I first met the wind2share team at TechCrunch SF in the fall of 2012, and I was immediately taken aback by their energy and the genuine kindness they exuded as people. At the time, the team had been slowly making the transition of having employees work in three different cities on two different continents, but it was clear that they shared a unified willingness to work hard and create a meaningful solution for their clients. As my boy Iggy Pop said, they had a “lust for life” that is as magnetic as it is uncommon. And if that weren’t enough, their vision for wind2share is innovative and intriguing:

wind2share is a social business network specially designed for people to make referrals to leading institutions and companies and receive cash rewards based on successful referrals. Businesses seeking to enter new markets can lean on hundreds of ambassadors worldwide to offer their services to new audiences, and expand their client base in new markets.

Since I met them, they’ve made incremental improvements in their user experience, incorporating Facebook and Google+ accounts to streamline signups and launching a new site design to clearly and succinctly convey the business model and the platform’s features.

After a successful pilot run in 2012 which generated more than $1.7 million in revenue, wind2share is strategically ramping up their marketing efforts to continue the viral growth of their disruptive referral model. Given how easy they make the process of connecting and interacting with businesses and top-level professionals around thew world, it’s not a surprise that the startup has been so successful, and I have no doubt that their success will continue.

The beauty of the network wind2share created is the diversity of its functionality. Your social network trusts you, and your referrals are valuable, so wind2share provides a medium for businesses to reward you when you recommend them. Beyond that use-case, if you’re an entrepreneur or you have an idea, you can connect with investors who share your interest and may be of some help. The way I think of it is that it’s a social community with a business purpose. Members are provided with all the information, tools and resources they need to “Make a Wealth of Referrals.”

Companies like wind2share are a glowing successes in our Catalyst. Our team has solved numerous infrastructure challenges for them, and we’ve had the opportunity to make strategic introductions to investors, business leads and potential business partners as the company has grown and matured. Seeing the work pay off in such a positive way with wind2share is proof positive of the value Catalyst provides startups.

To learn more about wind2share or to sign up, head over to wind2share.com. If you’d like to meet the fantastic team of brilliant folks behind the platform, reach out to me directly and I’ll happily start the conversation for you.

-@JoshuaKrammes

Anyone who’s organized events knows that it often involves a financial risk because it’s hard to know whether the event will be well-enough attended to cover the costs of putting on the event. With Kickback Tickets, an event is listed an funded ahead of time, and when it reaches its “Tipping Point” goal of tickets ordered, it’s completely funded, the early supporters are charged, and the ticket sales continue.

The process is simple:

Event updates, guest registrations and QR-coded tickets are provided to attendees to make check-in seamless, so the hosts of each event don’t have hassle with those details. Kickback’s revenue comes from a small fee on each ticket for each successfully funded event, and they’ve got a ton of momentum. After signing on with Catalyst in March 2012, Kickback went live with an open beta in November 2012, and they launched their out-of-beta site in February 2013. They’ve successfully funded more than 20 events, and new events are added daily.

When I met the Kickback founders Jonathan Perkins and Julian Balderas, I was attending SF Beta (my first official event as a SLayer). At the time, Jonathan and Julian were a couple of bankers with an innovative idea to help organizations alleviate the financial risk of planning and putting on events by enlisting community support. I told them about my experience as the COO of a small non-profit startup up called Slavery Footprint (also a Catalyst partner), and I guess they could relate to the challenges SoftLayer helped us overcome because they were excited to join.

In their own words, Jonathan and Julian explain that their partnership with Softlayer and the Catalyst program has been extremely valuable:

SoftLayer provides a rock-solid technical foundation and allows us to focus more resources on business development. On the technical side, what Softlayer offers is impressive — super fast speeds and an intricate level of control over the hardware. On the personal side, the mentorship and networking benefits of the program have been very helpful. We’ve always found the Catalyst team to be available to chat about any questions we had, ranging from development to biz dev to fundraising.

As they continue to expand their platform, it’s going to be exciting to watch Kickback become a true force in the events space. Organize your next event with Kickback and make sure it’s a success.

Oh, and if you want to speak to Jonathan and Julian, just reach out to me and I’ll happily make the introduction.

-@JoshuaKrammes

In a Hacker News thread, a user posted about needing hosting for a server/startup, and a recommendation for the Catalyst program was one of the top-rated results. The founders of Moqups saw that recommendation, researched SoftLayer’s hosting platform and submitted an application to become a Catalyst partner. As soon as we saw the unbelievable HTML5 app the Moqups team created to streamline and simplify the process of creating wireframes and mockups for website and application design, we knew they were a perfect fit to join the program.

If you’ve ever had to create a site prototype or UI mockup, you know how unwieldy the process can be. You want to sketch a layout and present it clearly and cleanly, but there aren’t many viable resources between “marker on a whiteboard” and “rendering in Photoshop” to accomplish that goal. That’s the problem the Moqups team set out to solve … Can a web app provide the functionality and flexibility you’d need to fill that gap?

We put their answer to that question to the test. I told Kevin about Moqups and asked him to spend a few minutes wireframing the SoftLayer Blog … About ten minutes later, he sent me this (Click for the full Moqups version):

Obviously, wireframing an existing design is easier than creating a new design from scratch, but Kevin said he was floored by how intuitive the Moqups platform made the process. In fact, the “instructions” for how to use Moqups are actually provided in an example “Quick Introduction to Moqups” project on the home page. That example project allows you to tweak, add and adjust content to understand how the platform works, and because it’s all done in HTML5, the user experience is seamless.

Put it to the test for yourself: How long will it take you to create a wireframe of your existing website (similar to what Kevin did with the SoftLayer Blog)? You have down-to-the-pixel precision, you can group objects together, Moqups helps you line up or center all of the different pieces of your site. Their extensive library of stencils supplements any custom images you upload, so you can go through the whole process of creating a site mockup without “drawing” anything by hand!

I’m actually surprised that the Moqups team heard about SoftLayer before our community development team heard about them … In November, I was in Bucharest, Romania, for HowtoWeb, so I was right in their back yard! Central and Eastern European startups are blowing up right now, and Moqups is a perfect example of what we’re seeing from that region in EMEA.

Oh, and if you know of a crazy cool startup like Moqups that could use a little hosting help from SoftLayer, tell them about Catalyst!

-@EmilyBlitz

Demo Day wasn’t the end of the fun, though. After the post-pitch celebrations (and a much-needed night of sleep), the teams had one more item on their agenda for the week: A visit to SoftLayer.

On Thursday, the teams piled into a bus and made their way from San Antonio to Dallas where we could continue the celebration of their successful completion of the program … And so many of the teams could see the actual hardware powering their businesses. After a nice little soiree on Thursday evening at the House of Blues in Dallas, we put the teams up in a hotel near our Alpha headquarters promised them an informative, interesting and fun Friday.

After a few hours of sleep, the teams were recharged on Friday morning and ready to experience some SoftLayer goodness so…

They loaded up the bus and took a 10-minute ride to our corporate headquarters.

Given our security and compliance processes, each visitor checked in at our front desk, and they were divided into smaller groups to take a quick data center tour.

I could tell that going on a data center tour wasn’t the most exciting prospect for a few of the visitors, but I asked them to forget everything they thought they knew about data centers … This is SoftLayer. Yes, that’s pretty bold, but when each team walked out of SR01.DAL05, I could see in their eyes that they agreed.

The tour started innocently enough at a window looking into Server Room 01 (the first data center pod we built in DAL05). In the picture above, Joshua Daley, our DAL05 site manager, is explaining how all of SoftLayer’s facilities are built identically to enable us to better manage the customer experience and our operational practices in any facility around the world. After a few notes about security and restrictions on what can/can’t be done in the server room the group was led through the first set of secured doors between the facility’s lobby and the data center floor.

From the next hallway, the tour group observed the generators and air conditioning units keeping DAL05 online 24×7. Josh explained the ways we safeguard the facility with n+1 redundancy and regular maintenance and load testing, and the group was led through two more stages of secured doors … the first with badge access, the second requiring fingerprint authentication. When they made it through, they were officially in SR01.DAL05.

Josh explained how our data center CRAC units work, how each server row is powered and how we measure and optimize the server room environment. While that aspect of the data center could seem like “blocking and tackling,” he talked about our continued quest to improve power efficiency as he shared a few of the innovative approaches we’ve been testing, and it was clear that the tour understood it to be easier than, “Plug in server. Turn on air conditioner.”

The teams got a chance to get up close and personal (No Touching!) with a server rack, and they learned about our unique network-with-a-network topology that features public, private and out-of-band management functionality. Many “oohs” and “ahhhs” were expressed.

The tour wrapped up outside of the data center facility in front of the Alpha HQ’s Network Operations Center. From here, the TechStars could see how our network team observes and responds to any network-related events, and they could ask questions about anything they saw during the tour (without having to shout over the air conditioning hum).

When the final tour concluded, the full group reconvened in one of our conference rooms. They’d seen the result of our hard work, and we wanted them to know where all that hard work started. Because SoftLayer was started in a Dallas living room a few short years ago, we knew our story would be interesting, inspirational and informative, and we wanted to provide as much guidance as possible to help these soon-to-grow businesses prepare for their own success. After a brief Q&A period, a few of the TechStars Cloud participants (and some of their Dallas-based Tech Wildcatters cousins) presented a little about their businesses and how they’ve grown and evolved through the TechStars program, and we got to ask our own questions to help them define their business moving forward.

After the presentations at the office, we knew we couldn’t just load the bus up to send the teams back to San Antonio … We had to bid them farewell SoftLayer style. We scheduled a quick detour to SpeedZone Dallas where a few hours of unlimited eats, drinks, games and go-kart races were waiting for them.

We couldn’t have had a better time with the participating teams, and we’re looking forward to seeing the amazing things they’ll continue doing in the near future. If you want to see even more data center coverage from Friday, be sure to check out “TechStars Cloud Visits SoftLayer” on Flickr!

-@PaulFord

If you haven’t heard of MassChallenge before, here’s the quick rundown: MassChallenge is the largest startup accelerator and competition in the world, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached. Participants are invited to a three-month accelerator program with world-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more. 15-20 startups are selected as winners of $50,000-$100,000, totaling $1.1M in cash awards. $4M+ in-kind support is provided (including some hosting goodness from SoftLayer). It’s open to all: Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry. No equity is taken. No restrictions apply.

Every entrant, not just the winners, will receive access to workshops, mentors, executives, other team members and sources of funding. Experts from the Massachusetts tech ecosystem will identify the highest potential startups, which will receive cash prizes and will qualify for privileged access to funding sources from across Massachusetts.

Why is MassChallenge important to SoftLayer? Well SoftLayer Loves Startups, and as an expression of that love, SoftLayer’s Catalyst Program — our technology entrepreneur mentorship initiative will provide $25,000 cash to MassChallenge in addition to $1,000 per month of credit for qualifying participants to use on the SoftLayer platform (servers, cloud instances, storage, etc.) for one full year … Which is reason enough to participate, right?

We’re no strangers to the startup scene, and the reception we’ve received from organizations like MassChallenge, TechStars Cloud and Beta have only reinforced our commitment to communities created to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. I can’t count the number of killer startups I’ve met in the past month (much less the past year), and I’m blown away by the portfolio of startup companies already in the Catalyst Program … That’s not a reason to be satisfied, though. We’re not resting on our laurels; we’re speeding up.

What does it mean for you as an entrepreneur? Easy: You need to sign up immediately, if not sooner. The deadline for applications for the 2012 competition is April 11, and if you apply before March 15, you’ll be eligible for a $100 discount on the application fee. Visit masschallenge.org to learn more and get the ball rolling.

-@PaulFord

We’re planning a pretty big public debut for the SoftLayer startup program in the coming months, but we want to start introducing you to some of the killer startup companies we already are working with. Today’s incredible business: Distil.

Distil is currently enrolled in the TechStars Cloud Accelerator program, where SoftLayer CSO George Karidis, CTO Duke Skarda, and I serve as mentors. After meeting the guys at Distil, I couldn’t wait to get them set up with us as well.

Here’s a quick insight into the company from a quick Q&A with the brains of the operation, Rami Essaid, Founder and CEO of Distil:

In my short conversation with Rami, I could hear his passion. That’s exactly what we’re looking for in companies who join the SoftLayer startup program. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for Distil.

If you enjoy reading about cool new startups, bookmark the Startups page here on the SoftLayer Blog or subscribe to the “Startups” RSS feed to meet some of the most badass startups in the world.

Calling All Startups!

Companies in our program receive mentoring, best practices advice, industry insight, and tangible resources including:

• A $1,000 per month credit for dedicated hosting, cloud hosting or any kind of hybrid hosting setup
• Advanced infrastructure help and advice
• A dedicated Senior Account Representative
• Marketing support

If you’re interested in joining our program and getting the help you deserve, shoot me an email, and we’ll help you start the application process.

-@PaulFord

My answer has always been consistent: It’s all about the products and the people.

On the product side, having our data center on the AMS-IX gives us lightning fast connectivity to one of the biggest data exchanges in Europe. Combined with our 10GB PoPs in Frankfurt and London, it means we have minimal latency, so your customers are happy. With these arrangements, we’re able to extend the ability for customers only to pay for outbound public traffic. Did I mention that the three-tier network is up and running? Public, private and management … Okay, okay, you get it: Being in Amsterdam extends our industry leading global network.

Amsterdam is not the only game in town where we could get a great connection, though. SoftLayer wanted to make the other kinds of connections to grow a global business … connections with the right people.

It was not that not that long ago when ten guys were working out of a living room to change the way hosting was done. Now you’re reading the blog of a global company with several hundred million in turnover, and the entrepreneurial spirit is stronger than ever. SoftLayer wanted to be in a place where we could hire and conspire with other global pioneers, and with Amsterdam’s long history of creativity, innovation and global trade (not to mention Oliebollen), SoftLayer selected Amsterdam for its EMEA HQ.

This video from Don Ritzen and the Rockstart Accelerator team articulate the environment we are glad to be a part of:

With the Amsterdam data center officially online, we’ve had a chance to get out of the facility and into the community, and we are fitting right in. A couple of weeks ago, I was honored to speak at the Appsterdam Launch Party 2.0 Overwinter. The Appsterdam team is developing an infrastructure so that startups can more easily thrive and focus on what they do what they do best: innovate.

Mike Lee, mayor of Appsterdam asked all the speakers to tell the pan-European audience why we were speaking at the event and what we had to offer the developer community. For me it was an easy answer: We bring automated on demand hosting infrastructure to the community so people can focus on building great products. We also support the community with a referral program, so if developers refer clients to SoftLayer, we will pay them a generous commission … Not to mention that empowerment and innovation are core SoftLayer values, so we will continue to improve our platform so our customers can control their IT environment with the latest and greatest technologies in the industry.

Needless to say, the audience was intrigued. And I didn’t even show them what a SoftLayer pod looks like …

We’re looking at the tip of the iceberg in Europe, and we’re ecstatic about the opportunities and possibilities that await us as we build on our foothold here and continue our worldwide expansion. If you want to join a young startup-like team in Amsterdam, we want to hear from you … We’re hiring like crazy right now: SoftLayer Careers

-Jonathan

As it turns out, incubators programs like Tech Wildcatters and TechStars do the same thing … only with startups (and fewer egg shells).

As Paul mentioned in Fueling Startups with TechStars, TechStars has a series on Bloomberg TV that follows a few startups in TechStars New York from the application stage through their 3 month program and Demo Day. While I understood the basic premise of the incubator programs, seeing the way they documented it was like a crash course … So much so that when I talk about it with family and friends (and see their confused faces), I just pull up the first episode:

Just like a science class incubator that provides an egg with light, movement and an environment to mimic conditions required for growth, startup incubators give young businesses seed money, opportunities to pitch businesses to investors, and access to mentors and sponsors who are all there to provide support. In the short program term, the companies get exposure, guidance about funding and access to every other service a they could need to succeed. Piecing together that experience outside of the dedicated incubator environment would require a lot more time, effort and capital.

These incubator organizations are also referred to as startup accelerators, and they’re like a golden ticket to entrepreneurial success … And that’s why it’s so difficult for a startup to get accepted to participate in one of them. The value a startup brings to the table is not just in the idea; it’s also in the people behind the idea.

Recently, I attended the kick-off party for the new class of Tech Wildcatters startups, and I got a chance to meet some of these passionate startup owners. Their energy is contagious. My first-hand experience immediately reinforced to my why SoftLayer is so interested in helping foster companies that could redefine and reinvent the future.

All of these comparisons between about incubators and eggs have made me pretty hungry … If you need me, I’ll be down the street getting an omelet.

-Rachel

Programs like TechStars provide us with the perfect opportunity to directly plug into some of the best and brightest tech talent anywhere in the world. As the number one startup accelerator in the world, TechStars receives applications from thousands of companies each year, and they only select the best of the best to be members of the program. Member companies receive perks like top-notch mentorship, free hosting, funding and the chance to present their products to venture capitalists and angel investors at the end of the program.

Several SoftLayer executives serve as mentors for TechStars, which allows us to share some of the knowledge (and some of the mistakes) we’ve gathered along the way. In fact, the inaugural class of the new TechStars Cloud in San Antonio will have access to SoftLayer’s CSO George Karidis, our CTO Duke Skarda and me as Mentors. Not too long ago, SoftLayer was a startup, too — just a bunch of guys with a great vision, a few credit cards, and not much more. We understand how important it is to get good help and advice from others who have traveled the road before.

That’s why we created the SoftLayer Startup Program. Companies in our program receive more than just advice, best practices and industry insight from us; we also provide tangible resources. Every selected company gets a free year of hosting with SoftLayer. This includes:

• A $1,000 per month credit for dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, or any kind of hybrid hosting setup
• Advanced infrastructure help and advice
• A dedicated Senior Account Representative
• Marketing support

The selection process for the SoftLayer Startup Program is pretty competitive as well, but because Tech Stars member companies had to beat the odds to get into that program, they are granted automatic admission to our program. Several of the companies who’ve gone through TechStars and through the SoftLayer Startup Program have become loyal customers, and you can see many of them in our Technology Partners Marketplace, where we spotlight innovative ways members of the SoftLayer community are building their businesses on our platform.

Calling All Startups!

If you’re involved in a startup right now, and you’re looking to get the help you deserve, email me, and I’ll help you get your application submitted for the SoftLayer Startup Program. If you’re focused on Cloud Infrastructure or Cloud Tools development, you have an even bigger opportunity: Priority-consideration applications for the inaugural class of TechStars Cloud are due October 21. The first class will run in San Antonio Texas from January through April of 2012. If you need just a bit more time to apply, the final application deadline is November 2. Head over to TechStars Cloud to get more information and to apply to join the latest, greatest edition of TechStars … And you get guaranteed admission into our program where you’ll enjoy all of the SoftLayer-specific benefits above!

-@PaulFord

P.S. If you want some insight into what it’s like to work in a technology incubator, we recommend the TechStars series on BloombergTV that has documented the ups and downs of a few of the participants in TechStars New York.

In San Francisco, one of the flagship programs we’re excited to be a part of is called PeopleBrowsr Labs, a startup accelerator geared toward technology companies in the area. As you sit in the PeopleBrowsr office, the brilliance in the air is almost palpable … Young companies doing innovative things with everything they need to be successful at their disposal. One of the fringe benefits for participants in PeopleBrowsr Labs is that they’re actually rubbing elbows with the PeopleBrowsr team as well … Which is almost worth the price of admission.

In addition to the Labs sponsorship, SoftLayer is also the infrastructure provider for PeopleBrowsr and its unbelievable data mine of information. They’ve got every tweet that’s been tweeted since early 2008, and they’ve been able to take that content and make sense of it in unique and interesting ways … And that’s why we stopped by for a visit this week. Last night, PeopleBrowsr officially launched Kred, a dynamic and innovative social influence measurement platform, to a LOT of fanfare (see: TechCrunch).

In the midst of the launch-day craziness, we grabbed Scott Milener, PeopleBrowsr SVP of business development, to have him explain a little about Kred, what differentiates it from the other social influence measurements and what it means for users interested in engaging more effectively with their social networks. Check it out:

With the clear success of the announcement, we want to send a shout out of congratulations to the PeopleBrowsr team. It looks like a phenomenal leap forward in understanding social engagement, and we know it’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we’ll see coming out of the PeopleBrowsr office in the near future.

If you feel a little jaded by the social influence measurements you’ve seen, Kred’s transparency and community-centricity should be refreshing: http://kred.ly

-@PaulFord