Demo continues to be my favorite conference — the semi-annual event took place this past week in San Diego. There were some outdoor tables at the opening reception and I joined one with three friends from many Demos past — Amy Wohl, Shel Israel, and Steve Larsen. While there were many attendees in their mid-twenties, the four of us joked how we had 150+ years in technology around the table.
The Demo conference allows entrepreneurs to show off new gadgets, software, hardware and business ideas and enables the press, analysts, investors, and technology enthusiasts to assess what they see. The product introductions that take place reveal key technology trends over the coming 12 to 18 months. This year there were 69 companies showing off. Unfortunately I could only stay in San Diego for the first day of the conference due to board meetings back in New York so I did a little research on the companies and visited the ones in which I had most interest. Chris Shipley kicked off the conference with insightful comments about the industry. See the Demo blog for more on her thoughts.
The booth at which I spent the most time was Truphone. Tru phone enables mobile phone users to enjoy low-cost (if not free) calls and text messages [SMS] by routing them via WiFi. The service is presently in beta and delivers Voice-over-IP, SMS-over-IP and “presence” (showing when your friends are online). A Truphone-enabled mobile handset automatically connects to WiFi hotspots when one is available. The obvious question some of us had was whether this would work with the iPhone. The short answer is yes at Demo but no after Apple updated the iPhone the next day. More on this in a separate iPhone update in the next couple of days. There are many comments online about Apple’s latest move to keep the iPhone locked down.
Visit demo.com for the full list but following are comments about some of the companies at the conference. Not surprisingly, there were many companies at Demo that arose from the YouTube revolution. Technologies, products and business strategies aimed at every part of the video and entertainment value chain were on display. Some focused on infrastructure and others on tools to help consumers find and interact with video content. There were seven companies in this space. Digital Fountain showed a content delivery network for streaming video with full-screen TV-quality experience. You had to see it to believe it.
Every Demo has some consumer content-oriented companies with new ideas. There were eight in that category this year. One of them — run by an old friend, Samir Arora — is called Glam Media and is focused on the glamour industry. His energy and enthusiasm have enabled him to create and then sell one company after another.
Chris called them “Enablers and Sea-Changers” — seven companies that focus on infrastructure and new ways of connecting. Jasper Wireless is a global “mobile to mobile” operator, providing data communications in over 35 countries around the world. LogMeIn, Inc. showed the first Web-based service that enables IT technicians to remotely access and take control of a smartphone and the connected PC. This will become important as more and more smartphones are delivered. I was impressed with Phreesia, Inc. which demonstrated a technology that brings the doctor’s waiting room into the 21st century by automating patient check-in using a very user-friendly approach. No more clipboards!
One of the important elements of Web 2.0 is consumer-generated content and five companies showed some very creative implementations. Graspr, Inc. was one of the better ones. Their application allows people to get help with projects from other users. “How to” videos created by “ordinary people with extraordinary experiences” provide chocolate soufflé tips to Harley Davidson repair assistance.
Every Demo I can remember has had new companies with new ideas on how to organize, prepare, and conduct online meetings. This year there were nine companies with solutions. I liked Dimdim, Inc. which is a free and open source Web meeting service which requires no software to be downloaded. It allows users to show slides, share a desktop and talk, listen, chat, or broadcast via webcam.
Five companies offered small business solutions. I liked CashView, Inc.. They have a web-based services for sending invoices, paying bills, and keeping track of cash. For $10 per month plus a dollar per transaction this may be a big hit with very small businesses.
Take a look at the full list of companies at Demo.com. Demo 2008 will be here before we know it and there will be another six dozen or so startups with another batch of great ideas. It would be interesting to know the percentage of startup companies that survive. Out of ten companies there is probably a home run or two, a couple of triples and doubles, a few singles and unfortunately some strikeouts. There is no end of good ideas and capital to fund them.