New Addition to the CWD Crew [Pt. 2]

Now that Cam has been with Cascade for a few weeks I thought it'd be good if we all got to know him a little better. My previous post didn't really provide any juicy background info on Cam (hence the photo) so I thought a little impromptu questionnaire would paint a better picture of the newest member of the team:

First job - Mowing lawns for some politico's

Last movie you saw in the theater - Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (long flight)

Dream aspirations as a kid - Olympic skier and/or test pilot

If you could be any superhero, who and why - The Flash. To defy physics on a regular basis and prevent evil would be a great daily routine. Plus, if things go bad--I can scramble our of there in a flash

Free trip to anywhere in the world, where and why - A place with no name where the mountains are high, steep with feet of fresh powder to ski. Since its a free trip, I can afford the private jet, helicopter, snow cats, Sherpa's and satellite necessary for me to get there

Ever been in a fight, if so who started it - Not as a participant, but I've been hit trying to break them up

Favorite restaurant in Portland - Habibi. The chicken shawarma is amazing

Biggest fear - Anything that can take my life without me knowing about it. Like a spider bite while I sleep, or a rabid animal biting me while I'm walking through the brush

Nickname you had growing up - Cam (I rolled with a creative crew)

What attracted you to working at Cascade - The team and suite of products**

Career goals - To have no regrets and happy with the outcome

**the answer to your question is yes...we did pay him for that answer

Portland, From Worst to First

The public perception of Portland has made a quick turn-around since Business Week ranked Portland as the #1 unhappiest city in America. Its been almost a year since our city was given that title and oh how times have changed. A recent article by Laura Rich on FastCompany.com explains why Portland is now one of the 10 best cities in the country for start-ups. In her article, Why You Should Start a Company in..., Laura noted:

"It rains an average of 155 days of the year in Portland, Oregon, which sits near the coast between Silicon Valley and Seattle. That may be what drives some startups and engineers indoors to coffeehouses armed with laptops to hatch ideas such as MyOpenId, Voyager Capital-backed AboutUs, interactive TV company Ensequence, which raised $20 million last year, and ShopIgniter, which just closed a $3 million round from Seattle's Madrona. Quite a list. They make up part of what some call “Silicon Forest,” and the city clearly sees its future: In February Mayor Sam Adams announced a $500,000 seed fund aimed at startups and small businesses."

She then documents her interview with Jive Software chairman, David Hersh, who has some pretty cool things to say about the city. My favorite quote by the chairman is:

"In terms of the startup phase, I mean there's so much energy around that--around the ideas and going off on your own and there's so much support for doing that that I think it's one of the great things about the city. It's just the overall psyche of the city around its kind of aggressive independence that makes for a very vibrant startup culture."

I thought this was a great description of the culture in the city and the pride Portlanders carry. I know specifically at Cascade, we support PDX's business mindset in everything we do, from our train car office to our customizable, innovative web solutions (cough, cough...brandlive).

Portland might be a little sluggish getting up from the blow the recession hit us with, but we're definitely not hanging our heads. Thanks Fast Money for putting us back on top.

The entire Fast Money article can be viewed here.

Portland's Finest Find a Home

Thanks to Rick Turoczy of the Silicon Florist for turning me on to an awesomely simple site. If you weren't aware, Portland houses some of the most creative and artistically gifted minds in the country. Thanks to Chris Kalani (who also created yayeveryday.com), they now have a home.

we are PRTLND showcases Portland's community of designers, developers, photographers and a combination of innovative minds in a layout impossible to turn down. There isn't much to the site: profiles can be filtered by profession, click on a someone's witty picture and you'll be taken to their website, or select LOAD MORE to view more profiles. But that's what makes it great.


Whether you're a freelancer or employed and looking for talent, PRTLND is a fun place to explore and see what this city has to offer (the pictures are pretty awesome too)!

Reinventing American Business--One Bike at a Time

The recession, depression or just bad economy (you choose) hasn't been very inviting to new businesses ventures, however many entrepreneurs have ignored the warning signs and dove in head first. Case in point, I just read an article, "Young Guns Change Rules of Retail" from the Bicycle Retailer and Industry News (BRAIN).

The story showcased several young (pre-25) bike enthusiasts who've started custom bike shops in Colorado, New Mexico, Atlanta, and all across the US with a pretty cool spin on the normal retail business model. Rather than hustling customers with bikes off their sales floor, they've created an environment encouraging road warriors to hang out and tune up their bikes hoping sales will grow through a genuine relationship. They're basically selling the experience more than the product. The experience is basically a recreation of your old dorm room i.e used furniture and tight spaces. Regardless, this unique sales method seems to be working well for these young start-ups. They've found their niche and have viral marketing supporting their cause. I mean they did make it into BRAIN and (roll out the red carpet) the Cascade Web Development blog.

People in what seems like every industry have ditched their day job, whether forced or voluntary, to pursue their dream of being their own boss. The success stories sound great, but roughly 70-80% of start ups, in a normal economy, go under within the first 3 years of operation. You have to give credit to those who try but applause and pats on the back don't pay the bills.

Those new companies who do survive will be on the forefront of new business models and practices that we'll all be trying to emulate soon. New products are always popping up, but innovative thinking and breaking out of the mold might be the best solution to getting out of this mess (and the banks not throwing parties with government bailout money.....just a thought).

Okay, gather and discuss...I'll expect your feedback on Facebook.

New Addition to the CWD Crew

If you happen to visit us on the train and see a unfamiliar face, you could be faced with 1 of 3 situations:

1. A passerby saw us working and stopped in to tell us how awesome our office is (happens about once a week),
2. a hobo broke in and he/she is trying to hitch a ride to San Fran,
3. or you're staring at the newest member of the CWD crew, Cameron Clear (so don't call the cops, he's legit)
   

Last week, Cam came on board (literally, he's working on the train) as our business development lead to spread the word about CWD and our web services. We're excited to have him join the group and are looking forward to what he can bring to the company.

Brand Live Comes Alive

Without further ado, I give you...Brand Live.

(If I could insert bright flashing lights around this I would. For now, just use your imagination.)

Ahem...Brand Live is Cascade Web Development's latest brain-child. Initially launched with "Nordica Live" in October last year, Brand Live has been generating a lot of buzz in the industry. At its core, Brand Live allows product demos, employee training sessions, sales rep clinics, live event showcases, and e-commerce presentations to be streamed via a secure URL and live video feed. Invited viewers can interact with the presenter by posting messages via text providing an unscripted, live presentation mimicking the experience you would receive with a face-to-face interaction.

Here are just a few benefits Brand Live offers:

• Cost Effective - eliminating the need to travel for events or sales rep presentations
  
• Operated through a secure URL and can require login
  
• Does not require any program installation or additional hardware
  
• Live video and chat feature mimics a live shopping experience. Presenter reacts to user questions and comments in real time (sessions can be archived and recorded as well)
  
• Marketing and branding tool as the "Brand Live" identity is masked with your Brand
  
• Allows product intricacies to be showcased with live video
  
• Fully customizable allowing you to manipulate site features, appearance and added applications
  
• Sessions can be 1-to-1 (currently in development but soon to come) or 1-to-many

We first envisioned Brand Live would be great for the high-end, outdoor sporting industry, and it'd make a lot of noise in that market. However, as we've casually spread the word about Brand Live we've seen it evolve into a multi purpose tool reaching across vastly different industries. For example, Brand Live is either currently being utilized or developed for clients in Skiing, Footwear, Bikes, Financial Services, Specialty Retail, and Wine industries.

So what do you think? We're pretty into it, and our clients seem to be as well. We'd love to hear your comments on our Facebook page.

Planting the Seed for "Plant an Evergreen"

Cascade Web Development just launched our Plant an Evergreen campaign earlier today. Through our partnership with Friends of Trees and their Gift Tree program, they are helping us plant evergreen trees in Portland for new clients on our Evergreen platform. Thanks to our clients and Friends of Trees for making the world a better place, one tree at a time. (so corny but so true)

Friends of Trees also helped us out on the PR effort by blogging about the Plant an Evergreen campaign on their Friends of Tree blog.

Thanks, Friends of Trees for your partnership and support.

CWD on the pages of USA Today

Cascade Web Development's recent launch of the sweepstakes site for "How to Train Your Dragon" was recently promoted in USA Today. I snapped a picture of the ad. Pretty cool!


Check out our previous blog post on the site launch and visit train-your-dragon.com for more sweepstakes info.