Latest News from David Abramowski

Create a User Guide With WordPress & Jing for Free

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:30:00 EDT

As my development team at MioWorks rounds the corner on a significant update, I thought it was important to have a user guide that explained the features and told the story of the MioWorks application. I started looking into online help systems around the open source ecosystem. It seemed that everything I found was either [...]

Open Source Bridge, a success

Sun, 21 Jun 2009 12:45:33 EDT

The Open Source Bridge Conference made its debut last week at the Oregon Convention Center. Over 450 attendees gathered to share ideas, learn from each other and strengthen open source communities. The conference itself was an all volunteer effort that included dozens of organizers and volunteers that worked countless hours to make the event such [...]

Greenlight Greater Portland, no place for start-ups

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:08:23 EDT

Every heard of GreenLight Greater Portland? Don’t worry, I hadn’t really known of it until Rick Turoczy at Silicon Florist graciously invited me to hang out with a few other start-up types and invade the suit and tie world of economic development. The annual meeting was held on June 11th at the Portland Art Museum. [...]

Clouds, lightning and media thunder

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:11:16 EDT

As reported by CNET News “Lightning took down Amazon Cloud” and confirmed by Amazon there was a small outage in the Amazon EC2 infrastructure. The media decided that this is a great reason to run another hype story and provide you with a headline that is really misleading. The Amazon Cloud (which is a rather [...]

Damn You Google, Damn You Yahoo! Why D'Ya Do This to Us?

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:00:00 EDT

A strange dynamic has taken hold on the internet. Just as people expect sunshine and air to be free, they also expect internet based software applications to be free. Ok, maybe not completely free… they agree someone should pay, just not them. Damn you Google, damn you Yahoo! why did you do this to us?

Extranets Allow Start-Ups to Bill More Hours

Thu, 28 May 2009 21:00:00 EDT

Hey did you know that the term “Start up” isn’t exclusive to technology companies? I was shocked earlier this week when a few accountants wanted to have coffee and discuss their start up. Immediately my brain started to think about the types of software they must be creating. As I entered the local coffee shop and met the duo I quickly realized they were starting up an accounting practice.

What are they saying about you?

Thu, 21 May 2009 10:59:13 EDT

You may not be heavily involved in the internet, but odds are that your customers and competitors are. If your business is all about referrals, then you need to know what is being said so you can counter any false claims or pro-actively participate where it matters the most. The easiest way to keep in touch [...]

Search is map crazy! Claim your business NOW

Mon, 18 May 2009 14:36:22 EDT

The Internet has gone map crazy and location based search is all the rage. If you have a physical location and you want customers to find you when they search Google, Yahoo or a myriad of other sites, then follow this advice. Every month there are more than 10 billion unique searches across the web. It [...]

Funding and Revenue = Chicken and Egg

Sat, 16 May 2009 19:00:00 EDT

We all know that getting a business off the ground is expensive and time consuming. It’s difficult to be a part time entrepreneur and being full time means you have $100k of your own money in the bank to pay the mortgage & expenses. Unfortunately that’s not the case for most entrepreneurs. So you have to be creative. You have to set your expectations properly and you have to do what it takes in the short run to get to the goal you set.

Research results on small business funding opps

Fri, 15 May 2009 15:06:27 EDT

As a companion to the posting “Funding & revenue: chicken and egg” here is a brief summary of some of the research performed and the results: SBA Small Business Loan – I visited US Bank and talked to them about a potential SBA loan to kick start a brand new business. End result was that there [...]

Building A Startup For $5k, Really?

Sun, 03 May 2009 15:00:00 EDT

In today’s Oregonian, Mike Rogoway’s article “Tech entrepreneurs defy recession“ quotes me as being able to build the first version of MioWorks.com for $5,000. Well this is very true but may be a little misleading so let me explain how this can be. The team behind MioWorks is not just me. There are three other founders that have dedicated every extra waking moment to building the application over the past several months. Of this team two are technical mavens and two are business guys.

Big Idea Bash 2009

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:58:50 EDT

Last night I attended the Big Idea Bash hosted by the Oregon State Treasurer Ben Westlund. According to the web site for the event The Big Idea Bash is a social gathering created to connect entrepreneurs to the organizations that can help them flourish. This year the event will feature a speed pitching session, creating [...]

The Power of Beta Testing

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 11:13:00 EDT

Don’t underestimate the power of beta testing to a wide range of people. Consider it collaborative development. Open your software to a broad range of people inside and outside of your target market and you’ll be amazed at what you get back from them.

eMarketing Summit @ InnoTech Portland

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:43:00 EDT

Today I attended the preamble to the InnoTech conference in Portland, OR called the eMarketing Summit. The day was filled with energetic and passionate speakers that made the $149 fee well worth the price. The topics varied by speaker but there was a common theme - there is much more to marketing these days than just blasting out advertising. Words including interaction, experience and engagement resonated throughout the presentations.

Sponsors - support them or pay up!

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:26:13 EDT

Everyone loves a free event. We take up space and kibitz with our friends, colleagues & associates. We eat the free food. We drink the free coffee or adult beverages. When it comes to the time of the day where the sponsors get their 10 minutes, we turn off. We quickly pull out our iPhones, [...]

Portland Web Innovators

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:38:00 EDT

Kicking things off was Benjamin Stover & Jason Grlicky with I need to read this They sum up their application with a rather easy to remember phrase - bookmarks meet to do lists. The problem they are solving revolves around the multitude of information that we read every day on the Internet. Blog posts, articles, web pages - through out the course of the day we literally stumble upon too much material to read in the moment. INTRT solves this problem by allowing you to single click a bookmarklet in your browsers bookmark toolbar. That quick action will save a link to a post, article or information you found. I just started using it and I find it very handy.

News Alert - MioWorks.com is now in BETA!

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:43:49 EDT

A quick alert about my current project called www.mioworks.com. We just entered the public beta phase for the solution. There is a brand new web site with videos and information to help you better understand what the application is all about. Posted in Sofware Startup

Pitch your startup in 2 minutes

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:48:45 EDT

You have two minutes to describe your business and your start-up dream. You are handed a microphone. What are you going to do? Pontificate about how much you need the money or how fast you can spend it…or tell a story that inspires people to get behind your next $100million dollar idea? Give me the microphone [...]

HEY STATE: Invest in Oregon Startups NOW!

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:35:29 EDT

Last night over a hundred entrepreneurs crowded into Ned Space to help kick off an effort to develop funding for start-ups in Oregon. The message was clear. The state should take a small portion of investment dollars and funnel them not into one time projects, but into entrepreneurs that can make a difference. The brain trust [...]

Startup Exchange - the best two hours of the year

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 12:54:19 EDT

Last night I attended my first Startup Exchange meetup organized by the Software Association of Oregon. The meeting was held at the offices of Chime Software hidden away in Portland’s East side warehouse district. The Startup Exchange is for entrepreneurs only, no service providers allowed. It’s a chance for peers to get together, ask questions [...]

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 in Portland is a great way to mingle with others in the tech industry. From developers to marketeers to entrepreneurs and corporate types, Lunch 2.0 attracts a wide variety of people to help you build your network.

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST

Lunch 2.0 Portland Style March 11, 2009

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 EST