My name is Nick Fothergill and I’m with YouGotPhoto.
Here’s a link to the post the other day by Robert Scoble calling DEMO that has caused a little bit of fuss…
Here’s Chris Shipley’s Response
Here is the response I posted on his blog:
Well…for a moment (I assume like most of the other sites that saw themselves ripped here) I was rocked by the words you had for my company here.
After working through the emotions on my flight towards San Diego however, I realized what I need to do is learn from this and find the positives.
I have been looking for a way to “get into the conversation” as I know that’s where I need to be and now I have been given that chance.
This marks a great success for my company, this is the 1st major tech blog to mention our name. (I envisioned my first mention on a blog to be more like “wow, these guys are awesome, revolutionary, and even handsome with the right lighting”. But hey, you roll with what you got.)
Yup, I admit that the marketing as displayed on our site is not perfect. I have struggled with that and understand it’s a weakness.
Strengths and weaknesses, everybody’s got em. Pitchers can’t hit home runs and the DH can’t strike out the side. Startups embody that. UGA Digital like many of the companies releasing this weekend at DEMO (and start ups around the world) can hit the ball out of the park with their technology…maybe we don’t have a 9th inning closer on the staff yet, but championship teams are built over time. That is why we are here.
Our expertise is not in marketing, but…
If a scout walked out of the gym after only watching Shaq shoot free throws, thinking “this guy sucks”, he would have missed one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Scoble: “Who cares whether your team is in multiple countries?”
Being a Canadian living and working in Taiwan one of the coolest and most enriching parts of my job is that I go to work everyday with people from all over the world. This is part of what makes my job exiting for me, I’m learning about culture at the same time that we are developing technology. I am proud of the attitude and team work of everybody in our company. Should our business succeed or fail, everybody that works at UGA will be culturally enriched for the experience and get much more than a paycheck.
Surface vs substance:
I hope and trust that the lack of a pretty face doesn’t lose for all the great start-ups out there the opportunity to show the world how we are going to change it, but I do understand that in this world, books get judged by their covers. “Total package” point taken.
The most important thing:
I am the only North American on staff so the English language marketing responsibility falls squarely on my me. So should 100% of criticism. I accept the responsibility for any and all marketing failures at my company.
BUT, our entire engineering and development staff is ridiculously smart, hard working, creative, and dedicated and they have come up with an amazing product here.
Don’t fault them for my shortcomings, and give their technology a fair chance when we release it to the world this week at DEMO. Don’t shoot the messenger before you’ve really heard the message.
Remember that we are all start-ups, that means that we are learning as we go along.
This is a learning experience for all the companies at DEMO this year. So folks, learn from this and don’t let negativity get turned into more negativity, accentuate the positive. Always.
To all the companies presenting at DEMO this year: Don’t be rattled, get up on that stage with more confidence than you had before seeing this post. You are brave and you have amazing things to present. The spirit of DEMO (as I have learned during the preparation phase) is stick together, all for one, and take care of your neighbor. I can’t wait for the 3 days ahead and to meeting everyone here.
Scoble: “I love companies that claim they have “boundless imagination.” Certainly isn’t demonstrated on their Web site.”
I thought it was a pretty cool slogan, but ok, rather than explain what it means to me I’ll take this opportunity to launch a contest…give me a better slogan. Take the time to understand what we do, and then fire your slogans at us.
Thank you Robert for getting me involved and for giving me a crash course in the “I better have a thick skin” world of the tech blogger and for a kick in the butt that will get me working harder for my team.
I’m already having more fun than I thought I would this weekend in sunny San Diego.
Wishing everyone a great weekend,
Nick Fothergill
Posted by YouGotPhoto 
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