Wednesday, March 30, 2011

High Tech Meets High Fashion Happy Hour

I’d like to make you an offer and request you help me with a social-media experiment. You can give me some data and I can give you some knowledge. If you believe (as do I) that data->information->knowledge->wisdom: then you come out two steps ahead on this trade of time.

Here is the set-up –

We build a very high-tech $45k medical type device (lasers, pulsed magnetics, computers, and software) that dermatologists use to stop hair loss. Ours is the state-of-the-art unit, uses multiple technologies and is over 93% effective at stopping hair loss and regrowing hair (ok in geekspeak, it is cool)…

We decided not sell our machine to Doctors in the mature Medical Market. We wanted a clean new market so we decided on the VANITY Market where no such product / service exists. We sell what the machine does as a transformational service directly to retail customers. We engage in partnering with very high-end salons to do the fulfillment. Two years later we have the formula down and are ready to expand to Houston.

Never heard of us? That is the effect of precision high-efficiency marketing. We developed an input filter that finds only ready customers, no energy is spent on those not interested in what we do or what we offer. The web and its social fabric is an integral part of making this all work. We did it in a completely different way; created a new go-to-market niche, pretty neat?

I don’t want your money! If this service can do you any good then, you come out ahead (pun)… what I do want to know is will you respond to this plea, I will trade you that for any questions you want to ask.

….But that opportunity will only last for 3 hours on Thursday afternoon from 4 to 7. One of our high-end Salons is doing a wine and cheese, and we are promoting our tech through education to their clients. I want you to come and learn how we did this and to tell my why you reacted to a social media contact, specifically this one. You see, what I get out of this is the results of what I call a probe, I have a pet social-media marketing idea that I am testing and tuning, your presence and what I learn from you will help me do my next experiment as well as in a totally pragmatic way gain a greater sense of intuition about the dynamics. Everyone has theories, I am actively testing mine using the scientific method as done by an anthropologist.

So come and have a glass of wine, some cheese, catch the vanity world front row - stage center. Meet a bunch of people that you would never get to, look vanity in the face (ho-ho). Get Jeffrey, Michael, or I to explain how we bootstrapped funded our way into existence and how our retail gorilla marketing philosophy successfully works. Come by, sip, learn, tell us, and have a great evening.

Barry Thornton

ManeGain
12400 Highway 71W
Ste 350-256
Austin, TX 78738
512-366-3935 (Main Office)
512-284-8831 (FAX)
512-266-7142 (Direct)

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Let's Play! A Conference on Corporate Citizenship

March 31 @National Instruments
Register at www.givetoaustin.org/conference


Let's play! Learn from corporate citizenship experts, share best practices and engage in meaningful dialogue with Austin's best companies around topics of corporate citizenship and community engagement.


7:00 - 8:30am Breakfast served

8:00- 9:45am Welcome and Keynote address

9:45- 10:00am Break

10:00-11:15am Breakout session #1

1A: Strategic Industry Partnerships in Education

Susan Dawson (E3 Alliance), Shirley Heitzman (AISD,) Michele Walker-Moak (Applied Materials),Ray Almgren (National Instruments)

1B: Making Good on Doing Good: CSR Communications

Paula Ivey (The CSR Group), David Modigliano (Flow Nonfiction)

1C: Krista Bauer (General Electic)


11:15-12:45pm Lunch panel

Employee Volunteers & Social Media: Best Practices in Storytelling

Chris Jarvis (Realized Worth)

12:45 -1:00pm Break

1:00-2:15pm Breakout Session #2

2A: Making the Business Case for Community Involvement: CEO Perspectives

Jon Armstrong (Adlucent), Bill Bock (Silicon Laboratories), Mark McClain (SailPoint Technologies), Eugene Sepulveda (Entrepreneurs Foundation)

2B: Survey the Playground

Beth Atherton (Caritas), Sue Carpenter (United Way Capital Area), Frank Fernandez (Green Doors),Susan McDowell (LIfeWorks), Meg Poag (Literacy Coalition), Patsy Woods Martin (I Live Here I Give Here)

2C: A Game-Changing Experience: How Nurtition Education Can Drop Your Company's Healthcare Costs

Rip Esselstyn (Engine 2)

2:15- 2:30 Snack Break

2:30-3:35pm Breakout Session #3

3A: Fireside Chat with Seventh Generation: CSR Frameworks that Outlast Transitions

Chris Miller (7thGeneration), Diane Solinger (Entrepreneurs Foundation)

3B: Greening Up Buildings & Behaviors: Real World Ideas to Profit Responsibly

Justin Murrill (AMD), Mark Vickers (Dell), Kurt Wilkin (Business Earth)

3C: Connecting to the Non-Profit Community: Embracing Social Entrepreneurship

Linsey Bullock (LiveStrong), Kevin Brodwick (thinksport),

Neil Goldman (Hotels for Hope), Allison Wright (LiveStrong)

3:45-4:15pm Closing

Thursday, March 03, 2011

RISE Austin: learn from Bootstrappers!

There will be no March Bootstrap Austin Meeting. Why? RISE, the "SXSW" of Austin's Entrepreneur Scene (#ATXentScene), is happening March 7-11! (followed by SXSW)

There is a Bootstrap Track, which you can search for using the drop-down menu on the left of the Sessions Page.

And you can learn from fellow bootstrappers. Here are the Bootstrap Austin members hosing sessions through the week:
ENJOY!!