A couple of demos were shown yesterday at McKibbins, in front of a tech-savvy and enthusiast audience. It was an opportunity to see small and big projects built by Montréalers and at the end, an opportunity also to talk with a diverse crowd. Last night’s event also marked the return from Germany of Felipe Coimbra, long-time instigator, a central point in tech entrepreneurship life in Montréal. Welcome back then to Montréal then Felipe!
I missed the first demo which was a presentation by @deep_ion of SRDocumentManager. I was there though for Morgan Tocker‘s presentation of Percona and their work with Percona server and XtraDB. For those who don’t know, Percona is the top consulting house when you need to push the limits of mysql in terms of performance, resilience, security etc. Their products (enhancements and patches to mysql) and consulting services are a reference by many top startups worldwide. It’s great to know there are specialists pushing the limits in Montréal. I hope many here get to collaborate soon with them. Morgan himself is a mysql expert, and also worked with a few startups in Montréal (rails work with smarthippo for instance)
AnotherSocialEconomy is a shopping widget allowing internet surfers to know if there is any local retailer offering a product they are viewing. So rather than having a customer having to find a retailer, it’s all about pushing offers to the customers, when he broadcast his/her needs. The service was born from a real-life need, promises to save time & a cool service to shoppers while at the same time offering quality leads to local businesses. It’s a good idea, and they seem to already have a working product, although I thought of Google Adwords already working so well: you just have to type something in Google and it will likely show up local retailers links if it’s product. Steven Milstein, who demoed the product, seemed however very confident on their capacity to build partnerships
Felipe Coimbra demoed finally 4sqmobs.com, a new web application capitalizing on the success of foursquare. As Felipe explains, foursquare allows check-ins, but it doesn’t let you organize events, such as getting a group of friends to gather at a place at the same time. Felipe commented there are users from many countries already using the application. You can use the app to unlock badges, if you’re really enjoying the game component of foursquare, or try to leverage the social opportunity given by foursquare. For me, 4sqmobs made me think of twtvite more than anything else.
Again, like in other NewTech demoes, there was good energy, entrepreneurs eager to show off their new projects, and a great opportunity to network at the end of the event. Plus of course, good beer. Be there for the next NewTech!
Comments
Felipe November 03, 2010
Montreal Tech Watch November 03, 2010
Demos at Montreal NewTech http://bit.ly/cMu2zT
Canada Tech Eqentia November 03, 2010
Demos at Montreal NewTech http://eqent.me/aybuTv
Montreal NewTech November 03, 2010
Thanks for the write up Heri. RT @mtw: Demos at Montreal NewTech http://bit.ly/cMu2zT
Foursquare Mobs November 03, 2010
RT @mtlnewtech: Thanks for the write up Heri. RT @mtw: Demos at Montreal NewTech http://bit.ly/cMu2zT
Felipe (@twtfelipe) November 03, 2010
Check out @heri's post at @mtw about #mtlnewtech last night –> http://63sq.rs/vqr
CVCA Team November 03, 2010
mtlnewtech: Thanks for the write up Heri. RT @mtw: Demos at Montreal NewTech http://bit.ly/cMu2zT http://eqent.me/9OhAUJ
Dom Derrien November 03, 2010
Demos at Montreal NewTech http://bit.ly/9rMRAw with a summary of AnotherSocialEconomy.com presented by @stevenmilstein yesterday ;)
Morgan Tocker November 03, 2010
Thanks for the plug. For people interested in knowing more about Percona/MySQL, we write a lot of freely available content on mysqlperformanceblog.com.
- Morgan
heri November 03, 2010
RT @twtfelipe: Check out @heri's post at @mtw about #mtlnewtech last night –> http://63sq.rs/vqr
Steven Milstein November 03, 2010
RT @mtw: Demos at Montreal NewTech #montreal #tech http://bit.ly/bLxIVi
Steven Milstein November 04, 2010
As a consumer, you can visit local.google.com and enter what you’re searching for. Same goes for YellowPages.ca. The consumer can filter through the results & call each store asking if the product is in stock.
The primary difference in AnotherSocialEconomy’s user experience is that we contact all the relevant stores asking if they have the product in stock – synchronously. You simply check your email for relevant proposals. It’s as if we automated the calling part for you.
As a retailer, you have to pay for Adwords prior to receiving any tangible results. In AnotherSocialEconomy’s case, you opt in based on the quality of the sales lead & your ability to fulfill it. Furthermore, AnotherSocialEconomy doesn’t charge you by keyword. You only pay ($1) for each proposal you submit. It’s like Pay-Per-Action (PPA), or, Cost-Per-Action (CPA), but on demand.
Thanks again for covering the event!
Steven Milstein November 04, 2010
Thanks @heri for the http://bit.ly/95J9Ug post & sharing your Adwords thoughts. Feel free to comment back on my reply. #mtlnewtech
Heri November 05, 2010
I was thinking for a consumer, typing smthg on google was easier. I saw the demo, and you needed to click on the widget at least 5 or 6 times, provide details, it sends an email and then you wait for an email (or maybe you get hundreds of them?)
It might just be improving the anothersocialeconomy usability and interface with the customer.
As for the results PPA vs the Google Adwords model, yes you’ve got a point there. It’s very interesting, business-wise. The business has a very solid hot lead that can be converted to a sale immediately.
Steven Milstein November 05, 2010
You have a good eye for detail regarding the consumer needing to fill out the What, Where, When & Who panes. There are currently some shortcuts / defaults in place to speed things along. And as the widget/order form matures, it will “remember” your last entries – except for the What and depending on its platform (and other conditions) look up email, Facebook, Twitter, and Jabber accounts.
Nonetheless, as you rightfully pointed out, we have to be sensitive to the entire user experience & iteratively improve upon it. This was among the motivating factors for us to demo AnotherSocialEconomy. We’d love it if folks could start creating their “Demand”, maybe even sign up as beta users http://anothersocialeconomy.com/beta-testers-signup/ and contribute their feedback. Gathering that feedback, coupled with other metrics would absolutely help us move forward – not just from a consumer point of view but it will also spawn the same for retailers & business partners.
You can visit http://AnotherSocialEconomy.com and fill in the Widget/Order Form by clicking the yellow “Buy It Locally?” tab – located on the left sidebar. If you’d like your own Widget then drag & drop the “ASE It!” Widget – located on the right sidebar, onto your Bookmarks toolbar. We’ll also be releasing the beta Facebook application and the Wishing feature in the coming weeks.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share your thoughts and helping us get the word the word out, maybe even vote for us at http://vator.tv/competition/vator-splash-ny-december#participants
– Steven
Steven Milstein November 05, 2010
Thanks again @heri for sharing your thoughts at http://bit.ly/95J9Ug on AnotherSocialEonomy.com usability and Adwords. Feel free to…