Finovate Cocktail Party

Tonight I mixed and migled with many of the attendees and presenters of Finovate 2009. Finovate is like TechCrunch 50 for banking and investing and finance-related start-ups. I will be at the conference tomorrow for most of the day except for the hours I will be doing bookkeeping.

It was good to see Jon and Michael from SmartyPig as well as Murali from Billeo. We were on a panel at SXSWi back in March.

I met these cool guys:
Christophe, founder of Visible-Banking.com.
Mark Clare, from New Zealand and Value Cruncher.
Dan Rosen of Highland Partners
James Hyde of iPay
Yoni Assia of eToro
Felix Brandon Lloyd of Skill-Life
Vaibhav Puranik of Opera Solutions

Many of the people I spoke with have created applications or websites that make managing personal finance, investing, banking easier and more transparent.

Small Business Conferences

Conferences are great way to meet new people, develop new business and market yourself.  There are two upcoming conferences this fall that you want to check out.

The New York Times and American Express’ Open is hosting a Small Business Summit on October 10 at the Sheraton New York.  Keynote Speakers are Danny Meyer of the Union Square Hospitality Group and Tom Scott of Nantucket Nectars and Plum TV. Registration is open and the fee is $99.

The New York XPo for Business is more of a small business trade show.  There will also breakout on technology, small business financing and healthcare. The even is Wednesday November 28. Registration is open and it is free to attend, but it costs to be a vendor. I attended this last year, and it was informative, but there is more of an emphasis on selling services.

PSFK Conference LA: September 18

In March I volunteered/attended the first PSFK conference in New York and it was one of the most informative, interesting and well-organized conferences that I ever attended. The next PSFK conference is in LA, and the roster of speakers and panelists is stellar.

“PSFK presents a series of presentations and discussions by leading innovators over the course of a day. We have invited some of the most brilliant thinkers who will lead tomorrow’s businesses to speak to an audience from the creative, media communities.

In the morning our speakers and panelists will explore new trends in areas like digital media and eco-consciousness; and in the afternoon the speakers will provide inspiration on how to apply the insights gained from looking at trends and ideas and applying them for new creative ideas.”

Speaker Line Up Thus Far

Rafat Ali (PaidContent.org)
Shana Nys Dambrot (Flavorpill LA)
Andrew Delaney (Getty Images)
John Doffing (Start Soma)
Roberto Espinosa
Shepard Fairey (Studio Number One)
Conn Fishburn (Yahoo!)
Kinsey
Adam Gayner (Fred Water)
David Merkoski (Frog Design)
Jeff Miller (Thrillist LA)
Mike Monello (Campfire)
Missy (Suicide Girls) – tbc
Kenny Ochoa (Sony BMG)
Jason Oberfest (Los Angeles Times)
Adriana Parcero (Nokia)
Mr George Parker (Madscam)
Tony Pierce (LAist)
Emmanuelle Richard (Vogue)
Aaron Rose
Jean-Marie Shields (Starbucks)
Lenny Stern (SS+K)

You can register here.