California's First Cooperative Brewery and Pub Coming to San Jose!

Wow, the craft beer scene in San Jose continues to explode. Peter Smith and Joe Silva are launching the first Brewery & Pub in California that is going to be setup as a Co-op. That means that there would be a large number of owners that would get to vote on the types of beer and food offered and have a vested interest in the co-op's success. Basically it is a way to make owning a small piece of an actual brewpub and restaurant possible for the average patron. I love the idea and can't wait to see where it goes!

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“If you eat and drink at a brew pub, shouldn’t you like to own it too?”

The San Jose Cooperative Brewery and Pub
Information Session and Beer Tasting

Event Details:
Saturday, Feb 2, 2013, 2-5 pm
The Drying Shed, 402 Toyon Ave, San Jose
https://www.facebook.com/events/120781888091976/

Contacts:
Peter Smith / psmithsf@gmail.com / 415-912-8056
Joe Silva / joe.silva@outlook.com / 512-300-3758
SJCoopBrewPub.com

The San Jose Cooperative Brewery & Pub “Coop Brewpub”, California’s first
cooperative brewery and pub, will hold its first information session and beer
tasting on February 2, 2013 at the Drying Shed from 2:00- 5:00 PM at 402 Toyon
Ave, San Jose, California to kick off its membership drive. In addition to learning
about how to become a member of the Brewpub Coop, attendees will enjoy a
beer tasting with craft beers from local breweries and live music.

The Coop Brewpub is currently made up of a small group of individuals who have
spent the last five months laying the ground work for the Coop Brewpub and
are kicking off the membership drive with a beer tasting. The Coop Brewpub is
looking for more members to help build the coop from the group up. Members will
help make major decisions in building the coop such as what beers to brew, what
foods to serve, where to locate it, and what the culture of the coop will be.

The Coop Brewpub will follow the values and principles of the International
Cooperative Alliance and will be owned and democratically controlled by its
members—the people who buy their goods or use their services—not by investors.
It will operate on the principle of “one member, one vote.” That is, unlike investor
owned businesses where voting rights are based on ownership share, each member
of a cooperative has the same voting power. In addition, it will return profits to their
members proportionate to their use of the cooperative.

The goal is to increase membership to 2 – 3,000 members in approximately 18
months, to open soon after, and have a lot of fun until then.

Admission to the event is a nominal $20 to cover event expenses and will feature
craft beers from local breweries and live music.

Additional Resources:
International Cooperative Alliance

San Jose Cooperative Brewery & Pub

January 14, 2013

http://ica.coop/en/what-co-op/co-operative-identity-values-principles

San Jose Marketing Consultant Launches Online Reality Show

15 "solopreneurs" are about to compete for $10,000 in an online reality show lead by Tea Silvestre, a San Jose Marketing Consultant. They will have to compete in weekly marketing challenges and are being mentored by a dozen industry experts. To learn more, have a look at the press release below or click here. The show premiers at the end of January.

BIGSTOCK signs on as Presenting Sponsor for Local Business Woman's Online Reality Show

If you've seen "The Amazing Race" or "Hell's Kitchen" then you're aware of how popular these reality TV competitions have become.

Welcome to "Prosperity’s Kitchen" -- a 12-week online marketing course structured like a reality TV show. Fifteen contestants will compete to win a $10,000 prize package. And BIGSTOCK, one of the world's leading royalty-free image companies, is the presenting sponsor.

PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN premieres this January and will feature 15 solopreneurs learning and competing for a $10,000 prize package. The contestants will be taught by 

Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, a San Jose-based Marketing Consultant who will also be joined by 12 guest mentors including several authors and other influencers.

It is the first reality web sponsorship for BIGSTOCK, one of the leading royalty-free stock image companies serving the small biz community online.

“To have BIGSTOCK choose Prosperity’s Kitchen as their first reality web series sponsorship is an incredible tribute to our program,” said executive producer Tea Silvestre. “Their support will help us maintain the high quality mix of instruction and entertainment for the small biz audience that drew them to PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN in the first place."

“The PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN audience of solopreneurs and freelancers makes up a significant portion of the BIGSTOCK community – from the person who submits images to the designer or blogger who uses them,” says BIGSTOCK General Manager Ben Pfeifer. “Sponsoring this innovative program allows us to support both sides of this model, and encourage independent creativity through licensed visual media.”

As part of the partnership, BIGSTOCK will provide stock images to Prosperity’s Kitchen for their use in developing the series as well as prize packages of image assets for the program’s winners.

BIGSTOCK’s first “on-air” web sponsorship messages will begin on January 21st, with the broadcast of the first episode of “Prosperity’s Kitchen.” The company will also be part of an episode mid-season that talks about content creation and how to best-use stock images in marketing materials.

Funding for the Prosperity’s Kitchen series also is provided by Play-at-Home viewers, with additional support from BLUE HOST web hosting and ANYMEETING web meeting services.

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a Word Chef Enterprises production.

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ABOUT PROSPERITY’S KITCHEN

Prosperity’s Kitchen is a 12-week reality web edutainment series that aims to teach solopreneurs and micro business owners how to market themselves effectively online. Structured like a reality TV competition, 15 contestants will tackle weekly marketing missions in order to showcase what they’ve learned. The contestants are divided into teams of three and will be advised and mentored by Tea Silvestre, aka The Word Chef, as well as 12 other high profile marketing experts. The contestant who outperforms their cohorts will take home the $10,000 prize package (a mix of cash and prizes). Learn more at prosperityskitchen.com

ABOUT WORD CHEF ENTERPRISES

WCE is wholly owned and operated by Tea Silvestre of San Jose, CA. Tea is widely regarded as one of the top marketers in the world of small business. She’s the author of “Attract and Feed a Hungry Crowd: How Thinking Like a Chef Can Help You Build a Solid Business,” as well as the founding producer of the ground-breaking web series, “Prosperity’s Kitchen.”

Tea’s writing is often seen on some of the biggest blogs on the Internet, including Copyblogger, Problogger and MarketingProfs. She’s also a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial events across the globe. Learn more at thewordchef.com

Die Hard Co.

It has been a pretty damn good year for Bay Area sports. The A's had a great run, the Giants need no mention, and the 49ers are 5-2 right now. There is also a chance the Sharks will be back in business this November (keeping fingers crossed) and the Earthquakes are currently at the top of their game, not to mention they just broke ground on a new stadium.

While most of the Bay Area pro teams are not in San Jose (yet), there is a way you can support a local San Jose business while brandishing support for your favorite team. The site is Die Hard Co. and is well worth checking out. They have shirts and hoodies for the Sharks, Giants, A's, Warriors, 49ers, and the Raiders. I'm a fan of their "Hella" collection, most of which you can see below.

We're going to be doing a contest with Die Hard soon, probably around the end of the NHL lockout, so keep an eye out for that. To visit the Die Hard website and check out their full selection, just click here.

      

San Jose is Getting a US Patent Office!

In 2010 a staggering 10,074 patents were filed in the San Jose metro area, far more than any other region in the United States. By comparison, the New York metro (with 8 times the population of San Jose) only filed 6,383 patents. San Francisco came in 3rd place with 6,290 patents.

What is crazy, is that anyone who wants to meet with their patent examiner has to fly to the sole US Patent Office in Virgina. To top it off, there is a three year backlog on processing patents. Finally, last year it was decided that the US Patent Office would start opening satellite offices. Out of 600 applications, San Jose was one of the few areas chosen for one of these offices -- although based on the numbers above I think this should have been a no-brainer.


The end result is that Silicon Valley innovators will be able to file and process their patents faster, more conveniently, and at a lower cost. The office will open in 2 years and employ 150-200 patent examiners, which will likely specialize in technology. Sounds like a huge win for San Jose.

Source: KQED, SJBJ

Silicon Valley Reality Show

Finally, a reality show I might actually watch. Mark Zuckerberg's sister, Randi, is one of the co-producers of  this new show about to hit Bravo. The premise is simple. "Silicon Valley" will chronicle the lives of young local entrepreneurs that aspire to become the next Steve Jobs, Larry Page / Sergey Brin, or Mark Zuckerberg. I am hoping this will be far more interesting than watching bored housewives spend their husbands' money or cooking competitions to see who can make the best catfish ice cream.


It's about time we have a reality show about something that actually matters. Entrepreneurs are the people that have the ability to literally change the world. The only way to permanently increase the standard of living across the globe is through innovation. Anything else is just redistributing money from one party to another. Fortunately for us, we happen to be right in the heart of innovation and finally there is going to be a TV show to share with the world exactly how exciting our entrepreneurial ecosystem can be.


Source: VentureBeat

Investors and Startups Crawl Through Downtown San Jose

Sounds like another awesome event from Dischcrawl co-founder Tracy Lee! This is exactly the type of scene that we need to nurture to keep the creative juices flowing in San Jose.

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from San Jose Metblogs by jfouts

Thursday night was what I think will be the first of  many PitchCrawls in downtown San Jose. Created by the energetic Tracy Lee of Dishcrawl fame, the event brought together investors and startups in a crawl through some of downtown’s innovation centers, with a break at each for startups to pitch their ideas in 3 minute sessions to investors who offer everything from funds to technology for the companies they invest in. We heard ideas for everything from affordable tech support and iphone apps to the next hot sports drink company founded by a scientist and a well known athlete and an outsourced HR company. Ideas were flowing and so was the banter as we moved from place to place.

This is a refreshing change from the usual pitch events, that’s for sure. Instead of gathering in a room to hear elevator pitch after pitch and then the frantic rush to speak to “the” investor, startups and investors had a chance to mingle and talk more casually, eat some great food and tour some of San Jose’s downtown innovation centers at the same time. Everyone I asked was delighted with the format, even in the chilly winter weather as we worked our way from venue to venue.

The first stop was at the San Jose Tech Shop. I’ve been wanting to venture in here for months. They soft-opened in July and the place is amazing. If you’re wanting to do anything requiring very cool and expensive toys, this is your place. They offer classes to expand your knowledge for using everything from CAD programs and 3-D modeling to a sophisticated machine shop, industrial sewing equipment, a powder coating booth and a huge water cutting table that can slice through marble or steel like a hot knife through butter. Very impressive. We noshed on tacos from Juanita’s and had a tour of the facilities, then stopped for round 1 of the pitches.

Stop 2 was at the home of DishCrawl and several other burgeoning startups housed in Next Space, a co-working space on 2nd St. While we sampled the amazing concoctions provided by Raw Daddy (find him at the Sunday Campbell and Palo Alto farmer’s markets) we met more founders and toured the space with manager Gretchen Baisa. If you’re looking for a drop-in space to work or a friendly office environment that’s not in your garage, you should be checking this space out right in the heart of downtown San Jose.

The 3rd stop was–in classic DishCrawl style–a food truck. This time from House of Siam for some yummy roti wrapped around satay pork with peanut sauce. It was a quick stop but gave us more energy for the busy networking scene going on at our last stop, the Irish Innovation Center. The Innovation Center had a full-on networking event going on already in the Silicon Valley Holiday Mixer, complete with a mini trade show and music, and the place was packed. Add a pile of Pichcrawlers and you’ve got a fantastic networking opportunity. The center partners with the Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft Bizspark, IDA Ireland. and Price Waterhouse Coopers to name a few, and offers members office space, mentoring, education and the opportunity to connect with potential funders.

All in all, the event was a huge success and I heard quite a few meetings being scheduled. What a unique and fun way to get in front of some interesting investors with your startup or find the next startup before anyone else! The next PitchCrawl is to be held in San Francisco on January 10. At last check there were just a few tickets left, but I expect they will be back in Silicon Valley soon. Big congrats to the DishCrawl team for another well executed concept!

Global Social Benefit Incubator 2011

I know quite a few entrepreneurs read this blog and I just wanted to quickly plug an event going on next month at Santa Clara University centering around social/philanthropic entrepreneurship. All of the details are below!

Register Today! GSBI 2011!

Please join Santa Clara University's Center for Science, Technology, and Society for a day of business plan summary presentations by the 2011 Global Social Benefit Incubator entrepreneurs from around the world. Products and services developed by the 2011 class include: biogas-powered milk coolers for Ugandan farmers; microfranchise training and employment opportunities for slum youth in Kenya; probiotics to improve health in Mexico; solar-powered chicken and egg production in Haiti; and women-created fashion and furniture from recycled garbage in the Philippines.  Agenda Thursday, August 18, 2011  Mayer Theatre, Performing Arts Complex,  Santa Clara University  Continental Breakfast 7:15 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.   Morning Business Plan Summary Presentations 8:00 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. (Clean Energy sector presentations) Lunch 12:25 p.m. - 1:25 p.m. Afternoon Business Plan Summary Presentations 1:25 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Reception 6:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Register Today! GSBI Class of 2011 Federico Maria Grati : Agroils SRL – Smart Oil, Ghana, www.agroils.com Lesley Silverthorn : Angaza Design, East Africa, www.angazadesign.com Salinee Tavaranan : Border Green Energy Team, Thailand / Burma, www.bget.org Henry Osadolor : Centre for Community Development - Nutrition On Your Doorstep, Nigeria Hakeem Adebola Lawal : Design Peak - My Cola Light, Nigeria, www.designpeak.dk Ola Abraham : EastWind Laboratories, Nigeria Slavka Macakova : ETP Slovakia – Centre for Sustainable Development, Slovakia, www.etp.sk Shawn Frayne : Haddock Invention LLC, Guatemala, www.haddockinvention.com Guirlaine Celius : Haiti Community Development Inc., Haiti Jeroen Verschelling : Kamworks Ltd. – MoonLight, Cambodia, www.kamworks.com Maria Springer : iSmart Ben Lyon : Kopo Kopo Inc., Global, www.kopokopo.com Julian Cuevas : Kurago Biotek, Mexico, www.kuragobiotek.com Mark Joaquin Ruiz : MicroVentures Inc. – Hapinoy, Philippines, www.hapinoy.com Piyush Jaju : Punam Energy Private Ltd. – ONergy, India, www.onergy.in Therese Clarence Fernandez-Ruiz : Rags2Riches, Inc., Philippines, www.rags2riches.ph Katherine Lucey : Solar Sister, Uganda, www.solarsister.org William Kisaalita : Thermogenn, Uganda Sebastian Ernesto Africano : Trees, Water & People, Haiti, www.treeswaterpeople.org Jessica Mayberry : Video Volunteers, India, www.videovolunteers.org

About the Global Social Benefit Incubator The GSBI empowers socially-minded entrepreneurs to build economically sustainable organizations and to solve problems for people living in poverty around the world. The signature program of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society at Santa Clara University, this capacity and skill-building program combines online and in-residence exercises with training and mentoring from academic leaders and Silicon Valley executives over an intensive eight-month period. Entrepreneurs graduate from the program with practical and strategic business tools to allow their companies to “scale”, meaning they increase revenue faster than expenses.   More Information About the Center for Science, Technology, and Society The mission of the Center for Science, Technology, and Society (CSTS) is to promote the use of science and technology to benefit underserved communities worldwide, primarily by working with socially-minded entrepreneurs.  The CSTS implements its mission through its signature program, the Global Social Benefit Incubator, its partnership with The Tech Museum in The Tech Awards program, Frugal Innovation, social capital services, and its numerous educational and public engagement activities. Through these programs, the Center has worked with nearly 1,000 social enterprises affording the Center unique insights into leading business models and innovations for the developing world and emerging markets. More Information

Guy Kawasaki is Speaking at the Computer History Museum, Mar 29th

A Silicon Valley legend takes the stage a week from today to promote his latest book: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions. If you are an entrepreneur or are currently dreaming of starting a company someday, you need to be at this event! Guy Kawasaki is the ultimate guru for starting companies in the valley. His books provide you with realistic expectations and guidance based on his vast experience--starting way back when he was the key evangelist and marketer for the original Apple Macintosh. For anyone looking to start a Silicon Valley company, this will time very well spent. The full press release is below.

As a side note, Guy also runs one of my favorite blogs... How to Change the World. This site is entertaining for anyone, even non-entrepreneurs!

NEWS RELEASE                                     

Contact:  Janet Poses

e-mail:    janet@ccice.org

Phone:    650 380-9432

Fax:        650 330-0649

For Immediate Release

Chamber of Commerce International Consortium for Entrepreneurs (CCICE) welcomes Guy Kawasaki on Tuesday March 29^th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA.  Guy Kawasaki will be speaking about his tenth and latest book, “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions”. 

Register today at CCICE:

http://www.ccice.org/Guy-Kawasaki-Enchantment.html

Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions

PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA—March  9, 2011-- As a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and Founder of Alltop, Guy Kawasaki will be sharing his wisdom and perspectives relating to his new book, “Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions.” 

This is a rare opportunity to hear Mr. Kawasaki along with Jenn Lim, Chief Happiness Officer for Zappos and Kate Bennett Eriksson, Ericsson Head of AT&T Innovation Centre, speak at the iconic center of Silicon Valley, the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

In Guy Kawasaki’s push for innovation he continues to motivate entrepreneurs to get creative and enchant partners, customers, clients, teams and more. In his latest book, Guy explains how to influence what people will do while maintaining the highest standards of ethics.  The book explains when and why enchantment is necessary and then the pillars of enchantment:  likability, trustworthiness, and a great cause.

”Enchantment” subsequently discusses:  launching, overcoming resistance, making enchantment endure, and using technology. There are even special chapters dedicated to enchanting your employees and your boss. Finally, because there are times you may want to resist enchantment, there’s even a chapter about how to do this.

Guy Kawasaki is a managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm and a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine. Previously, he was an Apple Fellow at Apple Computer, Inc. Guy is the author of nine books including Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way. He has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Read the latest from Guy Kawasaki at the American Express Open Forum:

http://www.openforum.com/connectodex/how-to-change-the-world

New Incubator in Town: Semantic Seed

San Jose is one of the must entrepreneurial cities on the planet. We have an amazing ecosystem in place to help budding entrepreneurs shape their ideas, find capital, and launch companies that may one day change the world. Every time a new start-up incubator pops up, it strengthens our innovation/start-up community and helps increase our competitive advantage against other cities vying for the founders of tomorrow's Facebooks and Googles. When entrepreneurs are deciding where to launch their ideas, we want them to be here.

Semantic Seed is a new incubator right in the middle of downtown (12 South 1st, Suite 318) whose mission is to become a catalyst of early stage companies to graduate into venture capital-ready companies. The verticals they focus on are Social Media, Search and Discovery, Consumer Infrastructure, Platforms, and Evangelical. For more information on the incubator side of things, click here.

They also have coworking space available which is a really interesting concept. Professionals and entrepreneurs that typically work from home or coffee shops can instead work in an environment with like-minded individuals. You have the cost benefits of sharing office resources with others while being part of a community where innovation is embedded in the culture and you have startups launching all around you. For more information on coworking, click here.

Thanks to Peter Smith from el408.com for the info!

Challenges of Local Small Business Owners

Alright everyone, brace yourselves... it's incredibly rare, but I'm actually going to say something negative about San Jose. Often to grow you have to take a critical look at yourself and make a conscious decision to improve. I think that's exactly what we need to do in order to improve the retail scene in San Jose, especially high-potential, burgeoning areas like Downtown.

A couple days ago I had the great pleasure to meet with the proprietor behind Satori, a phenomenal new tea shop located in San Pedro Square next to Peggy Sue's. After hearing her challenges in opening up the store, I decided to break that section out of the blog post I'm planning for their upcoming grand opening. I'm doing this for 2 reasons: 1.) I think this topic requires special attention and applies to many current and potential business owners and 2.) Satori doesn't deserve to have anything negative in their grand opening post--they are 100%, positively, without a doubt the type of business that downtown needs more of... unique products, local character (including local art), community focus, and a new experience for downtown patrons.

Okay, now for the stuff I hate to write about, so I'll make it quick. The proprietor decided to put her entire life savings into a store selling what she's truly passionate about--awesome tea!--and she wanted to do it in the heart of San Jose. How long should it take to open up a small tea shop in San Jose? Two months? Three? Well, it actually took an entire year... every day of which means lost revenue and a lower probability for success. How much should it cost for business licenses and permitting in a 1,000sqft space in an area the city is actively trying to drive retail to? No need to guess, I'll just say it... $15,000. Huh?

I think something is not right with the situation above. The message we send out to business owners should be "COME TO SAN JOSE! WE ARE A CITY BUILT ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND WILL MAKE IT RIDICULOUSLY EASY FOR YOU TO DO BUSINESS HERE!  That type message doesn't seem to always align well with reality, and I have heard this from several business owners that I have spoken to, not just Satori.

If you ask anyone that really knows me, I really do love San Jose more than any other city on the planet.  I hate writing anything negative here, but this is one kink that we need to iron out before districts like Downtown can become the magnetic retail destinations they should be. Santana Row is great an all, but we need places where local businesses offering unique products and services can also thrive and grow the collective soul and culture of our great city.

St. Patty's Day Post: Irish Innovation Center Opens Downtown!

Last Sunday I was able to get into the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Irish Innovation Center located in Downtown San Jose. These offices will be a launching pad for Irish startup companies that want a presence in Silicon Valley. The event was a huge success with encouraging speeches from Brian Cowen (Prime Minister of Ireland), Chuck Reed, Sam Liccardo, Dr. Craig Barrett (former CEO of Intel), Tom McEnery, and Gordon Ciochon (Former Head of Global Operations at Symantec). We need to continue to keep the San Jose entrepreneurial community active and this is a giant step in the right direction. If we can center that entrepreneurial community in the middle of Downtown San Jose, then that's just icing on the cake.

I'll have some photos from the event for you soon, but for now I can offer you the shortest Sam Liccardo interview of all time courtesy of David Manzo: