TIECON is the largest convention in the world dedicated to entrepreneurs. TIECON 2009 took place in Santa Clara Convention Center on May 15-16. This post is about the highlights for us during this event.

Matt Perez says:

1. Democracy@work

I got to talk to several people about what we are doing to create democracy at Nearsoft and in every case people are fascinated by it.  It seems to be a subject that people are really interested in it but they don't think it's possible.  Once they hear that a little company in Mexico is doing it successfully (and won an award), they want to know more and more and more.

2. Gala Night

The food was good, the people were great and the dresses were absolutely fabulous!

3. Top 50 Awards

• I was particularly impressed by the work of Takahito Iguchi.  This labor of love really is a prioneer in a new category of products for the iPhone and other mobile platforms.  Their software lets users explore their physical surroundings with the help of Visual Tags entered by other users.
• PlaySpan received a $16M investment recently (in this market).  That's proof enough of the strength of their business model and their execution.  They aggregate many payment systems (e.g., PayPal, Authorize.net, etc) that gaming and virtual world companies can use to monetize their virtual goods.  They can present the appropriate, locale-specific payment solution in over 60 countries throughout the world.

Victor Velasquez says:

4. The Culture of Happiness at Zappos.

I was very impressed with Tony Hsieh's presentation and how the people at Zappos.com manage their culture.  They make sure that the following elements exist as part of their corporate culture:

1. Perceived Control
2. Perceived Progress
3. Connectedness
4. Vision/Meaning

5. The Passion of the CEO of Tonchidot.com

Takahito Iguchi walked up and presented a video showing the features of the new Sekai Camera and its tagging function (AirTags).  The phrase "Everything becomes clickable" was very apropos.

6. Conversations at Lunch

I switched five times to different tables so I was able to listen to the stories of as many people as possible.  It was an opportunity to get to know what others do, communicate what Nearsoft has to offer and share information and tips.  It was definitely a learning environment (while enjoying a nice meal).