Phix at TED

Sunday, March 01, 2009




Unfortunately life running a small start-up has kept my blogging time to a minimum, but I'm going to try to crank out a few posts over the next few days and update everyone on what we've been up to here at Phix.

So TED 2009 took place about a month ago and I have to say that it was an epic time. I was a bit worried about what it would be like in it's new home in Long Beach, CA. Chris Anderson and his amazing team (big shout out to Will Allen and Lisa Stringle) did an incredible job. Long Beach has gone through some significant re-development and it turned out to be a great venue.

TED is all about connecting with people and new ideas. It's four days of 18 minute presentations where you get exposed to everything from leading economic theory, to amazing artists (Ben Zander, Herbie Hancock, Sarah Jones, Matt Lewis...), to incredible science (they're now growing entire hearts from stem cells), to leading business leaders such as Bill Gates. It was incredibly energizing, which I guess is a good lead in to Phix :).

So thanks to the amazing people at Google we had the opportunity to introduce our new flavors and new branding/packaging to the TED community. Every year Google sets up a cafe for attendees where they can grab some sustenance to fuel them during the 18+ hour days. Phix got included this year and TEDizens went through almost 2500 servings of our new Phix Energy - Citron. As an entrepreneur you live for positive feedback and it was just so energizing to have random folks coming up to me to tell me what a great product Phix was, or to bump in to someone and tell them what I did and for them to pull a few stix out of their bag. Pretty cool. It went over so well that Google is actually going to be testing Phix on a few of their campuses to see how Phix can help provide a healthy energy alternative and in turn be a real productivity enhancer. We also got invited to come back and participate next year with all our flavors. Pretty great way to launch Phix 2.0.

Besides Phix's reception, I wanted to share a few highlights from this year's TED:

Catching Eric Lewis leading a spontaneous jam session late on the first night. He did this every night and it went from 20 people the first evening to several hundred people rocking until the early morning on the last night. I thought his piano was going to break apart at one point during the last night as he was just going off. Super cool.

Al Gore scaring the bejesus out of me as he highlighted the rate at which climate change is taking place. We're really getting close to a point of no return and it requires immediate action on so many levels.

Ben Zander giving and giving and giving and just bringing so much joy and passion to the TED community. He is a really magical person and if you get a chance to see/meet him I'd strongly encourage you to do it. Here's a link to his 2008 TED talk.

Darius Weems -- Check out Darius Goes West, a documentary that he's just released about his life with fatal Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. His attitude and his accomplishments are just so incredible. We can all learn about how to better enjoy our short journey here on Earth from Darius. .

Thanks again to everyone at TED and Google for including Phix and thanks to you for taking the time to read this. -Will

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