Recently I had the great fortune to be offered a scholarship for the Global Entrepreneur Accelerator Program at the Deusto Business School in Bilbao, Spain.

So next week I’m going to be in Bilbao knee deep in global entrepreneurship acceleration! Yay! :)

I’m incredibly humbled to receive such an honor and super excited to going back to university and meeting a lot of new awesome people!

My old school I dropped out of way back in the last century sure didn’t look like this…

Thank you so much for this awesome opportunity, Chris (@cshipley)!

I’m incredible excited and humbled to share with you that our bootstrapped startup Gauss – The People Magnet has been selected to showcase at the prestigious Tech Cocktail #Startuplife Celebration event at SXSW in Austin, TX on March 10th!

We’re honored to be selected for this group of highly esteemed startups!

VOTE!

for the People’s Choice Award! (Many of those other startups are well-funded and supported so we ned all the help we can get!)

Head over to this page, scroll down, check the button next to “Gauss – The People Magnet” and click the button labeled “Vote” at the bottom of the page.

EVERY DAY!

Help spread, tweet and share the message and VOTE for your favorite bootstrapped startup for the People’s Choice Award! Thank you! <3

If you want to talk, meet up, hang out and perhaps grab a beer or a coffee with us at SXSW, chat us up on twitter @getGauss, say hi on Facebook or drop us an email, call or iMessage us at +4915140133149.

I recently had the pleasure to hold a WTF lecture at the Knowmads business school in Amsterdam.

The subject of my talk was social capital, the difference between bonding capital and bridging capital, why I believe we need more of the latter and how I share the belief that we live in a network economy; I believe it’s no longer about what you know or how you know – It’s about how many types of people you know.

It’s a subject near and dear to me and one of the reasons I’m co-founding Gauss – The People Magnet.

Knowmads is a business school that educate young creative entrepreneurial spirits. Check out this video to learn more:

Thanks for having me over, guys! It was a hoot! I hope we can do it again some time. :)

We at @getGauss made it to LeWeb 2011 all because of people like YOU helped vote us there! We are very grateful for your support!

Have you been wondering what our bootstrapped startup is all about? Watch our live world premiere from on stage at LeWeb in Paris:

This is what Gauss – The People Magnet is all about:

Be sure to let me know what you think!

Our bootstrapped startup Gauss – The People Magnet (@getGauss) has made it to the @LeWeb Startup Competition semi finals! Now we need you to vote for us and help us spread the word so we will be one of the 16 startups allowed to pitch at the @LeWeb finals in Paris in December.

Here’s how:

1. Visit http://is.gd/gaussleweb and click the “vote” button to the right of the video.

2. Spread the link http://is.gd/gaussleweb to everybody in the universe!

3. Come back and visit http://is.gd/gaussleweb every 24 hours until November 13th and give us another vote by clicking the vote button to the right of the video.

Thanks! <3

I’ve been way too busy lately and should probably have filled you in on what the hell I am up to these days much earlier. Anyways – here’s the lowdown.

As I alluded to a while back, I’m co-founding a new tech startup in the social/local/mobile space. It just took a hell of a lot longer than expected to assemble a willing and able crew of bootstrappers to make it happen, but now it’s finally happening!

Introducing ‘Gauss – The People Magnet’!

Did you ever find yourself wondering if you are missing out on meeting interesting relevant people around you right now? Gauss (@getGauss) answers that question for you; It discovers, helps you with approaching, connecting and actually meeting up with the people relevant to you around you right now.

Gauss (@getGauss) is a real-time proximity based discovery and introduction engine. The first product we’re shipping is an iPhone app; a People Magnet for your pocket.

You connect the app with the social networks and services that you currently use (like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc), pocket the magnet and carry on. Gauss will instantly start with discovering and attracting relevant people to you.

Gauss aims to reduce the seeming randomness of serendipitous encounters and the hassles related to approaching and connecting with relevant new people in lasting and meaningful ways.

Gauss is also the unit of measurement of a magnetic field, named after the legendarily awesome German mathematician and physicist Carl Friedrich Gauss.

Be sure to sign up and spread the word for an early beta access if this sounds like your kind of thing! You can read more on the Gauss Blog.

I (and most likely almost all of you) never thought it would come to this; I actually completed a half-marathon, the Hella Hamburg Half-Marathon. Yay!

Albeit on inline skates.

Albeit with busted ball-bearings. In cold gusty head winds. In the pouring rain.

It was a literal hell on wheels – imagine chewing on a tablespoon of sand and you’ll get a feeling for how smooth and effortless my ball-bearings were turning – but at least I didn’t quit. I kept going until I crossed the finish line. Only to skate in to the right (but the wrong) side of the time recording mat. Doh!

Oh, well. Finishing instead of throwing my skates in the Binnenalster and quitting the race was enough of a victory for me.

Mental note to self: Bring an extra set of ball-bearings or skates to the next competition.

Dear friends and random strangers! You might have noticed that I’ve been extraordinarily boring quiet in the last couple of months. The reason is that I’m working on the next big thing ™ bootstrapping a new startup with partners. It’s not like it’s the new F-117 but we’re kinda stealthy about it still.

We think we are addressing a real-life problem by tapping into existing potential to mitigate it. I know that isn’t saying much but I’m super excited about this! We’re either changing the world or going home on this one.

We’re all about doing the heavy lifting aggregating power and wrangling leveraging technology to work for people – real people like you and your family and friends and colleagues – and not the other way around. (Ok, maybe not for you, you and you – but for YOU!)

It may just be a small step in a nacent field, but we think its potential to make a difference in your life is just awesome. We are extremely passionate about it. We want to be able to share our vision with you any-day-real-soon-now!

What makes us perhaps a little different than most of your average garden-variety tech startups – besides our vision – is our eclectic team. Our team consist of seasoned pros with a couple of merit badges of their own. I am super excited to have them onboard!

I think there’s such a great background story behind it all too. I wish I could tell you more right now.

Should you be looking to invest, our Keynote deck is quite fancy and our enthusiasm for our vision highly contagious, but we’d love to get back to you in a month’s time or so when our own money, blood, sweat and tears has transmogrified into proof.

If you’re interested to know more I would love to have a coffee with you right about now. If you’re interested in contributing, help out or join, come aboard – we’re expecting you!

Let’s talk! My iPhone is as always +49 (0) 151 40 133 149. My mail is as always vidar@blacktar.com. My lines are as always open. :)

Friends, as you know – within a month I got downsized and re-hired.

As I now touch on the topic again, it is to tell you that the last re-hire did not work out. Not for me, nor for the company who hired me.

Wrong timing, we all agreed. Time to move on. It’s ok.

Hindsight has 20/20 vision. I probably shouldn’t have jumped headfirst into another relationship within the same month that I got out of an old one. On the other hand, we didn’t marry and we didn’t have any kids – thus the breakup was quite clean and amicable. So you know, it won’t be awkward seeing us together again at that cocktail party. On the contrary; it will be good sporting fun. Shift happens. We’re both mature enough to deal with that. Just don’t let us share the cab home – who knows what could happen. ;)

I am really greatful that I got to know a bunch of very talented and brilliant people during my short stint. I’d say that alone made it worth the experience.

Alas, as of now I am a free agent, taking time to enjoy life and to enjoy the good conversation with new and old friends.

As always, I’m looking for great new conversations – so do not hesitate to get in touch. I know you have some great stories to share!

Deutsch?

Do you work in or with Social Media? Marketing or PR perhaps? Maybe you’re working in a completely different field and are curious about what exactly this Social Media thingamajig is all about? Are you a gear head or a techie with a burning passion for Social Media? Maybe you’re in a company or NGO that has already embraced it, maybe in a company, NGO or GO that fears and shuns it? Are you an Social Media champion inside or outside your company or organization? Are you perhaps an independent enthusiast brimming with Social Media chutzpah? Maybe you think Social Media is a fleeting fad, the emperor’s new clothes and the greatest evil facing humanity in the 21st century [and your name is Andrew Keen]? Do you live or work in or around Cologne, Germany? Maybe both? Perhaps you’re based outside of Cologne but keep constantly looking for excuses to travel to Cologne for lunch? Do you really need more than the Dom, Carnival and Kölsch beer to lure you to Cologne? Do you keep reading through really long paragraphs on obscure blogs with silly names?

Well, then the Social Media Lunch Cologne is most certainly for you.

What?

It’s an informal regular event in Cologne inspired by the Social Media Breakfast founded by Bryan Person where social media experts and n00bs alike come together to eat, meet, share, and learn.

When?

The very first Social Media Lunch Cologne launches

Thursday the 1st of July 2010, 12:30 – 14:00 CET.

Be sure to not miss out on the “I was there” bragging rights – success or failure notwithstanding! If you can’t make it – don’t be sorry for long. There’s going to be another Social Media Lunch Cologne just for you. Or one that you can quite possibly make it to. Sometime.

Where?

The idea is to keep rotating places in the Cologne inner city for variation. The first Social Media Lunch Cologne will be held at the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Köln.

How?

Tell all your friends, colleagues and relatives to come (or stay away, respectively), show up at the venue sometime during the timeframe or drive by and wave to the rest – just wing it and do it your way. Whatever you do be sure to bring some lunchmoney allowing for a handsome tip. That’s basically it.

If you feel like connecting and spreading the awesomeness, perhaps already craving to commit that RSVP – there’s a facebook page and blog for that.

No registration needed, though – It’s informal, remember?

If you’re into #hashtags feel free to use #smlcgn for your tagging and labeling needs.

Why?

Well, why on earth not? I personally am a grumpy zombie in the morning, I don’t eat breakfast and I currently don’t live in North America. I don’t know about you, but I do certainly need to eat lunch each and every day and I do live and work in Cologne, Germany and constantly find myself trying to fill the lunch hour with additional value to go with the grub.

Do we need another Social Media Meetup in Cologne? I personally think there’s potential in a local lunchtime event on a regular basis for helping Social Media professionals, the curious and enthusiasts alike, narrowing our serendipity funnel and helping to add value to our common passions and interests. I’ll let you be the judge if we really need it.

It is definitely NOT a replacement for or competition to other excellent social events and initiatives in Cologne like pl0gbar, twitwoch, Online-Stammtisch Köln, likemind, Last Tuesday, Web Montag and others. I have tremendous respect and bundles of love for the guys behind those initiatives and I for one will still be attending those event like before. Not to worry.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Bryan Person for the original inspiration and Robert Wallis and Daniel Backhaus for their early support and encouragement.

Disclaimers

This is not a sponsored event. I’m not getting paid for this nor do I aim to make a profit. Sponsors may be sought in the future to help cover potential costs, and I promise to always be transparent on these issues. My views are my own and may not reflect those of my employer(s).

If you find yourself compelled to treat this event as your own sales show and hawk your services and/or products, please consider that people may laugh at you. Loudly. In public. It could even escalate to throwing of bread crumbs. Consider yourself advised.

Get in touch

What do you think? Would you attend? What would you expect? What would you like to talk about? Do you have something to show? Do you have some great ideas? Suggestions? Improvements? Special dietary requirements? Fears, uncertainties and doubts? Let me know – in the comments below, on twitter, facebook, mail me or call me (DE +49 (0) 221 3023 953 – INT +1 (650) 450-8047, both CET)!

I personally woud be thrilled even if only one person showed up for the first event. That would be truly awesome! Hope to see you there!

- Vidar ‘blacktar’ Andersen, Cologne and the Internets 15.06.2010

—

Arbeitest Du im Social Media oder beschäftigst Du Dich mit diesem Thema? Vielleicht im Marketing oder PR-Bereich? Vielleicht arbeitest Du aber auch in einem komplett anderen Bereich, bist aber neugierig was es mit dem Begriff Social Media auf sich hat. Bist Du ein Techie mit einer glühenden Leidenschaft für alles Digitale? Vielleicht bist Du aber auch in einer Firma die Social Media als neuen Kanal für sich entdeckt oder diesen wegen seiner  Neuartigkeit fürchtet und meidet? Bist Du ein Social Media Champion innerhalb oder außerhalb einer Firma oder Organisation? Bist Du ein unabhängiger Enthusiast randvoll mit Social Media Chuzpe? Es könnte natürlich auch sein, dass Du denkst Social Media ist eine Modeerscheinung, des Königs neue Kleider oder das größte Teufelszeug des 21. Jahrhunderts (und Du heißt Andrew Keen)? Lebst und arbeitest Du in oder in der Nähe von Köln? Oder beides? Vielleicht lebst Du auch außerhalb Kölns, suchst aber immer nach Ausreden um nach Köln zum Lunch zu reisen? Braucht es mehr als den Dom, Karneval oder Kölsch Dich nach Köln zu locken? Liest Du immer noch lange Absätze in obskuren Blogs mit komischen Namen?

Nun dann ist der Social Media Lunch Cologne genau das Richtige für Dich.

Was das ist?

Der Social Media Lunch Cologne ist ein informelles, regelmäßiges Event in Köln inspiriert durch das Social Media Breakfast welches von Bryan Person gegründet wurde. Social Media Experten und Newbies nehmen gleichermaßen bei einem gepflegten Mittagessen teil,  um sich auszutauschen und voneinander zu lernen.

Der Lunch ist definitiv kein Ersatz oder Konkurrenz zu Veranstaltungen in Köln wie pl0gbar, twitwoch, Online-Stammtisch Köln, likemind, Last Tuesday, Web Montag oder anderen. Ich habe großen Respekt und jede Menge Hochachtung für die Köpfe hinter diesen Initiativen und ich werde diese auch weiterhin besuchen.

Wann?

Der erste Social Media Lunch Köln findet am Donnerstag, 01.07.2010, 12:30-14:00 Uhr statt.  Wer beim ersten Mal dabei ist kann für sich den First Mover Status beanspruchen, ungeachtet des Erfolgs oder Misserfolgs. Wenn Du es nicht schaffen solltest, mach Dir keine Sorgen, der nächste Social Media Lunch kommt bestimmt.

Wo?

Die Idee ist den Lunch an verschiedenen Orten innerhalb Kölns stattfinden zu lassen. Der erste Social Media Lunch wird im Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst Köln stattfinden.

Wie?

Erzähle Deinen Freunden, Kollegen oder Verwandten, dass sie irgendwann während des Zeitfensters vorbeischauen (beziehungsweise wegbleiben) sollen. Alternativ kannst Du auch nur vorbeifahren und winken. Tu wonach immer Dir ist. Vergiss nicht das Geld fürs Mittagessen und ein bisschen Trinkgeld mitzubringen. Das ist dann auch schon alles.

Wenn Dir nach connecten und teilen ist, wir haben eine Facebookseite und Blog dafür.

Registrierung ist nicht nötig – denn es ist informell, ne?

Wenn Du #Hashtags magst benutze doch #smlcgn als Label und Kategorie.

Warum?

Nun warum nicht? Ich bin ein unleidlicher Zombie am Morgen und frühstücke nicht. Ich weiß nicht wie es Dir geht, aber ich esse jeden Tag zu Mittag, ich lebe in Köln und versuche immer die Mittagspause mit etwas Sinnvollem zu füllen.

Brauchen wir ein weiteres Social Media Treffen in Köln? Ich glaube das es einen Bedarf an einem lokalem, regelmäßigem Mittagessen Event gibt, an dem Social Media Profis, genauso wie die Neugierigen und Enthusiasten sich austauschen, inspirieren und ihre Passion teilen können.

Ich überlasse die Notwendigkeit eines solchen Events Eurem Urteil.

Danksagungen

Danke an Bryan Person für die initiale Inspiration und Robert Wallis and Daniel Backhaus für die frühzeitige Unterstützung und Ermutigung.

Disclaimer

Dies ist kein gesponsertes Event. Ich werde dafür nicht bezahlt noch beabsichtige ich Profit daraus zu schlagen.  Sponsoren werden vielleicht zukünftig angestrebt, aber nur um mögliche Kosten abzudecken und ich verspreche bei diesem Punkt maximale Transparenz walten zu lassen.

Meine Ansichten sind meine eigenen und nicht die meines Arbeitgebers.

Wenn Du Dich gezwungen fühlst diese Veranstaltung als Deine eigene Vertriebsplattform zu nutzen, dann rechne damit, dass Dich die Leute auslachen könnten. Laut. Sehr laut und öffentlich. Eventuell kommt es soweit, dass Du mit Brotkrümeln beworfen wirst. Insoweit bist Du jetzt gewarnt.

Nimm Kontakt auf…

(Non-Flash version of the image slideshow)

I’d like to offer all the participants a big THANK YOU! Looking forwards to be seeing you guys either in Sorento and/or Bristol. You rock! Seriously.

The official German DZUG press release describes the results of the sprint quite well, so I thought I’d be a lazy bastard attach my crude translation below. Feel free to quote it, reuse and repost it as you may see fit.

PRESS RELEASE

DZUG e.V. (German speaking Zope User Group)

Forsterstr. 29 ∙ 06112 Halle (Saale)

Visuals: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12317756@N08/4448944324/

Official hash tag: #cathedralsprint

The Plone Cathedral Sprint 2010 in Cologne comes to a successful end

Over 25 Python developers from Europe, North and South America gathered at the GfU Cyrus AG educational institute in Cologne, Germany (http://www.gfu.net) to collectively push the development of the Plone Content Management System (CMS) forwards. As another Plone sprint, the Tahoe Snow Sprint (http://plone.org/events/community/tahoe-snow-sprint-2010 http://www.coactivate.org/projects/tahoe-snow-sprint-2010/project-home),  was being held at the same time in Tahoe, USA the developers utilized video conferencing and the differences in time zones to work on certain topics around the clock.

The sprint in Cologne was highly productive. During the sprint, the Plone 4 release manager Eric Steele even published a couple of screen casts where you could follow the progress and the results:  http://blip.tv/posts/?topic_name=cathedralsprint

More usability

The Plone Cathedral Sprint was dedicated to further improve and enhance the user experience. The search results from the native Plone search engine now return more information about the found article, making it easier for the user to find the right one. Additionally, the search results can now be further narrowed down by applying further various criteria incrementally.

The configuration of collections is also more intuitive and faster than ever before. Collections are saved search requests that show the search results as if the returned content would be located in the same area, or folder if you will, of a website. Creating extremely flexible websites is made simple by using collections and their numerous search criteria. The new collections user interface enables Webmasters to change and modify the settings faster than ever.

Commenting in Plone was extended to include moderation and captchas, thus enabling anonymous commenting in Plone out of the box.

The Plone event calendar was also enhanced to enable standard management of all-day and recurring events.

Starter help for German speaking users

Plone supports around 50 languages and is thus deployable worldwide. The numerous new functionalities of Plone 4 and the according changes to the user interface were translated to German and Dutch during the sprint. The helful links that now appear on a standard start page should be Of particular interest to German speaking users. This start page is automatically generated when creating a new Plone site. You’ll now find links to sources of information in German on the page like the Plone developer handbook and the German mailing list in addition to the documentation in English.

Sprints as culture

Sprints are a distinctiveness of the Plone, Zope and Python development culture. The list of successful and legendary sprints held all around the world is long. Traditionally, developers come together at the location of a developer community alternately and on a rotational basis to exchange ideas and work intensely focused on predefined tasks and goals. The Cologne Cathedral Sprint 2010 will probably be remembered in the Plone community for delivering results for quite a while.

About Plone

With its around 200 core developers, Plone is one of the largest Open Source projects in existence. The user friendly CMS is characterized by its workflow support, accessibility, scalability, expandability and high security.

Plone supports about 50 languages and runs on all common operating systems. Plone is Open Source software licensed under the GNU Public License (GPL).

http://plone.org/about

About the Plone Foundation

The Plone Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that was formed in May 2004 with the Apache Software Foundation as a role model. The foundation is the copyright holder of the Plone source code and the Plone trade mark. It is located in Houston, TX USA and is officially represents the developer community worldwide.

With around 200 core developers and 570 developers of Plone products the Plone community is one of the largest and most vibrant Open Source developer communities worldwide.

http://plone.org/about/foundation

About the DZUG e.V.

The DZUG e.V. considers itself the representative for the German speaking Zope users in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It seeks to better connect the interests of users and developers to enable a more efficient pooling of resources within the ever fast expanding Open Source community. The organization especially initiates projects that support spreading Zope within the German speaking world, like translation and documentation of software components and organizing training and informative events.

DZUG e.V. Deutschsprachige Zope User Group

Forsterstr. 29

06112 Halle (Saale)

Phone +49 (0) 345 122 9889 9

Fax +49 (0) 345 122 9889 1

E-Mail email@dzug.org

Press contact:

Jan Ulrich Hasecke

E-Mail juh@dzug.org

Phone +49 (0) 212 2331483

Yours sincerely,

Jan Ulrich Hasecke

Friends, from the first of March I have a new job (in the inner city of Cologne, and all). Due to acutely fortunate circumstances I have been hired, effective immediately.

I’ve been fortunate to join people interactive GmbH and I’m very appreciative and thankful for the outreach and concern they gratiously showed immediately after me being downsized.   This new found opportunity will enable the customers that I was previously working closely with  to remain in contact (yes, you guys – this means you won’t get rid of me! I will still be there for you) and I will be able to continue with global strategy development and previous long term commitments.  I am thrilled to share my experience with – and learn a lot more from – this highly accomplished and award winning company.

I’d like to take this moment offer my heartfelt thanks to everybody showing your love and support in the interim. I’m very humbled.  Many thanks to the other companies showing their sincere interest in my soul skills, knowledge and experience – you all know who you are. I’m very grateful and humbled by your attention and most generous offers. You guys all rock my world!

I’m pretty stoked about my new colleagues and the new opportunities. The future’s so bright I need a second pair of shades.

The family has expanded; My wonderful sister living in Copenhagen brought the world a big, healthy and ass-kicking boy.

One proud uncle! :)

So I went to the DNA digital workshop at Deutsche Telekom (DTAG) in Bonn following up the previous workshop in Berlin and yeah, I finally got to see the man – René Obermann – CEO of (DTAG).

The workshop partnered young tech and Internet savvy people from the DNA digital initiative with DTAG decision makers to discuss how their corporation could potentially benefit from and deploy new strategies for e.g. corporate culture and product development.

Sure enough, Obermann is every bit the charismatic leader that you’d expect him to be, but with 30 minutes of his precious time allocated to listen to the summary of our workshop, the possibility of a proper dialogue and discussion was accordingly limited. It was nice to see him take the time, though. Kudos.

It was slightly fascinating to observe the depth that some of the participating employees of DTAG would sink to in the presence of their top dog. It was like a sudden lapse of personal integrity, as if the teeth of the previous biting discussions had all but fallen out. I guess it’s all natural – the presence of the Alpha male and all that jazz – but slightly embarrassing nonetheless. I can’t help but think it would have been more productive for the discussions to not have Obermann present.

My personal conclusion of the workshop was that – although highly interesting topics and people – the Enterprise 2.0 is not my battle. I’m unfortunately not passionate enough about the topic. I have other fish to fry, bones to pick. It was an interesting ride. So long and thanks to everyone for the experience.

As long as enterprises see, in the lack of a better word, Web 2.0 as a trendy afterthought that can be tacked onto existing and outdated models of thought – it’s thanks but no thanks for me.

It is my view that Enterprise 2.0 (whatever that may be to you) involves radical paradigm shifts, by and large incompatible with current enterprise paradigms. Furthermore, I’m convinced that I as an outsider cannot change an enterprise; The real revolution and innovation comes from highly innovative and passionate individuals within the enterprise.

Here’s some more images from the workshop.

Disclaimer: I work for a company that does business with DTAG. However, I'm not getting paid nor am I instructed to write this blog or to participate in the Enterprise2.0 discussion.

Today I’m off to see the mann – René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom (DTAG) – with the DNA Digital guys in Bonn. There we will hopefully get to workshop interesting challenges of the Enterprise2.0.

What would you talk about? I’d like to know! Feel free to leave a comment on the blog or drop me a line on twitter.

Disclaimer: I work for a company that does business with DTAG. However, I'm not getting paid nor am I instructed to write this blog or to participate in the Enterprise2.0 discussion.

[tags]enterprise2.0, bonn, telekom, t-mobile, workshop, dna_d[/tags]