Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Austin tech market

I moved to Austin almost three years ago to take a particular job, and honestly paid little attention to the rest of the tech market. As I look around now, however, I see a lot of activity and maybe even some opportunities.

For those who don't know it, the Austin tech market is very heavily influenced by the major semiconductor presence here (AMD et al.). Lots of little companies doing specialized chip things.

Austin also has its share of Web 2.0 players of various kinds, which is more interesting to me given my background.

My friend Dave Panos is doing a great job over at Pluck, for example. Pluck offers a classic example of why focus is so important for a small company. Pluck, a provider of social networking and online community tools, has targeted online magazines and newspapers and as a result has developed an extremely impressive stable of customers. Dave's in a great position to continue to lock up media companies, while branching out into adjacent markets. Very smart guy.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

The Story So Far...

Our hero, a middle-aged software marketing guy, is relieved of his responsibilities at a struggling vendor of Web content management technology. As he takes time off to recover from the strain of having five bosses in 32 months - yes, the company really is struggling - he decides he's held the blogosphere at bay long enough. Ok? All caught up? Then let's go...