This picture was pulled from a new Website that’s a mashup of Google maps and computer tech startups from around the globe. Its primary source of data is from Techcrunch’s crunchbase. If this map is any indication of the computer tech scene in Indiana, then we clearly have a lot of work to do Hoosiers!

Are you doing something that has to do with biotech?  No you say?  Do you have a patent on something that gives you an unfair sustainable competitive advantage?  No you say?  Got some farmland?  No you say?  Do you own a manufacturing firm?  No you say?  Are you at least selling a physical object that I can feel and touch?  No you say?  Then you might want to rethink coming to Indiana.  The entrepreneur who answers “No” to all these questions, will face an insane amount of resistance in Indiana.       

If you answered “No” to all of the above questions, your best bet is to do what you’re doing elsewhere.  Silicon Valley might be cool, because surely you must be a Web-based operation–probably of the Web 2.0 variety.  Another place might Boston or Chicago.  Another pair may be NYC or DC.

This fact, in my opinion, plays some role in young people leaving Indiana.  Generation Y is interested in doing, oh I don’t know, cool stuff.    There’s definitely some cool stuff in Indiana, but let’s face it, not everybody gets turned on by biotech.   

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, only certain type of innovation is exalted in Indiana.  Do you want a warmer reception of what you’re doing in the Web space?  You might want to do what you’re doing in a state other than Indiana (unless you can answer yes to one of the questions given earlier in this post).  Don’t get me wrong, you can totally be successful with your Web app in Indiana, but you’re just going to take a few kicks in the shorts, a few slaps in the face, and a few elbows to the groin.  If you find yourself in Indiana launching a Web based app, be ready for the paaaaain.              

[Note: Even though I am picking on Indiana, I’m pretty certain that most of America is no better than Indiana when it comes to this kind of stuff.]

Compendium Blogware

I guess was thirsting for more technical details, but I really didn’t have the patience to hunt it down from their Website. After going through a few pages, I gave up. What would be useful, is a demo of exactly what the software is, and exactly what it’s doing. I guess it’s the technical guy in me that wants more concreteness. For example, Compendium claims to help with SEO rankings, but it’s unclear exactly how it does this from reading the Website’s copy.

So I guess my big question is: how are they getting customers? They seem to have a rather long client list. I seriously doubt this long list was obtained through their Website.

It’s been a while, hopefully you’ve been keeping yourself busy! This post is about Smaller Indiana, a great online community that you should be a part of if you’re not already. If you think you’re a Hoosier in the “know,” and you’re not a part of this dynamic community you may want think again about how much you really “know.”

Smaller Indiana recently broke the two thousand member mark. I remember being there when there was less than 1 thousand. This is tremendous growth. You’d be surprised how many “hip” people actually live in Indiana. So you might be asking, why should you join Smaller Indiana.

In short, Smaller Indiana makes meeting other creative, innovative, & entrepreneurial people easier to find. It allows you to build up relationships in organic ways online. Frequently, you’re talking with people who, otherwise, you would have no way of communicating with. That’s powerful. Check out the short video above.

In Marc Andreessen’s post, he says the following:

“If Thomas Edison didn’t know what he had when he invented the phonograph while he thought he was trying to create better industrial equipment for telegraph operators…

…what are the odds that you — or any entrepreneur — is going to have it all figured out up front?”

Yet we jam into people’s heads that before they start a business they have to have everything well laid out in business plan.  This truly makes no sense for a number of reasons, but I will not delve into them here.

The meat of this post is this: The Burton D. Morgan business plan competition has been in existence for over 21 years now.  Where the hell are all the “startups” that win these competitions?  Clearly the winners had phenomenal business plans.  So what the hell are they doing?!?  One reasonable conclusion someone can draw is that their disappearance into the oblivion had NOTHING to do with their business plan.  It’s almost as if the winners of the Burton D. Morgan competitions fall into a black hole never to return.

If you’re among the new winners of the latest Burton D. Morgan competition, control your destiny and do not fall victim to the curse.  In my humble opinion, the best way to beat the curse is to execute, execute, execute.  And when you get tired, execute some more.        

We can’t even spell entrepreneurship out here :o(.

The elevator pitch competition allegedly had the 10 biggest ideas there were in the room that night where selected hopefuls had the opportunity to win cash prizes (1^st place $1K, 2^nd place $500, 3^rd place $250).

So here are the 10 biggest ideas of the 350 plus students that were in attendance (not everyone submitted ideas):

1) Pooyou.com. This is a website where you can send non-smelly biodegradable “poo” to people electronically or in real life. This isn’t a big idea, it’s a big @ss gimmick. This is a Facebook Zombie application in real life. And this bad boy won the whole elevator pitch contest. Are you kidding me? Ask me if Indiana is headed in the right direction??

2) Dinner plate attachment. You can attach some type of material to dinner plates to turn them into bowls. The guy who pitched it wasn’t really sure of how to do this, so this reflected sort of bad on him. Nonetheless, this is hardly life changing.

3) Video game for I-Step. This is a video game for Nintendo DS to help Indiana High School students pass the I-Step test (the Math portion). Very admirable. If proven successful for high school students in Indiana, I’m sure there will be expansion opportunities. The video game demo has had a major facelift since it’s last demo some weeks ago.

4) Midwest Leak. This is a magazine on hip hop that’s already in circulation. This magazine focuses on hip hop in the Midwest region. According to the owner, the company is already profitable. It’s very admirable that she’s already doing what she believes in and has already made a profit. Kudos.

5) Electronic Receipts. Whenever you purchase something with a credit card, you get an electronic receipt. Doesn’t your online credit card statement tell you this information? Let’s ignore all the technical and practical challenges (e.g., getting the big credit companies to cooperate) . Can somebody explain to me why this electronic receipt idea even makes sense–I mean doesn’t your online credit card account include your purchase information? After much thinking I’m guessing that itemization of what was bought may be useful to folks, but then this introduces privacy concerns.  She wins 2nd place.

6) Freelectric. Essentially the idea is to create exercise equipment that can power appliances in your house. He claims that he can get this built (mass production level I’m assuming) for about $1K. If this is true, this could be disruption on the scale of Henry Ford. I liken the presenter’s idea to Henry Ford, because, currently rich people already have exercise equipment that can power their homes. If this technology could be made available to the masses, then that would be a HUGE disruptive innovation.

7) Soy-based Play-doh. Now children can ingest play-doh. This is a big idea…period.

8 ) Web Video for Doctors to communicate with patients. I didn’t really get this one. Doctors will talk in general terms to patients about the common problems? WTF?

9) Enagewear. Using flash-based games for education. Without a demo, the presenter really couldn’t “change my pulse” in the words of Bill Joos.

10) After school program for robotics. Okay, I’ll be honest, I couldn’t listen to this one. Apparently it was good enough to get 3rd place.

There were some big ideas in the bunch, but there’s no reason why they all shouldn’t have been big ideas. And if all the ideas presented, if the judges are going to be pick pooyou.com to be potentially be the biggest thing to come out of Indiana, Indiana is in some serious trouble.

Based solely on V3DM’s website, it’s unclear what their point of difference is in comparison to others. Then been in business for at least a year or so, so maybe the market is nascent enough that it can support everyone, but sooner or later a leader will emerge, if one hasn’t already.

Fanfound intends to capitalize on tides of change currently sweeping the music community. A company coming out of the Purdue Technology Center in Merrillville, IN and led by Chris Bauman, is a Website dedicated to helping fans connect with their favorite artists. In turn this site allow artists to connect with their fans more directly. This also offers rich information for venues. If fanfound becomes large enough, venues could make decisions about what artists to bring based on an artist’s fanfound fan base.

When I visit the Fanfound pages, I’m reminded of Facebook mixed in with some Myspace.  This then begs the question, why isn’t this Website a Facebook application?  There should definitely be a Myspace widget.  Is there any famous music artists associated with Fanfound?  If so, I think it would do Fanfound some good to flaunt that person (e.g., have a video of them saying how much Fanfound rocks on the homepage).

In short, I wish the folks at Fanfound the best.  The concept definitely makes sense.  The right people need to find out about it.  If anybody has any suggestions do leave comments.  Now Fanfound…get those widgets built!!