Monday, 26 July 2010

nTersect

nTersect

CEOs: Introduce Your Startup to Investors at the GPU Technology Conference 2010

Posted: 26 Jul 2010 08:00 AM PDT

One of the toughest challenges for startups is getting the right advice and investment to grow their business. The good news is that CEOs will have an opportunity to meet with hundreds of technologists, investors, analysts and executives at the GPU Technology Conference in Silicon Valley this fall.

The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) is the premier event to learn what companies are doing to solve visual and high-performance computing challenges. The Emerging Companies Track of GTC allows start-ups to showcase their GPU-enabled technologies to industry heavy-hitters like Adobe, Google, HP, Microsoft, and Qualcomm as well as major investors like Barclays Capital, CITI Group, Sutter Hill, and UBS.

This year we're debuting a new session called "CEO on Stage." A select group of CEOs will be chosen to introduce their company in front of a panel of analysts, investors and technology leaders in a spirited 15 minute session. The audience will include technology executives and members from the venture capital community. The deadline to submit your application is Aug. 1.

In addition to the exposure and strategic opportunities at the Emerging Companies Track, five companies will also receive awards including legal services and high-performance NVIDIA Tesla processors valued at more than $75,000.

Last year's "One to Watch" award winner Milabra made quite an impression with its GPU-powered online image analysis. Milabra was recently named to the prestigious Always On East Top 100 private companies list, and was one of only 21 winners in the Digital Media category.

Sam Cox, CEO at Milabra, told us that "The Emerging Companies Summit is a can't-miss event for the GPU computing ecosystem. We attended last year and found the conference provides great opportunities for companies to get valuable feedback from fellow entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and analysts. We're excited to be back and give an update on how we're using GPU-based pattern recognition to improve online advertising results."

If you're interested in The Emerging Companies Summit register today and take advantage of the early bird discount rates before Aug. 1. And, if you'd like to be a CEO on Stage presenter, submit your application before August 1st. See you in September in San Jose!

The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) takes place Sept. 20-23, 2010 at the San Jose Convention. You can stay up to date by following the GTC blog RSS feed, signing up for our email list or joining our GTC Facebook fan page

"David vs Goliath" - What Really Counts

Posted: 26 Jul 2010 06:00 AM PDT

I had the pleasure of attending the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference in Aspen this week, both as a presenter and participant. When I wasn't presenting in the 'start up idol' portion of the agenda I had some time to attend a few sessions, and learn from some of the strongest leaders in corporate America.

Kris Duggan of Badgeville with NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang

One session I enjoyed was the "Taking on the goliaths: Competition in a Digital Age" panel, featuring Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, Kevin Johnson, CEO, Juniper Networks, and John Lilly, CEO, Mozilla. From the get-go I was intrigued with this panel because it was reminiscent of the situation my company, Badgeville, finds itself in.

Our focus at Badgeville is on increasing user loyalty and engagement for websites, and we do this via status, rank, and reputation. We make the process extremely social, helping build new audiences for our clients, all while running as a typical start-up company, long hours and tight budgets. Our solutions are focused on our target markets, offering the exact sets of capabilities, and delivering specific value propositions. You can consider us the 'David' of our industry.

On the other hand, our competitors, the 'Goliaths,' having raised significant rounds of capital, position themselves vastly different, offering very broad platforms with lots of features that address different types of applications.

I listened intently as Jen-Hsun talked about life as a "David", albeit a David with $3.7 billion in sales. I guess it's all relative when you consider NVIDIA competes against Intel, Juniper against Cisco, and Mozilla against Microsoft.

Jen-Hsun went on to say that to beat the "Goliath" in your industry, it's all about focusing on value, and being customer driven. NVIDIA wouldn't be in business if it didn't identify a target market, bring a unique value proposition, and then deliver exceptionally on that promise.

Even though their Goliath has the reach, the market credibility, access to press, lots of R&D resources, and sales infrastructure, NVIDIA has been able to create die-hard fans in gaming, design, and several different product/market categories with two guiding principles: value and being customer driven.

Jen-Hsun left me inspired to believe that even as a 'David,' you can still build a sustainable (and growing) business by focusing on what's important - your customer.
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