Below is an archived version of the San Diego StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in San Diego. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

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Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Through pure serendipity, this week is shaping up to be “Lean Startup” week. Thursday sports Agile development expert Dave Churchville and a mixer celebrating local startups, several of which practice lean startup principles. Friday, I’ll be talking about the same subject, while Saturday you have an opportunity to put the practices in action.

San Diego StartupDigest is curated by:
Brant Cooper – Author of the Customer Development Book

 

 

San Diego StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Check out these sketchbook videos on “finding the magic sauce of entrepreneurship” and “three things entrepreneurs do” narrated by Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.

 

 

What’s Going on in the San Diego Startup Community

Agile San Diego
When: Thu, Dec 1, 6:30pm
Where: The Linkery, 3794 30th St., San Diego

Dave Churchville will talk about Agile Planning. If you are into or interested in Agile, you should come hear Dave, who knows his stuff. Plus, the Linkery is a nice restaurant/pub!

 

San Diego startup Sweetlabs is hosting this recruiting slash mixer event to celebrate local startup success stories. Google Venture’s Joe Kraus and “big win” local entrepreneur Michael Robertson will be on hand to talk about the local startup scene. Hard to pass on this one.

 

By now you have probably heard of Lean Startups and Customer Development and their requisite buzzwords like pivot, MVP and product-market fit. But what do these terms really mean and how can you put them to work in your endeavors? Yours truly will be spreading the lean startup gospel. :)

 

If you are at all inspired by Friday’s talk, spend Saturday putting Customer Development into practice! Alline Watkins will do a deep-dive on customer development and attendees will actually apply the principles during the event.

Below is an archived version of the Chicago StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Chicago. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

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Chicago StartupDigest is curated by:
Bernhard Kappe - Founder of Pathfinder Software

 

 

Chicago StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off today. Be among the millions of people in 123 countries celebrating, networking and learning about entrepreneurship. Find an event near you or plan your own. Visit gewusa.org for U.S. info. or unleashingideas.org for all other countries.

 

What’s Going on in the Chicago Startup Community

Lean Startup, Pragmatic Marketing, User Experience Design and Agile Development are all approaches to improve your odds of creating successful products. Join Pathfinder Software’s Amy Willis (UX) Bernhard Kappe (Products Strategy) and Reid MacTavish (Agile Development) as they share their lessons learned in making lean + ux + agile work.

 

Chicago CTO John Tolva will give a presentation on why the city is releasing lots of new data, how they are working with designers and developers in the opengov community, and what they hope to get out of it.

 

Customer interviews are a critical step in the lean startup methodology. Get them right, and you’re on the way to increasing chances of your new venture’s success. Get them wrong, and you’re likely to wander in the wilderness until you run out of time and money. Broker Savant’s Todd Wyder and Pathfinder Software’s Bernhard Kappe will talk about who to interview, how to get them, and how to avoid the critical mistakes that most first timers make. We’ll also be announcing the semifinalists for the Chicago Lean Startup Challenge at this meetup.

 

The presentation will focus on the features and functionality included in the new iOS 5 platform from 3 angles: a consumer, an enterprise and a developer. A presentation will highlight changes such as Siri’s voice recognition software, camera improvements, iCloud support, push notifications, new API’s and many more.

 

The Entrepreneurial Bash is a celebration by and for entrepreneurs. Each stop along the tour presents a panel of world class company founders who started from scratch and blazed a trail to $100 million success. Founders share key insights and ingredients that made their companies successful — as well as the challenges and failures they faced along the way.

 

Top Upcoming Chicago Startup Events

November 29th – Technori Pitch
December 15th - Chicago Lean Startup Challenge Finals

 

 

Below is an archived version of the Seattle StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Seattle. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

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Seattle StartupDigest is curated by:
Jaremy Rich – Co-Founder/CEO of Rich & Murray Creative and Web & Marketing Analytics at Clear

 

 

Seattle StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Kauffman’s website Entrepreneurship.org is a free online site chock full of content and resources for entrepreneurs, business mentors, investors and anyone in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Content ranges from information entrepreneurs need to launch a company to policies and research that has been conducted regarding entrepreneurship. Check it out at www.entrepreneurship.org.

 

 

What’s Going on in the Seattle Startup Community

Dollars and Dates are Killing Agile (SeaSPIN)
When: Tuesday, November 1st from 5:45 to 8:30
Where: SolutionsIQ, 10785 Willows Rd NE, Suite 250, Redmond, WA

SeaSPIN is a group of Seattle IT and software professionals that meet once monthly. Chris Sterling, VP of Engineering at Agile Advantage discusses how the commucation barrier differs between business managers and agile teams (points and iterations vs. dates and dollars), and how agile development teams can bridge the “Points vs. Dollars” language barrier.

 

MIT Enterprise Forum’s next Venture Lab features a presentation from Swype CEO Mike McSherry (also former co-founder of Amp’d Mobile and Boost Mobile). Mike explains how the company went from its idea stage to announcing a successful exit in just over three years.

 

Your membership drive is a major success. You have a gazillion members… but revenue, not so much. So what’s the plan? What’s the strategy? How do you take those members and make money? Many have tried and few have succeeded. Join NWEN for a talk from Michael Schutzler, CEO of Livemocha as he discusses how he and his team took a gazillion members and turned them into a revenue machine.

 

Whether you are a game startup or a thinking of starting a new company, this event is for you. From Founder’s Sessions to an indie game competition, this day-long event has something for everyone. Listen to industry experts in the Founder’s Sessions and see the latest Seattle indie game projects at this event held at DigiPen.

 

Nearly every startup company goes through a period when cash is extremely tight and the demands of fueling the company’s growth are monumental. How many compelling ideas never make it to market because the entrepreneurs couldn’t keep their companies viable until they could receive substantial outside funding or become self-sustaining? This workshop will provide you with the techniques you need to maximize early cash inflow and control cash outflow. In addition marketing, finance and legal experts, you will hear successful entrepreneurs talk about their real-life stories of bootstrapping their companies to success.

 

 

Top Upcoming Events

November 11-13 – Startup Weekend Seattle

 

Below is an archived version of the Cincinnati StartupDigest Events List – a weekly curated listing of the best tech startup events in Cincinnati. If you would like to get next week’s digest on Monday, sign up here.

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The Cincinnati StartupDigest is focused on highlighting the best events and opportunities for startups in the area. Our goal is to bring the startup community in Cincinnati together to connect and inspire. We are just getting started, so please help spread the word to sign-up here. We’d be happy to hear any feedback you have to improve the digest or any events you’d like us to tell the community about. E-mail james@thestartupdigest.com or danny@thestartupdigest.com. The Brandery Demo Day was a huge success with more than 350 in attendance, including entrepreneurs, investors, and key Brandery partners. Read about it here on a great new blog focusing on innovation in Cincinnati by Laura Baverman.Cincinnati StartupDigest is curated by:
James Dickerson – Founder of Wellthy
Danny Stull – Founder of Venturepax

 

 

Cincinnati StartupDigest is supported exclusively by:
Kauffman’s website Entrepreneurship.org is a free online site chock full of content and resources for entrepreneurs, business mentors, investors and anyone in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Content ranges from information entrepreneurs need to launch a company to policies and research that has been conducted regarding entrepreneurship. Check it out at www.entrepreneurship.org.

 

 

What’s Going on in the Cincinnati Startup Community

Agile Roundtable
When: Tuesday, November 1, 6:00 PM
Where: Cincinnati Childrens Hospital – 3333 Burnet Ave. Cincinnati, OH

A roundtable discussion about agile development over pizza.

 

There will be a lightning talk, followed by diving in and coding some katas. Don’t forget to bring some food and drink.

 

The founders of Cincy Coworks, Bill and Gerard, will open the books and examine how they took a lean approach to starting the cities first co-working space.

 

 Top Upcoming Events

November 9 - Cincinnati JavaScript User Group
November 15 – CincyTech Annual Meeting 2011

 

For newcomers: StartupDigest Design is the members-only weekly email newsletter of the best articles in the design industry.

You can become a member for free here.

Happy Friday,

This week’s edition focuses on Google+ and their usability issues, how retailers leverage psychology to influence your purchasing behavior, optimizing the performance of your mobile app through design, and strategies for working as a designer in an agile development environment.

Check out the Site of the Week for some inspiration from the little details that make great user experiences.

Have a great weekend.

- Jeremy
@jeremymerle

StartupDigest Design is curated by:
Jeremy Merle – Creative Director, Brightcove
Enrique Allen - Founding designer, 500 Startups

 

 

What You Need to Read This Week

Why Google+ Will Succeed Wildly At First
By Bruce Upbin, Forbes

Google+ has had a flurry of positive reviews lately from the tech and design community, but is that their key audience? This article raises a good question about the broad adoption of the social networking site and usability of their core features.

Can We Ever Digitally Organize Our Friends?
From kevnull.com

Kevin Cheng from Twitter asks tough questions like “Why we need groups?” and highlights what Google+ does right and what it sucks at.

Psychological Manipulation In E-commerce Design
By Kristina Bjoran, UX Booth

Interesting and intelligent insight on how retailers leverage human behavior and design to motivate us to share, join, and spend more.

Seven Guidelines For Designing High Performance Mobile User Experiences
By Ivo Weevers, Smashing Magazine

Design choices affect performance and are critical to the success of your app. Here are seven actionable guidelines for optimizing the performance of your mobile app through design.

Change On A Dime: Agile Design
By John Anderson, UX Magazine

Integrating design into an agile development environment is tricky. Here are some tips for working as a designer in an agile environment.

 

Site of the Week

Little Big Details

Whenever someone asks me what differentiates good from great when it comes to user experience, I always say it’s about the details. This blog highlights the little details that make a product experience delightful to use.

 

If you are not finding some of the more regular events in this digest, you can always look at the complete list.

 

What’s Going on in the Sydney Startup Community

Apps World: Battle of the Apps
When: May 9-10, 8:30am-3:15pm
Where: Park Royal, Darling Harbour

This is a conference that looks exclusively at the business, sales and marketing drivers for developing mobile apps.

 

Mobile Monday Sydney
When: Mon May 9, 7:00pm
Where: City Hotel, 347 Kent St

Join us this Monday as we get a sneak-peek of the BlackBerry PlayBook as Peter Hutchins show us a demo. As RIM’s Enterprise Voice Advocate, Peter will walk us through the key features of the PlayBook, its development environment and an update on AppWorld. Stay with us for the 2nd part of the evening as our panel of tablet experts share with us their experience in developing, deploying and using tablet apps as an end-consumer. Hear from Terry Chang, MD of AlphaSalmon, Keith Ahern, CEO of mogeneration and Phil Buckler, Project Manager of HotHouse Interactive as they share their musings on iPad, Android and their overall tablet experience.

 

Agile Product Management
When: Tues May 10, 9:00am
Where: Suite 906, 84 Pitt Street

More and more businesses are employing Agile development methods to get products and services to market faster and more efficiently. Unfortunately for Product Managers who have not been trained in these Agile methods, working with agile teams can seem confusing and the results of their output uncertain. The Agile Product Management Excellence course will provide Product managers with an understanding of a number of Agile Methodologies and ways to interact with Agile Development Teams to produce more reliable and effective business outcomes.

 

Swedish Beers
When: Wed May 11, 5:30pm
Where: The Red Oak, 201 Clarence Street

After a long hiatus the best mobile networking social night is back with a vengeance. Drinks sponsored by mBlox.

 

SXSW Sydney Party
When: Thurs May 12, 6:00pm
Where: World Square Pub, World Square, 680 George Street

SXSW Sydney party is a casual catchup for anyone that attended SXSW or is interested in SXSW. Keeping it simple. Interested to see what you got up to at SXSW and what you are up to now. Meet at the back where the tables and booths are (it’s past the toilets). I’ll try to reserve some booths. Also, for those with smartphones, I want to try out the Color app on the night! Download it and we can use it.

 

Hands-on HTML5
When: Mon May 16, 8:30am
Where: Symantec House Level 5, 207 Kent Street

HTML5 is the latest and most powerful of the HTML markup langauges. This workshop cuts through the complexities and demystify HTML5, making it easy to understand and apply.

 

Gamification Master Class: Game-Based Marketing
When: Tues May 17
Where: TBD

The Gamification Masterclass is a half-day Masterclass that will discuss how game mechanics and the new science of engagement are rewriting the rules of brand marketing, product design and customer acquisition and get your business into the game. The session will be run by international expert and author of Game-Based Marketing, Gabe Zichermann.

 

Hands-on CSS3
When: Tues May 17, 8:30am
Where: Symantec House Level 5, 207 Kent Street

CSS3, the newest version of the style sheet languages, is much more than cool effects. CSS3 allows us to create beautiful web designs more efficiently and with more flexibility. This workshop will give you a clear understanding of CSS3 – not just for the future but for today!

 

IP for ICT
When: Wed May 18, 9:30am
Where: Level 47, MLC Centre, 19 Martin Place

The seminar will feature presentations from Paul Massey, Principal, Electrical/ICT Team at ATS Patron Spruson & Ferguson, one of the leading intellectual property firms in Australia, specialising in the areas of trade marks, patents, designs, IP litigation, commercialisation and management.

 

Product Mavens
When: Wed May 18, 6:30pm
Where: Aurora Hotel, 324 Elizabeth Street

Have a burning desire to explore product innovation? Wanting to workshop your latest crazy idea in a collaborative & creative environment? Looking for mentors or offering mentorship? Then join us for the latest installment of Product Mavens!

 

Startup Bootcamp (Sydney)
When: Sun May 22
Where: Level 1, 65-67 Foveaux St, Surry Hills

If you are about to kick off a new startup, and want to do it with energy and direction, come to our Startup Bootcamp.

 

Go Global – G/SCORE Pitch Slam for Startups
When: Wed May 25, 9:00am
Where: ATP Innovations, Suite 145 National Innovation Centre, Australian Technology Park, 4 Cornwallis Street

Find out how your startup or early-stage company is positioned on the global stage and be in the running for the 2011 Innovate!100 list of the world’s best performing startups. Deliver a 5-minute pitch and get feedback on strengths and opportunities for commercializing Australian technology globally. $49 (USD) per company.