It was a DC9 kind of Saturday night

Last Saturday was a gloomy day, met with an equally lethargic mood by this concert fan. Somehow, however, I mustered up the energy to go to a heavy metal concert in DC, and boy was I glad I did! Throwdown Syndicate put on a great show, loud enough to wake even Rip Van Winkle. I don’t think there was a bob-less head in the house - ferocious guitar riffs hammered out by James Reeves bass line and screams by Luis Trigueros and of course the all important rapid drum line, courtesy of Andy Och. Check them out if you are looking for a very talented local metal group in DC!

One of the surprise highlights of the night was the retro sound of “New Retro.” With their ability to strum out vintage sounding riffs and Aubrey Ché Adams big presence making the room sing and dance with emotion, the catchy hook of “Out of Sight Out of Mind” phrase on repeat, building up to what can only be called controlled yelling in perfect pitch. So jam out and get your groove on and funk out with New Retro.

Finding your next favorite band is just a click away!

Music discovery is euphoric, finding a band that plays gritty riffs or detached harmonies fills a void and makes one whole. I personally love discovering a band or a two that goes with a changing mood, maturity level or simply fits with the transforming seasons.

Although as time passed, I grew up. I flew away from a college of my peers, the excitement of new music faded, I found music discovery more overwhelming than ever before. I would open any of the local papers around me and see page after page of bands playing around town, I was exhausted and didn’t have the gusto to roll the dice and waste a night. Sure bands have recordings online, but that’s just what they are, recordings. I didn’t have the time to gamble on live music, I was a “professional.”

Enter idea: CrowdRage.

Why not create an interactive place for local shows instead of wordy reviews? Why not create an objective rating system where bands can promote the electric energy they bring to the stage day in and night out? Why not create a medium for fans to support rising stars and share opinions about the small live shows of greater DC/MD/VA? CrowdRage will be an all inclusive one stop shop for live music at small local venues. CrowdRage will help bands break out and help YOU discover them.

We hope you brows around and become energized again as finding your next favorite band is just a click away!



Patrick

Lean Startup Event

Hey Everyone,

So it's been a while since I posted. But I just went to my first networking event on my own. Meaning I didn't work for a company who either sponsored or required me to go. It was great being in a room with so many people going through the same things the CrowdRage team is. The event was a Lean Startup DC meetup, which featured presentations by two companies and feedback from industry experts. It was interesting to meet people both ahead of where we are and behind us and how they are dealing with issues that are seemingly unique but actually fairly uniform in most startups. Just talking to people about CrowdRage, and fielding questions is great experience for me. I met a friend of a friend for the first time. It was great to get to know her, she is a lively and smart with a great personality, Rebecca Thorman is head of PR for Alice.com.

All and all it seemed that there were far too many people and too little time, I'm looking forward to the next event!

Washington DC's second startup wave

As it turns out, the DC startup community is more robust than I thought! I had a hint of this when I joined the DC lean startup group that already had over 400 memembers! After reading this New York Times technology article it's clear that DC is a growing spot on the startup map. With a huge talent pool to draw from and low competition for investors the area is a good place to start a company.

NY Times article

PR at Startups

Awesome article, Mark Suster highlights outsourcing PR and the journalist connections PR agencies. Makes a lot of sense, emphasizes ROI is made through a great agency who pitches the right journalists at the right time and gets to know your startup.

How to Use PR Firms at Startups

GroundScore

Found a new awesome Sublime-esq band on Twitter. Check out the sweet sound of GroundScore!

GroundScore Myspace

Advantages to keeping your competition close

I read this post by Marc Suster and thought of a previous manager and company I worked for. They were always belittling the competition. They claimed they had the only logical solution. This looked bad to subordinates like me, I can only imagine what it looked like to potential customers. After two years with this company I saw how this attitude really damaged them mentally in how they think about themselves and their competition. If you can be honest in saying what your competition is good at then you can find the truth in what you're good at. As it was, this company just deluded itself into thinking they were the best at everything and no one took them seriously or believed they could deliver. Employees were under the delusion that this company was the center of the universe.

Read more from Both Sides of the Table here

Go do what you want

Another inspirational post!

What are you working on?

Why You Should Work For a Big Company

...And now, the tit-for-the-tat. Here are some great reasons why grounding yourself and understanding burocracy and process flow are important background before you launch into your startup.

Why You Should Work For a Big Company

Start a Startup

After reading and collecting great startup advice from notable entrepreneurs and slowly jamming them into my Google Reader I came across this blog post. Unlike other bloggers who just disseminate good advice. This post served to motivate and inspire. People say the average person changes careers 7 times in life, I think it's safe to say that those who choose to be an entrepreneur, stick with it for reasons listed in this article.

14 Reasons Why You Need To Start A Startup

Recommendation and review sites

AdaptiveBlue, the developer behind the entertainment “check-in” app GetGlue, has raised $6 million in a round of funding led by Time Warner. GetGlue is a recmmendation and review site, what I think is the next big wave of the internet - to be able to see at a glance what your friends are doing and how their likes compare to yours. A gold mine for advertisers. CrowdRage is following a similar user generation model by allowing users to share opinions/reviews of live concerts. A more niche site, however CrowdRage has potential to dominate a market for users hungry to have a fun/informative night out to see a show.

GetGlue plays on the current vogue for check-in apps, applying the idea to entertainment media. Users can either download an app to an Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) or Android device, which allows them to “check-in” to movies, books, TV shows, music and other entertainment, and it allows them to see in real time what their friends are consuming.

Read more at:

PaidContent.org

Always Assume Competition (Venture Hacks)

Post by Venture Hacks. Good advice and motivation for the faint of heart that feels their idea has already been done.

Always Assume Competition