Molly Hughes, Colman & Company

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Mergers & acquisitions and organic growth
1397_ 6/17/13 - Larry corralled Todd Roebken, the current president of ACG Denver. This past month they conducted their annual Leadership Planning Meeting, very exciting - the networking was spectacular, with all kinds of people who want to do and get involved, and it makes you proud to be part of it. "This is where you can hear about the different committees we have at ACG Denver - figure out where you can add value and where you can get value from being involved in this organization. If you're wondering why ACG, there are a lot of reasons." Todd tells us, "There are 500+/- members, 30% of those members are at C-level participation - Colorado middle market companies growing here in Colorado. It's really all the players, the movers and the shakers, in growth or M&A here in Colorado." One of the things Todd loves about ACG is that it is not industry specific. He said, "We have companies from all over the range, manufacturing companies, oil and gas, technology companies - all different kinds of companies trying to grow and that need resources to help them grow." ACG Denver has 50+ events every year that revolve around organic growth and M&A, so there are all kinds of opportunities for people to get involved as well as come to these events and network. Of these events, Larry loves the monthly luncheon meetings - he always attends and asked Todd to tell us about the other events. "We have a whole track for C-level execs, the Corporate Breakfast series. We do some social events on the corporate side, some CEO dinners. We have the DealMaker’s Forum, we also have the Leadership 20 program which is inspiring the middle market service companies - managers and up and coming leaders in those companies. And it's an MBA Leadership track that's condensed into a six week program, we put that on. We do a lot with schools to help them and we have the David Sloan Scholarship program for the Executive MBA and MBA program. The list just goes on and on, it's an exciting organization. We really have the community of service providers, we have the C-levels and their teams, intermediaries, the M&A gurus in town, the investment bankers - it is just the place to be if you want to help companies to grow."...Listen, there's much more...
RELATED LINKS: Jones Lang LaSalle Denver || Todd Roebken, Managing Director || ACG Denver || M&A Channel || Podcasting Directory || KEYWORDS: Todd Roebken, Jones Lang LaSalle, ACG Denver, Middle Market Companies, M&A, DealMaker’s Forum, David Sloan Scholarship Program, Leadership Planning Meeting, bytes=5892705
LISTEN TO: Todd Roebken, President, ACG Denver and Managing Director, Jones Lang LaSalle

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The most popular database in the world
1399_ 6/17/13 - Larry is talking with Cary Breese, CEO of GenieDB at the Glue conference. GenieDB makes My SQL [which is the most popular database in the world] ready for the cloud. Cary tells us they do that by making MySQL a fully geographically distributed database that is also self-healing. One of the challenges that people face when they go into the cloud and use applications in the cloud, is that cloud infrastructure is very distributed. It's not localized regionally and in addition the cloud has on occasion, had some outages and failures. So companies are concerned about moving applications into the cloud because of the concern that their application may one time, go down and be off-line. What GenieDB does, is to allow the MySQL database to replicate so there are copies of the database spread out through other geographies, other data centers - even other cloud service providers - all around the world. So, if there ever is a failure of a server, network connection, data center, or even a call service provider, you application can remain up and online serving its users without interruption. Beyond that, after the failure, GenieDB re synchronizes the database automatically, without any intervention or configuration. Completely hands-free. This makes the migration to the cloud much, much easier for the enterprise. Cary does business all over the world, Larry asked him, from his vantage, what is the greatest challenge facing companies today. Cary said, "I think enterprises always face the challenge of reducing costs, reducing overhead, and that continues to this day. And especially in difficult economic times. Productivity, efficiencies are always paramount. I think that is a big driver for why companies are looking to cloud computing."...Listen for more...
RELATED LINKS: GenieDB || Glue 2012 || Glue Conference Photos Defrag Conference 2013 || Defrag || Software Channel || w3w3 Blog || KEYWORDS: Cary Breese, GenieDB, SQL, MySQL, Glue conference, The Cloud, Cloud computing, Accelerate Businesses, bytes=4233407
LISTEN TO: Cary Breese, CEO, GenieDB

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Mastering Change in the Midst of Chaos™1307_ 11/12/12 -

Here’s what you’ll learn in this 200 page book!
     - Apply the Principles of A-to-Z Planning to
        Build a Winning Team
     - Tap into Your Team’s Mental DNA to
        Increase Performance
     - Understand Your Sector’s
        History, Trends & Ground Swell

Regardless of the economy, application of these 3 initiatives will help you achieve your goals, meet your bottom-line metrics and accomplish incredible results. These 3 initiatives are Powerful, Proven and People-Oriented. Larry predicts there will be more significant changes in 2013 than in the last 10 years combined…across all sectors. Read More at Mastering Change .

Order now… It’s yours for $10.00 and we’ll pay the shipping in the US… (last chance - free shipping)

Traditional marketing doesn’t work like it used to
1400_ 6/24/13 - Larry interviewed Patrice Barber, CEO of Taylor Made Emarketing, (TME) a national speaker and award winning business automation consultant who has worked with over 35 Fortune 500 corporations and hundreds of entrepreneurs. Her areas of expertise include digital marketing strategy, marketing automation, mobile marketing, CRM implementation, as well as operations and business development. She is also COO of TiE Rockies Colorado. Its great that all these digital tools like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube connect us to lots of people online… But the question is how do we attract online prospects and convert them into long term business relationships and revenue. The answer to that question is what I have asked our guest Patrice Barber to talk with us about today. That includes the market challenges the opportunities, and how digital marketing works. Patrice started out with the Challenges: One of the biggest challenges SMB’s face is that the landscape of marketing is rapidly shifting to online and digital marketing. Traditional marketing doesn’t work like it used to. Many small business owners still don’t quite understand how to leverage the power of the Internet and integrate it into the traditional offline tactics that DO work and tie marketing efforts directly to the sales team. Opportunities: There are at least 5 online marketing channels most businesses can take advantage of to tie into their traditional marketing. Mobile marketing, Online PR, Social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, You tube, Google+, Ads online, Internet marketing - Auto-responder drip campaigns, Content writing – like blog posts and other articles. Provide an example of how digital marketing works. When small businesses focus on relationship marketing, they can warm up leads and enjoy 'inbound or pull marketing' instead of more traditional PUSH-Y marketing. One way we simplify this is to define the digital marketing strategy as - Connect, Convert and Cultivate. The idea is to connect to your target market, convert them to interested prospects and raving fans, and cultivate relationships before during and after the buying process so they buy, rave, refer, and buy some more…Patrice explains more…listen now…
RELATED LINKS: TMEmarketing || Innovation Pavilion || TiE Rockies || Economy Builders || Mastering Change || KEYWORDS: Patrice Barber, Taylor Made Emarketing, TiE Rockies Colorado, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Traditional Marketing. Mobile Marketing, Online PR, Social Media, bytes=6579412
LISTEN TO: Patrice Barber, President/CEO, Taylor Made Emarketing

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Startup Communities and Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
1287_ 10/1/12 - What does a Startup Community Ecosystem look like? Ask our prolific author and Colorado based VC Brad Feld. Ok, you don't have to, we did. Now you can listen to him. Then you have to read this book. And after digesting all his great advice, one last step, or maybe the first step... "Do it!  Don't wait for permission. Don't wait to talk to someone. Do go to startup events, meetups, tech talks everything you can find and commit to that for at least six months."
      We began, that is w3w3® Media, 14+ years ago on terrestrial radio and one of our earliest interviews was Brad Feld, a relative newcomer to the Boulder area - already making a name for himself. We've watched him and his wife Amy build their home here, making this community - that's the entrepreneurial, technology (even the arts, the university) and VC communities better and stronger. He's been a champion for the community as a whole and now he's working on the young emerging entrepreneurs, his newest book, "Startup Communities - Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City".
      Brad said he's used a lot of the ideas that he's been involved in and participated in, in Boulder, since he moved here in the mid-90s, to form the framework for the book, which we called the "Boulder Thesis". They worked hard on defining on what any city in the world should do if they want to create a long-term, healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem. The key parts of the Boulder Thesis are these four components. The first is the startup community has to be lead by entrepreneurs. We separate the world into leaders and feeders. They're both important, but they're different. In the context of startup communities, the only people that can be effective leaders are the entrepreneurs. If you have the other people involved in the startup community, the feeders playing the role of leader, it doesn't work. So government can't be the leader, university can't be the leader, investors, venture capitalists, big business, those can't be the leaders. The Second is those entrepreneurs have to take a long-term view. Brad likes to say, "It's generational, at least 20 years. You can't start and build a sustainable startup community in two or three years." We're in a cycle where startups are exciting, a lot of people get involved in startups, and that's fine. But if you really want to build, in your city, a long term startup community, you have to be in it for a long time. The Third part of the Boulder Thesis is, you have to be inclusive of anyone who wants to engage at any level. This is leaders and feeders, individuals who want to get involved - it's anyone new, who moves to town, anyone who wants to be involved can and should be - Then you're way ahead of the game. The last part is you have to have a series of activities and events that have a regular cadence and rhythm to them. Things like TechStars an accelerator for 90 days, you're doing something that engages the entire entrepreneurial stack. The essence of it is this idea that... Well, listen to Brad he will tell you so much more - read his book and you'll learn so much more. Get started now!
RELATED LINKS: FeldThoughts || Foundry Group || Do More Faster Book || Economy Builders || Venture Capital Channel || KEYWORDS: Brad Feld, Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City, Foundry Group, Venture Capital, Amy Feld, Boulder Thesis, bytes=8827196
LISTEN TO: Brad Feld, Author,
Startup Communities, Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

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Supporting our veterans & active duty personnel
1396_ 6/17/13 - A day of thanks for the service and sacrifice of our veterans & active duty personnel to enjoy with family & friends! We recognize the integral role military families serve as they provide unwavering support for the men and women who protect our freedom. They inspire our service members and bring life into our military communities. They are strong, caring and resilient. They don’t always wear a uniform but their service to our nation is selfless. FAMILY FUN DAY was held on the Streets at South Glenn in front of the South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce. Larry and Pat really enjoyed the event and talked with a number of people including ‘heavy hitters’. A very special band, the Bluzinators entertained the audience. CIMCO Cares (Private Wealth) believes in ‘Giving Back’ and supporting the community. CIMCO set up and coordinated the entire event with Chris Pelley, CEO and Mona McDonnell, Director of Marketing and Biz Dev along with other CIMCO people. Watch the short video…
RELATED LINKS: CIMCO || Community Reach || South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce || US Department of Veterans Affairs || …Photos || KEYWORDS: CIMCO Cares, Armed Forces Appreciation, Military Families Recognition,
Video Watch: Armed Forces Appreciation

Give people the value that they really need
1398_ 6/17/13 - He's a Florida boy, treasures his winter holiday photos. Can't stop thinking about December ...We're talking with Les Haber, general manager of Radio Colorado Network. With a long and varied history, we asked Les what his focus was today. "We're really working to build this business network on this radio station. It's business and health, primarily because we have an aging population. So, we're focusing on health, people are living longer, Social Security - Medicare aren't quite where they need to be. People need to think about being in a better position to retire to supplement that so they can survive and maybe have a great retirement instead of one where they just struggle to survive." Les believes the biggest challenge facing business is really two fold. "It's 1.) maintaining and 2.) growing market share. You can't do that if you sit by idly with your hands in your pockets. Basically today, the biggest part of the problem is people are spending less money than they have in the past because there's less disposable income. What's the most important part - having you give people the value that they really need in the products and services you supply to help them and make it economical, affordable and efficient to get there." Flipping the coin, we asked Les about the biggest opportunities. Les replied, "The greatest opportunities are looking at segments of the business community that are maybe under served and finding a place there. But the most important thing we have to think about, especially with small businesses and businesses trying to grow, is return on investment. Are they investing enough in their own future to make ROI very profitable? If you're going in to business today, do not go in to business undercapitalized, that's number one! Number two, make sure what you're doing has a huge need that you can really fulfill and do a great job on. Third, the backend of..." There's more...
RELATED LINKS: KRCN 1060 AM || CIMCO Private Wealth || w3w3 Blog || In the News || KEYWORDS: Les Haber, GM Radio CO Network 1060AM, KRCN, Business, Health, Social Security, Medicare, CIMCO Private Wealth, > bytes=5351030
LISTEN TO: Les Haber, GM Radio CO Network 1060AM

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