Bootup Labs Blog

Last night I got an email from Steve Wandler, CEO of YourTechOnline.  He told me the deal had closed and I can now finally blog about it.  I had the inside info because I’m an advisor to the company.  I instantly emailed Rob over at Techvibes to fill him in on the scoop, since I couldn’t get to blogging until tonight.

I was introduced to Steve through a mutual friend, Dale Fuller, former CEO of Borland, McAfee, WhoWhere, among other things.  I know how hard Steve has worked for this, and I’m very excited that he has found a home for his baby at SupportSoft.  Funny story about that… I met SupportSoft’s founder, Mark Pincus back in 1999 when my brother’s wife used to work for him there.  Mark and I now keep in touch via facebook from time to time, but I’m pretty sure neither of us had anything to do with the acquisition.  :-)

Great job Steve, and thanks for proving once again that BC is growing hotbed of tech startups.

I’m a big fan of video. I’m a big fan of the intersection of “new” media and old film / broadcast models - we’re not even close to having them figured out yet, but both new kinds of producers, talent, and distributors are going to play. And here in Vancouver, we just happen to have an intersection of old and new, in everything from film production to the hotbed of social media that this city is becoming (and check out Bridging Media**, which is targeted right at this intersection).

In any case, Giant Ant Media are producers and talent, and they do pretty good at kicking out the AdHack*-style videos, too. They’ve just put out their shingle looking for more work, and sent me a little note to say their site is up. Check out the demo reel on the front page of their site – it’s great stuff. There’s more in the work section of the site, around which I only have two complaints: please don’t make the home page video auto-play, and also, please prominently display an RSS feed I can subscribe to (video podcast or mainly text blog posts … I suspect you’ll want one of each).

Their Chocolate Love video is probably the best example of an AdHack: I can see any number of chocolate or aphrodisiac vendors wanting to use this as an ad.

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=7NNZ5Jo51Y8]

So, looking for a place to create innovative video for your idea, startup, or event? Call Jay and Leah @ Giant Ant Media…

* AdHack is a Friend of Bootup, and we’ve been working with James Sherrett, the founder, for some time. We think AdHack is a pretty good name for cool social media ads, and that it’s a pretty good idea for a company, too. So the next time you see a social media ad for a product, call it an AdHack
** Bridging Media aims to connect film/broadcast with digital media Internet types, hopefully that both can learn from the other. March 29th, you should attend.

P.S. Got a Vancouver-area startup, service provider, or other company you want to get the word out around? Leave a comment…