If you wanted to start a company based on the financial markets, Austin might not be your first choice. Technically, for 9WSearch CEO Susan Strausberg, it wasn’t. “My husband and I picked Austin to start a green-oriented business, but it took a little longer than expected,” said Strausberg.  ”So we went back to our roots and started 9WSearch.” Those roots run the deepest in financial services, and with Strausberg’s track record in the industry, it [...]

Mobile development companies are sprouting up like wildfire, and one of the most common questions I receive surrounds referrals for companies that can make mobile apps. We all know, use, and seemingly want to build apps today. But I wanted to foster discussion around trends and mobile web. Do you think the future is in more apps, or mobile web using HTML5 and responsive (adaptive) design? HTML5 has incredibly powerful capabilities, and many features of [...]

mobileTech Tuesday, by Steve Guengerich Tech start-ups, at least in my experience, have a notoriously conflicted relationship with traditional business networking groups, like our city’s Chamber of Commerce. The conflict comes because, on the surface, what each needs from the other is hard to come by. The Chamber needs financial support (membership fees, etc.) and volunteer time – both of which start-ups can ill afford. Conversely, the tech start-up needs targeted access to early adopter [...]

The popular Evernote is coming to Austin. A few weeks ago, I met with Rich Warwick, Evernote’s new vice president and general manager for Austin products, where I learned that Evernote was going to open a development lab in Austin, and that they will be aggressively looking for developers here in town. Mobility & Mac are core-focus of the Austin lab. I, being a mobility person, was pretty excited about the news: 1) I am [...]

mobileTechThursday, by Steve Guengerich What a week, huh? First Google buys Motorola Mobility. Then, slipped in there quietly, Time Warner Cable buys Insight.  And finally, HP announces that it’s getting out of the PC business, ceding mobile to Apple and letting Dell battle Lenovo and the other APAC manufacturers for what’s left of the laptop business. Not much air left for announcements like the reportedly $40 million acquisition of the UK’s largest coupon site by [...]

There’s no doubt that mobile is hot. At a recent Austin Tech Happy Hour I saw some folks from Mutual Mobile. These young kids fresh out of UT have created an incredible mobile development company. Someone had told me that they currently employee about 165 people, and they’re looking to hire another 100 people before the end of the year! I get lots of email, and meet tons of people who all want advice on [...]

It’s tough keeping up with the macro forces that can shape the strategy and execution of startups. Here’s a few things to keep an eye on as the talent wars continue and products and services are developed and refined. Software is still big. Software in the cloud is bigger.  It’s not realistic to think many startups will come out of the gate with enterprise software tools, but it’s a steady growth opportunity. And it’s not [...]

mobileTech Tuesday, by Steve Guengerich It’s Wednesday, not Tuesday (the holiday through me off) and this is a bit more of a pure editorial piece than my normal contribution, but bear with me.  There was as good article in a recent edition of the Sunday Statesman by Brian Gaar on the greater Austin mobile scene.  What I really liked about the article, besides the picture of Whurley with Grover, were some of the comments from the [...]

mobileTech Tuesday, by Steve Guengerich – Special Edition What if you could increase the addressable user base in the US of your mobile app by up to 10%? Or what if you could increase the total addressable size of the US market that you can sell your app to by up to 20%? And, finally, what if you could achieve these increases in addressable share almost solely through the design of your app, by incorporating [...]

mobileTech Tuesday by Steve Guengerich The University of Texas and the other great public and private universities in Texas – from my alma mater Texas A&M in College Station, to Rice University in Houston, and many more – serve to educate each new generation’s youth with the skills and knowledge to make their mark in the world. Recently, university research in addition to teaching has made the headlines. One of the upshots is a renewed [...]