EO Vancouver Presents Allison Mooney – Pressing The Right Buttons

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Adam Baechler

Adam Baechler and Allison Mooney

On April 9th, 2013 my colleague Bryan Garcia from Ubertor.com and I attended an EO Vancouver event entitled to Pressing the Right Buttons presented by Allison Mooney. Allison is an award winning speaker and the author of Pressing The Right Buttons.

It was a full house at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel. As we eagerly awaited the start of the talk.

After a nice light breakfast (Thanks EO) we got started.

Alllison gave a presentation that was both entertaining and funny but informative using anecdotes from her own life .

Her talk explained the importance of understanding and respecting each others differences is the key developing high performing teams. This allows us to push the right buttons so to speak to motivate individual and our team as a whole.

First thing we did was self identify ourselves as 1 of 4 personality types. I self identified as a peaceful personality. This type by no means defines my entire personality but it is the one I most identified with.

This personality type is the happy go lucky type of person and it means that I have a tendency to be the diplomat and I try to build cohesiveness in teams. Peaceful personalities are also know for being easy to get along with and listening well.

Unfortunately, we are also know as procrastinators which can annoy most of the other personality types Allison described.

My key take aways from the talk were:

Great teams are made from a mix of all personality types.
Treat people how they want to be treated to get their best performance.
Be aware of my personal personality quirks and how they can affect the motivation of others on my team.

Do you have any leadership tip to help motivate and recharge the people around you?

Recap: Crocodile in the Yangtze Asia Premier

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Stephen Jagger

Last night we hosted the Asia premier of the film Crocodile in the Yangtze in Manila, Philippines. We flew the director, Porter Erisman in for the event to speak to the group and do a question and answer session after the screening. It was a fantastic night!

The Crocodile in the Yangtze is a fantastic film that looks at the rise of China’s first Internet entrepreneur and former English teacher, Jack Ma, as he battles US giant eBay on the way to building China’s first global Internet company, Alibaba Group.

A big thanks to Amazon Web Services and EO Philippines for sponsoring the event along with us to make it happen.

*More photos here

Porter Erisman (left) taking questions after the screening

Porter Erisman and Mig33 CEO Steven Goh

STAC Silicon Valley Announces 2012 ON3 Winners (PayrollHero WINS!)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Stephen Jagger

Exciting news! PayrollHero was chosen as one of the 2012 ON3 Winners and will receive a 3 month immersion package in Silicon Valley provided by Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California. Below is the press release that was just sent out to announce the winners. We are excited to amongst such a great group of startups!

A big shout out to Tin Sanchez and Nico Suria of the PayrollHero team who pitched at the event! Great work!

– – –

Contact: Christina Laskowski, President
STAC Silicon Valley
(415) 425-1900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STAC Silicon Valley Announces 2012 ON3 Winners
NEXTIX, Payroll Hero and SpellDial Win Plug and Play Tech Center Immersion

April 10, 2013 – Palo Alto, CA and Manila, Philippines – The Science & Technology Council officially announced the 2012 ON3 winners which include NEXTIX (GroupJump and Mii Move), Payroll Hero and SpellDial. The path of the 2012 ON3 Finalists started a year ago in April when each company presented their 3-minute pitch to a panel of judges during one of the four Regional competitions held in Davao, Cebu, Pangasinan and Manila. “The judges during the coaching sessions challenged us each time to justify our technology, target market, and team.” says Bobby Suson, Founder of GroupJump. “We used their feedback to finalize our presentation for competition day and we have been looking forward to the 2012 announcement.”

The ON3 competition is one that has an extremely unique format. ON3 takes place twice a year in the Philippines beginning with the Regional competitions hosted in cities across the country. There are two competitions in Luzon to enable participants from the northern and southern communities to participate, one in the Visayas and one in Mindanao. The best performers of the Regional leg come together to compete in the final competition where they are judged by a panel of angel investors, venture capitalists and professionals for their pitch performance. The short list of companies are then required to demonstrate ability to execute their business model over a period of three months and submit monthly reports. Companies that demonstrate an ability to execute and achieve milestones are then considered for the grand prize of a three month immersion package provided by ON3’s Platinum sponsor Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, California.

Plug and Play Tech Center is a global accelerator providing a unique platform to help international companies succeed. “As a judge during the Regionals in Manila, the entrepreneurs demonstrated their drive and approach to solving a global problem using technology and I am confident that the entrepreneurial ecosystem for the Philippines is headed toward success,” says Saeed Amidi, CEO of Plug and Play. To help facilitate their immersion, ON3 2012 winners will be supported in part through a grant from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) which will help offset the living expenses during their three month stay in Silicon Valley. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has championed the cross border partnership and development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem supporting STAC SV and its ON3 program. The private sector support has been led by Novare Technologies, SMART Communications, and Globe Telecom who not only support ON3 but each are active in contributing to the ecosystem independently.

ON3 is a nationwide business plan search for emerging technology companies in the Philippines. In August 2009, The Philippine Government (Departments of Science & Technology, Trade & Industry and Foreign Affairs) signed a Memo of Agreement with STAC-SV to formalize a working relationship that together would create a platform in the Philippines designed to support efforts of local entrepreneurs, scientists and graduate students with attractive global business models. The prototypeON3 competition was launched at the 2010 eServices conference serving as the first competition of its kind in the Philippines. Jojo Flores, co-founder of Plug and Play Tech Center who also serves as Vice President of STAC-SV, led the event and currently serves as the ON3 Director.

About STAC Silicon Valley. The Science & Technology Advisory Council-Silicon Valley is a 501c3 non-profit organization that serves as an advisor to the Philippine Government in the areas of Science & Technology to promote entrepreneurship, support R&D investments by DOST and foster innovation. The organization’s members operate the ON3 Acceleration Program and are building a platform that will help support viable global businesses. STAC Silicon Valley is a partner of The Global Entrepreneurship Program, a U.S. State Department-led effort to advance entrepreneurship in emerging markets and developing countries. For more information about STAC SV: www.excelr8.org. For more information about GEP: http://www.state.gov/e/eb/cba/entrepreneurship/gep/index.htm

About NEXTIX Groupjump. Groupjump is a social and mobile e-group networking site that allows users the ability to fully control and manage the security and privacy of their virtual social groups. Groupjump can easily be accessed anywhere too—through the web, and mobile devices. For more information: www.groupjump.com

About NEXTIX Mii Move. MiiMove is the app that allows seamless real-time coaching and interaction between students and coaches around the world so you can improve and master any sport you like. Its platform enables users to engage the services of professional coaches from anywhere in the world, receive real-time instruction and analytical data to improve one’s game all on a social e-learning platform. For more information: www.miimove.com

About Payroll Hero. PayrollHero is a Consumer-friendly Time, Attendance, Scheduling and Payroll app that is in the cloud built for web and mobile. For more information: www.payrollhero.com

About SpellDial. Spelldial is an app that allows customers to remember names not numbers. Its platform enables users, merchants and brands to stay connected whenever wherever. For more information: www.spelldial.com

About Plug and Play Tech Center. Plug and Play Tech Center is a thriving Silicon Valley global accelerator that hosts a community of over 300 startups from all over the world. It accelerates growth of its startups via strategic partnerships, including 170 investors who participate in regular screening sessions exclusive to Plug and Play members. For more information: www.plugandplaytechcenter.com

About Globe and Kickstart Ventures. Globe™ is a leading telecommunications company in the Philippines whose mission is to transform and enrich lives through communications by way of its vision of making great things possible. Kickstart Ventures, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Globe Telecom, is an angel fund dedicated to investing and incubating Philippine start-ups. It is committed to build innovative businesses in cooperation with like-minded individuals and organizations by providing funding, mentorship and education. www.kickstart.ph

About Novare Technologies. A Philippine flag carrier with global reach in the world of strategic consulting, Novare Technologies continuously provides business value to its customers through its excellence and innovation, driven by best-in-class people. Novare offers a comprehensive, 360-degree approach to solutions architecture through consultancy, solutions development, and support: from backend integration of various solution vendor technologies, to the development and customization of multiple front-end applications on different platforms, Novare is a trusted partner of some of the most prestigious names in the Telecommunications and the Financial Services industries. Staffed by more than 130 professionals, it is headquartered in Hong Kong, with its Regional Operating Headquarters in Makati, Philippines, and branches in Silicon Valley, USA and Beijing, China. For more information: http://www.novare.com.hk/

About SMART Communications. Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) is the Philippines’ leading wireless services provider with 49.0 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-December 2011. SMART has built an international reputation for innovation, having introduced world-first wireless data services, such as Smart Money (the world’s first electronic wallet linked to a mobile phone), Smart Load (electronic prepaid top-ups in sachet denominations), Smart Padala (mobile-based remittance service) and the Netphone (Android-based operator feature phone). SMART is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Philippines’ leading telecommunications carrier, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company which is listed at the New York Stock Exchange. For more information: www.smart.com.ph

2 Days of Training (Zendesk and PayrollHero)

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Stephen Jagger

Our office in the Philippines is used by quite a few companies for events. We have, what we call, a “think tank” that works great for events. We have been the location for Google, Amazon and most recently been asked to host an event for Zendesk.

Zendesk is running a day long session on April 17th 2013 in our think tank and since Zendesk and PayrollHero share a few customers we thought it would make sense to run a bootcamp of our own the day before to make it easy for companies that wanted to attend both.

Join us!

PayrollHero – April 16th 2013 (Register Here)
Zendesk – April 17th 2013 (Register Here)

Fun Times at Zendesk University in Vancouver

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Adam Baechler

This week, Mike and I (Adam) attended an Customer Service education event in Vancouver hosted by Zendesk.

Zendesk is the leading cloud-based customer service software solution. More than 25,000 companies such as Gilt Groupe, Box, and Disney are using Zendesk to lower their support costs, raise productivity, and increase customer satisfaction. Loved by both service teams and their customers for its beautifully simple interface, Zendesk is easy to try, buy, implement, and use.

We have been using Zendesk for over a year now with much success, but we know there is always room for improvement when it comes to communication in customer service and communication within our teams. Our goal was learn more about how to use Zendesk for our customer support and to meet other Zendesk users to share and learn with them.

zenu-room

The event was a full house, with most participants following along on their device of choice: laptop, ipad, smartphone or just plain old eyes and ears! In attendance were companies of all sizes, including start-up tech companies like ours.

Mike, Adam & Bryan with Avandi from Volo

We met Avandi from Volo, a local start up – they have built software for the Fitness Industry including online scheduling, billing, lead & member management, automated work flows, POS, reporting, and payroll in one system.

Adam and Brandon Knapp (Customer Advocate at zendesk.com and the instructor for the event.)

Living in Whistler, we are well-versed in the term “Après” and always enjoy the socializing and networking that comes after an event with other startups and tech companies! Here we are at the Mix and mingle (aka après!) after class. From left to right, Bryan from Ubertor, Jack and Keith from RideBooker.com, Bart and Alex from advisorwebsites.com, J.D. Peterson (Vice President, Product Marketing) at Zendesk.com, Mike and Adam from PayrollHero.com.

Après. As all good events should have!

All in all, it was a great use of our time. When you can combine learning, inspiration, and networking with like-minded business-people, it’s been a good day.

Check back to see our follow up posts on Customer Service Analytics, How we are using Zendesk Automations and Triggers to help with our business processes.