Confer-ence

Oh Sith! Vader in the house. A little Original Trilogy action in...

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:33:11 -0400

Oh Sith! Vader in the house. A little Original Trilogy action in the background tonight while we hack away.

New Funding, New Features, New Pricing!

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:32:06 -0400

The last few months have been an incredible time for Confer. Even in the midst of a continued economic crisis, we’ve been blessed with a myriad of new opportunities, relationships, and developments. We’ve matured our flagship product offering, trimmed fat from our operational costs, and begun development of our second product line.

Funding: We’re proud to announce that we’ve recently closed a considerable new round of seed funding from local North-East Ohio investors. This new capital will allow us to expand our team and provide even more power and flexibility in our flagship and other products.

Pricing: As part of our efforts, we’ve made significant changes to Confer’s pricing. Confer is now free for organizations with less than 20 users. Larger companies can benefit from reduced $3/$5 pricing plans, and enterprises can now install a Confer server in their hosting center to maximize security and scale.

Features: We’ve continued to maximize the scalability of the Confer product, allowing for organizations of 10,000+ users to very quickly create an alternate intranet for their business. Chat now includes activity indicators and last active info to provide insight into who is available, and who has been working when.

New Endeavor: We’ve also been working on our next product, 60mo (http://60mo.com), a powerful new approach to cash-flow, HR, and Finance management for small businesses and start-ups. We’ve received an incredible amount of feedback so far, and are looking forward to our projected beta launch in August of this year. As they say, hope isn’t a strategy, and the more accurate your plans, the better. Take our quick survey and help us shape the direction of our product here: http://bit.ly/a2m0rl

We love post-its, don’t you? Quick and dirty project management...

Wed, 19 May 2010 09:46:00 -0400

We love post-its, don’t you? Quick and dirty project management is the way to go.

New features and fixes!

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:38:57 -0400

Our latest release includes several major additions including email notifications of Confer network activity, and on screen indicators of new updates.

Now your menu bar includes simple numeric indicators of posts you’ve not viewed, so if you’ve got three groups that you’re a member of, and each has a new post you haven’t seen, the groups menu item will have a (3) beside it, etc.

To setup email notifications, login to your profile settings, and you will see the Notification settings near the bottom of the page. There you can choose to receive email updates from your network as often as you’d like; as they happen, daily , or weekly. These are sent to your default email address provided in your user profile.

We’ve also massively refactored the code that drives directories of items, so now lists of users, tags, or groups should load much more quickly.

Finally, we’ve added the ability to view your other Confer networks (and associated indicators) from the “Networks” menu item on the main menu.

Keep the feedback coming. We’ve still got a lot on the way, so keep your eyes peeled for more updates over the coming days.

C# API Wrapper for CheddarGetter

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:43:00 -0400

Intro

We decided to open up some of our source at Confer to help other .Net developers integrate with CheddarGetter, a plug-in subscription management and recurring billing system. This C# API wrapper is intended to handle the communication between your application and CheddarGetter.

Our C# API wrapper has implemented all of CheddarGetter’s APIs as of 03/15/2010.

Assumptions

CheddarGetter allows you to specify the unique ID of your Customers between your application and CheddarGetter. CheddarGetter accepts up to a 36 character string, so it can be just about anything, but we’re using a Guid that is hard-coded in the wrapper and the associated data classes. I toyed with making this generic but decided it’d be just as easy for you to change the data type and assumed most would be using Guid here since CheddarGetter’s own id’s are returned as Guids.

If you do need to change this Guid data type, you will have to make the changes on the getCustomerList method in CheddarGetter.cs and the Customer class in CheddarGetterDataClasses.cs.

Customization

Your product’s authentication will be called on virtually every call into the CheddarGetter API wrapper and will be accessed via a few app key settings in your web config. Below is an example of what is required:

<appSettings>
   <add key=”CheddarGetterUser” value=”YourCGUser” />
   <add key=”CheddarGetterPassword” value=”YourCGPassword” />
   <add key=”CheddarGetterProductCode” value=”YourCGProductCode” />
</appSettings>

The other area of customization is your CheddarGetter subscription plans and items. Everyone will have their own plans and items, so you will have to change the enumerations accordingly in CheddarGetterDataClasses.cs. The examples in the CheddarGetterDataClasses.cs are what Confer is currently using (Free, Trial, Good, Better, Best, Other) for plans and (USER, MB) for items. See below for the code examples:

public enum PlanCodeEnum
{
   Free = 1,
   Trial,
   Good,
   Better,
   Best,
   Other
}

public enum ProductItemCode
{
USER = 1,
MB
}

Structure

All of the classes in the CheddarGetter wrapper are static and can be called like so:

CustomerPost newCustomer = new CustomerPost();
newCustomer.Code = new Guid().ToString();
newCustomer.Company = “CompanyName”;
newCustomer.FirstName = “FirstName”;
newCustomer.LastName = “LastName”;
newCustomer.Email = “test@test.com”;
newCustomer.PlanCode = PlanCodeEnum.Trial;

Customer returnCustomer = CheddarGetter.CreateCustomer(newCustomer);

In the above example we are creating a new customer in CheddarGetter and will return a new Customer object with the new customer data.

The public static methods currently available in our API wrapper are:

AddCustomCharge - Adds a one time custom charge to the customer

AddItem - Adds an item quantity (increments by 1 if the quantity is not specified)

CancelSubscription - Cancels a customer’s subscription

CreateCustomer - Creates a new customer

GetCustomer - Gets a specific customer

GetCustomers - Gets a list of all customers

GetSubscriptionPlans - Gets a list of all subscription plans

RemoveItem - Removes an item quantity (decrements by 1 if the quantity is not specified)

SetItem - Sets an item quantity

UpdateCustomer - Updates the customer’s name, email, and company name

UpdateCustomerAndSubscription - Updates the customer’s name, email, company name, subscription plan, and credit card info

UpdateSubscription - Updates the customer’s subscription plan and credit card info

UpdateSubscriptionPartial - Updates the customer’s subscription plan and credit card name and zip (Used if the customer’s credit card is already stored and only need to updated partial information - i.e. changing a customer’s plan from one paid plan to another while retaining the same credit card information)

UpdateSubscriptionPlanOnly - Updates the customer’s subscription plan

Download Source

You can download our C# CheddarGetter API wrapper source here:

http://libraries.getconfer.com/CheddarGetterCSharpAPIWrapper.zip

Need Help?

The source code itself is fully commented, but if you need more help you can refer to CheddarGetter’s online API documentation:

https://cheddargetter.com/developers

If you still need more help you can drop me a line at john at getconfer dot com. I will do my best to respond.

Enjoy!
-John

Our Mobile Beta is available! To access the mobile version of...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:16:00 -0400

Our Mobile Beta is available! To access the mobile version of Confer, go to https://www.getconfer.com/mobile/mobileLogin.aspx. Let us know your thoughts, as we are in Beta and would love to get as much feedback as possible as we’re developing additional features.

Over 500 entrepreneurs, investors, VCs and members of the...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:20:34 -0400

Over 500 entrepreneurs, investors, VCs and members of the Midwest tech community showed up in Chicago to check out the coolest new tech startups in the Midwest. MidVentures25 was a fantastic event. We met a lot of great startups and people, and there was a great showing of what’s in store for the Midwest startup industry. A big thanks to Pasky IP and GoldsteinCaldwell for putting the event together.

Confer does the dinos at the Field.

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:53:25 -0500

Confer does the dinos at the Field.

My kind of town, Chicago is… Giordano’s tonight,...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:50:58 -0500

My kind of town, Chicago is… Giordano’s tonight, Midventures25 tomorrow.

Confer has arrived in Chicago. Giordanos, please prepare for...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:09:23 -0500

Confer has arrived in Chicago. Giordanos, please prepare for hungry Ohioans!

Confer has been invited to Midventures25, a Chicago-based...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:44:08 -0500

Confer has been invited to Midventures25, a Chicago-based startup demo-day and conference. On March 11th, the top 25 web and tech companies from Chicago, Madison, Cleveland, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Bloomington, Champaign, Ann Arbor, Cincinnati and every city across the Midwest, will be showcasing to entrepreneurs, VCs, angels, bloggers and media. Our friends from Corkshare will be joining us at the event. Check back for updates as they happen at the conference.

-Jay

Groups Functionality & Other Updates!

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:45:42 -0500

Now you can make groups inside of your Confer network! Groups can be private or public and can be created by any user to help organize discussions by topic, department, time-frame, and more.

We’ve also released numerous other updates and fixes including multiple upgrades to chat, creating and editing posts and more! Look for news on our mobile web product in the coming days.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us at support@getconfer.com with any questions you might have.

-Ed

New Features and Fixes!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:02:00 -0500

We just wanted to say thanks again for using Confer! We received tremendous feedback and lots of great ideas from you guys. We wanted to take a second to fill you in on a few updates that we released over the weekend:

Edit Post Function - We have given you the ability to go into a post that you created and edit the content.

Direct Messages - You can now send another user a Direct Message by navigating to the “Direct Messages” option under the Streams link at the top of the application. Once there, you will see a text box at the top of the application. Just add the name of the user as you normally would ( @username), and the message you’d like to send. Then presto! A secure message sent to that user, and no one else!

Direct messages will appear in “My Stream,” as well as the brand new “Direct Messages” stream.

In addition to the new “Direct Messages” stream, we have also added a “Mentions” stream, so that you can see the specific threads in which you were mentioned.

We have also worked some magic on our chat functionality, tagging, linking and text hiding.

Please continue to give us your feedback, as it is invaluable to the development of Confer.

Feel free to contact us with any questions or thoughts!

Confer bringing contact tracking into new century

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:48:12 -0500

By BOBBY WARREN [Via The Daily Record: http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/4759514]

WOOSTER — East Liberty Street might be far from Silicon Valley, but don’t tell Ed Buchholz or his team of software developers at Confer.

Buchholz, 29, is president of Confer, which is both a company and a product. He started the company with Keith Kauffman, 28, and John Siladie, 31, who are vice presidents of engineering.

Confer is a high-tech software development start-up that recently had the public launch of its business collaboration program. The product is Web-based, part of the industry known as software as a service, and it allows businesses to communicate internally and externally via a Twitter- and Facebook-like interface.

Depending upon the audience, Siladie describes Confer as an online social collaboration tool for business or “Facebook for business.”

Instead of calling up a specific customer from a customer relationship management database, and then selecting the correct input field, someone using Confer’s product can enter a message in a dialogue box similar to those used by social media/microblogging sites Facebook and Twitter. By using the @ symbol, users can identify a contact and access all communications with the person. By using a hashtag, the # symbol, users can easily tag a company, subject or project for rapid recall later.

Another service, which is scheduled to be added at the end of the first quarter of this year, is the ability to call someone through Confer’s software, and the conversation will be recorded and stored. The software will generate a record of the call.

“It feels like Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave and Salesforce.com mashed together in a completely secure environment,” Buchholz said.

Users also can add files, links and tags to messages.

The service will have e-mail integration. Most people have five or six e-mail accounts, and they will be able to integrate all of those into a single feed through Confer.

“We’re trying to bring contact tracking into the new century,” Buchholz said. Whether people are connecting via phone, e-mail, social networking or chat/instant messaging, “We bring the entire day into one place,” Buchholz said.

Confer got its start as a side project. Buchholz began coding the program in his spare time last February when he was still with Rearden Commerce, and Kauffman helped with the development.

The trio worked together at Rearden Commerce, which had acquired ExpenseWire.com, a product developed at SamePage Solutions.

Buchholz left college to work at SamePage Solutions in 2000 as a customer service representative. He eventually worked his way up to director of product development. He worked on the ExpenseWire project. After the acquisition in July 2008, Buchholz said his options became limited, and he set out to build Confer.

“I was trying to bring the same simplicity (of ExpenseWire) to communications, and bring it into one environment,” Buchholz said.

Those early days were scary for Buchholz, Kauffman and Siladie. However, with youth on their side, the three decided it would be a worthwhile risk to create a start-up company.

They spent many long days coding at Buchholz’s place, then Kauffman’s before finally settling in the basement at Siladie’s home.

After striking out on their own, they attracted $250,000 in seed money from a local investor. They established an office on East Liberty Street in the FirstMerit annex. It was not uncommon to start working on the program at 9 a.m. and wrapping up at 3 or 4 a.m. the following morning.

“We were trying to do something companies with stock symbols would take years to do in months,” Buchholz said. “It was a lot of hard work in a short period of time.”

It helps the three like each other, work well together and have fun together.

“We all wear many hats,” Siladie said.

Confer is expected to raise more money in a second round of funding, which Buchholz said should be “significant.”

The company was approved for the Ohio Technology Investment Tax Credit program. Investors in the company will receive a 25 percent tax credit for every dollar invested. Another Wooster company, ABS Materials, was also approved for the program.

About 25 companies and organizations provided feedback during the beta testing of Confer. Since the public release, more entities have signed up to try the service. While most are U.S.-based, there is a client in Ukraine utilizing the software.

That businesses from around the globe are using the product is both pleasing and surprising to Buchholz, Kauffman and Siladie, who are all from Ohio. Buchholz graduated from Wooster High School in 1999, Kauffman graduated from Smithville High in 2000 and Siladie graduated from Lake High in Uniontown in 1997.

“It’s important for our area to have a high-tech presence,” Buchholz said.

The company has attracted the attention of software giant Microsoft. Confer is the only Midwest company (from among seven) invited to participate in the first-ever SharePoint 2010 SocialFest at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley campus.

The Confer developers will build their applications on top of the SharePoint 2010 platform in a one-week competition, scheduled for the week of Jan. 25.

“These companies were selected because they demonstrate strong potential to extend the SharePoint 2010 platform in one of the fastest growing areas of enterprise software — social computing,” according to Lynda Ting of Microsoft.

Confer is part of Microsoft’s BizSpark program, which provides software, support and visibility for software start-ups. Buchholz said Confer would not exist without Microsoft technology. He is excited about being invited to participate in the SocialFest.

To learn more about the Confer product, visit www.getconfer.com.

Yes, I skipped the iPad launch for a SharePoint event.

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:40:15 -0500

Starting a company is a lot of work. Just ask any of the seven companies that attended Microsoft’s SharePoint 2010 SocialFest last week. With solutions ranging from enterprise micro-blogging to email integration to business intelligence, these companies assembled with the goal to build the next great SharePoint integrated application.

My company, Confer [http://www.getconfer.com], provides enterprise communication tools and attended with the intention to build our first SharePoint integration points. Being a technology startup, we’re used to working our tails off, and the event went right along with that mind-set. SharePoint 2010 SocialFest was a five day marathon of training, developing, discussion, and general hackery culminating in pitches to a group of top-tier venture capitalists, SharePoint product team members, and MSFT executives.

SharePoint 2010 is in beta, so we have been incredibly fortunate to have product stakeholders and technical evangelists working shoulder-to-shoulder with us. Traveling from Mountain View, Redmond, and beyond, they’ve been available to answer questions, provide feedback, and relate deep insights into upcoming features, fixes, and programs.

We’re a young company and our product is built entirely on Microsoft technology, so SharePoint 2010 SocialFest has given us a great platform from which to launch our SharePoint integration and get our larger Microsoft integration roadmap rolling. Microsoft’s BizSpark program has also been instrumental by providing no-cost software licenses and access to Microsoft staff members and resources. It’s clear that Microsoft is deeply invested in helping startup companies develop and thrive utilizing their technologies.

[Content via Ed’s guest post to Microsoft’s Startup Zone: http://www.microsoftstartupzone.com/Blogs/alpa_agarwal/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=3edaaabe-aec1-4aba-913c-7de550468b5d&ID=15]

We can build a sweet communication/ collaboration app, but we...

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 13:37:16 -0500

We can build a sweet communication/ collaboration app, but we can’t figure out how to brew a single cup of coffee.

Final presentations at SocialFest

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:29:27 -0500

Final presentations at SocialFest

Dinnertime at SocialFest

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:19:32 -0500

Dinnertime at SocialFest

Pitches at SocialFest.

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:30:50 -0500

Pitches at SocialFest.

VC panel at SocialFest in Mountain View

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:06:15 -0500

VC panel at SocialFest in Mountain View