Last month, I mentioned that I would be attending our first industry event this month. I can finally talk about it. There’s an organization called the International Association for Exhibition Management (IAEM). A coule of months ago I became a member of this organization.

Tomorrow morning, I depart for Atlanta for their annual convention. It’s quite a bizarre thing. I’ve grown fond of referring to it as a recursive conference - a trade show for trade show people. I bet you didn’t know there was an association for associations either ;) I was only half surprised.

This event will be my first time talking to loads of people about what we’re doing and trying to help them see our world. I’ve spent the last two years researching his business from every possible angle. I’m beyond excited to now be able to take that the product we’ve generated to them.

If by some chance you’re reading this and plan on attending, please get in touch with me. If you’re in Atlanta, I’d love to hear from you as well. It’s been years since my last visit.

It’s been approximately 5 months now that I have been quietly hinting at the new company I founded. It gives me great pleasure to finally share with everyone who we are, what we’re doing, and how we’re going to make it happen. So let’s get to the explaining!

Our new company is named syncPEOPLE. Our tagline is simple: Connecting People, Passions & Pursuits. But it’s much more than some slick marketing slogan, it’s a mission that inspires all of our actions.

You might be wondering how we plan to achieve that mission. Well, that gets at what we’re focused on. We’re developing a new breed of event software, yep events (from trade shows to conferences to associations to clubs and everything in between). Here’s a snippet from the new site:

We build and maintain web-based communities for events of all sizes, from the biggest trade show to the smallest club.

Every event provides opportunities for new connections, we simplify and accelerate the process.

Our unique event management system will deliver measurable value and lasting results to event attendees, exhibitors and show management.

We probably comply with every buzzword that’s buzzing right now, but that’s not what we’re concerned with. We want to deliver the best solution possible and we’ll use whatever it takes. Sometimes, a fresh outlook is so much more than a new numerical designation.

I’ve written quite a bit more of the back story after the jump. I hope you’ll take the time to see how we ended up where we are and why we’re so passionate about it.

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Wow. What a day today has been. It’s been half tiring and half exciting. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been drilling down on the business proposition we’re making here and preparing for the arduous task of raising capital from total strangers.

Here’s some background. I’ve started no less than 6 different companies in the last 10 years. I’m always seen as the one person who doesn’t just get ideas but who will slave away at nights and appear with a working prototype in due time. Programming is the one skill that I’m most grateful for having as it lets me bring the things I dream about to life when the itch is just right.

In all these years, I’ve managed to live in my office, go days without food (generally because I forgot, not because I was broke) and never really have to seek any capital from the outside world. Survival is just something I’ve gotten used to in all this time (another thing I am grateful for). I remember back in the DOT BOMB days hearing about all the money that was being spent left and right - honestly I could never relate to just WHAT you do with that much cash - I was making great progress with so much less.

Bootstrapping is not a fancy word here or a badge of entitlement, it’s a way of life plain and simple. Which is what has made the last couple of months so unique. This is the first time where I’ve not only thought about raising capital but I’m also seriously pursuing it. There are so many other things that are required for going this route, but for me, the most interesting challenge is moving past the lifestyle mindset.

As a serial, parallel entrepreneur, I was more interested in seeing IF I could make some things happen and then if I could support myself and my team off of it. It was never a concern to build a BIG company, just one that kept our bellies full and money in the bank. For a long time, that’s been more than enough and I don’t regret it (much).

Now, however, I’m getting a bit more aggressive in my demands on my work. It’s not that I think my ideas need to work harder or better, it’s that I need to work less. I used to be able to pull 100+ hour weeks like it was nothing. I used to not have to worry about anyone. That’s all different. I’ve got a family to take care of and my body’s finally putting up a fight and saying “Slow the f*ck down, allstar”. It’s starting to feel like the time to listen.

Naturally, this doesn’t mean working less. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s moved on to working SMARTER. It’s an adage that is thrown around quite a bit, but the reality is it’s hard as heck to live it. For someone like myself, generally overflowing with ideas and innovations, to focus down at this level is really, well, remarkable (and that’s just from my vantage point).

So, back to the pitch. I was up all night re-working the very ugly Power Point I threw together with my notes in preparation for this first pitch today. I found this useful PDF over at the eVenturing site and I went through it and tried to do it their way. That didn’t work out too much. Even though Nyla assured me “They won’t care what it looks like”, dammit, I do. I don’t have it in me to do a bad presentation - I’d rather just talk in that case.

We met in Soho to do the first full-fledged pitch. It was actually meant to be a practice run, but apparently our VC friend didn’t know that so he evaluated on the full. He had some excellent advice for me and I will be getting the answers to his questions in the next week at our first industry event.

All I can say is wow. It was just hard to describe being able to describe to someone what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and everything else and have them understand it. I’m proud I got it. Zak was surprised I hadn’t practiced, but I guess I’ve been practicing this for months, maybe even my whole life.

I’ll be twice as good the next time, I know that much. I can’t wait to hear my 10th. Ahh well, a wonderful way to start Thanksgiving.

I was going to annouce the new company today, but I’m going to wait until Monday. Our blog just might be up by then, but regardless, the secret won’t be so secret come Monday. I hope you’re all still with me, the journey is just beginning.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Go kill some Turkey.

It’s been a long month on this side of the screen, spanning the country no less than three times in so many weeks. It’s hard to describe what it’s like out there on the West Coast (for those here on the East Coast).

It’s hard to describe just how much work I’ve been sneaking in every waking moment of the day. We’re pushing up on 13 days until our first industry event and we’re hoping to push out the first applet in the system we’ve been building in conjunction with that event.

In the last week or so, I’ve had the misfortune of missing two really interesting events. First I missed Podcast Expo in California. I’ve heard it was a great event. Instead, I got to take part in the wedding for a great friend so no love lost there. Yesterday, I was destined to be in Boston for the Symposium, but, as luck would have it, my car started acting up and I had to abandon that trip at the last minute.

It’s probably all for the best. Life on the road, well, it’s counter-productive in most ways. It feels like you’re always waiting to get to the next place. I’ve really come to enjoy being back at home after roaming for so long. I definitely can tell I am getting more done when I can sit still and work on what needs to be done.

As for my absence blogging, it’s hard to manage at the moment. I’ve been writing tons internally and directed towards my other team members. Once we launch our applet in the next 2 weeks we’ll be putting up a blog as well. That should give us the opportunity to talk a bit more.