Handing Over the Keys

On Monday, we officially announced that Tishin Donkersley, M.A. is now the Editor in Chief of AZTechBeat.com. Being Editor in Chief is a lot like being the CEO of a publication. You call the shots: the team, the editorial calendar, the direction of the site, the look and feel-and a heck of a lot more. I used to play that role for AZ Tech Beat, however, I recognized that it needed a higher level of experience to turn it into a thriving news publication-and I did not have the time to devote to such a project. Tishin not only has the experience, but she has a laser-focused directive and understands the vision of what AZ Tech Beat is all about. It makes me super excited to hand over the keys to her to bring attention to Arizona’s tech achievements in the software world. It also allows me to return my focus back to Axosoft.
You might wonder how AZ Tech Beat got its start and why I chose to provide additional seed funding for it’s relaunch and operations. The reasons are relatively simple and not motivated by a financial return. I started AZ Tech Beat because:

1. I wish I had such a news source for myself! It used to piss me off that there was nobody covering software news and I wanted to know what’s going on in the world of software in Arizona! The little coverage that Arizona gets from the Business Journal or the Arizona Republic goes completely unnoticed because no techie I know reads print publications or outdated bloat-ware sites that bog you down with advertising when you visit (please, please, let me watch your ad for 15 seconds before I can see the page with an article that is cluttered with even more ads).
2. I want a Launch vehicle for AZ Software Startups. Two years ago, we launched the AZ Disruptors incubator and invested in a couple of software startups. We helped them build their business plans, mentored them and monitored their progress of building and launching a minimum viable product. But when they launched, their launches fell on deaf ears. There was no vehicle for them to announce their news. Even Arizona’s established software companies were largely ignored by the silicon valley blogs. This is a major problem to building successful startups and one that needs to be solved in order for us to have a healthy ecosystem.
3. I want us to be able to celebrate Arizona’s software successes. In recent years, there has been a huge uptick of activity in Arizona’s software sector. We have had two, not one, but two, multi-billion dollar exits with GoDaddy and JDA Software. We have also had a string of companies that have raised large sums of money and announced lots of cool new small wins like this one. Where else are we going to be able to read about these successes?

If you share my vision for AZ Tech Beat, and you want to help in its success, there are a few things you can do to help:

1. Become a subscriber by email. On the right, there is a “Subscribe via Email” section. Type your email there and double-opt in (you’ll get an email that you have to click on the link of to actually subscribe, otherwise it’s not done). This ensures we actually get readers like you – our target audience. 🙂
2. “Like” our Facebook page. This is a great one-click, zero-calorie way to help get the word out about AZTechBeat.com
3. Comment on Articles! We know you have opinions. Share them. If you agree or disagree or if you think an article was great or if it sucked, write a comment! That’s one of the best ways to help engage other users.
4. Tell us Your News. If you are launching a new product or company or if you just finished raising money (no matter how small), tell us about it. Remember it’s about celebrating the wins in Arizona’s software ecosystem. Send it to editor@aztechbeat.com.
5. Post your open jobs for free. AZ Tech Beat has a jobs board where you can post your jobs for free. This simple act of helping your open positions get more exposure can attract the right audience to AZTechBeat.com as regular readers.

AZ Tech Beat, under the direction of Tishin, is also going to be very active with setting up and promoting related activities like this Friday’s Free Lunch event with an awesome presentation by Bob La Loggia. If you don’t know Bob, he’s one of Arizona’s successful software entrepreneurs, having built a multi-million dollar software company. He’s going to be giving a 20 minute presentation geared towards entrepreneurs. How cool is that? I wish I had resources like Bob and AZ Tech Beat when I was building Axosoft. You can RSVP Here to the lunch event.