Sunny Ahn's WebLog

It was 20 years ago this summer that I took the entrepreneurial journey with Bob Stern and Rod Drury.  It was amazing thinking up an idea to try and transform the way in which people connected with one another, but done privately.  Some harsh lessons along the way but very fond memories of the journey.  Learned a ton for sure, as we ended up selling all the assets of Context Connect to Walmart.

https://patents.google.com/patent/US7899173B2/en

https://patents.google.com/patent/US7340048B2/en

https://patents.google.com/patent/US6731927B1/en

One of the big problems in the Department of Defense is an objective view of the quality of software being produced.  Often the government has very limited understanding of the quality of this software be created and managed by third parties.  A new company, SettleTop (www.settletop.com) is being created just to focus on this by partnering with best of breed software vendors to provide an unbiased, objective view of the software – through a trusted, digital platform (Funded by SNL Partners) We will see if it will be successful but it is the right idea.

Finally getting plugged into the Korean entrepreneur scene – while still a ways to go, encouraged by the work done by the Korea Innovation Center (KIC).  Great with by Dr. Jay Kim and Jongwon (JP) Park. Hopefully more to come.

Everyday I am inspired with the younger generation.  While I still feel this group of individuals is more entitled then my generation, they are certainly technically savvy, unencumbered with hierarchy and protocol.  I am always learning – even at my youthful old age.

Kudos to my parents at Choongju Joongsan High School in Korea – they continue to drive innovation and a new way of thinking, particularly in Korea.

As a mentor for the MIT team for the NSF I-Corp program, I must say it was an experience well-worth the time and effort – customer discovery re-defined.  Appreciative of the fact that key insights can come out of data-driven discovery of potential customers …  100% supportive of this great program.

For those going to MWC next week, a good site to find out about the latest parties in Barcelona..

http://socializemobilize.com/2012/02/03/3357/

Perfect opportunity for those to make new connections with various people..

Every February, the mobile world makes its way to Barcelona, Spain to find out about the latest mobile developments.  I look forward to see the latest in the telecommunication world, including new devices, platform services such as OTT video and the evolution of wireless infrastructure, particularly around small cell/hetnet architectures.  If you are going, do let me know… I’ll be there to write about it..

Congrats again to my company, Context Connect, for receiving another patent, this time in China.   For more information, visit the company site at www.contextconnect.com

Those looking to submit a press release should look at the following list.  Some sites are free, but generally the “paying” sites offer better coverage with news sites:

PRWeb – http://www.prweb.com
PR Urgent – http://www.prurgent.com
PRLeap – http://www.prleap.com
PR Newswire – http://www.prnewswire.com
PRWeb Direct – http://www.prwebdirect.com
The Open Press – http://www.theopenpress.com
Free Press Release – http://www.free-press-release.com
Pressbox.co.uk – http://www.pressbox.co.uk
I-Newswire – http://www.i-newswire.com
PR Free – http://www.prfree.com
OpenPress – http://www.openpress.com
Press Release Network – http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com
Soft Press Release – http://www.softpressrelease.com
Market Wire – http://www.marketwire.com
URL Wire – http://www.urlwire.com
Web Wire – http://www.webwire.com
EMediaWire – http://www.emediawire.com
BusinessWire – http://www.businesswire.com
Canada Newswire – http://www.newswire.ca
Press Release Network – http://www.pressreleasenetwork.com

While I generally do not like advocating the services of a company (particularly in a public forum), there is a good website that provides a simple and inexpensive way to create marketing materials, such as business cards, brochures and other materials.  Vista Print provides simple-to-use templates that individuals to use to create their own look and feel, particularly those small to medium business folks looking to create simple products – they often have free samples just to test them out – www.vistaprint.com/vip