Fresh Coast Ventures Blog

I had such a good time at the first event dedicated to showcasing people’s creative energy in under seven minutes, that I want to share with you information on the second.

Mark your calendars!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
8:00 PM
Hi Hat Garage
1701 N. Arlington
Milwaukee
$10 in advance, $12 at the door

Register now at:
http://www.800ceoread.com/pechakucha1

PECHA KUCHA FEVER STRIKES MILWAUKEE AGAIN!

In June, 800-CEO-READ presented the first Pecha Kucha Night in Milwaukee to a sold-out crowd at Hi Hat Garage. The captivated audience watched eight presenters speak about a variety of topics including: an anarchist bird watching group, an obsession with department stores, the need for better Milwaukee recycling programs, the creation of an ideal work environment, and craftivism to change the world.

Now, 800-CEO-READ is pleased to present the second Pecha Kucha Night at the Hi Hat Garage on August 26, 2008 at 8:00 PM. On this night, ten people will take turns presenting their ideas through a unique presentation format using 20 slides that automatically change every 20 seconds. Pecha Kucha is an opportunity for people to discover the ideas of fellow community members and experience a new form of creative presentation that utilizes images, sound, and words within the restrictions of the “20 x 20” format.  The presentations are provocative, while the event is relaxed, including a “beer break,” where the presenters and the audience meet and discuss topics further over the beverage of their choice.

Presenters for the second Pecha Kucha in Milwaukee are:

Tuc Krueger, Katherine Biehl, Mark Lawson, Megan McGee, Brent Gohde, David Chirot, Jeff Larche, Will Weider, Kat Berger, Mike LeMoine.

We look forward to seeing you at MilwaukeeDevHouse2 on May 31st starting at 6 p.m. at Bucketworks on 1340 N. Sixth Street.

MilwaukeeDevHouse aims to be the premier regularly scheduled hackathon event that combines serious and not-so-serious productivity with a fun and exciting party atmosphere.

If you’re a coder, designer, or just someone who enjoys software and technology development, MilwaukeeDevHouse was made for you.

We’ll be there, will you?

Itching to attend a technology conference? Interested in open-source technology? We’ll be at Flourish 2008 at the University of Illinois - Chicago in right outside of the loop in urban Chicago. If you want to meet-up, drop a comment here and leave a way for us to get in contact with you.

The Fresh Coast Ventures team will be at Milwaukee’s first Dev House at Bucketworks all night on March 14th.

What is a Dev House you ask? We’re choosing to define it as such in Milwaukee… “MilwaukeeDevHouse aims to be the premier regularly scheduled hackathon event that combines serious and not-so-serious productivity with a fun and exciting party atmosphere.”

Okay, so what does that mean? Well to us it’s a chance to build one of those cool projects we’ve been putting off for so long, and do it in an environment that is supportive of creating the project. Get in a programming or creative jam? Others will be there to lend you some quick support.

We look forward to seeing you there. As per the usual of our community gatherings in Milwaukee, the event is free, but we (Web414) will be asking for small donations towards Bucketworks. This donation will cover Bucketworks expenses in giving us the space for free, and to pay for the drinks you enjoy.

Feel free to just stop by and say hi if you can’t stay all night. All the fun starts at 7 p.m. and will continue until the last person decides to go home to sleep. Have questions? Leave him here and we’ll help you out.

Congratulations Kris, Jeff, Kelly, and the rest of the team at ComicWonder.com, they’ve officially left beta and are entering the world of online joke telling full-speed ahead.  It’s been fun to play with the site for the past couple of months.  I can’t wait to see it take off as the press machine starts rolling now.
For those of you not familiar with ComicWonder, it’s a website for joke telling far beyond the bland forwarded email.  Think “forwarded email jokes meet You Tube” and you’ll start to get the idea.  Users submit their own audio jokes to the site in a variety of ways and from there are voted on by the rest of the community.

Most importantly, Comic Wonder is a shining star in the Milwaukee startup community, and hopefully their success will become contagious.

You may or may not be a victim of excessive spam from a company by the name of Web Coast Ventures, LLC, but we’ve been getting plenty of phone calls asking us if we’re Web Coast Ventures, LLC.  You can reach Web Coast Ventures (not Fresh Coast Ventures) at…

Sam and Jeramey will be in Chicago all weekend at the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization. If you’re in the area and want to meet up or happen to be at the conference, make sure to say hi.

As always you can get in touch with them by calling (608)-774-0704.

barcampmilwaukee-2007-oct
Originally uploaded by muintrigue

BarCampMilwaukee2 will be this coming weekend, October 13th and 14th, at the Schlitz Park Center on the north side of downtown Milwaukee.

BarCamp is an un-conference; An open format event where programmers, designers and business owners can network and learn.
A BarCamp conference is unlike any other technology conference. Rather than being planned by a committee in advance, each community works together to create its own event. A BarCamp generally has an underlying theme, but the individual topics and sessions are organized shortly before or even at the event. This enables BarCamp to be much more than targeted to the needs of the Milwaukee community.
Hundreds of BarCamp events have been held in cities around the world. Milwaukee and Madison’s BarCamp events attracted over 130 people each and the attention of Wisconsin media. Learn more…

Best of all the event is completely free!

Fresh Coast Ventures is a sponsor, which means we will be in attendance all weekend long.

Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle has proposed a $2 million center in Wisconsin dedicated to companies moving past the angel investment stage. A public-private partnership would fund the center.

Any improvement in the Wisconsin business climate, especially for small and new businesses is a big help to us. Consider Fresh Coast Ventures on board the band wagon for the new venture center.

I’ll be speaking at the Web414 meeting on Thursday night in downtown Milwaukee. My presentation will revolve around online photo sharing services, but more importantly the folksonomies that live on top of them and how you can participate and improve them.

As described on the site “the Web414 group consists of amateurs and professionals interested in building and improving the web today and in the future. We are a diverse group including designers, programmers, publishers, and entrepreneurs - all with a common interest in creating the new web.”