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freelance camp

Great Events Coming Up in Santa Cruz Oct 2-6, 2010

by Sara Isenberg on September 28, 2010

in Events,NextSpace,Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup

There are some great events coming up in Santa Cruz this week, Oct 2-6, 2010:

  1. Freelance Camp Santa Cruz is this Saturday, October 2, 2010 It’s a one-day unconference on how to run a better freelance or small service business.  Learn more about Freelance Camps in general here: http://freelancecamp.org/ and Register for THIS Santa Cruz camp here: http://freelancecampsc2010.eventbrite.com/
  2. What’s Next Lectures is Tuesday, October 5th 7 PM at the Rio Theater in downtown Santa Cruz.  This event will feature Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, and Sarah Lacy, award-winning author and columnist for TechCrunch. Details http://whatsnextlectures.com/.  Purchase tickets here: http://researchanddevelopment.eventbrite.com/
  3. Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup is Wednesday, October 6th at 6:30 PM. Details are here: http://www.meetup.com/santacruznewtech/calendar/14772126/

See you there!

Tagged as: freelance camp, What's Next Lectures

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12 new items on my To Do List from Freelance Camp

by Sara Isenberg on August 17, 2009

in Entrepreneurship,Events,Sara Isenberg

Freelance Camp 2009 in Santa Cruz was as great as I was hoping it would be.  There were so many interesting topics that I wanted to be at several sessions at once — all day long.  This year there were 300 campers.  The downtown venue was still walkable from my house.

Now, on the Monday morning-after, my follow-up TO DO list (project managers love TO DO lists) includes:

  1. Follow up with some of the folks I met at Freelance Camp.
  2. Review the Wiki notes:
    http://barcamp.org/FreelanceCampSessions3
  3. Keep following the #freelancecamp tweets:
    http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23freelancecamp
  4. Elance
    Elance is the leading site for online work where businesses connect with independent professionals to get work done.
    http://www.elance.com
  5. Freelanceswitch:
    FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world.
    http://freelanceswitch.com
         http://freelanceswitch.com/the-business-of-freelancing/online-bookkeeping-for-freelancers-that-wont-cost-an-arm-and-a-leg/
  6. Redmine:
    Redmine is an open sources flexible project management web application.
    http://redmine.org
    http://demo.redmine.org/
  7. ProjectThingy
    You have projects? We have ProjectThingy!
    http://www.projectthingy.com
  8. Hubspot
    Hubspot is an inbound marketing system to help your small or medium sized business get found on the Internet by the right prospects and convert more of them into leads…
    www.hubspot.com
  9. The Contract Employee’s Handbook
    Helping Contract Employees Manage their Careers
    http://www.cehandbook.com/
  10. Professional Association for Contract Employees
    - GREAT Benefits for Independent Professionals
    - HUGE Savings for Clients That Hire Contractors
    http://www.pacepros.com/
  11. Project Wonderful
    Project Wonderful makes advertising awesome.
    http://ProjectWonderful.com
  12. Errors and Omissions Insurance
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Errors_and_omissions_insurance

And — this is now 13+ — here is a list of Shopping Cart resources (taken directly from the session notes):

SHOPPING CARTS – all of these manage your products, connect with direct API to payment gateway(s).  Some are more seamless, looks like it’s on your site, and some of them send you over to another site to process.

  • Paypal: At simple end (Paypal Standard), “Buy it now button” that you can cut and paste into your site.  At advanced end (Paypal Pro), you can do a seamless integration into your site. Don’t need to set up an account to make a payment.
  • Google Checkout: Similar to Paypal.  You do need to set up an account in order to make a payment.
  • ZenCart: Open Source – Offshoot of OS Commerce. Natively it requires customer to set up an account in order to make a purchase.
  • Magento: Open Source – New hot shopping cart, developed by Variand.  Very pretty.  By far the most feature –rich, but it’s “a beast.”  An ordeal to install and build, and the overhead based on the code is HUGE, probably slows to a crawl.
  • Virtue mart: Open Source – Joomla CMS plug-in
  • Ubercart:  Open Source – Drupal CMS plug-in
  • WP-Ecommerce: Open Source – WordPress plug-in. Use lots of different themes.  Can add items to your cart and it will show the status of your cart without reloading page.  1-page checkout option. Handles selling services online with ease. Uses multiple gateways.  Just plug in a long string of numbers they give you.
  • Shopsite: Client has to re-enter their information every time. Pay monthly to use. Starts at around $16/month through Cruzio. Copy/past their Add to Cart code to your web page.
  • Foxy Cart: Hosted solution, costs money – $10-15/month. Very slick
  • Volusion: Hosted solution, costs money – $19/month for cheapest option. Very slick, they will also host your website, and integrate the cart.
  • Shopify: Hosted Solution

===


Tagged as: #freelancecamp, Business, freelance, freelance camp, Santa Cruz, Sara Isenberg

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Freelance Camp Santa Cruz 2009

by Sara Isenberg on August 4, 2009

in Conferences,Entrepreneurship,Santa Cruz,Sara Isenberg

I’m really looking forward to Freelance Camp in Santa Cruz scheduled for August 15, 2009.  Last year’s event was one of my favorite events of the year.  It felt like … “this is the beginning of something big” and it was!

Details (from http://freelancecamp3.eventbrite.com/):

The concept is easy. Show up. Express interests and ask questions. Break into small groups and exchange knowledge. Become a better freelancer.

Freelance Camp Santa Cruz 2009 is the fifth organized BarCamp for freelancers and independent contractors. We are proud to host this in beautiful, innovative Santa Cruz, CA.  You ask: What is a BarCamp? BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants.  The day consists of sessions proposed by attendees and the schedule is created on site the morning of the event. BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn from each other in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.

WHAT TO EXPECT AT FREELANCE CAMP:

The day will start at 8am with an hour of socializing over coffee and pastries.  We will be handing out stainless steel Klean Kanteens to the first 200 registrants at the sign up. We have 200 Kanteens and 300 sign ups slots so come early!  It is really important you arrive by 9am so you can participate in creating the day’s agenda.  At 9am sharp we will give directions on how to propose a topic and then we will create a schedule. We will be harvesting the minds and expertise of all the people in the room to come up with topics pertinent to freelancers. If you’d like to lead a session you’re going to want to speak up with your topic idea at 9am, when the schedule is being created.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO BRING:

  • Your own coffee mug
  • A head full of topic ideas
  • Your laptop (free wi-fi provided.) If you are not so inclined to arrive with electronic note-taking items a simple notebook and pen will do.
  • Lots of business cards.  This is a great networking opportunity. You can get a quick turnaround from Zazzle.com if you are in need of cards.

VENUE

Brand new Rittenhouse Building right in down town.

1375 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz CA 95066

Come to the Church street enterence.

Tagged as: freelance, freelance camp, Santa Cruz, Sara Isenberg

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Freelance Camp August 15, 2009

by Sara Isenberg on June 23, 2009

in Conferences,Entrepreneurship,Events,Santa Cruz,Sara Isenberg,Uncategorized

Last year, Freelance Camp in Santa Cruz was one
of the best events of the year!  Here’s the scoop on
this year’s Freelance Camp 2009.  Register ASAP.
This will sell out.  Be there or be square!
www.freelancecamp.org
F   R   E   E   L   A   N   C   E       C   A   M   P   :

S   A   N   T   A       C   R   U   Z

Saturday, August 15, 2009 | 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Come hang out August 15th in the amazing coastal city of Santa Cruz, California (bring your beach towel)!

Freelance Camp is a place to discuss and explore the different approaches to running a successful freelance business / small service company. Thanks to our very cool sponsors, the cost of Freelance Camp is only $25.

Come ready to learn, and if you are up to it, ready to talk!

Register for the Event Now!

Space is limited to 300 people and we will close signup at that point, so don’t miss out.

Stay Connected

Stay connected leading up to and after the event via our Facebook Freelance Camp Group

Event Details
Location Rittenhouse Building
1375 Pacific Ave,
Santa Cruz, CA
Cost $25 General Admission
Free for Students
and Hardship Cases
Included Breakfast, Lunch, and
After Party
and 27oz stainless Klean
Kanteen
URL www.freelancecamp.org

Who Should Come?

If you sell your services (or are considering it), you are a perfect fit:

  • Developers
  • Designers
  • Accountants
  • Bloggers / Journalists
  • Realtors
  • Lawyers
  • Carpenters
  • Engineers
  • Financial advisers
  • Marketers
  • Sales
  • Musicians
  • Artists
  • Inventors

Historically, the bulk of attendees are from hi-tech. We encourage all types of owners to come to provide a balanced perspective to business.

What To Expect

We have based our events on the Barcamp format, which is a network of user generated participatory events whose content is fully provided by the participants. Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn is welcome and invited to join. Here are some tips on how to prepare:

  1. Come with an answer and some questions to help make the agenda in the morning
  2. Hang out with cool people and compare notes with other business owners in similar industries.
  3. Meet folks who could help your business and / or others whom you can help.
  4. Find potential clients, subcontractors and partners.
  5. Work together to figure out how we can all get more time and money out of our companies.

Never heard of a bar camp? Here is a quick intro:
BarCamp is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants.
how it works | the rules
O U R   S P O N S O R S

We have been blessed with a phenomenal outpouring of sponsorship offers this year so we wanted to give a quick shout out to some pretty special groups that are nurturing this year’s event!

Baskin & Grant

Since 1979, Baskin & Grant has been committed to providing excellent legal services in a broad range of practice areas. Their services include Intellectual Property, Business Law, Family Law, Estate Planning, and Civil litigations. Baskin & Grant embodies the relaxed and accessible ambiance of Santa Cruz, with the intensity, focus, and success rate of a big city firm.

City of Santa Cruz

The City of Santa Cruz, located between lush redwood forests and the Pacific Ocean, is one the most beautiful environments to start anything, whether that is a new family or a new business. Boasting a unique blend of camaraderie, community and cooperation (and easy access to Silicon Valley talent and services) Santa Cruz thrives on a long history of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Cruzio

Technology For Your Next 20 Years

Cruzio Internet is the largest and longest running Internet Service Provider in Santa Cruz County. They are the high-speed DSL and Web Hosting leader for local business and home subscribers. Committed to changing and growing to meet their members’ needs, Cruzio now offers in-store computer repair and Joomla, SEO and ecommerce classes. It’s hard to believe that Cruzio first opened their doors when most current UCSC students were just born. As time flies by, their commitment to quality service and supporting local non profit organizations has never wavered. With over 10,000 members, Cruzio provides excellent Internet services coupled with one of the most flexible and intelligent tech teams out there.

Elance

Elance is the leading site for online work where businesses connect with independent professionals to get work done. On Elance, businesses find the experts they need plus the tools to manage online work from hiring to collaboration to making payment. Elance offers companies flexibility, cost effectiveness and instant access to a vast pool of skilled and tested talent. Professionals use Elance to find work, deliver great results and get paid for doing what they do best.

Happy Santa Cruz

Happy Santa Cruz is here to help make Santa Cruz, California the happiest place on earth. We’ll be continually creating high-quality, locally inspired and produced products that effectively communicate the positive aspects of Santa Cruz. These products will mirror our enthusiasm for Santa Cruz and its inhabitants, and we hope they do the same for those who wear them. Visit us at www.happysantacruz.com and tell us why Santa Cruz makes YOU happy!

Hope Foundry

Hope Foundry creates budget-friendly Drupal sites by providing professional job training, free of charge, to aspiring developers. Our goal is to make development training accessible to everyone regardless of income, while offering businesses the opportunity to purchase web services at a reduced cost. The money a client pays for a website supports the education of Hope Foundry students. Our sponsored job training model is part of an ongoing effort to create jobs locally while stimulating economy globally.

NextSpace

NextSpace is a coworking and innovation space located in the heart of Downtown Santa Cruz, CA. The mission of NextSpace is to catalyze local talent, local ideas, and local capital in Santa Cruz to create products, services, and solutions for the global marketplace. Our members are part of a community of innovators who are passionately committed to building the next generation of the Santa Cruz economy. Santa Cruz is full of talented freelancers, entrepreneurs, designers, engineers, programmers, consultants, and investors.

Palace Office Supply & Office Interiors

Palace started in Monterey in the 1890’s, expanded to Santa Cruz in the ’40s and was purchased by the Trowbridge family in 1949. Palace has grown exponentially acquiring 9 other independent office supply companies throughout the Central Coast. Today, we are the largest independent dealer of art and office supplies, and office furniture in Santa Cruz and Monterey. We clearly understand that we are the Local Alternative to the Mega Companies and we know that we must try harder, be more creative, add value, offer equal to/or better pricing and out service our competition everyday to continue to earn the privilege of being in business. We have built this family owned company and our reputation on doing exactly as we have promised: giving world-class service locally and truly saving our customers money everyday on both office supplies and office furniture.

Parachute Creative

Parachute Creative is a Santa Cruz based collective specializing in design, branding, digital media solutions and marketing. Our passion for aesthetic forward thinking drives us to generate stimulating and representative design, prevalent in the versatility and originality of our creative process. We strive to contribute to our community to promote sustainable growth, innovation, collaboration and most of all: the ability to adapt in any climate. Underpinned by a maxim of uncompromising quality, free formed concepts will fit seamlessly within the client’s tone and roots.

Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup

Spearheaded by tech-enthusiast Doug Erickson, the SCNT MeetUp stems from the idea of harnessing the true potential, knowledge and skills of Santa Cruz tech professionals who either work or have had extensive industry experience in Silicon Valley. The SCNT MeetUp strives to create this community of technologists in order to expand strategic community thinking regarding quality of life and prosperity of the city of Santa Cruz. Through persistence and dedication, what started out as a meeting of just 39 attendees at the police department’s community room, is now a vibrant association of 720 members.

Shane and Peter

Our mission is to build a comprehensive network of independent contractors and to mediate their skills with the business needs of our clients. At S&P we go beyond providing comprehensive web services; we help identify and pursue opportunities relevant to our client’s core business, leading to new profit centers and improved workflow. Using cutting-edge design and development tools, backed by years of industry experience, S&P delivers premium results quickly and efficiently. We build teams to meet your challenges.

Small Business Development Center of Northern California

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC), located at Cabrillo College, offers numerous resources and tools for business to thrive and survive. Given the current economic climate, the SBDC is a true gem for all the services and guidance they provide in running a successful business. New and existing businesses can leverage the Center’s consulting services to review existing processes, operations and cash flow while planning for the future.

Studio Holladay

Established in 2005, a consultancy that specialized in marketing, design, branding, photography and custom web-based solutions.

Sugar CRM

SugarCRM is the world’s leading commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM) system. Sugar is designed to be used by businesses as small as an individual, as well as by the largest sales, marketing and customer support teams. With an amazing amount of flexibility to meet the needs of any business, Sugar can help you attract and manage more customers while driving customer satisfaction levels – all without increasing your cost of doing business. Regardless of your industry or business model, Sugar can help you gain visibility into your operations to best optimize your business objectives – in a fast, affordable manner.

Tagged as: #freelancecamp, Business, freelance, freelance camp, Santa Cruz, Sara Isenberg

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Best Overview of Santa Cruz Tech Community

by Sara Isenberg on April 16, 2009

in Articles,NextSpace,Santa Cruz,Santa Cruz Geeks,Santa Cruz New Tech Meetup,Sara Isenberg,SC Design + Innovation Center

Here is a must read article for anybody who is interested in the state of the Tech Scene in Santa Cruz.  Jeremy Neuner give a great overview here:

http://nextspace.us/2009/04/state-of-the-santa-cruz-tech-scene/

Here is the complete article by Jeremy Neuner:

The other day, I spent the morning hanging out with Margaret Rosas, Founder and Chief Strategist at the strategic web consultancy Quiddities. The Santa Cruz Sentinel had just run a story on Margaret and her team (we lovingly call them The Q-Mamas) about how their company—and our town—thrive on collaboration. As we washed coffee cups (a morning ritual at NextSpace), Margaret and I reminisced about the first time we spoke to each other over the phone in October 2007 and how we both lamented the lack of a vibrant, collaborative tech scene here in Santa Cruz. And then we marveled at how far our town and our amazingly innovative tech community have come lately.

So, inspired by my conversation with Margaret, here’s a quick (okay, not so quick!) run-down of what’s happened over the past 18 months regarding the tech scene in Santa Cruz. Please take a look. And if I’ve missed something, please drop a comment and let me know. Meanwhile, I think you’ll be pretty damn impressed with the state of the tech community in Santa Cruz….

Geek Dinners

It all started on November 30, 2007 with the inaugural Santa Cruz Geek Dinner. Local visionaries Margaret Rosas, Sean Tario, and Sol Lipman decided to put a stake in the ground, gather some talented people, and start building a community. One of the attendees, David Beach, predicted that this dinner would be the first of a series of events that would put Santa Cruz back on the tech map.  Beach’s words proved prophetic.Through the Geek Dinners, Beach met Sol Lipman. Together, along with Jakey Knobel, they started 12seconds.tv, the hottest social media start-up on the planet. I think that counts as “putting Santa Cruz back on the tech map.” The Geek Dinners continue to draw dozens of talented Santa Cruzans every month.

Santa Cruz Geeks

Hard on the heels of the Geek Dinners came the Santa Cruz Geeks, a virtual and physical community of local techies. Now over 250 strong, the Geeks form the backbone of the Santa Cruz tech community. Most important, the Geeks prove that this town is chock full of talented, innovative, successful tech professionals who are passionately committed to building great companies in Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center

January 2008 marked the official launch of the Santa Cruz Design + Innovation Center. Recognizing that Santa Cruz is a hub of world-class design talent, the SCD+IC was formed as an advocacy group to promote that talent to the rest of the world. Over 300 people packed into an auditorium at Plantronics for the SCD+IC’s launch event, proving that the design and technology community in Santa Cruz was hungry for opportunities to organize, network, and collaborate. Aside: Plantronics is one of Santa Cruz’s great home-grown companies. They designed the headset that Neil Armstrong wore on the moon in 1969 and have been designing great products in Santa Cruz ever since.Rockstar/Boy-Genius Darrin Caddes is Plantronics VP of Design and is a huge (and remarkably humble) fixture in the Santa Cruz tech scene.

Santa Cruz New Technology Alliance MeetUp

Another local visionary, Doug Erickson, started the Santa Cruz New Tech Alliance MeetUp in February 2008. Like many of us in Santa Cruz, Doug has deep professional connections in Silicon Valley. But he knew very few of his fellow Santa Cruzans. Yet, he had a pretty strong hunch that there was a community-in-waiting of local techies in this town. So Doug started the New Tech MeetUp. He had three goals: create a monthly networking event for Santa Cruz high tech professionals, increase our exposure to new technologies that would tickle our geek gears, and stimulate beachhead startups. With humble beginnings (39 attendees crammed into the police department’s community room with no Internet access), Doug has grown the MeetUp into an organization nearly 600 strong.

Approval of the Delaware Addition

In July 2008, the Santa Cruz City Council unanimously approved the Delaware Addition project. Designed by local architect Mark Primack and spearheaded by Craig French from Redtree Properties, this 20 acre, LEED-certified, mixed-use, live/work development on the city’s Westside will provide the infrastructure that the next generation of Santa Cruz companies will need. Most important, the approval of Delaware Addition is the first major piece of public policy indicating that this community understands the direction that the local economy is heading: towards smaller, collaborative, environmentally-minded, high-tech businesses.

Freelance Camp

For a long time, the Santa Cruz tech scene has been famously decentralized. Many Santa Cruzans work as consultants, independent contractors, or telecommuters for larger companies in Silicon Valley and throughout the rest of the world. But independents lack opportunities for community, collaboration, and connection. So Shane Pearlman and Peter Chester (they run a company called, you guessed it, Shane & Peter, Inc.) decided to herd the cats. In August 2008, they hosted Freelance Camp for over 125 freelancers and independent consultants. This barcamp-style unconference provided yet another community-building opportunity as local freelancers shared ideas on how to run a one-person shop. Even better, Freelance Camp has become a home-grown national phenomenon, with similar conferences popping up in places like Miami, Houston, and Austin. Hey, just one more step in putting Santa Cruz back on the tech map.

Digital Media Factory

Santa Cruz is building a new digital information industry. And Marty Collins, CEO of the Digital Media Factory and thirty-year industry veteran, is leading the charge. In Marty’s words, “the Digital Media Factory is a multi-business facility for the design, development, production, replication, management, and distribution of digital information products.” In my words, DMF is pure genius. Why? Because Marty believes in community. He’s gathered over a dozen digital media businesses under one roof to share resources, talent, and opportunities. Even more important, Marty is leveraging the immense talent pool at UC Santa Cruz. He’s developed partnerships with UC Santa Cruz’s Digital Arts and New Media program, as well as the UCSC Baskin School of Engineering. Which brings me to…..

UC Santa Cruz/City of Santa Cruz Legal Settlement

Universities are amazing repositories of talents, ideas, and innovations. From an economic perspective, universities are fertile ground for new companies that can boost the economies of their host cities. Heck, Silicon Valley was practically built by Stanford spin-outs. Why can’t that phenomenon happen with UC Santa Cruz and the City of Santa Cruz? It can. And it will, especially now that the UCSC and the City have stopped suing the bejeezus out of each other over UCSC’s long-range development plan. The legal settlement, announced in August 2008, marks the beginning of what I call “The Great Thaw.” It’s high time for the UCSC to show some leadership in using its pool of talent to help build local business and the local economy. And it’s even higher time for the citizens of Santa Cruz to recognize that UCSC is a tremendous asset to the community, rather than a liability. I’m incredibly optimistic.

NextSpace Grand Opening

Amidst all of this excitement, NextSpace Coworking + Innovation, Inc. officially opened its doors on October 1, 2008. We started with a handful of true-believing early adopters.  But in six short months, our community of innovators has grown to over 100 strong.  What’s happening at NextSpace?  A lot.  Take a look at this post on The NextSpace Effect for a quick rundown. Mostly, I want to acknowledge that NextSpace would not be possible without the vision, passion, and hard work of all of the people mentioned in this post.

Radio Engage

New media? Old media? The smart ladies at Quiddities think you can have both.  They received a Knight News Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to fund their new project Radio Engage.  In their words, Radio Engage is a platform allowing public radio stations to create a web presence that will draw their local community in and invite them to participate through social media.  In my words, Radio Engage will totally revolutionize how public radio stations interact with their listeners.  Quiddities teamed up with Santa Cruz’s own KUSP as a test platform for Radio Engage.  As part of the project, Quiddities hosted Public Media Camp in November 2008, bringing  public media and social media experts from around the country to Santa Cruz to discuss the future of public radio.  Are you catching the themes that we’re building here: high tech, collaborative, community-based business and innovation.

Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Remember how I said a minute ago that I was incredibly optimistic about the emerging relationship between the City of Santa Cruz and UC Santa Cruz? Here’s the first proof point: The Pilot Project for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Hatched in December 2008 by Bonnie Lipscomb (City of Santa Cruz Director of Economic Development) and Nirvikar Singh (Special Assistant to the Chancellor at UCSC), PPIE brings together undergraduate business teams from UCSC with local business mentors. The first round of projects focused on bicycles and other forms of alternative transportation, a perfect fit for the tech-savvy, sustainability-focused crowd in Santa Cruz.

Launch of CruzBusiness.com

Peter Koht, the economic development coordinator for the City of Santa Cruz, is a man on a mission. Peter knew that the City offered plenty of economic development resources, but those resources were often disparate and hard to find. Seemingly overnight, Peter launched CruzBusiness.com, an interactive, community-based portal for information about starting and sustaining a business in Santa Cruz. Peter’s work is an important step in accomplishing his—and the City’s—mission of recruiting, attracting, and retaining great businesses in Santa Cruz.

The Envision Santa Cruz Summit

In March 2009, Sean Tario (man, that guy is everywhere!) hosted the first Envision Santa Cruz Summit at the UCSC University Center. Sean’s objectives for the Summit were to assemble thought leaders in local entrepreneurship and economic development, to celebrate the amazing companies and resources in Santa Cruz, and to inspire Santa Cruzans to take a more active role in building their local economy. Over 150 people showed up to discuss the economic future of our community. Decades from now, when someone writes a book about the economic history of Santa Cruz, Sean’s summit will definitely be one of the highlights.

Girls in Tech

The latest group on the scene is the Santa Cruz chapter of Girls in Tech.  Founded by Seana Sullivan and Victoria Crimmins, this group focuses on “engagement, education and empowerment of like-minded, professional, intelligent and influential women in technology.”  Their first event brought author and journalist Sarah Lacy to town. More important, this group provides a much-needed acknowledgement and celebration of the critical contributions that women make to our local tech scene.

UC Santa Cruz Business Plan Competition

Right now, as I type, as you read, 16 business teams from UCSC are going head-to-head in the first-ever UCSC Business Plan Competition. The semi-finals are on April 17, 2009, and the finals are in late May 2009. Local investors, bankers, and business leaders are judging the competition. Remember how I said a minute ago that I was incredibly optimistic about the emerging relationship between the City of Santa Cruz and UC Santa Cruz? The UCSC Business Plan Competition is proof point #2. Stay tuned….

Right, so, that’s the low-down. This has been a long post, mostly because so many cool things are happening in Santa Cruz around high tech, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and community-based economies. We’ve come a long way as a community in the past 18 months. So where are we now?  I think the best benchmark is the number of companies that have started up or are ready to scale here in Santa Cruz.  Here’s a quick list of just a handful:  12seconds, UserVoice, Pergamum Systems, ProductOps, Intuvo, RideSpring, ZoomPool, Verdafero, Zazengo, Studio Cruz, and Digital Media Factory.  Not too shabby for this beautiful, brilliant, creative, innovative little seaside town.

As I said at the top, please comment if I’ve missed something in this lengthy round-up.Meanwhile, what’s next? I have some ideas. What are yours?

Tagged as: 12seconds.tv, co-working, CruzBusiness.com, Digital Media Factory, Envision, freelance camp, Girls in Tech, Jeremy Neuner, KUSP, Margaret Rosas, Mark Primack, Marty Collins, Meetup, NextSpace, Peter Koht, Plantronics, Quiddities, Radio Engage, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Geeks, Santa Cruz NextSpace, Santa Cruz Tech Meetup, Sara Isenberg, Sarah Lacy, Sean Tario, Seana Sullivan, Sol Lipman, UCSC Business Plan Competition

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Santa Cruz Public Media Camp – November 14-16, 2008

by Sara Isenberg on October 28, 2008

in Conferences,Events,Santa Cruz,Sara Isenberg

If you loved Freelance Camp last August, you’ll want to know about SC Public Media Camp (November 14-16, 2008).

Check twitter…. #publicmediacamp for tweets from the conference 

For more information, check out:
http://barcamp.org/PublicMediaCamp

Tagged as: freelance camp, Public Media Camp, Santa Cruz, Sara Isenberg

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Freelance Camp, Wiki notes

by Sara Isenberg on August 18, 2008

in Conferences,Santa Cruz,Sara Isenberg

The notes from Saturday’s Santa Cruz Freelance Camp are posted:

http://barcamp.pbwiki.com/FreelanceCampSchedule

Tagged as: #freelancecamp, freelance, freelance camp, Santa Cruz, Sara Isenberg

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"Startup gives freelancers, entrepreneurs a chance to work in downtown Santa Cruz"

by Sara Isenberg on August 15, 2008

in Conferences,Santa Cruz,Sara Isenberg

A new reason not to commute –

Check out today’s Santa Cruz Sentinel front page article “Startup gives freelancers, entrepreneurs a chance to work in downtown Santa Cruz” about NextSpace. NextSpace is a new downtown co-working space for freelancers, entrepreneurs and home office workers to work and cross paths at the proverbial coffee pot.  Place like this are one of the reasons I love Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz can also be proud of Santa Cruz Next, the relatively new local organization committed to providing a fun, hip and diverse environment to discuss issues affecting the next generation of our community. 

This is great press is just in time for tomorrow’s Freelance Camp in downtown Santa Cruz.

Tagged as: #freelancecamp, co-working, freelance camp, launching NextSpace, NextSpace, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz Next, Sara Isenberg

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Freelance Camp in Santa Cruz – August 16, 2008

by Sara Isenberg on August 6, 2008

in Conferences,Santa Cruz

I’m very much looking forward to SC FREELANCE CAMP – August 16, 2008.
The buzz has been so great, I think think the registration is now closed, but hopefully there will be more events like this coming to Santa Cruz: 

http://www.freelancecamp.org
 http://barcamp.org/Freelance+Camp
 http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/710228

Tagged as: #freelancecamp, freelance, freelance camp, Santa Cruz

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