Ebay is hosting a free 2 hour workshop training course on Flex every month. The first class is on Nov. 9 at the Ebay Conference Facility in San Jose. The training is provided by Ebay, RoundPeg, and SilvaFug Flex User Group.
There is some more news for a conference coming in March of 2007 but I will hold off on making early announcements. Lets just say that 2007 will be full of Flex.
cheers,
Ted 
With the creation of the Adobe $100 Million dollar venture fund, there are a lot of questions about venture capital within the development community. I have been around the block with start-ups (4 times) and venture capital (2 times) and there are some important things everyone needs to know.
DISCLAIMER – I work for Adobe but I do not have any involvement in the venture fund. This post is based on my own experience in venture capital and the start-up process.
Plan, Plan, Plan!
You must have a business plan, period. No VC is going to give money without a plan, not one cent. Investors need to see a business plan to judge an investment in terms of quality. No plan, no money.
Test your plan!
Your business plan will be scrutinized in every detail from every angle by many people. If you do not explore the plan and test it in detail, you are toast.
60 Second Rule!
The plan needs to be simple, easy to communicate, and easy to understand. If you cannot communicate the plan in 60 seconds with 1 presentation slide, you are toast.
NDA, NDA, NDA!!! This NDA item was on the line. I use an NDA but many VCs will never sign them. In hindsight, striking this one is advisable.
Get an NDA signed in advance of talking about anything. Fail to do this and you are toast.
Focus on “What” not “How”
“How” will change but “what” (your goals/objective) will not. Whether the business delivers using Apollo or Mobile or AJAX is unimportant when compared to the value you are going to provide. If you are building a mouse trap, first you need to decide “what” you are going to catch, “how” your particular business works comes later.
WAG, WAG, WAG!
Make sure that you take into account all inputs and outputs of the business. Do your best to identify all inputs/outputs in terms of time, money, ip, and people. When you are unsure about an area, insert a WAG, or Wild Ass Guess. Adding WAGs into your business plan is smart because it accounts for the unknown. There are 1000s of unknowns in a new business and if you do not account for them, you will not have enough money and resources when it matters most.
Asking for more!
Unless you have accomplished your goals with money received, do not ask for more. If you fail to accomplish your goals with funding asking for more is a brutal. If you take funding, you need to know that you can deliver 150% of what you promise. Fail to deliver and asking for more will cost you an arm and a leg.
Demo First!
Failure to have a working demo is a mistake. You need to have a working demo or a complete product ready. If you are looking for first round money, you will be taken to the cleaners without something working. VCs like to avoid risk, if you have a working application, your venture is far less risky in their eyes. Having something working means you understand the problem well and that you have thought deeply about solutions. A demo is worth 10000 words.
Make sure you need the money!
If you ask for VC money make sure you need it. For every dollar you receive you will be giving up ownership and control of the business. VC money is not free and comes with a price in terms of equity control. The flip side of this argument is that funding adds tremendous value and capability to a venture. Just make sure when you decide you need funding that you in really need it.
Early money, larger bite!
The earlier you get funding in a venture, the larger equity stake the investment will take. The driver here is investment risk. Early money takes a much larger risk than late money and thus typically gets a larger stake. In many cases, the first money is the most important because it established a base value of the business investment-wise. Say you take $1M dollars for 25% of the company, investment-wise the company is worth $4M based on the investment. Assume you take $10M in a second round for 10%, the company investment-wise is now worth $100M based on the 2nd round investment. $4M to $100M is a big jump in value yet the 2nd round got far less of the company than the 1st round did. The key is that the first round was far riskier than the 2nd round for the investors.
Exit Strategy
Create 3 exit strategies for your business. VCs will evaluate your business on its ability to return the investment or exit. If it doesn’t have a viable exit in being sold, going public, or profits then your business will be viewed as less desirable. Show the ability to exit well and you are golden!
Be a First Mover!
Have an original idea and be a first mover. These ventures get funding. The only exception is when you have a delivery model that is dramatically better than what exists. VCs look for ideas that are hard to duplicate and are defensive in the marketplace. If you do not present something original or something better you will have little hope of getting funding.
There will be a lot of companies created to develop Apollo based applications. If you are serious about wanting to create a company around Apollo do this first:
1. Create a Plan.
2. Create the killer application/demo.
3. Get a high quality NDA.
4. Create a 3 Slide presentation and a 60 second elevator pitch.
5. Pound the pavement shopping for funding.
6. Never give up, Take no prisoners!
The irony is that venture capitalists must find companies to invest in. They must fund businesses in order to grow returns for investors. If you have a great idea and have what it takes, there are investors ready to fund the next big thing.
Adobe has committed $100 Million to funding business around Apollo and is looking for investments. I strongly encourage everyone to get started today by creating a plan and getting started with Flex.
Cheers,
Ted
I am headed to MAX APAC in Taipei and Singapore tomorrow. I am very much looking forward to the trip. I have a few days between the conferences and I am lugging my dive gear just in case there is an opportunity to relax a bit.
I will be giving the following sessions at MAX APAC:
Understanding Security in Flex and Flash
Building an Enterprise Reporting Framework Using Adobe Flex
Improving ActionScript 3 Performance
Advanced Apollo Application Development
Integrating Flex Applications with Browsers and AJAX
See you in Taipei and Singapore!
Cheers,
Ted
The Flexifier is live at http://try.flex.org today. The Flexifier allows anyone to try Flex MXML and AS3 programming without downloading or installing anything. Simply type some MXML or AS3 into a form and you can see the resulting SWF file instantly.
The Flexifier was developed by Ben Forta, Ray Camden, and myself. The backend is powered by a customized build of ColdFusion and the Flex SDK.
Cheers,
ted
Dynamic Help is quickly becoming one of my favorite features but it is a hidden feature for many. Dynamic Help is tied into the code hinting engine of Flex Builder, if you click on any class, method, property, or MXML Tag, it will provide results in context with the cursor. The results provide entries to the Flex API reference and Search results from the documentation. To turn on Dynamic Help simply do this: Press Menu > Help > Dynamic Help and click on any variable, method in MXML or AS3.
Turn on Dynamic Help, you will find it is a great feature.
Cheers,
ted
I would like to thank the presenters and attendees for making MAXUP a success. The session content at MAXUP was impressive and I have received a large number of compliments on the session quality and the format. I would like to get feedback on MAXUP, please include your thoughts in the comments.
Here are my takeaways from MAXUP:
15 Minute Sessions – The tight timeframe of 15 minute sessions forces the presenter to focus on key points and demos. Where longer sessions tend to wander, 15 minutes provides a very nice balance.
Community – Adobe has an amazing community of designers and developers. The content presented at MAXUP was amazing in quality and was a tiny glimpse into our vast community. We need to find a way to surface more community and get developers and designers involved.
Business/Employment – After almost every presenter finished, a small group of interested attendees would chat with the speaker in the back of the hallway. At a future MAXUP, we should provide an area to foster business/employment opportunities with developers. There are 1000′s of projects/jobs looking for developers and I think MAXUP provided an ideal venue to foster this business.
Stuff not Fluff – I was pleased to see that MAXUP really highlighted cool stuff, not marketing. We had several speakers representing commercial products at MAXUP and fluff was kept to a minimum.
Self-Managed – Speakers made MAXUP very easy to manage. Everyone was professional and courteous. If a speaker finished early, they allotted their time to the next speaker.
Location/Marketing – Our location and marketing need some work. MAXUP was planned in 1 month with limited budget. The MAXUP schedule was finalized the night before MAXUP began so we had limited ability to post a schedule or market. Although in contrast many presenters and attendees created a large buzz about the event.
Thanks for making MAXUP a success.
Regards,
Ted
MAXUP is ready to go from TUES-WED 11AM – 5:30PM. MAXUP is on the 5th Floor of the Venetian Conference Center. Just as you are about the enter the exhibition hall, turn left, MAXUP is on the right hand side. If you are speaking stop by and schedule your session. The stage is set, the speakers are ready, and MAXUP is looking great.
MAXUP
Venetian Conference Center
5th Floor
TUES. 11AM – 5:30PM
WED. 11AM – 5:30PM
Also there is a nasty rumor going around that Adobe might sponsor a standalone MAXUP conference in San Francisco as early as February 2007!!!
I will keep you in the loop on MAXUP 2007 San Francisco!
Ted
I read “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” in 2000 and it really changed the way I think about software and community. “Scratching an itch”, “Release Early, Release Often”, and “Many eyes, shallow bugs” have become really important to me. In many ways MAXUP adds these patterns MAX. The sessions are 100% community driven adding what developers want to see thus “Scratching an Itch”. The tight 15 Minute presentations make for very dense and focused sessions, “Release Early, Release Often”. Also with exposure, community speakers rise to deliver higher quality, “Many eyes equals shallow bugs”. I think you will see that MAXUP is a different approach that embraces the Bazaar.
I really do have faith in the Bazaar in that the community will rise to make MAXUP great. 38 Speakers signed up for sessions over the past few weeks and I did not exclude anyone. No filtering, no management of the content, anyone that posted a session (now closed) is listed as a speaker. The fact that I had to do very little to manage this process is a testament to the quality of the community. I cannot wait to see MAXUP it will be fun, a bit chaotic, and very alive just like a real bazaar.
MAXUP – TUES and WED at Adobe MAX!
Ted
Yakov Fain posted an article about PowerBuilder, Java, Flex, and Agile Development. The article talks about Flex productivity and highlights why Flex is taking hold. Simply put Flex is productive, makes prototyping quick, and lets developers focus on the user experience once again. I am a big fan of the team over at Farata Systems, they are doing some amazing things with Flex. Both Victor and Anatole will be presenting at MAXUP and I cannot wait to see their talks.
Great post Yakov, spot on!
Ted
MAXUP, the Free Adobe community unconference, will be next Tuesday and Wednesday 10:30AM – 5PM at Adobe MAX in the Venetian. MAXUP will highlight the best of the Adobe’s development community and include some amazing sessions. I have personally been blown away by the content that developers have submitted for presentation and MAXUP is looking to be a great addition to MAX. MAXUP schedules will be available at the Keynote on Tuesday and session will begin at 10:30AM after the keynote.
MAXUP will host 3 development competitions, ColdFusion Drag-Race (Ray Camden – Host Wed 12-1), Flex Drag-Race( Tom Ortega – Host Tues. 12-1), and the Component Cookoff (Dave Wolf – Cynergy Systems Tues/Wed at MAXUP). Bring your laptops and get ready for some coding fun.
I would like to thank the speakers for committing to speak at MAXUP. Without them this event could never have happened. Every speaker will be sporting a MAXUP TShirt. Among our speakers we have a special group from Japan joining us. The Japan Flex User Group will be presenting a Flex application they created to teach Origami. They have created an application and lots of example Origami to share with the community. I really applaud their effort as a group and cannot wait to see what they have created.
MAXUP Speakers, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!!
Stop by see what is going on and make sure to include MAXUP in your conference plans. We will have lots of great giveaways at MAXUP including TShirts, MAX Stickers, Flex/AS3 API Posters, IRiver MP3 Players and much more.
ColdFusion and Exchange – Terrence Ryan, Wharton Computing
Processing Dynamic Forms with ColdFusion – Erik Goodlad, Price.com
ColdFusion Drag Race – Ray Camden
Speaker Scheduler – Flex/CF hybrid by necessity – Bob Flynn, Indiana University Kelley School of Business
Flash – Communicating with Robotics and Electronics – Robert M. Hall, Feasible Impossibilities
Flash-based Web Builder (FLABER) – Flabber
Wallop – Karl Jacob
Flash Multi-User Applications – Bascule
Flash-Lite Mobile iCalendar Reader Demo – Ali Mills, Pattern Park
Measuring the Customer Experience with Flex and Flash – Brian Shin and Rishi Dean, Visible Measures
Developing a RIA for building a collaborative search engine – Chris Griffith, AJ Software & Multimedia
Building Large Applications with Modules – Logging module sample – Anatole Tartakovsky, Farata Systems
XMPP and Flex – Nick Velloff
Flex for Personal Productivity Applications – Kevin Hoyt, Adobe Systems
A Flex 2 Signature Panel – Mike Givens
SuperGrid to the MAX – from database to application in 15 minutes – Victor Rasputnis, Farata Systems
Developing Rich Internet Applications with SAP and Flex – Matthias Zeller
Flex and Lucene for full-text search – Simon Barber, ThoughtFaqtory
RingDesignOnline 2.0 beta – Rich Tretola
Flex pub/sub and Real-Time Messaging on .NET – Mark Piller, Midnight Coders
Automated Testing with FlexUnit and ANT – Kristoffer Singleton, Emergent Game Tech
Flex Video Show & Snap App – Andrew Muller, Webqem
Make Your Flex App Test Itself – David Coletta, Virtual Ubiquity, Inc.
Enterprise Portal and Dashboards – Fabio Terracini, DClick
YAGC – Yet Another Grid Control? Bridging data and experience in Flex. – Dave Wolf, Cynergy Systems
Oragami project – Japan User Group
XIF Communications, Inc. – Ben Nunez, XIF Communications, Inc.
Flex Drag Race – Tom Ortega, Ebay
Monitoring and Troubleshooting ColdFusion with SeeFusion 4 (Featuring Flex 2) – Patrick Quinn, Daryl Banttari, Webapper Services, LLC
Design Patterns in AS2.0: The Strategy Pattern – Jeff Carnes, Resource Interactive
Building TagTV with Apollo – Ted Patrick, Adobe
Creating and Writing Image Data to the Filesystem – Mike Chambers, Adobe
Apollo SOA App – Duane Nickull, Adobe
Mission Critical Architecture – Chafic Kazoun, Atellis
Application Components – Chafic Kazoun, Atellis
Cairngorm in 15 Minutes – Steven Webster, Adobe
Adobe Consulting Demos – Alistair McLeod, Adobe
Apollo Installation and Security – Ethan Malasky, Adobe
Flex and PHP – Mike Potter, Adobe
See you at MAXUP!!!
Ted
