LagrangePoint - Brad Howarth

Interested in doing business in the US?

Two upcoming events will appeal to anyone who is thinking about taking their tech-based company into the US market.

On Thursday, September 3 Innovation Bay and Mitchel Lake are hosting Coming to America at the KPMG auditorium in Sydney. Amongst the speakers are BluePulse founder Ben Keighran, Ryan Junee (who founded Omnisio, which was acquired by YouTube), and US-Australian business specialist (and CMO at Aussie start-up Sensear) David Cannington.

Two companies will be given the chance to pitch their businesses to the panel and audience. If you think you have what it takes, click here for full details.

Before then however the ANZA Gateway to the US program is kicking off around Australia - for more information on that one check my previous blog post here.

Atlassian on a hiring binge

One of my recent Bootstrappr blogs at ZDNet looked at the fates of two Australian web 2.0 trailblazers, Atlassian and Omnidrive. While Omnidrive crashed out, Atlassian is going from strength to strength - you can read that one here. Last week co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes dropped me a note to say that Atlassian has now gone on its projected hiring binge, and is looking to add another 32 engineers to its Sydney team. You can find out more by clicking here.

I'm constantly on the lookout for stories of Aussie start-ups hiring, firing and expiring for the Bootstrappr blog, so if you have any tips on what's happening out there, please let me know.

Nett magazine - How green is my computer? - now online

Got a note the other day from Josh Mehlman, editor at Nett magazine, to say that the electronic version of my green computing feature is now online, looking at how SMEs can use technology to cut their environmental impact. You can check it out by clicking here.

Minister Carr wants to know how you would spend $196 million - via Australian Anthill

There's a great discussion going on over at Australian Anthill over the Federal Government's proposed $196 million Commonwealth Commercialisation Institute, sparked by its call for public comment. You can read what's been written by Anthill publisher James Tuckerman and a slew of thinkers on the commercialisation topic by clicking here, or provide your feedback directly to government by clicking here.

Australian Anthill Cool Company Award nominations now open

Nominations for Australian Anthill's Cool Company Awards are now open. If you think your company is a mover and shaper, is making exciting things happen, or is using cutting edge 'cool' to bring about positive change (and yes, those really are the criteria) then these are the awards for you. To nominate, click here.

SmartCompany - The dot-com survivors

Spike Networks, Sausage Software, K*Grind, LibertyOne, PeakHour. For a brief period ten years ago they were the names in the headlines of the business pages, promising to deliver a revolution in how we conducted business. Today the internet is still bringing that revolution - just not as quickly as we thought 10 years ago.

But if you ever wondered what happened to all of those entrepreneurs who spent millions of dollars chasing their dot-com dreams, you may be surprised to hear that many of them are still around, and still involved in innovative entrepreneurial businesses. While it may still prove possible that investors learned nothing from the dot-com bubble, many of the entrepreneurs did. At least those that didn't see their reputations completely trashed, that is ... Anyway, you can read about the fates of a number of Australia's dot-com pioneers in my new feature for SmartCompany by clicking here.

ZDNet Bootstrappr: B33hive founders start all over again

A lot of start-ups change models several times before they become successful. The trick is doing it before the enthusiasm - and the money - run out. In the case of B33hive, it has actually sold off its original business in premium mobile content and started again with a platform for community activity relating to television. You can read all about the new venture, iTweeVee, by clicking here.

Some interesting upcoming events

There are a bunch of interesting events coming up this year for people interested in the intersections of media, marketing and technology.

On August 25 kea New Zealand is hosting a session in Sydney presented by social media commentator and director of Flaxworks, Rachel De Sain, on social media tools for business growth. For full details, click here.

On September 1 the Future of Influence Summit 2009 will be taking place in Sydney, organised by The Insight Exchange. Speakers include authors Brian Solis and Howard Rheingold, News Limited executive Joe Talcott and Inquisitr CEO Duncan Riley. Click here if you are interested in registering.

Web Directions South will be taking place in Sydney between October 6 and 9. This web industry conference features a range of local and international speakers on design, development and business - click here for a full list.

The 5th annual AIMIA Digital Summit is taking place at Sydney's Darling Harbour on October 12 and 13, featuring a keynote presentation from Simon Danker, Director, Digital Media, BBC Worldwide. Click here to register.

Later this year Slattery IT is hosting the event Tech23, where innovative companies will each be given a four-minute slot to show off their business model to an audience of potential investors, mentors, entrepreneurs and customers. If you want to apply, you have until August 21 - click here to register your interest. Or if you just want to come along and listen in, click here.

My life in the cloud

I've been writing about cloud computing for a while now (such as this recent article for CIO Australia). On September 16 I'll be moderating a discussion on the topic for AIMIA, and featuring speakers from Macquarie Hosting, Viocorp, The Australian Rugby Union and VMware. Click here to register.

I also recently learned that Sydney is to play host to its first CloudCamp on August 27. For more information click here.

ZDNet Bootstrappr: Aussie start-up Enikos up for sale

Most start-up tech and web companies will never make it big. Most will struggle on for years, essentially becoming small businesses with modest turnover and limited growth. Some flame out spectacularly, and a very large number slide quietly into oblivion. It's because they do if quietly that we rarely hear about them.

The fate of Enikos therefor is not that uncommon - it's just not often written down. The company, which continues to be funded by VC firm Allen & Buckeridge, is in the process of selling off its assets and winding up shop. In its case its assets might well be worth a bundle - they include patents relating to the MPEG21 video compression standard. Their value might well be geater than the risk involved in further funding the company, hence the sale.

I had a chat to entrepreneur Mike Nicholls about the fate of Enikos, and also about his new venture, a mortgage comparison site called MortgageCorp, and you can read about both companies in this entry on the ZDNet Bootstrappr blog.