Real-time tweets from the Silicon Valley Telecom Council's Spiffy Awards Gala

  • At Silicon Valley Telecom Council Spiffy awards, a comedian is warm up act for a venture cap presentation. Who will be funnier?
  • VC won’t have to be too funny to win, I think.
  • Tim Chang, Norwest Venture Partners up now, says trends are good for telecom.
  • Says U.S. consumers are spoiled, over-entitled and living beyond their means. Recession is good time to reset.
  • Says in recessions “good enough” is good enough for consumers, hard times for premium or leading edge plays.
  • Says social media are features and functionality for other businesses, not a biz model.
  • Series A ventures need a go-to-market, major channel partner in hand to even hope for VC money.
  • Says strategic investors might be the only game in town right now.
  • Gaming – app store & micro-payment plays particularly – looks good, so does enterprise market.
  • On to the Spiffys!
  • Edison award for most innovative start up goes to 4Home.
  • San Andreas award for most disruptive technology goes to Bling Software.
  • Fred & Ginger award for most supportive carrier goes to Swisscom.
  • Core award for best fixed Telecom opportunity goes to Brilliant Telecommunications.
  • Zephyr award for best mobile opportunity goes to Bling Software, two awards for them tonight.
  • Alexander Graham Bell award for best communication solution is a tie: Trutap & Amika Mobile.
  • Ground Breaker award for engineering excellence goes to Morpho.
  • Prodigy award for most successful SPiF alumni goes to 2Wire.
  • That’s the 2009 Spiffy awards, time for cocktails!