Well, we upped the ante and have decided to give away a total of FOUR free tickets. We received a total of 40 submissions and were really encouraged by all of the enthusiastic responses. Without further ado:

1. Brian Sierakowski – @bsierakowski – Managing Editor of Baltimore’s [StartupDigest]2, founder of CahootsApp and eCommunications & Office Manager at Greater Baltimore Tech Council.
2. Paul Kauders – @pkauders – founder of SplitGear, a Baltimore-based company hoping “to make community based sharing of equipment the norm.”
3. Leela S. – a student at Towson University. Leela has “never won anything before, so this would be a real treat.” Well, there you go.
4. Eric Oestrich – @EricOestrich and oestrich on github – a student at Towson University that participated in the debut of the Baltimore Hackathon.

We’ll contact the winners shortly.

If you didn’t win: buy a ticket – or – stay tuned! More announcements to follow.

Thanks to everyone that helped us spread the word. If you’re interested in hearing what else we’re up to then please follow us on twitter.

BohConf 2010

After an exhilarating week of hosting the Rails community in Baltimore for RailsConf, I thought it’d be helpful to share the lessons that we learned organizing BohConf.

Community Code Drives Rock!

We had a strong showing of open source authors including Wayne Seguin, Gregory Brown, Aslak Hellesøy, Chris Eppstein, Nick Gauthier and various members of Thoughtbot crew. Wayne (rvm) and Greg (prawn) in particular raved about the contributions they were able to make to their projects. Hey, I even got a new release of Timecop out thanks to a patch from Larry Marburger. Other well known OSS authors that dropped by included Rick Olson, Patrick Peak, and Josh Nichols. If you were there and we missed you, please drop us a line in the comments!

Employ Signage Everywhere

The Vim session at Monday's BarCamp (photo courtesy of Nick Gauthier)

One problem that we had was that people entering BohConf did not have a sense of what was actually taking place. Despite having a schedule posted online, it was often not clear what was underway. During the community code drives, we should have had signs next to each table pointing out which OSS authors were there to work on which projects. During the BarCamps, we could have similarly posted signs that indicated which discussions were happening at which tables.

Publish Live Updates to the Website

The thing about being internet (nerd) famous is that that doesn’t necessarily mean that anyone knows what you look like. It would have been cool to post photos on the website of the OSS authors who were currently working the Community Code Drive. Similarly we could have posted the current BarCamp sessions on the website. A countdown to the start and end of the programming contest would have been cool too.

Programming Contests Rock!

Give a bunch of nerds a dataset, a deadline, and no rules, and you get some pretty awesome efforts. Our client SpotCrime made available a dataset of crimes in Maryland in the past couple of months. Tim Johnson submitted a processing.rb time lapse visualization, Aaron Scruggs submitted a super cool and clever gource visualization, and Greg Brown and several members of his crew (Jia, Jordan and Chenoa) showed a lot of creativity with their submission of Spot the Baddy, a simple but fun interactive game where you can catch the bad guy!

Advertise the Programming Contest Better

While we were very happy with the submissions that we received for the programming contest, we felt that not nearly enough people were aware that it was taking place. Which also means that nobody knew we were giving out a $100 visa card to the best submission.

A Schedule is Important

When running an unconf for three days, you cannot simply throw out all semblance of organization and expect a success. With various people responsible for different aspects of BohConf, it was very helpful to be able to refer to the schedule when explaining what was happening at BohConf. Furthermore, it allowed us to communicate specifics well ahead of time via Twitter to those who wished to participate.

Code Retreats Rock!

Matt Scilipoti running the Code Retreat (photo courtesy of James Duncan Davidson)

…but perhaps it wasn’t the best choice to displace another BarCamp session. After a wildly successful BarCamp Monday afternoon, many folks returned Tuesday looking for another. Though the code retreat was clearly appreciated by the dozen or so folks that participated, there seemed to be a lot more interest in the BarCamp.

Momentum Slowed

Considering that Monday was tutorial day, it was unrealistic to expect us to maintain the same level of participation Tuesday and Wednesday. Not only was there a big dropoff from Monday to Tuesday, but there was another one from Tuesday to Wednesday. BarCamp Wednesday afternoon was less successful than Monday’s, the discussion groups dissipated before we even got to the last session. It’s also worth noting that those of us running BohConf were running on fumes by that point which likely contributed to the loss of momentum.

We Didn’t Market SmartLogic Well Enough

While SmartLogic is instrumental to the B’more on Rails community (as a sponsor and organizer), BohConf was actually undertaken entirely by our team at SmartLogic. We felt that we missed a big opportunity to establish our company and individuals as more visible members of the Rails community. Our team members should have all had shirts, and we should have given away stickers and buttons to all attending BohConf.

Encourage Conversation

A group discussion at BohConf (photo courtesy of Nick Gauthier)

A large format session at an event like RailsConf scales pretty well. As far as you can project a speakers image (in time and space), that’s how many people you can reach. Open space events like BohConf scale less well because the effects are personal. The benefit of attending this kind of event is a lot more subjective, because each person’s experience is different. This means it’s vital that you give plenty of opportunities for people to start conversations. The BarCamp format isn’t about presentation topics as ending points, they’re conversation starters. The folks who got the most out of the event seemed to be the ones most open to meeting new people and sharing their story.

A fantastic way to get people involved is to simply encourage them to ask, “What are you working on?” Follow up with, “tell me about that” and most geeks, passionate about their craft and otherwise quiet, will talk for an hour.

Don’t Be Shy about Asking for Help Promoting

Though we had about 100 followers prior to the start of BohConf, we failed to reach a large segment of the RailsConf attendees before the conference started. Attendee after attendee that I spoke to were hearing about BohConf for the very first time. We should have reached out to Chad, DHH and others to talk about BohConf in the weeks leading up to it. Even a few tweets would’ve given the event a nice bump.

Get a Bigger Room Next Time

Despite the waning momentum as the days went on, we were still overpacked in the conference room that we had available. Luckily on Monday we were able to hijack the adjacent media room for our use. Otherwise we would have had to turn away to half of the 80+ folks hanging out during the peak.

Finally

We had an absolute blast organizing BohConf for the community. Practically all feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive. And there are rumors that we’ll be asked to put it on again next year. Whether or not we’re the ones to undertake it, we hope that these notes will aid those embarking on similar endeavors.

An extra special thanks to Adam Bachman, Nick Gauthier, Ryan DeStefano and Matt Scilipoti for their efforts in helping to run BohConf.

If you have any comments or critiques of BohConf, please leave a comment below. Thanks to all those who attended!

Yair and I submitted MyStudentGroups, a web application we built that is currently being used by Johns Hopkins to facilitate the administration of more than 300 student organizations at Hopkins. Among other group management features, it provides a budget management component that takes a lot of the paperwork out of allocating and utilizing a group’s budget. Most importantly, it serves as the official mechanism by which Hopkins recognizes their student groups.

I don’t intend to go into much detail about our specific idea. Rather, my intentions are to (a) document our experience for the benefit of interested entrepreneurs, and (b) provide an honest critique of the process. Head straight to My Reactions if you’d prefer to skip How It Played Out.

How It Played Out

We submitted our proposal late Tuesday night (2/10). As promised, we received word back the following Tuesday (2/17) informing us that we were one of 3 selected from more than 50 submissions. Needless to say we were ecstatic, even a little surprised. They said they’d follow up with some guidelines for our presentation shortly, and we received the additional information Friday (2/20). The document was essentially an outline that asked us to cover lots of the boring stuff (revenue projections, projected burn rate, etc.). Really, nothing that wasn’t to be expected.

We spent the next four days preparing the presentation. We had already completed a lot of nitty gritty because we’re in the process of pursuing a TEDCO MTTF award to support commercialization. This allowed us to focus most of our efforts on the marketing aspects of our presentation — in other words, how were we going to get the Angels interested?

We relied quite a bit on the fact that the technology had already been created, using numbers/graphs from Google Analytics to demonstrate some already-achieved brand recognition. We worked on framing all of our negatives in a positive light. For instance, we’re very strong on the technical side of things, but rather weak on the sales/marketing. We chose to appeal to the angels and their collective experience, highlighting how and where they’d be able to contribute to our idea rather than trying to brush it off as unimportant, or worse yet “something we’d figure out.”

We were asked to arrive at ETC Canton at 6PM on Tuesday 2/24, with presentations beginning promptly at 6:30PM. MyStudentGroups was asked to present first, followed by Jonathan Olsen of MyCauseTV.com, then Jason Boseck of Mobile Parking. Each entrepreneur was allotted a combined 30 minutes for a presentation and Q&A. The most surprising aspect of the evening was, believe it or not, the fact that we actually stayed on schedule. We all gathered in the conference room at the ETC, entrepreneurs seated amongst angels. It was very informal without the “you’re you and we’re us” divide. Before getting started, angels and entrepreneurs alike gave a very quick intro (keep in mind that this was the first time Baltimore Angels gathered en masse).

Before we started, we were asked if we were willing to allow the other entrepreneurs to view our presentation. We were happy to oblige, hoping the favor would be returned when it was their turn to present. We flew through our presentation in 15 minutes without interruption (our best practice time had been 25 minutes). We immediately kicked off the Q&A with a few of our own questions in an attempt to preempt several of the concerns we anticipated, most notably that Yair and I already own and operate SmartLogic Solutions. About eight of the 11 angels present actually asked us questions, and we had to cut off the questions at 15 minutes in order to stay on schedule.

Jonathan and Jason followed, each giving us permission to stay and view their presentations. I was tempted to actually ask them questions during the Q&A, but ultimately resisted when I considered the short period allotted and the fact that I wasn’t a potential investor.

Afterwards, the angels met privately for about 20-30 minutes to recap the evening. This gave Yair and I the opportunity to get to know Jonathan and Jason a bit better. We spent time talking about each of our opportunities and even shared some contacts that we thought might be helpful to each other. I was impressed by both of them and think they’ll both find success soon.

About half of the angels made it over to the Hudson Street Stackhouse for a post-presentation drink. Unfortunately, only a couple stayed for more than a single round — what do you know, most have families, hehe.

My Reactions

This was a fantastic experience for me. We worked on a very truncated timetable, poured a ton of effort into it, executed to my expectations, and ultimately played a role in getting this movement off to a running start. Very, very fun and exciting.

Some Suggestions

I thought the Q&A could have stood to be substantially longer. The 15-minute limit on the presentation was actually perfect. It’s short enough that you really need to consider what’s worth saying, but long enough to cover the most important aspects. However, our Q&A was cut off mid-questioning….I think we could have fielded questions for at least another 15-30 minutes. One angel in particular was working on a series of questions with us when we were forced to stop even though I really wanted to continue the conversation.

I think Baltimore Angels should seriously consider buying into more of an open format. By open, I mean that more of the community should be able to observe or otherwise be a part of the presentation process. Even though Jonathan and Jason each presented after us, Yair and I were both able to learn several things from observing them. For those entrepreneurs who didn’t make the cut, this could serve as not only a mechanism by which they can learn from others, but it could be just the inspiration they need to really focus effectively on executing their ideas. Watching others succeed can often serve as quite the stimulus. I know that they have talked about holding an open meeting every other time the group meets – so I’m curious to see how this will play out.

One of the primary challenges at hand for the Baltimore Angels is creating a useful feedback loop for all interested parties. I think they could implement a policy that would require any presenters to allow access to a subset of other entrepreneurs that were considered, particularly the 5-6 closest to making the cut. As a protection to the presenters, they could be made privy to some of the executive details of the those that just missed the cut, and given (limited) ability to block any other entrepreneurs that appear to be in too similar of a space. It wouldn’t be too dissimilar from the process by which a roundtable or networking group selects its members.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that it was the first time the Angels had gathered all together, but there seemed to be an air of uncertainty within the room, moreso amongst the angels than the entrepreneurs. I suspect that each angel had their own set of expectations for how this would play out, but that none of them were really on the same page. Despite the fact that they’ll be investing independently, I think it’s important that the angels work to become more of a cohesive group. They’re viewed in the community as more of a collective entity rather than individuals, and it would benefit the community to have less of a moving target, so to speak. Ultimately, the goal is to identify good investment opportunities. I hope that the informal and disjointed aspects of the group don’t lead them to become shy about pulling the trigger.

Lastly, it’s not clear yet that the Angels have effectively positioned themselves as a first-stage funding group. Typically, for a group like this to succeed, they need to develop relationships with VC firms to which they can drive their successful investments. It’s possible these relationships already exist, but I don’t believe this has been made clear to the aspiring entrepreneurs. I think it’s absolutely crucial that this link be created, and more importantly somehow effectively communicated to the entrepreneurs.

(All critiques/criticisms/speculations aside, I have nothing but gratitude for Baltimore Angels. Thank you guys so much for selecting MyStudentGroups!)

Some Other Random Observations/Advice

Jonathan and Jason both had extremely impressive advisory boards, including CEO’s of major corporations and many business stalwarts. Yair and I brought only ourselves to the table. Though I suspect their advisory boards improved their odds during the selection process, I’m at this point unconvinced a high profile board is crucial to executing a business idea. Look honestly at your business and determine whether or not you know someone in your business network that would be able to provide valuable guidance to you.

Two of the three companies did not rely on advertising revenue. The third did, though not in the traditional Web 2.0 way of slapping some adwords or banners on a destination site. Make sure you have a revenue model that you believe in. Remember, you’re going to have to convince a table of skeptics that you can actually sell the product/idea. And if you haven’t even convinced yourself that your business is viable without the ad revenue, well…..good luck.

One thing that I noticed was that many (but certainly not all) of the angels became successful in service-based industries. This is interesting because typically investment is not considered for traditional service-based companies. There’s no rule that you need to have first made money in the industry that you’ll be investing in, but I wonder if this will lead to hesitation on their part when it comes to investing in product-based businesses.

It was obvious that Jonathan and Jason had given their presentations previously. There’s nothing monumentally interesting about this observation — it goes without saying that the more you practice and prepare for something, the better you’ll execute.

It would have been nice if the Angels had committed to a longer evening. It seemed that there wasn’t a real schedule involved, and as such, several Angels did not anticipate hanging out afterwards. I think we missed out on a lot of good conversation afterwards, especially considering the caliber of the individuals involved in this.

Lastly, just because Baltimore Angels have come together, it doesn’t mean that they are the only source of money in this area. Don’t necessarily put all of your eggs into this basket. Rather, view it as an additional opportunity and continue to pursue the options you would have prior to their establishment.

Let’s Wrap This Up!

Yair and I are extremely grateful to have been selected to present to the Baltimore Angels at their inaugural meeting. I don’t necessarily think that our experience will be representative of those that follow us. Like anything new, the Baltimore Angels are going to require time to take shape and to ultimately become the economic stimulus for this region that they aspire to be. These are exciting times in Baltimore.