Celebrity Mom & Master Chef Pankaj Bhadouria Visits TOSV

The Office of Silicon Valley was lucky enough to have Master Chef Pankaj Bhadouria as a guest in April. Please take the time to check out the Silliconeer’s article about the Celebrity mom here!

Coworking spaces get serious about curation

The number of freelancers is on the rise with estimates of their eventual numbers ranging from more than 50 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2020 to 1.3 billion worldwide by 2015. All of these mobile workers obviously have to set up shop somewhere. Luckily, the coworking movement is growing at a breezy pace as well, but will supply of workplaces keep pace with demand so that finding a space remains relatively straightforward?

Read more here!

Marty Cagan, TOSV’s Product Strategy Adviser is Holding a Workshop

Joint Product Owner Workshop for Product Managers, Product Designers and Product Architects

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM - Friday, June 29, 2012 at 5:30 PM (PT)

5201 Great America Pkwy
Santa Clara, CA 95054

Marty Cagan and Jeff Patton of Silicon Valley Product Group


From Marty Cagan, with Silicon Valley Product Group and TOSV:

For several years I have held occasional public workshops where I share best practices in Product, but I have always explained to the attendees that my session is not a substitute for getting trained on Agile / Scrum.  I typically go on to recommend that people be sure to get trained by one of the very few Agile trainers that truly understand consumer internet product companies (rather than the much more prevalent custom and IT software environments). 

My favorite such trainer is Jeff Patton.  While Jeff is one of the original Agile pioneers, he has established a very successful and specialized practice where he focuses on product managers and product designers that care not only about how to use Agile to build products faster, but to actually build better products faster.

I’ve been friends with Jeff for several years, and have introduced him in to many of the companies I work with.  Recently, we’ve decided to do an experiment together.  This summer, we’ll be holding a special, combined, 3-day public workshop (one in Silicon Valley and one in Europe). 

This workshop is specifically designed for Product Managers, Product Designers and Product Architects from Consumer Internet Product companies that want to dive very deep into the Product Owner role and learn the leading edge practices from Lean Startups, Lean UX, Agile, Customer Development, Product Discovery, Design Thinking and Story Mapping, as well as techniques and practices from the very best consumer internet product companies in the world.

The workshop includes the CSPO Product Owner Certification, but the content goes well beyond Agile to encompass the end to end product process from portfolio management to customer discovery to product discovery to product delivery.

It will be an intense three days, but our intention is to provide the single best learning opportunity in the world for aspiring product leaders.

To register, click here!

The government clears Google’s purchase of Motorola.

In decisions that largely clear a path for the biggest acquisition in Google’s (GOOG) history, European and U.S. regulators Monday approved the Internet giant’s purchase of Motorola Mobility, a deal that would transform Google into a maker of both mobile hardware and software like its rivals Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft.

The twin approvals by the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission are a key milestone toward finalizing the $12.5 billion purchase, an investment by Google that emphasizes the Web’s accelerating shift to mobile devices.

“It goes to show just how important mobile is to Google going forward,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner. “This is a major strategic bet that they are making.”

The deal, which still needs approval from regulators in China, Taiwan and Israel, would not only give Google control of an important maker of smartphones, tablets and TV set-top boxes, but also access to Motorola’s war chest of more than 17,000 patents.

In another decision Monday, the Justice Department also signed off on a series of patent purchases by Apple, Microsoft and Research in Motion from Nortel

One of our friends, OpenSky, was named one of The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company!

OpenSky was named the 49th Most Innovative Company in the World by Fast Company Magazine! Check them out in the March issue of Fast Company - on stands today!


From Martyn Lawrence-Bullard, Interior Designer and OpenSky Curator:

The thing I think is so exciting about OpenSky is that all of the followers get to experience things that I am excited about at that moment. [It’s] an amazing platform where we can instantly give you the best of the best and share the things that I love the most.

Apple has recently leased a large research center and office complex in Sunnyvale next door to The Office of Silicon Valley and is seeking even more space in the city, marking a major expansion outside of the tech titan’s hometown of Cupertino.

From the Mercury News  website:

“Apple is going to start moving into the buildings by the end of the first quarter,” said Donald Reimann, a senior vice president with Colliers. “This is really a good fit for Apple because it’s close to their headquarters.”

Our friends and former residents here at The Office of Silicon Valley are doing an amazing job with their mobile apps (History of Jazz) and really making it big. You can say their dreams are coming true… Bad puns aside, we are thrilled to see them doing so well and creating wonderful products.

From the 955 Dreams website:

The History of Jazz was designed and built from the ground up for the iPad. When you use the app, it’s clear how much more immersive and fun this is over a regular book. An absolute delight for beginners and advanced Jazz enthusiasts. A must have for all iPad Users…

Congratulations and keep up the great work!

Check out their website for more vids and follow them on Twitter:
955 Dreams Website
955 Dreams on Twitter

When I joined Swap.com, we had a team of seven and were renting an office in downtown Boston. To implement our expansion strategy, we needed to look for new office space.

Throughout my career, I have worked in many kinds of office settings. In addition to my work at Lycos and NameMedia, I have had the good fortune of advising several young ventures over the years. One of my observations from these experiences is that it is very difficult for young companies to generate the energy and buzz that is oftentimes required if they are in their own, separate space. It is not impossible to make this work, but it is difficult.

» Read the rest of the article

But there’s something bigger going on. They are a representative of a whole new industry that’s popped up in the past few years — mobile publishing houses. These folks are being courted heavily by the big phone companies.

Visit full link here:
http://scobleizer.com/2010/11/03/inside-a-mobile-app-publisher/

Westminster Promotions

Our friends at Westminster have been busy launching websites for clients such as AKF Partners, 2 x 4 Development and Catheter Connections.

High Five Labs

Resident High Fiver, Kiran proudly presents the premiere of the amazing iPhone app — “Mario Batali Cooks!”. Being a beta tester, I assure you that even the most inept amateur chef can manage to cook up an Italian style tasty treat thanks to this iPhone app.

Cymtec
We’d love to welcome our new resident, Cymtec to our roster of awesome tenants. Cymtec delivers the tools necessary to better manage, remotely troubleshoot and optimize the performace of remote/branch and small office networks. Customers are able to optimize existing network investments by reducing downtime, troubleshooting more efficiently and ensuring the correct use of network assets. Find out more on their website!

Keep an eye out for Cymtec’s Andrew Rubin who will be attending Interop as a panelist on the “Defining the Ideal Mobile Arsenal” panel. Learn more on the Interop website.

Silicon Valley Product Group
Marty Cagan of SVPG has been writing for his insightful industry newsletter/blog on all things Product related! His latest post is entitled “Factors in Structuring a Product Organization”.