A few days ago I attended Launch Party, a Startup Edmonton event which celebrated the young technology companies in our city. I thought I’d quickly chat about a few of the companies and my thoughts and excitement levels about them.
Beamdog: These guys want to distribute games online. So they’re Steam?? If anyone from Edmonton has the clout to try and take on Steam it’s probably Trent Oster. I’m excited about beamdog because I think it can be so much more. The model for distributing software that is based on walking into a store and buying something is eroding. Steam, the iphone app store and xbox live are all amazing demos of how successful an online software distribution model can be. Making software easily accesible actually makes it cheaper as well because more people buy it so developers don’t have to charge as much per copy to make the same profit.
If beamdog could become a windows app store that would be amazing. Right now it’s a pain to find applications I want and I never know if the application I find is actually good so I have to ask all my friends if they’ve tried it. Managing software on your computer can also sometimes be a hassle. Fingers crossed for beamdog!
Empire Avenue: Empire avenue lets you trade your friends like stocks. It seems like the final goal here is to create some kind of ad network that pays based on your “stock’s” value on empire avenue. If a lot of people read your blog then more people will buy your “stock” to get a piece of your advertising earnings driving the price of the stock up and ads on your site. It makes sense to use market forces to drive ad prices, and this is a really innovative way of doing this. Despite this the site mostly feels like a gimmick because you can’t advertise with them yet so all you’re really doing is trading people stocks for no reason. And doesn’t pay per click already solve the problem because if more people see your content online more people click? Not sure how to feel about this company, but there is a *ton* of money in online advertising and if they execute this properly then they could be very successful. On the other hand I already feel alienated because there really doesn’t seem to be any point to being on their site right now.
Seek Your Own Proof: They make an online sciency carmen sandiegoy game for kids. It’s awesome and I’ll fight anyone who says it isn’t. In an age where we are moving more and more toward graphically intensive arcade games it’s refreshing to see someone making something fun and educational for kids! Good work Ken & company.
Lots of other local startups were there. To see them all check Mac’s blog post on the event. I’m not fully sold on Edmonton ever becoming a “silicon valley north” like some of the startup crew seem to be around here, but this kind of effort is at least helping raise awareness about good local companies and there is always room for good companies making good products in any economy in any location.