SHIFT Award Nominations Open

SHIFT is an annual event that debuted on March 10, 2010 at Theater on the Square in downtown Tacoma, WA. This event was created in order to recognize companies in the South Puget Sound that exhibit successful, innovative approaches to utilizing or developing technology for the purposes of business sustainability.

Nominees and finalists were selected by the 2010 SHIFT Advisory Board, made up of local volunteers representing South Puget Sound business and technology. The four companies asked to share their story at the 2010 event were Hotel Murano, MorphoTrak, BCRA, and Internet Identity.

Nominations are now open for the 2011 SHIFT Awards and we would like to invite you to nominate a South Sound company or organization. The idea for this event is not to choose a "winner" above all others, but rather give organizations a chance to share their story and hopefully inspire others.

The SHIFT nomination form can be found at here.

Please feel free to contact Mandi Webster-Martin or 253.272.2248 with any questions. A date for the actual event will be announced later this year.

Mobile Applications and the South Sound

I had a gentleman come to see me today who talked about the mobile applications he has been developing for the Android. He was doing so because he wanted to sharpen his technical skill set as well as work with technology that was growing in use. He then asked me if there was any mobile application development going on in the South Puget Sound.

The answer is yes. In fact, this years South Sound Technology Conference on March 11th is going to focus on mobile application development as one of its breakout sessions on the technical track (the second track is the business track).

Brian Forth, President of SiteCrafting, a web design and application development company located in Tacoma will be presenting on the topic. He will be discussing not only how mobile applications are creating opportunities and providing unique solutions to his companies customers, but also how the technology is changing the industry landscape.

Following his talk panelists which will include Keven Freitas, a mobile apps developer as well as two companies from the area that have deployed their mobile app solutions. Many of us know Kevin as well from his contribution of FeedTacoma to the Tacoma online community.

Brian came by the Entrepreneurship in Technology class this week to talk about his experience building the company and branching out to include Seattle and Spokane offices. The presentation engaged the students who weren't shy in the least when asking questions about building a company and leveraging technology in business. During the presentation he talked about ChambersEdge just one of the mobile solutions his company has delivered.

A mobile application that provides business and contact info about all your chamber members. It can be accessed by chamber members and visitors alike.

Just a quick search on the topic "mobile application development Tacoma" pulls up several companies in the area who are doing development or offer the service, such as IdentityMine and BigStep Consulting.

It should be a great presentation and a rewarding conversation. Be sure to register.

Clint Nelson of Startup Weekend to Keynote

As we get closer to Friday March 11th and the 11th Annual South Sound Technology Conference I will post more on the great speakers and panels that we have for the event.

Right now I am excited to announce that Clint Nelson of Startup Weekend is going to be our lunch time keynoter. Startup Weekend is a Seattle non-profit that runs weekend-long brainstorming sessions for entrepreneurs around the world. If you are unfamiliar with Startup Weekend, here is information about them from their site:

What is Startup Weekend?

What We Do:

54-hour events where developers, coders, designers, marketers, product managers and startup enthusiasts come together to share ideas, form teams, build products, and create startups!

Startup Weekends are weekend-long, hands-on experiments where entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs can find out if startup ideas are viable. Most events have about 75 attendees, half of which have technical backgrounds and the other half have business backgrounds.

Beginning with open mic pitches on Friday, individuals and teams are encouraged to bring their best ideas and inspire others to join their team. Over Saturday and Sunday teams code, design, research, develop, create business plans while constantly streamlining their startup vision. Come Sunday evening—which always comes around way too soon—teams come together to watch each other’s demos, listen to judges’ feedback, and even win awesome prizes.

Startup Weekends are specifically designed for entrepreneurs looking for feedback on an idea, are interested in finding a co-founder, would like to learn a new skill, or would like to test the entrepreneurial waters by joining a team. Startup Weekends are risk-free environments where everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves and dive into the exhilarating world of startups.

It is my hope that this will be the launch toward a full out Startup Weekend in Tacoma/Pierce County to be held later in the year.

Clint is a director of Startup Weekend. For more information about Clint, other than his bio from Twitter (I'm an enabler, I run @StartupWeekend, I love harnessing the power of disruptive thinking, new ideas, traveling, flying, snowboarding, and the outdoors!) or from his bio from the DC Startup Weekend, (One awesome dude) I can tell you he is a very busy guy who has been traveling all over the world and we are lucky to have him speaking. He will be coming back from the EU the day before the conference.

Register here for the conference:

IT Salary Survey

For the fourteenth consecutive year, InformationWeek Analytics (IW) is conducting its U.S. IT Salary Survey. To date, over 180,000 IT professionals have participated in this survey.

Upon completion of the survey, you will be eligible to enter a contest for prizes including a chance to win a first prize of a Sony BRAVIA 60" HDTV valued at $2,700, second prize of a 64GB Apple iPad with WiFi and 3G valued at $829, or third prize of a Sony home theater system valued at $600.

In addition to having a chance to win these prizes, you will also be sent a link to download the 2011 U.S. IT Salary Report once it has been published. This report will provide you insight into how your salary compares with your peers, as well as information on IT skills, training and culture. Download requires completion of a brief registration form.

IW is only collecting compensation information from IT professionals working in the United States.

To take this year's survey, please go here.

SST 2010 Reschedules

The South Sound Technology Conference has been rescheduled for March 2011. Details will be posted on their website soon.

Friday, March 11, 2011
William W. Philip Hall
University of Washington Tacoma campus
1918 Pacific Ave., Tacoma 98402

SST Webpage Up

SST 2010 webpage up and running.

South Sound Technology Conference
Friday, November 19, 2010
William W. Philip Hall
University of Washington Tacoma
1918 Pacific Ave., Tacoma 98402

Angels and Small Business Tax Benefits

Last week, President Obama signed the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, which includes several benefits for small businesses and also a benefit for angel investors. The Angel Capital Association wants to get this information out to you, as this benefit relates to investments made between September 27 and December 31, 2010 and may be of interest to many of you.

The new law includes a 100 percent exemption for gains made in Qualified Small Business Stock, and this new bill effectively means that you pay no taxes on gains from your investments that meet several criteria below and Alternative Minimum Tax does not apply. If you are interested in this program, PLEASE TALK TO YOUR ACCOUNTANT to ensure you have all the information you need to structure your investments to meet all requirements.

Criteria and Limitations:
• Investments must be made by a non-corporate investor (for example, individuals or funds structured as LLCs).
• Investments must be made between September 27 and December 31, 2010 to qualify for no taxes on the gains.
• The company in which you invest must be a C corporation and must be a qualifying type of business (many businesses except financial institutions, farms, professional service firms, hotels, and restaurants)
• The company in which you invest must not exceed $50 million in aggregate gross assets at any time before the investment or immediately afterward. An important issue in this size is that 80% of the assets must be used in the "active conduct" of the business at all times.
• The stock must be purchased by the investor as an original issuance from the corporation, directly or through an underwriter. So, notes and warrants do not count. We're hearing that if you have an outstanding note that converts to stock before December 31st, then the stock would count for this program. (BUT TALK TO YOUR ACCOUNTANT.)
• The stock must be held for more than five years (subject to exemptions for qualifying tax-free rollovers)
• There are limitations on redeeming shares of the company's stock before and after the qualified stock is issued.
• The gains eligible for the zero taxes by any single taxpayer max out at $10 million or ten times the adjusted tax basis of stock issued by the stock
• For just investments made between September 27 and December 31, 2010, the gains are also not subject to the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Other Important Things to Know:
It's confusing, but Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) taxes are actually based on ordinary income rather than what we normally think of as capital gains taxes. So, when you see that QSBS provides a 100% exemption of taxes on gains, the comparison is to the current 75% exemption on gains - which works out to 7% rate on ordinary income.

For any of you or your accountants looking for the actual language to the bill, we link you to the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 here. The relevant sections are 2011-2013 (pages 51-53).

Here are a few of the articles and backgrounders we liked on the subject:
• Wall Street Journal - For New Tax Breaks, Act Fast , September 30, 2010
• Calling All Angels - Donald Jay Korn, Financial Planning Magazine, September, 2009 (This was written when the exemptions for QSBS were only 50 to 75%, but has helpful information, and includes one of the last media quotes from Luis Villalobos.)
• Favorable Legislation Relating to Qualified Small Business Stock, Latham & Watkins, September 27, 2010
• Overall summary of other items in the Small Business Jobs Acts