I just got back from representing ProjectLocker at various events from May 13 to May 20. As part of our new relationship with WANdisco, I went to SubversionLive/GitLive in San Francisco on the 13th. I followed up by going to the Founder Institute's Founders' Showcase event on the 15th, and then visited some customers in Portland and Austin. Along the way, I had a lot of experiences that I'd like to try to distill into some snapshot observations.

Image Credit: Adam Wyles 
Licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0

• There are a lot of enterprises interested in Subversion and Git - WANdisco's high-availability technology for Subversion (which we now can offer to teams with the need) is in use at some of the largest companies in the world, and those companies are supporting Subversion and Git. It's heartening to know that the underlying open source technology is robust enough to scale to thousands of users.
• The Founder Institute is changing the world - As a Mentor with the Atlanta branch, I was invited to a luncheon with mentors, directors, and founders at a Moroccan restaurant in Mountain View. I sat next to people from Amsterdam, Russia, Canada, and Australia, among other places. Each of them were working hard to found companies in their local areas. At the end of the luncheon, Adeo Rossi, FI's creator, even announced plans to launch a branch in the chef's home country of Morocco. Later that day, they announced more than half of the founders presenting at the showcase were women, another milestone in a male-heavy industry.
• People care about diversity and social impact in technology - The highlight of the conferences for me were Mitch Kapor (of Lotus fame) and Mike Maples, Jr.'s keynotes. Kapor's keynote honed in on how his firm is trying to find startups with a "gap-narrowing" social impact. He also highlighted how diversity of viewpoints and cultural perspectives strengthens companies and helps them make better decisions. Maples talked more about trying to conceptualize a funding model for the "Global 5 Milion" to supplement the venture capital model, which is good at finding and funding big wins but not as effective at finding successful ideas that will not product an outsized return. He also hopes that such a model will be more inclusive and bring a wider variety of people to the table. The takeway - you don't have to consider diversity or social consciousness just because it's right; you should consider it because it's good for the bottom line.
• It's good to see your customers - The first customer that I met in Portland gave useful feedback on how we could be better, but told us how the product has been useful to him at various ventures over the years. We swapped war stories over a couple of beers and talked shop. The second set of customers, I met in Austin at Vuka, a local coworking space. The gaming development company demonstrated some of their products to me and introduced me to people who hadn't heard of us. We adjourned to a local cafe for beverages and conversation, and I learned more about the challenges developers are facing, as well as how they view us and our competition. Seeing your customers is affirming as a founder; you know you're actually creating real value for someone else. It's also a great time to learn what you're doing right and wrong, and what should come next.
• Being around other companies is important - This is something that you can take for granted if you work in a technology hotspot. There's a crackle in the air in the Bay Area and in Austin, an energy fed by the technology boom. Atlanta's growing its tech scene, but to be frank, we don't have that (yet). It's important to hang out with other companies though. In doing so, you share knowledge about running businesses and refine your pitches and stories by sharing what you do. You may even form relationships that will serve you in the way a board of directors does larger companies.